The scheduled
June 6 appearance of Bill Cosby at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts remains a go—and the financial institution that gives the center its name doesn’t want to talk about it, or him.

The venue itself is offloading responsibility for the show on to the promoter—even as it says there’s an as-yet-unveiled “resolution” to the Cosby conundrum.

Cosby has in recent months been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting 24 women over a span of five decades. Yet the Cosby date remains on the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts’ calendar despite cancellations at venues around the country—and angry protests at venues that haven’t canceled.

Cosby is coming to Santa Rosa even though NBC pulled the plug on the purported pill-pushing patriarch in light of the accusations: they canceled a show-in-the-works that was going to re-catapult Cosby’s career to the very heights of Huxtable.

Whoops—TVLand yanked all repeats of The Cosby Show, so you can really forget that Huxtable-redux stuff.

It’s bad. But the show must go on in Santa Rosa, despite growing heat on Cosby and his alleged crimes.

A 2008 incident involving Cosby and model Chloe Goins is the only allegation that falls within the California statute of limitations. Goins says she was at the Playboy Mansion for a party and was given a drink by Cosby. Goins says she passed out, only to wake up naked in a bed, she says, with Cosby sucking her toes while massaging his microphone. Goins filed a complaint on Jan. 15, and Los Angeles police say they are investigating the accusation.

Cosby has refused to address any of the allegations against him. He won’t comment on “innuendo,” he says.

The publicist who represents the Wells Fargo center and the head of marketing and promotions at the Santa Rosa venue both say the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts is not “presenting” this event. That’s being done by promoter John Low, who is bringing Cosby to Santa Rosa for the third time. And, indeed, the show is listed as “John Low Presents: Bill Cosby” on the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts website.

Anne Abrams, publicist for the Wells Fargo Center, says the distinction over who is presenting the event may “seem like we are splitting hairs.” Indeed it does, since the venue has the discretion, which it is not exercising, to cancel or postpone the show. It’s the only show on the 2015 schedule billed as “Presented by John Low” at the Wells Fargo Center.

Kyle Clausen, director of marketing and promotions at the center, says Low is a “well-respected” promoter out of San Francisco, and that the center isn’t about to compromise a professional relationship with him. The Wells Fargo Center has a contract with Low, Clausen says, and the Cosby deal was put together before this latest toe-sucking charge surfaced.

Clausen says there is “a perception in the community over whether we have complete control over whether this happens. We have a contract with John Low—a legally binding contract to put this on.”

Clausen says he “wants to do what’s best for everybody,” and that includes “preserving the relationship with John Low.”

What of preserving relationships in Santa Rosa community—for instance, with the 20 people who demanded refunds? Clausen says the venue “certainly has tremendous respect for everybody in the community.” He has heard from people who want to see the show canceled, and from others who say it shouldn’t be because Cosby hasn’t been arrested or charged with anything.

Two dozen women have come forward with complaints against Cosby. That was enough for NBC to blacklist him from their network forever, but not enough to get the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts to cancel his show.

Clausen described the Cosby conundrum as a “complex and unfortunate situation,” and added that he is working with the community on a “resolution.” He would not say what form that might take, and only added that Low has been looped in to the proposed resolution.

As things stand, the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts has sold about 500 tickets to the Cosby event, refunded 20 others, and there remain over 900 seats to be filled, says Abrams.

Neither Abrams nor Clausen would comment on their personal thoughts regarding Cosby’s alleged behavior. Low did not respond to email requests for comment. Attempts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful.

Wells Fargo, the financial institution, has naming rights for the center for about one more year. The Bohemian sent some specific questions about the Cosby appearance at a venue that bears their name. The bank sent back a short response.

“The performing arts center is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization,” wrote Ruben Pulido, a Wells Fargo spokesman. “Wells Fargo does not own or operate the center, or manage bookings. Our relationship with the venue is that of the naming sponsor only.”

Pulido did not answer a question about whether those naming rights would extend past 2016, and whether that decision might be affected by the Cosby appearance.

Making good on his promise to upgrade America’s transportation infrastructure, President Barack Obama included $20 million for the North Bay SMART train in his 2016 budget released this week.

Those sounds of gushing approval you might have heard this week reflected a collective gasp of gratitude from lawmakers and policy junkies up and down the North Bay who support this project. The SMART project aims to eventually put choo-choo moves from Larkspur to Cloverdale. For now, workers are laying tracks from San Rafael to the Sonoma County Airport, to the taxpayer-funded tune of $430 million.

Congress has to approve the Obama budget. The $20 million is earmarked to extend the rail-bed from San Rafael south to Larkspur. His proposal would fund the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) system from the Federal Transit Administration Small Starts grant program, according to the Petaluma-based SMART folks.

Here’s the skinny, according to a press release and a follow-up conversation with SMART spokesman Farhad Mansourian: The Transportation Authority
of Marin had “recommended
$11 million toward the $40 million downtown San Rafael to Larkspur extension project.”

That amount was jacked to
$20 million by the Bay Area regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which then “urged the Secretary of Transportation to fund the remaining amount.”

U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman’s office says the North Bay lawmaker— who was just named to the house Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure—talked with Secretary Anthony Foxx and pushed the SMART project.

Mansourian says the San Rafael to Sonoma County Airport phase will be opening up in late 2016 for passenger service.

But what about those congressional Republicans who have already declared the Obama budget dead on arrival for its declaration of “class warfare” against their corporate backers?

Mansourian says the GOP has said they support infrastructure upgrades, and that $20 million out of a budget of $4 trillion is rather a drop in the bucket. They’re not going to fight to “balance the budget on $20 million,” he says. “This is not where the fight is going to be; it’s going to be on the big issues,” such as Obama’s plan for free community college.

“Remember that what is significant about the SMART project is that it is paid for by taxes from Sonoma and Marin. The federal government is putting in a very small amount,” says Mansourian.

The beauty of the Larkspur extension, he says, is that “we’d be connecting the regional ferry to the Sonoma County Airport.” This would be a boost for tourism, and for commuters who have to sweat the 101 congested corridor.

The political class in Larkspur, he adds, is on board with the ferry linkup. “The mayor of Larkspur, last summer wrote a letter of support for us,” says Mansourian.

The proposed stops on the railroad are as follows: the Sonoma County Airport, the Guerneville Road exit on 101, a stop in Santa Rosa’s rebounded Railroad Square, and then on to Cotati, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, two stops in Novato, two stops in San Rafael. And finally Larkspur.

The northern jag to Cloverdale will come later. That project will require additional tens of millions of dollars, says Mansourian, and would make stops in Windsor and Healdsburg. “We’ll work even harder to get to Cloverdale,” he says.

Windsor town councilmember Deb Fudge described the Larkspur announcement as a “a huge piece of the financial puzzle. SMART is now on track to bring traffic-free transportation from the Sonoma County Airport to the ferry in Larkspur—and on to San Francisco. Next stop: Windsor.”
—Tom Gogola

A majority of tenants at Sebastopol’s Barlow retail development have formed an assocation to challenge what they see as unreasonably high fees. The group has hired a certified public accountant to audit the Barlow’s “common area maintenance” (CAM) fees.

Last summer, 24 Barlow tenants banded together to form the Barlow Tenants Association. The number is now 22 after two members left the Barlow. There are currently 38 tenants at the development.

“We are in the process of auditing the Barlow to better understand how we’re getting to these expenses,” says association leader Ben Kinmont, owner of Ben Kinmont Bookseller, an antiquarian bookshop in the Barlow that specializes in rare books on gastronomy.

Kinmont said the Barlow management is working with the group on the audit. The CPA’s report is expected in the next six weeks or so.

“Our goal is to try and make this work,” Kinmont said.

Barney Aldridge, the Barlow’s developer and owner, said he welcomes the audit and called it a “healthy and good thing.” He said he offered to help pay for the audit, but the association declined. But given the work he’s put into the Barlow and the free rent, loans and other assistance he said he’s given some tenants, he’s frustrated by the complaints.

Since the Barlow opened in 2013, four tenants have terminated their leases. Some cited CAM fees; others pointed to poor sales and management practices.

“I totally closed my business and probably won’t open another because it left such a bad taste in my mouth,” says one former tenant who requested anonymity.

When this former tenant first signed a five-year lease two years ago, the tenant was told CAM fees would be about 18 cents per square foot each month and would only increase a “reasonable” amount.

But the first CAM bill was 28 cents a square foot. Last year, the former tenant’s CAM fee had increased to $900 a month.

“There was nothing reasonable about it,” the former tenant says.

The fees are paid in addition to rent and go toward landscaping, cleaning, marketing, taxes and Barlow employee salaries. The current rate is 47 cents a square foot, a rate Aldridge says is lower than similar developments.

Aldridge says the CAM fees are an estimate and have increased because of unforeseen costs, including a near tripling in flood insurance over the past three years, property reassessment by the county and the need to hire more staff. He says the businesses that left did so because of poor business plans and poor sales, not because of increases in the CAM.

“It had nothing to do with CAM. They just went out of business.”

More due diligence and advice from an attorney, the former tenant adds, could have prevented the situation.

“A business owner wants to know how much the bills are going to be. I was strapped. [The CAM fees] were eating up all the money I had set aside for my business.”

This tenant fears the fees may drive out small West County businesses the Barlow set out to attract. “It’s going to become a shopping mall with Starbucks and chain stores.”

Aldridge says he’s turned chains away. The city of Sebastopol is considering regulations that would prohibit so-called formula businesses; if adopted, the new regulations could prohibit chain stores from moving into the Barlow, says Sebastopol planning director Kenyon Webster.

So far, Gypsy Bay Laurel, C-14 gallery, Lynn’s Lavender and Dance4Change have left the Barlow. Warped Brewing is also planning to leave, but owner Noah Bolmer wouldn’t comment on his reasons. The brewery is no longer making beer in Sebastopol and is moving its operation into San Carlos’ Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co. They are looking for another retail storefront in Sonoma County.

Lynn Rossman is the owner of Lynn’s Lavender. She was the first new tenant to sign a lease at the Barlow—and the first one to leave. After what she said were numerous construction delays and then problems with her unit and few customers, she was given an opportunity to terminate her lease.

“We did so, gladly,” she says.

She believes the departure of businesses is related to larger managerial issues. Rossman supports Aldridge’s vision for the Barlow as a place for local artisan producers and businesses, but she says poor management has hampered the project.

“Had he hired and listened to experienced, competent and knowledgeable people, it would have gone in a different direction,” she says.

Aldridge says Rossman left because of poor sales.

“I’m one of the few landlords that lets anybody out of their lease. Most landlords chase people for years in the courts over their leases.”