Editorial: On ‘Fine Balance,’ the bathtub art, Petaluma City Council got it right

In real estate and in art, it’s all about location, location, location.

The Petaluma City Council gets that. And so it voted Monday to send the Public Art Committee back to the drawing board.

The committee’s mission?

Find a new home for “Fine Balance,” the bathtub artwork installation long-planned for a space along Water Street - and long-fought by residents and business owners alike.

The city council got it right.

The unweildy art pieces - five claw-foot tubs suspended on stilts along the Water Street walkway - threatened to disrupt daily foot traffic, eat into annual event space and displace the parklets that riverfront restaurants have come to depend upon during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Council member Dave King provided some of the most salient commentary for the city council’s reversal Monday night, two years after city leaders originally green-lighted the project.

“In the past I’ve honored the process. I think our Committee did their best and gave it what they had and did a good job,” King said. “But there are some significantly changed circumstances that have happened in the last two years, largely brought forward by (COVID-19). And my concern is that an art project this size, would interfere with the parklets, and perhaps future parklets and future uses.”

But we’re also sympathetic to - and gratified by - Mayor Teresa Barrett’s and council member D’Lynda Fischer’s decision to stick with their original approval of the project two years ago.

“We came to a compromise two years ago that we would approve this project for 10 years, then reassess it. I’m not sure if anything’s changed since then that would change my mind about this project,” Fischer said. “If we really want to know and prove what the impacts are, then we should do the (environmental review), so that we can answer all these questions and make an informed decision.”

Here’s our pitch: We think council members, and residents, ought to strike a...please forgive us...fine balance going forward.

We think “Fine Balance” is cool. We think Petaluma would benefit from the interesting artwork, which has certainly done what art is supposed to do (even before being installed). It has sparked conversation and generated more interest than almost anything in our town’s recent history.

And we’re not bothered by the cost, which would have approached $250,000 if the council had improved an environmental review. Public art is worth it.

But we also think it’s important that we get the location right. Doing anything else, as Vice Mayor Brian Barnacle said Monday night, risks long-term damage.

“I think this is an important piece of art for the community,” Barnacle said. “(But) I don’t want this to be a symbol of people feeling dismissed in the process.”

We couldn’t agree more.