I love all the beautiful parks and the redwood trees on the Expressway. I feel that they give RP a bit of it's personality. I see RP as an active, family-centered community, with a school in every neighborhood and large parks with fields and equipment for the families to play. This is what drew me to Rohnert Park when we were starting our family back in 1989. What I would like to see in Rohnert Park is more community activities like the Friday night markets to bring the community together which is what we see in places like Petaluma. An annual parade or festival might be nice where people can come together to show some pride for their town.

Although I don't live in Rohnert Park anymore, one of my criteria before I moved was to stay close to RP, the city I had grown to love because of the proximity of everything I needed. I found a place in Cotati, so I'm still in the "loop" geographically.

I don't spend any time in downtown Cotati to try to find someone to talk to. I think if you follow your hobbies and activities, you'll find people who have things in common,
rather than just someone to talk to.

I've found that volunteer work gives me opportunities to make new friends and share
important contributions. Even more than hanging out at a downtown coffee shop.

With gas prices I'm especially glad to live near Rohnert Park, where I have access to whatever I need, within a 2 mile radius. (except for TJ's) There are also many options and shortcuts for getting places.

I lived in Novato before moving to Rohnert Park, and the first thing I noticed was the ease of getting in and out of parking lots. They seem much more thought out here.

There's no place I'd rather be than here, and I lived in Paradise (Hawaii) for 13 years!

I have lived in RP since 1973, There wasnt much here, Safeway, the Highschool ect. What I have allways loved about my town is that it was allways clean, the roads were allways excellent, Cotati was an awsome place to hang out hear music and RP is the best city for gettn arround on a bicycle. But even back in 73 it was allways abled a bedroom community, serving commuters. Part of the problem is the lack of intrest and partisipation in our citys activitys. In recent years I have also seen the vacancys and blight and the density increase in most neighborhoods, but the problems are much worse in Petaluma and Santa Rosa, ( half the time police dont resond in those communitys.) I for one an a proponent of a downtown area with entertainment and shops and pubs ect, but I think first we should get back into that standard we had in the early days, I see trash, abandond cars, landscaping not being taken care of and the roads , what is it gonna take to get some of them repaved or at least fixed. lets work on those things and we need a bi yearly activity unique to RP , idea contest? any way I love RP the town has been good to me, I enjoy being here and find it very convient. that being said it does need a personalty....

We moved to Rohnert Park in 1981 after living in Petaluma for two years. The number one reason we chose RP was the police and fire service. When living in Petaluma I came home to a burglary in progress and it took the Petaluma police over 90 minutes to respond and then all they had to say was it was probably kids since they only took cash, well great but they were in the house when I came home....anyway after looking around for a few months we moved to RP and have been very happy here since. We do not believe it is necessary for RP to have a "downtown" or a personality other than the bedroom community it is. We love the parks and walking paths, the neighborhood plan, with each section having one main thoroughfare and a decent traffic flow. When we moved here there was nothing on the west side of the freeway but I am happy that the box stores are all over on the other side of the freeway, close but not mixed into the living space we enjoy. Although we did not need the schools we felt the city plan that included an elementary school and a park in every neighborhood was a wonderful plan and we still do. There are problems with having a downtown as well as not having a downtown we have a relatively major crime free environment here, RP is much safer than its neighboring cities and we enjoy a very relaxing way of life here. I'd like to see the city council focus efforts to returning the city to its more manicured feel of years ago and keep big business west of the freeway.

Rp doesn't need a downtown. What we need is less yucky chain restaurants; such as Hooters and IHOP

Moved here in 1960...have seen RP grow from a few streets to a town with a heart and soul.

Vern

Do you mean Ronhert Park, like the freeway sign? To paraphrase the immortal Rodney Dangerfield, We don't get no respect...

Alex, didn't mean the freeway sign in particular, but that counts. Thanks for the comment.

I grew up in Petaluma and we moved to Rohnert Park 8 years ago. We love the family feel from Rohnert Park. Petaluma has it's historic downtown but not the sense of community we have here. I think keeping the walking paths, Farmers market, and great family culture are priority number one. Not worrying about bars and coffee shops so we can have a downtown to attract a few outsiders.

I very much agree with Chris W. and GroundsGuys. We truly need more local organic restaurants and grocery stores. The city needs to remove the cheap, roach motels (Rodeway Inn and Budget Inn)...where RPPD have arrested burglars, drug guys from other cities. And not to mention a murderer from Santa Rosa! So really, the city needs to build more upscale buildings like Towne Green in Windsor to attract quality businesses and people!!

Thank you all for not bashing RP like others have in the past. Janice, Cade, Sandy, and Cathy couldn't have worded any better. Should we all meet, hopefully form a big group and form a group and go to the city council?? RP is in desperate need of landscape mAkeover!

I only moved to RP recently, but I have to admit I gave it a bad rap. We called it the chain restaurant and store haven. I always thought I could never live in a place that didn't support mom and pop stores. It took less then two months to change my ways. RP is great! It has quiet neighborhoods, lots of parks, and those chain stores are actually nice to visit (I was used to going to Vintage Oaks in Novato, where on a busy day can be very hectic to get in and out of). Now I tell all my Marin friends how great RP is, I just wish I knew it sooner.

During the 1995/1996 Leadership Rohnert Park Class we studied the issue of a "downtown area being developed. Most of us felt that a downtown would evolve naturally as the town identified its personality, as shops and services attract different kinds of people they would eventually lead to connecting the various neighborhoods and commercial areas.

Instead, the town has struggled to find its identity, vacillating between big box hatred and indifference to keeping a privately owned business alive - when you have to pony up 10-15% more at the register.

Gina Belforte - who was in that leadership class, is doing the best job yet at providing a consistent, balanced vision of the city's future. But it comes it's a cost, and not without some recognition that you only get out of it what you put into it.