REAL ESTATE • CONSTRUCTION • GROWTH
NorthBay biz celebrates 50 years of business excellence Golden Years
An effort is underway to build the world’s first Resiliency Center for first responders Inside:
Real Estate, Construction and Growth Issue 2025
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for you. for community. for 75 years.
Whether you’re just starting your business or continuing a family legacy, we’re here to help you grow and thrive.
La Gare Restaurant, Santa Rosa Business Member since 2007
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Center Point DAAC taking treatment on the road
Santa Rosa recovery center’s mobile van shifts opioid safety into first gear F or more than five decades, Center Point DAAC has served as a lifeline for individuals struggling with addiction across Sonoma County. Now, with the launch of its new Mobile Narcotic Treatment Program (MNTP) van, the organization is expanding that mission in a transformative way—bringing inability to leave work or family responsibilities to reach Santa Rosa for treatment. By operating Monday through Friday and traveling to locations including the Russian
medication-assisted treatment (MAT), medical care, and harm- reduction tools directly into rural and coastal communities where opioid emergencies are increasingly common and access to treatment remains limited. The MNTP van builds upon years of outreach through DAAC’s Wellness on Wheels (WOW) program, but takes services several steps further by providing a fully licensed platform for on-site buprenorphine treatment, withdrawal support, HIV/HCV testing, and confidential medical assessments. Led by Dr. Marie Mulligan and Alisha Pepper, PMHNP—both addiction-medicine specialists—and supported by a credentialed team of nurses and counselors, the unit is designed to meet people exactly where they are, whether in a remote farming community, an isolated coastal town, or regions heavily impacted by rising fentanyl use. The need is urgent. Sonoma County continues to experience elevated opioid overdose rates, with rural regions such as the Russian River area and transportation-limited communities among the hardest hit. Many residents face long travel distances, infrequent bus service, or the
River region, Cloverdale, and coastal communities, the MNTP van removes the most persistent barrier to care: access. The new van also strengthens coordination
Alisha Pepper, a psychiatric nurse practioner, and Dr. Marie Muylligan, in the MAT mobile unit.
with local health partners, tribal communities, emergency responders, and behavioral-health providers, ensuring seamless referrals and continuity of care. Along with Narcan distribution, fentanyl-test strip access, and educational outreach, the MNTP team offers a compassionate entry point for individuals who may be hesitant to seek treatment or unaware that immediate support exists. “As opioid emergencies continue to touch every corner of the county, our goal is simple but vital,” says Christopher Geiger, Regional Vice President. “We are bringing life-saving treatment directly to people who otherwise might never reach us—meeting them with dignity, respect, and evidence-based care.” With its activation underway, future NorthBay Biz editions will highlight community partnerships, route expansions, and early milestones as this groundbreaking mobile clinic begins delivering hope— and recovery—across Sonoma County. — Christopher Geiger, Regional Vice President (A) CP-DAAC
your one stop glam spot .
“L uxury without ego” is the mantra that came to Masara Miramontez in a dream—just two weeks before opening the doors to her very own brick- and-mortar, Modern Luxe Lounge on Nov. 11. Located at 512 Wilson St. in Santa Rosa, this new beauty destination is a one-stop shop offering an elevated menu of services including makeup, aesthetics, spray tans, teeth whitening, full-service hair care, group sessions and more on the way. With years of experience in the beauty industry, Masara set out to create a space that stands apart—a creative hub rather than a traditional salon. Her vision is why guests can expect an ever- expanding range of services and experiences under one stylish roof. “I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from traveling to New York, San Diego and LA, where I’m from, and bringing those elements here,” Masara explains. Guided by her mantra, Masara’s long-term dream for Modern Luxe Lounge goes beyond beauty. She hopes to introduce community-driven programs, including one designed for Sonoma County youth—offering a welcoming resource for beauty education, confidence building and self-expression. Growing up, Masara was a natural at makeup—always the friend doing everyone’s glam. She learned so much from watching her aunt backstage as she prepared for theater performances. Now, she hopes to give young people the guidance, tools and sense of luxury she once wished for. As her brand, Makeup by Masara, continues to expand, these workshops could even provide starter kits for young people eager to learn. Though she didn’t always know what kind of business she would own one day, Masara always felt entrepreneurship calling. So, when she spotted the vacant building that would become Modern Luxe Lounge, it felt like divine timing. Just two months after signing the lease, the lounge is now officially open—brought to life by Masara’s vision and, she emphasizes, the unwavering support of her community. Masara’s husband David of SoCo Construction is the reason Modern Luxe Lounge was able to come together so quickly. The creative hub almost looks like an art gallery at first glance with striking black furnishings, organic-shaped tables and pops of bold color that make the room feel vibrant and alive. A statement wall of graffiti-inspired artwork sets the tone: creative, confident and one-of-a-kind. Soft, halo-like lighting fixtures float above, creating a warm, modern glow throughout the studio. Even the restroom becomes an experience, illuminated by neon pink and blue lighting that transforms an everyday moment into an unforgettable vibe. It’s the perfect destination for clients who want luxury with an edge.
707-615-7544
n modernluxelounge . com n
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December 2025 • Volume 50 • Number 13 CONTENTS
50 YEARS OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
21
LEAD STORY 21 The Gold Standard Jason Walsh A look back at NorthBay biz’s 50 years in publication SPONSORED SPECIAL SECTION 51 The Fires Inside Jason Walsh First Responders Resiliency is determined to build world’s first self-care sanctuary for first responders
FEATURE STORIES 28 The Welcoming Committees
Judith M. Wilson The Yes In My Back Yard movement opens its doors to growth
42 The Economics of Immigration
Judith M. Wilson The multicultural workforce is building the economy in more ways than one
50 Sonoma State’s new president Jason Walsh CSU names Michael Spagna to lead SSU out of challenging times
WORK/LIFE 15 Retirement 16 Office
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 5
65
58
56
61
DEPARTMENTS 12 The 707
COLUMNS 11
Editor's Note Jason Walsh NorthBay biz —50 years and counting Econ 101 Robert Eyler Penny saved is no longer penny earned Only In Marin Bill Meagher Parking karma in Mill Valley and a Downtown Business bailout in Novato Tech Talk Michael E. Duffy The technological sophistication of scams
The latest news from Sonoma and Napa counties
13
18
The 415 The latest news from Marin County
17
20
The Month In Numbers A look at the key figures shaping life in the North Bay
56
Great Tastes Alexandra Russell Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma Valley Dine Wise Jason Walsh La Toque in Napa What’s Happening Upcoming North Bay events Biz Scene Grand Opening of Fire Station 5
27
58
34
Vine Wise Adam Lee The changing role of the winemaker
61
60
Napa Insider Christina Julian Farewell Blue Note, hello Mercato del Gusto
65
66
Beyond the Boardroom Rosie Padilla Norm and Joni Rosinski, former owners of NorthBay biz
/northbaybiz
/northbaybiz
@northbaybiz
NorthBay biz (ISSN No. 1542-3549: USPS 097-770) is owned and published monthly (plus three bonus issues annually) by North Bay Media Group, LLC. Editorial offices are at 3392 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95403 USA: (707) 528-4434. Sub- scription price is $35 per year. Periodicals Postage Paid at Santa Rosa, CA 95402 and at additional mailing offices. Copyright 2022, NorthBay biz. Reproduction of this issue in whole or in part is strictly forbidden without written permission by the publisher. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NorthBay biz, 3392 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95403 USA.
Printed by Publication Printers Corp., an FSC Certified printer. Please recycle this magazine.
6 NorthBaybiz
December 2025
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Celebrating 50 Years
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Editor-in-Chief
Jason Walsh
Associate Editor
Rosie Padilla
Contributing Editor
Bill Meagher
Design Director
Anne Schenk
Marketing Consultant
Lori Rooney
Writers Jason Walsh
Judith M. Wilson
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Columnists Adam Lee Alexandra Russell Bill Meagher Christina Julian Jason Walsh Michael E. Duffy Robert Eyler
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8 NorthBaybiz
December 2025
“ NorthBay biz magazine has been a wonderful tool for my business. ”
W hen taking over my family business, I did not realize at the time what a great role the NorthBay biz Magazine would have through the upcoming months and years. The magazine, and even more so, the employees of the magazine, have played an intricate role in the progression of our business. The magazine is such an amazing tool in keeping the community apprised in the ongoings of our business as we grow and serve our community. It began with the passing of my dad, Bill Simpson, the founder of Simpson Sheet Metal. The magazine played such a wonderful role in paying tribute to the him. Moving forward, I had the opportunity to be certified as a woman- owned business, as well as receiving several awards in the community for the same. This media of keeping the community aware of the wonderful ongoings of our business has been wonderful. Over time, and through the growth of our business, we now find ourselves here at Simpson Sheet Metal in a blessed position of being able to give back to our community. Alongside NorthBay
biz, Lawrence Amaturo, Guy Fieri and others, we are able to contribute to the literacy program here in Sonoma County. The magazine and the outreach pouring into this program are making a difference in the lives of children in the community. NorthBay biz magazine has been a wonderful tool for my business to keep others informed on our growth
and role in Sonoma County and again, even more so, we have built incredible relationships
with the Amaturo team. For this we are thankful! Barbie Simpson
Helping grow your business isn’t just something we do... it’s all we do! For advertising and marketing information, call us at 707.548-8216
o
Read on Sonoma!
Simpson Sheet Metal is proud to be a sponsor of Read On Sonoma Read On Sonoma had our most successful school year yet, with over 1,460 students participating in 7 schools! We are expanding to twelve schools and 3,300 children. Our students read more than 630 million words — That’s 49,180 books, or 34 books per student! Keep up the great work! — Barbie Simpson, Owner and President
Put Your Trust In Us
Celebrating more than 40 years as a family owned business. Our team is here to meet all of your HVAC needs. 707-576-150 • www.simpsonsheetmetal.com • Santa Rosa, CA
Editor's Note
NorthBay biz at 50
The local media landscape has changed— but the passion and dedication remain
By Jason Walsh W
hen NorthBay biz launched 50 years ago, local news was a different ballgame. Regional
local residents reporting local news. By our count, NBb is the only locally owned publication left standing whose coverage area includes Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties. Diving into our archives for a story on NBb’s 50th anniversary has been an education in late 20th century magazine publishing—the gonzo-ish writing style, the graphic design (or lack thereof) and the general Let’s Put On A Show! vibe of questionably qualified reporters dipping their toes into journalism for nothing more than the fun and excitement of it (and certainly not for a fat paycheck). Today, our magazine production crew and stable of writers are still lean and
daily papers were thriving, most towns boasted their own hyper- local weekly and alternative publications in some communities outnumbered mainstream press. “Owning a newspaper is like a license to print money,” 20th century Canadian media mogul Roy Thomson is said to have claimed. Thomson died in 1976—the same year NorthBay biz began publishing, then titled Sonoma Business . At the time, one
Walsh, when his editing was done with red crayons and wedge erasers.
couldn’t walk down the street of any Sonoma, Marin or Napa community without tripping over one or two newspapers in every driveway—locally owned and locally produced. There were the well-known local mastheads of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and Marin Independent Journal —SF staples E xaminer and Chronicle were even more prevalent—on top of literally scores of smaller pubs like the Santa Rosa News Herald, the Mill Valley Record , the Novato Advanc e, the San Rafael News Pointe r and the Ross Valley Recorder. Not familiar with some of those publications? That’s because 50 years later, they no longer exist. Meanwhile, pubs that managed to keep the lights on over that time—like the Sonoma Index-Tribune, Pacific Sun, Petaluma Argus Courier, et al—are owned by publishers outside the region. The PD , of course, was purchased last May by NY-based Alden Global Capital, which already owns the Marin IJ down the road. Locally owned publications in the North Bay are a rare breed in 2025—after region-wide ‘zines like NorthBay biz and Marin magazine, which launched in the early 2000s, one has to look at hyper-local-on-steroids titles like the Point Reyes Light or Sebastopol Times to find
passionate, but we’ve honed our chops in a more traditional sense—bylines are from professional journalists trained in media with resume experiences often at much larger publications; expert columns are by industry professionals, who also happen to be engaging writers. Luckily, we also have long-time staff members with the institutional knowledge that allows us to navigate an ever-evolving media landscape. Perhaps most importantly of all, however, is that local ownership by Amaturo Sonoma Media Group—a Santa Rosa-based multi-media company with eight radio stations, along with NBb —whose management team, staff members, advertising clients and readership all live in nearby communities, shop at the corner markets, do business with the local banks, dine at family restaurants and are regulars at favorite watering holes. And there’s much to be said for that. Fifty years after NBb’s debut, local media’s license to print money has long expired. But, for those publications that carry on locally, membership in the community is set for life. g
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 11
The 707
Montgomery Village announces new brands A wave of new businesses are opening this fall at Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village shopping center—including women’s apparel and accessories brand Anthropologie, as well as mission-driven restaurant Sweetgreen. Anthropologie opened at the 2404 Magowan Drive retail center on Oct. 22, while Sweetgreen enjoyed a Nov. 4 debut. Bluemercury beauty store and contemporary clothing brand Vuori celebrated Nov. 7 openings. Also on the horizon at the Village are Free People, a specialty women’s clothing brand known for its bohemian- fashion, activewear and accessories; beauty retailer Sephora and Beach By Everything but Water, a destination for women’s swimwear and resort-wear. In all, Montgomery Village is welcoming 11 new businesses to its 280,000-square-foot complex, with such brands as Blue Bottle Coffee, Club Pilates, Face Foundrie and Fieldwork coming soon. Montgomery Village recently celebrated its 75th year with an expansion of over 2,800-square-feet of new community spaces: The Green, an open turf area for families and pets, and The Terrace, a gathering space with cozy fire pits. The openings and renovations are part of the shopping center’s vision to continue being a “vibrant destination,” General Manager Kris Miller said in announcing the new brands. “These behind-the-scenes improvements all ladder up to our vision of creating a place where people are eager to spend time,” said Miller. For more information, visit montgomeryvillageca.com .— JW
inspired
Former farm bureau employee suspected of theft, fraud A former Sonoma County Farm Bureau employee was arrested last month for allegedly stealing around $375,000 from the ag- industry advocacy group. Samantha Piehoff is being held by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of grand theft, forgery and obtaining money under false pretenses, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat first reported. Farm Bureau Executive Director Dayna Ghirardelli told the Press Democrat suspicion of the fraud first arose when she analyzed a check to a vendor and inaccuracies and other details of the check raised red flags. Further review found additional financial irregularities and Piehoff, an employee since 2018, was dismissed and the matter eventually handed over to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office. Piehoff, who had not been formally charged at press time, is a member of the Herrerias family, whose support and membership in the farm bureau dates back nearly a century, with various family members serving in staff and leadership rolls over the decades. Piehoff, 36 of Sebastopol, was hired as an executive assistant and office manager, according to the PD .— NBb
Sonoma County supervisors to update Cannabis Program Belly up to the bud bar, Sonoma! That could be a new thing if the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors moves ahead with its Cannabis Program update, which would include allowing “consumption lounges,” akin to alcohol-serving bars, where cannabis users can purchase and consume product on site. The update, advanced via a straw vote by the supervisors Oct. 28, is intended to refine the county’s cannabis permitting framework and environmental policies, aligning land use and regulatory standards so cannabis is treated more consistently by the county with comparable non-cannabis activities. Key changes include allowing most supply chain uses in industrial and commercial areas, county officials said in an announcement of the updates. In agricultural areas, the board plans to “reclassify cannabis as a ‘controlled’ agricultural crop with right to farm protections and allowances for more vertical integration at cannabis farms, which will further integrate cannabis into the agricultural landscape of the county and provide additional business opportunities and flexibility.” The supervisors also moved to improve neighborhood compatibility by adding a new 1,000-foot setback from all residential zoning and also voted to strengthen current setbacks by applying the 100-foot property line setback and 300- foot setback from neighboring residences to the entire cannabis operation, county officials said.— JW
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December 2025
The 415
Marin County events center getting a facelift The Marin County Civic Center is moving toward phase two of its major renovation, with the Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium on track for a 2027 reopening. The civic center’s primary events center has been closed since 2023. The county Board of Supervisors is considering construction contracts to install modern infrastructure and safety enhancements to the 2,000-seat theater, which was conceived in the late 1950s by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The auditorium first opened in 1971. The board is also looking at recoating and repairing the auditorium’s notable domed roof, reupholstering the auditorium seating and beautifying the surrounding grounds with new landscaping. The county is estimated to spend $18.9 million to renovate the building. “These improvements will help preserve the Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium as a beloved gathering place where the community can continue to enjoy music, theater, and cultural events for generations to come," said county Public Works Director Chris Blunk in a statement. A long-planned seismic retrofit of the building was done in 2024, during which various health, safety and accessibility issues were identified and are being addressed in the current revitalization project.— JW
Proposed measure aims to revamp CEQA Marin NIMBYs are on notice: A potential measure on the November 2026 ballot aims to overhaul CEQA, or the California Environmental Quality Act. The California Chamber of Commerce filed paperwork last month to place a measure on next year’s statewide ballot that would make changes to CEQA in order to streamline planning proposals and make development projects easier to realize. The “Building an Affordable California Act” would create a one-year limit on environmental review for an array of big-ticket projects. Established in 1970, CEQA mandates state and local jurisdictions study and disclose any effects significant new projects have on the environment; environmental impact reports, or EIRs, are produced and project developers must demonstrate how they would offset or mitigate the impacts. EIRs can be costly and time consuming, and have been known to spark litigation that can grind a proposal to a halt for years. Environmentalists laud CEQA as a necessary check-and balance against runaway development; critics say it has evolved over the years as a means to obstruct projects with costly lawsuits, often when environmental questions are nonexistent. A recent example occurred in 2022 when the Tiburon Open Space Committee filed a CEQA challenge to halt a residential subdivision. The court upheld county approval of the project, noting how CEQA was intended to protect the environment, yet can be a “tool of obstruction” against housing projects. The California Chamber of Commerce must gather 546,000 valid signatures by spring in order to qualify the measure for the November ballot.— JW
Tiburon approves nation’s strictest tobacco-sales ban Tiburon is going cold turkey this holiday season—at least, when it comes to the sale of tobacco. The Town Council in November became the first jurisdiction in the nation to ban the sale of tobacco and tobacco-related products, without exemptions. A handful of towns in California have placed bans on the selling of tobacco products, but those offer certain exemptions. Despite the strict nature of the new regulation, effective Dec. 5, Tiburon residents might not notice much different in their lives—no retailers currently sell tobacco products in the southern Marin town anyway, according to city officials. The Tiburon tobacco-sales restriction comes as Marin County as a whole is considering measures to discourage tobacco sales. In October the Board of Supervisors heard a proposed ordinance to establish a minimum price of $12 for all tobacco-smoking devices (with a $1 increase every two years) and prohibit the use of coupons and discounts. “Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, and in Marin, nearly half of 11th graders report having tried vaping,” said Dr. Lisa Santora, Marin County public health officer, in a statement of support for the so-called Tobacco Minimum Floor Price Law (MFPL) ordinance.— JW
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 13
Work Life Retirement
R etirement, they say, is a time for personal growth. What many are finding, however, is that personal growth turns out to be a new job. With people living longer and inflation still lightening pocketbooks, many U.S. residents in their 60s and 70s are taking on full- or part-time jobs to make ends meet. Personal finance experts have even coined a term for it: Unretiring. In fact, one in eight retirees was predicted to have returned to work in 2025, according to employment consulting website resumebuilders.com . Their primary motivation? The rise in unretirement of retirees returned to work in years prior to 2020. But the numbers have jumped. Following the mass of retirements during the pandemic—referred to as the Great Resignation, when many decided life was too short to be Johnny and Jane Lunchpails their whole lives—many seniors discovered life wasn’t as short as they thought. Facing a potential 20 or more years left (according to average U.S. life expectancy at nearly 79) and steep cost-of-living increases, around a quarter of retirees began brushing up their resumes the past two years—with 29% and 22% returning to work in 2023 and 2024, respectively. While Social Security payments help, they’re only intended to cover about 40% of retirement income. By Jason Walsh
More older Americans enjoying crosswords, sudoku and filling out job applications
shows a gaping hole in the American safety net, not all seniors consider
rejoining the workforce as a negative, with many saying they enjoy the social aspect of the
workplace or find meaning in staying active and engaged in their golden years. As Fred
Financial reasons. Many of those required remote work opportunities, “especially if they face mobility challenges, disabilities or caregiving responsibilities,” notes Resume Builder’s Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller. Unretiring isn’t new—a certain number of retirees consider returning to the workplace in any given year, for a variety of reasons. According to resumebuilder, an average of 18%
Unretiring is also unfazed by gender- equity concerns, being most common in single people and women, according to Angela Rowe, a policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislators. While unretiring out of financial necessity
Rogers observed many years ago on his 1970s children’s show: “Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else." Now 50 years later, those kids in his audience are realizing what he meant.
Write If You Get Work!
Here are 10 jobs for retirees, according to AARP
Administrative assistant ($21.29 per hour) Customer service representative ($18.16)
Date entry clerk ($16.74) Home health aide ($14.51) Nanny ($22) Pet groomer ($14.32)
Receptionist ($16.33) School bus driver ($20.39) Security guard ($15.88) Shuttle driver ($16.83)
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 15
Work Life Office
County of Marin calls employees back to office North Bay jurisdiction follows in footsteps of state, metropolitan areas
E ven in Marin, they’re tapping their for flexibility in bridging the work- life-balance divide, the place known for mountain biking to the office and employee yoga breaks might be particularly sympathetic to permanent remote work. But now the county where “sittin’ by the dock of the bay” is considered a statement of purpose is asking staff to “come in” every once in a while. In early November, the County of Marin began requiring flex-work employees in its IT department to work twice weekly from the office, with that number bumping to three days beginning Jan. 5. The new flex requirements were first reported last month by the Marin Independent Journal , following an October meeting of the county Board of Supervisors, when several county employees complained during the public-comment watches for employees to return to the office. If any jurisdiction seemed ripe By Jason Walsh
time of the new scheduling, in which the standard is that employees work more often than not on site. Disgruntled workers described having to pay more for gas and childcare as akin to a reduction in salary. About 43% of the county’s 2,300 regular workers are on a hybrid schedule, the IJ reported. The return to the office will be more inconvenient for some than others— at least one county library employee lives in New Mexico, while another lives in Guatemala, the IJ story said. (Those two situations are temporary and have been approved by managers, county officials told the newspaper.) Remote work has been something of a job negotiation since the pandemic, when nearly everyone worked from home for about a year. Since 2023, the number of companies requiring workers at the office at least three days a week rose by 37%. That said, over the same time frame, job postings offering hybrid schedules rose from 15 to
24%. About 52% of remote-capable jobs today are hybrid, according to gallup.com . The County of Marin is hardly alone in its expectations for employee on-site appearances. Last spring, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered full-time state employees return to the office at least four days per week; San Francisco Mayor Dan Lurie issued a similar dictum for municipal workers in February. Elsewhere in the North Bay, Sonoma and Napa counties haven’t refined remote-work policies to the degree of their neighbors to the south. That said, not all counties’ economies offer the same degree of remote- eligible jobs—municipal or not—as others. San Francisco and Santa Clara, for instance, have the most remote-eligible jobs, due to the size of their tech sectors. Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties are fifth, seventh and ninth respectively among the nine Bay Area counties for remote-eligible jobs.
Remote-friendly counties
Here’s how the nine Bay Area counties line up regarding over-all remote-eligible jobs
San Francisco Santa Clara
51% 51% 47%
Alameda
40% 39% 38%
Sonoma
32% 29% 26%
Marin
Solano
San Mateo
Contra Costa
Napa
Source: Bay Area Council Economic Institute
16 NorthBaybiz
December 2025
The Month In Numbers A look at the key figures shaping life in the North Bay
Sonoma County
Lost in (parking) space
$1 Increased cost per hour to park in premium areas of downtown Santa Rosa beginning Jan. 1 when new parking-meter rates go into effect. Meters will increase by 50 cents an hour at meters outside core business areas.
$1 million
Annual revenue expected to be raised for Santa Rosa from the new parking meter rates.
Napa County Economic woes
57.6% Average U.S. tariff on all Chinese imports, at press time 326 Number of employees laid off between July and November from AP Tech, which produced equipment used in production of computer chips and flat screens. The company subsequently closed Dec. 1, citing international trade disputes and loss of business from Chinese companies. .75 Vehicle crash-risk score, on a scale between 0 and 1, for road segments of Unidos Middle School and St. John’s Lutheran school—the highest in Napa County, according to traffic consultants. Unsafe routes to school?
4,908 Traffic collisions recorded in Napa County between 2015 and 2021 Source: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Marin County
Unhappy accidents
180 Days local man sentenced after pleading guilty to two felony violations for insurance fraud.
5 Number of times the man and two accomplices were shown to have staged fake “accidents” in order to file insurance claims for pre-existing damage to his vehicle. Source: Marin County District Attorney’s Office
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 17
ECON 101 No penny for your thoughts The 1-cent goes the way of the wooden nickel
By Robert Eyler T he U.S. penny is going away, albeit slowly at first. In November 2025, the United States discontinued the production of new pennies. Still, an unknown quantity (the number could be as high as 300 billion pennies, or $3 billion worth, for you collectors out there) remains in circulation. There are some small implications for this policy choice, perhaps both long in the making and not coming for a long time. There are no expectations of immediate rounding up to the nearest five cents. The economics of doing so immediately do not hold in all cases. We should also not expect goods and services paid for with digital payments to change their pricing, given their coinless, cashless nature. However, it may also accelerate cashless payments by enabling greater efficiency gains from moving more transactions online and pricing as close to optimal levels as possible. It is important (sort of) to recognize that coins are not legal tender; they allow transactions under $1 but lack
the same legal backing as the statement “this is legal tender for all debts, public and private” of foldable money in the United States. This is generally a trivial distinction, unless you intend to pay a bill with just coins. You may get a quick education if the vendor refuses payment. Because of inflation, the cost of minting 1-cent coins is now higher
than their face value, perhaps as high as 4 cents to mint every 1 cent in the United States. Such economics was a consideration when Canada in 2012 stopped producing its penny. (I still have a few at home from traveling to Canada
Comparison of Canadian Core Inflation versus American Core Inflation, Jan. 2000 to Aug. 2025 Source: Federal Reserve (Core inflation is consumer price index inflation less food and energy products and services price inflation), the arrow points toward the start of the Canadian policy in 2012.
18 NorthBaybiz
December 2025
that I stored and forgot about.) Some countries that use the Euro have also experimented with rounding rules to eliminate the need for a physical coin under 2 cents. Inflation from a round-up of prices is unknown and depends on how firms generally set profit-maximizing prices, price elasticity and the reality of increasing prices. The graph here shows the inflation rate in Canada monthly since January 2012 and the date the Canadian penny went away, compared to inflation in the United States in “core” forms, consumer inflation in each country, less food and energy products and services. The discussions and the upcoming policy change have sparked debate among economists about the inflationary implications of pricing in multiples of 5 cents versus 1 cent, as well as the potential efficiency gains. Below is a summary of the considerations to date, and also the possible implications for the North Bay. n Should not be much pressure in the short term on taxable sales or merchants' pricing lists and restaurant menus generally. n When pressure comes, it will be (as an indirect tax when rounding up happens) falling on smaller businesses and lower- income households. This puts another bit of marginal pressure on rental vacancy and wage pressures to keep up with these price changes. With experiments in Canada suggesting little effect over time, the
supposition is that the effects, nationally and locally, will be small, but another small way to pressure lower-income households. Watch for small effects and rounding phenomena to emerge where policy is more pennywise than pound- foolish. g
Dr. Robert Eyler is professor of economics at Sonoma State University and president of Economic Forensics and Analytics in Sonoma County.
In celebration of NBb’s 50th anniversary, here’s a photo of a young(er) Robert Eyler circa 1990s.
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 19
Only In Marin
Parking karma in Mill Valley and a Downtown Business bailout in Novato By Bill Meagher
O ne of the traditional hurdles to opening a business in Mill Valley is being lifted as the city is easing its parking requirements as applied to businesses. After four years of review, the city is dropping its vintage 1980 requirements regarding the amount of parking that businesses must provide. Given the layout and size of the downtown area as well as business districts in the small town, parking has always been a sticking point in Mill Valley. But one of the things revealed in the long parking review is that, for the most part, there is enough parking already provided for business areas. The exception to the relaxed parking requirements going forward would be for businesses greater than 5,000 square feet where nominal new parking might be required.
Proposed Costco gas station may be refueled Staying in Novato for a moment: A project that includes a 14-pump gas station at Costco, a proposal that has been lingering since 2020, is making a comeback despite critics who say the fuel center will have the neighborhood running on empty. The mandated environmental impact report said that the project posed “no significant and unavoidable environmental impacts.” Kirkland, Washington-based Costco first proposed the addition of the gas station back in 2020. At the time, the project was met with some resistance as critics felt it would add greenhouse gases to the area as vehicles waited to fuel. Adding
to the petrol drama was the fact that the city council approved the project in 2021, before it was appealed and a judge ordered an environmental review. The city council then added to the confusion by issuing a ban on the construction of new gas stations in the city limits, a nod to the issue of greenhouse gases and global warming. But, since the Costco project was proposed and approved before the ban went into effect, it’s still in the running. The planning commission will need to consider the EIR in more detail and decide if the mitigation measures included in it are satisfactory. Your Marin Moment The NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) flavor has always been strong in Marin, despite its liberal reputation. So, a new project in San Rafael’s Terra Linda neighborhood is drawing fire. The city, along with the county, want to put up 65 temporary cabins to house homeless at 350 Merrydale Ave. The county plans to build permanent housing of 80 apartments on the site. They will pay $8 million to the city for the property. As always, the boogie man of crime has been trotted out as a reason to not locate the housing on Merrydale. As one neighbor put it at a public hearing in November, according to the Marin Independent Journal , “Our neighborhood has elderly, young children and families, and to have someone who is so disruptive they can’t be watched with a guard sent to
As a toast to NBb’s 50th anniversary, here’s a photo of a Meagher from before his Only In Marin days.
One of the traditional points of friction between the city, businesses and customers has been just how much parking is needed and how close that parking should be to the place of business. Customers always want easy parking close to where they will shop, businesses desire parking that turns over frequently, and the city wants parking that promotes adequate traffic circulation. Addition by subtraction The Downtown Novato Business Association picked up a cool $93k in help from the City of Novato after the city council agreed to take over the organization’s beautification program. The DNBA and its affiliate the Downtown Novato Business Improvement District were facing a deficit which made wrapping trees in lights for the holidays and maintaining more than 50 planters downtown more challenging. But after presenting its annual report to the city, the DNBA received welcome news that the city would have its staff take over those chores saving the nonprofit some cash. Exec Director Stephanie Koehler said the city’s largesse took financial pressure off her organization. Koehler went further saying that the trees and planters "were like her children.” It’s often said that trees and planters are the family we choose. Business nonprofits are in a tough spot in that they rely upon dues from local businesses as well as cities and special event fees to keep the lights on, no pun intended. Also, for some businesses, it’s hard to quantify how events have a direct connection to their bottom line. Moreover, local businesses have to swim in the same economy as the rest of us, and writing a check to nonprofit charged with pumping up that economy can be at the bottom of their to do list.
our community is really frightening to me.” This quote is really frightening to me.. g
Bill Meagher is a contributing editor at NorthBay biz magazine and pens this column each month. He is also a senior reporter for The Deal, a digital financial news outlet based in Manhattan and owned by S&P Global.
20 NorthBaybiz
December 2025
NorthBay biz toasts 50 years covering business, news and people in Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties
By Jason Walsh
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 21 NorthBaybiz 21
T he North Bay was a different place 50 years ago. Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties were emerging from their SF-bedroom-community identities to establish themselves as powerful regional centers of commerce. Business was conducted out of brick- and-mortar offices and storefronts. Commutes were smooth. If you needed to make an immediate phone call away from your desk you’d use something called a payphone. Such now-obsolete modes of media and communication like fax machines, compact discs and pagers weren’t even in general use yet. But the times were changing. Enter: Sonoma Business . Launched with its first edition in January 1976 by founders John Brill, William Byron and David Bolling, the then-quarterly magazine set out to cover the county business scene through in- depth features and people profiles of such movers and shakers as Hugh Codding, Henry Trione and other civic leaders driving the burgeoning business community. At the time, the area had several regional publications based or available in the North Bay—daily papers the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and Marin Independent Journal, plus the Pacific Sun alt weekly, among other community weeklies—but nothing focused on the business community. “It seemed like there was an inexhaustible supply of interesting people, businesses and issues to cover,” Bolling has said about the climate in which Sonoma Business was launched. After 50 years and counting, it appears he was spot on. In its debut issue, the magazine promised to be “no-nonsense, dollars and facts-oriented, and at the same time, highly readable.” In the early days, stories ranged from a 10,000-word essay on the “ups and downs of banking deregulation” to the latest tech fads of the day (“Computers: The Future Is Here!”). One prescient piece from 1982 warned against the addicting allure of video games, highlighting how some towns are adopting ordinances banning minors from play. “Is this, then, the end of American civilization as we know it?” the story asked about Donkey Kong. The magazine published four times a year and design could be best-described as minimalist—largely in black and white, with few photos and occasional rudimentary single-color pages highlighting select ads. Longtime magazine photographer Duncan Garrett recalls joining Sonoma Business’s stable of freelance photographers in the mid- 1980s when the inside pages were entirely black and white, with only the cover being in color. “I guess the expense of color printing was exorbitant!” muses Garrett. He says regular color photography didn’t become the norm until the 2000s. Garrett says much of the content was
also owned) to Lesher Communications Inc., a regional newspaper company whose flagship publication at the time was the Contra Costa Times. LCI had been on a newspaper buying spree in the 1980s, but Sonoma Business was its sole glossy magazine. The company soon learned magazine production was a different business model to newspapers and, with its bottom-line suffering across several publications, sold Sonoma Business in 1992 to then-editor Jim Dunn. By that point the magazine had evolved from its early incarnation as a quarterly to publishing monthly, including a best-of-Sonoma readers’ poll started in 1989 to recognize community-favorites in such categories as “most honest mechanic,” “friendliest business owner,” “funniest barber” and “golf hole.” Over the course of the next eight years, Dunn helmed the ship, estimating he’d edited more than 7,000 pages between starting as an unpaid intern in 1987 through his time as editor and publisher. “Managing a monthly magazine and a small business is superb training,” he observed at the time. ……… In August of 2000, Dunn decided to step away from the magazine world to try his hand at authoring books and screenplays, selling Sonoma Business to a trio of Illinois-to-California transplants— Norman and Joni Rosinski, and Joni’s brother John Dennis. The Rosinskis and Dennis were publishing veterans from Chicago, having been in management positions at a group of twice-weekly newspapers and a daily under the umbrella of Vancouver-based media giant Hollinger, Inc. Wanting to step away from the cold corporate world (and the cold Windy City weather), the Rosinskis and Dennis had been looking for an opportunity to purchase a publication in the Golden State, and a business magazine in the heart of California wine country was too good to pass up, recalls Norm. “Initially, we rented a home in Bodega Bay eager to begin to enjoy California’s warm and sunny weather. It didn’t take us long to realize Bodega Bay wasn’t that place,” Norm told NBb recently. “Almost immediately, we moved to Santa Rosa. Our official California education had begun.” With Norm as editor and publisher, Joni as vice president for advertising and John Dennis taking the reigns as VP of operations, the new owners had ambitious plans for Sonoma Business —from adding new regular columnists and feature writers to expanding the magazine's reach beyond the county confines. Soon new regular features began appearing—a financial column, a “bulletin board” page announcing new hires, a Tech
Talk feature highlighting the latest technological innovations, plus a Vine Wise column focused on wine industry trends. Michael Duffy was among the magazine’s new voices at the time, launching the Tech Talk column that he still writes monthly to this day. “I've written roughly 400 columns,” estimates Duffy. “I've missed a lot of deadlines but, to the best of my knowledge, I've never missed having a column in
“advertorial” back then, but on the occasions it wasn’t he would “push the envelope” with his visuals. “But I have always been focused on making the subject feel comfortable and not made fun of or seen in a negative way,” stresses Garrett. In 1984, the publishing partners sold Sonoma Business (and the Santa Rosa News Herald newspaper, which they
Duncan Garrett, NBb's photographer
Mike Duffy, Tech Talk columnist.
22 NorthBaybiz
December 2025
Lawrence Amaturo, Norm and Joni Rosinski, and John Dennis
the magazine.” Duffy says the pressure to write something “coherent” every month has pushed him to become a better writer, though it remains a struggle to be informative, useful and entertaining— three goals he sets out for himself each month. After 25 years of Tech Talk, Duffy believes he’s written about 400,000 words for the magazine. “It’s truly hard to believe,” he says. Another big step in 2001 was the launch of the magazine’s website, where online readers would find an archive of back issues, as well as some web-only features. The now-defunct site, sonomabusiness. com , was built by tech columnist Duffy, who had become something of an unpaid IT consultant for the company. “They would
be a bubble, but that’s another story—and after more than 25 years focused solely on its namesake county, Sonoma Business was ready to expand. The November 2002 issue included Norman Rosinski’s announcement that they were now publishing throughout the North Bay’s tri-county area as the newly branded NorthBay biz magazine, under three names— Sonoma NorthBay biz, Marin NorthBay biz and Napa NorthBay biz, each circulating in their respective regions with the same content under different titles. He stressed the growing reality that the North Bay is one “vibrant trading area… mandated the need for the magazine to expand its footprint.” “It’s generally recognized that the county geographic borders are distinct and cultural differences are wonderfully diverse,” said Rosinski at the time. “However, they’re almost non-existent when it comes time to conduct business—then the three counties become one North Bay market.” By June the following year, the need to localize the name of the magazine to three different areas was deemed unnecessary (and probably somewhat confusing) and the brand solidified across the region as NorthBay biz . Those early years under the new brand found Norm, Joni and John working seven days a week, guiding a small staff and livening up the design with four-color printing and glossy cover stock. Over time, the magazine became the go-to source for local business trends and regional economic analysis from the edges of the San Pablo Bay to the beaches of the Pacific. As with many community publications, the editorial staff
ask me out to lunch whenever they had a technology question,” he laughs. The early 2000s enjoyed a rocketing economy, thanks in no small part to the Bay Area tech boom—it eventually proved to
Alexandra Russell, Great Tastes columnist.
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 23
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