LISTEN TO IT ON THE RADIO, HERE
It's an incredible thing to experience. The United States is doing better than ever before. A roaring economy that has produced a wide array of job opportunities for anyone willing to work. Our foreign policy is hitting the reset button on the unfair trade practices of other countries, and as the scales are starting to balance economic investment rushes into the bottom 48, as factories build in America--Hire American and look to our country for their bright future. Wealth Pouring back in. Working Men and Women getting a fair shake. We are starting to see what happens when government gets out of the way and lets people pursue greatness.
Meanwhile here in Humboldt County, it seems like we only benefit because we are geographically locked in. As wealth abounds and factories get constructed in faraway places, Humboldt County finds itself left out.
And burdened down by the usual, stale problems.
Walk our streets and you will see that we continue to tolerate San Francisco style homelessness, and there is still no coherent approach to solve the problem. The City is approving low income housing projects, but unfortunately the housing first model will always fail if there are no rules. Without mandatory drug testing and aggressive counseling solutions, these low income houses continue to fail, exposing the most vulnerable of our society to drug pushers and other negative influences.
Travel Humboldt and your industries are limited to cannabis, tourism and the arts. A decent start but nowhere near enough for us to ensure success for the future.
Anecdotally, I still talk to a lot of local people that are choosing to relocate to greener pastures. Texas, Oregon, Arizona and even the Carolinas are competing for our neighbors, and many of the people you and I know are listening.
I don't want this to be another political message, I am talking to you as your neighbor here. What are we doing to take part in the economic renaissance that our nation is experiencing? Why are we pretending that it doesn't exist??
Sure, there are some good things happening. Recently, perhaps to avoid embarrassing litigation but maybe because it was simply the right thing to do, the Eureka City Council decided to contract a high-powered Virginia based firm to aid in the effort to market to international tourists. Regardless of their reasons, the outcome of that decision was good for all of us.
It's also comforting to see the Nordic Fish Farm operation pickup steam on making a facility in Humboldt.
Let's start acting like the rest of the country. Let's encourage industries to flourish, let's lower the barriers-to-entry for businesses and industries that want to come here. Let's wise up while we still have a willing workforce.
