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.

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.

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.

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.

Planning Commissioner Matt Simmons proposed a change in the zoning of established Arcata neighborhoods, from Residential Low Density to Residential High Density. What is behind his rationale? Would such zoning change help people find housing?

28-1/2 minute video and a full transcription -- what it contains and what it omits. Discusses "Plan B" alternatives for a K-L Street couplet FOR THE FIRST TIME. Minimizes and omits the issues with putting a new road on L Street. Discusses the issues with the alternatives to L Street, and neglects to mention THOSE SAME ISSUES about L Street. Declines to discuss the most obvious alternate to a K-L Street couplet, which is: No new road there at all.

"So the way that we add equity into our community... is by increasing the demand." David Loya speaks at the Feb 12 2022 Planning Commission on housing supply and demand. This article was originally written May 30, 2022 -- over a year ago. It exposes the vast misunderstandings and distorted viewpoints of David Loya, Arcata's Community Development Director, with regard to what determines the costs of housing. Please read and see if you can make any sense out of what Mr. Loya is proposing for Arcata.

“And our design standards and Community Benefits programs are unlikely to be implemented due to waivers and concessions.” --- Arcata's Director of Community Development David Loya has provided this video presentation of the various affordable housing programs. 15-1/2 minutes, July 28, 2023. VIDEO and full TRANSCRIPTION.

John Barstow served Arcata on the Planning Commission and the earlier Design Review Committee for 30 years. He retired in October, 2022. He favored a four-story building height and was not optimistic about the Community Benefits program. He also recognized that "The development of the Form-Based Code is really the hard part of this process."

More than 60 members of our community came to City Hall on Wednesday, June 7th, for the Arcata City Council meeting. Many people, including Centro del Pueblo Executive Director Brenda Perez, spoke to the Council. Over the past three years, the Sanctuary Gardens has been vandalized one dozen times. The people of Arcata are asking the City Council  to do something.

More than 60 members of our community came to City Hall on Wednesday, June 7th, for the Arcata City Council meeting. Many people, including Centro del Pueblo Executive Director Brenda Perez, spoke to the Council. Over the past three years, the Sanctuary Gardens has been vandalized one dozen times. The people of Arcata are asking the City Council  to do something.

Affordable Housing, Home Ownership, and Gentrification were featured topics for discussion at the May 9, 2023, Planning Commission meeting.  But there was no discussion of affordable housing or home-ownership opportunities at that Planning Commission meeting.  No discussion at all -- just a staff report on this crucial topics. **** This is that staff report -- with COMMENTARY.

Arcata's Community Development Director David Loya explains his version of how single-family houses will become available for sale. As more apartments are built, people will want to live in apartments and rental houses will become vacant, and the owners will sell. Could this be true?

Providing housing for people is the key purpose of the Gateway Area Plan. "Home ownership opportunities” is defined as owner-occupied housing that’s affordable to people of all income ranges, including middle-income and even lower-income households. *** David Loya told the Planning Commission how these home ownership opportunities could happen. In my view, what he describes as being feasible is nonsense.

Providing housing for people is the key purpose of the Gateway Area Plan. "Home ownership opportunities” is defined as owner-occupied housing that’s affordable to people of all income ranges, including middle-income and even lower-income households. *** David Loya told the Planning Commission how these home ownership opportunities could happen. In my view, what he describes as being feasible is nonsense.

Gary Patton: Let's not wait around for someone else to tell us what has happened to us, and about the history that has been made in our names. Let's talk to our neighbors, and friends, and get to work. We have challenges and opportunities to confront, and it's not "the government" that is supposed to do things. WE are supposed to do things.

What happened at the April 11, 2023, Planning Commission meeting? The Chair first announced that there would be just a single period for public comment. Then, after a one-minute private discussion with David Loya, the Chair relented and allowed additional public comment at the conclusion of the main topic of the night. Video and transcription.

Maggie Murchie worked in the Arcata Community Development Department for 23 years, from 1986 through December 2009. As the primary face behind the counter, she was the first step for anyone needing a building permit, a zoning inquiry, a building code question, information on an on-going project in Arcata, and everything in-between and beyond. She had a style of interacting with the public that was pleasant, productive, and most definitely unique. ---- Please write with your memories, and they can be added to this tribute.

Susan Ornelas served on Arcata's City Council for eleven consecutive years, from 2008 through March, 2020. She was Mayor of Arcata in 2011 and 2017. Among Susan's concerns for the future of Arcata's citizens is the difficulty for younger people to buy a home. "We know when people own a home in a town, they are more likely to volunteer for City boards, school boards, PTAs, as sports coaches for their kids, etc. Home ownership helps to create the kind of town we all want to live in!"

Community Development Director David Loya provided a concise explanation of California's myriad Density Bonus housing laws in the March 2023 Planning Commission staff reports. It is included it here so it can be referred to at any time.

Based on what we've seen, our Community Development Department has an aversion to providing Executive Summaries and actually presenting fact-based conclusions for Arcata's decision-makers. Staff also seems to have an aversion to completing or finalizing ANYTHING. Both the "Strategic Infill Redevelopment Program:  Community Engagement Report (Draft)" -- submitted to the public on June 17, 2022 -- and the "City of Arcata Sea Level Rise Risk Assessment" report from April, 2018, are MISSING entirely their Executive Summaries -- even though those summaries are promoted as being part of the documents.

At the November 8th, 2022, Planning Commission meeting, David Loya acted as though he was familiar with the 2010 City study that proposes what amounts to a linear park on the L Street Corridor. But from his speaking, it was clear he did not know what that study contains. A suggestion to him: Come to the Arcata1.com website and learn.

As David Loya puts it: The Gateway Area Plan has three primary means for increasing ownership opportunities. First, as the unit count in the area increases to meet the housing needs of the rental sector, new units with comparable rents to bedrooms in single-family homes that are older will attract the current market sector renting single-family homes. The single-family housing stock currently in the student housing market will become less attractive as an investment asset, and those homes will open to the for-sale market.