Calendar notes for the week of February 24, 2025.

Monday, February 24 (tonight!) - Petaluma City Council - Among other agenda items, the Council will conduct the first hearing on the Final Environmental Impact Report and draft Ordinance for the proposed Downtown Overlay.

The meeting will be convened at 5:00pm.  Further details, including the agenda and Zoom link, are on the Urban Chat calendar (link above).

Wednesday, February 26 (this week) – Petaluma Urban Chat – With the Film Festival complete but many more Urban Chat events on the horizon, the board will have another monthly board meeting.  There will be discussions about all Urban Chat’s planned 2025 activities.

The meeting will be convened at 5:30pm.  The agenda and location will be on the Urban Chat calendar (link above) as the date nears.

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.