What a fast start it’s been! Interest in The Vacancy Project has exceeded anything we expected — and honestly, we’re a little stunned. Between the all-hands push to revitalize and rebuild the trestle, renewed energy around Putnam Plaza (on the heels of Urban Chat’s February 25th workshop), and now The Vacancy Project, the community’s message is loud and clear: enough with the waiting, let’s get moving!
And move we have. Here’s what we’ve accomplished in the last month:
- Our new and improved website is live! Find us in the same place, a quick hop from urbanchat.org, or directly at TheVacancyProject.org. Bookmark it — things are moving fast, and you won’t want to miss an update. Huge thanks to website developer extraordinaire, Chris Grim, for turning this around so quickly.
- The first draft of our Developer Survey is done. We’ll use the survey to interview vacant lot owners and developers about what it actually takes to bring a project to life in Petaluma. Next up: a few test runs with friendly faces, then formal interviews launch in September. Thanks to Claudia Cleaver, Stuart Sutton, Jeff Sacher and our team of intrepid volunteers for their work on this effort. Want to join the survey team? Reach out at TheVacancyProject@urbanchat.org.
In the meantime, have a vacant property story of your own — good, bad, or baffling? We want to hear it. These informal accounts will help shape our follow-on surveys and provide preliminary anecdotal feedback to the City’s Economic Development team as the City updates its zoning. Examples are requested by August 31, 2026. Send your story to TheVacancyProject@urbanchat.org.
- We published our first blog post, Retail Is the Heart of Downtown — But Only If We Get It Right. It builds on the Future of Retail white paper Strategic Economics prepared for the City of Petaluma’s General Plan Update, and spoiler alert: it lays out three low-cost moves we can make right now to jump-start revitalization.
- Fundraising for The Vacancy Project is now officially underway. You can donate online here, or if you would like to support a specific initiative, reach out at TheVacancyProject@urbanchat.org — we’d love to share what’s in the works.
Enjoy the heat of summer!
Until next time,
The Vacancy Project team