ER - Organizing on the 'track'

You really need a big wall with a big chart to keep track of all the "groups" and their relationships.

Organizing on the 'track'
by Wendy Butler, 2/16/2006

A forum held on Wednesday served as both an historic lesson, told from the perspective of the organizers, and a call to come together as a community to stop a development plan still in its infant stages.

Healthy Humboldt Coalition, Local Solutions and Democracy Unlimited’s information and organizing forum included five speakers: Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely; Mark Lovelace, project coordinator for the Healthy Humboldt Coalition; Larry Glass, owner of The Works; David Cobb of Democracy Unlimited; and Michelle Smith, attorney for Humboldt Baykeeper.

The latter organization has issued a notice of intent to sue Union Pacific Railroad Co. over what the group claims are violations of federal Clean Water Act and other state and federal laws on the railroad’s Eureka Rail Yard, or “Balloon Track.”

Before the five roughly 10-minute presentations began on Wednesday, forum attendees were told that the purpose of this event was a “move toward organizing” by those opposed to Security National’s proposed Marina Center to be built on the Balloon Track.

Attendees were also told that if they didn’t want to be part of the organizing effort, they should exit the Wharfinger Building at the end of the presentations.
The “break-out” organizing groups would include discussions of how to write letters to newspaper editors, the business of community organizing, reaching out to local merchants and organizing the next step.

Media was told that these groups were not going to be a public forum, so they would be closed to media.

SN is in the process of purchasing the 29.45-acre parcel from Union Pacific and also will purchase adjacent land from private owners, for a total of approximately 38.55 acres.

SN has received from the Eureka City Council authorization to submit an application for an amendment to the General Plan land-use designation for nine parcels on the Union Pacific site and adjacent land.

Currently the Balloon Track is zoned “public,” which prevents SN from utilizing the parcel for retail development.

SN plans to have retail development on the site, which includes Home Depot and Best Buy. It also plans offices and light industry.

It is planning to have residences on the adjacent parcels, which are currently zoned “limited industrial.”

The land-use zoning change request is a combination of “limited industrial,” “service commercial,” “Waterfront commercial” and “office/residential.”

SN will present an open house today from 4-7 p.m. at the Wharfinger Building manned by people, including Home Depot, who will provide written information and will answer questions about categories from traffic to economic and environmental impacts that could be caused by Marina Center.

SN, aware of opposition, has recently purchased about a dozen Web site names with key words related to the proposed development, SN Senior Vice President Brian Morrissey said.

It is “standard practice … now in these large projects,” he said. “If the name is not taken, you can buy it.

“We own the Web site names now. …We haven’t decided what we’re going to do.”

Neely opened Wednesday’s meeting with what she called an “historical perspective” about the Balloon Track, which is between Waterfront Drive and Washington Street.

The centerpiece of her presentation was the defeat of Measure J by voters in 1999.

Neely was co-chairwoman of the “No on Measure J” campaign.

Eureka voters rejected Measure J in a 61 to 39 percent vote in a special election on Aug. 24 of that year.

“I have never been prouder of my hometown than I was on Aug. 24,” she said.
The measure would have changed the city’s General Plan, rezoning the property from “public” to “commercial.”

That would have enabled Wal-Mart to build there.

Neely, also a member of the California Coastal Commission, referred to the Balloon Track as “prime coastal property” which entities attempted to rezone “for their own narrow purpose.”

Glass began his presentation, which was also about Wal-Mart and Measure J, by calling that a “battle.”

Glass said that in 1999 local businesses were “scared” and they are now.

Smith spoke about contamination on the site.

She said that the Balloon Track is 250 feet from the bay and adjacent to Clark Slough, and that shallow and deep aquifers drain into the bay.

Smith talked about different toxins remaining on the site, including waste oil, lead, zinc and copper.

She said that even if Union Pacific “capped” or paved over the toxins, that doesn’t lessen toxicity and the ground water draining into the bay.

Security National has said that, per contractual agreements, after the sale it would be responsible for the remainder of the cleanup, not Union Pacific.

Lovelace called a store like Home Depot a “category killer,” because it focuses on a single product line and “tries to knock out all the competition.”

Cobb said that because the City Council has given the go-ahead to a private developer, there is no “community dialogue.”

The Balloon Track, he said, is “a gripping story, but the end hasn’t been told yet.”

“We have to stop this project now,” he said.

After the presentations and before media left, Cobb said that as SN’s development process moved forward there would be “numerous opportunities for litigation.”

Cobb said that residents could initiate a “popular referendum.”

“Maybe it’s time for us to generate a little … heat on our City Council members,” he said.

(Rob and Cherie Arkley own Security National, which owns The Eureka Reporter.)
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