RE: Link

Mr. Levin, Your off base regarding the feral cats ....Mayor Torliatt did not stand up for them either.

Which one of you forum folks wrote this one? Come on, fess up.

I agree with Mr. Levin on most everything. Personally, I am sick and tired driving out of town for every thing I need other than groceries and a birthday card. After so many years on City Council, Mayor Torliatt needs to be accountable for that - as is David Glass. Huge loss of revenue for this fragile city.

Mr. Levin's last paragraph about the mayor and feral cats needs to be addressed.

Both Torliatt and Glass passed a feral cat ordinance in 2004 - when there should never have been any ordinance for feral cats. Period. That was a blatant misuse of tax payers money - passed on false pretense.

When City of Petaluma decided to build the water recycling plan into wetlands, they negotiated with Fish & Wildlife who objected to the project. Building a state-of-the-art water recycling plan in the wetlands causes huge damage to the wetlands and wildlife. So, Petaluma Council threw in the feral cats into the pot to mitigate the damage. In addition, the City promised to clean and rebuild better wetland areas. They called in the most expensive landscaper in the country. Did you hear about the landscape design of the sald marsh harvest mouse? The eyes of the mouse alone cost tax payers $60,000. Another huge misuse of public funds, and one reason for our water rate increase.

Coming back to feral cats: Scientific studies clearly established that loss of habitats (such as the water recycling plan) is the primary cause of wildlife depletion - not feral cats nor any other nonnative specie.

When we learned of the massacre going on in the wetlands (Petaluma killed almost 500 cats the first them month of 2007) we commanded an end to this cruelty. And this is how this mayor and city council, probably afraid of national adverse publicity, tried to pacify a group of feral cat advocates and to prevent us from spreading the stories about Shollenberger Park and Ellis Creek killing fields.

I could go on and on and there is so much more to tell about this council majority, but I have other things to do. I do want to let you know, Mr. Levin, that Mayor Torliatt did not protect feral cats and onother bad ordinance was voted in October 19. Another loss to this city.

Fred, you're right, cats can't vote HOWEVER, people do. When you get lied to by the Mayor who promised that there would be a round table discussion between the feral cat advocates and the bird advocates and this promise gets totally ignored, that's something to hold her accountable for.

The number of feral cats being killed at tax payer expense went up 41% after the 2004 ordnance was put in place, the new ordnance doesn't change that. In other words the city of Petaluma will keep on killing cats at the expense of a city employee's salary.

Will the voters forget? I certainly hope not.

seems a little (no considerably) over the top.
Mr. Levin, Seeing that you are from Santa Rosa, we appreciate you taking the time to write a letter to the editor about our Mayor, but it begs the question, Why? Then I read you are Sonoma Co Taxpayers Asso Executive Director, and you protect us from run-away taxation, hold local government accountable for their spending, review their budgets and monitor expenditures, have saved Sonoma County taxpayers millions of dollars, and your only interest is us, the taxpayers of Sonoma County. WOW this is great. Can you find out and explain to the taxpayers of Petaluma why bullfrogs, red foxes, skunks and raccoons must be exterminated in Petaluma? What are the costs? Who is paying for this? Why the public has no input? Feral Cats, otters, mute swans, who is next on the chopping block, and how much does it cost the taxpayers? The question to Mayor Torliatt can also be asked of Mike O’Brien and Mike Healy, what got done while they were on the City Council? Not Rainier. Should we vote for John King? Thanks for looking out for us.

Too much on feral cats. A travesty. It's also verrrry interesting to see what Ms. Torliatt says about the financial situation she leaves Petaluma for larger forums (County!).

If only revenue sources - REAL revenue sources - the kinds with $millions - had as much attention as feral cats, green stuff, the asphalt plant.

Maybe she'll improve if/when she becomes a supervisor....