Coastal Voices: Let's keep Del Norte rural

When I first came to Del Norte County several years ago, I thought I had found heaven on Earth.

I came from New Jersey and have lived in nearly every corner of this country searching for a place that would feel like home. When I arrived in this area I felt it for the first time, its beautiful beaches, our inspirational and mind-twisting forests of redwoods. Even all the polite and cheerful residents, but most importantly the pristine remoteness that made it all possible.

I was sold. For the first time in my life, I settled down, found love and am now raising a family in these beautiful hills. But alas, I am disturbed by the explosion of "development" lately and saddened by the realization that many long-term residents don't understand what we have slipping through our fingers right now.

I have witnessed time and time again the damage mega-corporations do to a town and the ruins "development" leave in their wake. They will sell you on the "It will help your economy" ticket, and by the time you realize that nothing could be further from the truth, it is too late.

The accepted argument here is, "there are no jobs." Yet while I had known no one in this town before arriving here, I have worked steadily because of a sheer willingness to actually work.

Once these corporations become part of "the community," so do their policies, which only include the profit motive. And that does not include profit for you. This corporate pipeline will suck out all of our resources into a billionaire's bank account and give nothing back in return but barely over minimum wage jobs ($10 an hour doesn't even cut it anymore).

They find loopholes to avoid paying taxes while simultaneously robbing downtown of what little wealth there may be. The hasty and haphazard plan to expand U.S. Highway 199 will only make it more convenient for these companies to expand their strangleholds.

Now I am not saying there are not a couple of senior officials making bank from these deals, that are in no way considerate of the people or the environment of this community, but I don't believe this is what's best for us as a whole.

Life can thrive here in a rural setting. Maybe we are not all rich, but we possess a quality of life that cannot be obtained when profit and bottom lines are all that is to be considered.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone in a small town say, "If you could have seen this place 10 years ago; it was so different; you could go outside at night; that river was so clean; you could find a job that wasn't being a cashier; you could drive across town in 10 minutes," etc., I would be able to buy all these useless houses contractors have irresponsibly built with no one able to buy them.

So before we dive any deeper into the cookie cutter process that will leave our community in ruins and shambles so that a few can get richer, I am asking for citizens to think and maybe even research what happens to an environment when these mega-corporations are given the red carpet treatment, before irreversible damage is done.

A quick survey of local history is all one needs to do to know that people have come to, and enjoy, Del Norte for many reasons. None of those reasons are Wal-Mart or Starbucks.

If you are one of those who would enjoy stepping outside of your house and into a mall parking lot, please take my advice, leave! There is an entire country that has been commercialized and transformed into one giant strip mall that is waiting with open arms for you.

Please, I'm begging, can we leave this one little corner free from the greed for more and more, for the quiet bunch of us who do want something out of life other than useless, poisonous crap from China?