Election season is finally over and more than half (60.6 percent) of those responding to the Argus-Courier’s online poll Nov. 6, 2008 are very pleased with the outcome of the presidential election as opposed to 21.2 percent who were not.

When asked if they were pleased about the results of the Petaluma City Council race in which three challengers were elected and two incumbents failed to win re-election, 42.4 percent said they were very pleased; 24.2 percent were somewhat pleased; 9.1 percent were not very pleased; and 12.1 percent were not pleased at all.

Respondents were somewhat divided on the passage of Proposition 2, which will set standards for confinement of farm animals. Nearly 49 percent (48.5) were very pleased about Prop. 2’s passage; 3 percent were somewhat pleased; 6.1 percent were not very pleased; 33.3 percent were not pleased at all; and 9.1 percent were not sure.

When it comes to the passage of Proposition 8, which will prohibit same-sex marriage in California, 66.7 percent were not pleased that Prop. 8 passed compared to 27.3 percent who were very pleased.

Here are some of the comments by those who responded to the survey:

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“May this City Council stop giving Petaluma away to the developers without major concessions such as large open space, bicycle paths and major money for infrastructure. I don’t want to keep paying higher rates for water and then being threatened with conserving when thousands of homes and businesses are being built. Who does this serve? Is it possible to keep Petaluma a small town when we now have nearly 60,000 people? So much for growth control.”

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“Why is it that when something gets enough votes to be accepted by the majority of the voters that people go bonkers instead of regrouping and trying it again in another two years? It will take more dollars and a lot longer time to go through the court system. I guess in this ‘microwave society’ they want what they want now. Sorry, doesn’t work that way.”

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“This election was near perfect. We needed a real change in Washington and I believe Obama will bring it. We could not endure any more Republican policies. I think the fact that the two incumbents on the City Council did not get re-elected sends a message. I am saddened only by the passage of Prop. 8 (but the struggle for equality is not over because of this bigoted setback). Otherwise, I’m mostly happy.”

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“Prop. 8 must be overturned. Taking away civil rights is unconstitutional.”

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“Where is the senior care giving area of the water/sewer matter? That is why I am unhappy with it. There was none and the city did not care about this matter.”

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“Perhaps the public will soon learn the truth about the exaggerations that one of our new council members made during his campaign. The pro-development council is gone and the pro-people majority will have a lot of work to do to fix eight years of narrow-mindedness.”

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“I think these will be challenging times nationally and locally. But I am very encouraged by the leaders that have been elected will begin the work to set us back on the right course. I am hopeful that we will maintain the engagement of people that was seen in this election, toward a continued involvement in meeting these challenges. It will definitely take all of us to figure out the way forward.”

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“I think we expect too much from government and this encourages dependency. It is time to limit the role of government intrusion and reduce spending, starting at the federal level. Let’s return to individuals, families and local governments taking care of each other: bottom-up rather than top-down.”

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“Petaluma is now ruled by yuppies and progressives. The working class had no representatives in the race!”