Editor:
OMG!
I don’t know which is more appalling – the Arkleys’ blatant self-interest in buying ballot measure placement, or the Eureka City Council’s cowardice in allowing them to do so (“Town Dandy,” May 27). I wish I had $30,000 to pay for ballot measure placement. I wonder how much money the Arkleys will spend to pass their measure? Something about this stinks to high heaven.
I am constantly amazed at the load of Security National/Arkley crap that some people swallow so readily. A Home Depot will put many Humboldt County businesses permanently out of commission. Our smaller home-grown businesses that sell floor coverings, plumbing supplies, hardware, paint, window treatments, lumber, building supplies, tools, appliances and nursery supplies – businesses like Mad River Nursery, Hensel’s, Shafer’s Ace Hardware, West Coast Plumbing, Poletski’s and Pierson’s, to name just a few – will disappear and never return. Those businesses will be replaced by a multi-national company that will take most of its profits to its shareholders who live elsewhere and have no vested interest in the health and well-being of this community.
Homeowners will become renters. Local disposable income – therefore local retail, service and entertainment spending – will decrease dramatically. Just visit any small town in America where healthy, vital communities supported by mom and pop businesses have become wastelands of poverty and throwaway culture after the big box invasion of their towns. Isn’t anybody thinking that their trust in the beneficence of the Arkleys is misplaced? After all, Bank of America is currently suing Rob Arkley for $50 million for defaulting on a loan.
I mean, come on!
Kathleen Marshall, Arcata
This article appears in Waiting for Tish Non.
Well AMEN to that. If the mall infestation didn’t ruin Mom-and-Pop business in America, the sprawl of big-box cut-rate stores sure will. I saw mall building alter the downtowns of Mount Shasta and Redding in the 70’s, cutting out the hearts of communities, replaced with cookie-cutter franchise restaurants and retail chains. Then the big boxes marched in, and the little hardware stores around Redding and Anderson, the family-owned sporting goods stores and smaller cafes – gone, with the personal service and sense of community they embodied. It’s Crazy Talk to the money-centric, but I’d rather pay a little MORE to a neighbor than save a pittance to benefit someone I don’t know.
Maybe because the small businesses and all over priced and with a HD in eureka maybe some of the nasty houses that make eureka one of the uglest citys in Ca will be a bit nicer bc people can afford some paint ect…. Go HD!
Sorry pal, Home Depot isn’t that cheap.