Tuesday, September 8, 2015

The Segregation of our Downtown


Each day the National news has stories of injustice, brutality and bigotry.

Even now, in 2015 social and racial equality, and justice are hard to come by, even in Fort Bragg.

In Fort Bragg this has become painfully obvious with the group "The Concerned Citizens" of Fort Bragg trying to put an initiative on the ballot to ban all Social Services from our downtown.

Why you may wonder, why in the world would anyone want to do that?

Why would a group of "concerned citizens" ban services that help people who are in some kind of need?

This group of people are the same group that was against the Hospitality House using the Old Coast Hotel as a wellness center. Because they are hell bent on taking the Wellness Center at the Old Coast down, they are willing to take other social services down with it.

The CCFB obviously do not want help the homeless and mentally ill that would use the Wellness center at the Old Coast. They would rather not see them at all. But they have also now attacked every social service that our town offers, (which is a lot.) No social service business would be able to locate, re-locate, expand or move in Fort Bragg Downtown.

Our downtown or the "central business district" is just that. It is centrally located and easy to get to. Yes, we want people to come downtown to shop, bank, eat, and I think to fulfill their social service needs. I do not think that anyone would be served better by having to go, farther, like say, the other side of the tracks, to get services.

I have a businesses in our central business district and I am not worried that helping people will hurt my business. I do not think that our retail and other businesses are so fragile. I bank downtown, walk downtown with my family, and shop downtown, and I am not afraid to do so. I am afraid of allowing people in our community to be treated so unjustly.

If we let this hateful initiative on the ballot , that is just doing this whole town a disservice. Fort Bragg has a reputation of being progressive in helping those in need.  Right now in our downtown we already have social services offered at Parent's and Friends, Art Explorers, Project Sanctuary, and of course the Hospitality House. These businesses would have to stay where they are not move or expand in our downtown, and none of our other great social services would be able to relocate into our downtown.

This initiative is wrong and hateful on so many levels.
If you are approached to sign an initiative please, do not sign it!
We can't let hatred, fear and prejudice make decisions for our city.

Join me, at the next city council meeting.  Let's show the "concerned citizens" of Fort Bragg  and our city council that we do not agree with this measure being put on the ballot. 
The meeting is September 14th at 6pm at Town Hall.
Meet me early and get a button and some more information regarding this issue. 
I will be at  Perfect Circle T'ai Chi at 330 N. Franklin St. at
5:30 pm
, lets walk to the meeting together!

6 comments:

  1. This is so sad, I can hardly believe it. This would mean the lovely benches that are outside shops would be for one type of person, and others would not be allowed to sit down. I enjoy sitting down, and chatting with the locals, I never have asked what their station is life is. Does this mean I must carry my bank balance, asset sheet, and wear certain clothing to come to my beloved Fort Bragg downtown? Who do I check in with to see if I am acceptable? Where do I get my car detailed to make sure it is acceptable, as coming from a ranch there might be dust or dirt on it?

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    1. Thanks Karen, it is sad that people would treat others this way. I appreciate your support always. We will work hard to keep this unjust initiative off the ballot.

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  2. I thank & applaud you for putting your feelings, my feelings and I'm sure many other Fort Bragg locals feeling out there so eloquently.
    I am going to share your blog post and will encourage all my friends to do the same.

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  3. Excellent post - thank you! We shape our community in a positive way by rejecting proposals that harm, insult and discriminate against our community members. Ultimately, this makes for a better place to live for ALL of us. Thanks for caring and for speaking up!

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