Trouble at the mall

Not that kind of trouble

Gottschalks’ announcement yesterday that they’re filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy means yet more trouble for Bayshore Mall parent company General Growth Properties. A story on NPR this morning elucidated the woes of the nation’s second largest mall operator. If GGP can’t figure out a way to pay off their significant debts, or at least negotiate some new loan terms, by next month, they, too, could be forced into bankruptcy, according to Michael Niemira, chief council for the, ahem, International Council of Shopping Centers, a pro-mall trade association.

When mall stores go out of business (see: JC Penny, Mervyns, the Gap, Old Navy Outlet …) it hits mall operators twice, according to NPR’s report — once through the loss of rent and a second smack via loss of revenues. (Mall owners often get a percentage of store profits.) Gottschalks may yet find a buyer and remain a going concern. But according to a California economist quoted on NPR, the problem is systemic: America simply has too many stores and too many malls. “We’ve been adding millions of square feet of retail space every year,” he said. The trick now will be trying to strike “a realistic balance between what the consumer really needs and what the marketplace can give them.”

Sounds like the task facing our entire economic system, no?

 

From the Emerald Triangle to the Emerald Green Valley…

…with pot.

Perhaps this papa-sonny pair from Petrolia and McKinleyville, respectively, were lured to the southern Minnesota city by its official motto, “Make It Mankato!” And they did make it there, arriving last week with, allegedly, five suitcases of pot — 28 pounds, street value $100,000 — says the Mankato Free Press. But, they didn’t make it.

They got snagged by the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force.

Why Mankato? Well:

Mankato Department of Public Safety officer John Judd, also a member of the task force, said California dealers are looking outside their state because of the medical marijuana law. The law allows people there to grow marijuana for personal medical use. The law, Judd said, has produced an abundance of marijuana in California, depressing the market for illegal sales.

“They came to Minnesota because they were having so much trouble selling it there,” he said.

 

Black Friday Addendum

courtesy of Adbusters

Around the time this week’s Black Friday story hit the presses, someone pointed out that Nov. 28 is also “Buy Nothing Day,” a day of protest against consumerism, originally founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and later promoted by Adbusters magazine.

Adbusters suggests:

As the planet starts heating up, maybe it’s time to finally go cold turkey. Take the personal challenge by locking up your debit card, your credit cards, your money clip, and see what it feels like to opt out of consumer culture completely, even if only for 24 hours. Like the millions of people who have done this fast before you, you may be rewarded with a life-changing epiphany.

So, before you head out to buy local and indie, you might want to consider staying home today to eat leftovers. (And no shopping online either.)

There’s also a parallel Buy Nothing Christmas movement, founded by Mennonites.

They supply this song, “Buy Nothing At All” by Joel Kroeker

Addendum 2: Relatively good news for those like Bayshore Mall manager Sue Swanson, who own stock in General Growth Properties, the company that owns the mall:

The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday:

General Growth Properties Inc.’s battered shares have nearly doubled, after hedge fund manager William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management disclosed that it has acquired a 7.5 percent stake in the financially struggling Chicago-based mall operator.

I’m not sure that a partial purchase by a hedge fund solves the company’s problems, and there’s no word on negotiations regarding the $900 mill note due today on GGP’s Vegas properties. We’ll have to wait and see what happens next.

Addendum 3: There’s an early present available for those like Councilman Larry Glass, who’ve been eagerly awaiting the EIR for the Marina Project. Yes, as Heraldo points out, it’s here.

You’ll have to do some downloading if you want to read the whole thing, but after the jump we’ll give you the portion of the EIR that relates most directly to topics addressed in the Black Friday story and the potential impact on local retailers.

Spoiler alert: We’re guessing the EIR will be much debated in the weeks to come, but the conclusion re: contribution to urban decay is as follows:

The potential for the Marina Center project, in conjunction with other development, to result in urban decay in the greater Eureka area would be less-than-significant, and the project would not make a cumulatively considerable contribution to cumulative urban decay impacts.

 

Arcata Council passes new pot guidelines

marijuana growing in an Arcata dispensary

After a long discussion and some resistance on a couple things — the definition of caregiver, and whether the words “total canopy” should be included as part of the definition of square footage — the council voted unanimously to adopt new land use guidelines covering how medical marijuana works in the city.

To be specific, they adopted Ordinance No. 1382 to Amend the Arcata Municipal Code, Title IX, the Land Use Code by Adding Section 9.42.105 – Medical Marijuana: Cultivation and Dispensing as a New Standard for Specific Land Use; and Associated Revisions to: Allowable Land Uses and Permit Requirement Tables 2-1, 2-4, and 2-10; Add Associated Definitions to Article 10 – Glossary; Revise Text to Section 9.42.040 – Accessory Uses, and Section 9.42.090 – Home Occupations.

An important change is that receiving any compensation for growing dope at home for someone other than yourself is now considered a home occupation and is not allowed. What was once a grey market is now black market.

The only firm resistance came from  Paul Pitino and Harmony Groves, two current councilmembers who opted not to run for re-election. When they realized that they were out voted, they went with the plan. Mayor Mark Wheetley suggested that anything that did not work out could be reviewed in six months — by then there will be three new people on the council.

Here’s the new code in pdf form.

Side note to the city employee who makes the PDFs attached to agendas: It’s great that you’re supplying this information on the web, but you should know that anything that’s typed up on a computer can be turned into a PDF digitally. There’s no need to print the document and scan it. Time to adopt real 21st century technology.

 

Letter from Lila

Lila Nelson - Photo by Sheldon Sabbatini.

Arcata’s favorite singer/songwriter Lila Nelson celebrates the release of a new CD, Letter Home, with a show Friday, Sept. 19, at the Arcata Playhouse, where she’ll be backed by Mom and Pop rhythm section, Tim Gray and Marla Joy and guitarist Greg Lojko from The Rubberneckers. (Greg opens the show with his own set.) What follows is Mark Shikuma’s e-mail Q&A exchange with Lila on letterwriting, her new album, Poi Dog Pondering and other tales of paper houses.

Q: Concerning the title for your new record, other than the Dylan reference (from the song you covered, “I Was Young When I Left Home“), what does it mean for you?

Letters are obsolete. And CDs are becoming so. So really, I should be an accountant or something. The letter is the letter I meant to write. I meant to send. And the home is the home I left as a kid, but also the home I am trying to find as an adult. Also, it’s everybody’s letter to their mother, and everybody’s mother’s letter to them. And sometimes it’s a love letter. And it’s me not writing home when I should, when I’m out touring. What a jerk I am.

Q: Did you have the theme running while you were writing the songs for the new record? Or, did the songs just end up that way?

Themes are always running. The Dylan song is one that I got stuck on as I was touring cross country in 2005/6 and I think it was fall. The songs weren’t written with the theme in mind, per say, some are very old. But there is something autumnal about all of them and about the final touch Freddy put on it (or chose not to put on it, in some cases).
My parents’ house almost burned down last fall and my mom lost many of her valuables and all of her writing and letters. I was midway through the project then. I still feel those Santa Ana winds blowing inside…also around that time I fell and suffered a concussion. Speaking of fall, err, falling.

Q: You’ve definitely displayed your influences, namely Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Are there any other influences you can site for these new batch of songs?

Funny, I didn’t know Rickie Lee Jones’ stuff until about 4 years ago, after people kept saying, “You sound like her, you write like her…” I checked her out and am a huge fan now. The others I definitely cut my teeth on. Others I have found since working in radio. Not all the songs are new (to me — some are 10 years old). Some things that influence me: Uh, seasons, especially Fall (which in my mind landed on us last week…something nostalgic, melancholy delicious…all that). What else: Nick Drake, wine, falling down. Also, when I was 11 or so I heard Loudon Wainwright III. Wrote him a letter. He wrote back. And then I got to see him live and thought, “I want a job doing that — writing songs — being silly and poignant at the same time.”

 

AG Brown sets new rules for pot growers and clinics

This just in from Americans for Safe Access courtesy of Eric H.

For Immediate Release: August 25, 2008

CA Attorney General Directs Law Enforcement on Medical Marijuana Comprehensive recommendations include protection of dispensaries

Sacramento, CA — California Attorney General Jerry Brown issued long-awaited guidelines on medical marijuana today with support from advocates and law enforcement alike. The guidelines direct law enforcement on how to approach encounters with medical marijuana patients and establish a road map for local police policies. However, more significantly, the guidelines provide recommendations for operating medical marijuana dispensaries in accordance with state law. Specifically, the Attorney General states that, “a properly organized and operated collective or cooperative that dispenses medical marijuana through a storefront may be lawful under California law.”

 

Breathe. Two (2) Bigfoot updates

The Cupertino Courier (via the S.J. Mercury News) has a story about a private investigator named David Paulides, who has a book coming out Aug. 1: “The Hoopa Project: Bigfoot Encounters in California.”

Paulides is head of North American Bigfoot Search, an outfit devoted full-time to researching our friend. (Even if you absolutely loathe Bigfoot, or Bigfoot news, or both, check out the website to see the poignant painting of Bigfoot as well as a bitchin’ badge.)

Paulides has been full-timin’ on the Bigfoot beat for four years, a healthful portion of that time spent in the Hoopa Valley talking to tribal elders and others. He seems to be a real stickler for credibility: He made every purported Bigfoot-sighting witness sign an affidavit before he and his team would bother to research the sighting. He told the CC:

The witnesses appreciated the professionalism.

Meanwhile, in related Bigfoot news (’tis the season, with the anniversary of Bigfoot’s christening coming up, and we wonder is the T-S throwing a party?), someone is trying to hawk his/her superior Bigfoot researcher skills on ebay, according to a post yesterday on Boing Boing. And, whereas our fellow above, Paulides, approaches his game with an eye for delicacy and detail, and skillful promotion we might add, our “big game hunting outfitter in Wyoming” bluntly states his qualifications, and you can take ‘em or leave ‘em dammit but just send the money:

With all the stories and rumors surrounding the legend of Bigfoot,I think it is time to have the right person hunting (searching) for the real answers.Most of the Tv shows,books,and articles covering the search for Bigfoot are a joke.Nothing but pure amatuers.Most searches involve people setting up trail cameras,etc.,in stationary settings,this is totally the wrong approach.My methods would be covering lots and lots of territory in very remote country.I have been a big game hunter nearly all of my life and am an experienced big game hunting guide and am currently employed by a big game hunting outfitter in Wyoming.Contact me if you would be interested in funding an expedition that will get results.

Starting bid: $150,000. Alas, bidding ended today. (No bids. Maybe NABS is hiring?)

 

T-Shirt Update!

The runaway hit T-shirt of late June 2008 has been updated!

Now, on the back side, you get the full text of the eye-popping piece of reporting that confirmed the great Arcata DEA raids of late June 2008. Relive the memories every time you do laundry. Three bucks extra, but well worth it.

Detail below. Click through to purchase.

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… And All I Got Was This Awesome T-Shirt!

For the record: No, there weren’t 50 black SUVs parked at the Red Lion yesterday morning. No, there weren’t nine DEA helicopters armed with infrared detectors at Eureka-Arcata airport. No, DEA agents did not storm the pot doc’s place off Giuntoli to pull paperwork.

Thanks for the phonecalls, though!

The week that Humboldt County’s paranoia meter went from red to ultra-infra-red is now over, alas. It was a lot of fun while it lasted. And to remember the good times, why not purchase this commemorative shirt? It pays tribute to the Humboldt Herald blog, which kept us up to date with all the advance info — precisely how many DEA agents were coming, where they were staying, how many grow houses they would be targeting, how the agency pinpointed those homes. Also: The fact that “Up to 60 FBI agents may have recently rented houses in Eureka.” Hey, they may have! Or maybe not!

This is the must-have shirt of June 2008. Detail below. Click through to purchase.

UPDATED: See here.

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