This is a letter written to the single City Councilmember Alex Stillman expressing support for her approving the “Gateway Form Based Code.” In actuality, Councilmember Stillman has to recuse herself from discussion or voting on the Gateway Area Plan.

As a letter written to a single Councilmember, this letter should not have appeared in the City’s Gateway Engagement page, which, by designation of the Community Development Department, is intended for letters to the majority of the Planning Commission.

Note: What is shown below is a copy of the original letter, made for this website. It is included here only so that the contents of the original letter can be searchable. (The PDF received from the City is in the form of an image, and so is not a searchable document.)

What is below is not the letter sent by the letter-writer. It may contain typographical errors and other departures from the original. The PDF displayed above is accurate. The text below is not accurate. It is printed here for indexing purposes, so that each word can be indexed and included in the search.

July 31,2023
Dear Alex.

I am a 57‐year resident of Arcata. I have been active in the community as a school
board member, City committee member, was Director of the Head Start Program for
30 Years and have been involved in many other community activities. I regularly
read the Mad River Union and have followed the Gateway Plan progress closely.

You need to know that despite a few very loud people you have my full support to
move forward with approval of the Gateway Form Based Code. The nay‐sayers have
thrown much mud on the wall about this plan in hopes that something will
stick. And, as you know, there is also much misinformation and hyperbole being
tossed about.

In almost every case the nay‐sayer arguments do not hold water. They oppose the L
street plan because it will ruin a tiny green area, when in fact the implementation of
the plan will actually expand and improve the bicycle, pedestrian green area.

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The say there is no budget for this. Of course, there is no budget because this is only
a plan that may not come to full fruition for many years. It would be silly to build a
city or fire department budget for the year 2040.

They say the bottomland will flood. Yes, perhaps 50% of Arcata including the waste
treatment plant may flood. Arcata will have no alternative but to build levees
around the town just as Amsterdam, which is 7 feet below sea level has done.

They say that the long proven economic theory of supply and demand regarding
housing doesn’t work. They cite a San Francisco study as an example. SF is one of the
highest rent areas in the world and cannot be compared to Arcata.

They talk of the truck route as if L Street will become like I‐5. The large trucks that
come to Arcata deliver to the Co‐op, Murphy’s, Hensel’s etc. If they do not drive on L
Street, they would be on H Street. Would we have the trucks not deliver food to our
grocery stores?

These are a brief sample of the misinformed and illogical arguments that are being
made.

I talk to many Arcata people and some of the NIMBYs and BANANAs (Build
Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Anytime) are old friends. But the overwhelming
majority of Arcata citizens support your efforts in completing the general plan that
includes providing housing and improving transportation in the Gateway area.

Petitions circulated at the Co‐op include names of people who do not live in Arcata
or even Humboldt County. These people are generally uninformed or
misinformed. Do not fall prey to the nay‐sayers’ tactics.

As the plan moves forward the screams of the BANANAs will grow louder. They are a
small group and do not represent the wishes of the majority.

Thank you for your service to our community.
It is a time‐consuming and sometimes difficult job.

Sincerely,
Siddiq Steve Kilkenny