Commentary and Opinion by Samuel Strait – March 23, 2024 I suppose the Crescent City Council meeting of March 18th was some what ground breaking, yet not unexpected. Our representative republic was for a moment converted into a monarchy compliments of the Mayor of Crescent City, Blake Inscore. More on that later. To begin the meeting, following the normal opening ceremonies, Mr. Dennis Powers was on hand to present to a full house a brief summery of his book "The Raging Sea", the account of the March 28th, 1964 Tsunami that struck Crescent City in the early hours of the morning, resulting from a 9.2 earthquake in the Gulf of Alaska. Mr. Powers, with accompanying visual images, took us through the day of the event that killed 11 local residents, destroying 30 blocks of the City and produced 60 missing. While many of those in attendance were either very young or else where at the time, it was a sobering reminder of the power of the sea and the strength of the human character. Following the presentation, most in attendance left the meeting which resumed following a short break to hear public comments without benefit of the accustomed "zoom feature" that had become part of regular access for residents unable to come to the meeting in person. We learned later that the decision to suspend this feature was an action taken without a vote by sitting Mayor Blake Inscore. Public Comment consisted of a presentation by Mrs. Donna Westfall calling attention to the proposed increase to the City's sewer rates currently under review by the City Council with particular attention to the "expansion component" of the system and promises made at that time. It was mentioned that should the City move forward with the rate increase, a Proposition 218 protest would be forth coming. Further public comment included a call to the Council to recognize the already burdensome recent tax increases as well as future proposed assessments by the local school district to pay back a $44 million school bond for facility improvements currently planned for the November 2024 ballot. The consent agenda, including a renewal of the "State of Emergency" surrounding Pebble Beach Drive slide activity, closing a portion of that particular street and a few other items was quickly passed 5-0. On to the Public Hearing segment of the meeting, items #6 and #7 regarding the amendment of the general plan to cram 52 multi residential apartments into less than a full block at 1405 California Street with suitable contributions by the taxpayer in order to satisfy demands by Sacramento to avail the City of more mid level affordable housing. Naturally, one never knows on what planet this equates to "affordable housing" by any rational standard without massive subsidies and HUD vouchers, but that is the state of the housing crisis in California. Resistant to this action of what passes for "urban development" was in the form of "Commercial Property" owners nearby who felt that their businesses could be impacted by the project. Concerns were quickly swept aside and both items were put to bed with consecutive 5-0 votes. While the "new affordable housing" was generally greeted with enthusiasm by the Council and checks a few boxes, I am not sure that this path to "urban style living" is a necessarily positive path forward to what should clearly be recognized as a rural setting. Too much of the local push to create housing seems to ignore the fact that single family residences that have traditionally made up rural communities and contributed enormously to the "pride of ownership" and corresponding pride in the local community have gone the way of anonymous urban sprawl. It perhaps should be noted that urban sprawl likely is a contributing factor to the rapid decay of modern American Cities. Just an observation. On to the most important "event" of the evening, an hour long robust debate on whether to allow "sandwich board and wind blown signs" within the City. Apparently, after a couple of years floating around the meetings of the City's Planning Commission a draft to revise the City's Sign Ordinance has made it to the City Council proper where further changes were requested for this terribly critical and important item, that nobody pays much attention to in the first place and no action took place except to ask for further revisions. Comments about other City ordinances that "need revisions", one can only imagine will occupy future City Councils well into the future. A quick dip into the City's Housing Authority, a report on its annual plan revealing the extent of the housing authority's role in subsidized housing in the City. A continued exposure of just how far the City and County have invested themselves in a dependent style culture that dominate the economy in the area. So Sad. Back to New Business and Mayor Inscore's self promotion to Monarch status, suspension of "zoom participation" by the public, a vote "after the fact", personal "hurt feelings" offered by the Mayor and Councilor Wright, and City Manager dysfunction cited as the reason for the suspension and final termination of the feature. Of course the City's contractors and officials will still have access to the zoom feature, the public not so much. Then the end was near after four hours with Measure"S" finger nail polishing by City Manager Wier about "road repairs" that had trouble making it though a weekend successfully without returning to the natural state we have come to expect with the City's streets. Pothole dodging is very likely to become a local sport in the City as proper street repairs continue to elude the local City Council's attention to the point that most streets can no longer be simply repaired and should go on a lengthening list of streets that simply need resurfacing in their entirety. Maybe the City's lack of attention to streets can be elevated to a future Olympic Sport and tourists can flock to the City to "practice" for this event at future Olympic sites. Paris anyone?