At Least Dentists Numb You

I don’t usually rush to write open letters or blog posts, but as we approach another key City Council meeting on June 26th, I feel compelled to speak not just as a resident of Fort Bragg, but as a father who hopes this town remains strong enough to offer opportunity to my kids, should they want to return someday.

For years now, we’ve watched the saga of the old Georgia-Pacific mill site unfold. Lawsuits, strong opinions, endless debate with very little actual progress. Meanwhile, legal fees mount. As of today, Fort Bragg has spent over $480,000 on legal expenses, averaging about $40,000 per month as the litigation grinds on (Nash, 2025a). That’s nearly half a million dollars that could have gone toward repairing streets, building housing, or investing in local services. Instead, it’s gone into a legal fight where nobody seems to be winning, except those vile creatures, the attorneys.

At the meeting on the 26th, the City Council will be asked to do two things: first, extend the stay of the lawsuit against Mendocino Railway (the Skunk Train); second, authorize the drafting of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (City of Fort Bragg, 2025). This MOU wouldn’t settle everything but it would finally create a framework to begin real negotiations. It’s not a done deal, it’s not surrendering control, it's simply a structure to start clarifying who is responsible for what on the mill site.

Now I’ll be honest: these council meetings aren’t exactly what I would call a good time. After a long day of work, sitting through hours of public comment, procedural back-and-forth, and lots of patting each other on the back is like having my wisdom teeth pulled for the third time. If I’m being even more honest, my time and skills could probably be better used elsewhere helping make VisitFortBragg something truly meaningful for the community, building tourism that supports local businesses, brings in real revenue, and helps tell Fort Bragg’s full story. But instead, here I am carving out time because this fight for the mill site still matters.

Some groups in town are pushing back. They argue it’s all happening too fast, that the public hasn’t had enough time to review documents, that this is a “bulldoze-through deal” (Nash, 2025a; Cox, 2025). I respect the right of every citizen to be cautious. These are legitimate concerns that deserve attention. But we’ve also had years of delays, and we are running out of time to turn this into something useful for the community that many of us will witness.

What gets lost in these debates is the cost of doing nothing. The site has sat largely idle for over a decade, while housing prices climb, good jobs remain scarce, and young families struggle to stay here. Walking trails and green space are nice, but they don’t bring jobs or enhance the tax base. I watch my kids build their lives elsewhere and wonder: would they even be able to return to Fort Bragg if they wanted to? Could they find meaningful work? Could they afford to live here? Right now, the answers feel increasingly uncertain.

We have an opportunity right now that we didn’t have before. The city has made major strides in broadband infrastructure. That opens real potential for high-paying, remote-friendly jobs that could bring professional opportunities to Fort Bragg beyond just tourism and service industries. But we need housing for those workers. We need office space, business parks, and incentives for tech employers to invest here. The mill site can help provide that space—if we stop fighting long enough to work out an agreement.

To be clear, there are many valid issues to address in any agreement, environmental cleanup being one, I also feel the tunnel needs to be repaired, I will save that for my next post. Those issues won’t get resolved in court filings, they’ll get resolved at the negotiating table. That’s what this MOU process is supposed to allow: a step toward real, productive dialogue (City of Fort Bragg, 2025).

At the last Council meeting, the vote was not unanimous, but it was clear: Vice Mayor Marcia Rafanan, Councilmember Scott Hockett, and Mayor Jason Godeke are willing to keep moving the process forward, while embattled Councilmember Albin-Smith opposed it. Local legend Lindy Peters was absent, so now the debate continues (Nash, 2025a; Facebook, 2025). The next steps depend, in part, on how many of us in the community speak up.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I simply know that standing still much longer will not help Fort Bragg or its future residents. We need real planning, real compromise, and real leadership now, while we still have leverage and the ability to shape the outcome.

So I’m asking my fellow residents: if you care about Fort Bragg’s future, please consider attending the meeting on June 26 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, or at least send your thoughts to cityclerk@fortbraggca.gov. Encourage the Council to extend the stay and move forward with negotiating the MOU. Let’s move toward solutions, not more litigation.

Because at some point, it won’t be us who inherit this mess, it'll be our kids. And I want to leave them with something better than an empty lot and a pile of legal bills.

Bibliography

City of Fort Bragg. (2025). Former Mill Site Reuse Documents & City Council Agendas. 

Cox, E. (2025, March 19). Fort Bragg mill site truce could delay development, critics say. KZYX News.

Facebook (Mendovoice). (2025, June 11). Council takes next step on Skunk Train deal. Facebook Post.

Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG). (2022). Mendocino Regional Transportation Plan: 2022 Update. Ukiah, CA: MCOG.

Nash, S. (2025a, June 11). Fort Bragg moves forward on Skunk Train mill site development agreement. Mendocino Voice.

Nash, S. (2025b, March 12). Fort Bragg City Council votes to delay lawsuit against Skunk Train over use of mill site. Mendocino Voice. h