on the cover / By Japhet Weeks

Views of the Bay

With the candidates for the Bay District board of directors

(Oct. 25, 2007)  A boat is a hole in the water you pour money into. At least that’s what I’ve always been told.

But when it comes to the five candidates running for the Humboldt Bay Recreation and Conservation District Commission, that saying is one of the few things they can agree to disagree with. All of them believe that developing the bay is central to bringing back economic prosperity and job growth to the county, and that can’t happen without boats. For some, that means primarily kayaks and fishing rigs. For others, it’s big container ships. Deciding exactly what kind of development is best for the bay is a contentious matter.

GALLERY >

The two septuagenarian incumbents from the Second and Fifth Division — Roy Curless and Charles Ollivier, respectively — believe that rebuilding the port’s shipping infrastructure so as to attract foreign capital is the way to go. Challengers Pat Higgins (Fifth Division), as well as Carlos Quilez and Steven Morris (both from the Second Division), think that the proverbial ship has already sailed on that project and attention ought to be shifted to pursuing more immediate and realistic goals.

It’s been said in the Journal before that the Harbor District is one of the county’s most important governmental bodies, outside county government and the seven incorporated cities (see “State of the Bay,” Oct. 27, 2005), and it deserves to be said again. The Harbor District’s five-member board of commissioners — elected from each of the county’s five supervisorial districts — oversees the management of Humboldt Bay, including heavy industry, mariculture, recreation and environmental protection, in addition to controlling a budget of $3 million. Moreover, the Harbor District’s sphere of influence extends beyond the bay to include the railroad, which is tied up with plans to turn the bay into a deep-water port and a hub for Asian goods on their way into the greater American marketplace.

On Nov. 6, two seats on that commission are up for grabs: one in the Second Division — Fortuna, Hydesville, Bridgeville, Garberville — and another in the Fifth Division — McKinleyville, Trinidad, Orick, Blue Lake, Willow Creek, Hoopa. This year’s round of elections is particularly important because the outcome could tilt the commission in an entirely new direction — displacing a dynasty of sorts which, for the past 16 years, has been working and waiting for big shipping interests to sail in and save the day.

FIFTH DIVISION

Division Five commissioner and incumbent Charles Ollivier is the lead advocate of total-makeover deep-port development. He’s been singing its praises since he first got elected 16 years ago, and he thinks his pet project has finally reached the home stretch. But his campaign platform may turn out to be a widow’s walk in the end.

“This is perhaps the most important election we’ve seen in this county for many years,” he said to me the week before last as we stood atop Bell Hill, looking out over Humboldt Bay.

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