As we wake up in a Trump era, it’s time to talk about the basics of what you can do to make the world a better place.
What you can do: Local
Category: Fort Bragg
Equal
Living above the train tracks as I do, much of my time during the tourist season is marked by the sound of the train going back and forth from town. I know the heavy sound of the diesel engine rumbling along the tracks and the sound of the steam train, whistling mournfully, bell clanging as […]
Tourism-Dependent Economies are Financial Pitfalls
I dislike tourism as a general way of making a profit, but I also acknowledge that it can be one method for a community to support itself. People have to travel for work reasons, other people enjoy traveling on holiday and for other reasons, and the end result is that people are moving from place […]
This Too Too Twee Pastiche
I’ve been watching Fort Bragg’s downtown sinker deeper and deeper into decline over recent years, something that is in part, obviously, the fault of the economy. And also of changing habits and patterns in the way we live. And also, in part, because of the way the City handles planning and related decisions, because downtown […]
Boondoggle at the Public Pool: The Rise and Fall of the C.V. Starr Center
When I was a wee child in grammar school, some representatives from the county came ’round with a model of the new public pool, intended to replace the rec centre in Fort Bragg. I had a vision that this magical new facility would be built in the very near future; as I recall, my classmates […]
Rain
The rain started early this year. It was a Sunday night, I remember, because I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain clattering softly on the roof, and thought about how nice it would be to get to work in the morning with the rain pouring down outside. I […]
What’s Slowing Downtown Revitalisation in Fort Bragg?
A local business owner leans across the counter, lowering her voice. ‘It’s at least a couple a day, now,’ she says. Our eyes drift to the customer in the back and she nods at me, going to help her. I look around at her business, spotless and filled with brightly coloured things, and my eyes […]
Your Extra-Moldy Foreclosure Special, Courtesy the Marijuana Industry
The successive waves of foreclosures rippling through the economy are more acute in some markets than others, and some markets have some extra special problems that come along with their foreclosures. Banks are not just taking possession of homes in these regions, they are taking possession of environmental disasters that need to be cleaned up. […]
Annals of Bad City Planning
If you hunt extremely vigorously through the City of Fort Bragg’s website, you will find the proposed citywide design guidelines that got unveiled at City Council last week, because someone kindly scanned, or possibly photographed, them and converted the resulting mess into a .pdf document. Should you peruse this meticulously laid-out hodge podge of bad […]
Fort Bragg City Council Needs an At-Large Member
I was having a conversation with my landlady the other day about county development policy (I lead an exciting life, what can I say), and we started talking about the city of Fort Bragg and I had mentioned that I had an interest in possibly running for City Council at some point, and she said […]