Affordable Traffic Solutions That Will Work

By David A. Glass

The Rainier crosstown connector will force a tax increase for all Petaluma property owners. We need solutions we can afford. We can afford to fix the Washington and McDowell intersection, install a right lane northbound freeway on-ramp, put a complete freeway interchange at Corona, and eventually connect Caufield all the way to Petaluma Blvd. These solutions can come in a series of steps, as we can afford them.

The Rainier cross-town connector is a short-term solution that creates greater, and permanent, long-range devastating consequences in regard to flooding, future growth, and traffic problems. Much of the induced growth from Rainier will come from the future development of flood plain property.

Flooding is a citywide issue. To date, we have suffered $34 million in flood damage and more is likely to be added to this bill with a litigation pending. It is irresponsible to attempt to provide traffic relief that would require a citywide tax induce growth and increase losses from more frequent and severe flooding.

We can fix the Washington and McDowell intersection and install a right turn northbound freeway on-ramp. We can install a freeway interchange at Corona. These solutions will relieve traffic, without inducing growth or increasing flooding severity and frequency.

We can, and must, complete the Caufield extension to Petaluma Blvd. This will allow development in the southern portion of our city, which will not increase our flood risk, but allow us to complete the Petaluma Central Specific Plan, which is a large part of the economic engine.

The hotel tax is an important component of general fund revenues in many cities and will become important in Petaluma as we bring in two upscale hotels. One will be in the Marina and the other downtown. It is important that both be done with architectural integrity. The downtown hotel must be done in a way that enhances the historical character of our community and encourages the guest to stroll the downtown area. This will bring customers to our local merchants and create sales tax receipts, which will allow the city to maintain the city streets and improve traffic flow. The maintenance of our streets is extremely important. We currently have a $99 million liability on the upkeep of our city streets.

Our community is perfectly positioned to improve with revenues that can be derived from property tax dollars generated through revitalization and increased property tax revenues in the area described by the Central Specific Plan and the River Plan. Economic and ecological sustainability is the key to the future of this community. With sustainability, a problem is solved without creating an even bigger problem in the future.