Category Archives: Infrastructure

Huffman Discuses Government Shutdown, ICE, Healthcare With Del Norters

Thumbnail photo and videos by Heather Polen

“This is not a normal time,” Del Norte County’s representative in Congress told his constituents on Sunday.

On the fourth day of a federal government shutdown, U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman began a town hall meeting in Crescent City by addressing who he felt was responsible for 10 months of chaos. Yet it wasn’t only President Donald Trump’s tariffs, executive orders and military deployment to Los Angeles, Portland and other American cities Huffman was referring to.

“We’ve never seen so many of these executive orders from any president in history, and my colleagues in this Congress are comfortable with that,” he said. “They’re pretty comfortable with just yielding their Article 1 independent branch of government authority over to the president.”

Continue reading Huffman Discuses Government Shutdown, ICE, Healthcare With Del Norters

(Updated) CCHD Officials Negotiating Lower Loan Payment With USDA, Say Docks Need To Be Insured

Thumbnail photo by Gavin Van Alstine

Updated at 1:52 p.m. to correct an error about the Harbor District’s loan status with the USDA. According to CCHD financial advisor Sandy Moreno, the agency has 120 days to make a loan payment to the agency or it runs the risk of defaulting on the loan.

Crescent City Harbor’s financial advisor said the agency has 120 days to make a loan payment to the U.S. Department of Agriculture or it runs the risk of defaulting on its loan.

Crescent City Harbor’s financial advisor said the agency has 120 days to reinstate property insurance for its inner boat basin or its loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be considered delinquent.

Reporting to the Harbor District Board following a meeting with USDA officials last week, Sandy Moreno said she and Harbormaster Mike Rademaker hope to get the district’s loan payments reduced, which would improve cash flow. 

But if the marina isn’t insured within 120 days doesn’t make a payment within four months, the USDA will accelerate the claim to the U.S. Department of Treasury “for action,” Moreno told commissioners Wednesday.

Continue reading (Updated) CCHD Officials Negotiating Lower Loan Payment With USDA, Say Docks Need To Be Insured

Del Norte County Finalizes Line of Credit to Airport Authority; Elk Valley Rancheria Chairman Defends Joint Powers Authority Model

Thumbnail image courtesy of flycrescentcity.com

Del Norte County supervisors approved an agreement that extends a line of credit to the local airport authority, enabling it to weather a cash flow emergency as it completes three grant-funded projects.

The Board of Supervisors’ decision comes after they authorized staff to draft an agreement with the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority in August. 

The agreement also comes after BCRAA members at a meeting earlier this month were dismayed to hear District 4 Supervisor Joey Borges question the effectiveness of the joint powers authority model to operate the Del Norte County Airport, his District 3 colleague Chris Howard told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday.

Continue reading Del Norte County Finalizes Line of Credit to Airport Authority; Elk Valley Rancheria Chairman Defends Joint Powers Authority Model

Crescent City Council Discusses Transit Center, Stipends, CCPD’s Alcohol Beverage Control Grant Application

Thumbnail image courtesy of Crescent City

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

RCTA’s new transit center: City councilors entered into an agreement with the Redwood Coast Transit Authority as it moves forward with plans to build a transit center at Front and K streets.

The agreement comes more than two years after councilors decided that the parking lot near the Del Norte County Library was a suitable home for a transit center. RCTA is building the facility using $2.85 million in grant dollars from the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. The transit authority’s total grant award was $7.6 million.

“The key reason we have this agreement now is because RCTA needs [it] to move forward with their design and their project steps,” City Attorney Martha Rice told councilors. “We want something in writing that says this is going to be the site, however prior to completing the required environmental analyses they can’t enter into a binding lease agreement. We’re coming to terms on what the basics of the lease agreement will be.”

Continue reading Crescent City Council Discusses Transit Center, Stipends, CCPD’s Alcohol Beverage Control Grant Application

Greenough Says Beachfront Park Interpretive Kiosks Should Tell ‘All Of Our History, Not Just One Side’ As Tolowa Cultural Trail Takes Shape

Thumbnail photo: The canoe node will be one of the first interpretive elements to be constructed as part of the Tolowa Cultural Trail feature at Beachfront Park. | Image courtesy of Crescent City

As construction begins on the Tolowa Cultural Trail, Jason Greenough invoked the three industries that “basically made Crescent City” and insisted that “all of our history is important, not just one side.”

The city councilor said he loved the redwood, burden basket and canoe replicas that will be included in the Tolowa Cultural Trail feature. But he pressed his colleagues for consensus on expanding the historical collection of kiosks that will dot Beachfront Park’s perimeter to include information about the lumber, fishing and mining industries.

Crescent City could highlight its historical buildings, bring back the hollow redwood log kids played in before it decomposed and caved in on itself and highlight the importance of the Hmong community in the area, he said.

“If you’re going to walk the entire Tolowa trail and then walk all the way around and look at all the kiosks, that can provide quite a bit of time for people to be outside, to get exercise, to be healthy, to be out there with their families and encourage people to promote a better family life, and education,” Greenough said. “It feels like this checks all those different boxes.”

Continue reading Greenough Says Beachfront Park Interpretive Kiosks Should Tell ‘All Of Our History, Not Just One Side’ As Tolowa Cultural Trail Takes Shape

Crescent City Takes First Step On Long Path Toward Revitalizing Its Downtown

Thumbnail image courtesy of Crescent City; YouTube video by Heather Polen

Karen Betlejewski choked up a little when she described her dad’s impression of Downtown Crescent City as a 40-plus year resident returning home after being away.

“He said, ‘I wanted to cry,’” she told a gathering of business owners, elected officials and other stakeholders with interest in the downtown area.

Betlejewski, who manages the Del Norte County Historical Society’s museum and says “she’s into old,” said she enjoys shopping in Downtown Crescent City and she loves the people. But the vacant buildings make the area look sad.

“You know that it just needs help,” she said. “And I would like to see that.”

Don Arambula agreed. The project manager, principal planner and urban designer for Portland-based Crandall Arambula PC presented a preliminary assessment to Betlejewski and about 80 other residents on Wednesday.

Continue reading Crescent City Takes First Step On Long Path Toward Revitalizing Its Downtown

Long-Awaited STAA 197/199 Project To Start Construction In The Spring, Caltrans Says

Thumbnail image: The 197/199 Safe STAA Access project, which includes widening U.S. 199 and State Route 197 in several areas is scheduled for construction starting this spring. | Map courtesy of Caltrans

The likelihood that further litigation will stall a long-awaited project to widen lanes and modify curves on State Route 197 and U.S. 199 is low, Caltrans District 1 representatives told Del Norte Local Transportation commissioners on Tuesday.

The state transportation department expects to solicit bids for the 197/199 Safe STAA Access project in October with proposals coming in between Nov. 4 and Nov. 7, Project Manager David Melendrez said. Contract approval is expected in December and construction will start some time during the spring, he said.

“It is moving forward. It has support from everyone in our district and it also has support from people in Sacramento [at a] pretty high level up there,” Melendrez told commissioners.

Continue reading Long-Awaited STAA 197/199 Project To Start Construction In The Spring, Caltrans Says

Roundabout Not Likely To Be Funded For Elk Valley Cross Road, U.S. 101, Caltrans Says

Thumbnail photo: Caltrans officials and Del Norte Local Transportation commissioners discussed safety improvements to the intersection of U.S. 101 and Elk Valley Cross Road. | Image courtesy of Google Maps

Though acknowledging that a roundabout would help reduce the number of collisions on U.S. 101 at Elk Valley Cross Road, it’s unlikely Caltrans will receive the funding to construct it, Safety Investigator Clark Davis said.

Davis told Del Norte Local Transportation Commissioners on Tuesday that they agreed with its assessment that the collision rate at the intersection exceeded the state average. But with most of those crashes involving drivers that aren’t seeing the approaching traffic behind the car they’re trying to avoid, there isn’t much Caltrans can do, Davis said.

“We can’t make the cars invisible,” he said. “The best we can do is improve some signing and some delineation, which is what we’re planning to do.”

Continue reading Roundabout Not Likely To Be Funded For Elk Valley Cross Road, U.S. 101, Caltrans Says

Ruth Compound Barriers Will Stay Put; Supervisors Call For Further Remedies To Illegal Dumping, Camping In The Area

Thumbnail photo: Del Norte County Supervisors on Tuesday decided that K rail blocking vehicular access to an area commonly called the Ruth Compound should remain. | Photo by Heather Polen

(Updated at 7:51 p.m. to correct the spelling of Randy Pincombe’s name)

District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short argued that barriers are part of the solution to curtail illegal dumping and camping in the Ruth Compound, though he said Band-Aid is an apt term for them too.

“Band-Aid” was the phrase District 2 Supervisor Valery Starkey coined in February 2024 when Short initially proposed blocking the area. 

On Tuesday, though she ultimately voted with the rest of her colleagues for the barriers to continue, Starkey asked for statistics on the number of illegal dumpsites as well as the number of deputy patrols in the area. 

Continue reading Ruth Compound Barriers Will Stay Put; Supervisors Call For Further Remedies To Illegal Dumping, Camping In The Area

Del Norte Supervisors Extend Line of Credit To Airport Authority Due To Cash Flow Emergency

Thumbnail photo courtesy of Andrew Goff

With one of their colleagues conjuring up images of plane vs. elk collisions on the runway, Del Norte County supervisors authorized a line of credit that will allow the local airport authority to weather a cash flow emergency.

It’s an emergency tied to three grant-funded projects that are currently underway at the Del Norte County Airport. According to District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, the emergency represents an oversight on the part of the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority and its former airport director Ryan Cooley.

Howard, however, pinned much of the blame on Cooley, who in 2023 had secured contributions from the joint powers authority’s member agencies to help to meet a 5% match tied to the $8 million Federal Aviation Administration grant-funded runway rehabilitation project.

Continue reading Del Norte Supervisors Extend Line of Credit To Airport Authority Due To Cash Flow Emergency