Hurdles emerge for Petaluma bathtub art project

As Petaluma’s downtown Water Street has transformed into a bustling outdoor dining center, new questions over the future of a controversial art installation proposed for the riverfront walkway are emerging.

The art piece, named “Fine Balance” by San Francisco artist Brian Goggin, is to feature five sculpted clawfoot bathtubs suspended on stilts along the promenade between East Washington Street and the Balshaw Bridge.

Since its approval by the seven-member Public Art Committee in May 2018, the $150,000 “bathtubs” project has become a lighting-rod, attracting significant public ire and spurring a small group of residents to appeal the project last year and threaten legal action.

Now, the committee responsible for green lighting the project more than two years ago has another decision to make, faced with a $79,000 price tag, whether to conduct an environmental review of the installation initiated by city staff.

Upon hearing details of the study’s cost and expected 10-month timeframe last week, committee members chose to postpone making their final recommendations to City Council, in which they could suggest the study moves forward or to explore alternative options.

“We have not had enough time to wrap our heads around the (cost of the study), to the public comments, to the whole ‘now what’ question,” said committee member Heather Mackin, who along with Caroline Hall and Katherine Plank sit on the subcommittee devoted to the project.

However, members Melissa Abercrombie and Christopher Smith needed no further time to share their opinions on the beleaguered art piece, expressing frustration over years of starts and stops as public opinion against the bathtubs remains strong.

“To me, spending more staff time or anybody’s time on something the public is going to fight – they have resources to fight – means we’re going to waste our money,” Abercrombie said. “It really bothers me. I want art, I don’t want litigation.”

Smith, who was the lone dissenting vote originally approving the public art piece in 2018, said he feels the same now as he did then, saying the sculpture is better suited for an alternate site.

City staff agreed to move forward with the environmental review in October 2019, following resident-led demands for the report and litigious comments from some who strongly object to the project. Opposition group Save Water Street has been the most vocal challenger so far, demanding the installation be moved to a different location. Online vitriol, however, has often insulted he artistic concept entirely.

Unlike previous public meetings, the Petaluma resident and art teacher Cheryl Coldiron was the only one to make a statement at the Oct. 22 Public Art Committee meeting on Zoom. Coldiron said that Water Street needed to be preserved as an open space, especially during the pandemic to assist local businesses.

“I actually like a lot of Brian Goggin’s work, and you may not have known that from other comments I have made. But my position has always been about the location, the location, the location and I fervently hope you consider another location for ‘Fine Balance.’”

Additionally, Coldiron said she believes the street is within the historic downtown district, contrary to the city’s published boundaries, and should not be the home of the controversial piece because of its historic nature.

Oakland-based Lamphier-Gregory was the only firm out of five to submit a proposal to execute the study, outlining a proposed budget of $79,280 to assess potential implications of the project on the downtown historic district, general aesthetics and scenic views.

The study was pushed forward by city staff in an attempt to put the city in the “most defensible position” in the face of continued litigious threats, according to an internal staff email. Yet, the decision rankled the Public Art Committee, with several members interpreting the review as a delay tactic by those opposing the art.

Should the study go forward, the Public Art Fund will shoulder the added cost, bringing total cost to more than $230,000 including staff time. Public Art Specialist Steve Huss and Planning Manager Heather Hines said total costs of Fine Balance are not currently available because staff has not pulled together the figures.

Committee member Christopher Smith requested future budget reports list full costs-to-date for each art project, which staff signaled they can do in the future.

Adding another layer of uncertainty, Water Street has become the city’s premier outdoor dining destination in recent months as several indoor operations remain forbidden under the state’s tiered reopening plan. Tables, chairs, umbrellas and heating lamps now dot the very walkway where the five Victorian bathtubs are meant to tower atop 17-foot poles.

A few committee members suggested this repurposing of the riverfront area could just create another obstacle down the line, and questioned whether the additional $79,000 price tag was worth it.

“Things have changed since this project was selected for that site, a lot has changed within the quarantine,” Abercrombie said. “I just ate down there for the first time and saw how active it is, and I think there’s a whole new set of issues that people are going to bring up, whether we want them or not.”

Fine Balance is the committee’s first commissioned piece of public art, and is funded entirely by the Public Art Fund, which collects money from developers of large projects who choose not to install their own public art. None of the funds are provided by taxpayers, and the Public Art Fund cannot be used to pay for anything other than public art.

(Contact Kathryn Palmer at kathryn.palmer@arguscourier.com, on Twitter @KathrynPlmr.)