After election, a time to heal

If you’ve ever been on a long hike or backpacking trip that was just a bit beyond your comfort level and maybe involved some bad weather or an injury, you know the feeling of relief when you finally reach your car at the end of the epic journey.

For many, the 2016 election season has been one epic slog that went on too long and caused an inordinate amount of stress. Like that feeling of joy after ultimately glimpsing the end of a long, drawn-out trek, so many of us are finally breathing somewhat normally again now that this monster of an election is in the past.

Now that we know who our national and local leaders will be, at least for the next four years, we must go about the challenging work of healing our political divisions and get on with governing. Nationally, this work may prove to be even more vexing and could take most of the next four years or longer.

President-elect Donald Trump, as shocking and unforeseen as his election is, must reach out to Democrats and ensure them that he will be the leader of both the red states and the blue states.

Here in Petaluma, the re-election of our three city council members was less divisive, but hard-fought nonetheless. Mike Healy, Gabe Kearney and Kathy Miller, the three experienced incumbents, won another well-deserved term on the city’s highest elected board.

Bill Wolpert, the challenger who identifies with Petaluma’s self-styled progressives, ran an admirable campaign and demonstrated that he has the support of a large swath of Petaluma voters. We thank him for his spirited effort and for helping to spark a constructive dialogue on how to improve the city. Without his entry into the race, we would not have even had a local election.

We hope that Wolpert continues his civic engagement at the planning commission, where his expertise in architecture and city planning has proven invaluable to achieving the maximum benefit for the city from building projects.

To the winners - Healy, Kearney and Miller - we urge them to reach out to Wolpert’s supporters, listen to their ideas and begin the process of repairing the rift that this election has rent.

One key plank in Wolpert’s platform was to push for more walkable development that encourages public transit and bicycling. That’s an idea that both progressives and moderates can support, and one that, if implemented, could improve the city for future generations.

Several vacant parcels of land around the downtown transit center and the future east side SMART station would be well-served by this type of transit-oriented development and a more robust bike path network.

The main priorities of Petaluma voters remain clear. This election can be seen as yet another referendum on the Rainier crosstown connector, a project that Wolpert publicly questioned and the incumbents have long supported. A large majority of Petaluma’s voters also support the project and want to see it finally constructed, giving motorists another option to navigate our congested streets. There should be no more debate on this issue, and the city council must be unified in its effort to ensure Rainier gets built.

Petaluma’s potholed streets are still among the worst in the Bay Area, and a united city council must come up with a plan to address this pressing issue, including giving voters a tax measure to fund street repair at the next opportune ballot cycle.

Housing affordability continues to remain out of reach for many who work in Petaluma, despite a recent uptick in construction. By re-electing the incumbents, who have supported this moderate increase in development, voters have said that they want these new housing projects and the relief from escalating home prices that they bring.

The division in Petaluma, laid bare by this election season, are nominal compared to the unfortunate state of affairs at the national level, and will be much easier to overcome. The city council is, at its core, a non-partisan office and the ideological difference between Petaluma’s progressives and moderates is slight when held up next to the chasm between the reddest Trump supporter and the bluest Clinton voter.

There is much more work to do in Petaluma, which is why it is imperative that the newly re-elected council members quickly heal election wounds and get on with the business of improving the city.