Thank you Mayor Torliatt for your service to our community. We look forward to your continued involvement.
Congratulations to Petaluma Tomorrow endorsed candidates David Glass for Mayor and Teresa Barrett for City Council for their successful election.
Petaluma Tomorrow Initiatives for 2011-2012
The board has identified several key initiatives for the next two years. These include:
- Amending the City Charter to fill open council seats with the next highest vote getter. Three times in the last ten years voters have lost out to a less than transparent process of selecting members to fill open seats. It is time to change the system to honor the wishes of the voters.
- Strengthening the city’s campaign finance ordinance. Recent flagrant violations by former Council member Rabbitt as well as a series of violations by other candidates make clear the need to strengthen the ordinance.
- Stopping the Dutra Asphalt Plant. Petaluma Tomorrow has been active in its opposition to the Dutra plant approved by the Board of Supervisors. It will remain active with other community organizations in what will be a successful legal challenge to the county.
- Initiating a Board of Supervisors Watch. The approval of the Dutra plant highlights the need to keep the public informed on the activities of the BoS, particularly with the addition of David Rabbitt. We will be instituting a “watch” with reports similar to Council Watch.
The outcome of our local and countywide election combined with the signals sent by developer funded members of council – the Healy/Albertson/Harris Cabal – make these initiatives all the more important. Please contact us if you are willing to help!
Process over People – The Healy/Albertson/Harris Cabal wants to ignore the voters.
Anyone present or watching the January 3 council meeting learned that H/A/H have no respect for the voters of Petaluma. H/A/H voted against a simple and elegant solution to the open seat – appointing the next highest vote getter, Jason Davies. Healy and Harris who have been critics of “process” when it worked against their developer interests want process over people if it means appointing someone who is unlikely support, lock step, their agenda for the council. For a great summary see PT Board member Andrew Packard’s LTE in the Argus.
Take the Survey regarding the open Council seat
The current Petaluma 360 online poll concerns appointing a member to the open Council seat based on the “next highest vote getter.” Take the survey and let the community know that voters count.
Petulance over Progress – H/A/H Set a Negative Tone for Council
On the first issue of significance to come before the council on January 3 Healy/Albertson/Harris voted against the recommendations of Mayor David Glass for liaison appointments to the city and county commissions/committees. Glass, with the cooperation of Council Barrett who put aside her preferences, was able to maximize the preferences of other council members. The recommendation provided Albertson with 100% of his requests and met most of the competing requests of others. Despite maximizing the requests of all, Council Member Harris stopped progress when he did not get one of his requested appointments – to the SCTA. Healy and Albertson (despite getting everything he asked for) joined Harris in voting against the recommendations and made clear that they are unwilling to compromise. This vote set the tone for their discussion of filling the vacant council seat. Don’t look for compromise from our local party of no.
The next Council Watch report will provide a full description of the activities of the Council at the January 3 meeting.