In keeping with a tradition of sorts I once again document the start of another Sunflower Season in our gardens. The blooms from a 100 plus plants are starting to strut their stuff…
The Verbena (a.k.a. Purple Tops) are struggling to compete with the Sunflowers for attention from the bees and butterflies…
A few Sunflower closeups for your consideration…
Owning an older home (built in 1968) presents challenges from time to time updating electrical, roofing, etc. Recently we had another experience coping with our ancient housing infrastructure–PLUMBING!
To be more specific–the sewer lines UNDER our house!
Equally challenging was finding a plumber contractor able to take on the task. After several “misfires” we located a company in our area capable of taking on the job– Ongaro & Sons
They sent a very hardworking team who attacked the problem and installed new sewer lines under the house…
Pedro & Kurt
Travis
Ongaro On Site
To give you an idea what our main sewer line looked like after removal by the Ongaro Team, I offer these two images below. I will understand if you don’t linger over them…
As many of my followers know, over the years I frequently include work photos of various Rebuilding Together Petaluma job sites and Kaiser Permanente MLK Day Volunteers on this blog as well as my photo blog.
As all the work took place under our house I was not able to photograph the Ongaro Team at work. I trust you will understand why I did not join them to get a few images!! 🙂
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
