You are currently browsing the daily archive for October 4, 2006.
It will play at 6:00 tonight, or you can catch the rebroadcast at 8:00 tomorrow morning.
And in case you didn’t notice, I wrote a letter on the general topic which was published in the ER today. Somebody has already called me to tell me that she took it as an anti-Gallegos letter. It was not. Please read it again if you’ve drawn that conclusion.
Mr. Morrissey invited me to lunch to discuss the Balloon Track proposal. We met today. He and Mr. Gans made some compelling points, which I’m digesting and plan to research. I’ll post a little more about it later, but I just wanted to point out that while I may not agree with everything they stand for, I am convinced of their sincerity in their belief that their development plan is good for Humboldt County. The two are my age and possess an enthusiasm well beyond the money they stand to make.
I am also convinced that Cherie Arkley’s early statement to the effect that there was no big box in the proposal was based on an honest misunderstanding and made while the proposal was still evolving. Mr. Morrissey is absolutely convinced that the Home Depot portion of the deal is essential to the financing of the whole project. He argues also that it may come down to a choice of Home Depot in Eureka or Lowes in Fortuna, and that if Home Depot comes first it could deter Lowes altogether, unless Lowes buys out Pierson’s. He is also convinced that Pierson’s will survive with niche marketing and customer loyalty.
Somebody posted here earlier that Home Depot wages average $12.50 per hour and that the company provides significant benefits. Mr. Morrissey and Mr. Gans repeated that point today. As I said earlier both here and on Heraldo’s blog I do have to factor that in to my own views, my blue side weighing a bit heavier than my green side.
I also learned that Eureka’s 1999 vote was WalMart’s first loss in such a fight, and they were in shock. Apparently the industry refers to it as the “WalMart Waterloo.” Morrissey and Gans are very conscious of the skepticism of Eureka voters with regard to their proposal, but are confident that they can sell it – even to bleeding hearts like me who are skeptical of corporate intentions as a matter of habit.
We started to get into the environmental questions towards the end of our meeting, but my head was already moving towards my afternoon depositions and I haven’t followed the Baykeeper’s lawsuit closely enough to discuss the issues intelligently. I’m going to have to get caught up.
Obviously I have to read up on the whole thing. I have to read Hank’s NCJ article that’s still sitting by my bed weeks later. I have to read the Baykeepers complaint. I have to go back and read some of the TS and ER articles on the subject. I haven’t really involved myself in the discussion because I don’t live in Eureka, but it’s certainly an issue of importance to the whole county and I guess it’s time I made a serious effort to learn about it.
In any case, whatever conclusions I ultimately draw, I do believe that the issue is not well served by demonizing, sloganeering, and strawman promotion. There was much more to the conversation, and I’ll write more about it later. Mr. Morrissey also wanted to emphasize that he will talk to anybody about the proposal, with Mr. Gans adding “we’re an open book.” Take them up on it. There’s nothing to be lost in dialogue.
Re the state propositions I agree with all but two of their positions. I’ll tell you which at a later date.
They’re going for the Democrats in all of the Constitutional statewide races. I’m inclined to vote the same way except that I’m tempted to make a protest Green vote against Lockyer.
I was also tempted to vote Green against Senator Diane Feinstein (which the Bay Guardian advises), until I learned that the Green candidate Todd Chretien is an ISO hack. I don’t appreciate sectarian groups that use other organizations as fronts for their own agenda. The Peace and Freedom Party was destroyed by a sectarian rumble between the CPUSA and the Democratic Workers Party during the 1980s, and later by the Workers World Party as it supported the Tiananman crackdown and North Korean xenophobia. If the Greens are going to let the same thing happen to them, I’m not going to enable it.
The SFBG endorsement of Brown is shorter than last spring’s, and not quite as well written. I posted the previous endorsement in it’s entirety here. I’ll still probably vote for him, but this article isn’t encouraging. He prefers the image of Elliot Ness as depicted in movie to Elliot Spitzer who’s stomping his Republican opponent in New York largely on his reputation for prosecuting white collar crime.
As stated earlier, SFBG senior editor Tim Redmond will be put on my next radio show to explain the endorsements.
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