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Dr. Wendy Ring: The Scotia Biomass power plant operation needs to be shut down

Presentation from Dr. Wendy Ring on the carbon emissions, pollution, and health hazards of the Scotia biomass-burning electrical power plant. 21 minute video plus 15-minutes reading material.

“Confused About Arcata’s Gateway Area Plan?” Lost Coast Outpost , January 29, 2022

This article appeared in the Lost Coast Outpost on January 29, 2022. Written by Stephanie McGeary. At that time, the Gateway Plan was proposed to be sent to the City Council by April 2022 -- 1-1/2 years ago.

What We Owe Our Trees – The New Yorker magazine

"Even if you haven’t been to the woods lately, you probably know that the forest is disappearing. In the past ten thousand years, the Earth has lost about a third of its forest, which wouldn’t be so worrying if it weren’t for the fact that almost all that loss has happened in the past three hundred years or so. As much forest has been lost in the past hundred years as in the nine thousand before"

Cal Poly purchases Arcata Creekside 16 acres

Northcoast Journal article, September 1, 2022. Cal Poly purchases Arcata Creekside 16 acres; pays triple the appraised land value. The purchase eliminates this site from the housing and assisted living plans by the non-profit Life Plan Humboldt.

The Gish Gallop — and Brandolini’s Law

Brandolini's law, also known as the B.S. Asymmetry Principle, is an internet adage that emphasizes the effort of debunking misinformation, in comparison to the relative ease of creating it in the first place.  It states that the amount of energy needed to refute B.S. is an order of magnitude larger (that is, ten times larger) than is needed to produce it. -------- The Gish Gallop is a rhetorical technique in which a person attempts to overwhelm their opponents by providing an excessive number of arguments with no regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments.

From high-speed rail to the Olympics, why do big projects go wrong?

"By his reckoning, only 8.5% of projects meet their initial estimates on cost and time, and a piddling 0.5% achieve what they set out to do on cost, time and benefits." -- "Over-optimistic time and cost estimates stem from both psychological and political biases: a reliance on intuition rather than data, and . . . “strategic misrepresentation”. This is when budgets are deliberately lowballed in order to get things going, on the premise that nothing would ever get built if politicians went around being accurate."

UPDATED Creamery District / Gateway Meetings — May 16th & May 23rd

COME - PARTICIPATE - LEARN - ASK QUESTIONS - SHARE YOUR VIEWS **** A meeting with businesses, owners, workers, and all residents in the Creamery District Combining Zone on Tuesday, May 16th, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. There will also be a meeting of the Planning Commission on Tuesday, May 23rd, starting at 5:30 p.m. to "discuss this topic." *** Includes maps and the letter sent out by the City.

Utah Senator Mitt Romney calls bike lanes “the height of stupidity”

This just goes to show that almost anything can become controversial. Last year, Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton warned Fox News viewers that Democrats "want to make you live in downtown areas, and high-rise buildings, and walk to work, or take the subway, or ride an electric scooter" and "make us all poor."

Creamery District — Businesses and Maps

Here is a list of the approximately 75 businesses located in the Creamery area. With maps and links to other articles on the Creamery and the L Street Corridor Linear Park.

How to contact Arcata’s City Councilmembers & Planning Commissioners — and how you can speak at a meeting

How to contact Arcata's City Councilmembers & Planning Commissioners, and how to attend a City Council or Planning Commission meeting -- in person, via YouTube, via Zoom, or on the phone.

Economic Development Committee says: Where’s the parking?

During the transition from discussion to final document, it seems that many issues raised by the Economic Development Committee are not included in the final document. Among what is absent was their stance on adequate parking for business and residential purposes. Also: "Don't presume that students, staff, or residents won't have cars needing to be parked somewhere. 80% of current students are non-local."

Economic Development Committee – Gateway Plan recommendations, drafts, and video

UPDATED WITH DRAFTS and the August 2, 2022 video ---- The Economic Development Committee's Recommendations for the General Plan update. From their August 2, 2022 meeting.

Windowless bedrooms? Sunlight is considered a luxury benefit

In recent years, windowless bedrooms have become somewhat normalized on college campuses. Students at the University of Texas, Austin and the University of Michigan are currently renting dorm bedrooms without windows. Sunlight in your bedroom could become a luxury as cities debate allowing landlords to rent windowless rooms in former office buildings to alleviate the housing crisis.

City Council selects two new Planning Commissioners – January 4, 2023

Videos and discussion of the City Council's process of selecting two new Planning Commissioners. Choosing a new Planning Commissioner for Arcata is an important task. The ideas and opinions and visions that are promoted (or withheld) by the two new Planning Commissioners in the discussions on the Gateway Area Plan will have the potential to change the look and feel of Arcata for the next 50 or 100 years. 

Prefab Tiny Homes in Villages all over U.S.

The Everett, Washington-based company "Pallet" is making $7,500 prefab tiny homes that can be setup in 1 hour to help solve the homelessness crisis. Its smallest $7,500 64-square-foot unit "Pallet 64" is now being used in villages across the US.

Organic Food Waste: It’s very considerate of people….

"It's very considerate of people to separate their trash." Perhaps require new construction to accommodate or have collection services for food-waste -- as is done in Korea currently.

Homelessness 85 years ago: How can you keep on moving?

Ry Cooder from his second album "Into the Purple Valley," 1972. The song is a Depression Era late-1930s song, in protest to California's "No More Migration" laws. Also here is the Sis Cunningham version from 1976,

In the media:  Articles and links — non-local

A growing collection of non-local articles and links that pertain to Gateway, Arcata, Humboldt, California, national, global, and (perhaps) galactic issues.  Please send us links to your favorites so they can be added.

In the media:  Articles and links — Local

A growing collection of local articles and links that pertain to Gateway, Arcata, Humboldt, California, national, global, and (perhaps) galactic issues.  Please send us links to your favorites so they can be added.

City of Arcata Documents

Here you can read Arcata City documents. City Council agendas, Infill Market Study....

Links to ADU information, design ideas, and more

Links to other websites with photos, designs, and discussion about Accessory Dwelling Units.

Draft Gateway Plan WordCloud

Which words are repeated hundreds of times in the draft Gateway plan? And which words are conspicuous by their absence? Hint: You won't find the word "sun" or "sunshine" there. Or "solar shade" or "solar shadow" either. There are over 28,000 words in this document. "House" and "Home" do not appear even once.

Affordable Housing: Thinking ‘Outside the Box’

Providing housing for working-class people does not involve rocket science. Major technological breakthroughs aren't required to create low-income housing. It is a matter of national will.

Density Guide for Housing Types

A density guide that shows the variety of types of housing that is suitable for different density levels.  Which types would be suitable for Arcata?

Rentals Percentage in Arcata: “Do the math”

Arcata's Gateway plan could add 3,500 apartments to our town, as Cal Poly Humboldt expands. Unless more than 60% of all new apartments are owner-occupied condos, Arcatans will have small chance of owning their homes.

Sea Level Rise – the basics

Sea Level Rise could affect plans for the Gateway area. See maps here of what Sea Level Rise looks like.

Arcata plans for future influx of residents – January 30, 2019

Arcata State of the City 2019 report. "“Other parts of the state are going to become uninhabitable,” David Loya said. “We aren’t going to prevent people from moving here; there’s going to be climate migration, so we need to plan for it.”

Facebook Conversations #1: April 9, 2022

Here are some citizens' views, as expressed on Facebook. From April 9, 2022. Tom Wheeler, Chris Richards, Aaron DeBruyn, Meredith Matthews, Bonnie Carroll, Lee Torrence.

“Arcata News” video of the Gateway Plan

Excellent brief video about the background and basis of the Gateway plan. Date: January 16, 2022. 3 minutes 42 seconds

Transcript: Planning Commission meeting — February 8, 2022

Transcript with added commentary. Includes misguided views on the cost of housing. Public comment from Carlisle Douglas.

Useful Links

A list of useful links, including links to the City of Arcata documents, Community Visioning workshops, and many interesting and valuable websites.

The Draft Gateway Area Plan – July 2023 – Version 3

The July 11, 2023, 3rd draft of the "Draft Gateway Area Plan." In chapters for easy viewing. Also includes the 2nd draft from October 2022, and the 1st draft, from December 2021.