Skunk Train, Starbucks and Circle K all surviving despite gas prices, foreclosures
Of the Advocate
Foreclosures and gas prices are big issues in Fort Bragg, as well as elsewhere.
The California Western Railroad, probably the coast”s top tourist attraction, has had its profit margin hit hard by high diesel fuel prices.
But despite rumors, the Skunk Train has not been sold, said Robert Jason Pinoli, vice president of the company headed by the Hart brothers. Pinoli has made several recent speeches at community group meetings and has contested the rumors but has not made any flat denials that something is going on.
In a terse response to the Advocate-News on Tuesday, Pinoli said, “The Skunk Train isn”t part of any current transaction.”
The Advocate-News dug deeper, to find a complex transaction involving Patriot Rail of Louisiana and the companies involved in ownership of the California Western Railroad filed with the Surface Transportation Board.
Patriot is getting 80 miles of track between Oakdale and Sonora along with a Port of Sacramento company and Riverbank Arsenal operations. Sierra will continue as a partner, providing the entertainment for dinner trains, according to various reports.
The move represents a jump into California by Patriot, which has short line railroads and offices all over the south through a series of companies with similar names. As a railroad operator, the company gets certain rights.
As Pinoli said, the Mendocino County operations are not mentioned in these filings.
Despite the price of gas, the Circle K Station just north of the Noyo Bridge has been without any gasoline to sell for the past two weeks. The station has the same owner as Exxon a couple blocks north. Employees report that the gas station has simply changed suppliers.
At Starbucks, a little farther down Main Street in the former Taco Bell building, foreclosures trumped gas prices as underlying reasons for store closures elsewhere.
Starbucks has released its final list of 600 outlets to be closed and no Mendocino County stores were on the list. The most Starbucks closures are in Las Vegas, a boom town during the peak of the real estate market. Most of the closures are in boom communities of 2006 that have gone bust in 2008.
A trip to the county recorder”s office revealed foreclosures are up in every area of Mendocino County this year.
Foreclosure is a complex process that can involve either an action at the county recorder”s office, in the courts or both.
At the county recorder”s office, there were 160 notices of default filed in the first 134 days of 2008.
That”s up from 98 in 2007.
Perhaps more ominously for the immediate future, there were 86 notice of trustees sales filed between Jan. 1 and May 14 of this year.
For this much more serious second (and often final) step in the foreclosure process, that”s up almost double from the 45 actions in 2007 which was more than double the same period of 2006 (21).
The Mendocino Music Festival and the World”s Largest Salmon Barbecue are as different events as different as could be. But both rely on devoted fans who come year after year. Both events were well-attended despite high gas prices and mounting foreclosures in areas where visitors come from. But some visitors reported they had sacrificed other entertainment this year to afford the trip.
The Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce reports they are getting calls from visitors asking about businesses (mainly lodging) that are giving fuel discounts or specials.
The chamber encourages members to send in details. So far the chamber has word that Auberge, MacCallum House and Quality Inn all have the discounts.
