Sunny Brae Park clean up June 28th 11:am - 6:pm

 Please come out to Virginia Way between Beverly Dr and Charles Ave to pitch in!

June 28th  11:am to 6:pm  BBQ at 4:pm

Contact Susan Ornelas for more info or to RSVP: sornelas@cityofarcata.org

Rob Arkley's victory in Humboldt County

How Arkley Came to Run Humboldt County

For over a decade Rob Arkley had tried to win control of Humboldt County politics.  He has funded candidates and of course his wife ran for office.  He formed lobbying groups like Humboldt Sunshine and most notably, HELP (Humboldt Economic & Land Plan), which intended to steer the future of land planning and of course that starts with the General Plan.

Well apparently the voters of Humboldt County didn't want the local billionaire deciding the future of the community for them and they pretty much voted against all the candidates Mr. Arkley put forward, including his wife Cherie, ...though she only lost her bid for mayor by 42 votes.

What happen next was this group that ostensibly had no connections to Rob Arkley and was run by a guy with a pony tail and a beard (Lee Ulansey), called HumCPR sprang up on the heels of the code enforcement debacle and with their financial backing the "gang of four" was swept into office.

These Supervisors then proceeded to appoint commissioners to the Planning Commission.  Well low and behold but we find out in the Northcoast Journal article that the majority of these newly appointed commissioners list membership in HELP on their resumes!?   Is it possible that if Rob had just grown a beard and a pony tail, that he could have done this his own?  That's unlikely, but in the end and through the unholy alliance that HumCPR has cast between developers and so called "back-to-the-landers", they were able to do what Rob Arkley was never able to do on his own, and was to put his lobbyist in control of Humboldt County.

The voters of Humboldt will get one more chance to change that dynamic on Tuesday. We'll see what they do.

Let me remind you that past elections in Humboldt County have been decided by just a handful of votes. Peter LaValle beat Cherie Arkely for mayor by 42 votes and lost four years later to Virginia Bass by just 65 votes , Jeff Leonard won an election with just 28 votes. Sundberg beat Cleary by 154 votes.  So know that in Humboldt County, your vote does count!

Also, in Humboldt County, they'll confirm that count is accurate: www.wired.com/2008/12/unique-transpar/

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Time For A Change

TWO NICE PEOPLE

 

Richard Marks was right when he said that even Virginia's critics agree that she's a nice person.  I know that I've always found her to be very nice.  I think Chris Kerrigan is pretty nice himself, and I'd wager that Richard Marks thinks the same.

What I and many others have been critical of Virginia Bass for is her votes, and her appointments.  I disagree with her position on key issues and that's what I've criticized her for, never for not being nice nor would I ever question her character as a person.  What I take issue with is her politics.

Interestingly many of Bass' supporters seem to want to attack Chris' character and I can only assume that's because they don't feel they'll get much traction attacking his positions, which are mostly popular in Humboldt County over all, and particularly in the 4th District.

This past week I've read letters to the editor about Kerrigan's vision for the future of Humboldt County.  About his commitment to 21st Century jobs, about maintaining our open space and parks and about creating trails.  His belief that when you have safe streets and neighborhoods talented people are drawn to an area, which leads to investment and job growth. About how Kerrigan has supported responsible development in areas that have infrastructure.  His commitment to providing affordable housing as the first step in addressing homelessness.  Kerrigan supports development in the town centers rather than conversion of our resource lands, which creates sprawl and a higher tax burden on the rest of us.  He supports the Fair Wage Act to give Eureka's lowest paid workers a living wage and he will support a county-wide version of this common sense law.  

I've also read letters outlining Chris Kerrigan's many accomplishments, actions and efforts during his eight years on the Eureka City Council. From the street calming program that led to the planting of trees throughout Eureka. Chris also brought forward a marriage equality resolution and an ordinance to extend the library’s hours, a big box ordinance that would have required a conditional use permit before any store over 10,000 square feet was opened in Eureka (this would have applied to the WalMart that just went in at the mall), about fighting to protect funding for seniors, about protecting the rights of minorities and about his efforts at historic preservation such as with the Annie B. Ryan house (that developers intended to demolish).  A major focus of his tenure was city beautification which he continues today as a Keep Eureka Beautiful board member.

 

You hear a lot about the fact that Chris Kerrigan was only 20 years old when he first ran for City Council.  He spent the next eight years of his life working on behalf of this community. The fact is that community is what Chris is all about.  After his two terms on the council were up, he went back to university to complete his education.  Now he's chosen to stay here in Humboldt and is offering to stay in public service rather than pursue a more lucrative career out of town.  I hear a lot of talk about wanting to keep our young people here in Humboldt and here's a great example of a young person who wants to stay!  His youthful energy will bring a lot of what's needed to the Board of Supervisor; most of all it will bring change from the status quo.  When Kerrigan served on the city council he was often in the minority yet he was never afraid to stand up, even when he stood alone, to fight for what was right and in the end he actually won a lot of those battles. Even when he didn't get the more conservative members to reverse their votes he did often get them to find a compromise position, one that more accurately reflected the diverse interests of our community.  We could use that voice on the Board of Supervisors.   We could use some balance and we could use some new ideas.  We've tried it this way, now let's try something different.  Let's try Chris Kerrigan for Supervisor.

 

It's time for a change. 

 

June 3, 2014 Voter Guide

JUNE 3RD 2014 VOTER GUIDE by Richard Salzman

Governor: Jerry Brown (or Peace and Freedom party candidate Cindy Sheehan)
Lt Governor: Gavin Newsom
Sec of State: Alex Padilla
Controller: John Perez
Insur. Commissioner: Dave Jones
Treasurer: John Chiang
Attorney Gen: Kamala Harris
Board of Eq: Fiona Ma
Congress: Andy Caffrey  (Huffman is great and will win by a landslide so I'm voting for Andy who lives here in Humboldt County)
State Senate: Mike McGuire
Assembly: Jim Wood
Sup of Pub Instr: Tom Torlarkson
District Attorney: Elan Firpo
Prop 41:  YES
Prop 42: YES

4th Dist Supervisor (Eureka area): Chris Kerrigan
5th Dist Supervisor (Mckinleyville north): Sharon Latour