Candidates’ vision

<p>EDITOR: Petaluma will move forward or backward with the upcoming election. Maintaining the status quo is not an option — and who would want it to be? We can vote to elect the individuals who have proven, time and again, that they can effect the changes we need to protect the quality of life in our region, and prepare us and our children for a viable future, or we can vote for out-of-touch candidates who may seem nice, but aren't very capable. </p><p>If you like the attractive and functional changes that have taken place in Petaluma over recent years, you can thank Pamela Torliatt, David Glass, Teresa Barrett and other progressive councilmembers for their leadership. You can thank them for envisioning and bringing to fruition the city-centered, mixed-use housing and retail developments that strengthen the quality of our community. You can thank them for our downtown theater, for the integrity of our urban growth boundary, and for bringing to town forward-thinking businesses, like Athletic Soles, Cowgirl Creamery and Straus Family Creamery, plus the expansion of Lagunitas Brewery. You can thank them for making Petaluma a stronger tourist destination by incorporating trails at our new water recycling facility and working to protect Shollenberger Park from the harmful effects of the proposed asphalt plant.</p><p>You can thank them for looking out for our financial interests. We've had the millions of dollars we've needed in a reserve fund to keep the city solvent during this economic downturn. That is what reserves are for and, because we had them, we are not having to ask voters to increase the city's sales tax to pay for essential services like other Sonoma County cities have needed to do.</p><p>To keep our community moving forward, I will be voting for Pamela Torliatt for supervisor, David Glass for mayor, and Teresa Barrett and Jason Davies for City Council. These are the candidates with experience, vision and know-how. These are the people I trust with our future.</p><p>SHERI CARDO, Petaluma</p>