Jewish Residents Upset That Deer Creek Discussion Scheduled on First Night of Passover

A group of Jewish residents is outraged that the city is planning to discuss a controversial development project on the first night of Passover, a holiday commemorating the Jews’ exodus from Egypt, meaning they won’t have a chance to publically comment on the issue.

One of the topics on the agenda for the April 18 city council meeting is Deer Creek Village, a much-disputed shopping center on North McDowell and Rainier Avenue. But that night is also the start of Pesah, when Jews around the world sit down to a traditional dinner called a seder.

Now, some have even gone as far as to say the decision to discuss the highly volatile topic smacks of insensitivity to non-Christians and specifically targets people who are passionately opposed to the development.

“Two of the main people working on this---me and (former City Councilman) David Keller--are being excluded because we are Jewish and it’s shameful,” said Janice Cader-Thompson, who lives across the street from the proposed 350,000 square foot shopping center. “I would like to know if the city council would want to come to a meeting on Christmas.”

Cader-Thompson says the decision—thus far—to not move the meeting date or at least the sensitive topic, is a departure from previous years, when the council and other public agencies did not schedule meetings that fell on religious holidays.

The city says it had an internal discussion about whether to change the meeting date, but decided to proceed in order to comply with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which requires that both the planning commission and city council meet within the 45 day public review period, said Planning Manager Geoff Bradley.

“This is obviously a major project and you want as many people to participate as possible,” Bradley said. “The way that we do that is to do it on a regular meeting versus a special meeting.” He also added that the city did not want to risk being accused of “dragging the process out” by the developer.

“It’s kind of a balancing act between processing the project and doing it in a way where everyone can be involved,” he said.

An estimated 700 households in Petaluma are Jewish, according to Rabbi Ted Feldman, who heads the only synagogue in town, . To voice his concern over the timing of the meeting, Feldman has written a letter to Mayor David Glass, but says he has not yet received an answer.

“If the public is going to be engaged in looking at that item, the meeting shouldn’t be scheduled on the night when the Jewish public can’t be there,” Feldman said.

The April 18 meeting will be a discussion only, meaning that no vote will take place, Bradley said. Anyone who has concerns over the development can contact the city via phone or email.

The kerfuffle over Passover raises the issue of accommodating holidays of non-Christian communities into civic life. Using Rabbi Feldman’s estimate of 700 households, there are roughly 3,000 Jewish people in Petaluma, or 5 percent of the city’s total population. And although Christmas and Easter are two of the 14 holidays observed by the city of Petaluma, no Muslim, Jewish or any other religious holidays are observed, critics point out.

Part of it is due to practical implications.

“At some point, it comes down at how many observed holidays you want to have,” Bradley, the planning manager says.

Still, several city council members interviewed for the story say there appears to be a double standard when dealing with holidays not celebrated by the “Catholic-Christian” majority.

“We have a Christmas tree in City Hall, but we haven’t been able to have a Dia de los Muertos altar because some city council members have disagreed with it,” said Councilwoman Tiffany Renee. “We (as a city) don’t observe any Jewish holidays nor seem to take them into account in scheduling meetings. Ever.”

Councilman Mike Healy said that that emails between city council members have been “flying” back and forth over the past several days in regard to the issue, but that the item is staying on the agenda because notice of the meeting has already been distributed.

“I proposed starting the meeting at 3pm, so we could be done by sundown, but there hasn’t been much enthusiasm about that,” Healy said. “I’m frustrated that this didn’t get raised earlier because that date has been known for at least a month. If that concern has been raised earlier, it would be easy enough to change it.”

Meanwhile, some are hopeful that the council will still consider moving the item to a later date when it reconvenes this Monday.

"In my experience over the past 24 years, the city has usually ignored Jewish holidays in scheduling meetings, unless members of the public and council have forcefully requested a change," said David Keller, a former city councilman who is Jewish. "It's remarkable for a city with an active and long history of Jewish residents and businesses."