Mr. Dutra...will you respect me in the morning?

This is a first-hand account, by P4C member Sarah Gibson, following the Sonoma County Board of Supes meeting on Feb. 3rd that decided whether the Dutra asphalt plant proposal will receive a higher prioritization than Shollenberger Park and Petaluma's water and air environment:

When I pulled into the Santa Rosa Courthouse parking lots today, I could not easily find a single parking spot ... and for very good reason. The lots were filled to the brim by opponents to the Dutra Plant.

In front of the Supervisor's Chambers, I found the cutest protest line one could ever hope to chance upon: rows upon rows of children and moms holding hand-made signs reading "Save Shollenberger Park" and "I love wild birds"... the sight brought a sincere smile to my face.

Inside the hallways of the chambers, my smile quickly faded. Rows of metal fold-up chairs were filled intermittently with constituents wearing flourescent green "YES" stickers on their plaid collar work shirts, intermixed with rows of citizens wearing "No Dutra Asphalt" badges upon work-out wear and suits.

The open General Public Comment period began somewhere around 3pm. In the meantime, we stood in line against the walls of the chamber, hoping to get our voices heard by the Supervisors. High-heel pain was no longer an excuse to quit at this point. I was committed!

As it turned out, there was an astonishing number of people there to be heard in opposition to the Dutra Plant. Intermixed with the anti-Dutra crowd were the well-appointed "YES"-to-Dutra people, who consisted mostly of the North Bay Construction Management Co., Ghillotti Construction, and the random construction employee in search of a job. The one surprising exception to this was one Mr. Dolcini from Liberty Road.

Mr. Dolcini felt it important to point out that the "mere 3,000" signatures collected by the opposition movement were "only 2 %" of the population of Petaluma. He also felt further inclined to add that this number adds up to only 1.5 signatures per person/pothole in Sonoma County.

Unfortunately, Mr. Dolcini only did retrospective math .... not prospective. As things turn out, we're staring down 8,400 signatures AGAINST Dutra's proposed plans per year at our current rate. And here's one of a few important facts to ponder at bedtime ...

WHY would the Board of Supervisors amend the current General Plan to allow permanent structures within a flood plain when part LU-7 of the General Plan clearly spells out in no uncertain terms, "NOT TO AMEND THE GENERAL PLAN TO ALLOW PERMANENT LIMITED INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS ON A FLOOD PLAIN"??

Perhaps every sentiment in the room, without going into every detail, was described by a sweet silver-haired lady, who couldn't quite understand how she could find herself and her favorite park suddenly the object of an overnight industrial disaster, and who asked quite clearly to the hushed room, " Mr. Dutra ... will you still respect me in the morning?"

Her stunning message was loudly awash in metaphor -- shouting out to the Board of Supervisors as only a sweet lady of experience could, spelling out in a web of words, " Watch out, because we're all about to get (bleeped) by Dutra".