City of Ukiah seeking major retailer to anchor 18-acre site; bu...

Is everyone forgetting Measure A. The Board want to build a major shopping center on one end of town and the city wants to build one on the south end of town.
This may be a little bit of an overkill.

Aren't these some of the same people that oppose Mendocino Crossings at the Masonite site because it would damage the downtown Ukiah small businesses and economy? Talk about hypocrits...

okay people lets improve our city and get some tax money here obviously ackerman could not make a deal with costco maybe the city of ukiah can. We need the tax dollars in our city limits if you want to keep the city safe we need police and firepeople. Who knows what will happen when they start to turn up the ground at massonite. lets get the move on and put money back into our city. We already have the people who go to Costco at least once a month. Costco has a better pay scale than a mall store also which would employee people at more than min wage. How many people are actually shopping at malls right now. Not me I'm busy putting food on the table for my family. just a thought

Would any Ukiah city council member or Mendocino County supervisor care to enlighten us citizens on the financial impact of placing a Costco store or any big box store or mall within the City limits on the land off Airport Boulevard to the south of town vs. at the proposed Mendocino Crossings,which I believe lies just north and outside of the city limits?

Justin wrote:

Aren't these some of the same people that oppose Mendocino Crossings at the Masonite site because it would damage the downtown Ukiah small businesses and economy? Talk about hypocrits...

One factor to consider is that the city of Ukiah will have to deal with the majoity of the impact at either site. The impacts of the Airport site are offset by the dollars gained. At the Masonite site Ukiah still deals with impact but receives none of the gain.

bob gardner wrote:

Is everyone forgetting Measure A. The Board want to build a major shopping center on one end of town and the city wants to build one on the south end of town.
This may be a little bit of an overkill.

Disagree. Both want and need some tax base to pay for the sucking services. City wants one or two large stores in the Airport Park area and the county wants a shopping "mall" in the north part of Ukiah. I think they can all come to a satisfactory outcome. The money needs to stop going to Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. Both city and county cannot make it off of the bong shops and candle outlets they have now.

I'd love for a Costco or Macy's to go in. It would keep me shopping locally.

Pay Attention wrote:

<quoted text>
Disagree. Both want and need some tax base to pay for the sucking services. City wants one or two large stores in the Airport Park area and the county wants a shopping "mall" in the north part of Ukiah. I think they can all come to a satisfactory outcome. The money needs to stop going to Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. Both city and county cannot make it off of the bong shops and candle outlets they have now.

CORRECTION: The County does NOT want the Mall on the north end of Ukiah. The Mall is being endorsed by an out of state developer, Developers Diversified Realty of OHIO wants the Mall on the North end of town.

Four out of the five county supervisors, are endorsing a No Vote on Measure A. Not only do they endorse Voting No on A. The City of Ukiah, The City Of Willits, The City Of Fort Bragg, The City Of Point Arena have ALL adopted resolutions against Measure A.

All agree that this is a Bad Idea For The County Of Mendocino.

It's called a sales tax sharing agreement!
County and City have been adhoc studing this for years. As useual nothing gets done.

City should be annexing Masonite site and cooperating with the developer instead of using tax payer money to compete with them. Tax payer money should be spent on our downtown. It's embarrasing to take vistors down there.

NO ON A wrote:

<quoted text>
CORRECTION: The County does NOT want the Mall on the north end of Ukiah. The Mall is being endorsed by an out of state developer, Developers Diversified Realty of OHIO wants the Mall on the North end of town.
Four out of the five county supervisors, are endorsing a No Vote on Measure A. Not only do they endorse Voting No on A. The City of Ukiah, The City Of Willits, The City Of Fort Bragg, The City Of Point Arena have ALL adopted resolutions against Measure A.
All agree that this is a Bad Idea For The County Of Mendocino.

Can we have some names? Because i want to NO on all those idiots you just mentioned in the next elections. At lease the ones i can vote for...

Pay Attention wrote:

<quoted text>
Disagree. Both want and need some tax base to pay for the sucking services. City wants one or two large stores in the Airport Park area and the county wants a shopping "mall" in the north part of Ukiah. I think they can all come to a satisfactory outcome. The money needs to stop going to Santa Rosa and Sonoma County. Both city and county cannot make it off of the bong shops and candle outlets they have now.

awesome writ up! this is my opinion also. why keep giving sonoma county our money??????? keep it here and keep it real!

NO ON A wrote:

<quoted text>
CORRECTION: The County does NOT want the Mall on the north end of Ukiah. The Mall is being endorsed by an out of state developer, Developers Diversified Realty of OHIO wants the Mall on the North end of town.
Four out of the five county supervisors, are endorsing a No Vote on Measure A. Not only do they endorse Voting No on A. The City of Ukiah, The City Of Willits, The City Of Fort Bragg, The City Of Point Arena have ALL adopted resolutions against Measure A.
All agree that this is a Bad Idea For The County Of Mendocino.

i beg to differ with you. not ALL of the supervisors think this is a bad idea for our county. i'm voting yes on measure a. why should our money keep going to sonoma county?

just me wrote:

I'd love for a Costco or Macy's to go in. It would keep me shopping locally.

my thoughts exactly!!! yes on measure a!!!!!!!!!!

unbelievable wrote:

<quoted text>i beg to differ with you. not ALL of the supervisors think this is a bad idea for our county. i'm voting yes on measure a. why should our money keep going to sonoma county?

As I said four of the five supervisors endorse a NO VOTE ON MEASURE A. Despite the Costco Carrot Developers Diversified Realty of OHIO is dangling before the voters this plan is flawed. That is why all of your elected officials (other than Pinches) agree. VOTE NO ON A.

Big Box Store Locations wrote:

Would any Ukiah city council member or Mendocino County supervisor care to enlighten us citizens on the financial impact of placing a Costco store or any big box store or mall within the City limits on the land off Airport Boulevard to the south of town vs. at the proposed Mendocino Crossings,which I believe lies just north and outside of the city limits?

It is a moot point, since Costco has not intentions of going to the airport location within the city limits, and has told the City of Ukiah this prior to them buying the land.

For Costco to happen at the airport, one of two things would have to take place. Either Costco pays top dollar for the land to the City of Ukiah and is the last store to go into the center, or they will be the first store to go into the center at Mendocino Crossings, and get a sweat heart deal from the developer because Costco will draw the other stores. Stores follow Costco, it's not the other way around.

The city could offer Costco a sweetheart deal for the land at the airport by selling it below what they paid for it, but Costco would then have to pay prevailing wage to build their store (Union wage), which would drive the cost back up for Costco to a point that does not make it in their best interest. In addition, the sweetheart deal would come at the expense of the tax payers rather than some developer giving them the deal.

Do we, the tax payers want to spend millions of tax dollars just to get Costco in our town?

If Costco gets the sweetheart deal from the developer at Mendocino Crossings, the deal comes from their pocket, which is made up for in rents from other tenants down the road, and NOT from Tax Payers. In addition to Costco at Mendocino Crossings, we get Target, and a grocery store similar to Whole Foods. At the airport site, we would only get a Costco because Target will never go to a center where there is a Wal-Mart present - plus there would not be room for both.

It's real easy to just say the phrase "Costco can just go to the airport", but if you look at the facts and really think about it, it is the worst possible solution.

The sad part if, they city went into this land deal knowing these facts... well probably not the council members, but those that suggested it should have known. If they did not, shame on them.

NO ON A wrote:

<quoted text>
CORRECTION: The County does NOT want the Mall on the north end of Ukiah. The Mall is being endorsed by an out of state developer, Developers Diversified Realty of OHIO wants the Mall on the North end of town.
Four out of the five county supervisors, are endorsing a No Vote on Measure A. Not only do they endorse Voting No on A. The City of Ukiah, The City Of Willits, The City Of Fort Bragg, The City Of Point Arena have ALL adopted resolutions against Measure A.
All agree that this is a Bad Idea For The County Of Mendocino.

So we should vote no because some politicians with an agenda say it's a bad idea? Are you serious?

Let's see... two of those politicians from the County Board of supervisors who want you to vote no, also want you to stop being critical of them for wanting a raise when they are laying off county workers and have an $8 million deficit. You want me to take advice from Colfax and Smith? Seriously?

One of the other four Supervisors who object to this project represents the city of Ukiah. His belief is that this will compete with the businesses inside the city. He is fresh from being a city council member and is looking out for the city rather than his county. This is the problem with Supervisors representing districts. They often face conflicts between the area they represent and the over all well being of the county. In this case, he is siding with the City of Ukiah who now owns retail land and is competition with this project. The ironic thing is, that he sits on the adhoc committee to study the Revenue Sharing idea, so that the city and the county don't compete over issues like this. The city could annex the Masonite Property and then share the revenue with the county in a situation that is win/win for everyone. Instead he sits on the Board of Supervisors and undermines the county. Plus he is a master at stalling any growth. You should listen to him sometimes.

the fourth supervisor who is against this believes that industry is coming to our area, and that we need to save this land for that purpose. Also, some influential supporters from her district are against this, so she needs to stay on their side for the votes. Once again, not representing the people of the county.

It's interesting that 11,000 people signed a petition to get this on the ballot. That's a ton of voters in the county. You would think the Supervisors would recognize the demand for a project such as this and check their ego at the door to listen to them. But they have not changed their tune at all. They feel they are smarter than the people, and know what's best for us. WRONG. Does Colfax have your best interest at heart and know what's best for you? How about Smith?

The Ukiah City Council is against it, because it competes with them.(see statement above on Revenue Sharing - what a concept??? And it's one that most counties in California have and use).

The other city Council are staying in lock step with the BOS and Ukiah because it's in our area, and it is professional courtesy. They also don't like a situation that skirts their opinion and they are offended by it.

So why, again, should we listen to these politician's opinion?

I guess the bottom line is, Ukiahians are screwed. Unless lady luck comes to play.

Bring on Costco! Bring on Trader Joe's!

NO ON A wrote:

<quoted text>
As I said four of the five supervisors endorse a NO VOTE ON MEASURE A. Despite the Costco Carrot Developers Diversified Realty of OHIO is dangling before the voters this plan is flawed. That is why all of your elected officials (other than Pinches) agree. VOTE NO ON A.

True there are four of them. They are:
David Colfax - Mr. Give me More Money for my crappy thankless job and stop accusing me of stealing money through the travel budget last year... all the while we are cutting county workers' pay and laying people off. More Money Please...
Kendell Smith - Learned how to cheat the travel budget system from Colfax and then abused it, got caught, and is also with Colfax on the "I want more money" stance. Two peas in a pod.
John McCowan - Represents the city of Ukiah, who is now in competition with this project. The project will bring in millions to the county from sales tax, and he wants the city to get it instead. Again, he represents the CITY, not the County. He won his seat last November, and was against this project at the time, thinking the public was against it. Now that 11,000 people signed a petition to put it to a vote of the people, he thinks the people are stupid and can't possibly understand the facts, and that only supervisors should vote on this. His EGO is actually bigger than Colfax's. And he is a true grandstanding politician if ever they was one. He lives off mom and dad's money and does not care about other people's opportunity for employment, and obviously does not care about revenue for the county. Oh, and he sits on that Revenue Sharing committee, so we will never see it.
Carre Brown - also a new supervisor. She is just going along. She has said virtually nothing about this project - against or for it. She does want to save the land for industry, even though industry has left, or is dying off in our county, and leaving our state in record numbers. She is an ag person, and fears that this measure sets a precedent for future land issues, and can therefor possibly effect ag land. She is not against Shopping Centers, it is more about the Measure than anything else. What she is missing is that fact that the use of initiative is available to anyone, and she can't stop it from happening. She should work with the system rather than fighting it. There is a big difference between a much desired shopping center and converting ag land. I doubt any initiative changing ag land in this area would fly, so her concerns are not really valid.

Pinches is the only person on the Board who feels that the people should get to decide on this, because the effects are far reaching throughout our county. What a concept - democracy.

And please don't use the argument that we voted for these people, and that's the democracy. People voted for Colfax and Smith - so does that mean that people wanted them to cheat and want more money? Please, there are more issues facing this county than just a shopping center. People vote for them for a whole variety of reasons.

If the BOS are against it, I am in favor of it. Whatever they believe I think the opposite. I will live a long healthy life this way. These people currently on the board couldn't run a lemonade stand let alone a multi million dollar business.