Rail Authority dealing with homeless in Ukiah.

The North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) met yesterday and found out the flood water receded enough for freight service to ramp up. It was reported that a huge homeless problem is rearing its ugly head in Ukiah on the properties surrounding the old train depot. Seems to be the case all up and down the rail corridor. Hope to hear some solutions soon.

Spring Softball! Oh happy days!

2017 Spring League: The Mad River Softball Association is hosting an adult wood bat Sunday softball league starting April 23rd, at the Arcata Community Sports Complex. Teams play double headers on Sundays April 30th at Pacific Union, May 7th at Pacific Union, either Saturday May 13th or May 14 (Mothers Day) at Arcata Sports Complex, May 21st at Arcata Sports Complex and Championships on June 4th at Arcata Sports Complex. 10 game league season and double elimination playoff so 12 games guaranteed. Games start at Sports Complex start at either 12:30pm, 1:35pm, 2:40pm or 3:45pm. Games at Pacific Union will be either 10am, 11:05am, 12:10pm, 1:15pm, 2:20pm 3:25pm, 4:30pm or 5:35pm.  Price per team is $595. Free agent players without teams will be placed on teams at $50 per player. Players must be at least 16 years or older. League will only be able to accommodate 8 teams. For more information contact (707) 445-3432 or email Samoafog@aol.com.

 

Summer League will start June 12th. Sponsorship is $440 and $50 per player up to 12 players or total cost is $1,040 for 12 person team. Each player over 12th is $25 extra.

  

Blue Lake also has a Sunday league starting in April. For more information on their program call 707-668-5655 If you are interested in putting a team in Blue Lake and Arcata, I can schedule so there are no conflicts. 

 

Warm Up Softball Tournament Memorial  Weekend May 27th & 28th. Guaranteed 4 games $199. Either Wood Bat or Metal Bat determined on interest. 1st place Shirts 2nd place Trophy.

Samoa Community Service District chugging along.

A proposed Community Service District is moving along out on the Peninsula. It has been a long drawn out process but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Right now there are about 517 residents south of the Samoa bridge. When total build out is complete there will be about 1,221 with many new housing affordable. I am excited to see positive change in the horizon.

2017 California Maritime Leadership Symposium

I went to the California Maritime Leadership symposium.  17^th year they have met.   The California Maritime Leadership Symposium is a conference focused on all modes of California’s maritime transportation system – ports, vessels, highway and rail – and the intricacies, challenges and realities of maintaining and growing a viable, healthy and dynamic maritime economy in the 21st century. Here were some observations:

Plans

a.      Sustainable Action Plan

b.      Sustainable Freight Plan.

c.       Freight Mobility Plan

d.      Plan of Reduction of carbon footprint

e.      Plan for Creation Green Gates vs Dirty truck fee plan

f.        Plan of reduction of Carbon Footprint

Facts

a.    Walmart is focused on science based goals and have doubled their efficiency in recent years.  “Faster, Reliable and safe.” “Volume hides sins.”

b.   "0” emissions  is goal for most.

c.    By 2030 Los Angeles wants 100 “0” emission vehicles.

d.    Oakland is open until 3 in morning and exports represent 53% of business and 47% import.

e.     Need to use Foreign Trade Zones  and build in USA.

f.      Redwood City getting ferries.

g.     Port of Hueneme imports  80 million bananas.

h.     China not using clean energy still relying on Coal.

Bottlenecks

a.     Trucks moving without loads.

b.     Xmas trees being delivered in July

c.      Volume hide

d.     SO Cal Ports need more open hours.

e.      Pile ups at gates

f.       Short Sea Shipping failed in test run in Stockton

g.      Dirty Trucks waiting outside ports to haul

h.      Technology there. No Money. Cost Prohibitive.

i.       No consistent universal electrical plug ins

j.       Distribution centers don’t always agree with Truck hours

Marks selected Chair of Harbor. Mother Nature funding $50,000 to remove me from office. Dredge Spoils to Beach?

Tonight's Humboldt Bay Harbor meeting was packed once again. New 3rd Division Commissioner Stephen Kullman was sworn into office. I was elected by my co-commissioners to be Chair for the 3rd time with Larry Doss serving as Vice Chair. Earlier in the meeting a member of the public pledged $50,000 of "mother natures" money into a campaign fund to take me out of office. Our big ticket item for the night was a discussion on Dredge Sediment disposal plan and the Beach Disposal option. The discussion was lively, with the majority wanting dredging no matter what it takes. And many fishermen and boat owners were in favor of using the Beach Surf Zone Disposal option. Dave Schneider, who was a consultant (And Dock Owner) on the present and past disposal projects gave history back to the 70's and gave strong arguments for using the beach. It seems that there was some agreement in the past to never use the beach option again. Commissioner Kullman wanted to see if the cost difference was manageable to use the Pulp Mill outfall line as compromise. The subject was just a discussion and staff was given direction to work with the agencies first to get some common ground or sand if you will.

NWPco under water! NCRA financially floating along.

North Western Pacific Co (NWPco) is currently having flooding issues at Shellville and other areas on the Southern Portion of the North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) rail tracks. NWPco is the freight carrier for the NCRA and service these customers (click on link) in Marin and Sonoma counties. There has been quite of few financial moves by the NCRA staff and board, that will have the NCRA running comfortably in the black for the foreseeable future. So some bad news, and yet some good news for rail service. Next expansion project to Cloverdale.

Ted Sillanpaa gone at 60. Sometimes Droll, always entertaining.

Witty, Sarcastic, Shrewd and in his own way, Brilliant. I met Ted at Eureka High when he was editor of the Eureka High School Redwood Bark paper. I was a junior writer and I thought the guy was arrogant. I noticed girls in class were gaga over him and he seemed aloof to their calls for attention. To really put a great impression on me, he assigned me to do a Eureka High golf story with Mr. Darling and I knew nothing about hitting a ball with sticks into holes. He was dating Amy Waldsmith at the time, so I did give him kudos for that. Truth be known, I was kind of jealous of Ted. He seemed so confident and focused.

Little did I know until letter in life that he suffered his demons like the rest of us. He was actually shy and not at all overconfident. Some of his writing for the Time Standard seemed to take "Scorch and Burn" attitude on some local issues. He was not afraid to share his feeling and points of view. I got to hear from plenty from the public locally and it seemed that Ted was persecuted for his coaching techniques in youth baseball, football and basketball as well as for his writing. I had to hear people talk about his favoritism with his sons Trent and Tyren, when in reality they were very talented and approachable young men. My son Jacob played basketball for Ted and I witnessed no favoritism and he was beyond fair.

I played Recreation ball with Ted and he was always very retrospective of the players playing and good at taking in the moment. I am sure he thought I took things way to serious.

Anyways, this is a poignant time to reflect a good man who loved his family, was a great coach, fantastic writer and master observer of people. He loved his children and was so proud of Trent, Tyren, Kyndall and Kellen with all his heart.

May Ted now Rest in Peace, but not be forgotten.

Broadband Fiber Optic Cable coming to Marine Terminal II.

Lots of rumors flying about Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District's agreement with Inyo Networks to bring broadband cable over 299 and out the outfall pipe at the old pulp mill site. Lost Coast Outpost did a couple of stories and then people started chiming in with poor information. No, this is not the project that came across RREDC a few years ago with the project using highway 36. This will not limit rural communities along 299 but will include Weaverville, Willow Creek, Hoopa and other small communities north of 299/101. There will be the opportunity for Humboldt businesses and the public to actualize better internet service. This is a good thing not bad.

What happened to Eureka Recreational Softball?

I have had a few arguments with Eureka City staff in the past about the drop off of Adult Recreational Softball in Eureka. This last year there were 17 Men's Adult Softball Teams and 0 Women's teams. In 1981 there were 55 men's teams and  and 37 Women's teams. There was also an active men's fast pitch league with about 10 team. That means there was over 100 adult teams playing softball in 1981!

What happened? In 1981 there were 39 teams playing in Arcata, and we had around 50 this last year, 2016. So the interest still is there. There has been huge league expansions over the years in Crescent City, Medford, Redding, Fortuna and Ukiah. Why such a drop off in Eureka?

Number one reason is the field conditions. If you ever had the chance to check out the Eureka Fields and compare them to the Arcata fields, you know what I am talking about. In 1981 Eureka used 7 fields for league. Highland, Carson Park (Two fields), Cooper Gulch (Two Fields), Kennedy and Hartman fields.

What I am surprised about is the lack of outcry from Eureka businesses. When you have the well over 1,000 people playing ball you fill the pizza parlors, brewery's and bars. Tom's Sourdough, Angelo's, Shakey's....all would be crazy full. 

I personally would like to see Eureka advertise, solicit and expand recreation adult sports. If not, it is Eureka's loss. 

(Below is standing for men's league in 1981.) 

Don't be mad, get active! Vote for delegates going to Dem Convention.

If you are a registered Democrat and have some time available from 10am to 12:30pm this Saturday, please come to the Labor Temple on E st. and vote for one of those Progressive Democrats in the link above.

Mike Wilson's last day as Harbor Commission.

Let me say that I have been so fortunate to have been associated with someone who worked so hard in his 10 years as the 3rd Division Humboldt Bay Harbor Commissioner. Mike challenged me to think topics out at higher levels than just probing an issue face value. Mike led the Harbor District during some really stressful changeover of staff and was instrumental on keeping the Harbor District "afloat" (No pun intended) by his leadership.

I consider Mike the king of "policy wonks" and have admired his wanting technical details of a project before pushing forward. Mike was peerless as a negotiator to help the Harbor District garner funds for the future King Salmon dredging project and keeping the Commissioners informed of the process. Mike served consecutive terms as President of the Commission and was on the lead of bringing the EPA on to help clean-up the old Pulp Mill.

I can't say enough good things about Mike. Although his taste in foods might not align with mine. But he has opened my mind to strange cuisines and had me taste foods I normally wouldn't try. And he is great to have a beer with and shoot the crap bout all things life.

Godspeed Mike as Supervisor of the 3rd District of Humboldt County. They are lucky to have you.

1091 to be taken out of water.

The former Navy vessel "1091" will be pulled away from dock by England Marine at 7:30am and towed to grounding spot below Samoa Cookhouse at 8am. Hope all goes well.

Humboldt County Democrats reboot Communication and Education Committee

Newly elected Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee (HCDCC) member Michele Walford from the 1^st District chaired a recent Communication and Education Committee (CEC) meeting on Tuesday November 29^th at HCDCC Headquarters. It was more of reorganization or restructuring of a committee that is tasked with electronic media, member support and training, technology support, and community communication, such as website and facebook maintenance but tonight the focus was energizing new members and new volunteers. Over 20 people came to participate.

The CEC opened with a pledge of Allegiance to the flag. (There, we are not all communist, socialistic liberal left wing anti Americans!)

The first thing we discussed is “Who or what are we locally and State wise as Democrats?” There was some back and forth about how the Democratic National Committee screwed up the Primary election for Bernie Sanders but all agreed we need to heal and solve this issue in the future. So as local Democrats, “What are we?”

For the People

Believe in Science/Climate change

Open to all Color and Sexes

Non-Discriminating

Progressive

Working Class

So after identifying who we are, what can we do to help the local Democratic Party?

Support Young Democrats

Support Black Lives Matter

Support Community Building

Extend outreach to all

Connect with Minorities

Support likeminded local candidates

What can we do right now in the immediate?

Fill empty seats on HCDCC

Do Outreach on registered Democrats who haven’t ever voted

Register voters who haven’t ever participated door to door

Fill vacated offices or seats for Special Districts such as:

a.    School Districts

b.    Community Service Districts

c.    Fire Boards

d.    Other Special Districts

What message do we want our leaders to have?

Differentiate what Democrats are doing as opposed to Republicans

Be the Source of Truth with details

Know we are watching their votes

Know we have their backs on decisions when they do their job right

What can CEC do better?

Do weekly updates on causes

Better use of social media with HCDCC Facebook page

Next topic of issue for the 2017 CEC will be a resolution to “Abolish the Electoral College.”

Is Recession on the way since Trump is in office?

USA Today has a great story and graph about how recessions come and go, but largely when Republicans are in the white house. Click the USA link to see the full graph back to 1901.

Humboldt Bay Shipping up 70%!

Since I was elected commissioner for the 4^th Division of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District (HBHR&CD) in 2009 the narrative from some people critical of the commission has been a conceived notion we have given up on shipping and only focus on Aquaculture. This is not the case. We have had setbacks that we were not able to control such as shoaling caused by  sediment from the Eel river that received large volumes of rain this last year. This caused a few ships to be turned away, but overall we are surviving.

In 2016 we are expected to reach cargo levels of 583,019 metric tons. That is a 70% increase from 2015! Not only that, projections for 2017 shows we will nearly reach the million ton threshold next year which would be an additional 68.1% increase and a level not achieved in Humboldt Bay since 1991! A quarter of a century ago! That was when we had 2 pulp mills and one sawmill on the peninsula with nearly 1,000 high wage union workers. How did this happen? California Redwood has made vast improvements and upgrades to their facility with hopes of 10-12 vessels in 2017 and Schneider dock has picked up more log customers and Sierra Pacific dock reports stabilized business.

I know many people feel the Timber Industry is dead, but Lumber/Logs and Wood Chips represent about 50% of our shipping tons. When the pulp mills were open they added another 350,000 tons a year. From 2000 to 2008 the Samoa Pulp mill represented about 25% of the total volume of tonnage. That was a huge loss.

So since I have been in office we have went from 316,480 metric tons of cargo to 583,019. An 84% increase. If we reach the projected 980,000 metric tons next year, that will be a 209.7% percent increase since I took office. Is that not pretty good shipping increases? And we should have 2 cruise ships to boot in 2017.

The HBHR&CD commissioners continue to be proactive in soliciting businesses that would be a good fit to the bay and we have done our best to lobby and make sure dredging by the Army Corp is done each year. We are thankful to have partnerships with California Redwood, Schneider dock, and Sierra Pacific to make sure this happens. 

Marks family helps lead Trump to office?

I was doing voting inventory on my Mother and Father's children and came up with some eye opening observations or speculation. My siblings voted 4-4 for Trump and Hillary. Their spouses voted 5-2 for Trump. My sons, nieces and nephews voted 9-7 for Hillary. So overall my immediate family voted 16-15 for Donald Trump.  And of those, the ones with the most money voted for Trump and the ones with the least voted for Hillary. How did your family vote overall?

HCDCC goes undefeated with endorsed Candidates and Measures.

Might as well concentrate on the positives. The Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee (HCDCC) endorsed candidates and measures won Humboldt County elections by significant margins even though they were out spent by over $100,000 in aggregate by the opponents. The HCDCC "boots on the ground" electioneering was very successful this election. Even Hillary won huge in our generally Liberal county.

Congrats to Austin Allison as newly elected Councilman  for the City of Eureka, and to re-elected Arcata city Council-members Mike Winkler and Susan Ornelas. Also congrats to Measure "P" and Measure "V".

Nasty Presidential Election nothing new. Check out 1800!

The election for President in 1800 between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson was an emotional and hard-fought campaign. Each side believed that victory by the other would ruin the nation.

Federalists attacked Jefferson as an un-Christian deist whose sympathy for the French Revolution would bring similar bloodshed and chaos to the United States. On the other side, the Democratic-Republicans denounced the strong centralization of federal power under Adams's presidency. Republicans' specifically objected to the expansion of the U.S. army and navy, the attack on individual rights in the Alien and Sedition Acts, and new taxes and deficit spending used to support broadened federal action.

Overall, the Federalists wanted strong federal authority to restrain the excesses of popular majorities, while the Democratic-Republicans wanted to reduce national authority so that the people could rule more directly through state governments.

The election's outcome brought a dramatic victory for Democratic-Republicans who swept both houses of Congress, including a decisive 65 to 39 majority in the House of Representatives. The presidential decision in the electoral college was somewhat closer, but the most intriguing aspect of the presidential vote stemmed from an outdated Constitutional provision whereby the Republican candidates for president and vice president actually ended up tied with one another.

Votes for President and Vice President were not listed on separate ballots. Although

During the election of 1800, Federalists cast Thomas Jefferson as an infidel because of his strict advocacy for the separation of Church and State.

Adams ran as Jefferson's main opponent, running mates Jefferson and AARON BURR received the same number of electoral votes. The election was decided in the House of Representatives where each state wielded a single vote.

Interestingly, the old Federalist Congress would make the decision, since the newly elected Republicans had not yet taken office. Most Federalists preferred Burr, and, once again, Alexander Hamilton shaped an unpredictable outcome. After numerous blocked ballots, Hamilton helped to secure the presidency for Jefferson, the man he felt was the lesser of two evils. Ten state delegations voted for Jefferson, 4 supported Burr, and 2 made no choice.

One might be tempted to see the opposing sides in 1800 as a repeat of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist divisions during the ratification debates of 1788-1789. The core groups supporting each side paralleled the earlier division. Merchants and manufacturers were still leading Federalists, while states' rights advocates filled the Republican ranks just as they had the earlier Anti-Federalists.

Support for Thomas Jefferson throughout the entire Western frontier assured his victory over John Adams in the presidential election 1800.

The political cartoon above has the "Eye of God" directing the American Eagle to snatch the Constitution from Thomas Jefferson hands. Jefferson is kneeling at an alter to "Gallic (French) Despotism." The "Mazzei" letter in Jefferson's right hand where he refers to George Washington as "Monarchical." Jefferson was thought to be playing both sides of the fence. 

North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) Operator reports update!

The Operator for Northwestern Pacific Corporation (NWPco) is represented by former Congressman Doug Bosco and he had some interesting updates on freight news for the NCRA rail. Doug said there was escalating interest in goods movement and announced that they were close to an agreement with Innovative Molding caps. (They make plastic caps for many products.) There would be the need for a rail spur to the factory near Rohnert Park at the cost of $600,000. Of that expense SMART is liable to $400,000 per an agreement for rights for rail use, but SMART might fight that in the end.

Mendocino Forest Product wants to use the rail for freight. They feel it could be cost effective if they could trans-load in Windsor or Petaluma. Humboldt Redwood would be a future target. “Willits is our dream for trans-loading,” Doug said, noting that was not a pipe dream.  

I met the Cannabis Boogeyman at NCRA Meeting!

At the latest North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) meeting held 10/12/16 in Healdsburg I was introduced to Paul Trouette, the CEO of Lear Asset Management. (I am one of the 9 Directors for the NCRA.) This outfit is the absolute nightmare of trespass cannabis growers all over Northern California. They use helicopters and 20 paramilitary staff to eradicate or destroy illegal cannabis farms and arrest grow “Operatives.” 

   

Lear is expanding their services to include dealing with chromic trespassing of NCRA right away properties and is creating a Business Improvement Association (BIA) for about 542 property owners along the NCRA corridor between Willits and Arcata. Mr. Trouette reported that Lear has only eradicated about 140 plants along the NCRA properties and was focused more on trespassers such as Foreign Nationalists who are on the North Coast on a short time basis camping illegally. Can you say “Trimmigrants?”  

Lear is a “Private Security Contractor” with working ties with pretty much all law enforcement agencies in Northern California. 

Interesting meeting to say the least.