All posts by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Community News

Crescent City Council Loans State Grant Dollars To Downtown Housing Project; Developer Plans To Demolish Old Daly’s Building

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The Redwood Downtown, a mixed-use development proposed by Community System Solutions, would include residential and retail units. The developer said he plans to demolish the old Daly’s building to make way for the project. | Images courtesy of Community System Solutions

City Manager Eric Wier said plans to demolish the old Daly’s building and replace it with a development that includes affordable housing could be the key to revitalizing Crescent City’s downtown.

Councilors were enthusiastic about the proposal, especially when the developer, Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr assured them that the city would be protected should it not materialize and the state asks for its grant dollars back.

Bahr said construction would start on The Redwood Downtown development at 3rd and J streets in March or April 2027. His goal is to have a ribbon cutting about a year later. Bahr also assured councilors that the complex would align with its downtown masterplan.

Continue reading Crescent City Council Loans State Grant Dollars To Downtown Housing Project; Developer Plans To Demolish Old Daly’s Building →
Articles, Local Government

Greenough Asks If Limiting Cannabis Retailers Is Necessary, Votes Yes On Updated Regulations

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Thumbnail photo by Jennifer Martin via Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons License.

Despite opposing Crescent City’s commercial cannabis ordinance five years ago, Councilor Jason Greenough argued that limiting the number of businesses selling it was unnecessary.

“It seems like the market is regulating itself,” he said Monday. “We’re not being inundated with cannabis shops on every corner, so I’m confused why this is even before the Council again.”

Greenough, who was absent when his colleagues first considered a Planning Commission recommendation on Nov. 17 to make changes to the city’s cannabis regulations, urged the City Council to remove the proposed limitation. 

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Articles, Community News, Local Government

Mary Dorman Wins Crescent City’s ‘Service Above Self’ Award; Measure S Paving Project is Under Way; Councilors Approve ADU Update

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Thumbnail photo: Mary Dorman, community volunteer liaison with the American Red Cross’s Northern California chapter, received Crescent City’s Service Above Self award on Monday. | Screenshot

Among the items discussed at Monday’s Crescent City Council meeting.

Service Above Self:

City Manager Eric Wier applauded Mary Dorman’s readiness to assist Del Norters with everyday disasters, saying she best exemplifies former fire chief Steve Wakefield’s personal motto of service above self.

Dorman, community volunteer leader with the American Red Cross’s Northern California chapter, often acts as a liaison between that organization and the Del Norte Emergency Operations Center, Wier said. 

Continue reading Mary Dorman Wins Crescent City’s ‘Service Above Self’ Award; Measure S Paving Project is Under Way; Councilors Approve ADU Update →
Articles, Economy, Health, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation

Chris Howard Pushes For Last Chance Grade Advocacy As Del Norte Develops Legislative Platform

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Thumbnail image: District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard urged his colleagues on Tuesday to advocate for the tunnel project around Last Chance Grade in the Board’s 2026 Legislative Platform. | Image Courtesy of Caltrans District 1.

Days after he returned from a visit to Japan, District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard touted that country’s tunnel-building prowess when he urged his colleagues to step up advocacy for Last Chance Grade.

During a discussion of the county’s 2026 Legislative Platform on Tuesday, Howard said he wanted to explore how Japan’s innovative techniques could apply to the Last Chance Grade tunnel project. He also told his colleagues that Caltrans still needs a Coastal Development Permit from the California Coastal Commission for the project despite completing nearly a decade of environmental studies.

Howard asked Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper to include advocacy for an exemption from that hurdle in the platform.

Continue reading Chris Howard Pushes For Last Chance Grade Advocacy As Del Norte Develops Legislative Platform →
Articles, Arts & Culture, Community News, Youth

Del Norte High Students Paint Miniature Kamomes For ‘Boats of Hope’ Art Tour

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Thumbnail photo: Del Norte High School senior Elle Jacot painted two Kamome replicas for the Boats of Hope art tour. One will be headed to Rikuzentakata during a student exchange in January. | Photo courtesy of the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce

Four years after the friendship between Del Norte and Rikuzentakata found an international stage at the Tokyo Olympics, replicas of the fishing vessel that sparked the relationship will be featured in a local art tour.

The Boats of Hope art tour will feature seven mini Kamomes placed at various places throughout Del Norte County. The project is spearheaded by the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce as well as Carol Zocchi, advisor for Del Norte High School’s Japan Club.

Zocchi put out a call for students interested in pitching a design and inspiration for their boat to seven partner agencies, according to a chamber press release. The students were also able to earn an artist stipend.

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Articles, Local Government

Del Norte Launches New Salary Structure Starting With Unrepresented Employees

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Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Del Norte County supervisors took a first step toward implementing a salary schedule they say will make wages more competitive, starting on Tuesday with their unrepresented county employees.

County Administrative Officer Neal Lopez said he hopes to bring revised salary schedules and wage adjustments for the county’s represented bargaining groups before the Board on Dec. 9.

“We’re trying to get everybody implemented at the same time, which will be the 19th of December,” Lopez told Redwood Voice Community News. “The pay period begins the 19th of December and we want everybody on the same ship when this whole thing gets established.”

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Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte BOS Recap: New Compensation Rate for County Supervisors; Team-Approach to Capital Improvements; New Truck

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District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short was absent. Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Meeting:

County Supervisors Compensation: Supervisors approved an ordinance that set their biweekly compensation rate at $2,277.67 regardless of how many terms they serve in office. The ordinance adds language to a provision in county code that justifies an extra $100 the Board chair receives, which is also paid biweekly. 

It also offers a cost of living adjustment for county supervisors that will be between 2.5% and 4% each year based on the Western Region Consumer Price Index.  According to the county’s staff report, the Board of Supervisors will be required to review this COLA every three years starting in 2029 and can, by a four-fifths vote, waive that adjustment.

Continue reading Del Norte BOS Recap: New Compensation Rate for County Supervisors; Team-Approach to Capital Improvements; New Truck →
Articles, Community News, Infrastructure, Transportation

Del Norte’s Friendship With Rikuzentakata May Influence Last Chance Grade Tunnel Project

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Thumbnail photo: Jaime Matteoli, Caltrans’ Last Chance Grade corridor manager, and Caltrans District 1 Director Matt Brady visit with Japan’s Ministry of Land Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism during a recent visit. | Photo courtesy of Chris Howard. Above: Caltrans chose a 1-mile long tunnel out of several alternatives for rerouting U.S. 101 around the slide at Last Chance Grade. | Image courtesy of Caltrans District 1

Jaime Matteoli returned from his Japan trip excited about the ongoing collaboration he hopes to have with his counterparts at that country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Matteoli said he hopes to gain some wisdom from the lessons his colleagues across the Pacific have learned as Caltrans begins refining its design for the 1-mile long tunnel at the Last Chance Grade landslide south of Crescent City.

But he called the trip special for another reason: The Japanese people still remember the role a handful of Del Norte High School students played in bringing a 20-foot fishing vessel home to Rikuzentakata two years after the 2011 tsunami.

“To stand by Kamome and visit the site of Rikuzentakata — it was on our way past the tunnel project in the Sanriku expressway — I felt proud of our community, proud of the youth,” Matteoli told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. “It all started with young people providing an act of kindness to the people of Japan. We heard from many people, including the vice minister of MLIT, who expressed gratitude for their support.”

Continue reading Del Norte’s Friendship With Rikuzentakata May Influence Last Chance Grade Tunnel Project →
Articles, Community News

Volunteers Serve Up A Del Norte Thanksgiving On Thursday

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Thumbnail photo: Denise Doyle-Schnacker volunteers at the Community Thanksgiving Dinner in 2022. While all the volunteer slots are taken for this year’s dinner, monetary donations are always welcome and appreciated, Crescent City Foursquare Church Pastor Roger Bodenstab says.

With 160 people signed up, Foursquare Church no longer needs volunteers to heat up and dish out a Thanksgiving meal for Del Norte on Thursday.

But its pastor, Roger Bodenstab, says the church is prepared to serve roughly 1,000 meals and could always use donations.

“The need is always financial,” he told Redwood Voice Community News. “We order everything in bulk and we’re using the Crescent Elk kitchen to prepare the food. Everything is done in bulk to get it done efficiently and effectively.”

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Articles, Community News, Emergencies

SNAP Gap Was Emergency Food Task Force’s First Test; DNUSD Will Feed Students During Thanksgiving Break

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Thumbnail photo: Marina MacNeil and Dominique Richcreek, staff members at Pacific Pantry, visited Smith River’s Howonquet Hall in this 2024 file photo. | Jessica C. Andrews

With CalFresh benefits fully restored for nearly 4,000 Del Norte families, a local emergency task force targeting food insecurity had officially demobilized as of Friday.

But Julie Bjorkstrand said she and her team with Del Norte Unified School District Nutrition Services would be busy over the weekend assembling 600 food bags that will keep youngsters fed during the Thanksgiving break.

Each bag will have five days of breakfast and five days of lunch and will be available for anyone who’s under 18. They will be distributed from 10 a.m.-noon at the Family Resource Center of the Redwoods, the Yurok Tribal Office in Klamath, the American Legion Hall in Gasquet and at Howonquet Hall and Smith River School.

Continue reading SNAP Gap Was Emergency Food Task Force’s First Test; DNUSD Will Feed Students During Thanksgiving Break →