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Background
and History of the
Lafferty Ranch Issue
Context
Documents
Listed below, in reverse chronological
order, are some of the seminal documents of the 11-year
efforts to open Lafferty Park, dating from the early 1990s.
They provide some of the background for the current
situation.
2005
2004
2003
2002
- Consolidation of
public position statements on Lafferty Park by
candidates for public office in Petaluma,
Fall 2002.
- FLP commentary and public
letters on the Lafferty legislation attempt,
Summer 2002
- FLP's op-ed With
Lafferty and justice for all by Larry Modell
and Bruce Hagen, published in the Press
Democrat on June 5, on the Supervisor's rejection
of Petaluma's application for Open Space District
help in opening Lafferty Park.
- Press Democrat
coverage and Argus-Courier
articles, editorials and columns regarding
the Supervisor's decision on May 28, 2002 to deny
Open Space District funding for Lafferty Park, as
well as a terrific
cartoon by Rich Benbrook in the A-C. Also
selected letters
to the editor and this excellent commentary by Scott
Hess in the North Bay Progressive.
- Open Space
District staff report recommending rejection
of Petaluma's application to sell Lafferty's
development rights to raise funds to open the
park.
- Threatening letter
by Stephen Butler and Les Perry, attorneys to
Peter Pfendler, to the Directors of the Open
Space District on the eve of its first
consideration of Petaluma's application for OSD
funding, dated May 14, 2002. Also see FLP's response to the
Butler/Perry letter of 5/13/2002, written by
Matt Maguire and Bruce Hagen and sent to the OSD
Directors and senior staff in the wee hours of 5/14/2002,
and Bruce's
lampooning of the Butler Perry letter.
- Editorial in the
April 17, 2002 Petaluma Argus-Courier
supporting Open Space District's purchase of
Lafferty's development rights
- Summary of
arguments for Open Space District purchase of
development rights for the Lafferty Park
property, by Friends of Lafferty Park
- FLP press release
announcing support by five city councils for
the Lafferty Park and OSD application, April 26,
2002
- Closeups of
historical maps of the Lafferty property,
with analysis of the ramifications for the
current dispute over access to the property from
Sonoma Mountain Road.
- Letter from CHP to
County of 03/27/02 stating their policy with
respect to FLP's monthly marches
- Email
correspondence between Larry Modell for FLP and
Sonoma County officials and functionaries on
the topic of special event permits for our
monthly walks.
- Letter from FLP to
Sheriff Jim Piccinini regarding his
Department's response to our January and February
Walk to the Park events
- Letter from FLP to
Sonoma County appealing the conditional approval
of the permit for our February 24, 2002
"Walk to the Park" on First Amendment
grounds.
- Threatening
letters on "needed" improvements to
Sonoma Mountain Road
sent by the County Board of Supervisors to the
Petaluma City Council on the eve of EIR
certification meetings in March and October, 2001.
These letters had the intended effect of
discouraging Petaluma from proceeding with the
park project at that time. See also FLP's
rebuttal to the Sonoma Mountain Conservancy's
claims of the high level of danger of Sonoma
Mountain Road.
- Nasty
letter by Stephen Butler,
attorney for the Peter Pfendler and Sonoma
Mountain Conservancy, expressing the concerns of
another Lafferty neighbor to the "Walk to
the Park" event of January 13, 2002
Here is the response to Butler from the Petaluma
City Attorney, stating
among other things that Petaluma does not concede
the issue of private ownership of the "disputed
triangle" in front of the Lafferty Park gate.
- Sonoma
County code governing special event permits
- Petaluma
City code governing special event permits Contrast Petaluma's "First
Amendment-friendly" code with the county's,
above!
2001
- Road safety and liability:
signage comparison Analysis with photos
showing the county's inconsistency with regard to
their expressed concerns about additional traffic
on Sonoma Mountain Road
- Press "backgrounder"
by Bruce Hagen, summarizing events through
2001.
- Press release for the
"A Walk to the Park" event on
January 13, 2002
- Lafferty song lyrics! Mountaintop Cathedral
words and music by Rick Pearse; and This Land is Your (Lafferty)
Land, new lyrics by Hank Zucker
Les Perry, attorney
for the SMC, saying the possibility bringing suit
against Petaluma if it approves the Lafferty Park
project has "never been discussed by the
Sonoma Mountain Conservancy" , in
response to a question from Councilmember Matt
Maguire. Audio clip from 1016/01 EIR meeting.
- Excepts from
Lafferty EIR dealing with consistency with the
county General Plan
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Letter
from Friends of Lafferty Park to the Petaluma
City Council following its approval of the
Lafferty Park EIR on October 16, 2001
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Remarks
by David Keller to Petaluma City Council on
March 26, 2001 ("Top 10 Ways to Kill
Lafferty Park")
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Op-Ed
by Bruce Hagen and Larry Modell of Friends of
Lafferty Park published March 26, 2001 in the
Press Democrat
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Sonoma
County Grand Jury report, published in early 2001,
finding the Lafferty EIR process to that point
had been fully open and well publicized. This
file, on the Superior Court's website, is in
Adobe PDF format. If you need the free Acrobat
reader, go to www.adobe.com
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Press Democrat
editorials of March 2 and October 18, 2001 in
support of approving the Lafferty EIR and park
project.
2000 and earlier
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Ad
appearing the the Wall Street Journal around
August 25, 2000 advertising Peter Pfendler's other
ranch and mansion, in Tehama County, California,
for sale. Asking price: $60 million.
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Letter
from Andrea Mackenzie of SCAPOSD to the City of
Sonoma turning down their request for funding
to help build a trail on city-owned open space,
May 10, 2000
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Press Democrat
editorial of September 2, 1999 criticizing
Sonoma County Supervisor Mike Kerns for his
unwillingness to help Petaluma open Lafferty
Ranch, and connect trails to it.
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Press Democrat
editorial of June 23, 1999 criticizing
Lafferty opponents as unneighborly and
hypocritical.
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Press
Democrat article of August 28, 1998 on the anti-trail
restricted covenants signed by several
Lafferty neighbors, and the ramifications for
Sonama County's Outdoor Recreation Plan, trails
over Sonoma Mountain, and Lafferty Park.
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Letter
on election gains by Larry Modell to the
Argus Courier and Press Democrat, November 1998.
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Press
Democrat article from June 17, 1998 linking Mike
Kerns, Brian Sobel, and the Sonoma Mountain
Conservancy.
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Lafferty
News Our most recent (June 1998) flyer.
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Open
Space and Trails op-ed by Will Stapp in the
Argus Courier, June 1998
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Presentation
to Sonoma County Taxpayers Association on
benefits and costs of developing Lafferty Ranch
as a wilderness park, by Bruce Hagen, January 15,
1998
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CLRRP
position statement on County interference
with Lafferty process, September 1997
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Op-ed
by Bruce Hagen on Lafferty status, August
1997
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Lafferty
flyer of April 1997
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Lafferty
Ranch Plan and EIR Framework submitted by the
City's Lafferty Access Committee to the Petaluma
City Council on February 26, 1997
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Ordinance
2022 passed unanimously by the City Council on
July 29, 1996, following the voter fraud scandal
and the collapse of the Lafferty-Moon swap. This
ordinance is almost exactly the same as the
"Keep Lafferty" initiative which failed
to qualify for the ballot on a technicality. It
commits the City to keeping Lafferty Ranch in
public ownership and to opening it for public
enjoyment.
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Press
Democrat article describing the results of their
poll on the Lafferty-Moon swap. Respondents
opposed the Swap by more than 3-1, with most
saying, "Lafferty is irreplaceable."
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1996
agreement by Lafferty neighbors and opponents
Peter Pfendler and Al Bettman to continue
grazing on Lafferty if Pfendler acquires in the
"Swap," and to try to restrict public
access to the property.
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"The Whitepaper"
Bruce Hagen authored this document, which was
submitted to Petaluma city and Sonoma County
officials in early 1996. It remains the
definitive case for keeping Lafferty as a
wilderness park.
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Bruce Hagen's Remarks to the Sonoma
County OSD regarding the Moon easement
purchase, January 1996
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Op-ed
by Bruce Hagen, December 1995.
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Why
Keep Lafferty? flyer. Flyers like ths were
widely distributed in Petaluma througout 1995.
They helped educate the public and mobilize
opposition to the "swap", which would
have dealt Lafferty to Peter Pfendler in exchange
for Moon Ranch. This version was published in
November 1995.
Miscellaneous
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Home page of the Walk to the Park events led
by Friends of Lafferty Park throughout 2002.
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The Legend of
Teerlaghie, a multimedia fable sent to
us some years ago by an unknown cyber-Aesop.
We're not sure what it has to do with anything,
but we link to it in the interest of showcasing e-folklore.
Searching
Newspaper Archives
The following newspapers have covered the
Lafferty issue with some regularity:
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The Petaluma Argus
Courier has provided the most complete
coverage of the controversy. Unfortunately, the
Argus Courier has no online archive prior to
around June 1999, and even more recent
archives are incomplete. Back issues are
available at some Sonoma County Library branches,
but searching and retrieval is laborious.
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The Santa Rosa Press
Democrat also has extensive coverage of
Lafferty and related issues. Articles, editorials
and letters to the editor from late 1994 to the
present are available online from the Press
Democrat archives. The PD now makes its
searchable archives available without charge (hurray!).
Note that if the word "Lafferty" is
part of your search string, you will encounter a
lot of obits in the Press Democrat, as there is a
mortuary in Santa Rosa with that name. One way to
avoid them is to enter "Lafferty Ranch"
in the entry box and click the "exact phrase"
button.
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The Northern
California Bohemian (formerly the Sonoma
County Independent) has had provided spotty,
summarized coverage of the controversy from its
alternative newsweekly perspective. Back issues
are now hard to find online.
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The
San Francisco Chronicle & Examiner have
published a few articles about Lafferty Ranch and
related issues. Their archives are also free.
Of course, you can also try the general
Web search engines to search for words or phrases of
interest.
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