Petaluma plans to turn dilapidated train trestle into a riverwalk
PETALUMA (KPIX) -- City officials in Petaluma have a plan to turn a dilapidated railroad trestle into a downtown riverwalk.
It turns out the effort to promote the project to the public has hit all the right notes.
In the early 1900s, Petaluma was an important city because of the river that runs through the middle of the town. Its train trestle was the main shipping point to export the county's agricultural products and import goods from San Francisco.
"It was the Fed Ex of 1930," said Christopher Stevick. "Overnight shipments could be delivered to San Francisco and be brought back the same day."
Stevick is leading the charge to save the old trestle, which has fallen into disrepair and is now fenced off from the public. Huge gaps appear in the rotten boards of the trestle's top. But just 20 years ago, it was still being used as a public gathering place for festivals on the river.
"This is the balcony to the river," said Stevick. "And the river is the heart of our town."
A 2013 study said the structure is still basically strong and putting a new surface on it could turn the old trestle into a riverfront promenade that could benefit local businesses. The process would probably cost between 5 and 10 million dollars. Advocates are cautiously optimistic that this may be the time for it to finally happen.
"We believe it can be done. And we are going to work diligently to get it done," said Rosemary Hart with the Petaluma Women's Club.
As luck would have it, they have a secret weapon. John Maher is known around town as "Petaluma Pete," a piano playing, derby-wearing, professional business promoter who visited the town 15 years ago and fell in love with it.
"I saw the trestle and I thought, you know what, I've been a promotion director all my life. It's time to bring on a cause and really make something make a difference for this town. And the trestle became my obsession," said Maher.
Now he calls attention to the cause by playing free honky-tonk piano concerts at spots around town, delighting people and using the power of music to persuade.
"So it's making music as the tool. So that we can open the door and the ears and the minds of people to what we want to talk about," said Maher.
The Petaluma City Council seems to be behind the proposal. Last week they named the trestle restoration as one of the city's top priorities for the next two fiscal years. But with any big dream come naysayers.
"It's time to just take a chainsaw to it. Bring it down -- not just dwell so much in the past forever," said resident Byron Schneider. He said the money would be better spent on fixing potholes on Petaluma Boulevard.
Maher thinks that's being short-sighted.
"All I can say to that guy is that every town has potholes," he said. "But this one's got a river."
And it still has a trestle, which may one day serve as the city's link to its own history.
