Hey, Petaluma!  Last week on this blog I discussed the results of a huge national poll (353,000 people surveyed) that recognized Petaluma/Santa Rosa as the happiest place in California, and the fifth happiest in the nation. And, Sunset Magazine calls it the perfect little town. CNNmoney.com names it as one of the top places to live. Country Living Magazine just did a three-page spread in their February, 2010, issue that featured the laid back lifestyle and amazing antiquing. Travel & Leisure Magazine named Petaluma one of the Nation’s Top Ten Getaways Near a Major City. So, from a lifestyle standpoint, I think that we’ve made it into the national spotlight – Petaluma is a fine place to live and work.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, along comes Google’s fiber optic network offering to bring their ultra-fast Internet network to one or more lucky cities in the US. Now, that’s a lifestyle change we can incorporate easily. According to a recent Press Democrat story, “Google’s network could raise property values, attract businesses, create jobs and increase competition amongst Internet providers.” Estimated Internet speeds of 100 times faster will be delivered at a competitive price. FAQ’s on the project can be found on the site. The project overview can be found here.

The Director of Information Technology for the city of Petaluma, Tim Williamson, is in the process of applying for the opportunity. Google estimates that the application will take somewhere around 4 hours to complete. A worthwhile investment of time, I’d say. 

Petaluma residents – Get involved. Visit Googleluma.com and let’s improve our lifestyle! We already know how great it is here, but just think of the possibilities.

Posted by:Martha O’Hayer

Phone: 415.898.2545×104 Fax: 415-898-2963 Email: jmasterson@fhallen.com

Both the marketing and technology departments at Frank Howard Allen Realtors recognize that the Company must serve two sets of customers with extraordinary service and support; our REALTORS®, and their clients. We take great pride in providing tools and products that add value throughout the transaction process to all parties with state-of-the-art real estate technology including; pre-listing materials, fast and easy web property searches, automatic Home Alert e-mails, online neighborhood information and reports, and much more. We are constantly evolving our software and services to provide our agents and their clients with the best and most usable technology available.

In addition, we provide our REALTORS® with both in person and over the phone desktop support. Our agents have access to our myFHAllen “One Stop Shopping” software that provides Contact Management, transactions and forms with automated data entry, elegant reports including CMAs, Buyer’s Reports, Pinpoint Maps, and more. MyFHAllen also includes marketing tools such as listing packet materials, flyers, postcards and brochures, photographers and virtual tours, along with agent-branded Home Alerts and Agent Web Profiles. We also provide Tax Search software with Webmail/POP/IMAP access.

Jennifer Masterson has a 15+ year background in IT including IT Management positions at Birkenstock and Smith and Hawken, Systems Administration at Cisco Systems, Real Goods Trading Company, Tripp Lite and more. Jennifer has been a North Bay resident for more than a decade and she currently lives in Greenbrae, California, with her children.

View Jennifer’s blog posts on the Guide me home to Marin blog.