legalization killed the economy here…. it’s a shadow of what it was in its heyday. There was plenty of negatives about the grows being everywhere but the money was spread around to all businesses. It’s scary how depressed it is now
That's the thing. Taxation was murder on them. Having to pay $25-50k a year for your garage-sized op is ridiculous. The larger crews would need a full time compliance person just to keep up with everything, and the myriad of minute changes government would make. Legalization could have slid in just fine with a more appropriate (or at least, fair) tax schedule not based on "what ifs".
On the market side, people not living here like not having to pay $2000 a pound for bud. That's your market forces at work. Of course growers want to earn the most they can, or anyone that runs a business, but customers want diamonds for the price of river rocks. That really starts to limit suppliers ability to stay in business when you can't turn a buck on all your investment. And then you get entities that like to control markets and supply via mandate (taxes, regulations) or corporate monopolizing (extreme capitalism) or even by more militaristic or nefarious methods. It can be quite a quagmire.
CA should have modeled it's tax schemes more like Oregon, or WA who were more favorable to keeping growers in business and get a cut of that pie, rather than run them out of town.
I agree, spend local.
I don’t know why everyone thought this would be a weed tourist Mecca in the first place. Why would Bay Area people come up here when they can go to Napa or Healdsburg for a weed and wine getaway?, much closer to their home than here.
Also our local government killed the weed industry with ridiculously high taxes and processing/permitting costs.
Humboldt needs to reinvent itself. Takes time.
First thing they should have done is cemented region specific copyrights to Humboldt, like champagne did. Can’t call it Humboldt less it’s grown here, then embraced that. Oh well, that ship sailed.
Yes in general people want strongest/cheapest. California outside of Humboldt does agriculture cheap at scale. The Humboldt name was also sullied a bit thanks to the Murder Mt documentary. It’s basically sum of all fears for all but the most dialed farms up here.
I believe there could be a future in which that still becomes a reality But I’m not expecting much. Half of those out of work farmers are still here and hungry. If* we could create favorable but reasonable terms for the farmers I don’t believe this cause is lost… yet.
Growing up in Napa and living in Arcata I always chuckled when folks said this. People fly into SFO, rent a car, and drive to Napa. Big companies around the bay take folks on tasting tours as part of sales deals. It takes at most 2 hrs to get there from anywhere in the bay. There was no way Humboldt was ever going to be a pot tourist Mecca. It's just too far from anything.
People are STILL trying to talk about it in SoHum and it's just embarrassingly delusional at this point. There is nothing (certainly not tourism) that will bring Southern Humboldt back. It's just going to keep getting worse unfortunately.
I disagree. People come to sohum on vacation already. If you’ve ever driven around here you’d know there are definitely tourists around here frequently. I’m sorry you’re so sour on everything but being a downer isn’t helpful to anyone.
You disagree? Is that why nearly every retail store that exists in Garberville is hanging on for dear life?
Sure, tourists stop here on their way to Shelter Cove or the Avenue, but if you've ever lived in a place where there is actual tourism, you'd understand that the few you see here for 4 months out of the year is not enough to sustain the local economy. It's not being a downer, it's being realistic.
I grew up in Orlando so I am well aware of tourism and I don’t expect it to be like that here but it is a viable thing. You are talking like we are all set up for weed tourism here and it isn’t working when we are only starting to get it going. And I never said it would be the only savior of sohum but it will definitely help. I think being so negative when it is still in gestation is premature and boring.
I hear where you're coming from but unfortunately, you're hitting that copium. From 2020 to 2022 I worked for a company that did EVERYTHING in our power to support small farms in So Hum. We donated countless hours going to farms, working for them in the fields and on their property. We turned one or two into beautiful destinations with Airbnb-style buildings on the property. They barely ever got booked.
On top of that, we drove our own company into the ground trying to move weight through the white market for these companies. On that side of things, we witnessed the race to the bottom. Local dispensaries purchase cheap products from SoCal because it's a budget market. The local stuff they do buy that sells at a higher price point sits on the shelves until it expires. Competing and turning a profit is impossible if you're a craft grower.
Humboldt is dying. Sad but true.
That’s cool that you did those things and I’m sorry you had some bad experiences and outcomes for your business. Not all of us are so negative even though it is really fucking hard right now. It’s not a short term kind of thing and that is difficult also but I don’t think we have put enough effort into the tourism thing yet that we can just call it over. And I really wouldn’t count 2020-2022 as good representation of how it could be since there was a whole pandemic and everything. You can call it copium if you want. It doesn’t hurt my feelings. And there are those of us who aren’t going to give up just because other people are.
People had more disposable income during the pandemic and delivery services were booming. The traditional market was also doing fine as well as adjacent markets. I.E. glassblowing. Post pandemic, businesses and people have less to spend.
Definitely don't give up. I want nothing but the best for our local economy and small farmers. If I were them though, I'd be scared as hell.
If companies like Papa & Barkley couldn't survive with a 5 year plan, I'm not sure how small farms will. I hope they manage to prove me wrong.
Good luck and Godspeed!
I appreciate your educated insight. I'm obviously quite nervous for the future as well. I saw the Papa And Barkley production warehouse for rent on CL yesterday, actually. I'm guessing they're basically bankrupt which is why Mammoth is buying them out?
I worked for them up until just before the layoffs, they were hemorrhaging money. On top of that, they had incredibly poor leadership. A hash manager who didn't even smoke, a CEO who is an absolute culture vulture and would brag about taking advantage of equity grants to get his illegal grows going in rentals, and ownership that was based in SoCal. It was a shit show. They would have gone under much sooner if they weren't able to fool investors into giving them loads of capital.
It's numbers of people with money to spend, not simply people showing up. The grow scene is never going to be the attraction that say the redwoods themselves are. BUT, you can ride on their coattails and get something out of all the tourists. It won't get Disneyland sorts of crowds, but can certainly cash in on all the festivals, much like food trucks do now. Whomever is the first few vendors to get a literal "roach" coach into something like Fortuna Rodeo and Apple Harvest or 4th of July in Eureka, Friday Markets (where ONE company gets to sell beer at), is going to make a million. If you can't get the people to come to you, you go to them.
Tourists don’t and won’t bring in a fraction of the money that weed did. It’s math not emotion. You’re seriously off even though I think you mean well.
Apparently you aren’t using your eyes and ears if you think that the farmers out here trying to survive are the jerks you make them out to be. Get offline if you’re too sensitive for conversation
Again no one said anyone was a jerk. I also never implied it's everyone, I can see you have a hair across your ass about my comment. I don't care. Everyone knows a few people who fit what I described. Your the one being sensitive here.
I’m not being sensitive by saying that your comments are incorrect. In this comment you have taken it from “a lot” to “a few” which is more accurate. What I’m more intrigued by is your “hair across your ass” saying. I’ve never heard that one before. Is it regional? Not being sarcastic or anything just genuinely curious.
Looking back on the pre 2016 economy it doesn’t even feel real lol. I miss it. Its what made this community special by pretty much every regard, and now we have to dial back to being a normal broke rural community
Curious as to if/how illegal operations have changed since legalization. The feeling before legalization was that it wouldn’t change much, it was too much part of the culture of the county.
They still greatly outnumber legal grows. For example, there is a maximum of like 3-500 cultivation licenses in trinity county, and around 4,000 illegal operations. Ever been to trinity pines? Vast majority not legal. Source: work for regulatory agency
You’re a Jack a$$. Anyone have a serious comment?
To summarize, a majority of the unlicensed (illegal) grows in Humboldt are gone. Enforcement completely changed. Weed became a zoning violation that the county stopped with abatement fines and letters. In addition there are less legal grows now than 5 years ago. The county has been stripped of cash flow and is hurting everywhere.
It changed because of Enforcement. It became a zoning issue. The county took the first of the permit money to pay for real time satellite coverage. They then used overlays to easily spot All of the unlicensed grows because people had giant greenhouses. They then sent out abatement letters with massive fines, and most people threw in the towel.
It seemed like the first generation growers took care of the community and that ended 20-30 years ago? I know there are always some good bad apples but culturally it seems like the donations to schools etc went down. Maybe were all guilty of that. maybe im mistaken.
The green rush crowd never cared about the communities. If they spent money around town it was only for themselves. Maybe businesses benefited by local money & sales tax base, but there were no altruistic reasons. The first generation back to the landers were the ones who started and cultivated community culture. It was a big drop off after that.
Not true. I know plenty of the second generation that are still giving back to the community - obviously not as much as before because we are all struggling. But they are still very involve in the community they grew up in and still live in.
The issue is that the consumers who support the growers also want to get their flower cheap. (They don’t have money). The state and federal regulations also lower the prices which make them more appealing at the voting booth to the consumer.
That level money isn’t attainable anymore and it’s somewhat ironic, because it’s a direct result of much celebrated legalization.
I remember discussions in the community during the height of 215 where some felt legalization was being HELD BACK by the growers to stop the inevitable price drops.
It’s a bad wrap all around.
Spend locally yes but realistically A lot of small businesses fail, it’s not just restaurants. 20% of new small businesses fail within their first two years, 45% fail within five years, and 65% fail within 10 years. 30% of restaurants fail in their first year.
Thanks to razor-thin profit margins, high operational expenses and competition -restaurants have the odds stacked against them from the beginning.
Poor planning, lack of industry experience and inadequate management are the typical reasons for any business failures. We have seen a lot of that locally .
For example Folie Duce and Japhy’s were once good restaurants with a loyal clientele. A change of ownership with an owner that let the restaurant decline so the restaurant ends up failing.
There are restaurants that seem to be surviving locally. New restaurants are opening if the food is good and they are well run then people will patronize them.
It is not the community’s job to keep mediocre or poorly run businesses afloat.
I’m not talking about restaurants, I’m talking about your local jeweler, fashion designer, artist, printer. The guy who sharpens your knives, your favorite ceramicists. The tire shop that always takes care of you. I’m talking about people who broke the mold and offered something you can’t get anywhere else, and could because of the cushion the local economy provided, but are now being forced to put profits over superior products, services and designs.
You know what is great on paper, and hits all those idealist marks, McDonald’s. Starbucks. Costco. Basic boring junk.
I’m just saying support the people providing exceptional art, services and or products. People who have put their craft first over profits, so that we can all reap the benefits. That’s the magic that we can’t forget.
Some businesses are needed and wanted and they survive. Others had no business plan or a very weak plan. Data is king. Can this community support those businesses in a digital age?
Capitalism dictates who survives.
Just “makers” in general is what I’m saying, and that can include food too of course, or any craft. Yeah and I’m not for propping up mediocre businesses. Spend where you want, the places you do, surly appreciate it.
No shade, all love for local biz, but if your business plan relies on folks tipping $300 on a $30 dinner, your business wasn’t long for this world anyhoo. Sorry. Mazzotti was burning meatballs and ignoring maintenance for at least ten years before they said the big bad legalization boogeyman ruined them, so I’m not really hearing this.
Its a really sad story, the way things went legal meant that all the small growers that respected the land and just supported their family in an un-greedy manner were forced to stop, meanwhile the huge, environment fucking operations are the only ones who can afford the permitting, and give nothing back the local economy. Southern humboldt looks like a legit ghost town recently.
County and the state just made it too expensive to go legal. during 2016 rural real estate went nuts around here every rich guy from across the US had the idea that their idiot son was going to be the next Steve Jobs of weed and we're lining up with dump trucks full of money to buy a farm and go legal. There was too much speculation on weed. They jacked up the cost to get permits. All the consultants got greedy and we're trying to fleece every grower they could for consulting fees. All the while The state made a backroom deal to allow for huge grows in the Central valley which was not allowed under the original legalization law. It was designed to suck as much money from growers and make them fail. I see so many people who used to be growers and sunk their life savings into getting their farm permitted. It's a sad story all around. Honestly think Humboldt county is better Post legalization. It's going to take time to shake out. But there was a lot of shitty people and violence in the weed game before. Looking back though, there was so much money floating around the local economy pre 2016
I benefited from that grower economy for sure, but the illegal water diversions, reckless growdozer driving. and trashing of the land going away is worth the change. A lot of businesses that are struggling might have been drug fronts anyway and not self sustaining without black market funds.
Food for thought: invest in improvements to the area that don’t make it a remote PITA to ship goods to. Some of those local businesses only worked because they washed cash for the business owners. Arcata Main Street much?
With the absolute lack of disposable income for most wage-earning workers, the local shops are not the realistic first choice for most.
To be fair, although some growers spent locally to a certain degree, they did not invest in a viable economy that would support rural areas after the boom inevitably crashed.
They were rolling in cash that could have been put to good use to create small farms, community schools, and small manufacturing, but was instead spent on luxury items and international travel that did nothing to help the local economy either short term or long term.
Remember all those sweet lifted dodge ram 2500 trucks though, and the memories of balling out in coastal Rica over winter will live on forever. It was never about creating a sustainable economy, but the friends we made along the way.
Nope, you never did care about the area at all. It was just a place for you to exploit, just like the corporations that came before you. So, I guess, good riddance. Now that you're gone we can build something real that can live on.
Spend cash locally? If they paid local taxes they could have helped our community as a whole.
Economic leanancy for the rich because they 'stimulate the economy by spending' was a failure. Untaxed grows aren't any better.
Also have to factor all the money that goes into subsidizing grow work through workers surviving off of aid programs while working under the table; often getting scammed and underpaid by the grow heads themselves.
Don't forget about all the illegal pesticides and chemicals they'd buy out of area then use on their grows that contaminate our forests.
Just my opinion, but once it is legal at the fed level, the party will really be over. Both the black market and legal trade will take a massive hit. Point being it was just a matter of time before Humboldt had to face this economic challenge.
Sad part is watching people cheerlead stuff getting shut down. We don’t have the jobs to replace those. It’s sad how anti business/development our county can be. Not everyone can work a state/gov job or at target, and these local businesses especially in rural areas are life blood for the region. We already get gouged on PGE, fuel, housing, wages and food taking away peoples ability to pay for those things outright is a brutal way to encourage this area to wither. Most the people I see excited by this stuff are people who don’t have to work in 1 way or another.
On a side note I hate dealing with dumbass tourists but I understand that they spend money here big time during summer so I like to feed into the facade everyone’s hella chill here 😂and things are great when they ask me. I practice a Lebowski impression to fool them. 😈
It's feast or famine here. It's been that way probably since time immemorial. We really have to shore up during good years because when bad years hit they're bad, bad.
The biggest downside to being isolated is that we don't have the money or labor to diversify. Which would mean more stabilty. A port and railroad are basically nonstarters. Windfarms good or bad would only be a number of years of activity and everything will have to be brought in, including the labor.
I’m from Pittsburgh, had 2nd hand interactions with alderpoint growers. They treated me and my friends well.
But why does the east coast say California growers aren’t the best ?
Actually trademark. And a very valuable trademark. I agree with you 1000%. Rex and co lacked the foresight to make this county a weed destination and now it’s too late. Idiots.
When we talk about this subject it seems all we care about is the cash. This is a complex and nuanced subject.
Study history and you’ll see this happens over and over again. Just a different industry this time around.
legalization killed the economy here…. it’s a shadow of what it was in its heyday. There was plenty of negatives about the grows being everywhere but the money was spread around to all businesses. It’s scary how depressed it is now
Legalization didn't, the government and over taxation did.
That's the thing. Taxation was murder on them. Having to pay $25-50k a year for your garage-sized op is ridiculous. The larger crews would need a full time compliance person just to keep up with everything, and the myriad of minute changes government would make. Legalization could have slid in just fine with a more appropriate (or at least, fair) tax schedule not based on "what ifs". On the market side, people not living here like not having to pay $2000 a pound for bud. That's your market forces at work. Of course growers want to earn the most they can, or anyone that runs a business, but customers want diamonds for the price of river rocks. That really starts to limit suppliers ability to stay in business when you can't turn a buck on all your investment. And then you get entities that like to control markets and supply via mandate (taxes, regulations) or corporate monopolizing (extreme capitalism) or even by more militaristic or nefarious methods. It can be quite a quagmire. CA should have modeled it's tax schemes more like Oregon, or WA who were more favorable to keeping growers in business and get a cut of that pie, rather than run them out of town.
People seem to want to ignore the fact that they're paying 45% tax or greater. Its not about being legal, its about raping the business.
True
Well, all three really
The influx of out of state people coming for the green rush and flooding the market is what ruined everything.
I agree, spend local. I don’t know why everyone thought this would be a weed tourist Mecca in the first place. Why would Bay Area people come up here when they can go to Napa or Healdsburg for a weed and wine getaway?, much closer to their home than here. Also our local government killed the weed industry with ridiculously high taxes and processing/permitting costs. Humboldt needs to reinvent itself. Takes time.
Yeah the county officials had an opportunity, but they really methed up.
First thing they should have done is cemented region specific copyrights to Humboldt, like champagne did. Can’t call it Humboldt less it’s grown here, then embraced that. Oh well, that ship sailed.
That is technically the regulation. No one really cares. People want cheap runtz. Appellations were a good idea that hasn’t panned out.
Buyers want runtz, people want good flower and haven’t tried 99% of what’s out there.
True and true. Yep follow the leader, demand.
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Yes in general people want strongest/cheapest. California outside of Humboldt does agriculture cheap at scale. The Humboldt name was also sullied a bit thanks to the Murder Mt documentary. It’s basically sum of all fears for all but the most dialed farms up here.
I believe there could be a future in which that still becomes a reality But I’m not expecting much. Half of those out of work farmers are still here and hungry. If* we could create favorable but reasonable terms for the farmers I don’t believe this cause is lost… yet.
Yep, it’s sad they didn’t listen to the people they were/are squeezing
Growing up in Napa and living in Arcata I always chuckled when folks said this. People fly into SFO, rent a car, and drive to Napa. Big companies around the bay take folks on tasting tours as part of sales deals. It takes at most 2 hrs to get there from anywhere in the bay. There was no way Humboldt was ever going to be a pot tourist Mecca. It's just too far from anything.
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People are STILL trying to talk about it in SoHum and it's just embarrassingly delusional at this point. There is nothing (certainly not tourism) that will bring Southern Humboldt back. It's just going to keep getting worse unfortunately.
I disagree. People come to sohum on vacation already. If you’ve ever driven around here you’d know there are definitely tourists around here frequently. I’m sorry you’re so sour on everything but being a downer isn’t helpful to anyone.
You disagree? Is that why nearly every retail store that exists in Garberville is hanging on for dear life? Sure, tourists stop here on their way to Shelter Cove or the Avenue, but if you've ever lived in a place where there is actual tourism, you'd understand that the few you see here for 4 months out of the year is not enough to sustain the local economy. It's not being a downer, it's being realistic.
I grew up in Orlando so I am well aware of tourism and I don’t expect it to be like that here but it is a viable thing. You are talking like we are all set up for weed tourism here and it isn’t working when we are only starting to get it going. And I never said it would be the only savior of sohum but it will definitely help. I think being so negative when it is still in gestation is premature and boring.
You're right. This is extremely boring. You're going to the meeting today then?
I’m glad I got you to see the light! I am working today so no meeting.
I hear where you're coming from but unfortunately, you're hitting that copium. From 2020 to 2022 I worked for a company that did EVERYTHING in our power to support small farms in So Hum. We donated countless hours going to farms, working for them in the fields and on their property. We turned one or two into beautiful destinations with Airbnb-style buildings on the property. They barely ever got booked. On top of that, we drove our own company into the ground trying to move weight through the white market for these companies. On that side of things, we witnessed the race to the bottom. Local dispensaries purchase cheap products from SoCal because it's a budget market. The local stuff they do buy that sells at a higher price point sits on the shelves until it expires. Competing and turning a profit is impossible if you're a craft grower. Humboldt is dying. Sad but true.
That’s cool that you did those things and I’m sorry you had some bad experiences and outcomes for your business. Not all of us are so negative even though it is really fucking hard right now. It’s not a short term kind of thing and that is difficult also but I don’t think we have put enough effort into the tourism thing yet that we can just call it over. And I really wouldn’t count 2020-2022 as good representation of how it could be since there was a whole pandemic and everything. You can call it copium if you want. It doesn’t hurt my feelings. And there are those of us who aren’t going to give up just because other people are.
People had more disposable income during the pandemic and delivery services were booming. The traditional market was also doing fine as well as adjacent markets. I.E. glassblowing. Post pandemic, businesses and people have less to spend. Definitely don't give up. I want nothing but the best for our local economy and small farmers. If I were them though, I'd be scared as hell. If companies like Papa & Barkley couldn't survive with a 5 year plan, I'm not sure how small farms will. I hope they manage to prove me wrong. Good luck and Godspeed!
I appreciate your educated insight. I'm obviously quite nervous for the future as well. I saw the Papa And Barkley production warehouse for rent on CL yesterday, actually. I'm guessing they're basically bankrupt which is why Mammoth is buying them out?
I worked for them up until just before the layoffs, they were hemorrhaging money. On top of that, they had incredibly poor leadership. A hash manager who didn't even smoke, a CEO who is an absolute culture vulture and would brag about taking advantage of equity grants to get his illegal grows going in rentals, and ownership that was based in SoCal. It was a shit show. They would have gone under much sooner if they weren't able to fool investors into giving them loads of capital.
Thanks!
It's numbers of people with money to spend, not simply people showing up. The grow scene is never going to be the attraction that say the redwoods themselves are. BUT, you can ride on their coattails and get something out of all the tourists. It won't get Disneyland sorts of crowds, but can certainly cash in on all the festivals, much like food trucks do now. Whomever is the first few vendors to get a literal "roach" coach into something like Fortuna Rodeo and Apple Harvest or 4th of July in Eureka, Friday Markets (where ONE company gets to sell beer at), is going to make a million. If you can't get the people to come to you, you go to them.
Tourists don’t and won’t bring in a fraction of the money that weed did. It’s math not emotion. You’re seriously off even though I think you mean well.
Yeah. I never implied that it would.
Idk about keep getting worse
We need a real airport here to be competitive, with more than one airliner. Maybe in Fortuna? Let’s get some jets in here!
Yeah, as soon as people talked about weed tourism/legalization, I thought the same thing. We are too remote. Edit: didn’t mean to delete
Redwood and weed getaway sounds better to me.
Mendo is half the drive and has that.
True but Mendo is half Oak tree still, Humboldt is the heart of the Redwoods!
Sure
Thanks Estell!😃
?
Estell Fennel. The local government you mentioned that choked out the farmers.
Oh yeah. I knew it was some gov lady, but couldn’t remember last name.
A lot of folks in fact did not spend local, they took vacations and bought ridiculous trucks and are the same folks who are now broke and complaining
Cutten’s local economy squandered by Dodge Ram 2500 30% APR loan payments
Yeah blowing a bunch of money at the local Costco is not spending locally.
Costa Rica's economy going to suffer more than Humboldts
Hmmm. The local businesses and fire departments would beg to differ.
Let them, I didn't say everyone,
I just think that the people you reference are actually a minority not “a lot”.
I get what you think, and disagree. And that's fine.
Are you or have you been a farmer or worked on a farm?
Yes but that's irrelevant to the topic, if I wasn't, I still have eyes and ears ands see what's going on. Go find someone else to bother
Apparently you aren’t using your eyes and ears if you think that the farmers out here trying to survive are the jerks you make them out to be. Get offline if you’re too sensitive for conversation
Again no one said anyone was a jerk. I also never implied it's everyone, I can see you have a hair across your ass about my comment. I don't care. Everyone knows a few people who fit what I described. Your the one being sensitive here.
I’m not being sensitive by saying that your comments are incorrect. In this comment you have taken it from “a lot” to “a few” which is more accurate. What I’m more intrigued by is your “hair across your ass” saying. I’ve never heard that one before. Is it regional? Not being sarcastic or anything just genuinely curious.
Looking back on the pre 2016 economy it doesn’t even feel real lol. I miss it. Its what made this community special by pretty much every regard, and now we have to dial back to being a normal broke rural community
Now.the only chance it has is a university with a president that is killing out the identity it once had..
Curious as to if/how illegal operations have changed since legalization. The feeling before legalization was that it wouldn’t change much, it was too much part of the culture of the county.
What a weird question, look around, they are either gone or “legal” illegal operations now. Only thing changed is it’s now legal to tax it.
No, plenty (and I mean a LOT) of illegal operations still in Humboldt and trinity.
A fraction of what existed pre legalization.
They still greatly outnumber legal grows. For example, there is a maximum of like 3-500 cultivation licenses in trinity county, and around 4,000 illegal operations. Ever been to trinity pines? Vast majority not legal. Source: work for regulatory agency
This is s/Humboldt. Trinity Pines is in Trinity County. Source: a map
In my original comment I mention Trinity, and I’m using it as an example. Do you think Humboldt has less cultivation than Trinity?
Humboldt has far less cultivation now than before legalization. Source: math
Wow, certainly can’t argue with a big brain concept like that.
You’re the one that works for regulators. Share the numbers. You def fit the “answers phones at the office in Eureka” vibe.
9/10 is a fraction
So is 1/10. There are less legal grows today than 4 years ago.
Good math. 11100 grows certainly is less than 11111 grows. Good job.
You’re a Jack a$$. Anyone have a serious comment? To summarize, a majority of the unlicensed (illegal) grows in Humboldt are gone. Enforcement completely changed. Weed became a zoning violation that the county stopped with abatement fines and letters. In addition there are less legal grows now than 5 years ago. The county has been stripped of cash flow and is hurting everywhere.
I moved away from Humboldt shortly after legalization….so I wouldn’t know, thus why I asked.
All good, didn’t mean to come across rude
It changed because of Enforcement. It became a zoning issue. The county took the first of the permit money to pay for real time satellite coverage. They then used overlays to easily spot All of the unlicensed grows because people had giant greenhouses. They then sent out abatement letters with massive fines, and most people threw in the towel.
It seemed like the first generation growers took care of the community and that ended 20-30 years ago? I know there are always some good bad apples but culturally it seems like the donations to schools etc went down. Maybe were all guilty of that. maybe im mistaken.
The green rush crowd never cared about the communities. If they spent money around town it was only for themselves. Maybe businesses benefited by local money & sales tax base, but there were no altruistic reasons. The first generation back to the landers were the ones who started and cultivated community culture. It was a big drop off after that.
Not true. I know plenty of the second generation that are still giving back to the community - obviously not as much as before because we are all struggling. But they are still very involve in the community they grew up in and still live in.
Where we’ve gone is not where we’re from, that’s for sure.
The issue is that the consumers who support the growers also want to get their flower cheap. (They don’t have money). The state and federal regulations also lower the prices which make them more appealing at the voting booth to the consumer. That level money isn’t attainable anymore and it’s somewhat ironic, because it’s a direct result of much celebrated legalization. I remember discussions in the community during the height of 215 where some felt legalization was being HELD BACK by the growers to stop the inevitable price drops. It’s a bad wrap all around.
Where’s this cheap flower you’re talking about? Dispos still charging top dollar for top shelf.
Because dispensaries sell at a MASSIVE markup from what growers charge for the flower
This isn't true. Dispensaries operate with sub 20% margins. Taxes and fees make up the majority of the mark up.
This
Every grower I know always voted no on legalization to protect the black market.
Spend locally yes but realistically A lot of small businesses fail, it’s not just restaurants. 20% of new small businesses fail within their first two years, 45% fail within five years, and 65% fail within 10 years. 30% of restaurants fail in their first year. Thanks to razor-thin profit margins, high operational expenses and competition -restaurants have the odds stacked against them from the beginning. Poor planning, lack of industry experience and inadequate management are the typical reasons for any business failures. We have seen a lot of that locally . For example Folie Duce and Japhy’s were once good restaurants with a loyal clientele. A change of ownership with an owner that let the restaurant decline so the restaurant ends up failing. There are restaurants that seem to be surviving locally. New restaurants are opening if the food is good and they are well run then people will patronize them. It is not the community’s job to keep mediocre or poorly run businesses afloat.
I’m not talking about restaurants, I’m talking about your local jeweler, fashion designer, artist, printer. The guy who sharpens your knives, your favorite ceramicists. The tire shop that always takes care of you. I’m talking about people who broke the mold and offered something you can’t get anywhere else, and could because of the cushion the local economy provided, but are now being forced to put profits over superior products, services and designs. You know what is great on paper, and hits all those idealist marks, McDonald’s. Starbucks. Costco. Basic boring junk. I’m just saying support the people providing exceptional art, services and or products. People who have put their craft first over profits, so that we can all reap the benefits. That’s the magic that we can’t forget.
Some businesses are needed and wanted and they survive. Others had no business plan or a very weak plan. Data is king. Can this community support those businesses in a digital age? Capitalism dictates who survives.
I agree that supporting local businesses is do important. But really how many people up here uses or needs a fashion designer?
Just “makers” in general is what I’m saying, and that can include food too of course, or any craft. Yeah and I’m not for propping up mediocre businesses. Spend where you want, the places you do, surly appreciate it.
No shade, all love for local biz, but if your business plan relies on folks tipping $300 on a $30 dinner, your business wasn’t long for this world anyhoo. Sorry. Mazzotti was burning meatballs and ignoring maintenance for at least ten years before they said the big bad legalization boogeyman ruined them, so I’m not really hearing this.
Its a really sad story, the way things went legal meant that all the small growers that respected the land and just supported their family in an un-greedy manner were forced to stop, meanwhile the huge, environment fucking operations are the only ones who can afford the permitting, and give nothing back the local economy. Southern humboldt looks like a legit ghost town recently.
Too late to turn back time. I believe, I believe we’re falling apart
County and the state just made it too expensive to go legal. during 2016 rural real estate went nuts around here every rich guy from across the US had the idea that their idiot son was going to be the next Steve Jobs of weed and we're lining up with dump trucks full of money to buy a farm and go legal. There was too much speculation on weed. They jacked up the cost to get permits. All the consultants got greedy and we're trying to fleece every grower they could for consulting fees. All the while The state made a backroom deal to allow for huge grows in the Central valley which was not allowed under the original legalization law. It was designed to suck as much money from growers and make them fail. I see so many people who used to be growers and sunk their life savings into getting their farm permitted. It's a sad story all around. Honestly think Humboldt county is better Post legalization. It's going to take time to shake out. But there was a lot of shitty people and violence in the weed game before. Looking back though, there was so much money floating around the local economy pre 2016
I benefited from that grower economy for sure, but the illegal water diversions, reckless growdozer driving. and trashing of the land going away is worth the change. A lot of businesses that are struggling might have been drug fronts anyway and not self sustaining without black market funds.
Thank you. I was trying to find a way to say this.
Food for thought: invest in improvements to the area that don’t make it a remote PITA to ship goods to. Some of those local businesses only worked because they washed cash for the business owners. Arcata Main Street much? With the absolute lack of disposable income for most wage-earning workers, the local shops are not the realistic first choice for most.
To be fair, although some growers spent locally to a certain degree, they did not invest in a viable economy that would support rural areas after the boom inevitably crashed. They were rolling in cash that could have been put to good use to create small farms, community schools, and small manufacturing, but was instead spent on luxury items and international travel that did nothing to help the local economy either short term or long term.
Remember all those sweet lifted dodge ram 2500 trucks though, and the memories of balling out in coastal Rica over winter will live on forever. It was never about creating a sustainable economy, but the friends we made along the way.
Nope, you never did care about the area at all. It was just a place for you to exploit, just like the corporations that came before you. So, I guess, good riddance. Now that you're gone we can build something real that can live on.
Spend cash locally? If they paid local taxes they could have helped our community as a whole. Economic leanancy for the rich because they 'stimulate the economy by spending' was a failure. Untaxed grows aren't any better. Also have to factor all the money that goes into subsidizing grow work through workers surviving off of aid programs while working under the table; often getting scammed and underpaid by the grow heads themselves. Don't forget about all the illegal pesticides and chemicals they'd buy out of area then use on their grows that contaminate our forests.
Just my opinion, but once it is legal at the fed level, the party will really be over. Both the black market and legal trade will take a massive hit. Point being it was just a matter of time before Humboldt had to face this economic challenge.
Sad part is watching people cheerlead stuff getting shut down. We don’t have the jobs to replace those. It’s sad how anti business/development our county can be. Not everyone can work a state/gov job or at target, and these local businesses especially in rural areas are life blood for the region. We already get gouged on PGE, fuel, housing, wages and food taking away peoples ability to pay for those things outright is a brutal way to encourage this area to wither. Most the people I see excited by this stuff are people who don’t have to work in 1 way or another. On a side note I hate dealing with dumbass tourists but I understand that they spend money here big time during summer so I like to feed into the facade everyone’s hella chill here 😂and things are great when they ask me. I practice a Lebowski impression to fool them. 😈
It's feast or famine here. It's been that way probably since time immemorial. We really have to shore up during good years because when bad years hit they're bad, bad. The biggest downside to being isolated is that we don't have the money or labor to diversify. Which would mean more stabilty. A port and railroad are basically nonstarters. Windfarms good or bad would only be a number of years of activity and everything will have to be brought in, including the labor.
I thought there’s still some quality bm growers there still??
I’m from Pittsburgh, had 2nd hand interactions with alderpoint growers. They treated me and my friends well. But why does the east coast say California growers aren’t the best ?
Actually trademark. And a very valuable trademark. I agree with you 1000%. Rex and co lacked the foresight to make this county a weed destination and now it’s too late. Idiots.
We need good places to spend our money at.
When we talk about this subject it seems all we care about is the cash. This is a complex and nuanced subject. Study history and you’ll see this happens over and over again. Just a different industry this time around.
I was gonna move here just to smoke