What happened to Petaluma’s downtown benches?

The removal of some of the benches causes concern to frequent shoppers. Some benches were relocated, while others are out for repairs.|

A number of Petaluma residents have expressed dismay over the disappearance of benches from the Golden Concourse and Helen Putnam Plaza - leaving fewer places to stay and sit a spell in that area of downtown.

The benches in question are believed to be some of the ones made by Petaluma High School metal shop students between 2003 and 2007. They were removed for much needed refurbishing, but not all of them will be returned to their former locations for a variety of reasons.

According to Ron DeNicola, parks and landscape manager for the city, the six benches in the Golden Concourse walkway, which stretches from the Keller Street Garage down to Petaluma Boulevard, were removed about a year ago when the owner of the building to the north had major foundation problems. Big cracks at the base of the structure required work that involved tearing up the sidewalk along the building.

“At that time, the building owner asked that the benches - six long metal and wood ones - be removed,” said DeNicola. “At that time, they were sent to the city corporation yard. The benches were in really bad condition, so we had them refurbished and put in Walnut Park, where they replaced wood slat benches that were in really bad shape.”

DeNicola said the benches were not returned to the Golden Concourse because that section of walkway is private property and the owner opted to not have them placed there.

“There’s a public easement in the Golden Concourse, so the public has the right to walk there, but it’s not city property,” said Dan St. John, directer of public works. “My understanding is that some folks expressed concern that the benches attracted homeless, and so perhaps the owner wanted them removed to clean up the area a bit.”

The decision was eventually made to put the refurbished benches in Walnut Park as part of the Petaluma Service Alliance’s improvement project that was underway at the time. Two additional badly damaged benches DeNicola found in the city corporation yard were also repaired and taken to Walnut Park.

Some residents, however, are none too happy about the benches not being returned to the Golden Concourse.

“A lot of people are unhappy that the benches are gone,” said Petaluma resident Carol Eber. “I know a woman who is 85 and needs a place to stop and pause while shopping downtown. Now she goes to Target instead because the benches she used to use are gone and there isn’t a place where she can stop, sit and take a breath.”

“People need to be able to sit down,” said resident Rebecca Birch, who used to sit and read on the benches. “The elderly or disabled or a young mother dealing with her children or whatever needs a place to sit. Those benches are important.”

Marie McCusker, executive director of the Petaluma Downtown Association said that some merchants have expressed concerns about benches in downtown, particularly in Putnam Plaza, being used by transients. A meeting of the merchants was held a month ago to discuss the issue.

“The situation was that some felt the benches by Starbucks were a problem in that they encouraged people to sit there all day, particularly the homeless,” McCusker said. “Behind the benches were bushes where there was a small homeless encampment with people sleeping. It became an unsightly, difficult situation the police had a hard time monitoring.”

McCusker said the merchants in the plaza decided to make some changes, so the benches and bushes were removed and the encampment cleaned up. The two benches in Putnam Plaza by Starbucks were in bad shape and are currently being refurbished. DeNicola said that those two benches will be reinstalled in the plaza in a few weeks, but in a slightly different location facing Starbucks.

“There are also a couple of memorial or donation plaques embedded in the pavement, which we will also move to the new bench location,” DeNicola said.

The city hopes that the new location of the benches and removal of bushes will help deter unwanted loitering. Some residents don’t feel it’s a good solution.

“There is Petaluma People Services Center and Committee on the Shelterless - why penalize ordinary citizens for a social problem?” Eber said. “They took away the benches, but now they are just sitting on the ground. Wouldn’t you rather have them sitting on benches instead of dirt?”

Murray Rockowitz, a photographer with a studio on Petaluma Boulevard just across from Helen Putnam Plaza, expressed similar concerns about bench removal as a means of getting rid of unwanted characters.

“I remember when they got rid of the benches over by Topsy’s Kitchen,” he said. “Yes, some questionable characters hung out there, but there were also some old-time Petaluma guys. They would sit, talk and pass the time of day. Now they aren’t there anymore.

The benches are gone, but the people sitting on the concrete with the pit-bull are still there. The people they wanted to get rid of are still there and just sitting on the concrete instead. It doesn’t solve anything. I bring my lunch to work. I used to love walking out my door to sit down and eat. Now there’s nowhere for me to sit.”

(Contact Yovanna ?Bieberich at yovanna.bieberich@arguscourier.com. On Twitter at Yovanna_Argus.)

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