Save the Trestle Champion Christopher Stevick is This Year's Good Egg

It seems congratulations are in order for Petaluma’s newest Good Egg, Christopher Stevick.

Stevick, the managing director of Petaluma Trolley Living History Museum, has been honored for his efforts to preserve Petaluma history through his extensive volunteer work with Heritage Homes where he served as president three terms. 

“It’s a tremendous honor that I hope I can live up to,” said Stevick. “It will be wonderful to be able to let people know about things going on in Petaluma that they might not know.” 

A member, board member and past president of Heritage Homes of Petaluma, Stevick worked closely with the city’s redevelopment agency and the owner of 119 Petaluma Blvd. North to beautifully restore one of our downtown's iron fronts that houses . 

Stevick also designed the winning logo for Petaluma’s sesquicentennial celebration. If that doesn’t make Christopher Stevick a Petaluma Good Egg, I don’t know what more he’d need to do. 

But wait, there's more. He's worked tirelessly on the many fundraisers to support the Save the Trestle campaign and was a major force behind the creation of the Petaluma Trolley Living History Museum on Baylis Street (on East Washington Street across from the Golden Eagle Shopping Center.) 

“He’s been a key player in halting the teardown of the Water Street trestle," said Petaluma historian Katherine Rinehart. "He lobbied for the preparation of a Historic Structures Report which not only found the trestle appearing eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, but provided an analysis as to how rehabilitation should be conducted depending on its future use.” 

“Many people thought the trestle couldn’t be saved," Stevick said. "That it couldn’t be done. But the more I studied it I realized that it was such a plum – so central to our history. Somebody had to save it." 

Congratulations to Christopher Stevick on entering the heroic pantheon of Petaluma’s prestigious Good Eggs. 

The Good Egg induction ceremony will be held on Saturday, April 9. 

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Not all Good Eggs are officially recognized by civic agencies, so I wanted to be sure to recognize someone who I feel qualifies in his own way. 

How many times has Mark Medeiros tipped me to interesting underground happenings around town? The welder and artistic denizen is my spy tooling around on his rusty bike picking up details on upcoming art shows, auctions and parties. He’s just as likely to be found pouring wine at a political fundraiser, as he is to be found holding court at one of his favorite watering holes. 

“Especially, if you think they’re going to win, you have to show up and show your support,” he told me.

I always ask him what’s happening and this week he really surprised me by informing me that the only thing interesting was his 55th birthday this Sunday. He was quick to clarify for me that while we were both born in 1956 it doesn’t make us the same age; rather that it makes him younger than me because his happy day is several days after mine each February. 

So Happy Birthday Mark Medeiros -- and many happy returns of the day.