Opinion Piece By Rachel Towe – July 18, 2019

My husband and I owned Harbor RV in Crescent City for 40 years.  In the past 13 years, we suffered heartbreaking tragedies. The death of our only daughter in 2006. Then the death of my husband in 2012. Adding insult to injury, I recently found out that the Harbor paid $600,000 to Bayside RV for the four years remaining on their lease. Let me tell you why I’m upset.

We attempted numerous times to negotiate with the Harbor. When we had 10 years remaining on our lease, the Harbor refused to extend our lease and turned down our request for $1 million ($100,000 per year), for the time remaining.

Four years later, the Harbor made a lowball offer based on an appraisal they had, which they never disclosed to us.  We were not offered the opportunity to obtain our own independent appraisal so that we could negotiate in good faith.

Then they made an offer.  $340,000 on a declining scale meaning it depreciated to zero at one year remaining on the lease.  That was worth $48,000 per year based on the remaining six years. At that time, Richard Young was Harbormaster.

Because of the lowball offer and the fact that they would not extend the lease to enable us to obtain a fair price for the RV park, we had no choice but to wait it out and let the lease expire.

In my opinion, we were clearly taken advantage of and discriminated against which is proof positive by the price the Harbor paid to Joe Frasier and Bruce Dwelly, owners of Bayside RV park.

Now get this. Bayside is about the same size as Harbor RV except ours faced the ocean, and the Harbor paid $150,000 more per year for the remaining four years left on their lease. That price was three times more than their offer to us and 50% more than our initial offer to the habor 10 year prior.

I’m not the only widow lady taken advantage of.  Barbara Fagen operated the Captain’s Table Restaurant in the harbor for 36 years.  The Harbor wouldn’t give her a plug nickle for her place either. Barbara passed away in 2008.

I believe that we were treated unfairly, taken advantage of, and discriminated againsts in negotiating with the Harbor.  They realized our vulnerable emotional state, our depression due to our daughters deather and my husband’s rapidly declining health and it looks to me like they purposely took advantage of us and our situation.