Why I cannot support the Marina Center development
My Word
By Neal Latt
I’m writing to respond to Brian Morrissey, senior vice president of Security National (which owns the Eureka Reporter), whose guest opinion ran in the April 23 Eureka Reporter, replying to one I wrote which ran April 20.
Mr. Morrissey wrote to address my feelings of being “railroaded� into accepting the Marina Center development as the only option for Balloon Tract development. Unfortunately, my feelings remain the same. Here’s why: I feel the public process was stolen when Rob Arkley apparently called four of five Eureka City Council members the day before a master plan to study the site and look at all the options was to be given final go-ahead, urging them to kill it (which they did), so that his (Security National’s) project could proceed uninhibited and unchallenged by other potential developments.
I feel a master plan for the Balloon Tract, as called for by the city’s own current Strategic Visioning Plan, is necessary to look at all the options for the site in a public process, to determine the highest best use, and then proceed accordingly. The land is zoned public and zoning should only be changed if it is in the public interest — how are we to know if it is in the public interest without examining any other possible options?
Times have changed in Humboldt: Land prices have gone up roughly five-fold over the last
15 years. I feel that the Balloon Tract, representing the last contiguous 30 acres of bayfront property in the center of Eureka, is going to be developed under any scenario — the only question is how. A master plan is the first essential step in doing this.
I feel that a key part of the Arkley/Morrissey/Reporter strategy has been a conscious conflation of Balloon Tract cleanup with development of the Marina Center (as they ultimately decide it): That the former is contingent on the latter. I have read this untruth in half a dozen letters printed in the Reporter; despite daily proclamations of “independence� and commitment to not printing letters with “significant factual errors,� the Reporter continues to print this piece of disinformation that I believe is key for it to help develop public support for the Marina Center.
It is for these above reasons I cannot support the Marina Center development at Eureka’s Balloon Tract.
Neal Latt is an area contractor. He lives in Eureka.
The opinions expressed in My Word pieces do not necessarily reflect the editorial viewpoint of the Times-Standard.
Comments
Thank you Neal for such a thoughtful piece.
Posted by: Mike Buettner | May 3, 2006 01:41 PM
Honestly, I'm not sure people’s minds would be changed even if the facts (and the correct ones at that) were right in front of their faces. Sadly, people in this community continue to make up their minds without truly ever hearing all the facts.
Posted by: magpie | May 3, 2006 04:13 PM
Dear Magpie,
Honey, you’re not so stupid after all. In fact, I think you hit the nail right on the head regarding people’s minds and not changing. I know that my mind won’t change about this project, never, ever! They can shine their turd up all they want with their openness, fact oriented research and willingness to compromise with ideas from the public, but I simply don’t trust ‘em. No solid rational not to trust ‘em. I simply have made up my mind not to. The Cobbinator thinks its all just bunk away, and if the facts aren’t in our interests, then we should just ignore them.
In the CREG email soliciting support, Larry Glass says that the proposed project on the tract will make the area unsafe. I’m still scratching my head on that one. Maybe a decrepit industrial site that has rotted for 30 years and attracts those that haven’t seen the likes of a tooth brush or bar of soap since the turn of the century is far safer than a project that attracts the general public. I’m not one to be knowledgeable in the area of safety. Is one really any safer now when walking into Target as opposed to the old days when one could smoke cigs and drink malt liquor at the old Monkey Wards site? Probably a toss up.
Although I’m not completely on Neal’s side about moving forward on a master plan with the city, this approach would set things back for at least 10 years and allow the site to be preserved in its present state. And that serves my interests in the interim, facts or no facts.
With warmest regards
Lola Regan-Twilly
Posted by: Lola Regan-Twilly | May 4, 2006 05:25 PM
Up front I’d like to say Big Box stores are not my favorite place to shop. For myself, shopping there tends to be out of pure necessity, which, fortunately, is extremely rare. However, I would personally prefer to see a vibrant Target as apposed to a defunct and decaying Montgomery Wards. I disagree with the notion that we should bureaucratically dictate and restrict freedom of choice. The true test of community support is the community’s choice of whether or not to demand (purchase) goods from a Big Box store. I think the community, as a whole, should be given the opportunity to support a Big Box through patronage as apposed to politics. If the Northcoast is truly united in its defiance of a Big Box retail store, then I suspect we will see a beautifully developed economic center with underpaid, disgruntled employees hanging out in the parking lot because nobody shops there. On the other hand, we could end up with a beautifully developed thriving Big Box store as apposed to the decrepit, decaying, and toxic blemish we currently have. The truer measure of public opinion, in contrast to a political resolution due a minority of “squeaky wheels,� will be either the demise or success of any Big Box store as dictated through local patronage.
Posted by: James | May 26, 2006 08:57 AM
For the life of me I don't see what everyone is afraid of by having a Home Depot or Lowes brought into Humboldt county. I don't live in Eureka, but I do live in nearby McKinleyville and shop at both Target and Costco on a somewhat regular basis. This is primarily for goods that I can't get in local shops for reasonable prices. Being as the Balloon Tract isn't directly on the 101, tourists wouldn't be exposed to the "big box" environment directly.
Personally I'm tired of traveling over 100 miles to find the goods I am looking for and would love to see either a Home Depot or Lowes in any city located in Humboldt County. Unfortunately I don't have a vote since I don't live in Eureka. Maybe McKinleyville should be considered as a location for Home Depot or Lowes. I think we have space.
Thank you,
Jo Ann
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