Commentary and Opinion by Samuel Strait The recent Harbor Commission Special Meeting was pretty much the expected 5-0 vote to approve both leases to Alex Lemus and Renewable Energy for the harbor's two RV parks. The future ensuing train wreck will no doubt be painful, but it could not happen to a more useful collection of supercilious idiots who are oblivious to their impending doom. When asked just how many redevelopment plans the harbor considered in 2020 after a "nation wide" advertising campaign took place, the response was, "several interested parties reviewed the offering, but only one, Alex Lemus offered a proposal." No one on the Commission even considered the remote possibility that the redevelopment plan is not financially feasible given the terms offered in the Harbor's proposal. Further, no one even considered the possibility that what they got from Alex Lemus, just might be that bridge too far. The current lease to Renewable Energy asks the sum of $820,000 per year for twenty five years. The harbor presently earns nearly that much in its current configuration. Maintenance and management trims that figure to around $600,000. Lemus's proposal calls for relocating all current tenants to another location equal to their current site. The harbor is not involved in any way with this process other than to take Lemus at his word. Once the land is cleared of occupants, Renewable Energy will somehow transform the current properties into a "high end" RV, rental mobile, and luxury cabin park to "attract" short term occupants within the invested amount of several million. To the average soul in Del Norte County even a million dollars might seem to be a significant amount of money, but for this project it will likely just be the start of the necessary funding to actually complete such a project that even remotely resembles the architectural plan offered of the finished product. The rental Airstream trailers come at a price tag of $130,000 to $160,000 each, and luxury cabins can be $150,000 on up for each one. Landscaping and suitable infrastructure could easily swallow up the entire budgeted amount. So how just exactly is it the harbor has not considered the possibility that this project will go the way of Lemus's solar power project and result in Renewable Energy's filing for bankruptcy owing the harbor thousands? How is it the Commission didn't get more than one proposal in the first place? Why is it no one on the commission asked other interested parties why they offered no proposal? Has the district reviewed the proposed budget for the redevelopment offered by Lemus's company to determine just how much "lip stick" he had decorated the pig with? It was crystal clear that no one on the Commission had asked these and several other germane questions to understanding the feasibility of what was being proposed. With the approval of the two leases, this Commission has now backed themselves into a corner with no easy way out. In the process they have created a larger problem for those they profess to have the most concern for, yet offered those in harms way no redress. The problem is, that nobody would particularly mind if the Harbor Commission was taught another "painful" lesson, as they have truly earned that and then some. What will become an ongoing story is the plight of those that are living in both RV parks who have no possibility of relocating to somewhere locally of equitable condition to what they now have. How many will end up parked on the street? How many will be forced to join the ranks of the homeless? All we have to do, is "trust" that Alex Lemus will honor his word to be responsible for a painless relocation. Overhearing RV park tenants expressing their fears, coupled with the dismissive attitude of the Commissioners, this transition will not be pleasant. Then again has the local Harbor Commission been blinded by fairy tales and puppy tails, with dollars signs above it all? Is it even possible that this will end well? I don't think it will take long to find out….. Until the Harbor Commission learns that the families within the harbor deserve more than being dismissed and cast adrift, there will be no peace at the harbor. This legacy of dismissal and tone deafness does not bode well for the harbor's future prosperity, nor those that will be forced to move, especially so if it does not end well…