Petaluma Voice

Petaluma Voice Petaluma Voice is an independent, nonprofit newsroom built to serve Petaluma.

City Promises Ag-Forward Fair 🐑🎡At this year’s Petaluma Fair, running June 18 to June 21, visitors can expect fried food...
06/18/2026

City Promises Ag-Forward Fair 🐑🎡

At this year’s Petaluma Fair, running June 18 to June 21, visitors can expect fried foods, live music, and, of course, livestock showings, with an emphasis on agricultural education.

“My goal is to take pieces of agriculture and push them into the fair” – instead of simply hoping attendees will make their way to the back of the fairgrounds where livestock and agriculture take center stage – said Paulette Swallow, agricultural program manager for the City of Petaluma.

Swallow was hired by the city in October 2025 to lead agricultural programs at the fairgrounds year-round. “I landed my dream job in my 40s,” she said with a smile.

With a number of changes in store at this year’s fair – such as guided tours of animal barns, a move away from traditional livestock-showing garb in favor of t-shirts and jeans, and barn upgrades including new lighting, siding, and paint – the sixth-generation Petaluman is “riding a fine line between keeping tradition in our shows and reinventing ourselves. Because, why not?”

🎡 Petaluma Fair, “Past, Present and Future Luma.”
📍 Petaluma Fairgrounds.
June 18 - 21, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Tickets and more info at: petalumafairgrounds.com/petalumafair.

Read more at PetalumaVoice.org

✍️: Jennifer Sawhney sawhney_media
📷: Crissy Pascual Crissy Pascual

Issue No. 10 is out! ☀️This week’s issue is dedicated to the dads. We have a story about three dads making an impact on ...
06/17/2026

Issue No. 10 is out! ☀️

This week’s issue is dedicated to the dads. We have a story about three dads making an impact on local men and teens, and a touching 5Qs with members of the Gizzi family, who lost their father last year.

The rest of the lineup includes stories on more agricultural education at the Petaluma Fair (starting tomorrow), a project pinpointing vacant spaces in town and more.

To get all of the stories straight to your inbox, visit PetalumaVoice.org

P.S. Father’s Day falls on Sunday, June 21. A.K.A. it is the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice, the first day of summer – and a good opportunity to reflect. ☀️

Scene & Herd: 🌸💐Impromptu Flower Stand 💐🌸When Lamar Shahbazian received a large amount of flowers from her neighbor who ...
06/16/2026

Scene & Herd: 🌸💐Impromptu Flower Stand 💐🌸

When Lamar Shahbazian received a large amount of flowers from her neighbor who is a floral designer, she decided to head down to the United Methodist Church on D Street and begin making small bouquets to give out freely. Passersby got to pick bouquets or make them themselves. What better way to celebrate graduations, the end of the school year, and the start of summer than with fresh flowers?
📷: Crissy Pascual

Each week Petaluma Voice selects an image or short video that highlights a moment in our town. To contribute, please send photos (with captions) or videos (no longer than one minute) for consideration to [email protected].

Independent Auditor Gives Petaluma Police Good Marks 🚔The Petaluma Police Department is a “true learning organization” t...
06/16/2026

Independent Auditor Gives Petaluma Police Good Marks 🚔

The Petaluma Police Department is a “true learning organization” that showed declines in calls for service, arrests, citations, and complaints in 2025 compared to prior years, an independent police auditor told Petaluma City Council Monday June 7.

“The role of the [independent police auditor] here is to assess the accuracy, completeness, and transparency in the reporting and presentation of the data,” said auditor Jeff Schlanger of IntegrAssure, a Florida-based firm that specializes in oversight of police departments. “It is important to state clearly what our review does not do. It does not by itself establish bias or explain causation in any way.”

Schlanger noted during his presentation to council that the city codified police oversight last September, which he called “the single most significant institutional development of the year.”

Other major themes he identified included work toward formalizing a course-correction process, less officer profanity in high-stress situations, improved supervisor leadership and self-review, and synergy between the auditor, police command staff, and city officials.

The auditor reviewed 141 incidents (53 uses of force, 33 displays of force, 22 pursuits, and 33 complaints) in 2025, of which 24 led to recommendations for improvement.

To read the entire story, visit petalumavoice.org/independent-auditor-ppd

To get this and other stories straight to your inbox every week, visit PetalumaVoice.org

✍️: Jennifer Sawhney
📷: Crissy Pascual

Help Name Petaluma's Longest PathCity staff need your help to name Petaluma’s longest path, running three and a half mil...
06/15/2026

Help Name Petaluma's Longest Path

City staff need your help to name Petaluma’s longest path, running three and a half miles along the city’s eastern edge.

This multi-use path paralleling the urban growth boundary – with suburbia and schools on one side and fields, cows, and an airport on the other – spans from Kenilworth Junior High School to Casa Grande Road.

The pathway naming nomination form is open now through July 5.

The city is looking for names that are descriptive or creative, with an emphasis on geography and/or local history. For more information, visit https://cityofpetaluma.org/pathway-naming.

To read the entire story, visit PetalumaVoice.org

✍️: Jennifer Sawhney
📷: City of Petaluma

13 Miles and 4 Bridges 🛥️🌊If you’ve visited downtown Petaluma lately, you may have noticed a plethora of boats docked in...
06/14/2026

13 Miles and 4 Bridges 🛥️🌊

If you’ve visited downtown Petaluma lately, you may have noticed a plethora of boats docked in the downtown Turning Basin.

Where do they come from, you ask?

Most of the boats you see in the Turning Basin are from the San Francisco Bay or the Sacramento Delta.
The Petaluma Yacht Club is one of more than 40 yacht clubs in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Our local yacht club, known as PYC, is the main information-gathering point for visiting yacht clubs and Bay Area boaters who wish to cruise to Petaluma.

Visiting boaters setting out from the San Francisco Bay make their way under the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. From there, they cross San Pablo Bay and navigate to the mouth of the Petaluma River. Boats cruising from the Delta also cross San Pablo Bay, often navigating against strong wind and tides. The journey up the river, which is actually a 13-mile tidal slough, will take the boats past an old railroad swing bridge and under four other bridges.

By Rich Brazil, rear commodore of the Petaluma Yacht Club

"Voices" is our new column for community contributions. Unlike opinion editorials, or op-eds "Voices" articles do not advocate for a particular position. Instead, they share expertise or express unique perspectives on life in Petaluma. If you would like to contribute, please email [email protected].

📷: Crissy Pascual, Michael Funk

Read Rich Brazil's entire article at www.petalumavoice.org/13-miles-and-4-bridges

☕️5Qs With Grand Central Café Co-Owner Natalie VinuezaAfter growing up in Petaluma, Natalie Vinueza (née Mitchell) left ...
06/13/2026

☕️5Qs With Grand Central Café Co-Owner Natalie Vinueza

After growing up in Petaluma, Natalie Vinueza (née Mitchell) left town to pursue a career in acting. But circumstances brought her back in 2020, then steered her toward a new, unexpected, “completely fulfilling” career running a café with her husband, Juan Carlos.

Q: What brought you back to Petaluma after years away?

A: I was living in New York and LA as a full-time actor, and then I had a baby, and then there was a pandemic when he was a year old, right when I was going to get back into the industry. My parents lived in Petaluma still, and they were like, just come back to Petaluma, you know, just stay with us for a few months, and then go back to LA when everything settles down, and move to a different apartment. My husband (Juan Carlos), my son, and I all just moved into my parents’ Victorian on the west side, and we were like a big happy family for a while.

To read the entire article, learn more about Grand Central’s start, visit PetalumaVoice.org

✍️: Nate Seltenrich
📷: Crissy Pascual

06/12/2026

The restored neon chick sign returned to its home at the former Poehlmann Hatchery at 620 Petaluma Boulevard North on the morning of June 11, 2026.

Crews removed the 91-year-old sign — the city’s oldest neon sign — on April 16, before it was taken to FastSigns in Vallejo for restoration.

The work on this and other historic signs in Petaluma is being spearheaded by local historian Katherine Rinehart of The Petaluma Signs Project.

Organizers will celebrate this work with a community lighting ceremony on Sunday, June 14th at 7:45 PM.

📷: Courtesy of Katherine Rinehart

To see the sign before its restoration and its removal, visit PetalumaVoice.org

The city will seek $70 million in debt financing to replace its aging wastewater system – with a stated intention not to...
06/11/2026

The city will seek $70 million in debt financing to replace its aging wastewater system – with a stated intention not to raise customers’ sewer rates.

At its Monday night meeting, Petaluma City Council voted 6-0 to approve the issuance of these bonds to help fund projects tied to sewage transportation, according to the staff report. Council member Karen Nau was absent.

The first project is the construction of a secondary, redundancy main sewer – also known as the PIPS (Primary Influent Pump Station) parallel force main – to run alongside the existing, 2.5-mile-long and 36-inch-diameter main. That pipe is about 53 years old “and represents a critical single point of failure in the wastewater system,” said Chelsea Thompson, director of the city’s Water Resources and Utilities Department.

The second project is the replacement of the pump station on Hopper Street, which "is nearing the end of its useful life and must be replaced,” according to staff.

Staff estimates the PIPS parallel force main project will cost $58.3 million and the pump station replacement to cost $31.6 million, for a total of $89.9 million.

If the main were to fail, the city would be unable to transport wastewater from the PIPS pump station to the Ellis Creek Recycling Facility for treatment. In the winter months, it carries up to 36 million gallons a day, Thompson said.

The city will cover the remaining $19.9 million with cash, according to a staff report.

Read the full story at: petalumavoice.org/city-commits-90-million/

✍: Jennifer Sawhney
📷: Crissy Pascual
(location map courtesy of City of Petaluma)

Issue nine is out now! ⚖️More from the newsletter:Last week we voted in the California primaries, and this week the work...
06/10/2026

Issue nine is out now! ⚖️

More from the newsletter:
Last week we voted in the California primaries, and this week the work of democracy continues. As an independent, nonprofit, locally operated newsroom, Petaluma Voice is committed to playing our part in a democratic society by informing the public, holding those in power accountable, and ensuring all have a chance to be heard.

This week’s issue includes info on the independent police audit, $70 million in bonds for wastewater infrastructure, and a perspective piece from the Petaluma Yacht Club’s Rich Brazil.

☀️ Read more at PetalumaVoice.org. ☀️

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