My Campaign Sign
I am Running for Petaluma City Council in District 6
My name is Lance Kuehne (pronounced “Keen”) and I have lived in Petaluma for 22 years and founded and operated the Riverfront Art Gallery in Petaluma’s historic downtown for 15 years. I also taught photography at Petaluma High School for a couple of years and have been involved with various nonprofits in town. My roots are deep in this community.
I have a degree in Politics from UC Santa Cruz and have been involved with many issues and campaigns in Petaluma. I have offered my photography and technical expertise to campaigns and issues for years.
Why am I Running?
I and some fellow Petalumans, helped candidates win 2 out of 3 races in the last two elections to overturn Mike Healy’s long stranglehold on city politics, but it turned out that some of the candidates we helped elect are not making the changes we thought they would make. This is why I am stepping up to run for city council myself. I found that working behind the scenes to provide feedback to some of our current council members, who are clearly not taking input from the public, has become a waste of time.
Some people are wondering why I would be running against two incumbents, am I just trying to split the vote? The answer to that is “No”! I intend to win with your help!
I know I am running against the longest serving incumbent, and another incumbent that got the highest vote count four years ago (that I and many of my supporters helped him get), but neither candidate is acceptable to a lot of us who are actively trying to make our city a better place to live in. They are both secretive about what is going on at city hall, and they both think that our out-sourced planning department is doing a fine job. One of them is actively trying to ruin our downtown to save it from “blight”, and the other has been degrading our town for years with one thoughtless development project after another, and who gets a large portion of his donations from outside developers whose projects he later votes on, and those projects always seem to get approved.
If I am elected, we will get rid of two incumbents in one election and start some real change!
The Main Goals of my Campaign
Smarter Growth
We need to stop the six story overlay that is proposed for our historic downtown. This change in zoning would ruin the historic nature of our downtown which was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, and whose design guidelines were adopted in 1999. We need to adhere to those guidelines.
We need to bring more of our planning in-house and not rely primarily on outside consultants. We also need design standards and guidelines, and a real plan for our future growth that preserves Petaluma’s unique character. We also need to reduce fees and shorten review times for small projects to help local businesses.
We need affordable housing solutions that integrate well with our existing neighborhoods and we need to renew the urban growth boundary to avoid sprawl. We also need to make alternate modes of transportation safe and efficient in a way that doesn’t worsen our already bad traffic problems.
Community Involvement
Residents should be given plenty of notice of when votes on big projects will take place so that they can give meaningful input. And when Petalumans give feedback, they need to be given an adequate opportunity to state their concerns, and their feedback needs to be accounted for in the final plan. The public is often ignored by the current city council, the current D Street controversy is just the latest in a long line of examples of the city not listening.
More Green Spaces
We need to stop building near our rivers and creeks and other environmentally sensitive areas. We need to focus on the preservation and restoration of our existing green spaces, and we need more routes where people can safely bike and walk that are physically separated from motor vehicles.
In Conclusion
This is our chance to make Petaluma even better while preserving what makes us so special. I hope you will join me in that effort. If you can’t vote in District 6, you can certainly donate, volunteer or help spread the word about our campaign. Every city council member’s vote affects the entire city, so the outcome of this election affects us all, both inside and outside of city limits.
Get Involved
To sign up for my campaign newsletter (which has this same content and more), to volunteer, to ask for a sign, or to donate to my campaign, click on this link lance4petaluma.com/contact/
To learn more about of my platform, click on this link lance4petaluma.com/goals/
Click here to see what district you live in lance4petaluma.com/map/
To see this post, as well as all future and past posts, click on this link lance4petaluma.com/blog/
Feel free to ask me any questions or leave any comments here. I am truly interested in what you think.
Lance
We are new to Petaluma by four years and I read your Issue Two on Facebook, I Love Petaluma. I had heard from some that have lived here for a long time that they were concerned about the hotel project and other things. You really put it perfectly and understandable. I thank you for that. We live on the west side just out of the city limits and are not sure how we will be able to vote for city council members… but you have our vote! Thank you for the info you have provided on this issue that Petaluma faces.
Thank you so much Lisa! Those that live outside of District 6, can help us spread the word of our campaign by sending their friends a link to this website, or by signing up for our mailing list and forwarding the e-mails to people they know. They can also donate to the campaign to help us distribute signs and flyers so that we can get our message out ourselves. – Lance
There are many issues that need addressing. One is the Copeland Street bus depot through traffic. We once thought we might get an apartment project (Hines developer) on the site adjacent to SMART train. A popular prominent Petaluma resident argued for traffic circulation through the project’s middle area and continuing onto Copeland Street to Washington. I argued that Copeland Street should be only for buses and not through traffic as it has been for years. Those who claim they love our fixed route bus system should be advocating for a car/truck free Copeland Street. The project was voted down. We need to address this issue and keep Copeland only for buses.
Unfortunately, the city council recently approved the “Oyster Cove” housing development that will add 131 residences on D Street at that intersection. This housing project also borders Hopper Street, but the city is not requiring an entrance/exit there, so they are going to push all the cars of the residents and Petaluma Peninsula Park visitors through that one intersection with a new traffic light. There will be between 243 and 272 parking spaces at Oyster Cove (many of these homes will have 2 car garages, which is directly across the street from the bus terminal hub and downtown train station). The SmartTrain Station, the Visitor Center and Petaluma Arts Center can only be entered from Washington Street, so I doubt there would be enough support to close that street, since I’m sure people want to get to Washington Street directly from that intersection. I think that the Oyster Cove development is mediocre and not very well thought through, and will make traffic problems worse in this area.