###

When it comes to thwarting the City of Eureka’s current housing development plans downtown, Security National Properties has shown that money is no object.

The commercial real estate servicing firm founded by semi-local tycoon Robin P. Arkley II has spent more than $710,000 to date financing Measure F, the “Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative,” according to the latest financial disclosure documents submitted to the City.

The “Yes on F” committee, sponsored by Security National, spent $396,729.38 in the first six months of this year, plus $314,415.27 last year. All but $500 of that has come exclusively from Security National, which is also financing Citizens for a Better Eureka, a political group that has filed multiple lawsuits in an attempt to preserve parking lots by blocking affordable housing developments. (The other $500, as we reported in February, was donated by former Renner Petroleum owner Michael Lawrence Renner, who now lives outside Las Vegas.)

Arkley has been engaged in a very bitter and personal feud with Eureka staff and council members for more than three years now, ever since he learned about the City’s plans to convert municipal parking lots into affordable housing developments, an initiative aimed at promoting infill development while meeting the city’s regional housing needs allocation (RHNA), as outlined in its general plan and required by the state. 

Security National executives initially explored the possibility of entering into a land-exchange deal with the city to preserve the parking lot at Fifth and D streets, near its Eureka headquarters. But when those negotiations fell through, an irate Arkley threatened lawsuits, a referendum and a recall drive.

###

This past November, Security National paid $650,000 to purchase the parking lot in front of City Hall, at the corner of Fifth and K streets, and promptly put up barricades that prevent anyone from parking there. The company’s Knoxville, Tenn.-based spokesperson, Gail Rymer, explained via email, “The company is currently conducting highest and best use studies for the property and for liability reasons does not allow access to the site.”

Campaign finance reports show that, in the “Yes on F” campaign, Security National has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring out-of-town political consultants, plus tens of thousands on glossy mailers, radio ads, web development and professional services. The campaign reported more than $142,000 in outstanding debt. 

Rymer alone charged Security National more than $115,000 for her services in the first half of the year, mostly for consulting. (About $51,000 of her bill has yet to be paid, according to the forms.)

Meanwhile, the Committee Opposed to the Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative [which last month renamed itself “No on Measure F: A Committee to Defend Eureka’s Housing”] raised $11,904.38 through the end of June and spent $7,686.08. In other words, the campaign nicknamed “F No Eureka” has been outspent by a margin of roughly 93-to-one.

[CLARIFICATION: “F No Eureka” is unaffiliated with the “No on Measure F” committee. That committee’s social media page is titled “I Like Eureka Housing” and it’s website, realhousing4eureka.com, is here.]

Top donors to the “F No” “No on F” campaign include the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, AFL-CIO (which chipped in $1,000); the Humboldt Democratic Central Committee ($1,500); and Eureka resident Tyler Chapman ($1,000). 

The next campaign finance disclosure deadline will be on Sept. 26, followed by one more pre-election report deadline on Oct. 24. Election Day is Nov. 5.

###

ADDENDUM, 2:40 p.m.: Just a couple other observations worth mentioning here: The last time Eureka had a citywide initiative on the ballot was in 2020, with both Measure C (ranked-choice voting) and Measure H (a 1.25 percent local sales tax). Both measures passed, with Measure H receiving the higher number of total votes: 12,129.

Like this year, 2020 was a presidential election year, so it’s probably safe to assume that turnout will be similar. If we go ahead and make that assumption, then divide the total amount Security National has spent on Measure F thus far by the number of likely voters, we get a per-voter dollar total of $58.63. In other words, if you’re a Eureka resident planning to vote in November, Arkley’s company has spent almost $60 trying to convince you personally to vote “yes” on Measure F.

Also interesting: Thadeus Greenson over at the North Coast Journal notes even more connective tissue between the “Yes on F” campaign and AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC, the secretive corporation seeking to acquire the former Jacobs Middle School campus from Eureka City Schools in a deal valued at $6 million.

The “Yes on F” campaign has enlisted Everview, the San Diego law firm founded by attorney Bradley B. Johnson, who, in addition to being Security National’s go-to lawyer, has been intimately involved in the Jacobs deal, and he’s representing Citizens for a Better Eureka in its lawsuits against the city. 

The “Yes on F” campaign also paid $11,190 to a Sacramento-based political consultant named Sara Lee, which is the same name as a spokesperson who has responded to media inquiries on behalf of AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC, Greenson reports.

###