Payran floods spur neighborhood unity

<p>Many longtime residents of the Payran neighborhood have stories galore to tell about the destruction caused by the major floods there, but some of them also have vivid memories of humorous incidents that occurred at those times, and of how residents pitched in to help each other.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>“Our son, Steve, had a boa constrictor that he kept inside a locked, giant Plexiglas cage, and during one of the floods, it got out,” said Candy Johnson, who moved to a home on Madison Street with her family in 1967. “We found it in our bathtub, and the Argus-Courier ran a picture of it. After seeing the picture, some of our neighbors were more scared of the snake than they were of the flooding.”</p><p>“During the 1982 flood, one of our friends was instrumental in helping people get out of their homes. And after the floods, as people were cleaning out their homes, people from St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church came by and gave away sandwiches and coffee,” said Phyllis Sharrow, who has lived on Madison Street since 1971.</p><p>Richard Speel, who moved to West Payran Street with wife Linda in 1986, says that the floods have helped to unify neighbors, and boosted their survival skills.</p><p>“People who live here are well aware of what it takes to survive,” he said. </p><p>The neighborhood sprang up in the late 1940s, and soon consisted of many families with young children.</p><p>“Times were a little rough and a little hard then, but we all did things together,” said Evelyn Ransom, who, along with husband Bob, in 1950 moved into the home on Payran Street that she still lives in, and raised two boys.</p><p>Many families were attracted to the neighborhood’s affordable homes and working-class spirit. And even as the neighborhood grew and a new Payran Street bridge brought more traffic, it retained a cozy, friendly feel.</p><p>“It was great for our two daughters to grow up here with nice neighbors,” said Janet Mauro, who has lived with husband Joe on Vallejo Street for the past 35 years. “Our daughters have remained friends with the kids they grew up with to this day, even though they’ve all moved away.”</p><p>Dave Starbuck, a resident of Bernice Court since 1977, recalled the lively, annual Fourth of July gatherings.</p><p>“We closed off an area and adults supervised a fireworks show,” he said.</p><p>A major flood occurred in the low-lying neighborhood in 1982, and caused an estimated $28 million in damage. During the flood, several feet of water accumulated in many homes and businesses.</p><p>“Our house, as well as many others, was not habitable,” said Joe Mauro. “Our hardwood flooring buckled and we pulled it up and used it for firewood in our fireplace to heat the house when we were in it.</p><p>“My father and mother-in-law came down from Oregon to help us for a few weeks. They slept in the camper while Janet, me and our daughters spent the nights with friends at their house on upper Edith Street.”</p><p>Joanne Lubbers, who moved with husband Floyd to a house on Rio Vista Way in 1952, recalls that the Petaluma Fire Department provided big fans to dry out their water-damaged home and that neighbors helped them clean it up.</p><p>“The camaraderie of the neighborhood was still close at the time. And the Red Cross was over here (to help) immediately,” she said.</p><p>Another flood occurred the following year, and in 1986, a flood caused $1 million in damage. That same year, Congress authorized a federal flood-control project to protect the area.</p><p>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in collaboration with the city of Petaluma, tackled the project, and due to funding delays, it was implemented in five separate components. These included widening the channel between the Lakeville Avenue and Payran Street bridges, building a weir to divert water flows, lining the banks of the Petaluma River with steel and, in 2007, removing an abandoned railroad trestle from the river.</p><p>Additional flooding occurred in 1992, 1995, 1998 and 2005, when some residences and businesses upstream were inundated by up to five feet of water.</p><p>The flooding clearly has taken its toll on the neighborhood.</p><p>“The neighborhood started to change after the flooding,” said Janet Mauro. “People moved out. Older people were scared. It was too stressful; they couldn’t handle it.”</p><p>Yet, many residents have remained there for decades, albeit with a wary eye on major storms.</p><p>“During the 1982 flood, we had water in the back of our house right up to our deck. I still worry about flooding,” Sharrow said.</p><p>“When it starts raining real hard, everyone goes out and looks,” added James Cordrey Jr., who has lived with wife Margaret on Pidgeon Court since 1976.</p><p>John Scalamini, who has lived with wife GiGi on Rio Vista Way since the 1980s, says that living next to the Petaluma River “proves to be interesting” at times during hard rains.</p><p>“We got more nervous before they built the flood wall (in 1998),” he said.</p><p>Most of the children of the neighborhood’s original families are long gone, and the neighborhood has lost some of its cohesiveness. Many of the parents of those children remain, however.</p><p>“I have the same neighbors on all four sides. There are a lot of older, first-time owners of these homes who still live here. It’s not a transitory neighborhood. A lot of people have been here forever,” said Joe Sesto, a Payran Street resident.</p><p>Some demographics of the neighborhood have changed significantly during the past two decades. The portion of residents aged 35 to 64 has risen from 32.3 percent in 1980 to an estimated 41.5 percent in 2008, and some residents have observed a recent increase in the number of children.</p><p>“When we moved here in 1967, most the families had young kids, and they all played sports together. Now, there aren’t as many kids, but they’re starting to come back,” Johnson said.</p><p>The Payran neighborhood also has become more diverse, and annual incomes have substantially risen. The portion of Hispanic residents has jumped from 10.2 percent in 1990 to 22.4 percent in 2008, and the percentage of households with an annual income of $75,000 or more has grown from 4.7 percent to 48.8 percent during this time. </p><p>“New people have moved in. There’s more of a mix of Hispanics than we used to have, and there are more kids around,” Speel said.</p><p>Many residents like the neighborhood’s proximity to McKinley Elementary School and the downtown area, but several complain about traffic and parking problems.</p><p>“I live on the corner of Rio Vista and Payran, and have four kids who think the front yard is a foreign country because I won’t allow them to play there, because of the traffic situation. It’s not a neighborhood where little kids can play in the front yard, with all the people driving so fast,” said Art Piazza, a resident of Payran Street.</p><p>One of the newest residents, Shelley Singer, who moved with her partner from Fairfax to a home on Madison Street in 2006, raves about the area.</p><p>“The neighborhood doesn’t have the snob appeal of a lot of the west side, but it’s like a small city,” she said. “The people are friendly, and although the houses are small and close together, the yards are nice and people have been remodeling and repainting their homes.</p><p>“It doesn’t have a lot of crime, and is solidly middle class. A lot of interesting people — including artists, musicians and writers — live here. It’s a very exciting area, a lot more interesting than most places in Marin.”</p><p>“It’s a very livable area. I hope to be here forever,” added Ann Matzen, who lives with husband Harold on Bernice Court.</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com. Chris Samson, Corey Young, John Jackson and Yovanna Bieberich contributed to this story.)</p>