I am moving to Pennsylvania to be closer to family and old friends for the next phase of life. Here is my final report.

I have been told by county administrators that the deadline for applying for a grant to make changes to School Street is this month (March). I have been following the City Council agenda postings and it has not come up. The last Council meeting in March is this Wednesday, March 18. The agenda has just been posted, but the item is still not there. I have asked the mayor and the deputy city manager to make sure I received a copy of the staff report before it is discussed by the Council. I have received nothing so far, nor is it posted with the agenda.

There are two possibilities: 1) they have given up; 2) the deadline is later than stated. I am guessing the latter. Since I will soon be leaving, I hope that one or more people will keep paying attention to the posted agendas, keep people informed, and otherwise engage with city government on this important issue. If you need to alert the signers, you may contact me and I will send the message. dennisobrien@spacetreaty.org

I had visited Pennsylvania last fall and enjoyed the stunning colors of fall. When I returned and found out that the magnificent trees downtown were being threatened, I started the petition. Thank you for signing, and thanks to all those who contributed to help spread the word (over $1,000). I believe we reached every person in the Ukiah zip code who was signed up with Change.org, plus some in neighboring zip codes. It is hard to ignore 2,991 signatures when the leading candidate in the last Council election got around 2,000 votes.

The best of luck to all of you. Take care.

Dennis