The Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury has released a report warning that the Arcata Fire District is “approaching desperate financial conditions” and may have to reduce services and close one of its stations. The report also delves into the District’s lack of a ladder truck and proper staffing to respond to fires in multi-story buildings.
The Arcata Fire District will need a large increase in funding to provide fire and safety services to Arcata's new tall buildings. It is my expressed opinion -- not based on any conversations or any outside input; just based my own speculation -- that the State of California will come up with the money, both the up-front funds and the annual expenses. I say this for a very simple reason: That something has to be done, and the local taxpayers will be completely unwilling to take on theses costs.
This is a 14 minute section of the one-hour presentation by Ben Noble, from June 29, 2022. This section includes Ben's description of of the Ministerial Review permitting process. A link to the full presentation is included.
This is a 14 minute section of the one-hour presentation by Ben Noble, from June 29, 2022. This section includes Ben's description of of the Ministerial Review permitting process. A link to the full presentation is included.
Key to the success of Arcata’s Gateway Area Plan is the quick and certain approval of all projects that meet the standards of the Gateway Code. The current draft has new Gateway buildings up to 37 feet tall – that’s three-stories, generally – being seen only by the Zoning Administrator. This one person would have complete authority to approve new projects. There would be no public hearings for these approvals.
Ministerial Review in the Gateway Area Plan
Ministerial Review is a key ingredient of the Gateway Area Plan. Ministerial Review can include the review and...
Around 2021, Mark Pahuta put up a video of Super-8 film he shot while in Arcata. The film is dated as being from 1968, but more likely it's from around 1976-1977. FILM and STILL IMAGES of Arcata from that era.
Merritt Perry has been the city manager in Fortuna for more than years. Prior to that he worked as City Engineer and director of Public Works in Fortuna for four years. He became interim City Manager following the resignation (after a second DUI) of former Fortuna city manager and Arcata city councilmember and 3-time mayor Mark Wheetley.
Three videos of the fire from June 19, 2024, in Miami. "I did get a chance to speak to one gentleman who tells me he was actually sleeping at the time. He awoke not because he smelled the smoke, not because he heard the commotion, but because he heard a firefighter knocking at his front door. That's what prompted him to get up, get outside."
The traffic crossings are not safe. IT WILL ONLY TAKE ONE FATALITY to have us wishing that we'd thought about this more and done things differently. WITH PHOTOS of 3D images, models, and flashing beacon lights.
Video and Transcriptions on the Sunset-101 Roundabout discussion. From the City Council meeting, February 21, 2024. "If you can make those changes -- the full separated bike and pedestrian facilities, the additional traffic calming measures, and getting rid of the slip lanes."
The letter that sent to the City Council, to request that the Sunset-101 Interchange funding be removed from the Consent Calendar, so that it can be further discussed. From the letter: "I believe there are unsafe elements to this design -- and that the design can be improved to make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. The design is good for vehicle traffic flow -- but not so good for bikes and walkers. My strong concern is that with this design there will be vehicle - bicyclist collisions. *** My concern is that someone will get hurt.***
Reading time 2 minutes -- "The Orange Juice Test" is a way of determining which people are capable of solving a difficult problem, and which people are not. Home ownership in the Gateway and truly affordable housing are large problems. Difficult and demanding, but not impossible. "The Orange Juice Test" helps to determine if a specific person is capable of giving us an honest and practical solution.
The letter below was sent on November 28, 2023 to the members of the City Council, the Planning Commission, and the Community Development Director. It outlines some (not all) of the larger issues regarding the expansion of housing that have not been adequately brought up for discussion or resolution. Estimate reading time 6 minutes.
The agenda packet for the December 12, 2023, Planning Commission meeting involves numerous seeming violations of the Brown Act. This is a letter to the City Attorney asking for his opinions. Estimated reading time: 9 minutes; can easily be skimmed.
The presentation on the Ralph M. Brown Act, from the December 6, 2023, Arcata City Council meeting. By City Attorney Doug White and associate attorney Nubia Goldstein. With questions and discussion from the City Council members and comments from members of the public. 1 hour 10 minutes.
This letter discusses some of the numerous Brown Act iolations we've experienced here in Arcata. It was sent to the new (3 months at that time) City Attorney, Doug White, and to the City Manager; Community Development Director, and to the City Council on the evening of December 4, 2023. A presentation on the Brown Act was on the agenda for the Council's December 6 meeting. There will be further articles on this issue as we learn more from the City Attorney. Estimate reading time: 20 minutes. Can be skimmed.
A summary of the contents of the CCRH Inclusionary Housing database, with information on the rental programs. The database has information on 150 programs in California. This list is sorted with the highest percentage of minimum affordable housing at the top.
Are California universities required to contribute funds for increased traffic, firefighting, wastewater capacity, and other costs caused by campus expansions? The answer is Yes, they are.
"Additional students will put more pressure on the local housing market and increase rents for everybody, hitting low-income students and low-income nonstudent families the hardest." An interview with Phil Bokovoy, leader of the group "Save Berkeley's Neighborhoods."
Do you want to look up what the Inclusionary Housing requirements are in, say, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, West Hollywood, or Goleta? Here's where you can find that data, for both renting and owning. The results can be viewed on-line or printed out. The California Inclusionary Housing Programs searchable database.
The Gateway Area Plan calls for a build-out of 3,500 apartments. If each building were the size of the block-long Sorrel Place, this would amount to 70 or 80 Sorrel-Place-sized buildings. It also calls for a build-out of 277,000 square feet of commercial space. This is equivalent to about 21 buildings that are the size of the Arcata Co-op, or the equivalent of about 150 or 200 standard retail, office, or restaurant spaces. **** There is not physical room for 70 or 80 block-long buildings. There's not room for half that many.
When will the Gateway Area Plan and the General Plan be completed? Who knows? In 2022, we were told by the end of 2022. In 2023, we were told by the end of 2023. Now we are told that it'll be possibly around Winter 2024. Reading time: 3 minutes.
Arcata's Housing Element specifies that 20% of the new apartments in the Gateway area be affordable at 80% mean income level. The current draft plan is satisfied with just 6%. Have we given up on seeing affordable housing in the Gateway area? Is the City of Arcata abandoning the requirements of the Housing Element? Reading time 4 minutes.
The agenda new business item for the November 15, 2023, Arcata City Council meeting -- on adding Gateway plan policies to the General Plan as city-wide policies, and possibly not retaining the Gateway Area Plan -- included a variety of improprieties and falsehoods. Among them were distinct, major Brown Act violations.
Reading time 5 to 20 minutes. Where does David Loya get his ideas? What is the source of the notion of dissolving the Gateway Area Plan and make its policies be city-wide. This will be discussed at the November 15, 2023, Council meeting and hopefully will be rejected. Article includes videos, transcriptions, specific proposed policies and a "What's next?" section of what is still missing (after two years of talking) from the Gateway Area Plan.
Arcata’s Community Development Directory, David Loya, is asking the City Council whether the policies that are in process of being developed for the Gateway area should be put into the General Plan – so that the policies can be in place throughout all of Arcata. And, yes, he is asking for 4, 5, 6, and possibly 7-story buildings be allowed -- everywhere in Arcata.
Richard & Mimi Fariña --
from "Reflections in a Crystal Wind" album, 1965. **** A song for peace. **** "And will the breezes blow the petals from your hand / And will some loving ease your pain / And will the silence strike confusion from your soul / And will the swallows come again?
Richard & Mimi Fariña --
House Un-American Blues Activity Dream. A 1965 "protest" song about the plight of a man who happens to be travelling in Cuba when Castro takes over...and is thrown in jail as a result. ---------------
It was the red, white and blue making war on the poor.
Blind Mother Justice on a pile of manure.
Reading time: 3 to 6 minutes -- Many Arcatans today worry that our city is losing its identity. Yet the core of that identity is not based on who among us owns a home and which of us may never own a home, or our background or our ethnicity. It is the ideals we share, the good we hold in common. -- From an essay by Robert Reich.
Reading time: 6 minutes -- Arcata's attempt at inclusion with the General Plan Update produced a report based on exactly 13 non-white people. This is shameful -- and doubly shameful that it is seen as acceptable. What in the world kind of "inclusion" is this? Couldn't there be additional outreach here?
Reading time: 12-15 minutes. The Brown Act requires our public officials to tell the whole story. Not part of the story -- the whole story. They are required to include all the facts, and not just that portion of the facts that they want to be brought to the open. The David Loya "Proposed Circulation" video contains misrepresentations, omissions of fact, misstatements, and downright falsehoods. As such, it is a blatant violation of California's Brown Act.
In the Ecuadorian Amazon, indigenous Huaorani people waged an exhausting battle against the American petroleum interests that have begun drilling for two hundred million barrels of raw crude under their lands. Then Moi, a Huaorani leader, decided to try the diplomatic route and come to Washington DC. "There are so many cars," he said. "How long have they been here? A million years? What will you do in ten more years? In ten years, your world will be pure metal. Did your god do this?"
How about taking a big section of the Gateway area that could have housing for a thousand people -- and making it entire car-free from the start -- by designing it that way. Includes articles about the Culdesac car-free housing development in Tempe, Arizona. Reading and viewing time 7-15 minutes.