Cal-Trans has approved $60 million in funds for a Willits bypass. The city had originally asked for $177 million for a four-lane bypass, but the funds awarded will be sufficient to at least begin construction on a smaller, two-lane bypass of the main street, according to Lynn Kennelly, executive director of the Willits Chamber of Commerce.
?This has been on the books for close to 60 years,? she said. ?Diverting traffic off our main street will allow people to flow through our community more easily. The congestion we?ve been experiencing has been increasing. These aren?t people who are stopping in Willits, rather people going through from Southern California to Northern California.?
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The ?bed tax? in Ukiah has risen from 8 percent to 10 percent in order to fund promotion of the city to tourists.
The tax applies to people staying overnight in B&Bs, motels, hotels and other inns. Administration of the increased revenue is being handled by the Greater Ukiah Chamber of Commerce.
In addition to spending on magazine ads, radio and television spots and billboards, the additional revenues will be spent on new Ukiah tourism brochures, according to Chamber CEO Bert Mosier.
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The Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians has plans for a substantial increase of its Redwood Valley Casino, which is located just off of Highway 101 at 7751 N. State St. in Redwood Valley.
The schematics call for a tenfold size increase over the existing structure. Plans also call for a 118-room, four-story hotel with a 25,000-square-foot, 1,500-seat amphitheater and a five-story parking garage. According to Tribal Chairman John Feliz Jr., the rebuilt casino alone would cost over $50 million. The proposal does not yet have financing.
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Mendocino County tourism has a new face as of July 1. That?s when www.GoMendo.com was re-launched in a joint-effort by the Mendocino County Lodging Association, the Mendocino Winegrape & Wine Commission and the Mendocino County Promotional Alliance, which actually owns and maintains the site. The joint effort, started in 2006, takes the place of the County of Mendocino, which funded the promotional Web site since its creation in 1996.
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The Redwood Forest Foundation and Bank of America recently partnered to purchase 50,000-acres of redwoods in the Usal Redwood Forest, just north of Fort Bragg along the Mendocino Coast.
According to spokesman Art Harwood, the transaction will stop the forest?s fragmentation while allowing the property?s trees to be managed by the Hawthorne Timber Co. The purchase was made with $65 million in long-term financing from Bank of America.
Don Kemp, the foundation?s executive director, said he hopes the deal with Bank of America will inspire more tapping of capital markets to finance future conservation efforts.
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The Mendocino County Promotional Alliance is spearheading an effort to revive the Redwood Empire Association, the 80-year-old destination marketing group behind, among other things, the building of the Golden Gate Bridge.
?It?s been somewhat dormant for the past couple of years,? said Tony Shaw of the Mendocino County Economic Development Department. ?We?ve held some meetings with the REA board members and contract staff to gauge the interest level in revitalizing REA to a more functional status.?
Much of the interest in reviving the association, Mr. Shaw said, comes from a desire on the part of the alliance to open a California Welcome Center in Hopland along the Highway 101 corridor using REA funding and cooperation from board members.
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Submit items for this column to Dorsey Kindler at 707-579-2900 ext. 215, dkindler@northbaybusinessjournal.com or fax 707-579-8475.
