Hopefully Petaluma will be able to draw another large employer here at some point in the future. I think Petalumans need jobs during this time more than an empty field.
No surprise here, look at all the other businesses that are, and have left town. Look to your elected officials for this too. Seems we can't even keep the existing businesses here, let alone draw new ones. Could it be, no, not the pathetic council(s) and commissions? Wise up petaluma, butt then you never did have your heads out of your derriere's long enough to do something logical to benefit the citizens of this "once" thriving community. Another empty facility, and yet they want to still build more. Butt then this planning commission fiasco will prevent that.
"tear down the buildings and look at beautiful fields"...it's comments like that, that remind me on how this council majority came into power.
How about we look at backfilling those building with companies...those companies provide jobs...those jobs give families money...that money can be then spent within the community.
Cisco leaving Petaluma is a long time coming, yet no less bad news. I use to hold much pride in my hometown knowing it had matured beyond a backcountry "poultry capital" to a thriving center of new "telecom valley".
It is very sad to see all those empty commercial buildings. With them all gone, that entire N. McDowell complex will slowly dwindle and die.
Petaluma officials need to get their act together, stop screwing around with cutesy cultural events and get this city to grow again.
You can always go back to your roots but if you don't grow, roots will shrink.
I don't understand why Cisco leaving has anything to do with our council – seems to be just a convenient way to place blame, which the article rightly points to Cisco losing it's competitive edge and being hurt from the 2001 tech bubble burst. You could just as easily give the council credit for the firms that are here (Calix, Cyan).
The reality is that this has little to do with the council and more to do with demand and competition as a natural evolution of the telecom industry. Cisco is less competitive with some newer US firms who have out innovated them in optical network solutions (Teknovis here in Petaluma is a great example).
Of course it's better to attract new businesses to Petaluma to fill empty spaces then to demolish buildings, but there has to be a thriving market for companies to move in, and our economy is now only starting to recover. There are ways to create incentives which I know our council is considering, but creating more buildings when there are so many empty ones doesn't really make sense in the long term – it's simply not sustainable.
One thing the new administration is doing is beginning to help green energy development. After years of failed leadership under Bush – where foreign competitors were allowed to dump cheap solar panels into the US with impunity – we finally have an administration who sees the wisdom in helping the US regain momentum in green energy production. This could and should be our next major innovation – old telecom buildings could be transformed into renewable energy technology firms.
d2...how is it a "cut and run"? you talk about jobs....basin street constructed those building and went out, worked hare and brought CISCO to town, along with over 500 jobs. basin street did that...brought the company and the jobs to this town. they sold the buildings just like they did the redwood business park and others. how is that a "cut and run" as you put it? have you ever owned property (your home)? have you sold it? then you "cut and run" didn't you?
d2....cut and run?? Those funds you talk about have literally built the entire downtown theater district!
While Basin Street still has some projects in the works in Petaluma, do you think there is just a slight chance the reason they have moved their development out of town is because of the anti-business atmosphere Glass and his cronies have created?
Originally posted by 5thgen: d2....cut and run?? Those funds you talk about have literally built the entire downtown theater district!
While Basin Street still has some projects in the works in Petaluma, do you think there is just a slight chance the reason they have moved their development out of town is because of the anti-business atmosphere Glass and his cronies have created?
Certainly Petaluma's anti-new business policies had an effect on Basin Street, but IMO it also was similar policies throughout the North Bay and Bay Area .... in contrast the greater Sacramento area is currently much more pro-new business and even more so Nevada, where state law is definitely much more friendly to new businesses than in California.
Posts: 112 | Location: Where else? | Registered: 31 March 2009
The folks here like to blame everything that ever happens in Petaluma on the so called "new majority." Just look back over the posts on this forum since around DFeb. Their minds are made up, so it is understandable that you don't understand. many of us don't.
quote:
Originally posted by Petaluma Defender: I don't understand why Cisco leaving has anything to do with our council – seems to be just a convenient way to place blame, which the article rightly points to Cisco losing it's competitive edge and being hurt from the 2001 tech bubble burst.
Posts: 190 | Location: Petaluma | Registered: 01 March 2009
