Page 259 | Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

Train Lines: How Two Press Democrat Owners Finessed a Petaluma Real Estate Deal

Nov 10, 2021

Train Lines: How Two Press Democrat Owners Finessed a Petaluma Real Estate Deal

This article is the second part of a series. Read the first story here.

Last week, we reported that two owners of the Press Democrat, Darius Anderson and Doug Bosco, helped craft a state-funded bailout deal benefiting Bosco’s privately owned Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company while Anderson’s Platinum Advisors was a contract lobbyist for SMART from 2015 to 2020.

This week, we report the details of a real estate transaction in downtown Petaluma in which the A. G. Spanos Corporation paid $1.4 million to SMART and $1 million to another public rail agency which is financially intertwined with Bosco’s railroad company for their “right of ways” on less than 600 feet of railroad track traversing the triangular lot upon which Spanos is currently building the North River Apartments. A right of way is a perpetual, transferable easement allowing its owner to traverse the property of another. Without securing these easements, Spanos’ project was dead in the water and could not move through Petaluma’s planning process.

The Spanos property abuts the Petaluma tidal estuary, a row of historic businesses and restaurants on Petaluma Blvd. North, and Hunt & Behrens livestock, poultry and pet-feed operation. Public records show that SMART’s executive director, Farhad Mansourian, allowed Anderson to guide SMART’s easement sale to Spanos. Simultaneously, Bosco negotiated Spanos’ purchase of an overlapping right of way on the short spur owned by the North Coast Railroad Authority. “NCRA” is a state-chartered rail agency which critics say was largely operated to benefit Bosco’s company, commonly known as NWP Co.

Mansourian allowed Anderson to work on several projects that were outside the contracted scope of work of Platinum Advisors’ role as SMART’s Sacramento lobbyist, which began in 2015. Last week, we reported on how Anderson’s firm, as part of its work for SMART, lobbied on state legislation which helped the interests of his business partner, Bosco, as the NCRA and the NWP Co foundered. This week we report another instance of Anderson leveraging his position as SMART lobbyist to benefit his media business partner and political mentor, Bosco.

VIEW FROM ABOVE Pre-development satellite imagery shows the properties impacted by SMART and the NCRA’s rail easements, with decaying rail lines running along the left side of the property. Photo: Google Earth

Selling the Right of Ways

Our story begins before Anderson began lobbying for SMART, when, in November 2012, Poppy Bank, then known as First Community Bank, settled an outstanding $3.45 million debt by foreclosing on the owner of a property at 368-402 Petaluma Blvd. North, according to county real estate records.

In a phone call on March 29, 2016, Michael Spanos, Anderson and Mansourian initiated 18 months of negotiations between the rail agencies and Spanos’ family real estate development company, the A.G. Spanos Corporation. Once they received the easement rights, and were positioned to line up building permits from local agencies, Spanos planned to purchase the property from Poppy Bank.

In September 2017, Spanos bought the lot from Poppy Bank for just over $2 million, while Bosco served on the bank’s board of directors. But it is the events that transpired in between that first phone call and the sale of the lot to Spanos that raise eyebrows.

On Monday, April 25, 2016, less than a month into the negotiations, Mansourian emailed Anderson and Bosco: “It is my sense that Darius [Anderson] and Spanos will now approach Petaluma for discussions.”

Anderson reached out to Petaluma’s then–City Manager John Brown.

On Wednesday, April 27, John Burns, the longtime publisher of the Petaluma Argus-Courier, and Anderson’s employee, introduced Anderson to Brown in an email.

“Darius is hoping to connect with you in his capacity as CEO of Platinum Advisors, a government affairs firm representing SMART,” Burns wrote to the city manager.

Documents show that Bosco was, at the same time, formalizing his role in the real estate negotiations.

On July 28, 2016, Bosco signed an agreement with NCRA Director Mitch Stogner, allowing Bosco’s privately owned NWP Co to negotiate the sale of the Petaluma easements on behalf of the public agency. In return for NWP Co’s work, NCRA agreed that “All proceeds from the sale of the Petaluma Easements shall first be used to reimburse NWP Co.” for a portion of the millions of dollars the public agency then owed Bosco’s NWP Co, as we reported last week.

Bosco wore multiple hats during the negotiations. In some email exchanges, he appears to speak on behalf of the NCRA. In other emails, he shares information about the internal discussions going on at Poppy Bank, which owned the property Spanos hoped to buy after the rail agencies relinquished their easements.

The two parties Bosco seemed to be representing had fundamentally different interests in the negotiations. If the NCRA negotiated a higher price for its easements, Spanos would presumably have less money available in its project budget to purchase—and later develop—Poppy Bank’s property. According to emails obtained by the Bohemian/Pacific Sun, this dynamic led to tensions and delays in the negotiations.

In early 2017, the Spanos Corporation complained to Anderson about Bosco’s role in the project.

In a Jan. 4, 2017 letter, sent about eight months after Spanos began negotiating with the two rail agencies, Bosco’s NWP Co informed Petaluma’s Planning Manager, Kevin Colin, that, although Spanos had approached the railroad company, “no agreement [to sell the rights] has been consummated.” Apparently Bosco was not satisfied with the amount of Spanos’s initial offer to purchase the easements.

On Jan. 10, Alexandro Economou, an executive at the Spanos Corporation, warned Anderson that the letter from Bosco’s NWP Co threatened to delay the whole project.

“Petaluma will not move us forward to [the] planning commission because they are concerned with the issues at hand here. In light of Doug [Bosco]’s recent letter to them it is easy to understand why they might feel that way,” Economou wrote.

On March 6, after further failed negotiations, Economou emailed Poppy Bank employee, Kevin Downey, who appears to have been managing the property sale, with a similar complaint.

“I am aware of some discussions happening between Doug Bosco and others at the bank regarding our property… Because of the letter Doug Bosco sent to the city six weeks ago, the city has refused to process our application any further and our entitlements have been delayed… It is a direct result of the Bosco letter which has cost us time and lost momentum with the city,” Economou wrote.

Two days later, on March 8, Anderson forwarded Economou’s complaining email to Bosco. Bosco responded by sharing Poppy Bank’s view of the situation.

“The bank will not go along with any encumbrance on their property. It would be too risky for them to put a lien for $750k on their property while the SMART right of way is still in existence. The bank could end up with SMARTs rail easement and a $750k lien if things fell through,” Bosco wrote.

Anderson then shared the whole conversation with Mansourian.

**END OF THE LINE A rail car sits on a dead-ended track nearby the Spanos Corporation’s Petaluma Blvd. North development. Photo by Peter Byrne**

Ultimately, the parties reached an agreement. In April 2017, Spanos signed agreements to pay SMART $1.4 million and the NCRA $1 million to release their claims to the property. In other words, Spanos paid approximately $4,285 per linear foot for a run of old railroad track that was disintegrated and unuseable, as recorded by a pre-development Google Earth satellite photo.

According to county records, Spanos purchased the property from Poppy Bank for $2.15 million in September 2017.

Notably, the price paid for the real estate itself was hundreds of thousands of dollars less than the price exacted by Anderson and Bosco for the right to tear up the track.

In an August 2017 memo, NCRA director Mitch Stogner suggested that the public agency’s board of directors, which is composed of representatives of the counties and cities along the freight line, use $264,712 of the $1 million easement sale proceeds to pay down a $4.1 million debt owed to Bosco’s company.

According to Stogner’s memo, the NCRA had already paid $50,000 from the easement proceeds to NWP Co, which did not own the right of way. All told, Bosco’s NWP Co received $304,712 from the sale of the publicly-owned property, according to the NCRA documents. And, as we learned in last week’s report, a few years later, NWP Co would pocket $7.47 million in state funding as part of the NCRA shut-down process.

Amnesia

Despite Bosco and Anderson’s overlapping business interests, no one at SMART, the NCRA or Poppy Bank appears to have complained about the conflict of interest during the negotiations which resulted in windfalls for SMART, NCRA and NWP Co. Astoundingly, SMART now claims to have forgotten why Anderson was involved in the negotiations.

After receiving questions from the Bohemian/Pacific Sun about Anderson’s role in the easement discussions, SMART spokesman Matt Stevens requested to review the emails related to the negotiations. In response, we provided Stevens, Mansourian, Anderson and two SMART board members—chair David Rabbitt and vice-chair Barbara Pahre—with copies of the emails, most of which were released by SMART in response to our public records requests.

In a written response on Nov. 2, Stevens said that SMART officials “do not recall what involvement, if any, Mr. Anderson had on negotiations or the project.”

In written responses to similar questions, Bosco acknowledged that he represented the NCRA and NWP Co in the negotiations, but denied that Poppy Bank had anything to do with the easement sale.

Bosco wrote, “Neither NWP Co nor I personally received any compensation from this transaction. I have no idea what, if any, relationship Spanos had with Poppy Bank or what benefit, if any, accrued to the bank… the bank was not a party to this or any other railroad related transaction.”

The records obtained by the Bohemian/Pacific Sun show otherwise.

Anderson, Poppy Bank and the Spanos Corporation did not respond to requests for comment. Through its legal counsel, Elizabeth Coleman, who also serves as the Deputy Counsel of Sonoma County Office, NCRA provided documents cited in this story, but declined to respond to specific questions.

John Pelissero, Ph.D, a senior scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, told the Bohemian/Pacific Sun that the numerous overlapping interests on display during Anderson’s time working for SMART raise serious ethical questions—even if it’s just an appearance of a conflict of interest.

“When it comes to ethical issues, it doesn’t matter whether it’s an intended or a perceived conflict of interest. They both present ethical problems for those who are involved. And when you’re dealing with government, when you’re dealing with the public citizens and taxpayers, that’s where one really needs to pay special attention to the perception that you’re acting in your role as a government agency or somebody who works for a government agency in a way that creates a conflict of interest,” Pelissero said.

For their part, Sonoma Media Investments’ publications didn’t scrutinize the Spanos easement deal too closely.

On Nov. 24, 2017, the Petaluma Argus-Courier published a reported article about Spanos’s “long-stalled” North River Apartments project, which, according to the paper, had run into “complications with rail agencies’ easements that took two years and $2.4 million to resolve.”

The article did not mention that Anderson and Bosco, two of the Petaluma Argus-Courier’s owners, were deeply involved in the prolonged negotiations, the delay of which appears to have benefited Bosco.

Instead, on Feb. 1, 2018, Anderson’s and Bosco’s Petaluma paper ran an editorial blaming the city officials for the delays in the Spanos project.

“Why is it that whenever a developer proposes a visionary project to remake a blighted area of Petaluma and add badly needed housing, officials demand the developer do more than is reasonable?” the editorial reads. “If developers find Petaluma’s planning process too onerous, costly or time consuming, they will simply walk away, leaving the city’s vision unrealized. There are, after all, ample opportunities elsewhere.”

The editorial once again failed to mention Anderson and Bosco’s deep involvement in the project—or that, judging from the Spanos executive’s letters to Anderson and Poppy Bank, Bosco’s letters to Petaluma delayed the project.

Other articles about SMART in the Argus-Courier and Sonoma Media Investments papers routinely failed to mention that Anderson’s Platinum Advisors had a lobbying contract with SMART. In the case of the Argus-Courier, the newspaper’s longtime publisher, John Burns, clearly knew about Platinum Advisors’ relationship to SMART. After all, he introduced Anderson to Petaluma’s city manager John Brown as a SMART lobbyist in his April 2016 email to Brown.

Burns did not respond to a request for comment.

Rubbing Shoulders

Anderson’s extra work for SMART wasn’t restricted to helping to negotiate the NCRA multi-million dollar wind-down that benefitted the NWP Co as we reported last week, nor to guiding the Petaluma easement deal that benefited the financially conjoined NCRA and NWP Co.

Emails show that, between 2015 and 2018, Mansourian often turned to Anderson for help with SMART’s federal lobbying efforts despite the fact that SMART pays Van Scoyoc Associates $10,000 per month to lobby federal officials. And, while Platinum Advisors does sport a Washington, D.C., office, records show that the firm never formally registered to represent SMART in the nation’s capital.

In May 2015, Anderson invited Mansourian to a fundraiser for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican congressman from Bakersfield who served as Republican Majority Leader between June 2014 and January 2021. The fundraiser, held on Friday, June 19, 2015, at Anderson’s Wing and Barrel Ranch in Southern Sonoma County, cost $43,800 to “sponsor” and $2,700 for an individual ticket, according to an invitation obtained by the Bohemian/Pacific Sun. Mansourian was invited to the “Special Sonoma Trap Shoot and Wine Reception” as Anderson’s special guest.

Weeks later, emails show that Anderson directly connected Mansourian with McCarthy. In July 2015 Mansourian told Anderson that he had met with McCarthy, although it is unclear based on the emails, what they discussed.

In September 2015 Mansourian asked Anderson to intervene with McCarthy again after SMART’s Washington lobbyist reported that McCarthy would ask the Chairman of the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittees for a $20 million appropriation for SMART.

“You asked me to give you a heads up so you can call Mr. McCarthy on his private cell BEFORE our lobbyist in DC follows up with his staff,” Mansourian wrote to Anderson on Sept. 16, 2015.

In January 2016, Mansourian sent Anderson a Politico article profiling McCarthy’s incredible fundraising ability: raking in $11 million in 2015, more than any of his Republican colleagues.

“We did our part!!!” Anderson responded.

Anderson then invited Mansourian to two more fundraisers—one on Oct. 21, 2016 and another on Sept. 17, 2018—for Congressman Jeff Denham, a Republican who went on to chair the House Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee. During the same time period Mansourian also asked Anderson to contact Denham in coordination with SMART’s federal lobbying firm.

Anderson’s federal lobbying and fundraising efforts weren’t restricted to well-placed Republicans. Emails show that Anderson’s firm also invited Mansourian to a San Francisco fundraiser for Kamala Harris, then running for a Senate seat, and that Anderson’s firm attempted to arrange a meeting between Mansourian and an employee of then-Vice President Joe Biden.

When SMART moved to renew Platinum Advisors’ state lobbying contract in late 2018, the scope of work was updated in just one way. In addition to guiding the transportation agency’s state efforts, Platinum Advisors was now expected to “support SMART as requested in any federal legislative efforts.”

However, despite its work under the first contract and the tacit acknowledgement of the federal work included in the second contract, Platinum Advisors still did not formally register to represent SMART in federal matters.

SMART-spokesman Matt Stevens said that SMART used Anderson’s firm to lobby on federal issues because “Platinum Advisors was familiar with those issues.”

Closing the Contract

SMART’s contract with Platinum Advisors ended unceremoniously in early 2020 while SMART’s supporters waged a high-cost fight over the agency’s future.

In the months ahead of a March 2020 election, Molly Gallaher Flater, a member of Poppy Bank’s board of directors and CEO of real estate developer Gallaher Homes, dumped nearly $2 million into a campaign opposing Measure I, a ballot initiative which would have extended the quarter-cent sales tax supporting SMART from 2029 to 2059.

Although Bosco served on Poppy Bank’s board of directors for more than 10 years and co-founded California Clean Power—an energy-consulting company—with Gallaher Flater’s father, Bill Gallaher, in 2014, Bosco was on the other side of the table from the Gallahers when the Measure I campaign flyers were stuffed into voter mail boxes.

In December 2016, Bill Gallaher sued Bosco and Anderson’s Sonoma Media Investments for libel over a series of Press Democrat articles scrutinizing the legality of Gallaher’s political contributions to local candidates in the November 2016 elections. A court dismissed the case in March 2019, requiring the Gallahers to pay SMI’s legal bills.

Bosco told the Bohemian/Pacific Sun that he left Poppy Bank’s board in April 2019 for personal reasons.

In a mid-February 2020 mailer, the Gallaher-backed anti-Measure I “Not so SMART” campaign called out Darius Anderson personally, questioning whether the media mogul’s work as a SMART lobbyist had swayed the judgement of the Press Democrat’s editorial board, which endorsed Measure I in early February.

On Feb. 20, the Press Democrat’s editorial board responded to the “No” campaign’s “scurrilous flier.”

“For the record, Darius Anderson isn’t a member of our editorial board, and neither are any of the investors named in the anti-SMART flier. None of them has ever tried to influence our positions. They see our editorials at the same time you do—when they appear in The Press Democrat,” the editorial stated.

Still, the reputational damage was obvious. Anderson signed paperwork terminating Platinum Advisor’s lobbying contract with SMART on Feb. 20, the very same day the Press Democrat’s editorial ran.

In a March 3 election, Measure I failed to reach the required two-thirds voter approval in either Sonoma or Marin County. Weeks later, SMART’s ridership numbers were crushed by the first Covid-19 shelter order. The agency, like public transit agencies across the country, has struggled to balance its books ever since.

SMART has an additional handicap. More than a year after parting ways with Anderson’s lobbying firm, SMART’s board of directors has yet to hire a new lobbying firm to represent the ailing transit agency’s interests in Sacramento. Stevens, the SMART spokesman, says that the agency is handling its state-advocacy affairs in-house for the time being, which begs the question of why it ever needed Anderson’s firm.

Last month, SMART announced that the agency’s long-time director Farhad Mansourian is retiring. His replacement, the former chief operating officer of the Utah Transit Authority, is scheduled to take over on Nov. 29.

For better or worse, SMART appears to be entering a new era. The roles of Anderson and Bosco in shaping the agency’s future remains to be seen.

Peter Byrne contributed to this report and edited it. Read the first part of this series at Bohemian.com/freight-railroaded.

Culture Crush—Jenner Fox at Lost Church, a New Memoir by Meredith Keller, MarinMOCA, and More.

Charlie Swanson

Nov 10, 2021

Culture Crush—Jenner Fox at Lost Church, a New Memoir by Meredith Keller, MarinMOCA, and More.

Napa

Timely Story

When a letter arrives at her Northern California vineyard saying, “I think you may be my grandmother,” local author Meredith Keller is transported to a tragic memory from 50 years earlier. In her new memoir, The Unraveling: The Price of Silence, Keller revisits her darkest moments—a sexual assault and unwanted pregnancy during 1950s America. The book reflects on a time when women had no say in their own productive rights—an issue that remains relevant today—and Keller discusses all that and more during a virtual author event on Thursday, Nov. 11, hosted by Napa Bookmine. 7pm. Free, $5 donation appreciated. Napabookmine.com.

Cotati

Worth the Wait

Made up of several Sonoma County actors and directors, Off The Page Readers Theater celebrates the written works of local authors with staged readings that include stories, plays and poems. Each performance follows a theme, and the troupe chose the appropriate theme of “Detour” for their delayed autumn offering, happening this weekend. Off The Page Readers Theater performs works by 10 local writers, Friday–Sunday, Nov. 12–14, at Church of the Oaks, 160 W. Sierra, Cotati. Friday and Saturday, 7pm; Sunday, 3pm. $15 at the door. Proof of vaccination and masks required. Offthepagetheater.com.

Novato

Art Encounters

Two engaging exhibitions of thought-provoking art open at the MarinMOCA this weekend. The museum’s Main Gallery features a group show, “Happenstance,” that celebrates the artistic process and the unexpected outcomes involved. In the Second Floor Gallery, the museum’s artist-in-residence Orin Carpenter presents the culmination of his year-long residency at MarinMOCA, “Bridges and Walls,” a solo exhibition of mixed media works inspired by humanity’s ability to both build connections or create borders. Both shows open with a reception on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 500 Palm Dr., Novato. 2pm. Free; RSVP required. Marinmoca.org.

Santa Rosa / Sebastopol

In Season

Two North Bay groups dedicated to classical and chamber music welcome audiences back indoors this week with live concerts. Note: Proof of vaccination and masks required. The all-volunteer Sonoma County Philharmonic presents its Fall Masterworks concert, “Memories,” on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 13–14, at Sonoma Country Day School, 4400 Day School Place, Santa Rosa. Saturday, 7:30pm; Sunday, 2pm. $15. Socophil.org. Redwood Arts Council opens its 42nd season of concerts with a performance from the Telegraph Quartet on Sunday, Nov. 14, at Community Church of Sebastopol, 1000 Gravenstein Hwy N., Sebastopol. 4pm. $30. Redwoodarts.org.

—Charlie Swanson

Holiday Gifts, Dinners and Desserts — Local Tidings of Joy this Holiday Season

Jane Vick

Nov 10, 2021

Holiday Gifts, Dinners and Desserts — Local Tidings of Joy this Holiday Season

Wild as it may seem, it’s the holiday season once again because time is apparently, in a word, flying. This article, however, is not an examination of theories of temporality—it’s a holiday gift-and-catering guide. Because, regardless of how strange time or the circumstances of our lives might be, we are here at the time of year allocated for appreciating friends and family with time spent, meals served—regardless of who cooked them!—and gifts given.

This guide will direct you toward local, affordable, community-supporting shops, markets and bakeries to fill your gift-giving and dinner needs. I also highly recommend, for those considering the environment and their wallets, making gifts at home this year, or sticking to home-cooked meals. You can’t go wrong with homemade ornaments, and this might be the year you wow your family and yourself with a full Thanksgiving dinner. Onward, my wayward craftsmen and chefs, to stuffing and glory!

Regardless of your choices, you have options. See a few below.

Thanksgiving

They say it takes a village

Village Bakery, Sebastopol

Dessert-making is challenging, and while we may all be feeling bold, perhaps the holiday season isn’t the best time to execute our first princess cake. That was an unintentionally French Revolution-esque sentence, by the way. Rolling and coloring marzipan might be a whisker out of the wheelhouse this time around, and that’s more than OK. For your patisserie needs, look no further than Village Bakery. A bakery for the ages—I’m not just saying it because I worked there as a 14-year-old and lived solely on linzer cookies and lemon rolls—this holiday season VB is providing breads, pies, tres leches cakes and breakfast pastries. Just get those orders in by Nov. 20. Visit villagebakerywinecountry.com.

Baby it’s cold outside—but inside there’s turkey

Sonoma County Catering Co., Sonoma County

Dessert-making is challenging, yes, and let’s be honest, sometimes cooking in general is challenging. We don’t always have the space or the time or, hey, the desire. None of this is problematic—dinner can be catered! Sonoma County Catering Co. is not only one of the best local places to offer catered Thanksgiving meals in terms of quality, price and ingredients, it’s also an exceptional company in terms of community support. Sonoma County Catering Co. and Head Chef Caesar provided meals to firefighters and victims during the Tubbs Fire, and are actively involved in the local community. This is a great opportunity to take dinner off your plate, while putting it on your plate—if you’ll humor me—while supporting a great company. Go to Sonomacountycatering.com to place an order, and go fast—because they will sell out!

Holiday Gifts and Events

Deck the halls with local artwork

The Barlow, Sebastopol

This Holiday season revelers can’t go wrong with a visit to Sebastopol’s cutest shopping center, The Barlow. Everyone loves the Barlow. I mean it; name me one person who’s gone to the Barlow and not had an adorable time. I’m waiting. Fully stocked with local and artisanal products from eco-friendly fashion purveyors, almost everything onsite is produced right here in Northern California. From apparel like Indigineous Organic + Fair Trade Fashion and Barge North Company to art galleries like Gallery 300 and Lori Austin Gallery, you’ll find everything you need here and have time for a lunch pit-stop at Fern Bar. I truly cannot recommend the smash burger more highly. I shed a single tear writing this sentence, it’s that good. The Barlow is a great spot to put presents under the tree and dollars back into the community. Those who are holed up and prefer to shop online can save 10% on their first order with the code SHOPBARLOW21.

The Barlow is located at 6770 McKinley St., Sebastopol, and is open 7 days a week. Hours of individual stores may vary, so visit thebarlow.net for more information. Happy shopping!

A selfie with Santa before he checks his naughty-and-nice list

East Washington Place Holiday Celebration, Petaluma

This one is going to pop, and may I say, I’m loving the amount of community celebrations we’re able to have this season—I’ve missed you all! Petaluma is putting together an epic day of festivities this Nov. 21. Among other things, we will all have the opportunity to meet Santa Claus; selflies and DIY’s with the guy are free, by the way. There will also be balloon twisters, arm painters—in lieu of face-painting as we are, alas, still in mask territory—holiday-themed musical entertainment and free treat bags until they run out! Hint: Show up early. There is also a raffle attendees are encouraged to enter, with a gift-bag prize valued at $500. Y’all, this is going to be a scene! Come out, bring the fam, have some apple cider, unload your hopes and dreams on good old Kris Kringle—and happy holidays to you!

The East Washington Place Holiday Celebration is held on Sunday, Nov. 21 from 2–4pm at 401 Kenilworth Drive, Petaluma. For more information visit eastwashingtonplace.com

Chestnuts roasting over an open fire, Jack frosting your glass of IPA …

Lagunitas Early Gifting

Lagunitas Petaluma Taproom and Beer Sanctuary, Petaluma

I’ve lived all over the U.S.—from New York to New Mexico—and I’ve always taken pleasure, when people order a Lil Sumpin’ or a Lil Sumpin’ Stoopid, in saying “Oh, Lagunitas? Yeah, they’re from my area code.” Let’s be honest, this is damn good beer. I still remember a phenomenal afternoon with friends, fondly referred to as “Day Drunk of the Jungle,” which featured Lagunitas-fueled drinking games while watching George of the Jungle. I ended on a couch with an agonizing case of hiccups … and it was fully worth it. Drink responsibly. This holiday season, Lagunitas Schwag shop is coming through hot with gifts for him, her, them and the furry friends. We’re talking sweet treats, swag, and of course, beverages. Come snag, and then take a load off in the taproom. You earned it, you gift-giver you!

Lagunitas Petaluma TapRoom & Beer Sanctuary is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11:30am to 8pm, for outdoor dining and takeout.

Carol of the bells, but it’s carol of the modern makers instead

Patchwork Modern Makers Festival, Santa Rosa

I’m truly stoked for this event, which we will all have two opportunities to attend—Nov. 20 and Nov. 21. Produced by Dear Handmade Life, this free community event is designed to showcase the incredible local creativity and talent Sonoma County has to offer. Not only will all attendees be able to view and purchase handmade goods, they’ll also get to participate in hands-on DIY craft stations—this might be the spot for my earlier suggestion to make gifts this year—enjoy live music and great food, and patron the Patchwork Junior Booths, featuring artists and makers who are under 18. Turn out to support the creative community and youth, and bring your friends to this one—it’s going to be fun. Expect to find jewelry, apothecary items, clothing, ceramics, home goods and more.

Patchwork Modern Makers Santa Rosa will be held Saturday, Nov. 20 and Sunday, Nov. 21, from 10am to 4pm in Old Courthouse Square at Santa Rosa Avenue and 3rd Street, in downtown Santa Rosa. There are also Patchwork events in several other California locations including San Francisco; for more information visit dearhandmadelife.com.

Holiday Arts Guide—Get your Cheer on this Holiday Season

Charlie Swanson

Nov 10, 2021

Holiday Arts Guide—Get your Cheer on this Holiday Season

After the many canceled or online-only holiday festivities of 2020, this year’s mostly in-person parties, plays and other pleasures are a welcome return to normalcy.

Make sure to check your list twice and find North Bay holiday events with our annual guide.

Holiday Ice Rink & Winter Wonderland Village

The Meritage & Vista Collina Resorts are kicking into high gear as the holiday season approaches, and opening a new Holiday Ice Rink at 850 Bordeaux Way, Napa, for guests and locals, Nov. 11 through Jan. 2, 2022. The resorts also offer seasonal events such as the Thanksgiving Brunch buffet in the Meritage Ballroom on Nov. 25; the Olive & Hay Thanksgiving To-Go package, available to order before Nov. 22; and the annual Tree Lighting Ceremony, complete with carolers and Santa Claus, on Nov. 26. Meritagecollection.com/vista-collina.

Holidays Along the Farm Trails

Sonoma County Farm Trails celebrates local agriculture with holiday-themed offerings from several local food producers. Find farm-fresh food and drink, wreaths and other goodies, while enjoying family-friendly activities like Christmas tree-cutting throughout the county. Nov. 12 through Jan. 1, 2022. Farmtrails.org.

Warren Miller: “Winter Starts Now”

Each year, adventure-film producers Warren Miller Entertainment assemble a feature-length film based on winter sports spotlighting world-class skiers and other sports figures performing mind-bending stunts around the world. This year’s film, Winter Starts Now, features the best snow-riding footage from Tahoe to Maine. Winter Starts Now screens at the Rafael Film Center, 1118 4th St., San Rafael, on Saturday, Nov. 13; and at Summerfield Cinemas, 551 Summerfield Rd., Santa Rosa, on Dec. 4. Warrenmiller.com.

The Mountain Play

You don’t have to sit on Mount Tamalpais to enjoy The Mountain Play’s holiday production of the classic musical Camelot. The long running company is moving the rousing, re-imagined take on the show—directed by Zoë Swenson-Graham, and music directed by Phillip Harris—to the indoor Barn Theatre at the Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross. The show opens Saturday. Nov. 13, and runs through Dec. 19. Mountainplay.org.

Marin Theatre Company

Concluding a holiday trilogy, Marin Theatre Company once again brings Jane Austen’s beloved characters to the stage for a yuletide sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Penned by MTC Mellon National Playwright in Residence, Lauren M. Gunderson, and former Director of New Play Development, Margot Melcon, Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley is the final installment of the “Christmas at Pemberley” series that began with Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley and The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, and follows Mr. Darcy’s younger sister, Georgiana, and the youngest Bennet sister, Kitty. Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley will perform at Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley, Nov. 18 through Dec. 19. Marintheatre.org.

Spreckels Theatre Company

For theater-goers who are not fully caught up on the “Christmas at Pemberley” trilogy, Spreckels Theatre Company treats audiences to the second play in the series, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, at Spreckels Performing Arts Center, 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park, from Nov. 19 through Dec. 12. Rpcity.org.

Charles M. Schulz Museum

Kid-friendly holiday celebrations take place this season at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, 2301 Hardies Ln., Santa Rosa. Bring food items to donate to the Redwood Empire Food Bank, and enjoy movies, popcorn and hands-on activities at the Thanksgiving Celebration with Snoopy on Nov. 20; assemble and decorate Snoopy’s house at the Gingerbread Doghouse Workshops, Dec. 11–12; make an array of fun gifts a the Holiday Gift-Making Workshop on Dec. 18; and say, “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!” at the museum’s annual New Year’s Eve party on Dec. 31. Schulzmuseum.org.

Holidays in Yountville

Each winter, the Town of Yountville becomes the “Brightest Town in the Napa Valley” during the annual Holidays in Yountville, featuring six-plus weeks of holiday-related events, activities and shopping. Holidays in Yountville kicks off at the Town & Tree Lighting event, featuring tens of thousands of magical twinkling lights that light up the town. The town also hosts dozens of events and experiences, both in person and virtually, including wine tastings and pairings, holiday painting events, wreath making, chocolate seminars, turkey and snowman hunts, holiday Wine Train experiences, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner menus, letters to Santa for kids of all ages, photo opportunities at Santa’s Village at the Yountville Community Center, New Year’s Eve happenings and much more between Nov. 21 and Jan. 1, 2022. Yountville.com/events.

Miracle at Brewster’s Beer Garden

Find an oasis in the holidays at Miracle, the Holiday pop-up bar at Brewsters Beer Garden, 229 Water St., Petaluma. The bar offers over-the-top kitschy, festive décor and a themed cocktail menu with fan favorites such as Christmapolitan, Christmas Carol Barrel, Snowball Old-Fashioned, Jingle Balls Nog and freshly updated and renewed recipes for the Jolly Koala, On Dasher and SanTaRex. Nov. 22 through Jan. 3, 2022.

Napa Tree Lighting & Christmas Parade

These long-running, family-friendly events come back to downtown Napa. First, enjoy hot chocolate, cookies and entertainment at the Tree Lighting at Veterans’ Memorial Park, Third and Main Street, on Nov. 24. Then, see the popular evening Christmas Parade, featuring creative floats built by Napans themselves and traveling down Second, Brown and Third Streets in Napa, on Nov. 27. Donapa.com.

Santa’s Riverboat Arrival

Santa and Mrs. Claus give the season its start when they arrive by tugboat at the Petaluma River Turning Basin and disembark to hand out candy and take holiday photos with kids at River Plaza Shopping Center, 72 E. Washington St., Petaluma. Nov. 27. Visitpetaluma.com.

Napa Valley Wine Train

Harkening back to the glory days of train travel, the Napa Valley Wine Train offers holiday-themed rides leaving from 1275 Mckinstry St., Napa, this season for locals and visitors alike. Give thanks onboard the train during a special Thanksgiving Tour featuring a culinary feast on Nov. 25. The train also hosts a “Jingle & Mingle” experience with holiday cocktails and gourmet food throughout the season, and the train rings in 2022 with “A Journey to the New Year,” featuring sparkling wine and more on Dec. 31. Winetrain.com.

Sonoma Arts Live

Two alternating holiday shows take over the Rotary Stage at the Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St., Sonoma, during Sonoma Arts Live’s repertory productions of Forever Plaid: Plaid Tidings and Winter Wonderettes. Director Michael Ross initially came up with the idea of producing two shows in repertory as a way to make it possible for theater couples with small children to be in a show simultaneously. By having an all-female cast (Winter Wonderettes) and an all-male cast (Forever Plaid), they would rehearse and perform on opposite schedules. “My goal was to lessen the burden of finding childcare for those couples. It seemed like a creative way to help keep theater moving forward,” Ross says. Forever Plaid opens the repertory run on Nov. 26, and the two shows play out on alternating dates through Dec. 19. Sonomaartslive.org.

Winter Lights

Downtown Santa Rosa’s annual holiday party expands for 2021. In addition to the Remembrance Candle and Tree Lighting ceremony on Nov. 26, the event features a synthetic ice rink open to all at Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa. Nov. 19 to Jan. 9, 2022. Downtownsantarosa.org/winterlights.

Holidays in Healdsburg

Charming small-town delights mix with festive fun in the annual “Holidays in Healdsburg: Sip, Savor, and Shop” guided tours led by Wine Country Walking Tours this winter. The day and evening tours show off Healdsburg’s colorful Christmas sights and feature carolers, horse-drawn carriage rides and more, Nov. 26 to Dec. 30 (winecountrywalkingtours.com). Healdsburg also gets into the holiday spirit at events like the Healdsburg Center for the Arts’ “Holiday Gift Gallery” Nov. 18 to Dec. 30 (healdsburgcenterforthearts.org); “Wintersongs,” vocal ensemble Kitka’s critically-acclaimed and wildly popular annual concert offering, happening at The 222 on Dec. 4 (The222.org). Holiday Tea at Hotel Healdsburg on Saturdays and Sundays, Dec. 4–19; Breakfast with Santa program at Costeaux French Bakery, Dec. 4, 11 and 18; and the Holiday Tour and Tasting at Jordan Vineyard and Winery, Dec. 6–16.

6th Street Playhouse

Everyone knows that Ebenezer Scrooge discovers the holiday spirit at the conclusion of A Christmas Carol. But, what happens next? Find out in the musical Scrooge In Love, presented by 6th Street Playhouse, 52 W. 6th St., Santa Rosa. Jacob Marley and the spirits take Scrooge on more adventures, this time to find romance, in a show full of merry songs and a cast of 6th Street Playhouse favorites Brandy Noveh, Ezra Hernandez, Noah Sternhill and Alanna Weatherby. Scrooge in Love runs Nov. 26 through Dec. 19. Additionally, 6th Street playhouse also presents a special holiday show, ’Tis the Season to Be Barbara, featuring Leah Sprecher, starring as the fictional Barbara Dixon, satirizing the holiday cabaret shows for one night only on Dec. 3. 6thstreetplayhouse.com.

Cirque de Bohème

Inspired by his grandfather’s old-fashioned Parisian circus from over a century ago, Sonoma resident and French native Michel Michelis formed the popular Cirque de Bohème back in 2008. This year, Cirque de Bohème proudly returns to Cornerstone Sonoma, 23570 Arnold Dr., Sonoma, and presents a new show titled Behind the Mirror. This original spectacle features poetry, music and more from world-class performers including Japanese dancer, contortionist and performing artist Yuko Haka; longtime circus mime and clown Michelle Musser; veteran juggler Dan Holzman; slack rope artist Beth Clark and mentalist Ken Garr. Get a peek Behind the Mirror Nov. 26 through Dec. 26. Cirquedeboheme.com.

The Enjoy Mill Valley Winterfest

Presented by the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Enjoy Mill Valley Winterfest will be presented both virtually and dispersed in a variety of activities this season. Festivities kick off on Saturday, Nov. 27, with a three-week scavenger hunt-style contest at more than 30 of the town’s businesses. Kids accompanied by adults can take photos (selfies) wherever they find blue stars in the windows of at least eight participating businesses to be entered into a raffle. Then, on Sunday, Dec. 5, the Winterfest commences in an afternoon filled with live holiday music and dance performances, games and activities, holiday carols and a tree lighting at dusk. Join the fun on Dec. 5, at the Depot Plaza, 87 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley. 1pm–5pm. Free admission. enjoymillvalley.com/winterfest.

Chanukah Festival

Montgomery Village Shopping Center in Santa Rosa lights up the night with live music, latkes, prizes and a giant ice menorah-lighting ceremony on Nov. 28. Mvshops.com.

Chanukah Celebration

Chabad Jewish Center of Petaluma’s Seventh Annual Chanukah celebration goes all out with several offerings, including a big party at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds, 175 Fairgrounds Dr., Petaluma. The celebration includes a nine-foot menorah, the world’s biggest dreidel, live DJ spinning Chanukah music, life-sized decorations and hands-on fun on Nov. 28. Jewishpetaluma.com.

Nitzanim Hanukkah Party

Congregation Ner Shalom invites families to bring a picnic dinner along with their menorah and candles for a gathering at 85 La Plaza in Cotati. Nov. 29. Nershalom.org.

Sausalito Gingerbread House Competition

This 15th Annual citywide event features festive and delicious gingerbread houses displayed in the windows of local businesses that are mostly within walking distance of each other, meaning this is a family-friendly diversion from the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping. Dec. 1–31. Downtown Sausalito. Sausalito.org.

Hanukkah Party with SF Yiddish Combo

The rockin’ Bay Area klezmer band led by cellist Rebecca Roudman headlines a congregational party at Congregation Shomrei Torah, 2600 Bennett Valley Rd., Santa Rosa. There will also be a group Hanukkah lighting and latkes. Dec. 1 Cstsr.org.

Chanukah: Dancing Together with Darkness

Recognizing that the community is still experiencing pain and loss from the pandemic, Congregation Rodef Sholom at 170 North San Pedro Rd., San Rafael, hosts an evening of art and song to express that grief, before a candle lighting that signifies brighter days to come. Dec. 2. Rodefsholom.org.

An Irish Christmas

Most folks in the North Bay will not be able to travel to Ireland for the holidays this year, so Ireland will come to the North Bay for the popular dancing, singing and Irish traditional music celebration, “An Irish Christmas.” See award-winning dancers, led by World Champion dancers Tyler Schwartz (Magic of the Dance) and Emily MacConnell, hear traditional Christmas Carols from the Kerry Voice Squad and superb music from the Kerry Traditional Orchestra, and enjoy “An Irish Christmas” at Uptown Theatre, 1350 Third St., Napa. Dec. 3. Uptowntheatrenapa.com.

Calistoga Holiday Village & Lighted Tractor Parade

This small town celebration of the holiday season and Napa Valley’s agricultural heritage begins with a Holiday Village in Pioneer Park, 1308 Cedar St., Calistoga, featuring a tree lighting, visit from Santa, baked goods and other treats on Dec. 3. Then the annual Calistoga Lighted Tractor Parade travels down Lincoln Avenue in town, boasting dozens of tractors, floats and farm equipment decked out in brightly lit looks. Dec. 4. Visitcalistoga.com.

Transcendence Theatre Company

Transcendence Theatre Company takes the stage at the breathtaking Belos Cavalos equestrian estate at 687 Campagna Lane in Kenwood this season to perform The Broadway Holiday Spectacular, a new version of the company’s popular show for the whole family featuring holiday favorites, show-stopping dance numbers, Broadway show tunes and modern twists on some of the world’s most uplifting and cherished songs. All performances will take place under a big-top tent, and food and beverages will be available. The production runs Dec. 3–12. Bestnightever.org.

ICB Artists Winter Open Studios

**FIND ART** Sausalito-based textile artist Paula Valenzuela is one of many local creators who will share their visions in the studios where they create at the ICB Artists 2021 Winter Open Studios, Dec. 4–5. Photo courtesy ICB Building

An art destination for over five decades, the ICB Building opens its doors once again for the annual Winter Open Studios. The weekend event boasts internationally recognized, award-winning abstract and figurative painters, photographers, sculptors, textile artists and others showing their work where it’s created, at 480 Gate Five Rd., Sausalito. Dec. 4–5. Icbbuilding.com.

Winterfest Sausalito

Get ready to return to Sausalito’s waterfront for this annual two-day party for the whole family. The festivities begin with the 34th Annual Lighted Boat Parade and Fireworks that can be seen from Gabrielson Park, Humboldt Avenue and Anchor Street, followed by the Captain’s After Party at Spinnaker Restaurant, 100 Spinnaker Drive. The next morning, run in the Jingle Bell 5K before brunch at Spinnaker Restaurant. Dec. 11–12. Winterfestsausalito.com.

Jack London Piano Club

Enjoy a variety of uplifting musical selections, including holiday music, jazz, classical and popular music of times past, at the Jack London Piano Club’s winter concert. The club performs on Charmian London’s 1901 Steinway piano, located on the second floor the House of Happy Walls at Jack London State Park, 2400 London Ranch Rd., Glen Ellen. Dec. 12. Jacklondonstatepark.com.

A Chanticleer Christmas

The holiday favorite from the vocal orchestra tells the Christmas story in beautifully sung music ranging from classical to carols at St. Vincent’s Church, 35 Liberty St., Petaluma. Dec. 17. Chanticleer.org.

Sebastopol Ballet Nutcracker

The popular production will be different from the show that the North Bay expects from Sebastopol Ballet, yet it promises holiday fun for all at West County High School, 6950 Analy Ave., Sebastopol. Dec. 18–19. Sebastopolballet.com.

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus “Holigays Are Here … Again!”

After missing last year’s concert, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus returns to the stage at the Green Music Center, 1801 E Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, to presents it’s annual “Holigays Are Here … Again!” Featuring the chorus’s favorite musical selections from the past 10 years, the performance will raise funds to benefit Face 2 Face, which works to ending HIV in Sonoma County, on Dec. 18. Other holiday shows happening at Green Music Center include “Joy To The World: A Christmas Musical Journey,” featuring Damien Sneed’s original arrangements of gospel, jazz and classical favorites on Dec. 9; the 35th Anniversary of the Windham Hill Winter Solstice concert series on Dec. 16 and Sonoma Bach’s Early Music Christmas concert in Schroeder Hall on Dec. 18–19. Gmc.sonoma.edu.

Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour

For fans of smooth jazz, the holidays don’t start until chart-topping saxophonist Dave Koz comes to town for his annual holiday concert. This year, Koz assembles a group of musicians such as South African guitarist/singer Jonathan Butler, trumpeter Rick Braun, saxophonist Richard Elliot and vocalist Rebecca Jade to perform fresh renditions of timeless Christmas classics. “After the challenges of 2020, there’s never been a time when ‘we need a little Christmas’ more than this year,” Koz says. “So much of the magic of this tour comes from those of us onstage being able to actually see the faces and smiles of concert-goers who’ve made our show their annual holiday tradition.” Dave Koz & Friends appear at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Rd., Santa Rosa, on Dec. 22. Other holiday shows happening at the LBC this year include Cirque Musica Holiday Spectacular on Nov. 16; the virtual Posada Navideña streaming Dec. 10–12; Holly Jolly Pops featuring the Santa Rosa Symphony on Dec. 12; Mat & Savanna Shaw’s “The Joy of Christmas Tour” on Dec. 14; A Christmas Carol, the Musical by the Apprentice Program of Roustabout Theater Dec. 17–19 and “Comedy, Country, Christmas” with Oliver Graves and Pete Stringfellow on Dec. 18. Lutherburbankcenter.org.

Find more holiday arts at Bohemian.com and Pacificsun.com.

A Just Transition—Is a Better World Possible?

Connie Madden

Nov 10, 2021

A Just Transition—Is a Better World Possible?

There is great interest in the outcomes of COP26, the UN Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 1–10. With the climate ever more in crisis, we need ACTION now. HOW can that happen?

End fossil fuel use. Impossible? Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Ministry for the Future, will speak to the assembly, calling for compensation to fossil-fuel companies to keep billions of dollars of oil in the ground.

Robinson tells gas companies to “stop sucking oil; suck water” out from under glaciers so they secure again to rock, slowing ice melt greatly, thus preventing or slowing the demise of the Gulf Stream that would render Western Europe all Iceland. A nearly possible science fix.

Robinson points to breaking climate feedback loops threatening utter disaster, overcome if we put our minds and serious money to the task! And this before COP26, the 26th time the U.N. attempted a fix. As Paul Hawken said in a recent Instagram post, “What good is money on a dead planet?”

Now add Just Transition to the call, and much changes! Whole cultures turned inside out and smart people scrambling to do this Great Turning without war or extremes of violence. Learn to be an anti-racist in an intimate pool of humans. “Love Thy Neighbor, No Exceptions” says an AFSC (American Friends Service Committee) bumper sticker.

Switch up your mind! Many at COP26 will have read Robinson’s prescient Ministry for the Future; add Paul Hawken’s Regeneration: Ending Climate Crisis in One Generation, and hope abounds.

Marvelous nature-based solutions are found in Hawken’s Regeneration: Ending Climate Crisis in One Generation, and his Instagram feed is a daily inspiration.

With 7.9 billion people on the planet, we must wake up, smell the gasoline and move to electric cars, buses, airplanes and homes. A rebalance with nature, She Who Knows Best.

Youth activists, Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion and many more are fighting for a livable future while mentor-in-chief, Bill McKibben, is now devoted to getting adults active.

How can YOU help tell friends far and wide to wake up and shift to deep adaptation before floods, fires and fear engulf us?

Connie Madden runs Oasis Community Farm in Petaluma.

Railroaded: Behind the Scenes of SMART’s Freight Takeover

Will Carruthers

Nov 3, 2021

Railroaded: Behind the Scenes of SMART’s Freight Takeover

A Story in Two Parts. Read the second story here.

On the muddy banks of the Petaluma River in downtown Petaluma, a new housing complex is rising. Crews employed by the A.G. Spanos Corporation, a Stockton-based developer, are constructing a 184-unit apartment complex on a lot sandwiched between a row of historic businesses and the tidal slough.

Before laying out the concrete foundations, the crews ripped out a few hundred feet of railroad tracks that crossed the lot. The old rails were part of a spur located less than a mile off the century-old main line running between Sausalito and Eureka. Planning and construction could not commence until Spanos controlled the legal “rights of way” on the tracks.

Rights of way are contractual easements that allow their owners to travel across another’s property. In this case, the easements on the riverfront tracks had value because the developer needed to extinguish them in order to build. That fact cost Spanos millions of dollars.

Public records reveal that lengthy negotiations between the Spanos corporation and two state-created rail transportation agencies for ownership of the rights of way preceded breaking ground for the construction project. One right of way was owned by a passenger line, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district — SMART. A second right of way was owned by a state-owned freight line, North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA). Both railway agencies saw the sale of the easements as potential cash cows.

In April 2017, Spanos reached an agreement with the two agencies, shelling out $2.4 million for the right to remove the track. But that is not the end of the story. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been deployed to bail out and close down the NCRA, which leases the right to use its rails to a private company called Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company, or NWP Co.

Public records reveal that two Sonoma County businessmen — Darius Anderson and Doug Bosco — played central roles in the backdoor negotiations for the easement sales.

Who are they and why does this story matter?

Darius Anderson is a real estate developer who owns Platinum Advisors, a powerful California lobbying and political consulting firm. He also owns the Press Democrat.

Records show that during the negotiations over the railway easement sales price, Anderson apparently leveraged Platinum Advisor’s position as a SMART lobbyist to, in effect, benefit the aforementioned Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company or NWP Co, which is controlled by another Press Democrat owner, former congressman Doug Bosco.

Records obtained by the North Bay Bohemian and Pacific Sun using the California Public Records Act reveal that SMART director Farhad Mansourian allowed Anderson to guide SMART’s participation in the Petaluma right of way deal, even though that task was outside of the scope of Platinum Advisor’s state lobbying contract with SMART. Mansourian also asked Anderson to lobby federal lawmakers, another task outside the scope of Platinum’s original contract.

During his five years representing SMART, Anderson’s firm lobbied for state and federal legislation involving the fate of Bosco’s private freight company. SMART paid Platinum Advisors $600,000 before the contract ended in February 2020.

In order to grasp why the lobbying contract and the railway right of way deals stink of conflicts of interest, we must take a step back into the recent history of rail freighting in the North Bay, a domain which Bosco and his allies have overseen for at least 15 years, with financial consequences that are not in the public’s best interests.

How It All Began

Our story starts with the gradual demise of a once-lucrative railroad line stretching about 300 miles from Sausalito to Humboldt Bay that chugged into existence in 1914.

At first, sections of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad were operated by a potpourri of privately owned companies that profitably hauled lumber and other commodities up and down the North Coast, while also operating passenger trains.

**California Department of Transportation**

However, the rail line’s profitability was ultimately doomed by the decline of the North Coast’s resource extraction industries, a catastrophic tunnel fire in 1978, and an endless series of floods. In the 1980s, storm-induced landslides destroyed the mid-section of the line, running through the Eel River Canyon. Increasingly, the railway appeared to have no future.

Trying to preserve the viability of the defunct rail line for freighting, state lawmakers created the North Coast Railroad Authority in 1989. Over the next two decades, state and federal agencies spent $124 million purchasing the railroad from various private companies and funding the NCRA’s efforts to restore sections of the decaying track for use by freight trains. But the hoped-for regeneration of the historic railroad was stymied by the failure of the California government to consistently fund the substantial costs of restoring the entire rail line and the NCRA’s ongoing operating costs.

Enter Bosco

In June 2006, a group of businessmen formed the privately owned Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company or NWP Co. The venture was designed to rejuvenate the freight line by creating a “public-private partnership” with the flailing NCRA to reopen the entire line. In short, NCRA and NWP Co would collaborate to improve and maintain the rail infrastructure using public and private funds. NWP Co would privately lease the right to operate freight trains from the NCRA and (somehow) make money.

Among NWP Co’s founders was Doug Bosco, a former state assemblyman and congressman who had worked on transportation issues at the state and federal levels during his time in office.

According to the NWP Co business plan submitted to the California Transportation Commission in October 2006, Bosco and his partners had grand plans. The document outlined multiple business prospects which NWP Co claimed would allow the company to generate annual revenues of more than $3 million within a few short years.

First, on the southern end of the line, NWP Co projected annual revenues of about $1.1 million hauling lumber and agricultural products. The company estimated revenues of about $2 million transporting garbage from Sonoma County’s landfill to a solid waste dump in Nevada, with which it claimed to have an “exclusive right to negotiate” for 200 years.

If reopened, the northern end of the line would be even more lucrative, NWP Co claimed. The company asserted that it would partner with Evergreen Natural Resources to transport rail cars packed with gravel from the Island Mountain Quarry at the border of Mendocino and Trinity counties. Once the decaying rail lines to the quarry were reopened, the gravel shipping business could generate revenues of “at least $30 million per year,” the business plan stated.

As the general counsel for NWP Co, Bosco would “assist in the interface between NWP Co. and NCRA and various funding agencies in order to ensure … that the public agencies’ reimbursement funding flows smoothly to NCRA,” according to the NWP Co business plan. Public records show that Bosco now also serves as CEO of NWP Co.

If the company’s Island Mountain plans had panned out, NWP Co — and the NCRA in turn — would have gained a rich stream of income. At the time, the NCRA estimated the capital cost of rehabilitating 300 miles of rails was $150.6 million — $42.6 million for the portion south of the Russian River, and $108 million for the northern Eel River Division, according to NWP Co’s plan. A Los Angeles Times report in 2001 was less optimistic, citing a federal study which calculated the cost of reopening the entire line for freight and passenger rail at $642 million.

The NCRA-NWP Co main lease agreement was signed in September 2006. In 2011, the NCRA and NWP Co started running freight cars along 62 miles of refurbished track in the North Bay. But, according to a recent report by SMART, the freight revenue appears to be lower than the amounts originally projected by NWP Co. Nor did Bosco’s company secure a contract to ship Sonoma County’s waste to Nevada. And the Island Mountain quarry project, and other shipping opportunities potentially served by rejuvenation of the northern two-thirds of the line, never materialized.

To make up for the shortfall between revenues and capital, legal and operating costs, the NCRA entered into a complex series of loans and contracts with NWP Co, which somehow resulted in the publicly chartered rail agency owing millions of dollars to the privately owned NWP Co.

“An impartial outside observer … could conclude that … the public is not currently getting — and may not ever get — the benefit of tens of millions of tax-payer dollars used in the line’s rehabilitation.”
Bernard Meyers

But a 2020 state assessment of the NCRA — in effect, an autopsy — examines how the public rail agency’s intertwined relationship with the private NWP Co came to pass. Remember, the NCRA was theoretically created for the purpose of saving the publicly owned railroad, but it became, in effect, forever indebted to Bosco’s privately owned company, according to government reports and a former NCRA board member.

According to the report, prepared by a handful of state agencies, including the California State Transportation Authority and California Department of Finance, “When the Legislature created NCRA, it did not designate NCRA as a state or local agency and did not appropriate funding for its operations. Since its inception, NCRA has covered its expenses from rail revenues; state grant funding; public and private loans; loan forgiveness; proceeds from lease agreements; and leasing or sale of assets.” (Since it never received much revenue from its lease agreement with NWP Co, NCRA’s most valuable assets became the excess properties and rights of way it owned up and down the line, including the property rights on the Spanos lot bordering the Petaluma river — and we shall return to that story.)

For decades, California agencies have been wary of funding the NCRA due to its convoluted accounting practices, which are intertwined with the accounts of NWP Co. CalTrans and FEMA have long branded the NCRA a “high risk” recipient of state and federal funds.

A Sweet Deal

Bernard Meyers, a former NCRA board member, says that the NCRA’s long-running debts to NWP Co and its myriad financial problems can be directly traced to the problematic 2006 lease agreement with NWP Co.

Mitch Stogner has served as executive director of NCRA since 2003. Stogner worked as Bosco’s chief of staff for 15 years, first in the California Assembly (1976-1982), and then in Congress (1983-1991).

Remarkably, the 2006 agreement states that NWP Co is not required to pay rent on the tracks until the company has booked $5 million in net revenue in a single year — “net” meaning $5 million after taxes and other expenses. Because NWP Co has not met the $5 million threshold, it has paid very little to the NCRA for the use of the tracks.

Between 2006 and 2019, the NCRA “entered into 8 agreements, 7 amendments, and 1 informal financing arrangement with NWP Co. to fund NCRA’s operations,” according to the 2020 state assessment. The partially revealed paper trail delineates a strange relationship between the two, with NCRA acting as landlord and NWP Co acting as tenant. It’s a relationship in which the tenant does not pay rent, because it does not net more than $5 million a year, but it has enough, somehow, to loan the landlord millions of dollars to cover rail maintenance and capital construction costs.

Without the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, however, reaching the $5 million annual revenue benchmark was clearly a pipe dream.

Meyers represented Marin County on the board of the NCRA for six years. In 2013, he wrote a brutally accusatory and detailed exit memo to his colleagues laying out a litany of complaints about the way the NCRA was run — and whom the oddly crafted agency seemed designed to benefit.

“An impartial outside observer coming afresh to the NCRA’s books and the NWP lease could conclude that this organization is primarily run for the benefit of its lessee, NWP Co., that the public is not currently getting — and may not ever get — the benefit of tens of millions of tax-payer dollars used in the line’s rehabilitation, and that public benefit was not a primarily intended consequence,” Meyers wrote.

Four years later, in June 2017, the California Transportation Commission revisited the financial status of the NCRA after state staff noticed that a recent audit had raised “substantial doubt about NCRA’s ability to continue as a going concern.” Testifying to the Commission, Stogner did not deny the charge of insolvency. Instead, he leaned into it, commenting that such a concern “is a comment that our auditors have made for at least the last seven or eight years” due in part to the fact that the agency did not have a dedicated source of state funding. As a remedy, Stogner proposed that the state transfuse the moribund NCRA with cash plasma. Instead, in January 2018, the commission signaled its support for the state legislature to shut the NCRA down, a process which has been dragging on and on.

In early 2018, State Senator Mike McGuire introduced legislation to transform much of the 300 mile long railroad right of way into a bike and pedestrian trail dubbed the Great Redwood Trail, running from Larkspur to Humboldt Bay.

This legislation requires the freight business on the southern end of the line, where its lessee, NWP Co, had been running freight since 2011, to be controlled by Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district, SMART. The passenger rail agency was created by state legislation in 2002. It is funded by a combination of federal, state, and local tax dollars. When NWP Co started to run freight on the NCRA rail lines in 2011, it agreed to share the rails with SMART. In August 2017, SMART started to run passenger trains.

Enter Anderson

On Jan. 1, 2015, SMART hired Darius Anderson’s Platinum Advisors to represent the transit agency’s interests in Sacramento.

By choosing to hire Platinum Advisors, SMART’s board of directors chose a firm with deeply intertwined business and political interests in the North Bay.

Anderson is a North Bay native who reportedly got his start in politics as a driver for Bosco in Washington D.C.

He went on to work for billionaire Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Investments. Burkle has partnered with Anderson in real estate ventures, such as developing Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. In 1998, Anderson founded a Sacramento-based lobbying firm, Platinum Advisors. Public records from 2018 show that Burkle is Anderson’s “partner” and that Burkle “owns ten percent or more” of the political consulting firm.

Notably, in 2017, San Francisco Superior Court found that Anderson and Doug Boxer, the son of former US. Senator Barbara Boxer, had defrauded the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria while working as consultants to the tribe’s casino venture in the early 2000s. Anderson was ordered to pay $725,000 to the tribe to cover its legal fees and arbitration costs in the civil action. Defrauding the Graton Rancheria does not seem to have negatively affected Anderson’s reputation amongst the political and corporate classes, however. Today, Platinum Advisors represents dozens of public and private clients from its offices in San Francisco, Sacramento and Washington D.C. Anderson enjoys insider access to many Democratic and Republican politicians, as he is a prolific campaign fundraiser.

In 2011, Anderson and Bosco joined forces as founding members of Sonoma Media Investments, which now owns most of the print media in Sonoma County, including the Press Democrat, Sonoma Index-Tribune, Sonoma County Gazette, Petaluma Argus-Courier, North Bay Business Journal, Sonoma Magazine, and La Prensa.

SMART’s contract with Platinum Advisors includes a conflict of interest clause, requiring Anderson to promise that he and his firm did not own — and would not develop — any “direct or indirect” financial holdings which conflict with their work for SMART.

The contract allowed SMART to ask Anderson and his employees to divulge their economic interests, but SMART spokesperson Matt Stevens said that SMART’s outgoing director Farhad Mansourian, who directly oversaw Anderson’s work, did not request such disclosures, and that SMART staff was “not aware of any financial conflicts of interests that would conflict in any way with Platinum Advisors performance regarding its services.”

Darius Anderson did not respond to requests for comment.

Mansourian deployed Platinum Advisors to push for state funding and favorable legislation in Sacramento. And he often turned to Anderson and Platinum Advisors’ transportation specialist Steven Wallauch to lobby state officials on legislation involving the NCRA and Bosco’s NWP Co, according to emails obtained by the Bohemian/Pacific Sun through a public records request. On multiple occasions, Mansourian also requested that Bosco himself contact the governor’s office and federal lawmakers on behalf of SMART.

When McGuire introduced Senate Bill 1029 in 2018, it needed language to effectuate the closure of the NCRA’s debts and business relationships with its contractors, chief among them Bosco’s NWP Co.

Emails show that Bosco was involved in crafting the legislation.

On June 27, 2018, Mansourian emailed Anderson for an update on the legislation: “Did you talk to Doug?! … Should we go and see Governor’s chief of staff on SB 1029 ??”

Anderson responded the next day: “I did talk to Doug. Once they have language solidified, they will go to the Governor’s office.”

“What language? Who is working on that?” Mansourian asked.

“There is language being worked on to pay off the debts and liabilities. I am sure that Jason [Liles] will be sharing with us all before it moves forward. It’s the same language that you are working on with Jason,” Anderson wrote. Jason Liles, the McGuire aide working on the legislation to close down the NCRA, is also a Bosco alumnus.

The last paragraph of McGuire’s bill, as signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September 2018, allocated $4 million in state funding to SMART “for the acquisition of freight rights and equipment from the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company [NWP Co].” At a board meeting last May, SMART’s directors agreed to purchase NWP Co’s freight rights and equipment for $4 million, and to add freight services to its passenger rail offerings.

Liles did not respond to requests for comment. SMART’s spokesman said the agency’s staff does not know how the $4 million figure was reached. Bosco wrote “I do not recall where the $4m sales price came from,” but called the price a “bargain” for the state. The 2020 state assessment of the NCRA, which was prepared and published after the $4 million figure was calculated, argues that SMART taking ownership of freight service in the North Bay will have some financial benefits over allowing a separate private freight company to purchase the freight rights from NWP Co.

In subsequent NCRA-related bills authored by McGuire, the state set aside more millions of dollars to cover NCRA debts. On top of paying $4 million to NWP Co for freight rights and equipment, the state paid NWP Co $3.47 million to cover NCRA’s interest-bearing debts to the company, according to Garin Casaleggio, a CalSTA representative.

That amounts to a $7.47 million cash payout to the NWP Co enterprise that had failed to deliver on the prospects it outlined in the 2006 business plan. It does not look like the freight rail business is going to do any better under SMART, however.

The move to take on the additional responsibility of running a freight line came at a trying time for SMART. On March 3, voters in Sonoma and Marin counties rejected Measure I, a ballot item intended to extend the sales tax supporting SMART from 2029 to 2059 — giving SMART a financial buffer for decades to come. Weeks after the failure at the ballot box, a global pandemic hit, crushing the agency’s ridership numbers and casting further doubt on the passenger train’s long-term viability.

Bosco, who appeared at a virtual SMART meeting in May 2020, wasn’t much help in predicting the future. Asked about his company’s current revenue, Bosco wouldn’t give a specific answer.

“I don’t want to disclose the exact numbers because that’s our proprietary information. But I can tell you that we take in about $2 million in revenues a year,” Bosco said.

Yet, despite having few details about how much money Bosco’s freight company earned or spent, and lacking an assessment of how much it would cost SMART to take over the freight operation, 11 of SMART’s 12 board members voted in favor of the paying off and taking over NWP Co’s freight operations at the May 2020 meeting.

The supporters of the decision highlighted the fact that Senator McGuire and state officials had endorsed the deal, and that McGuire promised to secure $10 million in state funding over the coming years to cover SMART’s freight startup costs. Still, it remains unclear to this day how much it will cost SMART to cover day-to-day freight operations or how much revenue the business is expected to bring in.

Adding to the pressure, SMART staff told board members at the May 2020 meeting that the board had to make a decision by June 30 or risk losing the state money on the table.

Only one board member, then-San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips, abstained from supporting the takeover, citing a lack of financial information.

“We’ve been told by Mr. Bosco, and I like Doug, that it’s highly profitable or at least profitable. I don’t have anything — I don’t know if any of us have anything that would indicate that. And so we’re going to take on this obligation with the unknowns that are present. I think that, quite frankly, would be quite foolish of the board,” Phillips said during the meeting.

This February, SMART contracted with a Marin County consultant, Project Finance Advisory Limited, to study the feasibility of the freight takeover plan the agency’s board had approved nine months earlier. In early September, the consultant provided board members with an executive summary of the report. The full report is not complete, according to Stevens, the SMART spokesman.

The executive summary is revealing about NWP Co’s business history, even though Bosco’s company declined to disclose its operating costs to the consultant.

The document estimates that NWP Co’s freight business brings in between $1.2 and $1.3 million per year by hauling agricultural products to four North Bay manufacturers, including Lagunitas Brewing Co. and Hunt & Behrens, Inc., and storing excess railroad equipment and liquid petroleum gas for Bay Area refineries. Although most people associate freight companies with transporting goods, the report estimates that nearly half of NWP Co’s revenue comes from storing rail equipment and “LPG” filled tankers at a train yard near Schellville.

The report cannot estimate how much it costs NWP Co — and by extension will cost SMART — to offer freight services because “detailed, itemized financial records for NWPCo. were not provided” to SMART.

The report posits that running freight cars can offer a “comfortable profit margin,” but it’s not clear how many, if any, North Bay companies are interested in switching from conventional trucking to rail freight.

Since the actual freight operating costs are unknown, outsourcing operation of the freighting back to NWP Co or another contractor could run up a deficit for SMART, which is having enough trouble trying to provide adequate passenger services.

While SMART studies the North Bay’s freight market, NWP Co has continued to serve its customers without paying SMART.

In his written response to the Bohemian/Pacific Sun’s questions, Bosco said that “The NWP/NCRA lease has not yet been transferred to SMART nor has NWP relinquished its operating rights. Accordingly, NWP is not paying rent to SMART.” Stevens, the SMART spokesman, confirmed that NWP Co continues to run freight under its lease agreement with the NCRA while SMART and NWP Co negotiate an interim agreement.

Next week, the Bohemian/Pacific Sun will report on the secret negotiations over the price of the rights of way in Petaluma that took place between Bosco, Anderson, the Spanos Corporation, and SMART.