A common street scene in many of our cities…views within the vision of casual pedestrians…and beyond the comprehension of most….
God Bless The Child
By Billie Holiday & Arthur Herzog, Jr
“Them That’s Got Shall Get…And Them That’s Not Shall Lose”
“Yes The Strong Gets More…While The Weak Ones Fade”
From time to time, while working in the front garden, I have noticed a “senior dog” during its morning walk and decided to find out a bit more.
So I decided to try for a portrait.
Skaci was agreeable and slowly got into position…
Of course, Skaci needed some encouragement…
Finally, success….
Once again, employee volunteers (including family members in many cases) from Kaiser Permanente in Sonoma & Marin participated in the MLK Day of Service. Their attention this year was focused on Petaluma’s David Yearsley River Heritage Center
Rebuilding Together Petaluma (RTP) & Petaluma’s Ohana Construction coordinated and supported their efforts–which is how I came to be there with cameras at the ready! In this post I include selected images of their maintenance and repair work…What I call…
Faces of Service
GALLERY
(Click On Any Image To Open Gallery)
RELATED LINKS
The residential parking issue exploded on Nextdoor yesterday. It was, as Yogi Berra once said, “…déjà vu all over again.” (See Link Below)
By way of a brief history there was a time when the residential streets were filled with RVs, trailers, boats, cars, etc. to a density in some areas making the streets look like they were encased by walls…
All the Sturm & Drang from that era (Admittedly, I was part of it…some would say the instigator) led to an Abandoned Vehicle Ordinance requiring vehicles to be moved after three days…a distance of three miles. The purpose was to eliminate using the streets as storage locations.
The Police Department had the task of enforcing the ordinance and the situation did improve because of their efforts.
That was Then…This is Now
In our part of town I suspect that the major part of the current problem is that many people are living here now (renting rooms in homes) having been displaced by the fires the last two years—They are regular people who come and go to work, school, etc. on a daily basis. This in itself dramatically increases the number of vehicles on the street.
In our local ‘Hood, finding parking at night is a challenge and the loss of a parking space due to boats, RVs, and vehicles being stored on the street–by anyone–needs to be addressed.
According to information from the Police Department on current enforcement of the Abandoned Vehicle Ordinance
“We can respond to every complaint regarding abandoned vehicles that is submitted by calling the mainline at the PD… 778-4372, Ext. 0. We may not get out there immediately, as we have one Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Officer that works 4 days a week. He is responsible for all of these complaints throughout the City of Petaluma.”
“Every time our AVA officer tows a vehicle, it can take up to an hour per vehicle, as he is required to stay with the vehicle until the tow truck driver leaves. He can barely keep up with the complaints that come in. When a vehicle is tagged, he needs to go back after 72 hours to check for compliance. Every time there is a tow required, that cuts into his follow-up time. As there is a never ending list of vehicles to follow up on, it leaves no time to be proactive. We would love to have more staff dedicated to abandoned vehicle abatement, but the current budget does not allow that.”
OBSERVATIONS & SUGGESTIONS
CITY & POLICE DEPARTMENT
There is no question that the City has budget limitations and constraints. That has been the case for quite some time and we have to accept that reality. However, I sometimes wonder if there is not a little “bureaucratic passive aggression” at play also. It would only be natural.
RESIDENTS
Density in our neighborhoods is inevitable. It is happening everywhere, especially neighborhoods that are more affordable. It won’t get better.
LINKS
From Nextdoor Using Your Street to Park Trailers
FOR VEHICLES STORED ON PROPERTY
“Sometimes all I need
Is the air that I breathe”*
11/10/2018 7:54 am
11/17/18 7:19am
Fortunately we may be receiving some rain this week to help restore a little blue in the skies!
*”The Air That I Breathe” by Albert Hammond sung by The Hollies
The mission of Project Linus is…”to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. We do this by giving them gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created for Project Linus by Volunteer Blanketeers.”
“The Blanketeers are part of our mission, as well: we seek to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.”
Slideshow of past Holiday Craft Bazaars to tempt and entice you to stop by…
The members of the North Bay Chapter in Petaluma have created and delivered 15,656 blankets since the chapter was founded. RECIPIENTS INCLUDE…Petaluma Health Ctr., Petaluma Hospice, Petaluma Police Dept., Petaluma Valley Hospital, Project Keep, Pt. Reyes Clinic, Queen of the Valley Hosp., Redwood Children’s Ctr., Rohnert Park Health Ctr., Santa Rosa Birth Ctr., SAY, Sonoma Valley Health Ctr., Sutter Valley Health Ctr., TLC Child & Family Services., Verity, Women’s Recovery Serv., YWCA Sonoma County, 4C’s Childcare, 4C’s Cloverdale, Aurora Behavorial Health, Blue Bag Program, Bridges Pregnancy Ctr., CalParents, Camp Chance, CAP(Community Act Partnership), CARE, CASA, Center for Domestic Peace, Child Start Therapeutic, Christmas Cheer, Community Violence Solutions, Crossing the Jordan, Get on the Bus, Interfaith Shelter Network, Marin Community Clinics, Marin General, Marin Pregnancy Clinic, Memorial Hosp., Napa County Social Serv., Petaluma Birthright
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