When James Ramsey first camped in Crescent City in the late 80s, he knew he wanted to live here. It took him six years to get a job teaching in the area, but he did and has lived here for 26 years. In those years, he has become invested in community projects and concerns, which is why he added his name to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors District 2 candidate list. Ramsey does not consider himself a politician trying to rise up in the ranks of government, rather he considers himself a local, committed to the community’s betterment. #placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');“I’m just a normal, everyday person like most of the people out there who care about this county and want it to be developed to a certain extent so that children can come back and live and raise a family and have a decent wage and retire here all at once,” Ramsey said. “I love the county, and that’s why I’m here.” He is entering this race with 23 years of teaching in the county and 12 years on the Crescent City Harbor Commissioner’s Board under his belt, helping the harbor reach a stable economic position. Through this work, on the harbor board he has learned to work with people with varying viewpoints. Along with those work experiences, he has also given much of his time to humanitarian efforts in the county, such as his work with Our Daily Bread Ministries, the Harrington House, Rural Human Service, the Disabled Veterans Association and various local food banks. His candidacy is built on the idea of helping the community, believing strongly that government is to serve the people, not the other way around. And he has a few ideas for how to implement this should he get elected. Tourism efforts, homelessness, downtown revitalization and affordable housing are just four of the issues he hopes to tackle as supervisor. Believing Crescent City has a profitable future with tourism, he wants to continue to make the town tourist friendly by improving the downtown area and working to house the homeless population. Realizing the difficulty of maintaining a downtown business, he wants to create a sort of sliding scale rent for downtown businesses, citing that the harbor has followed a similar plan in the past. This way, the businesses can afford to stay in their buildings in the off-tourism season. “I think it hurts tourism when you come downtown and there’s a lot of empty buildings and stuff and I would like to work on that kind of thing,” Ramsey said. Ramsey has been impressed watching groups such as True North Organizing Network and the United Methodist Church, Crescent City, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, among others, delving into solutions and assistance for homeless individuals. As supervisor, he wants to help them continue their work and establish other efforts to solve the issue. “I’m looking forward to serving the general public and working for and dealing with issues,” Ramsey said. “I’ve just done things in this community to support this community and I want to continue that going on.” The California state primary is March 3. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });