Note: This letter was not signed. It purportedly represents “The Students for a Democratic Society chapter of Cal Poly Humboldt.” There is no web presence for a group by this name, or SDS Cal Poly, or SDS Humboldt. 

There is a 2006 organization called Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), with chapters across the US. It takes its name and inspiration from the original SDS of 1960–1969, then the largest radical student organization in US history. The contemporary SDS is a distinct youth and student-led organization. From Wikipedia:  “SDS is a broadly progressive, multi-issue student and youth-led activist organization, which aims to rebuild the student movement through direct action campaigns on college, university, and high school campuses across the United States. While united by a commitment to direct action rather than any particular political ideology, SDS does release statements and resolutions standing against US wars and intervention, racist discrimination, police brutality, homophobic and transphobic attacks, attacks on women, attacks on reproductive rights, and other US and campus-based issues as they emerge.”

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.

Hello there,
The Students for a Democratic Society chapter of Cal Poly Humboldt is in strong support of the Gateway Plan and believes that it is a necessary measure to ensure that there is adequate housing for a growing student body. With HSU making the switch to a Cal Poly there is now a large influx of students with nowhere to live, and the school has told many of us that the city has not allowed them to create enough necessary housing thus far. Regardless of who is actually to blame, the fact remains that something must be done to remedy this crisis. We recognize that this problem will increase houselessness not just among the student body, but also among the citizens of Arcata as well. This housing crisis requires immediate action and because of all of this we strongly believe that this measure is a great first step toward this city and we applaud it.

However, we are strongly opposed to the limiting of walkable housing production with any
additional, lower height restrictions. We believe that in order to support high-quality public
transit and ensure residents can walk or bike to jobs, schools and other destinations,
development must be denser – which requires taller buildings. We also would like you to ensure
that K Street and 11th Street are substantially redesigned to make them safe and comfortable for
walking, biking and rolling. A significant amount of public attention has been paid to L Street
lately, but we believe that K and 11th are the real problems. Currently, these two streets are
barriers to walkability and bikeability. If they aren’t changed, they will prevent the Gateway Plan
from realizing its full potential for producing a walkable, bikeable neighborhood. We are
counting on you to make the right decisions for our city, please don’t let us down.
Signed,
Students for a Democrat Society – CPH