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Fort Bragg Petition Progresses

On Friday October 16, 2015, the Clerk of the City of Fort Bragg received a petition for a ballot initiative entitled “Prohibiting Social Services in the Central Business District.” On October 19th the City Clerk made a prima facie count of the signatures. Her estimate of valid signatures: 659. Current number of Fort Bragg, CA registered voters: 3,124. That makes the number of signatories to the proposed initiative approximately 22% (more precisely: 21.8%) of the voting populace of Mendocino County's second largest municipality.

Near the end of the October 26th Fort Bragg City Council meeting its five councilmen voted unanimously to send the petition on to the County Registrar of Voters for an official tally of the signatures. If the number of valid signatures remains above 15% of Fort Bragg's registered voters then the City must call for a special election on the initiative to ban social services from the central business district (CBD). However, if the date of that potential special election falls within 180 days of a regularly scheduled election the special election will be conjoined with the regular election. That appears to be the situation, so that the earliest a vote on this initiative could take place would be in the June, 2016 presidential primary election.

The initiative is a reaction to the City Council earlier in the year approving transitional housing units and office space for mental health assessments at the site of the Old Coast Hotel at the corner of Oak and Franklin Streets in Fort Bragg's CBD. Money for the purchase of the Old Coast Hotel was funded through a Community Development Block grant (CDBG). In September, the City of Fort Bragg's attorney, Samantha Zutler, stated that consistent with other provisions of the zoning code, if the initiative passes, the facility [Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center's new offices within the Old Coast Hotel] and other targeted social service organizations will become legal non-conforming uses, but the uses will not be prohibited.

The City Attorney went on: If Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center's right becomes vested before the measure takes effect, the retro-activity provision in the initiative would likely be subject to challenge as an improper interference with MCHC's vested right to operate the facility. The killer blow came in this Zutler legal opinion: Using a zoning ordinance to target a specific facility that exists to provide housing to low income persons, persons with disabilities, or persons receiving public benefits could be challenged as discriminatory and unlawful under state and federal laws.

That message was received loud and clear by all five council members in September, including Vice Mayor Lindy Peters, the lone vote against the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center move to the Old Coast Hotel site. At that September 14th meeting each of the five councilmen spoke against the proposed initiative, citing two main reasons: 1) the potential high costs to the city in litigation, and 2) the measure could also deny central business district locations to other, unquestioned, social service organizations.

Potential litigation attaches to the initiative's main clause. “This initiative clarifies and amends Title 18, Chapter 18.22 of the Municipal Code (Commercial Zoning Districts) to not allow by permit or otherwise specific land uses in the CBD, as that District is shown and described by Title 18 as of January 1, 2015.”

At the October 26th City Council meeting Peters said that he had approached some of those behind the initiative petition and told them retroactive enforcement would not stand up to legal actions. The City Council and staff, on October 26th, also discussed the potential cost of the special election. Having the petition signatures counted by the Mendocino County Registrar this past summer did not cost the city because the petition fell short by a single valid signature of reaching the 10% minimum of registered Fort Bragg voters to qualify for the ballot. However, if anything close to the 22% number of signatures holds up this time (the County has until December 2nd to verify) then the City of Fort Bragg will be charged for the count. City Council and staff estimated added election costs at anywhere between $10,000 to $35,000.

Apparently, those who organized the petition drive for the initiative are still intent are going forward. I say “apparently” because only a single supporter of the initiative showed up for the October 26th City Council meeting, but even he left well before the council voted 5-0 to send the petition and its 659 signatures to the County Registrar.

All that's left is a mess, a civic ballot measure that not a single current city council member supports, unknown amounts of litigation costs if the initiative should pass, the side issue of privatized mental health care and services (as of this writing Ortner Management Group, the private providers of adult mental health services in Mendocino County is not yet a tenant at the Old Coast Hotel site, but its subcontractor, Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, is the new owner of the Old Coast Hotel property, subject to CDBG guidelines), and the literal mess that accompanies the daily meals served at or outside the Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center's flagship entity, Hospitality Center. No short or long range solution has been proposed by “Hospitality” or the city fathers for the continual trashing of the CBD by some of the homeless who are served daily at Hospitality House. “Hospitality's” management and board are still pretty much in denial about the problems caused by dozens of loiterers on the streets, alleyways, and parking lots nearby the Hospitality House prior to, during, and after meals are served late each afternoon. There is very little monitoring of the meals served, so food, plates and utensils often end up as messes to be cleaned up by neighbors for several blocks around Hospitality House on any given day.

I've seen the photos. Food, trash, and worse on the front and back steps of Hospitality House's neighbors. Homeless who are served food by Hospitality House, but for whatever reason are not allowed to spend the night there can be viewed in photos taken by neighbors; homeless persons curled up on the front steps or porches of businesses in the neighborhood of Hospitality House, sometimes curled up with their Hospitality House food and plates scattered across those same porches, steps, lawns. You can find the Hospitality House meals strewn anywhere from Purity to Safeway, McPherson [sic] Street to Main Street.

Providing services for mental health clients at the Old Coast Hotel property may bring minor problems from time to time, but the real problem, the simple monitoring of those fed at Hospitality House has been largely ignored for years. You can't change that with a petition to ban social services in the central business district.

2 Comments

  1. BB Grace October 27, 2015

    RE: “The killer blow came in this Zutler legal opinion: Using a zoning ordinance to target a specific facility that exists to provide housing to low income persons, persons with disabilities, or persons receiving public benefits could be challenged as discriminatory and unlawful under state and federal laws.”

    “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. George Orwell, Animal Farm

    Animal Farm has a lesson for Fort Bragg City Council as the reason every leader is in office (besides criminal activity on any city, county, state, national, federal, global level) is because of what they offer to wee the people in the form of “community prosperity or shared wealth”.

    Animals wanted hot running water and lighting. They worked hard and with each leader to achieve what they hoped would make ALL lives better.

    When comparing Fort Bragg City to Animal Farm, we see that what the City sees as “prosperity for all”, is grant money for social services.

    Not restaurants, shops, services for highend tourists wanting to rest and relax, go fishing or hiking, hot tubbing, sipping wines, exploring brews, and taking in the awesome natural beauty while enjoying the fruit of Mendocino’s loving hands; Instead, the City Council is telling us, “We depend on county, state, federal grants to sustain and we have made agreements to get those grants, so we’re going to back whatever agreements we made to get these grants because ultimately, that’s the industry we’re in: “Grant Hunting and exploiting”, and that’s how we show that we have jobs, and the fact is, we are completely dependent on grants because we have no green industry to sustain, let alone develope, a population. Let’s all go jump in the CV Starr Center Pool and sing “I LOVE FB! Don’t forget to bring your paper plate, cake provided by Safeway, for a donation.”

    I often wonder if Ruffing is a “Closing Manager”.

    In Oakland, CA, about a decade ago, thousands of low income were purged to provide housing for the new employees of CA’s $3 Billion Genetic/DNA center (where tax payers fund the elite’s quixotic quest of Ponce de Leon).

    As for the pending election, the ballot initiative entitled “Prohibiting Social Services in the Central Business District”, isn’t going to matter as much as the who’s on the ballot for FB council seats, eh?

    Dolly Parton has a better understanding what would make Fort Bragg work than FB City Council https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollywood

    Wish I could find a copy of the O’Jays singing “For the Love of GRANT Money”

  2. Alice Chouteau October 27, 2015

    Thanks to BB Grace, for his as always invaluable observations. Many, perhaps the majority of city residents feel they have been discriminated against by the city council’s reliance on grants that show no evidence of ‘helping’ the transient population, while the quality life in town, including standards of public health and safety, are undermined.
    The main thrust should be, as Grace points out, finding candidates for city council, willing and able to make real changes in the MO and the priorities of city gov.

    Alice Chouteau

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