Calendar notes for the week of January 13, 2025.

The holidays are truly behind us, I have only one more load of Christmas decorations to carry to the attic and the Urban Chat calendar is quickly filling.

KBYG on Parking Reform – To be effective advocates at the Council downtown parking workshop a few days later, the first KBYG forum of 2025 will tackle parking reform, what it means and why it matters.  We’ll start with a reminder about the upcoming Better Cities Film Festival, then have a conversation about parking reform, likely including videos, and conclude with a discussion about how to effectively advocate for parking reform as a group.

More details are below and on the Urban Chat calendar.  Also, look for the forum reminder emails.  If you’re not on the KBYG email list, you should be.  Go here to fix that.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of January 6, 2025.

Welcome to 2025!  Petaluma Urban Chat is planning a year of action as the City of Petaluma looks forward to a year of important decisions.  Please be part of both.

On that topic, last week was a great week for welcoming new and returning members to Urban Chat.  The membership door will remain wide open as we begin the New Year.  Help us make a difference.

Wednesday, January 8 (this week) – Petaluma Urban Chat Still making up for the holidays, Urban Chat will have a December/January board meeting on January 8 to finalize plans for the January 29 annual meeting.  There will also be a general discussion of all Urban Chat’s planned 2025 activities.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of December 30, 2024.

We’ve reached the final calendar email of 2024.  The entire Urban Chat team appreciates your readership over the past year.  We also appreciate those who have offered thanks for how these emails make the public land-use process a little less daunting.  Our door is always open to ideas about how we can do even better.

There are zero additions to the calendar this week, not surprising for the heart of the holiday season.  In keeping with the short week, this update will also be short, with only a single story from me.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of December 23, 2024.

Greetings and Thoughts –  An Apology, Urban Renewals, Urban Travels, and Holiday Wishes

We’re now truly into the holiday break.  The next meeting on the Urban Chat calendar is the January 6 new Councilmember reception before the first meeting of the new City Council.

Urban Renewals: Urban planning, particularly the creation of walkable places, is a continually evolving field.  To keep up, I maintain membership in several cutting edge urbanist advocacy nonprofits and read much of their material every week.  An end-of-the-year task for me is renewing my memberships.  I feel good about supporting the advocacy and research work that informs much of what Urban Chat does.

The memberships that might work for you is up to your interests and budget but here is my list:

Congress for the New Urbanism: Among the original organizations to push the idea of walkable and lovable places as an antidote to sprawl, CNU continues to break new ground with their regular webinars and their heavily attended annual Congress.  (I'm the incoming treasurer for the California chapter of CNU.)

StrongTowns: Originally founded around the concept of financial resiliency, StrongTowns has expanded into traffic safety, housing policy, and much more.  While CNU is often considered the grey-haired conveyors of learned wisdom for the urbanist movement, StrongTowns is the young guard, eager to pound on the lectern insisting on change.  Plus, they’re successful at creating local affiliates, with 252 as of…

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of December 16, 2024.

New SMART Station, Film Festival Team, and Connecting the Dots Around Parking

The pre-holiday calendar remains ever lighter.  But the growing list of 2025 community activities draws closer.

New SMART Station: The public has been invited to the January 10 grand opening of the Petaluma North SMART station.  This station, which was previously dropped from the initial construction schedule when the SMART finances became constrained, will be a welcome addition to the Petaluma and North Bay transit options.  More information on the grand opening is below, under Upcoming Events, and on the Urban Chat calendar.

In case of any lingering confusion, the Petaluma North station, which will be at the intersection of North McDowell Boulevard and Corona Road, is the same station previously known as Corona.  When the renaming occurred, some of us were irritated.  We had a long history of advocating for the Corona station to move toward construction and not to be relocated as proposed by the owner of an alternative site.  We weren't eager to surrender a name around which we’d rallied…

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of December 9, 2024.

Urban Chat Board Meeting, KBYG Team, and Defending the Missing Middle

The pre-holiday calendar remains light.  Even the Pedestrian Bicycle Committee is playing three-card monte with a meeting that was originally scheduled for December 4, then moved to December 11, and now moved to December 17 without the topic of the meeting having yet been announced.

The only City meeting of urbanist interest this week seems to be the Climate Commission.  Further information on that meeting is further down in this email.

Urban Chat Board Meeting: However, Urban Chat will have their board meeting this week.  And the meeting will, as always, be open to all interested parties.  With the annual meeting coming in January, the Film Festival in February, and more plans for later in 2025, the board meeting might be a great place to begin your active involvement in Urban Chat.  More information is further below…

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of December 2, 2024.

The Urban Chat Team, Public Bathrooms, and Lunch?

As the holidays get underway, the Urban Chat calendar of public events remains thin.  But I can replace the missing event news with updates about the breadth of Urban Chat interests.

The Urban Chat Team: With only the occasional exception, my name is at the bottom of each of these messages.  But Urban Chat is many more folks, perhaps including some who might surprise you.  Each week through the end of the year, starting immediately below, I’ll introduce someone who fills a key Urban Chat role with little notice.

Public Restrooms: Vibrant public places, such as downtowns and parks, require public restrooms, especially if climate-aware visitors are leaving cars at home and arriving on foot, by bike, or in a bus.  But many cities, especially in the U.S., are poor at meeting this need…

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of November 25, 2024.

Holiday Wishes, Film Festival Update, and Lunch?

It’s a short week with a short calendar of approaching events, so I’ll complete the trifecta with a short Greetings & Thoughts.

Holiday Wishes: Best wishes for whatever Thanksgiving plans you may have.  As a descendent of multiple Mayflower Pilgrims, starting with the John Alden fixed in national memory by Longfellow, Thanksgiving should be my favorite holiday.  I’m not sure it is, although I’m pleased to be sharing this Thanksgiving with all my Alden cousins.  May you be equally surrounded by family on your Thanksgiving.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of November 18, 2024.

Overlay, Lunch, and Lunch?

It’s another light week for meetings with much pertinence for advocates of walkable urbanism, but perhaps we'll all need a break after this evening’s Council workshop on the proposed Downtown Overlay.  And what better way to take a break than lunches with great conversation.

Downtown Overlay: The Council will conduct a workshop this evening on the proposed Downtown Overlay.  I assume no readers need a reminder about the intent of the Overlay.  But I will note that a full house is expected.  If you're hoping for a seat in the Council Chambers, I suggest arriving early.  I’ll be there somewhere…

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of November 11, 2024.

Moving Ahead, Agreeing on the Need for Change Is Easy – Agreeing on the Change Itself Less So, and Lost Climate Action Momentum

The weekly calendar remains light, extremely so.  Even the Planning Commission meeting was cancelled.  Perhaps the only civic event with urbanist interest will be the Thursday meeting of the Climate Action Committee.  (Information is on the Urban Chat calendar.)

But perhaps we all need a break after last week’s election.  Urban Chat was successful in our first foray into ballot measure endorsement.  Yay for Measure Y!  But otherwise, the election news, especially at the national level, was crushing.

Walkable urbanism, including Urban Chat, is non-partisan.  An Urban Chat member once described StrongTowns as the Republican argument for walkable urbanism…

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of November 4, 2024.

Sliding toward the Holidays, Gift Idea, Final Reminder: Vote!

Light but Not Empty Calendar: With Know Before You Grow most likely done for 2024 and not many City agendas yet published, the Urban Chat calendar continues to be light, as often happens as we slide toward the holidays.

However, for those concerned about climate change, this evening the City Council will consider adoption of the updated “Blueprint for Climate Action”.  Personally, I’m disappointed that we've dropped, at least for now, setting a target date for carbon neutrality and lining out the difficult but necessary steps.

Then, in two weeks, the Council is tentatively scheduled to give feedback to staff on the draft Downtown Overlay.

I expect to attend both meetings.  Please say hello.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of October 28, 2024.

No more KBYG until 2025, D Street comments, Vote!

KBYG is Done for 2024: After ending on a high note last week with a tag-team presentation by Petaluma Mayor Kevin McDonnell and Generation Housing’s Calum Weeks on the state of housing in the North Bay, Know Before You Grow is almost certainly done for 2024.  (We’ll keep the door slightly open in case a great forum opportunity unexpectedly presents itself.)  Look for KBYG to come back strongly in January.

If you missed the McDonnell/Weeks forum, the link should be here early this week.  Watching it will be worth your time.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of October 21, 2024.

There is much more I could write this week, but I’ll keep my monologue short, focusing on the Urban Chat activities of the week.  Look for more words next week.  But until then, plan on attending both events below.  They’ll be a great start toward more community engagement in 2025.

After BAHFA: Petaluma Mayor Kevin McDonnell and Generation Housing’s Calum Weeks will talk to Know Before You Grow about the state of housing in Petaluma, particularly after the decision by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority not to seek voter approval to issue housing bonds.  Learn more about the future of housing and what you can do to make a difference.

If you believe that everyone deserves shelter, the curse of “May you live in interesting times” is coming true for you.

LumaGo Lunch: This week’s Urban Chat lunch…

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of October 14, 2024.

LumaGo Lunch: As previously anticipated in this space, the October 24 Urban Chat lunch will be about LumaGo, the newly launched microtransit service from Petaluma Transit.  Maria Arce will join us for lunch to talk about the service, explain the app for booking trips, and perhaps even facilitate a ride on one of the microtransit vehicles…

For those eager to get a head start on LumaGo, more information on the service is here, the service area is here, and the app can be downloaded here.

Thanks go to Urban Chat board member Barry Bussewitz for organizing the Petaluma Transit participation in this lunch.

Sonoma County Transportation Plan: On October 22, the Sonoma County Transportation Agency will conduct a workshop on a countywide transportation plan.  This is a chance to meld your transportation vision for Petaluma with connections to the bigger world.

Information on the workshop and on a survey to collect public opinion before the workshop is in Upcoming Events below.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of October 7, 2024.

Overlay DEIR Redux: The Planning Commission recently conducted a spirited review of the draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) on the proposed Downtown Overlay and Appellation Hotel.  This evening, the DEIR will reach the City Council.  Another spirited evening is likely.

KBYG on the UGB Renewal: Wednesday evening, KBYG will hear from the Greenbelt Alliance and Sierra Club on why Petaluma should pass Measure Y, renewing the Urban Growth Boundary.  Join us for a discussion that will dig into the multiple reasons why UGBs matter for our future…

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of September 30, 2024.

I’ll be away this week, taking an extended course on the best approaches to public involvement in land use decisions. Luckily, after a remarkably full calendar last week, the upcoming calendar is now light, so this email can be short. Also, the email is being written earlier than usual.  If there have been dramatic Petaluma urban planning developments in the past few days, they may not be mentioned below.

Overlay DEIR Redux: After last week's spirited consideration by the Planning Commission of the draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) on the proposed Downtown Overlay and Appellation Hotel, we get to do it again next week.  Next Monday, the City Council will consider the DEIR.  I wish I had the popcorn concession in the City Hall foyer.

Is Our Local Democracy Behind the Housing Crisis?: A recent book by Jerusalem Demsas is gaining local attention.  Two folks talked with me about the book and the author.  When I mentioned the book to a third person, he pulled a copy out of his bag and expressed interest in the author’s thesis.  I’ve secured a copy for reading during my upcoming travels.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of September 23, 2024.

GPAC Surprise: In an unexpected development, the General Plan Advisory Committee will meet a second time in September.  Last week’s GPAC conversations on land-use designations, the broad descriptions of intended land uses in General Plans which are later refined into zones in subsequent documents, ran long last week.  The Committee asked if the conversation could be continued this week.  Planning staff and the General Plan consultant agreed. Details are on the Urban Chat calendar.


Measure Y Yard Signs: As I first wrote last week, Measure Y is the Petaluma ballot measure to renew the local Urban Growth Boundary.  I offered yard signs supporting the measure.  As of now, I have one unclaimed sign.  If you’re interested and live on a relatively busy street with lots of passing eyes, let me know.  If I get more than one request, I may be able to track down another sign or two.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of September 16, 2024.

I have a longer list of topics this week but promise to keep it short.

Measure Y Yard Signs: Measure Y is the Petaluma ballot measure to renew the local Urban Growth Boundary.  I’m on an advisory committee advocating for passage.  In that role, a small number of Yes on Y yard signs are coming my way.  If you’d like to have one, let me know.  I’ll see what I can do.  And be sure to provide your address.

KBYG on General Plan Land Use: Know Before You Grow will have a forum Tuesday evening on the alignment between the Urban Chat mission statement and the draft Land Use Framework.  The Framework is a major step toward the General Plan update.  At least two members of the General Plan Advisory Committee will take part in the conversation as will Heather Hines of Petaluma Planning/M-Group.  Details are below.

Continue reading the weekly update here.

Calendar notes for the week of September 9, 2024.

KBYG Rescheduled: A Know Before You Grow forum had been scheduled for this coming Wednesday.  However, after several redirections from others during the planning, it has now been postponed to Tuesday, September 17.  Please update your calendars accordingly.  And please join us on September 17 for what should be an insightful conversation about the alignment between the draft land use framework for the General Plan update and the Urban Chat mission statement.

Upcoming Workshops: As a reminder, please remember that both SMART and the Petaluma General Plan team will conduct workshops on September 25.  Both are worthy events.  It's unfortunate they're on the same day.  However, with some creative planning, most people should be able to catch parts of both.  Details on both are below.

Continue reading the weekly update here.