By Roger Gitlin – EYE ON DEL NORTE – December 7, 2021
Several very positive items emerged from tonight’s Crescent City Council meeting.
1) Over the past several months, EYE ON DEL NORTE has asked for updates on the status of the long-standing EYESORE vacant, dilapidated medical building at 200 A St, in arguably one of the most iconic locations within the City. At the last meeting in November, we asked for an update AGAIN and at the Monday; December 6 meeting, during the City Msnager’s report EYE ON DELNORTE and the Public, alas received that update.
City Manager Eric Wier, without disclosing sensitive matters, acknowledged the City has an open legal case against the owners of 200 A St.
To the hundreds of neighbors who live near this pathetic property and the hundreds of thousands of visitors who drive by this disgusting blight, annually you now know there will soon be closure ending this nightmare which has for years-long stigmatized our beautiful community. If EYE ON DEL NORTE has played any role in “pushing the envelope” in an effort to keep you informed and involved, EYE ON DEL NORTE will enthusiastically take any criticism associated with our SQUEAKY WHEEL behavior.
I’m certain real progress will now be achieved in ridding the City of this eyesore .
2) The Council also rendered approval to the City Manager to sign an Agreement with Green Dot Transportation Solutions to develop a Clean California Local Grant application for a massive clean up and development for a Class 1 trail project on City-owned property adjacent to the Crescent City Cemetery, off Cooper Ave. The cost for this application will be about $12,000 and IF the Grant is successful, the rewards of hundreds of thousands of dollars which require ZERO additional City partnership contribution, will be forthcoming. If the City completes this application before March 2022,. professionally and competently, the results will be transformational.
Bravo to the City for having the foresight to make this investment and clean up a truly blighted, drug-infested, trashed and very dangerous parcel of land. The above two items, when successfully implemented, will be dramatic.
The Council again voted to delay the nomination of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, as Councilor Isaiah Wright was absent. The City hopefully will have a full compliment of five for the December 20 meeting.
That building on A Street has been vacant since 2007 when Open Door Community Health Center moved to their present location at Northcrest and Washington. For the longest time there have been two signs on the building stating “vision”. A bit ironic if you asked me since there has not been any “vision” there for a long time. (Just like the entire city.)
I’m sorry Roger, but I must differ with you this time on the “eyesore” issue on A Street. The City has a track record of fouling-up anything that it gets its hands on. Consider the property on Front Street that was transformed into a Beer Factory, and has since changed hands constantly and mostly sat idle. That little fiasco caused a huge controversial Triagency debt that was just recently paid. Consider the old Hospital building that was transformed into a resort, subsequently redirected traffic on what were major thoroughfares, and provided little if any benefit to the community. There are certainly many other issues of city and county meddling that ended poorly.
Eyesore? Take a look at the $4 million eyesore that they created on Front Street! A once wide and open thoroughfare has been narrowed to accommodate ???? I still cannot fathom what they were trying to accomplish. Perhaps someday the City will put mobile crematoriums into those little asphalt islands to process all of our corpses after they Covid Mandate us all to death.
Eyesore? Have you seen the City’s plans for Beach Front Park? It resembles one of the many failed theme-parks that have closed during recent decades. No Roger, the City and County Governments do not remove eyesores without having something worse waiting in the wings; plus a wad of cash for their Good-Ole-Boy cronies to create the next monstrosity. They would probably build an up-scale shopping mall, at a time when every shopping mall in America is closing. Someday, we can only hope to remove our county from California’s Communist grips. When that happens, either free enterprise or free market capitalism will replace or transform the remaining A Street medical annex into something that actually benefits the community. Our local governments are not the solution to eyesores; never have been and never will be.