The newly-completed path behind the Petaluma campus SRJC is lovely, with birds, wildlife and nearby pastures. But PLEASE!!! Just because you are walking your dog in the grassy areas, doesn't mean you don't have to pick up their POOP. I want to whiff the wildflowers, not your doggy-poo piles.

Those flowers won't fertilize themselves.

what gets me the most is folks who allow their dogs to drop a deuce right on the pathway then not pick it up. my wife was just asking me yesterday what people are thinking that allow their dogs to do this then just leave it there! nothing like walking along the path having to dodge piles. people never cease to amaze me how they allow their pets to behave.

if it isn't the piles it is the folks that have their dogs off leash...then the dogs run away from the owners up to me and my dog all the while they yell at me "he/she is friendly". I don't care if he/she is friendly.....what if my dog isn't? what if i don't like dogs? what if my kids are scared of dogs? and, half the time their 'friendly' dog isn't so friendly.

if you can't control your dog (and this includes its potty habits)......don't go out with it!

It would be nice if the elementary school volunteered to do some clean-up on the portion of the path that is behind their field. Some flat-edged shovels and brooms will do the trick to clear up some of the hardened mud that has formed on the path.

That field behind the elementary school is also part-owned by the City of Petaluma. Have the city folks or perhaps you can volunteer your time to clean up the mud.

The pathway is ALL City of Petaluma and is theirs to maintain. These tough times makes it very tough for the parks dept to maintain items that that. A call into the Parks dept to report it would help though, pointing out the location and the issue. They are usually pretty good at responding to items such as these but, again, in these times with City resources (including staff) being cut...you just don't know if/how they will be able to respond.

If you see me/my wife walking a little black dog back there, say hello!

You are correct that the pathway is city owned. The field is shared with the city and OAUSD. I can tell you that the school does not have shovels on campus to clean up the path. Having the school volunteer their time for this is not feasible. The parents do volunteer their time on weekends to maintain the grounds around the campus, but certainly not the path.

Whippis, why are all your comments so negative? Everything you write about, from this subject to the softball topic is filled with nothing but insults. How dare you call kids at an elementary school "lazy-ass". Who do you think you are? As dan h said, all you do is hide behind a screen name and insult everyone. I can guarantee the kids at this elementary school are more mature and less lazy than you.

tahoe, i would suggest you don't waste your breath on whippis....as can be seen, his comments are pathetic indeed. i just got back from walking that path and saw over 20 girls playing lacross. looked like fun and now i have to look into it for my daughter. whippis will backpedal and claim it was a joke and nothing more but what kind of person throws stuff like that out there. well, it is the kind of person who feels very emboldened by the anonymous computer screen. truly sad and pathetic he is!

The Petaluma campus of SRJC offers a class called: "Identifying Sarcasm in the Digital World"

I highly reccomend you guys take it.

They also have one called "Satire 101", but that might be a bit to advanced for you at this point. Baby steps.

whippis, you seem to be an expert on sarcasm. May I suggest you write a book on the subject so we don't have to read your words here?

how did i know....whippis would come back on justifying his attacks/insults as joking/sarcasm/satire. whippis calls it joking/sarcasm/satire, i call is sad and pathetic. don't quit your day job whippis to become a comedian....not your cup of tea. oh, and again, if you feel so strongly about your opinions and feel your comments are appropriate then why don't you come out of hiding from behind that screen name?

quote:

Originally posted by Tahoe:
whippis, you seem to be an expert on sarcasm. May I suggest you write a book on the subject so we don't have to read your words here?

Certianly no expert just a practitioner. If you bothered to read the post to which I was responding you'd see that the guy suggested the school clean up the path. What I did was take his idea to an extereme to show how silly it was. If you don't think that's funny I can't help that. I at least hope you can see the point I was trying to make.

Otherwise if you're so annoyed by me and think me so negative why respond with like nagativity?

Lighten up.

Two family members and myself did grab a broom -- and two shovels -- and cleaned up the area of this path. That was last year. It took a few hours. You can't just "sweep" the mud. It is caked on and needs to be broken up with shovels. The small hill drains mud directly onto the path, which dries and hardens.

It's OK to walk on when dry, but when it rains, it is slippery, not to mention there is no way to avoid mud on your shoes.

When our kids were younger, we ALWAYS volunteered at the clean-up days at B.E. School. We brought our own brooms & shovels. It's the group effort and the larger amount of people that make things happen.

I just thought it was a good suggestion to have
some of the school kids have a little "project". Four or five parents and their children, armed with shovels and brooms could spruce up this area in a short amount of time. Maybe a 6th grade project? Maybe a sunny-day weekend project? It's good exercise. And it's good for the community.

The city is strapped with budget concerns. What about "community service"?

I have (in the recent past) e-mailed the P&Rec Director to suggest there are groups such as schools, high school key clubs, interact clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, graffiti offenders, Rotary, and kids applying for college who need community service hours on their college apps.

Unfortunately, the basic response was: "If they get a splinter from the broom they might sue the city". Awwwwww.....

I AM going to contact SMSchool to see if they could help out. Maybe they can "Adopt-a-Path".

P.S. This mud will be a re-occuring problem since the adjacent hill will always be loosening wet dirt.

KRRH, the families and the kids at Sonoma Mountain school have volunteered numerous hours over the years cleaning and weeding the grounds. I know their priorities were the front and sides of the school and the inside grounds, where the most visibility occurs. I can honestly say there was never enough time for the back of the school let alone the path. Please give the school a call and see if they are willing to Adopt-a-Path. This idea sounds good. I also like the idea of asking clubs, Boys Scouts & Girls Scouts, etc. to help out for community service hours. Good luck.