Meet the Members of the Steering Committee
Our Steering Committee is composed of experienced civic activists and champions who came together in 2026 to provide stewardship for the Trestle Promenade Project. We share a commitment to a participatory process, led by a consultant, to define the community’s vision. We stand ready to see the project through to completion. We invite everyone’s involvement and support.
Mayor Kevin McDonnell
Kevin McDonnell has lived in Petaluma since 1985 and has served as Mayor since 2022, following four years on City Council. A civil engineer by profession, Kevin has spent his career managing infrastructure projects for North Bay cities, bringing hands-on technical expertise to Petaluma’s civic priorities — including affordable housing, homelessness, and street and infrastructure repair, work he helped fund through his leadership on the successful Measure U campaign.
Kevin’s civic engagement started with a simple frustration: public meetings about new development never focused on the bigger questions of how Petaluma should grow. That instinct led him to co-found Know Before You Grow, a citizen education effort on responsible development, and eventually to run for City Council in 2018.
Kevin has been a vocal supporter of the Trestle Promenade project from its earliest days, speaking at PTPN’s first community meeting to champion the vision of transforming the historic railroad trestle into a connected, welcoming public space for Petaluma.
Elece Hempel
Elece Hempel spent more than two decades leading the Petaluma People Services Center, joining the organization in 2004 and serving as Executive Director from 2011 until her retirement in 2025. Under her leadership, PPSC grew from a modest local nonprofit into Petaluma’s most vital human services organization, ultimately serving tens of thousands of Sonoma and Marin County residents each year through dozens of programs spanning senior services, housing, food access, employment training, and counseling.
Elece brought a rare blend of business savvy — honed over fifteen years in the software and venture capital world before shifting to community work — and genuine, personal commitment to the people PPSC served. She was as comfortable at a program site as in a boardroom, and became a familiar, trusted presence throughout Petaluma. Her contributions were recognized with a North Bay Nonprofit Leadership Award and the honor of Grand Marshal of Petaluma’s Butter and Egg Days Parade.
Elece is currently Board Chair for Petaluma Voice and brings her deep knowledge of Petaluma’s social fabric, her donor and civic relationships, and her steady, people-first leadership to the Trestle Promenade Now steering committee.
Warren Dranit
Warren Dranit is a longtime Petaluma community leader whose civic involvement spans nearly three decades. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce, where he chairs the Government Affairs Committee, and also sits on the Board of Directors of the Petaluma Downtown Association — giving him direct insight into the economic and civic priorities shaping downtown Petaluma, including the future of the Trestle.
Warren’s community commitments run deep: he has served on the Advisory Council and Advancement Team for the Petaluma Arts Center, on the Board of Directors of Mentor Me, and is a founder and organizer of the Petaluma Lawyers Club, a network of more than 100 attorneys built around fostering community connection in Petaluma. This track record of bringing people together around shared civic goals mirrors the kind of coalition-building the Trestle rehabilitation effort depends on.
An attorney by profession, Warren splits his time between his firm’s Santa Rosa office and its Petaluma satellite office, and is a familiar face around town — often found walking Petaluma’s streets or hiking the greater Bay Area. His deep roots in the community, combined with his experience on downtown-focused boards, make him a natural advocate for revitalization projects like the Trestle that sit at the intersection of economic development and civic identity.
Katherine Rinehart
Katherine J. Rinehart is a historian and longtime advocate for preserving Petaluma’s cultural heritage. She is the author of Petaluma: A History in Architecture and co-author of The Petaluma River: A Sketch Journal and Brief Historical Overview. She believes that adaptive reuse of historic properties is one of the smartest investments a community can make. Retaining an existing structure, which breathes new life into a resource that already carries a sense of place, character, and craftsmanship no new construction can replicate, results in a genuinely authentic experience for residents and visitors alike and strengthens the local economy through rising property values and increased business in the surrounding area.
Bill Rinehart
The Trestle Promenade combines a few of Bill’s great passions: railroads, historic structures, and places for people to gather and celebrate. It was Petaluma’s historic downtown, the river, and an operating railroad that attracted Bill to Petaluma in the early ‘90’s, and he has advocated for preservation and adaptive re-use ever since.
While serving on Petaluma’s General Plan Advisory Committee, Historic and Cultural Preservation Committee, Station Area Plan Committee, Development Code Committee, and Site Plan and Architectural Review Committee, he has promoted policy to facilitate adaptive re-use, and encouraged projects which integrate historic structures.
A landscape architect and urban designer with nearly 40 years of professional experience, Bill sees the Trestle Promenade as an amazing opportunity for Petaluma.
Katherine Gregor
Katherine Gregor has enjoyed a career advancing livable communities, urban greenspace, public space improvements, active transportation, climate action, art and architecture, and community sustainability. As a consultant, she serves clients and communities with writing, marketing communications, program and project management, public engagement for social impact, and related services.
A devoted Petaluman since 2022, she has shared her time, treasure, and talents with the Petaluma Arts Center, Trestle Promenade Steering Community, Petaluma Urban Chat, Petaluma River Park Foundation, City of Petaluma, and other groups.
Greg Sabourin
Greg Sabourin is a connector at heart — someone who builds the partnerships that let good ideas become real community assets. As Executive Director of the Petaluma Small Craft Center, he brings hands-on experience in fundraising, marketing, special events, and organizational development, along with a track record of turning strategy into results.
Greg is known for his sharp analytical mind, deep community network, and genuine passion for bringing people and organizations together in service of Petaluma. His multifaceted background makes him a trusted voice in shepherding ambitious projects — like the Trestle Promenade — from vision to reality.
Rosemary Hart
Rosemary brings a rare combination of technical expertise and civic passion to her advocacy work. Her background in engineering and programming played a key role in implementing new policies and programs at an electric utility, experience that taught her how to navigate complex systems and drive meaningful change.
When the City Council prioritized the Historic Trestle Rehabilitation Project in 2022, she saw an opportunity to help restore a valuable economic and civic asset for the community she now calls home. Rosemary has since become one of the project’s most dedicated champions, founding the Time to Trestle movement with the support of the Petaluma Woman’s Club.
Beyond her work on the Trestle, Rosemary is deeply engaged in civic life throughout Petaluma. She is an active member of the Petaluma Sunrise Rotary, New Life Fellowship, and the Petaluma Yacht Club, serves on the Measure U Oversight Committee, and is a founding member of Beautify Petaluma.
Rick Burg
Rick brings over 35 years of real estate experience to the PTPN Steering Committee, with a background well-suited to the complex land use and development questions the Trestle Promenade project involves. Licensed since 1987, he holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Planning from Sonoma State University and an MBA from Pepperdine. His career spans commercial, residential, and vacant land transactions, including development acquisitions across Sonoma and Marin counties.
A longtime Petaluman, Rick currently serves on the Petaluma Downtown Association Board and has a strong record of community service, including leadership roles with the Jewish Community Center of Sonoma County and Brandeis Hillel Day School. He joined the PTPN Steering Committee out of a deep commitment to Petaluma’s future, bringing both real estate expertise and civic dedication to help see the Trestle Promenade vision through.