Category Archives: Community

Petaluma City of Lights – Driving Tour 2011

Posted on by annandmeg

Meg has a J.D. in Urban, Land Use and Environmental Law. She focuses on maintaining the balance of community and environmental health, healthy lifestyles, and encouraging sustainable living.

The holidays are fast approaching, and one thing I have missed about Kansas City is the cold weather and snow reminding you it is almost time for Christmas. Well, Petaluma may be in the mid-50s this time of year, but the nights are still very chilly, and this town sure does know how to put on a holiday display! One of the local papers puts out a driving map every year of the entrants for the holiday decorating contest. This year there are 16 resident entrants and 47 business entrants.

On Monday evening, Jake and I packed the kids (our greyhounds) up in the jeep, grabbed the 2011 driving tour map and some hot chocolate, and headed out the door. We spent almost 2 hours driving around looking at all the houses, and we didn’t even get to the business entrants! For every official resident entrant, there must have been 3-4 houses that did not enter the contest. They were all amazing. Some yards had nativity scenes, some had entire towns of snow people. One yard down the street had a whole ensemble of Acme characters dressed up for the holidays, and they were 4-5 feet tall!

The last place we visited was by far the most impressive. Courtesy of the Barnacle family, this house was filled with moving reindeer, a christmas tree, hundreds of lights, a full nativity scene, an entire mini Christmas town, and a flying Santa. Unbelievable! The mini town they built in their window was amazing. It even appears they secured a radio frequency to play a particular Christmas song to go along with their theme.

It was a wonderful way to get in the holiday spirit. Even the kids were having fun sticking their heads out the window and saying hello to all the people doing the same tour. We may not have snow in California, but we still manage to have amazing holiday spirit!

Searching for a Cause

Posted on by annandmeg

Meg has a J.D. in Urban, Land Use and Environmental Law. She focuses on maintaining the balance of community and environmental health, healthy lifestyles, and encouraging sustainable living.

I am absolutely amazed at the different ways you can “give” to charities nowadays. Many people think the only way to be charitable is to donate money to a cause. While this is clearly an important piece of giving to charity, it is not the only way to help support your favorite cause or organization. My family has always been a giving family. My mother helps advise organizations, my uncle helps organizations create strategies, and my grandfather often writes a check to organizations he believes are in great need of financial support. I choose to donate my time. As a recent graduate, it’s certainly more affordable, but it also makes me feel like I’m an active part of supporting my favorite cause.

A few years ago, my husband and I adopted a “retired” greyhound. Our Lily has become such a joy, and she inspired us to volunteer with the local greyhound rescue group in Kansas City, called “REGAP” (Retired Greyhounds As Pets). After volunteering for a few Meet & Greets on the weekends, we then started fostering. Finally, with our 4th foster, we “foster failed,” which means we couldn’t let the little spaz go. Now Cousteau has been with our family for almost a year.

So this all brings me to the point of my title today, “Searching for a Cause.” KC REGAP found this great website where you can do web searches (sort of like Google), shop online, and locate restaurants. Meanwhile, every time you search or shop, you earn money for your designated cause! For example, if I want to search “restaurants in Petaluma,” I simply type it into the search box, click search, and I immediately earn a penny for REGAP just for clicking the search button! I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but imagine how many times you do a web search in a day. Well, if you search 20 times a day, then you can earn $.20 every day for your cause. The shopping section also links you to stores who will donate a certain percent of your total purchase. Such stores include Apple, Amazon, Banana Republic, Nordstrom, and many more. Plus, they have a whole bunch of coupons. It’s really such a great idea for raising money! Here is a link to their site, so you can take a look at it and see if your favorite charity is signed up.


GoodSearch: You Search...We Give!

Happy searching!

Congratulations, Kansas City

Posted on by annandmeg

Frommer’s, publisher of travel guides, lists Kansas City as one of the top ten travel destinations for 2012.  Others selected include such exotic locations as Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Ghana and Chongqoing, China.

While neither exotic nor remote, Kansas City was selected based primarily on its ever expanding emphasis on arts and culture.  Frommers focuses on the recent completion of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (described as one of the most technically advanced performance halls in the U.S.), the new
contemporary wing of the Nelson-Adkins Art Gallery; and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.  It also identifies the College Basketball Experience interactive facility adjacent to the Sprint Center, the Negro League Baseball Museum and the Kansas City Jazz Museum that share space at 18th and Vine.  In addition to raving about these and other attractions, the article raves about Kansas City barbecue.

Those of us who live here, love Kansas City already and easily brag about our attractions.  It is nice to know that now a world-class expert on travel recognizes our city as a world-class destination.

Handel’s Messiah “Hallelujah”

Posted on by annandmeg

Listening to the Messiah is like being in church. It is, as it should be, a celebration of a religious faith, but also it is a celebration of life, the beauty of life, and the power of the human spirit.

The Independence Messiah Choir has performed for nearly 100 years. Recently it became associated with the Kansas City Symphony. This year they move to Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. The combination of the music and the beauty of Kauffman are near perfection.

Messiah is important to our family. Dad emceed the 50th performance, my brother, Bob and his wife became engaged during the Hallelujah Chorus, and Meg sang with the Choir for 4 years before moving to California. This year dad and I watched and listened to the music of the Messiah and were awed, one more time, by the performance and the brilliance of Handel.

Kansas City Lights–Light up the Holiday Season

Posted on by annandmeg


Every city celebrates the holidays differently. For Kansas City, the Christmas season “officially” begins when the Plaza lights are turned on Thanksgiving night. The crowds pack the Plaza for the ceremony to switch on the lights. Traffic backs up for blocks around waiting for their chance to see the lights. I do not remember a time when my family did not make at least one trip to see the lights. Now I live only blocks away and can see them every night as I drive home from work.

There are other lovely holiday displays. Nativity scenes remind us of the religious focus of Christmas, houses and neighborhood shopping areas decorated with lights, wreaths, community Christmas trees and other holiday displays remind us that the season is also shared with other religious and non-religious groups who celebrate their own religious traditions and simply celebrate the joy of the season.

Have a happy holiday, wherever you are.

Petaluma’s Lighted Boats

Posted on by annandmeg

Meg has a J.D. in Urban, Land Use and Environmental Law. She focuses on maintaining the balance of community and environmental health, healthy lifestyles, and encouraging sustainable living.

As new locals to Petaluma, my husband and I have been trying to explore as much of our new surroundings as possible. It is truly an amazing experience to move from Kansas City to California, and every weekend we find something new and fun to “research.” Sometimes it’s a vineyard in the wine country, or a beach in Point Reyes National Park. This past weekend we decided to explore Petaluma’s “old town” (downtown), where we watched to annual Petaluma Lighted Boats on the river.

The boats were supposed to come up the river and into the turning basin (which is basically located in the middle of downtown) around 6:00 or 6:30pm on Saturday. We thought we would go downtown around 5:00pm, walk around a little bit, visit my new favorite furniture store, Roe & Co., and then wander over to the river walk to see the boats. Little did we know, it was going to be packed! We barely found a parking spot, and when we made our way to the river walk, we were fighting for a space to actually see the river. There must have been several thousand people wandering around. It was amazing!

Our next adventure will be to take the driving tour of Petaluma’s Lighted Houses and Businesses. I have to say, for a community without snow, Petaluma sure knows how to reign in the holiday spirit. It’s a wonderful place to be for our first Christmas season away from our hometown.

Ode To Niecie’s

Posted on by annandmeg

Terry and I have a breakfast date every weekend. We have a few places we go regularly but are always looking for new and interesting destinations. Not long ago he met a friend for lunch at Niecie’s. I’d heard about it but had never been there. But as they say, the rest is history. Terry suggested the next weekend that we have breakfast there. We went there once and now we include it as a favorite.

Why? When we walk in the restaurant we are greeted warmly as though they are excited to see us. The servers are friendly and the food is fast. When we leave the restaurant someone inevitably says something like “have a blessed day”. We almost always run into someone we know. It doesn’t matter though, because we have also found ourselves talking with strangers. When we leave we feel good about breakfast, good about Niecie’s and good about ourselves.

This is not a sales pitch for a restaurant. There are probably lots of restaurants like Niecie’s. This is a sales pitch for a life style. It is great to be with people who are nice to each other. It is great to chat about the K.C. Chiefs, even when they are having a bad season, just because the Chiefs are the hometown team. It is just part of being neighborly and being nice.

I’m not saying that being nice would solve the problems of the world. But I’m also not saying that it wouldn’t. If people are nicer to each other then maybe politicians can be nicer. If politicians can be nicer to each other then maybe nations can be nicer to each other. Maybe we could have world peace. Being nice has to start somewhere.

Ann

Running into an idea

Posted on by annandmeg

Meg has a J.D. in Urban, Land Use and Environmental Law. She focuses on maintaining the balance of community and environmental health, healthy lifestyles, and encouraging sustainable living.

I am a runner. I know everyone already knows that. The fun thing about running for me, besides the great exercise, is that I often come up with a lot of new ideas, usually spurred by my surroundings. Two interesting things happened to me on my run today. One, I found a very sweet little chihuahua on a corner as I was crossing the street from the running trail to the sidewalk. Naturally, I went on a search around the neighborhood to see if anyone recognized this cute little fellow. I finally found someone who had picked up the little guy from the same corner many times. She pointed to the house where I could return him, looking equally as annoyed as I was at the idea that someone would let her dog get loose repeatedly. Well, that’s not really the point of my story today, but let’s just say I returned the dog to a woman who gave me dirty looks as I lectured her for the need to both tag and micro-chip her adorable little dog. Needless to say, I’ll be running down that road a lot more often from now on, just in case.

The second interesting thing about my run today is that it finally dawned on me why I find the break-up of land use in Petaluma fascinating. For those of you who are not familiar with Petaluma, let me try a brief explanation of the landscape. Hwy 101 runs north and south straight through the middle of this town, which has about 60,000 people. The west side is the older side of town. Old houses, more established trees, historic buildings, and of course, the wonderful downtown with the quintessential Main Street vibe. The east side of Petaluma is the newer, more “suburban” side.

Growing up in mid-town Kansas City, I have never been able to stand the suburbs, so I haven’t really been able to put my finger on why I don’t mind it here. I think it’s because the way things are spaced out makes it feel different, like you’re in a hybrid zone. And here’s where the idea of balance comes into play. Running down the trail today, I realized I had open fields to my right, and typical suburban-esque homes (small yards, homes stretched nearly to the fence lines) to my left. Every time I wandered down a street that looked like I would fall straight into Leave it to Beaver, I would find a little (or big) sanctuary of open green space tucked in the middle of the neighborhood. And the best part for a runner is the fabulous running trail that weaves its way through the entire east side of town, connecting all of these wonderful spaces.

So my rather long run today helped me see, literally, why I like Petaluma. I think they’re on to something here. This is not leap-frog development, just good planning. They’ve found a balance between a suburban lifestyle with larger homes and smaller yards, and an open space feel with parks, trails, and open fields. Everything mixed together. For some, it’s the best of both worlds.

Community Gardens Enhance Kansas City Neighborhoods

Posted on by annandmeg

Community Gardens Enhance Kansas City Neighborhoods
10-28-11

It is mid-October. The end of the harvest time at many community gardens. The last of the tomatoes are still green, there are still rows of lettuce but gradually the beds are switching from vegetables to fall flowers or simply put to bed for the winter. The gardens, though winding down, are still lush and green. They add beauty in the neighborhoods where they are situated.

Urban gardens represent fresh, locally grown food. But they also represent the shared experience of working the soil–interacting with neighbors in planting, tending and harvesting produce. Community gardens offer families and communities healthy food produced without the financial and environmental cost of transporting the food. Looking forward, community gardens provide low-cost food to those with limited resources, opportunities to use abandoned properties to enhance, rather than detract, from the desirability of a neighborhood. These gardens can provide opportunities for individuals, neighborhoods and organizations to have a source of income from the sale of locally grown produce. Some sell food for profit to neighbors, restaurants or through farmers’ markets. A few donate all their produce to Harvesters or provide it to families of student “farmers”. incorporate gardens as part of community ministries.

There are easily 40 such gardens in metro Kansas City. They are located on main streets and quiet streets. They are on church property and school property. They are planted, maintained and harvested by students, church communities and restauranteurs. A very few local gardens include chicken and tilapia—yes, the fish—others offer berries and herbs, in addition to, or instead of traditional vegetables.

Many of these gardens are neighborhood gathering spots. A few have benches, fountains, and even tables. Live music is often a part of the weekend activities. There are also cooking and nutrition classes.

While the new breed of ccommunity gardens focus on fruits and vegetables, Kansas Citians cannot ignore the classic beauty of the Kauffman Gardens across the street from the Kauffman Foundation and the lovely garden adjacent to the New Reform Temple on Gregory.

All these gardens enhance the lives of neighborhoods and the overall life and health of the community. They help shift the balance toward healthier neighborhoods.