EMERALD CITY PROPOSAL INTERESTING BUT NEEDS SOME WORK

A number of citizens of Southern Humboldt have expressed a desire for
autonomy and self-governance for many years. Some SoHum folks have
stumped for a county of their own, wanting to opt-out of their
association with Humboldt County for feeling cut off or
disenfranchised. Others have pushed to secede from the State (or the
union), creating a hilly haven with it's own set of laws. By the way,
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1869 that unilateral secession was
unconstitutional.

More recently, a serious-minded group of area citizens led by Jim
Lamport have crafted a number of plans based on input from the
community, encouraging some interesting dialogue and envisionings.
Last Sunday, the Emerald City Organizing Group held an informational
fundraiser in Briceland to educate the public on the process of
creating or incorporating a new city. To be a fully legal entity,
proponents of the new city will have to come up with some serious
money for feasibility studies and will have to trudge through a
mountain of paperwork with the Local Agency Formation Commission
(LAFCO). It's no simple task. According to LAFCO Executive Officer
George Williamson, a vital first step for the burgeoning city will
test their fiscal capability. The current blueprint for the new city
would create a sphere of influence joining Garberville, Redway, Benbow
and the Garberville airport. A recent Times-Standard article quoted
Lamport saying that the proposed city c! ould benefit from sales tax
from marijuana cultivation and added that because Humboldt County has
not passed a marijuana ordinance, the new Emerald City would do that
in short order. The group would also need to gather up petition
signatures from 25 percent of area land owners or registered voters.
And as you guessed, it's more involved than this.

It's an interesting plan, but the impetus behind the incorporating
idea with current organizers appears to be about getting a marijuana
ordinance passed. So one might ask, is that in itself a good reason to
incorporate, and does that goal serve the majority of citizens? If
approved, the proposed city would have to establish a local police
force, upgrade its hospital, establish a city hall with a staff, elect
city council members, issue permits and business licenses, determine
boundaries, hire a city manager, retain services of an attorney, and
the list goes on. Furthermore, incorporation seems to be the
antithesis of the independent spirit of Southern Humboldt.

As the current group of Emerald City planners point to marijuana grow
figures as a way to demonstrate fiscal capability, but only legal
medical marijuana grows (sales to dispensaries) can be documented or
accepted in any serious petition. Sales from illegal grow activities
can only be guessed at. The high price of marijuana is for the moment,
guaranteed by its semi-legal and controversial status, but should it
become legalized, its cash crop value will plummet.

The California Board of Equalization (CBE) recently reported that the
state is collecting $50 to $100 million in sales taxes from medical
marijuana, but a lot of that money is in back taxes still owed. For
example, in February of this year, one medical marijuana dispensary in
Berkeley was found owing around $6.4 million in back state taxes and
interest from three years where it didn't pay.