Looking Back: Petaluma has grown in 30 years, but how much?

Remembering when our population was just over 40,000 people|

Three decades ago, this month, the City of Petaluma reached a new growth milestone, with an announcement that its population had reached more than 40,000 human beings (see excerpt of story, in sidebar). The article included a photograph of city workers changing the population number from whatever-it-was on our City Limits signs to 40,284.

That marked a three percent growth from the year before.

Jumping to the present, the population of Petaluma appears to have grown quite a bit, more than 30 percent, over the last thirty years. But what exactly is the current population of our town?

Presently, our street signs alerting motorists that they are about to cross city limits all boast the number 59,000.

But is that accurate?

A rudimentary Google search turns up numbers ranging between 57,000 and 60,000. That last number seems to be a popular one, showing up in numerous articles about Petaluma, still frequently identified in the press as having a population of 60,000.

Which would make those signs wrong by 1,000 people.

A call to reference librarian Emma Wendel, at the Petaluma Regional Library, confirms that the estimated figure varies widely, depending on which source you consult. One of the more recent City of Petaluma documents Wendel located - the city’s preliminary budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year - includes an eye-opening figure, in reference to City staffing vacancies. “Accounting for these vacancies,” the document reads, “Petaluma’s current staffing levels are approximately 12 percent less than 10 years ago. During the same period, Petaluma’s population increased by approximately 14 percent, based on the State Department of Finance’s 2018 population estimate of 62,708.”

62,708. In other words, the most current data suggests that Petaluma’s population has added 22,424 humans since the May, 1988 article appeared. Calls to the City’s planning department – asking when the population numbers were last adjusted on City Limits signs, and when they might be changed in the future - were not immediately returned. But one thing is clear.

If the City’s own preliminary budget is correct, the signs currently posted around town are off by almost 4,000 people. Let’s hope that budget includes some funds to update our City Limits signage - before we end up with another 1000.

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