HomeMy WebLinkAbout19960612_Tribune articleTef tam TAibune 6112196
CAS.. POLY
By J.E. Mitchell
Telegram -Tribune
An agreement reportedly
reached between Mayor Allen Set-
tle and Cal Poly President Warren
Baker over naming of the Perform-
ing Arts Center was flatly rejected
by both university and arts center
officials Tuesday.
In a memo to the City Council.
written last Friday, Settle stated
that following a face-to-face meet-
ing earlier that day, Baker had:
13 Agreed to withdraw his sup-
port of naming the $30 million
center in honor of Sonic Cable
President Christopher Cohan.
a Agreed that the sprawling
facility should never have been
named after any one individual.
0 Agreed to use his own author-
ity as president to name the
center's 1,300-seat main hall in
honor of Cohan.
Last week, Baker sent a letter to
California State University trust-
ees endorsing the idea of naming
the center after Cohan, who donat-
ed $2.1 million to the arts facility.
Settle's memo also states that
letters written to Baker from
members of the City Council had a
"significant impact" on Baker's
position as did the suggestion that
the council might not look favora-
bly on guaranteeing a low -interest
Sl million loan offered by a local
bank because of the Cohan -naming
controversy.
.. the prospect of the million
dollar loan being in jeopardy was
very persuasive," Settle wrote.
Cohan in February 1990 an-
nounced that he would be donating
$1.6 million in cash and pledging
$500,000 in in -kind services, such
as free advertising on his cable
network, to the center.
Last month, fulfilling an agree-
ment reached between Cohan, Cal
Poly and arts center officials in
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1988, the Foundation for the Per-
forming Arts Center's board of
directors voted unanimously to
name the center in honor of
Cohan. A San Francisco resident,
Cohan is also the owner of the
Golden State Warriors, a National
Basketball Association franchise.
Reached late Tuesday in New
York where he was on university
business, Baker denied making
any of the agreements with Settle
and was not sure how the mayor
reached the conclusions he did.
"I told Allen that I would convey
his concerns to the foundation —
but that was the only agreement I
made," Baker said. "I also told him
that I personally supported the
decision to allow the foundation to
make the decision."
Baker said he advised Settle that
if he wished to pursue the matter,
he should take the city's concerns
directly to the foundation's board.
"I told him that it is FPAC's
decision whether to even raise the
issue," Baker said. "We cannot
forget the role that Cohan's dona-
tion played in the development of
this center. His contribution was
the catalyst that got it all started."
In addition, Baker said tying the
naming decision to whether the
City Council will agree to guaran-
tee the $1 million loan, recently
offered by Heritage Oaks Bank,
was "inappropriate."
"One could view such a state-
ment as a violation of the three
partners' memorandum of under-
standing," Baker said. "There
shouldn't be any connection be-
tween the two issues. The city, the
commission and the university
should be working together to
close this fund-raising gap. That
should be what's important at this
point."
Settle said that he met with
Baker to express the views of his
council colleagues and those of
many angry constituents who
have voiced their objection to the
center being named after Cohan.
Settle admitted, however, that
the word "agreements" in his
letter to his council colleagues was
perhaps too strong and not the best
choice of terms.
I presented our case to the
president and he agreed to consi-
der our perspectives on the matter
as a city," Settle said.
Settle said he also expressed the
frustation of many at City Hall
who were not aware that the
foundation had been granted the
authority to name the center.
Settle said when they announced
Cohan's name last month it came
as a surprise to many.
"There was no consultation or
notification," Settle said. "It really
came out of the blue."
Regarding the loan, Settle said
he told Baker directly that the
naming controversy could spill
over to the issue of whether the
council supports guaranteeing the
loan.
"I told him that (the loan) could
be in trouble given the feelings of
some of my colleagues. I felt he
should know where we stood on
this issue."
Settle said that sometime today
he would be sending a letter to the
foundation board asking them to
reconsider their decision on the
controversy.
Greg Hind, president of the
foundation's board of directors,
said he also conferred with Baker
on Friday and came away with a
completely ' different perspective
on the status of the problem than
did the mayor.
Hind added that he was dis.
mayed by the mayor's memo —
particularly the aspects of the
document related to the loan.
"It's a shame that the two issues
have come to be associated," Hind
said. "Every major concert hall in
this state has a name on it —
there's a reason for that. It takes a
lot of money to build a quality
facility. Chris stepped forward
first. We feel that generosity
should be acknowledged prop-
erly."
— Teresa Mariani
contributed to this report
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