‘A Symbolic Gesture’

By Kimberly Wear

PUBLISHER

Melissa Sanderson melissa@northcoastjournal.com

NEWS EDITOR

Thadeus Greenson thad@northcoastjournal.com

ARTS & FEATURES EDITOR

Jennifer Fumiko Cahill jennifer@northcoastjournal.com

DIGITAL EDITOR

Kimberly Wear kim@northcoastjournal.com

CALENDAR EDITOR

Kali Cozyris calendar@northcoastjournal.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

John J. Bennett, Simona Carini, Wendy Chan, Barry Evans, Mike Kelly, Kenny Priest

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Holly Harvey holly@northcoastjournal.com

GRAPHIC DESIGN/PRODUCTION

Heidi Bazán Beltrán, Dave Brown, Rory Hubbard, Renée Thompson ncjads@northcoastjournal.com

ADVERTISING MANAGER

Kyle Windham kyle@northcoastjournal.com

SENIOR ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE

Bryan Walker bryan@northcoastjournal.com

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE

Heather Luther heather@northcoastjournal.com

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

Mark Boyd classified@northcoastjournal.com

BOOKKEEPER

Deborah Henry billing@northcoastjournal.com

OFFICE MANAGER/DISTRIBUTION

Michelle Dickinson michelle@northcoastjournal.com classified@northcoastjournal.com

Editor: I have watched that beautiful tree on Second Street, the prettiest in Eureka, for years. It’s (er, it was) on the bay side just before the Carson Mansion. I noted its roots pressing against the curb, but never said anything, knowing the city of Eureka’s homicidal attitude towards its few remaining trees. Oh, I know. The curb will give way eventually. So what? Few cars drive that section anyway. I certainly wouldn’t expect Miles Slattery and his minions to do anything remotely imaginative — like transform that lovely block into a pedestrian area.

Enough! Next time I see a tree on its way to yet another cavalier destruction, count on me. I’ll spread my arms around it, and they will have to carry me away by force. I invite you to join me.

Louisa Rogers, Eureka

Editor:

Lack of transparency in government was last week’s NCJ cover article, with examples from all over the United States (“The Foilies,” March 23). But we don’t have to go far to uncover transparency issues. We can look right here at Arcata’s Gateway Plan.

Fourteen months ago at open house meetings we expressed our viewpoints.

Hundreds of people attended. As it turned out, public input showed 97 percent wanting Gateway buildings to be four stories or under. Two percent wanted six stories. Zero percent said seven. The official “engagement report” is silent on this.

Crucial letters from the public about this plan have been hidden. They aren’t seen until after the meeting the letter was written for has passed.

Do Arcatans want to see L Street — right next to the Creamery, where we come for festivals and fun — turned into a truck route? I don’t think so. Nor does Arcata’s Transportation Safety Committee. But that committee’s voice likewise has been ignored.

The Gateway Plan’s latest draft actually states it contains nothing that disagrees. Three months later a list with what’s supposed to be that missing input came out. It has maybe 5 percent of what doesn’t “comport.”

California’s Brown Act: “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.”

Arcata’s Gateway Plan specifically promises to supply housing that working people can afford to rent and buy. That is written in the document. I wish it were true. The Plan has no assurance of providing this. None.

The process is a failure in terms of listening to the people. Want transparency and better Gateway results? Visit arcata1. com for more information — and come to the planning commission meetings to speak your voice.

Fred Weis, Arcata

Editor:

As efforts continue to spread across our country to ban books and restrict by age the ability of children to select books at public and school libraries, The League of Women Voters of Humboldt County (LWVHC), of which I’m co-president, in its Library Facilities Position affirms its support for “improved library facilities in the Humboldt County Library District.”

Our libraries are important community centers whose resources are available to all. Classes and other special events are held in our libraries at little or no cost.

During the height of the pandemic, the library staff created ways to make library books available without endangering anyone’s health.

Rather than trying to ban books or dictate what may be read, Humboldt County citizens support our libraries. This is evidenced by volunteers who run the Friends of the Redwood Libraries, which does many things to support the local library. This includes operating the Serendipity Bookstore in the Eureka Library, as well as holding periodic book sales.

In addition, volunteers and library staff work together for the very popular, biennial Humboldt County Children’s Author Festival, which, by the way, is being honored at this year’s State of the Community Luncheon on Friday, April 21.

The LWVHC appreciates all that the staff and volunteers are doing to continually update and improve library services and in its position statement supports “improved broadband and multimedia services” and increased “accessibility and convenience to the public throughout the community.”

The LWVHC believes that “improved library facilities in the Humboldt Library District’’ means library patrons may continue to choose what books they want to read, and parents may continue to allow their children to select their own books. As all libraries in Humboldt County district continue to be available for our communities, The LWVHC wants to thank all who make this possible.

Sharolyn Hutton, Eureka

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Sky becomes a hovercraft of doom and I’m thinking, ‘now what?’ as I sit in the queue waiting to cross this quake-damaged bridge, shaken even more by the string of events that followed, reminding us of everything nature has to throw at us, leaving the bridge open to one-way traffic only, each determined repair challenged by storm after storm.

My gaze turns to just below the horizon where coming in low and bright from a bull pine by the river, bald eagle dives, a host of sparrows erupting skyward, and lunch eludes him as the flagger waves me on and I continue on my way.

— Adrienne Veronese