Bob the nice thing about our town is that is is surrounded by agriculture/ chicken and cattle farms. So we aren't part of the sprawl from 45 miles south to the Golden Gate bridge. We also survived the 1906 earth quake so the heart of the downtown is much as it was during the turn of the century. Most old buildings are still in use (our feed mill is a 24 hour fitness!) Funny on a side note, George Lucus was instramental in getting us a new theatre after the old one pulled out quite a few years ago. A bunch of girl scouts approached him with a buissness plan, and now we have a cool new theatre that has a retro 50's markee all in neon and two rocket towers!
Petaluma was only 22 k people 30 years ago, but has grown. We now have strick growth limits designed to keep the herritage of the town intact. It is very unique in this part of the country where most of the towns around us have exploded with growth and strip malls. We still have a lot of mom and pop shops thriving here!