Sonoma County’s two largest cities appeared headed down divergent energy paths Tuesday, with Santa Rosa vowing to move swiftly toward a decision on whether to join the Sonoma Clean Power Authority the day after Petaluma delayed a decision until at least September.

Santa Rosa City Council members expressed both strong support and deep reservations about the proposal, but all agreed to try hard to make up their minds one way or another by the impending June 30 deadline or shortly thereafter.

The mayor of Santa Rosa has called for a financial audit of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department in the wake of what he called ‘disquieting’ revelations about the department’s budget.

Two former top officials in the Santa Rosa Recreation and Parks Department face fines for failing to report thousands of dollars in free gifts from the operator of the Bennett Valley Golf Course.

Marc Richardson, director of the department until his retirement in December, and Rich Hovden, parks development manager until his retirement in February, are set to be fined next week by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission. Both men’s retirements were unexpected.

Though disappointed to see the top five stories disappear, Santa Rosa City Council members unanimously supported a scaled back version of the Museum on the Square project Tuesday.

Fire stations in two Santa Rosa neighborhoods this week have put away the ‘Closed Today’ signs that for more than two years had been posted on the doors for about half of each week.

Santa Rosa is moving forward with a plan to rip out dozens of relatively new downtown parking stations that merchants said were baffling to their customers and bad for business.

Santa Rosa code-enforcement officials are proposing a special City Hall fund to combat the problem of abandoned or foreclosed houses that have become the targets of vandals and squatters.

Four years after ripping out hundreds of parking meters downtown, Santa Rosa is considering putting them back in, this time with high-tech versions meant to be more user-friendly than the much-maligned pay stations.

The San Francisco developer who once planned a sweeping transit-oriented retail and housing complex in Railroad Square has abandoned a scaled-back version of the project, citing political opposition by the City Council.

A decision last week by the Santa Rosa City Council to pull the plug on a senior housing project in Railroad Square isn’t necessarily the end of the line for the 93-unit complex.