Harry Adams credits the changing atmosphere and the new harbormaster for his last-minute decision to run for reelection as a Crescent City Harbor commissioner.
Adams, who’s currently president of the Board of Commissioners, says he’s not done doing the job. Yet until about three weeks ago, he wasn’t even in the running for the three seats that are up for election this year.
“I felt like I was banging my head against the wall for four years,” Adams said, explaining why he hadn’t planned on seeking re-election. “I was frustrated. I wasn’t feeling it. But with the change in harbormaster, I feel like the cadence has changed, and I received overwhelming support from the community to run again.”
The only incumbent in the Harbor District race spoke with KFUG Community Radio’s Paul Critz and Redwood Voice Community News via phone last week from Mexico where he was on a “well-deserved vacation.”
Adams submitted his paperwork to the Del Norte County Elections Office as an official write-in candidate on Oct. 5. His name won’t be on the ballot, but he still wants Del Norters to vote for him. His challengers for Harbor Commission are Dan Schmidt, Annie Nehmer, Linda Sutter, John Evans and Devon Morgante.
Adams came to the Harbor District Board of Commissioners in 2020 with 25 years as a commercial fisherman under his belt. He’s plied his trade on the West Coast from south of the border to Alaska’s Aleutian Chain. Adams now runs Stella’s Adventures, a charter business that takes folks fishing or whale watching.
Adams told KFUG and Redwood Voice that he ran for harbor commission four years ago because he wanted to make a difference. But he said he ran into an “old-school mentality,” some of his colleagues didn’t accept him and he clashed with one commissioner in particular who wouldn’t allow him to serve on any committees.
Serving on the Harbor District Board is a learning curve, Adams said. He said he overcame that challenge through persistence and learning to bite his tongue.
But, Adams said, he felt that when he took his seat on the Board of Commissioners someone should have shown him the ropes. He said when fellow Commissioner Gerhard Weber was elected to replace Carol White on the Board, he sat down with the new commissioner to offer some insight into the office.
“I shared a meal with him and I told him every detail I knew. Everything,” he said. “Commissioners shouldn’t be threatened [by] each other. They should work together. There’s got to be five commissioners on the Board that work well with others and it wasn’t that way.”
Adams pointed out that when he ran for Harbor Commission the first time, he, Wes White and Brian Stone ran unopposed. The third incumbent, Jim Ramsey, decided not to seek re-election. Few people attended Harbor District meetings.
Things have changed since then. A lease agreement between developer Alex Lemus, of Renewable Energy Capital, to redevelop the Harbor District’s two RV parks went sour. A lapsed permit two decades ago has led to a lack of dredging which forced a long-time tenant, Fashion Blacksmith, to close its doors.
And, most recently, former Harbormaster Tim Petrick resigned amid allegations of credit card misuse. Adams and his colleagues last month appointed Deputy Harbormaster Mike Rademaker to take over Petrick’s job.
Adams said he’s been concerned about credit card misuse since before Petrick was hired in 2021. But it was specifically Rademaker’s promotion to interim harbormaster that made Adams want to try to keep his seat.
Adams gels with Rademaker. He said he appreciates Rademaker’s outlook and the way he listens to the Board of Commissioners.
“The whole outlook of the harbor is so much better,” he said. “It’s a breath of fresh air. You can feel the enthusiasm in the man’s voice. All the fishermen are elated. All the vendors in the harbor are elated to deal with somebody that can be dealt with in a normal manner.”
If he’s elected to serve on the Board of Commissioners for another term Adams said he realizes he’ll be serving with two newcomers. He said he’ll sit down with them and tell them every detail he knows, including how Robert’s Rules of Order work.
KFUG and Redwood Voice also asked Adams about recent plans for development at the Crescent City Harbor that he and the current Board have weighed in on. This includes a $10,000 contract with Community Real Estate Development Enterprises to try to bring investors into the harbor as well as an updated strategic development plan created by Mike Bahr and Aisling Delane, of Community Systems Solutions.
The latter plan identifies areas of potential development at the harbor and what kind of development should be encouraged. Adams said he wanted to explore development that makes sense, including bringing a boatyard back to the Crescent City Harbor. Doing this means working with the California Coastal Commission and other regulators.
“You create a friendship and a dialog with them so we can have projects pre-approved before we apply for [permits],” he said. “The Coastal Commission is a sticky situation and they’re hard to deal with at times. And they encase the harbor.”
Meanwhile, commercial fishing should continue to be a mainstay at the harbor, Adams said, noting that more Dungeness crab is caught out of Crescent City than any other port in California.
Adams said he’d like to see other fisheries come back, this includes pink shrimp and whiting. Boats fish for pink shrimp all summer long, he said, and then take their catch to Oregon and Washington to unload because of California’s regulations.
“We’re looking to lose probably some big boats because they don’t have the markets here,” he said.
Like other candidates for the Board of Commissioners, Adams also sees a place for tourism and entertainment at the harbor. He said he serves on the entertainment committee and was responsible for bringing a burnout contest to the harbor that generated about $4,500 in revenue in roughly three hours.
Adams said he’d like to get the California Fish and Game Commission to OK a sport salmon season around the July 4th holiday. It would bring money and resources to the harbor, Adams said. There could be music — Whaler Island forms a natural amphitheater, and it might give people something else to do besides shoot off fireworks.
“I am for banning fireworks at the harbor,” Adams said.
Referring to the mass-casualty incident that occurred when two people set off illegal fireworks on the 4th of July at South Beach, Adams said it was a perfect storm for disaster.
“There were bottle rocket debris on boats, my own personal boat was covered in firework ash, it was all over the docks and all over the parking lot,” he said. “The harbor, the city and county, we have to make an ordinance to outlaw illegal fireworks.”
The fireworks ordinance will likely be something a new Crescent City Harbor District Board of Commissioners will decide on, and Adams says he wants a chance to “work with a Board that can be worked with.”
Things can change course, and that’s what the Crescent City Harbor has done in the last six weeks, Adams said. He reiterated that he’s happy with the job Rademaker’s done. Adams urges Del Norters to vote for candidates who will work well with others.
“If they won’t work well with others, then they shouldn’t be on the commission,” he said.
