To the Editor:
Bye Bye Palace Hotel
First of all, we should all give a big shout out to Mike Geniella. With all the secrecy surrounding the future of the Palace Hotel, his research and dedication have been very helpful. No matter what your position is on the Palace Hotel situation, you should have the facts to support your conclusions.
Unfortunately, it does appear we are going to lose our historic Palace Hotel after all, for perhaps the wrong reason. The way I see it, the current owner of the hotel, Mr. Ishwar, has no intention to pay for the demolition from his own pocket, since he has been unwilling to invest in necessary improvements to prevent the current level of deterioration.
So, in order to defray some of the costs, Mr. Ishwar entered into an equity agreement with the Guidiville Tribe, and a local restaurateur to share the financial burden. The Guidiville Tribe was a particularly fortuitous choice since they were in the process of applying for a $6.6MM public tax fund grant to pay for the demolition and to rebuild a new structure in its place.
It seems recent developments at the CA DTSC Equitable Community Revitalization have put the Guidiville grant request in question. And, as was reported late last month, the Guidiville Tribe grant request has been reduced to $200,000 and none of those funds may be used for demolition. It was a bit of a surprise why any funds were awarded since a primary purpose of the grant request was intended for tearing down the structure.
The Palace Hotel is privately owned, and, even though the owners neglected the necessary building improvements to the 133. year old historic structure, there have been no consequences. After an extended period of neglect, the State Historic Building Code (SHBC) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) do not apply since the City Council unanimously voted to, accept the Building Official's opinion, and determined on November 1, 2023, the immediate demolition of the building was necessary to protect public health and safety. And because of the urgency, Mr. Ishwar was given 30 days to submit a plan and permit application to stabilize and demolish the building.
Eight months later, according to the City Manager comments in late June, Mr. Ishwar had now submitted his plan and demolition permit request, apparently without any structural engineering analysis, and they have been approved. So now it is expected the City has given Mr. Ishwar another 30 days to get started, or be subject to fines, and/or jail sentence. The only current option appears to be that the hotel owner will fund the hotel tear down, and that is, as it should be. That being the case, we should see some evidence of the destruction before the end of this month.
In conclusion, it is truly a shame our historic Palace Hotel will not be saved, mainly because no one in power at the City seems to support any effort to determine an alternative for demolition. But at least, from what we now think we know, there is accountability for the hotel neglect caused by Mr. Ishwar over the last five years, as he begins writing checks from his own accounts for the structure demolition and clean up.
-John Moon, Ukiah
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