The city of Eureka has 37 acres of publicly owned waterfront land on Humboldt Bay. The land is left over from the old logging days and still has railroad tracks with spur sidings. It has not been used for many years.
Their Harbor District Commission is spending $13.5 million deepening the harbor to make it the only deep-draft port between San Francisco and Coos Bay, Ore. They hope to use the empty land for a port terminal. By applying for a "foreign trade zone" and making it into a "free port" operation, this tariff-free area would promote container ship docking and facilitate cargo movement. The port is also strategically located for lumber products shipment which would actually create many "new" jobs.
The new jobs concept is important because the Goliath in this case was Wal-Mart. Yes, our old friend Wal-Mart who is still spreading out across the nation, going into smaller marketing areas where they can find inexpensive or subsidized land. In this case, Wal-Mart wanted to use the empty land to build a shopping center. The land is in an enterprise zone which confers its own special tax credits and subsidies.
This question of jobs creation keeps coming up with big box retailers. They supposedly create many new jobs, when in fact, they do not. It is the net gain that counts and the increases are offset by the loss of jobs in the empty downtown stores they put out of business. The big box discounters' lower prices are illusionary because the increased unemployment benefits, the loss of sales taxes from the closed stores, and the lower property taxes from the newly blighted downtowns, all require increases in the other taxes. We are all going to pay dearly for the money we save at the big box discounters by the thousands of failed businesses that have been created with these incentives from taxpayer-supported subsidies.
The people of Eureka figured this out when they voted NO on a ballot initiative sponsored by Wal-Mart to change the zoning on the waterfront land so they could build a store. Wal-Mart reportedly spent $235,257 on lawyers, consultants, public relations and advertising specialists for the election. The opposition to "Measure J," the 324 activists, spent $41,572 to bring down the giant with a 60 percent rejection in the special election.
Wal-Mart is not barred from the area; it is just that they have to go through the normal process of finding a different piece of land and solving any land use questions with the Planning Commission like everyone else does. However, in regard to the likelihood of success of a new location, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, after commissioning a study on the possible effects of this type of store on the Eureka waterfront, voted 4 - 1 to oppose the ballot measure. To quote from the report, "A new big box retail store would have negative fiscal impacts on surrounding municipal entities, not increase jobs or the quality of jobs, significantly harm and potentially bankrupt existing businesses and reduce the overall quality of life throughout the county."
So much for the supposed benefits of subsidized lower prices.