Fort Bragg, California

Location of Fort Bragg, California

Pudding Creek Trestle

Fort Bragg is a town located in coastal Mendocino County, California. The population was 7,026 at the 2000 census. Fort Bragg is located on the Pacific Coast Highway, California Rte-1, the major north-south highway along the Pacific Coast. A US Army officer named it for his previous commanding officer, Braxton Bragg (1817–76) who was a career U.S. Army officer and later a general in the Confederate States Army. Thus, the town shares a name with Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and they are named for the same man.

The town is the western terminus of the California Western Railroad (otherwise known as the "Skunk Train"), running through the Coast Redwood forests to the city of Willits, 40 miles inland, and also home to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.

Recently, Georgia Pacific Lumber Company put on the market a 400 acre piece of property within the city limits, formerly the site of a large mill facility. The mill was shut down in 2002 and has been identified as a nonperforming asset by Georgia Pacific. The millsite takes up almost the entire coastline of Fort Bragg including Soldier Bay. The public of Fort Bragg has embraced the millsite as the future of Fort Bragg and has proposed many forward-thinking ideas. Some possibilities for the millsite are: a marine research center, a conference center, a world-class golf course, a smaller mill, or a branch of a college. Although some of these ideas are probably unattainable, many are viable for the future of Fort Bragg. Former Community Development Department head (and current City Manager) Linda Ruffing was integral in the acquisition of over 100 acres of the former millsite for parklands.

City Government

Fort Bragg City Hall is located at 416 N. Franklin Street. The appointed City Manager is Linda Ruffing, and the elected leadership is as follows:

Dave Turner, Mayor

Mayor Turner was first elected to the City Council in November 2002 and was elected by the Council to serve as Mayor in December 2004 for a two-year term.

Dave was born in Fort Bragg at the old Coast Hospital in 1951. His family moved to the Bay Area in 1960.

Dave attended Stanford University where he majored in "Social Thought and Institutions," a political science honors program. While attending Stanford, he opened a specialty sleep shop to help pay his way through college. The sleep shop business took off and Dave left in his senior year before completing his degree.

Dave and his wife Anne will celebrate their 26th Anniversary this year (2005). They moved back to Fort Bragg in 1992 to raise their children in a town "where the community watches out for kids."

Dave and Anne have four children: Katie, Dewey, Packie and Bryna.

Mayor Turner's term on the Council expires in December 2006 unless re-elected.

Dan Gjerde, Mayor Pro Tempore

Mayor Pro Tempore Gjerde was first elected to the City Council in November 1998, with the goal of putting "thought and care into planning the town's future." Re-elected in November 2002, Dan has dedicated much of his council time focused on the city's streets, sidewalks, and parks. He has co-written successful proposals which delivered more than $1.7 million for Franklin Street, $600,000 for new sidewalks and $1 million for city parks.

Instead of creating suburban sprawl, Dan wants the city's growth to follow its historic and human-scale urban form - its street grid pattern, its service alleys, its spacious sidewalks (enhanced with landscaping) and its commercial buildings constructed as multi-story mixed-use structures to allow downtown residential living.

During his time on the Council, Dan has served on each of the Council's standing committees, and currently serves on the Public Works & Facilities Committee and the Finance & Administration Committee. He also currently serves on two regional boards.

Dan's term on the Council expires in December of 2006 unless re-elected.

Brian Baltierra, Councilmember

Councilmember Baltierra was first elected to the City Council in November 2002.

Brian currently serves on the Council's Public Safety Committee and Public Works and Facilities Committees. He also serves on the Fort Bragg Fire Protection Authority, Mendocino Solid Waste Management Authority and AB 939 Local Task Force.

Councilmember Baltierra was first elected to the City Council in November 2002. His term on the Council expires in December 2006 unless re-elected.

At the end of August, 2006, Baltierra was apparently visited by police in response to a domestic violence call. Later he was charged with alleged violation of a domestic violence court order and petty theft.

Doug Hammerstrom, Councilmember

Councilmember Hammerstrom was first elected to the City Council in November 2004.

Councilmember Hammerstrom was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1946 and was raised in Fresno, California from age 2 - 18. His early connection to Fort Bragg came during his Fresno years as his father sold a product of the Union Lumber Company. Doug's visits then and vacation later kept him in touch with Fort Bragg.

Attending undergraduate college at U.C.-Santa Barbara and law school at Hastings in San Francisco took him to live in other parts of the State. Councilmember Hammerstrom settled in Visalia, California where he was an attorney and orange grower. After a brief relocation to Seattle, he moved with his family - wife, Dr. Diane Harris; son, Ben; and daughter, Sophie - to the Mendocino Coast in 1992.

Doug's interests in participatory democracy and land use planning led him to run for a seat on the Fort Bragg City Council. His primary goal on the Council is to have a rich deliberative process involving citizen and expert input so that the Council makes decisions based on the broadest range of collective wisdom they can muster.

Councilmember Hammerstrom's term on the Council expires in December 2008 unless re-elected.

Jere Melo, Councilmember

Councilmember Jere Melo was first elected in 1996, after serving a 4-years term on the Planning Commission. He served as Mayor Pro Tempore in 1998 - 2000, and he served as Mayor, 2000 - 2004. His regional duties include service as a board member on the Mendocino Local Agency Formation Commission (9 years), Fort Bragg Fire Protection Authority (5 years), and the League of California Cities (3 years).

Councilmember Melo has lived in or near Fort Bragg since 1966, when he began working for the Union Lumber Company as a forester. He was raised in the City of Mt. Shasta, and he attended the University of California at Davis and Berkeley, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Forestry in February, 1964. He received a commission in the U.S. Army upon graduation from Berkeley and served in South Korea and in NORAD on the continent. Upon his employment with Union Lumber, the Army assigned him as Company Commander to the local Army Reserve unit, and he served six years in the reserves.

Jere and Madeleine are active in several local organizations, the Episcopal Church, Mendocino Coast Sports Foundation and the Fort Bragg-Otsuchi (Japan) Exchange Association.

Geography

Fort Bragg is located at 39°26′32″N 123°48′9″W (39.442155, -123.802463)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.2 km² (2.8 mi²). 7.1 km² (2.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (1.44%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 7,026 people, 2,840 households, and 1,644 families residing in the city. The population density was 993.7/km² (2,577.1/mi²). There were 3,051 housing units at an average density of 431.5/km² (1,119.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.46% White, 1.04% Black or African American, 1.85% Native American, 0.88% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 12.06% from other races, and 4.57% from two or more races. 22.72% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 2,840 households out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.4% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.6% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 100.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $28,539, and the median income for a family was $36,000. Males had a median income of $25,833 versus $23,287 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,832. About 11.9% of families and 20.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.5% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.

Points of Interest

Glass Beach in Fort Bragg

On the northern edge of town, along the shore next the fence surrounding the Georgia Pacific property, is a small beach covered in smooth bits of glass. Some are colored, some are clear, some even still bear the traces of blue and white china patterns on them. in some places, there seems to be as much glass as sand.

In the early 20th century, Fort Bragg residents threw their household trash over these cliffs. They discarded glass, appliances, even cars. The land was owned, at that time, by the Union Lumber Company, and locals referred to it as "The Dumps." Sometimes fires would be lit to reduce the size of the trash pile. In 1967, city leaders closed the area. Over the next several decades, the pounding waves cleansed the beach, wearing down the discarded glass into the small, smooth, colored trinkets that coat the beach today. The area is now frequently visited by tourists, who scour the beach for interesting curios to take home as souvenirs.

Warning: the path from the road down to the beach is somewhat treacherous, so curious visitors should be sure to wear shoes with good tread. It is not uncommon for unprepared visitors to injure themselves on the way down.

External links

• Fort Bragg website, includes history, travel information, etc.
• Mendocino Connection
• Fort Bragg, CA Travel Information
• CNN article on Glass Beach From trash to treasure: Unassuming coastal town home to glittering Glass Beach. By Susan C. Kim