Category Archives: Tourism and Transportation

Shouldn’t I get a discount if the plane is late??

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The saga of the quest for reliable air service for the Redwood Coast continues. Our local warriors have gathered enough gelt and promises of same to go a’wooin’ another air carrier to provide service to our ill-located airstrip. (Okay, there’s a terminal, so I guess that makes it a real airport.) But I want to disclose something which was news to me: it IS possible, although not consistently, to get on-time stats for flights to and from ACV.

Try this for fun.  Go to the  United Airlines site and make a pretend reservation from ACV to SFO, specifying a date but leaving the time open. You will be presented with a list of options for flights, and in the right-hand column, just beneath the notice that, no, they’re not going to feed you, click on the tiny blue writing that says “See on-time performance”.  You MAY get a popup that says “There is no recent record of delay and cancellation percentages for this flight.”  This is hogwash.  If you wait a day or two, you get a  different result.  For the 5:48 pm flight, 5541, I just got a table that shows 37% on time, 37% late and 0 cancelled. Since 37+37=74, this leaves a quarter of the flights unaccounted for. Did they vanish into a Redwood Coast version of the Bermuda Triangle? More likely, it’s just the way they’re counting. The fine print explains that UAL doesn’t count a flight as late unless it’s MORE THAN 30 MINUTES LATE.  The best on-time stats are – of course- for the 6am flight to Sacramento ,  where they don’t have our fog problems.

We, of course, have the fog, and turning a training facility for bad weather flying into an airport that people and businesses depend on must have seemed like a good idea at the time. So here we are, 70 years later, trying to make do with an airport that is too fogbound for reliable operations, no railroad and poor bus transportation. Is it any wonder I keep calling for a shuttle to SFO or at least Santa Rosa from which some entrepreneur will make lots of money? It’s already started. Look at Craig’s list under “Rideshare” and check out the number of gypsy operations already going.  

Or, we could move the airport to Willow Creek and ride a shuttle for an hour. At least we wouldn’t have to worry about what to call the airport.

Welcome to Bigfoot International.

The Case Against Flying

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Everyone has their own horror stories of flying, or trying to fly, into or out of the Eureka-Arcata airport.  I was pleased to hear, during a recent meeting of business leaders in Arcata, that at least one local company has adopted the same policy I have: no flying out of Arcata if a connection has to be made. The odds just aren’t with you. Actually, I’ve taken it a bit further- no flying out of Arcata at all. It just doesn’t make sense.

Do the math. Let’s say you need to get to San Francisco. By the time you use an hour of limo time to get to ACV, then an hour, at least, before takeoff, then an hour and a half for the actual flight time, then another hour to retrieve baggage and/or pick up a rental car, then drive in from the airport to wherever it was you really wanted to go, you have easily exceeded the five hours it takes to drive. The first enterprising person who starts a shuttle service to the Bay Area will make a lot of money.

Now we are on another chase to lure airline service to what will always be a marginal market. I note in this morning’s Searchlight-Record that Redding is also trying to lure Delta into starting a Denver service.  It is unquestioned that our business community needs flight service, but since the rest of us don’t, the numbers sufficient to attract an airline are that much harder to achieve.  My last vacation started out with an unplanned 10 hour layover at O’Hare that was entirely United’s fault.  I’ve been dumped in Redding, stranded in Chicago, stuck at SFO. I say the hell with it. I’ve flown my last flight out of Arcata. If anyone wants to start a shuttle service to the Bay Area,please get in touch with me. I’ll chronicle your progress with great interest. As for me , I’m going on vacation, a five week trip which will be, like the dodo bird, flightless.

When the flying experience out of ACV is so bad and unreliable, it starts making Greyhound look good, it’s definitely time to look at other options.

How Much Is A Train Worth, Part Deux

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“I rode the train today.”   

Speeder train at Samoa

        Now there’s a startling statement from a Humboldt resident.  Okay, it was only one of the speeders that the Timber Heritage Society is planning to run this summer, and only a 20 minute ride from Samoa Cooklouse to the point where the tracks get sketchy, but it was a train, by God. For train nuts like me, a quick fix is better than nothing.

      For all the talk in the news about trains lately, we seem to be moving further and further away from the reality of regular service.  The recent Prosperity exercise involved 19 “Citizen Action Teams”, two of which recommended at least exploring the feasibility of an east-west route from here to Gerber or thereabouts. Some of our most prominent citizens are advocating the study, which would  cost as little as $100K, but no one wants to pony up the money and, as we know, the County is strapped. Personally, I think if the matter could be laid to rest one way or another- What’s the cost? What’s the cargo? Will the Feds grant easements or sell off land?- I think the $100K would be well-spent.

(As a matter of disclosure, I served on the “Harbor Revitalization” team, although my role was mostly to provide publicity for the town meeting we had at the Labor Temple. Good turnout, lots of interest, lots of concerns.)

          The latest development is the pressure on the County supervisors to engage in “railbanking” the tracks around the Bay. I wouldn’t be so skeptical of railbanking if someone could give me just one example of tracks that were railbanked and successfully brought back to life as a railroad. They keep telling me they exist, but no one seems to have any specifics. Once you cover something with asphalt, it’s pretty much out of play.

          Yes, it’s hard out here for a train nut.  I’ll get my fix in October, when we’ll be riding the Empire Builder from Portland to Chicago (THE best Amtrak route).  But in Humboldt County unless the THS manages to get its round-the-bay tourist run going, no one is going to be saying, “I took the train today.”

How much is a railroad worth to you?

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near the Vista del MarAs I write these words I am in the County Supervisors’ chambers, trying to stay awake while the board members of the North Coast Railroad authority, or six of them, spend half an hour consulting with their Ukiah attorney on the legal definition of the word  ”train”.  The issue at hand is the Timber Heritage Society’s plans to offer speeder rides on the NCRA’s track and everyone’s desire to avoid liability in case of an accident.

The NCRA is no more disfunctional than any other governmental body- have you ever sat through a Planning Commission meeting? The NCRA folks come to this meeting in Eureka with a major victory under their belt: on July 13, rail service was restored from Schellviile to Windsor. The next phase will restore service- freight service- all the way to Willits. Willits!  How galling that Willits will become a veritable hub of rail transport while in Eureka the train is becoming a distant memory.  The folks in the Bay Area will be able to take a pleasant jaunt to Willits, transfer to the Skunk for a wondrous scenic ride and arrive in Fort Bragg relaxed and ready to spend money. I can see those dollars flying away, dollars that we need right here in Humboldt.

When I was a kid we often took the train to San Rafael. The train went through 52 tunnels and as a scenic ride it’s up there with the Glacier Express in Switzerland. I am an unabashed advocate of passenger rail, one of the tribe Hank Sims has labeled “morons”.  I believe Hank’s motives are pure. Unlike some of the rails-to trails advocates we’ve been hearing from lately, he’s not motivated by personal gain; he’s just horrified at the $500M price tag of restoration through the Eel River Canyon. That figure is on the high end, the sum frequently cited by the “no train-it’s hopeless” crowd.

Let’s accept the $500M figure. If Humboldt County were to pay the entire cost, each man, woman and child would  have to kick in $3759  for the  joy of riding the rails. If the costs were spread across the five counties that would see the immediate benefit (Del Norte, pop. 20,000, Humboldt 130,000, Mendocino 90,000, Marine 261,000 and Sonoma 493,000) the per capita cost goes down to  about $500. Our tax system doesn’t work that way and the benefits would clearly extend to those outside the North Coast, so if we assume all California will benefit from freight and passenger service which costs a fraction of trucking costs and pollutes less (LOTS less) the cost would be $13.33 per capita. Of course there will be ongoing maintenance, dwarfed by the ongoing costs of our heavily subsidized  road system, which no one seems to complain about. The issue isn’t money. We’ve spent more money on dumber projects.

I am a skeptic regarding the east-west route recently proposed for study. Fine, it should be studied, but that project would be starting from scratch, and has little if any tourist potential.  On the other hand, quick transit to the I-5 corridor is very desirable. That’s why our friends up in Coos Bay have reactivated their train route to Eugene.  Anyone who can get cargo to Coos Bay will be two hours from I-5 and its many possibilities and distribution centers. When I visit my friends in Eugene, I fall asleep to the distant sounds of a train. Ah, music….

So how much would a railroad mean to your business? To your life? Let’s hear YOUR thoughts!  After all, you’ll be paying for it.

Is There A Redwood Curtain? Was there ever?

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I have a pretty good memory and I ‘ve lived a lotta years . One thing I DON’T remember until recent years is people making believe there is such a thing as the “Redwood Curtain”.

When I was growing up, we felt pretty darn connected to the Bay Area. We went to San Francisco to shop for school clothes. In high school, we slept with our transistor radios (remember?)  under our pillows so we could listen to Les Crane on KGO. Yes, we knew it was a more exciting world down there but we didn’t confuse a long and winding road with a “Curtain” of any kind. The City was just a few queasy hours away (I was one of those kids who got carsick, usually right around Grundy’s, until I started high school.)  And of course, we had the train, another easy mode of travel.

Tell me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t  the “Redwood Curtain” invented by the same folks who brought us the “Redwood Summer” for better or worse, and stuck around afterward? “Redwood Curtain” invokes the allure of inaccessibility, much as does the annoying habit of referring to Humboldt County as part of the Lost Coast. We’re not lost, folks, never have been, unlike the truly inaccessible coast down in the Mattole.

“Redwood Curtain’ has come to have many different meanings.  The other day I heard someone use “Redwood Curtain” as a shorthand way of saying their office in Eureka didn’t come under the scrutiny that their Bay Area offices did. The folks who are trying to stop the CalTrans improvements at Richardson Grove have gone so far as to designate THAT little stretch of road as “the Redwood Curtain” whlch, if widened, will allow a plague of development and disruption which will surely result in Eureka becoming another Santa Rosa.

What about you? Does the Redwood Curtain exist? Does it affect your business in the form of transportation hassles or some other way? As a consumer, has the internet made you more or less likely to shop out of town? Are you in the “Woodman, Spare that Tree” camp or do you want them to fix the damn road? Let’s hear from YOU! And thanks for visiting.

UPDATE: While I was writing this the Historical Society presented Ray Hillman at the library on the topic “Links to the Bay Area” and I asked him where the term “Redwood Curtain” had originated. By the end of the day I had heard from Arlene Hartin, Ray Raphael, Bill Kier and Jerry Rhode, the cream of local historians. With these folks on the case, there will surely be an answer. Mr. Kier had an interesting theory that the term derived from the “Iron Curtain” which was in the news daily during the ‘Fifties.  Watch this space.

 

 

HOW WELCOME DO WE MAKE OUR VISITORS?

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While meandering the backroads of South Carolina- which I’m sure we all do occasionally- one cannot help noticing the most notable structure in Bowman, the “Official South Carolina UFO Welcome Center”.  I tell you, these folks are ON it. Ready, definitely ready for visitors.

UFO Welcome Center, Bowman SC, pop. 890

Are we as ready as they are? Our two welcome centers (the one in Arcata and the one at the Chamber building) are well-stocked and the tiny staff is helpful,  but in Eureka especially the traffic roars past without stopping, even though the number of inquiries to the Chamber has being rising steadily. Remember the kerfluffle a few years ago when a waitress at the late, great Seafood Grotto  told an inquiring visitor that there was “nothing to do” in Humboldt? I think that same waitress served me. Right around that time I took a visitor to lunch who inquired about the oyster stew.  The server wrinkled her nose. “Eewwww! I don’t eat those, “she said.

For awhile there we had remedial classes at CR in the care and treatment of visitors but I haven’t heard about those lately. Do we still have them? Do we still need them? Are you and your staff ready to deal with visitor inquiries? Do any of you do your own training? Tell us about it and tell us if you have unmet needs in this area.

The structure in Bowman was built by a fellow who works in a lawnmower factory in nearby Orangeburg ( yes, they still MANUFACTURE things in South Carolina) and is conveniently located right behind the gas station, handy for fueling up for the return trip.

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