Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Tract Controversy

Interesting seeing an e-mail from Local Solutions this morning saying that two thirds of the people that spoke before the Eureka City Council last night were opposed the the rezoning of the Balloon Tract. The Times- Standard says it was evenly split between pro and con. Wonder who's right?

In a sense I figure it doesn't really matter since Local Solutions was calling far and wide for people to show up in opposition. I wasn't aware of any such move by the other side so the pros had a pretty good turnout, regardless of what the score was, for not having an official call to action.

42 Comments:

At 9:35 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I'm sure they made some effort. I didn't see anything in my e-mail, though, and Local Solutions and Democracy Unlimited sent notices out over their e-mail lists.

 
At 9:56 AM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

I'm sorry mresquan, but humvote.org falls under the non local business, and that means you are evil. So take your out-of-area opinion and leave please. Just kidding, but that is what you are going to be looking at soon, well not really if you lean left, and lean left hard. Anyway, here is the text of said email:

WE CAN DO BETTER!

Thank you for showing up at the Eureka City Council meeting Tuesday night. It was a packed house and at least 2/3 of the speakers opposed the Balloon Track zoning change requested by Security National. There were so many speakers the decision was carried over to this Thursday the 9th at 7:00. We are winning in the community, but the Council appears inclined to proceed with the request, so:

WE REALLY NEED YOU THERE!

This decision affects our entire community, not just Eureka. Wherever you live, we need you at the Thursday meeting.

CLEAN IT UP! Union Pacific must be held responsible for a 100% clean up of the mess they have made in our home.

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! The people voted 61% to 39 % in 1999 not to do just what Security National wants the council to do. Just say NO!!

NO MORE BIG BOXES! Keep Humboldt Humboldt! Shop locally. Support your neighbors’ businesses.

SHOW UP TO STAND UP FOR OUR COMMUNITY: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH AT 7:00 P. M., 531 K ST., EUREKA. THANK YOU!!

From David Cobb, Dennis Huber, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Larry Evans, Mark Lovelace, and Patrick Riggs

What the hell does David Cobb do for a living anyway? Hell, what do any of these people do for a living anyway? I have to make a trip to the god damned Bay Area in a couple of weeks because I can't get what I need up here, and it's cheaper for me to drive down there, buy what I need down there, hang out for a couple of days, and come back up, then to buy what I can make work local. Think about that for a minute.

 
At 10:12 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You don't think the PROs rallied their forces? Come on Fred, now you're just being silly. Just because you're not on their mailing lists and phone lists doesn't mean it's not happening.

 
At 10:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a City Council meeting regular I can say there were more than a few Pro outsiders there last night. The Arkley contingent had more than its share of " who the hell are these people?"

Cherie didn't look all too happy all night. When it was all over she got a police escort of two of Eureka's finest to walk her out of the building and to her car. I guess she was worried about getting egged or something.

SN could do a lot better than former Union Pacific exec as a front person. If they wanted to sell this thing they need to know the ditch they kept referring to is a slough and that there isn't a Main Street in Eureka.

That 3d fly-through they showed did them more harm than good. A bunch of big orange boxes 3 and 4 stories tall didn't impress anyone. Plus they had to spend there time defending the poorly executed graphics.

How long do you think the name Marina Center will stick? I say New Town is much better.

 
At 10:56 AM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

So what does those these people do for a living anyway?

David Cobb, Dennis Huber, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Larry Evans, Mark Lovelace, and Patrick Riggs, being the people in question. Is anybody working up a list on who from what business came in and supported who? Because any company that tries to block a "big box" shouldn't be getting my business and I'll boycott the shit outta them.

 
At 10:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

we all know what david cobb and kaitlin sopoci-longname do for a living: bilk activists out of their money to pay themselves, just like with the ohio recount money, democracy unlimited money and now the campaign money to push that doomed corporations ballot measure

at least pat riggs is a substitute teacher, thats more work then kaitlin has ever put in

 
At 11:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And who do you work for?

 
At 11:04 AM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

Anon.y.mous, I work for the company.

 
At 11:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Then I would presume those other folks work for their "company."

Hard to be ambiguous when asking for detail.

But you can boycott me. I workk for my own "company."

 
At 11:50 AM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

Nick Bravo's happy time funland club? Do you make ballon animals?

 
At 12:43 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Anon.R says: "Because any company that tries to block a "big box" shouldn't be getting my business and I'll boycott the shit outta them."

Anon11:20 says: "But you can boycott me. I workk for my own "company."

Neither of those will work because nobody knows who either of you are.

 
At 1:31 PM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

I shall make a list, of places that I shall boycott, for great justice! That way, people can buy more, or less, from the same business I choose not to support. That being said, it seems that the only person that works on that list is Riggs, and only part time as a sub.

 
At 2:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Although i am firmly agaist Big Box development, there is no doubt that their arrival in Humboldt is eminent. But to build on property that fronts the Bay makes no sense at all... Nobody should settle for Big Box warehouses and quadruple sized parking lots on "potentially" wonderful property. Security National will try to sell the project based on everything but the Home Depot and Co. They will try to tell you that they can't do any other types of development because of the toxic state of the property. But if Union Pacific is forced to do a full clean-up, that opens the door to many different types of projects. Why sell out to a developer to get the property only partiallly cleaned and capped with a slab of asfault when you can force the original owner to completely clean up their own mess.

Please people, don't let this type of development take over our precious waterfront!

 
At 4:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

boycott that community currency scam, david and kaitlin control that too

 
At 5:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

While your at it better boycott Eureka because they live there.

 
At 7:49 PM, Blogger Rose said...

"Local Solutions" is nothing more than the latest morph of the so-called "Alliance for ETHICAL Business."

 
At 8:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And anyone really cares? You think they have any real efect on local (and I mean Eureka) issues? I doubt it.

There is a real transistion happening in Eureka demographics and it is palpable. Most of those folks speaking at the City Council meeting against SN weren't reading notes and they sure didn't look list serve members to me. Plus... anyone notice the relativley small number of non-Eurekans speaking? Other than a few HTL supporters from McKinnleyville.

 
At 5:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Big box is coming .. do we want it here or Fortuna?

 
At 8:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Way to go Anon.R.mous and anon 10:59. I seem to remember a lot of comment about non-eureka folk trying to set policy for eureka development on a previous blog.

Frankly, I don't think its very environmentally friendly to burn the fossil fuel required by my car to drive to Cresent City, Redding, Ukiah or the Bay Area to buy what I need. When I can support a local business which gives me product and service, I do. However, more often than not I HAVE TO DRIVE OUT OF COUNTY TO GET WHAT NEED.

Why is the waterfront in Humboldt the low rent district. Why can't something nice and useful be built out there. When I saw the entire plan and drawings for the project, I thought wouldn't that be useful, nice to look at and productive for the waterfront. Maybe it could be a wonderful place to go, shop, have lunch or dinner. Kaitlin Belkamp should close her uneducated mouth about this - her unconstitutional "anti-corp" initiative reflects the true measure of her intelligence which is somewhere between slim and nill. And if Riggs is an example of what Humboldt has to offer by way of a substitute teacher, no wonder our kids are having problems in school.

 
At 8:44 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

"When I saw the entire plan and drawings for the project, I thought wouldn't that be useful, nice to look at".

I'll have to admit the drawings sure made it look nice. I just hope it doesn't end up looking too Southern Californish, like all the tract housing being built up here that's now the norm. But, maybe that's just a sign of the times?

To reiterate my position: I'm not necessarily opposed to Best Buy or Home Depot. Heck, I don't see anything wrong with an empty lot. I don't want to see it turn in to a government project like so many on the left propose, though. I want it as privately funded as possible.

 
At 9:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those drawings look nice alright... but for Emeryville or Walnut Creek. Surely SN can do better to make it look less like an outdoor mall and more like something that reflects the architecture of the northcoast. What's with that big clock tower anyway? Looks more fitting for a guard station at Pelican Bay.

As for public or private it seems that SN could do the community a favor and use some funds from things like the EPA Pilot Brownfields project to really do a study on the contamination and how the site might be broken into more zoning specific areas so there can be more open space. That EPA money requires no locall matching money and lets face it we all have payed into that fund with our taxes anyway.

 
At 12:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Eureka will soon look like Santa Rosa. You know all of those lously retail centers you pass on 101 down there? Thats the reality of the project. Maybe some wood chips on the paths.

Oh, and miles of parking lots to cap the toxic property

 
At 1:03 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

I think that might well be inevitable. Not saying it's necessarily bad or good, just inevitable.

 
At 2:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Eureka - Like Santa Rosa...I doubt it. Remember, people in Santa Rosa have places to work, and it ain't Home Depot or Best Buy. Get Real.

 
At 3:01 PM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

That's funny, Santa Rosa. I'm glad everybody is all "The waterfront is awesome!" when really, the ballon tract is right next to Cocaine Point and PacChoice. This isn't prime area people, Hell, Jimmy Dunn's is right up the street.

 
At 3:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

anon12:21 what planet did you come from - to say that eureka is soon to look like santa rosa? I'm with anon 2:58 and anonRmous - There aren't the jobs to support that. Now it may look like Santa Rosa did 30 years ago. Why is it when anyone tries to make this community more productive and a better place to live, people like you scream that the sky is falling and that any change will turn Humboldt into Los Angeles. What are you smoking?

 
At 3:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I mean the development will look like any strip/big box mall you see in Santa Rosa, Ukiah, etc. that is nothing more than some huge warehouse type buildings surrounded by giant parking lots. When cities fall into the trap of these developments, they loose their identity. Now I understand that Eureka doesn't have much of an identity right now down there, (although old town does have a great unique identity) but it shouldn't sell out to this generic standard that has no distinction what-so-ever. Given that this property fronts the bay, it does have potential beyond most property anywhere else, period.

Believe it or not, there is the potential for Eureka to turn into the tourist seaport that many small towns have down the West coast. We have so many great resources around here. We don't need to be like the rest of the country! We don't have to shop at retailers that we see in commercials!

And I have to ask- what do you need to buy that you have to drive to the Bay Area to buy?

 
At 4:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you want to make the arguement that anything is better than whats down there now, then why not force Union Pacific to do a full cleanup so anything potentially CAN be developed down there?

 
At 5:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How do you "force" the Union Pacific to do more cleanup? It has been there for what? 40 years? The state has investigated and OK'ed the current situation.

 
At 5:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does any one know that it really is a toxic dump? Why hasn't the state made Union Pacific clean it up already?

 
At 8:37 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

That's what I wonder. You can't help but wonder if it's any worse than some yards around town where people have worked on cars and such over the years, spilling oil and other fluids.

 
At 10:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

UP has removed (most) surface materials that are toxic as required. At this point it can be capped legally. The issue is the continued seepage below ground into the bay and slough. That capping makes the property usable for commercial and industrial but not as park or residential (among others). So there will never be housing or a park on Balloon Track. If SN would go to the EPA for their brownfield pilot program funds they could do a full evaluation and actually clean up parts (if not all) to standard that could allow sub-zoning for these other uses.

 
At 1:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

anon 3:58 - are you going to turn Eureka into a "tourist seaport" or are you going to get goverment money to do it. Seems the only ones who want to do something with the balloon tract have submitted a pretty good looking plan. There isn't anything with the funding or vision out there. So you'd have it remain blight. Gee how visionary.

And your comment about what anyone would need to make them drive to the bay area - the answer: just about everything. The list is too long. A nice suit to go to work is one! A real choice in building products is another. Reasonably priced also. Oh well, you'd just rather other's have their choices limited or order off the internet. Wow, you are about a dense as a black whole.

 
At 1:51 PM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

A tub that you'd pay $700 for at a Bay Area Lowe's or Home Depot runs $1900ish up here. I mean even cars new off the lot cost more up here then down there. Hell, doing your wash at a landrymat costs less down there then up here. Some food items are more down there then here though, just so you know it isn't all awesome.

 
At 2:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree that many things are overpriced in Humboldt, mostly because of the fact that we aren't on major shipping routes, aka I-5. If you want I-5 prices, move to Sacramento. If you're willing to pay a bit more to live in the beauty of Humboldt, then I'd assume that's partially why you're still here. If you believe Big Box stores are the solve-all solution, you are crazy. And if you believe waterfront property is beautiful if capped with a parking lot, then you otta' move to Bakersfield. Or Fresno.

 
At 2:37 PM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

Please tell me what is pretty about the balloon tract as it sits right now? We have a god damned BAY and we aren't a shipping powerhouse? Please stop fucking up this area and go back to whatever hell-hole you used to live in.

 
At 2:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is based on potential- why can't parking lots and steel warehouses go somewhere that's not on the water?? Is this the BEST site in your opinion? Really??

And how do you suppose we turn the bay into a shipping powerhouse- Create a new superhighway cutting over to I-5 so they can ship to places other than Humboldt?

Please sir, move to Bakersfield. They have it all.

 
At 3:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the best part of the project is the proposed Lost Coast Brewery. The Northwest in general has become a mecca for microbrews. We should incourage more brewerys to take up in Eureka. They're some great examples littered over NorCal right now.

 
At 1:20 AM, Blogger Anon.R.mous said...

FYI, the balloon tract is NOT on the water. Second, I thought the plans showed buildings out of wood and metal, not just a "steel warehouse" which would look much better then the rotten steel boxcars they have right now. I think you need to move back to where you came from, or maybe you should start your magical company and start giving out jobs.

Who employs more people in Humboldt County, Salzman or Arkley? Who has funded major upgrades to the area? Salzman or Arkley? Who has a plan to keep Humboldt from turning into a backwater shithole? Salzman or Arkley? So until the Salzmans and the Allens and other lefty-touchy-feely fuck nuggets put their money where their mouths are and start hiring people, creating jobs, and clean up the blight of Eureka, and Humboldt county, they should shut the fuck up and park their asses at the back of the bus. SUV driving fucking loser with hippie bumperstickers, go get a blow job from a whore on 2nd street and then get that "blight" off your pecker.

 
At 10:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brilliant. Did Rob write that for you?

 
At 8:59 AM, Blogger Rose said...

Yeah, who are they today? "Alliance for oh-so-ethical Business"? Goodtimberjobs.org? ourhumboldt.org? Behind the Redwood Curtain? LocalSolutions?

All one and the same. With one and the same goal.

Maybe Anonymous 8:38 is right, Maybe no one cares. But Local Solutions denies involvement with Salzman. Oh really?

Check it out...

Hank Sims uncovered the tip of the iceberg... "R Trent" has many identities

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At 10:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cobb is an idiot. It sounds like he is smoking too much of something "Green." I like the Orwellian chant remark from Rose. Seems appropriate. Cobb and Democracy Unlimited (what nuts are in this group) seem to want to frame the issue as an "anti big box" issue. Its not. Its "a do absolutely nothing" position that they take with everything. Lets have another 20 years of brownfield - Thats what they say. I saw the plans in the North Coast Journal and it looks and sounds great. Can't wait to stroll down the Marina complex, have lunch, dinner, shop and relax.

Cobb and his nut buddies always seem to say that they have a "vision" for someone elses property. They don't want to buy the property. They can't fund their visions. They just want to beat the drums and chant. At first, I was truly disgusted with the T-S running this lame attempt at an editorial. But now that I think about it, Cobb, Salzman and the other lunatics are exposing themselves everytime they open their mouths. I say, keep it up.

And Cobb or R.Trent Salzman - if you answer this don't continue your chicken ass routine of using fake names.

 

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