By this point, the lineage of Humboldt County’s main moneymakers is general knowledge. Timber-fisheries-weed. They are dead. Long live the extractive industries. But something needs to take its place at the head, end the interregnum. How will Arcata make its ends meet, blacken its bottom line, keep the coffers full and the wallet fat? 

Representatives from consulting firm Civic Possible shared some bird’s eye strategies for expanding Arcata’s economy at a city council meeting yesterday. They stressed the lengthy timeline and depth of their research, interviewing some five-dozen or so locals and surveying 256 of them to determine what they want out of their city’s economy. They landed on a few ideas. 

Growth, they said, is a dirty word. Or can be. Many of their respondents were not interested in the idea of “growing” Arcata, they said, or at least they said they weren’t. What they did want, representatives Jason Schneider and Stacy Humphrey said, was “good growth,” the kind of growing that didn’t threaten their quality of life or Arcata’s identity, the “creativity, openness, and distinct character that makes it worth living in,” as they put it. 

What Arcata needs is, according to Schneider and Humphrey, is to make Arcata MORE Arcata. Own it. It has a lot going for it, so maximize those qualities and turn on the money-printer: the Plaza, nature, the new trails, the way people here enjoy supporting one another. And Cal Poly Humboldt, which they called Arcata’s “greatest competitive advantage.” Young people flock to Arcata for the university, they said, and many of them stick around. Educated people (hopefully) start businesses, make money, hire people, pay them, make more money, pay their taxes, and get bigger. And make more money. Schneider and Humphrey seemed a little entranced by outdoor gear; they brought up onetime Arcata business Yakima Racks a few times, as well as something Bend, Oregon did to jumpstart gear development. Could be a model here too, Schneider said. Whatever the case, Arcata needs to make it easy for people to start businesses and get support for them, they said. 

The thing that may be most beneficial for Arcata would be designating it a “basecamp” for exploring the nearby nature, they said, and selling the idea to potential North Coast visitors. That’s an idea already being tossed around by the Chamber of Commerce, who made a whole demo website on-spec for the city they debuted at a city council meeting a few weeks ago. People could stay at Arcata’s hotels and eat at its restaurants for however long they’re here, traipsing around the county all day and then coming back to Arcata in the evening to blow through scads of cash. A few other cities are already considering using the “basecamp” idea, councilmember Meredith Matthews pointed out, so they should hop on it if they’re going to use it at all. 

Everyone also wants vacant parcels and empty buildings filled with businesses and life, the consultants and city hall agreed. Outdoor dining, an “entertainment zone” designation (its meaning left unspecified), improving access between Cal Poly Humboldt and Arcata’s downtown might all help with making the city feel livelier. 

The challenges to implementing the consultants’ plans are manifest, they acknowledged. Housing, in particular, remains a pebble in the shoe of any scheme to get people to start businesses or entice Cal Poly graduates to stick around. 

“It comes back to this idea of, like, there’s all these wonderful opportunities,” councilmember Sarah Schaefer said, “but nobody’s gonna stay if there’s not a place for them to live.”