Petaluma River Promenade & The Block Present a Honky Tonk Piano Competition — A River Themed, Painted Piano Festival Fundraiser Fest September 15th, 2018

It has been four years since I wrote a post (click here to read) on the perilous condition of historic downtown Petaluma's riverfront trestle.

The only development we've seen since in this rat-infested part of town is a further collapse of the fenced-off trestle into a sand banked waterway that is in equally desperate shape for lack of funding for much-needed dredging.

In an article on the Petaluma Trestle, reporter Hannah Beausang reported the following in the Petaluma Argus Courier last September (2017) that members of an advocacy group, Petaluma River Promenade (the Petaluma Trolley Living History Railway Museum & friends) have actively sought a solution to restore the trestle, owned by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, for years. City officials site the project as a super costly one and to date, there are limited available funding sources and not a lot of forward momentum.

The article states: "In 2012, the Petaluma City Council was presented with several options for the fate of the trestle, including rehabilitating, reconstructing or replacing the structure. Decision makers opted for the rehabilitation, which could cost more than $4 million, according to city documents."

City of Petaluma's Deputy Director of Public Works and Utilities Larry Zimmer was quoted as saying: “We worked very closely with the community, particularly those concerned with the trestle and we did everything we could to maintain the historic aspects as opposed to going a simpler route to remove it and replace it in kind with something that looks like it and is built in the same manner as the existing trestle.”

Cobblestones running alongside the river at Balshaw Bridge are in a similarly dilapidated state and the city is currently working on a design and fix for this summer.

In the meantime, the area remains cordoned off to the passing public. Petalumans may well have become numbed to the eyesore, though rat infestations of the immediate area made the local news this past winter, highlighting the issue to a broader audience.

What does this say to visitors to this otherwise charming downtown? It's a ridiculous mess in every respect.

Thankfully, there are lots of people in town who are doing their best to keep a focus on this debacle and in a positive way. I think the upcoming Piano Festival and Petaluma Promenade Honky Tonk Piano Competition will bring a renewed focus within the community to the dire need for improving our lot with regards to the riverfront at the turning basin.

Kudos to 2017 Good Egg, Petaluma Pete, The Block, Petaluma Chamber of Commerce, local businesses and a bunch of awesome local artists who have taken on the beautification of a fleet of old pianos these past few months.

Here are a few of the painted pianos that are featured around town and will be played at the festival in September (official Petaluma Pete Day):