File under: No Surprise At All.
The Nippon mill is...no more. Kaput. Defunct. Deceased. It rolls out paper...no more.
Ah, but the end of the mill is likely only the beginning of bad news for the City of Port Angeles. Think unemployment. Think ripple effect. Think tax revenue losses. Think a big, big hole in the City's budget. And, not to be forgotten, think about the City's self-identity. ALL will be in crisis.
Now...Who thinks the Port Angeles City Council is able to deal with a crisis?
*********
Some other subjects to ponder...The upcoming renewal of the City's contract to provide water to the Nippon plant. Currently, they get up to 20 million gallons a day for $15,500 a year. Anyone want to comment on the City's skill in negotiating such things?
Or...What about the harbor clean up? Think a gone, gone, gone Nippon is going to care about doing (or paying) their fair share?
Or...Log yard on the waterfront...Visual blight or charming olde fashioned eyesore?
And...That darned biomass power plant. It was only barelybarelybarely allowable as an "auxiliary" part of the paper mill. Even with that "exemption" that the City pushed through, it's still in violation of the City's own zoning, the state Shoreline Act, and other applicable statutes. Remember how they started work on the project without having their permits from the City? And remember how the City (Hello, Nathan West!) turned a blind eye to that? That sure has paid off, hasn't it? Just like those grants and loans to Pen Ply paid off...With a huge hole in the City's budget.
Notice how it all keeps coming back to a huge hole in the City's budget?
Can anyone think of anything else associated with the City of Port Angeles that has a huge hole in it?
Have no fear, in addition to the two dozen economic development agencies on the peninsula, including our own EDC, and despite the fact our congressman, Derek Kilmer cut his teeth working in Economic Development agencies, the following economic development agencies are on top of this...
ReplyDeletePort Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce
Port Angeles Business Association
Port Angeles Downtown Association
Port Angeles City Council
Clallam County Commissioners
Small Business Administration
Shouldn't be any problem replacing these 150 family wage jobs. Right?
The future is Pickle Ball paddles. The composite type. How are those sales going? Lol. :D
ReplyDeleteSay...Could we pair those with some of Betsy Wharton's pickles and...TAKE OVER THE WHOLE PICKLIN' WORLD!
DeleteHere's the last comment on the PDN article:
ReplyDelete"So glad I left the area. No regrets."
Yep. That about sums it up.
All I'd like in our politicians and government representatives is to actually "Care". Such a simple request but seems so difficult to get.
ReplyDeleteThe Peninsula is a beatiful area to live in.Too bad the City of Port Angeles is a dying almost dead Black Hole that seems like will never change. Wont even be able to fly out of it with a 160$ one way taxpayer funded ticket.
ReplyDeleteIt's "you're," not "your." As in, if someone is returning you'd say "you are" back, versus talking about "your" back. Get it?
ReplyDeleteCrawl back under "your" rock scumbag loser liberal. "You're" the problem not the solution. Happy now?
ReplyDeleteI sorry yu no no how to reply to comment abuv and hav to start nu wun.
DeleteAnd I sorry that that yu beeng ulliterit is so imbarassing to yu. Rely! I sorry! I no life iz hard enuf for troll as iz!
Is it just me, or under the new administration does it not seem that the trolls who get so incensed just automatically assume that those they don't like or don't agree with are liberals? They're just blatantly demonstrating their own pigheadedness and inability to hold a dialogue which in effect makes themselves look even worse. You don't even have to argue with them - they are perfectly happy to provide clear evidence of what I won't even begin to characterize or articulate so as to not stoop to their level.
DeleteThe above comments I made were in response to a Trump troll who thinks his raving pro-Trump comments are going to get posted here - despite the fact that time after time I just delete them.
DeleteBut even stupid trolls really should use good grammar and spell things correctly. Really. It at least shows you're trying - in one sense of the word, anyway.
I lover how Gottlieb phrases it as "pared down production" in the headline when they have actually ceased production.
ReplyDeleteYes! I meant to note that as well.
Delete"The patient is doing...Less well than before."
"Did they...Did they die?"
"Uh, well, yes. Actually. Yes."
This is it, the final nail in the coffin. Goodbye, city budget. Hello, meth heads, "Our Town" goons and even deeper despair, if such a thing is possible.
ReplyDeleteOh CK my friend. I love getting under your thin skin. Insulting me and assuming that I am a troll. You silly rabbit. Now back down your hole you should go. If it wasn't for "your" control of "your" little blog you really would be a sad sack. We both know my friend that you really are a little gutless pair. Acting like you are (you're) superior intellectually really is boring.
ReplyDeleteGosh, yes.
DeleteWhy, I'm simply up all night worrying about how thin my skin is.
Oh, heavens.
Oh, and, by the way, I mention this just in passing, but...You are a troll.
DeleteIt's kind of sad to see Tom Harper sinking to trolling like that. I guess it's because he doesn't have his own yard to play in anymore?
DeleteYes indeed. There are three types of trolls that send comments and emails here regularly. There's the Trump chump troll, or trolls, who endlessly gloat about having a confirmed sociopath in the White House. There's Scott T. Collins, who is instantly recognizable due to his unique and totally fractured "style" of writing. (The fact that he pretends not to be Scott T. Collins while vociferously defending Scott T. Collins from imaginary sleights is another tip off.) And then there's the above troll, who likes to seem cool and above the fray, but is always hyper focused on trying to prove his intellectual superiority. This is the one you call Tom Harper. Perhaps you're right.
DeleteBut, at the end of the day, they're all just trolls. Port Angeles trolls at that. I guess they couldn't make the cut in Aberdeen?
Look alive my friends, the upcoming election in November of 2017 allows brand new leadership majority at the city of port angeles and the port of port angeles. please please register all your friends and neighbors, educate them on the neeed for leadership, recruit good, level headed candidates and get everyone to mail in their ballot. We can do better than we have for the past 100 years but only if everyone gets involved and crushes the entrenched power structure meaning timber barons and those who think timber is still the cat's meow such as everyone on the port commission and most of the fluoride four on the city council. Register, register your friends, educate yourself, recruit, vote. Voter registration forms can be obtained at the Auditor's office in the court house. They should give you a dozen or so at a time and replace the ones you turn in as newly registered voters. Go for it.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of "Our Town Goons" County prosecutor,Mark Nickles decided not to prosecute the pepper spray charges placed by the sheriff's department against the vigilantes. This should green-light another spate of assaults on the homeless.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, they were only breaking the law in a vicious way...
DeleteThis mill closing could not have been a surprise to anyone. It was noted on this site over a year ago that when the mill satisfied their obligation to continue production until December, 2016 they would pocket the millions and go away. Has anyone in local leadership attempted to do anything to replace these jobs? The EDC has been silent, the Chamber of Commerce has been mute, the Port Angeles Business Association has not mentioned it, the Downtown Association has not brought it up, county commissioners have not mentioned it, the city council has not troubled their itty bitty minds over it. This is the caliber of leadership we have in this area and it sux. We are the leaders we have been looking for. We can no longer even pretend we have leaders who give a shit about the local economy. Why should they? All of them have pretty cushy over-paid government jobs which will be okay with the mill closing. The blue collar workers have been abandoned for the last 30 years and nothing will change so long as we keep the same do-nothing leadership in place. Other communities are planning ahead for these type interruptions in their local economies. Here, not so much. November elections can be a game changer but only if this community gets real active and puts forth good candidates, funds them, supports them, and then hold their feet to the fire upon election. Citizenship is a full time responsibility and not relegated to just the campaign season.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was noted here because it was as clear a premonition as one could ask for. There was NO mystery to it, any more than there was to Pen Ply going under, Harbor (Doesn't) Works failing, or the Fantasy Tram not being built.
DeleteThe trouble is...Port Angeles has the blind leading the beaten down. The City Council can only see things in a rearview mirror. The citizens know not to trust them, and yet...Keep reelecting the same tired old fools, while failing to step up and lead themselves.
Institutionalized low self esteem? Clinical depression for a whole county? Fear of change? What IS the thing that utterly paralyzes progress there?
Rearview mirror? no shit. The big new news in the PDN today was that Rayonier closed 20 years ago.
DeleteJesus, help us.
Just to say it, I have offered a proposal for repurposing the facilities at the Nippon Mill site that would address a LOT of issues, AND would all kinds of decent jobs. More, and more diverse jobs. A research facility. A collaboration with Peninsula College to educate, R&D and train for new job skills in new sustainable industries.
DeleteBlah, blah, blah..
Not like there is not a viable project.
Just sayin'...
Tyler
Is Nippon willing to lease a portion of the property? Because they'd have to piecemeal it out to several projects to make it worth their while before a sale closes.
DeleteAnd a sale to whom? The current city administration would never allow another big company to move in, onto the entire site, and create jobs in a big way. Aside from the fact that some of the infrastructure is a century old. Without new blood & new vision at the city, yet another Rayonier situation.
There isn't much choice in this situation, if you look at it. There is very little interest in buying old pulp and paper mills, in North America. So, businesses are not lining up for their chance to acquire the Nippon Mill. As they have found out. (And knew from the onset).
DeleteThe site itself is already partially publicly owned, and has been for many decades. And, in a tsunami vulnerable location.
No new private industry is going to invest the many millions it will take to demo the entire site, clean it up enough, and try to get permits to build some new industrial operation at that site. There is too much more easily developable land available to mess with it.
Just business.
It appears a buyer just showed some interest.
DeleteThat IS amazing.
DeleteWell, we'll see.
Languishing pulp Mills elsewhere.http://www.redding.com/story/money/business/2017/03/20/officials-frustrated-lack-cleanup-former-mill/99431730/
ReplyDelete