Not About Arkley 

Editor:

I was dismayed to read of Frank Jager’s view on cleaning up the Balloon Track in last week’s Journal (“Cleanup Mess”). He takes the simplistic stance that anyone who opposes the project does so purely on the basis of animus against its developer, Rob Arkley. Unfortunately for him, and the members of the Eureka City Council who traveled down to S.F. on the city’s dime to lobby for Mr. Arkley’s special project in vain, 12 out of 12 Coastal Commissioners, as well as their staff, agreed that substantial issues exist with the current city-approved plan to fill and grade existing wetland before a full characterization of the site could be done. Mr. Jager, I ask you: Do these people simply hate Rob Arkley, too?

Lately, even more than usual, it has been hard to see where city government ends and the special projects of big developers begin. It is embarrassing to see members of the city council (Jeff Leonard, Mike Jones) wasting taxpayer monies to accomplish an ineffectual political stunt, even after they were warned by the city attorney of its futility. It is even more outrageous that they are doing so immediately after informing ratepayers that their city water bills are projected to go up by an average of 75 percent in the next five years.

It’s high time for a new City Council to be elected, one not in the thralls of the small coterie of big developers that seem to have run this city for too long.

Neal Latt, Eureka