Pelican City Hall, the Inlet Cafe, and the old fuel tanks. What does the future hold for the city pf Pelican?
Correction: this post was first published on July 22, 2009 and I made a big mistake. I identified a former seafood processing plant as being Campbell River. To make matters worse, I said it is a ghost town. I'm sure the people of the THRIVING community of Campbell River would be surprised to read they're a ghost town, but I doubt if any of them actually reads Chicken and Sponge. I have made corrections and the former community, the ghost town I meant to identify is Namu. My apologies.
Having a bar is like having a window, or in this case an ear, to the world. The local world, that is. A bar can be a confessional or a bully pulpit, whether the bartender wants it to be or not. Just add booze and listen to what pops out of people's mouths.
Yes, it is often tedious and uninteresting. But an eavesdropper or captive audience i.e. the bartender can't help but find out what people think about all manner of things.
I am even beginning to get emails from people who have never been to Pelican, but are very interested in what's happening there. The recent question I received was, "Why doesn't the city of Pelican purchase Pelican Seafoods?"
That is a question that many people ask and wonder about. In my conversations with Mick, I've found out that most of the fishermen who have come into the Wheelwatch wonder that same thing and for the life of us, WE CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE CITY WON'T!
It makes no sense.
Fishermen fear, and we, as business owners share this fear, that no other seafood company is going to come riding in to the rescue. The plant is old and neglected and out-dated. The location is superb. Always has been. The ice is the best. But these are economic hard times and few companies want to proceed into a new venture.
The City and the citizens of Pelican are the only ones who have a compelling, vested interest in the future of Pelican Seafoods, which is the past, present, and (hopefully) future of Pelican.
In April 1994, I accompanied Mick from Ballard, Washington to Pelican in his dad's boat the F/V Mona Lee. It was a 12 or 13 day trip and something I will never forget. I won't forget HOW DISGUSTING I FELT GOING FOR DAYS AND DAYSWITHOUT A SHOWER! I cleaned up nightly with a little bowl of water, but talk about inadequate. When Mick shared, after reaching Ketchikan and showers, that he'd had to peel his scrotum off his leg, well, that was special.
But what I remember most from that trip were two different spots where we spent the night as we traveled through Canada. The first was called, I believe, Namu.
Namu reminded me so much of an old plantation. It was beautiful and green with little, tiny rolling hills ( so small that they might not even be considered hills--though they'd be a mountain range in Oklahoma), and empty, deserted building after empty, deserted building. There were two young, very stoned guys who were working as caretakers and they let us into one of the houses to take a shower. It had been the big boss's house. It looked like the scene of an alien abduction. There were still belongings everywhere--furniture, dishes, paintings...no personal pictures, though.
Namu had been a thriving little community. Not an actual city or town, but definitely a community. And it had been a seafood processing plant. And it had failed. So, it became a ghost town.
The next stop that permanently found a home in my head was called Butte Dale. We couldn't go into Butte Dale, but had to anchor up, because the dock was so decrepit and dangerous. Butte Dale, also a former seafood processing plant, is a ghost town. A ghost town that looks like a ghost town. It is hauntingly beautiful. And very disturbing.
Some of the people with voting power in Pelican, those who determine what gets discussed, what gets put on the agenda, what gets voted on, seem to think that THAT fate can't happen to Pelican. I have no idea why they think so. Common sense and simple observation tell most everyone else that total failure is a real threat to the future of Pelican.
Diversification? People have tried it; some have succeeded on a small scale. But the city depends on more revenue than what any of the present business owners can provide. That's a fact. And wake up, Pelicanites. I know Pelican feels separate from the rest of the world. That is definitely one of its most appealing aspects, but there is an economic crisis going on, not only in our country, but abroad as well. Tourism is way down. Though it will make some curmudgeonly types very smug, the ignoramuses, charters are way down, too.
Look at your population. What is the median age? What is going to draw younger people to the community to keep the life blood going? What is going to keep the young people that you have? Pelican has a number of citizens who are not in the best of health. There are many people in their eighties and some approaching 90. When a fifty year-old is one of the younger ones, you're in trouble. And yes, I know, there are still school kids, but the younger adult crowd is mostly in its thirties now.
There are new fuel tanks and a new water system being built. That is all very nice, but that work won't last forever. Where will the funds come from to pay for city services? New boardwalk planks? The other businesses, like ours, Rosie's, and the Inlet Cafe? Don't count on it because our businesses have ALWAYS depended upon an influx of commercial fishermen. There aren't enough locals to support the local businesses and the local economy. Ignore that and you're ignoring reality.
Is it fear or is it simple ignorance that keeps these people from taking charge of their futures? Why don't they want to be in the driver's seat? Are they afraid that individual people who currently reside in Pelican would do the actual organizing and running of the plant? Because, of course, that is simple nonsense.
Experienced, knowledgeable people would have to be brought in. Workers would be brought in. The people who do feasibility studies would figure out the best course of action for the plant to take. Mick and I love gourmet food and have eaten out a lot down here in the lower 48. One thing that we have never seen ANYWHERE is pickled black cod. With good marketing people, brought in from outside, pickled black cod could make the City of Pelican disgustingly rich. Seriously. Filthy, filthy rich!
Not the mayor, not the council members, not any one person, but the city. And everyone would benefit.
Workers and workers with families could be encouraged to move there. The person who wrote today's question pointed out to me that Tenakee had advertised in Craigslist for families. The school was in danger of closing due to low enrollment. You know what? There were families who responded and moved to Tenakee! Unemployment is so high right now! People are sick of the cities. People are sick of the traffic! They're sick of the pollution and crowding and crime! There are people who would just LOVE to pick up and move to Pelican--if there was a job for them. If they even knew that is existed.
I would really love to hear from Pelicanites who are opposed to the idea of a City purchase of Pelican Seafoods. I'd really like for someone to make sense of that for me. Because it makes NO SENSE. As for the Pelicanites who want to continue to live in Pelican, for those who never wanted it to change, SPEAK UP! CAMPAIGN! BE FORCEFUL! Everyone used to say that they didn't want to see Pelican change and it changed anyway. Here and now is the perfect opportunity to get some of that old flavor, that vitality, that fishing community spirit back. No, Pelican will never be exactly what it was in the past. Nothing is. Life isn't static, but always in flux. But Pelican is at a crucial crossroads. It will either dwindle and die a tragic death OR it could thrive and become even more than it ever was before. Courage. Take courage.
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