Down to Business

Novato Theater Company Looks for a New Home

Lease is set to expire on Pacheco Plaza location. Also, the Pacifics baseball team caravan makes a stop on Grant Avenue and a shred event comes to Ignacio.

The Novato Theater Company is looking for a new home as its lease at Pacheco Plaza shopping center creeps toward its June 30 expiration. The company will finish out its 2011-12 season with Noises Off and a search is on for a new space to start the 2012-13 season as planned in the fall. Pacheco Plaza management has worked with the company so it can complete all of its scheduled performances and is also renting them temporary storage and rehearsal space in the former Westamerica Bank building in the shopping center. According to Sandi Rubay-Turner, the new president of the company's board of directors, the departure from the 87-seat theater will make way for new retail next door to the Subway deli. “We’re still looking for performance space …

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Visions for Vacancies

What Business Would Fit Well at this Grant Location?

It used to be Feathered Nest. What do you think this stretch of Old Town could use?

Maybe Novato Patch readers can help our local commercial real estate folks figure out how to fill some of our empty storefronts. Might as well give it a try, right? Each week, we will feature a vacant store, abandoned building or undeveloped lot and ask readers: "What do you wish were here?" This spot at 830 Grant Ave. has been empty since the Feathered Nest home furnishings shop became an online retailer. Old-timers will remember it as a pool hall. It's just under 2,500 square feet and right behind the town clock at Sherman & Grant. Think about what's already on this section of Grant and what is missing. What do you think would really enhance this location in the heart of Old Town Novato? If you're interested, call John Williams at Sperry…

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Brent Ainsworth

12:59 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012

I just called Andy Podshadley of Trek and he said it will open in June ... sprinkler system and back patio work is being done now ...   more ›

Governor Proposes More Cuts, Tax Hikes as State Faces New $16B Budget Gap

Figure up from $9 billion projected in January.

Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget numbers released Saturday show that California's budget deficit is nearly $6 billion more than the governor projected in January. The New York Times reported that California now faces a $16 billion gap, up from $9 billion, in round numbers. How that'll impact cities, however, remains unclear — at least until voters weigh in at the polls in November on Brown's tax initiative. "This means that we will have to go much further, and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year," Brown said on Youtube, where he released his original statement. "But we can't fill a hole of this magnitude with cuts alone, without doing severe damage to our schools." "That's why I'm bypassing the gridlock, …

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Police Blotter

Woman Reporting Harassment is Arrested on a Warrant

The following information from May 10-13 was supplied by the Novato Police Department. Arrests do not indicate a conviction.

The Headliner:  May 11, 11:16 a.m. – A woman in the 100 block of Cielo Lane reported that she was being harassed by an ex-spouse.  She said that he is sending texts to friends that mention that he is looking for her.  The woman said her ex has a history of domestic violence and that she is scared that he is going to hurt her or her father.  The woman came into the police station to make a report on the harassment, but officers found she had a no-bail warrant for her arrest out of Sonoma County.  She was booked into Marin County Jail and the report was forwarded to Santa Rosa PD for investigation.  May 10  1:30 p.m. – An identity theft was reported in the 500 block of Stone Drive.  Unknown(s) used a victim’s debit card, which accounted for …

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Father, Son Notch Holes-in-One within 5 Days of Each Other

It was a bonding experience for Frank and Tony Perachiotti.

Like father, like son. Frank Perachiotti, a lifelong Novato resident, smacked a 5-iron just right during a round of golf at Marin Country Club on May 9. The shot at the 165-yard No. 16 hole was indeed perfect, scoring him the first hole-in-one of his 35-year history on the links. But Perachiotti, a 63-year-old Bank of Marin employee, got another thrill May 14 when his son, Tony, fired an ace on the 157-yeard No. 12 hole at the famed Spyglass course in Monterey. Tony, 34 and also of Novato, works at Ghirardo CPA. Nice shots, guys.

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Schaub Back at Home with CBS Radio Affiliate

News reporter/anchor from Novato switches from KGO AM to KCBS AM, the No. 1 station in the Bay Area.

Home for radio man Jeffrey Schaub is Novato, but home in terms of the radio dial is CBS — again. As first reported by media blogger Rich Lieberman, Schaub started May 10 at the KCBS AM 740/106.9 FM, the most popular station in the Bay Area. He spent about two years working at KGO AM 810, which recently has undergone a host of format and personnel changes. "It has been terrific working at KGO radio. I will miss my new friends there very much," Schaub wrote in a recent email to friends. "But I look forward to the challenges ahead at KCBS, the No. 1 radio station in the Bay Area." Schaub, a reporter and anchor, spent most of his career with CBS affiliate KPIX TV in San Francisco, now known as CBS5. "At KCBS, they were offering me an …

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Satire on Fire: Will Durst Crash Landing in Novato

Bay Area's political comic genius to dish out dollops of snark Thursday at Rolling Hills Club.

Twisting a cliche, listening to Will Durst fire off jabs during election season is like a watching a fourth-grader run loose at Powell's Sweet Shoppe with a $100 gift certificate. Durst has been called the modern-day Will Rogers, the 21st Century Mort Sahl and, as the New York Times labeled him, "Quite possibly the best political satirist working in the country today." You want to laugh at our government? A burst of Durst is all you need. You can get a close-up dose at 8 p.m. Thursday in Novato; Durst, with support from Kellen Erskine, will hold court at Rolling Hills Club. Click here to score $20 tickets. Novato Patch caught up with Durst on the phone last week. Are we on an up trend or a down trend with political humor in terms of public…

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Tom Walsh

3:43 pm on Tuesday, May 15, 2012

"... like trying to glue Jello to a sponge." Classic.   more ›

Pro-Housing Group Honored for Standing Up to Adversity

Stand Up for Neighborly Novato is the recipient of Live Local Marin's Organization of the Year award.

Stand Up for Neighborly Novato, formed as a self-proclaimed civil voice in the contentious debate about quota-based affordable housing, is being recognized for standing firm against groups that have fought new housing options. The group, founded in January 2011, is the recipient of Live Local Marin's Organization of the Year award. Representatives of SUNN will receive the honor Tuesday, May 15, at a 5:30 p.m. banquet at Jackson Cafe in downtown San Rafael. Live Local Marin, a Marin-based initiative backed by the Marin Community Foundation, is honoring five organizations and two individuals for their accomplishments and resilience in supporting and developing affordable places for people to live in Marin County. Other recipients are the …

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