MENDOCINO CO., 3/25/26 –Russell Green, a 40-year-old dispensary owner and software developer, is running for the District 3 seat on the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors. Green is the owner of the local Kure Wellness dispensary chain, which has locations in Ukiah, Willits, and Kelseyville.
District 3 covers the region including Covelo, Laytonville, and Willits. The current District 3 supervisor, John Haschak, will not seek reelection. Green is one of four candidates in the District 3 supervisor race. The other candidates running are Buffey Wright Bourassa, Clay Romero, and Eric Hart.
Green is a fifth-generation Mendocino County resident who was born in Ukiah, went to elementary school in Laytonville, and currently lives in Willits.
In an interview with The Mendocino Voice, Green said that he is passionate about addressing community issues and does not identify himself as a politician.
“People don’t really get represented that are struggling. I really care about the issues and I am interested, and I follow them,” Green said. “I am a business owner and I was tired of getting ignored. I am in a position to not be a corrupt politician and at least say hey, these are the real issues.”
Green said that if elected supervisor, one of his main goals would be to make it easier for people to start new businesses. He said that as a business owner himself, he saw firsthand the process of starting up a new venture and getting it approved by the county.
“Essentially the county itself is gatekeeping economic activity, whether it’s starting a simple business at all at your house, or whether it’s trying to build an accessory dwelling. Rather than trying to find a way to tell you yes you can, they always try to make there be 20 boxes to check,” Green said. “They say they are business-friendly, but when you actually go down to the counter, it’s not that experience.”
He also spoke about his perspective on the current Board of Supervisors and why he believes changes are needed in the county’s culture and how it serves its constituents.
“I’m afraid there’s a bit of a culture problem with the county, they think they’re our overlords rather than our servants,” Green said. “I feel like the supervisors aren’t representing their constituents.”
Green said he is an open book and welcomes community members to reach out and ask him questions.
“I’m happy to hear what anybody has to say and try to give them any support that I can, especially if I win,” he said.
The election that could decide the District 3 supervisor seat will be held June 2 during California’s statewide primary. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November.
How does he feel about AB2494?
AB 2494 is garbage and should be thrown out. It increases tax burdens reduces County income and employment and is wholly unnecessary.
Russell Green: “Wil Hinton yeah and the state doesn’t take responsibility for their share of our roads, the counties with the population get the money and low population large counties like Mendo get screwed. Its pretty detached from reality to propose a tax increase of any sort right now” -FB comment feed
– Small businesses won’t thrive if there are no viable roads in your community; how do you plan on getting funding to your districts’ exceptionally large unfunded county road system? You appear against the sales tax increase which your departing incumbent is trying to pass, but how would you fund these extensive road systems as an alternative?
-3/4 of your Kure locations reside outside the 3rd district with one being outside of Mendocino County. How do you plan to bring more business into your district and or the larger Mendocino County area? Any specific measures or actions would be greatly appreciate.
-Do you report all your depreciable asset schedules to the Mendocino County Assessor’s office for your shops and farms?
The fact is Mr Green would love to shape the community to be a place he can’t get a foothold in to make his commute to the lifestyle he wants less tedious and afford him the status of entrepreneur within our community by seeking gentrification to push out the time tested community that in my eyes thrives and welcomes new community aligned values.
-LLL
Willits needs some magnet businesses and some new ideas. If willits is trying to mimic Sonoma, willits will constantly be on the back foot on keeping up with the jones and a dying way of life. I have advocated Willits and Ukiah should incentivise more education programs in higher education. Like Adventist tries to bring doctors into the area and encourages them to settle in the community. Willits and Ukiah should encourage professors and teachers to live in the community in tandem expand the community college curriculum and God forbid open a CSUU or CSUW with the states assistance. Graduates can work in your govt body and fill jobs at the hospital and start businesses beyond trinket shops and perhaps be a magnet for employment. Silicon valley’s notoriety came from the education centers in their community. If they didn’t have education as a back bone, they wouldn’t be where they are today.
The problem is with Mr Green is his wanting to shape Willits into Healdsburg through gentrification by any other name, that in and of itself is an utter travesty and likely tied to a large part of his primary business. Sadly District 3 suffered multiple events starting with the Willits bypass and the effects it had on some driving by, secondly was the boom bust of the marijuana industry that left permanently closed several business venture built solely to support the industry, thirdly is the over zealous spending by the Willits City Council that now leaves the districts only incorporated city on the brink of insolvency. Mr Green survived the green rush and now seeks to gentrify a town that doesn’t want or need it and yet I guess it’s his way of ending long Sonoma trips to get the lifestyle our community support affords him from growers, storage unit renters, and buyers of product at his dispensary giving him the ability to live a life he sees as being his hometowns future. We do need better constituent control in Supervisors office and there needs to be a reckoning in the planning department and those that make the rules observed there.
So is Mr Green for the lifelong residents and those that moved to our Valleys based upon the welcoming nature this place has had for decades or is he the harbinger of death seeking to drive out and restructure it to be just another gentrified stop on the 101 with no culture to show.
I think the narrative is that Willits became dependent on the traffic jam / captive audience to bring in easy revenue and did nothing to make Willits into a destination place that draws people to it. Same with the Cannabis’s boom and bust has come and gone and no developments were planned beyond the need of a exclusive class of landowners who benefited from the economics. If gentrification is the bad word or boogeyman, than Willits will be destined to be a glamourized truck stop stuck in 90s like the the rest of middle America slowly dying at the vine. Communities need to evolve with changing times but the community also needs to be inclusive to its productive assets. Labor / People. Ukiah, Willits, and FB all suffer heavily from NIMBY syndrome and the fear of change holds the entire community in the dark ages. The Palace Hotel in Ukiah is a perfect example of the mentality rotting, literally, at the center of the biggest city in Mendocino County. No tax revenue, no entertainment, no culture, no business all in the name to save the past (nostalgia) at the cost of the future. Mr. Green’s image of Willits (3rd district) may not be in the best interest of the community if he plans to make another NIMBY enclave like Healdsburg. Most of the restaurants are overpriced and their is basically extreme inequality here. Healdsburg is not inclusive given its high price tag to do anything here even for small business owners.
Derpity derp derp
The entire Redwood Empire north of Cloverdale is in decline. I just took a week long tour through the region and saw no towns that were improving save for Mendo. There are no good jobs and discretionary income is nearly non-existent. People depend on the government for basic necessities such as food, housing, and healthcare. The net result is a tunnel with no light at the end. It’s either gentrification, which in this day and age means people younger than Boomers moving into the area with discretionary income, or just continuing this long sad slow slide into oblivion….
You’re not wrong…
Where does Mr. Green stand on the Trump administration? You can’t cop out and say national politics have no bearing on local ones. I don’t live in that district, but if I did I’d be voting for Buffey Bourassa. She has real experience in government, having worked for the County for a long time. We don’t need someone who we’ll have to be training for the first 2 years – this county needs help now.
GREEN HAS NO MORAL COMPASS. CAN’T GROW. DISPENSARIES ARE GARBAGE. DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO EVEN SHAVE HIS OWN FACE.