Arcatians want little more than nice-looking roads and a high quality of life, indicate results from Arcata’s latest FlashVote poll.

This is the second time city hall has surveyed residents using the FlashVote tool. This survey had 240 respondents, 60 fewer than the last poll in October. 

The new poll focused on funding. It asked residents which priorities were the most important to them: out of six choices (plus options for “other” or “none of these”), the two far in the lead were about improving the local economy and quality of life and “enhancing the appearance, safety, and overall livability of Arcata.” More than 70% of the survey’s respondents selected those options. 

Roughly tied for a distant third were “provide leadership in environmental stewardship and climate change preparedness” and “support community creative and cultural life.” 

Respondents paid a lot of attention to transportation and public utilities. Almost 70% of them said they’d prioritize city funding for streets and roads. Another 57 people said they’d only support renewing the Measure G 0.75% sales tax if the revenue was spent exclusively on streets and transportation policies. Out of a hypothetical $100 earned from Measure H, Arcata’s latest sales tax hike, the average respondent said they’d spend $25 on the homeless, the most out of any category.

Much of the open-ended feedback was about either funding homeless services or endorsing more heavy-handed solutions to the issue, and $22 of that hypothetical $100 would have been spent on this. 

Survey answerers also complained about the upcoming water rate increase. 

Some people seemed pleased just to be asked for their opinion.

“Thanks for asking for my input :),” said one. “No other comments,” said another. “Thank you for asking.”

If you live or work in Arcata and you’re interested in responding to future polls, you can sign up here.

🔥Bonus Round🔥

As Humboldt County’s premier news-mongerers, it pains us when people don’t seem to have a solid grasp on what’s going on. It hurt, trawling through some of these comments, to notice that many of these poor people are asking for things that the city’s already delivered. So! A quick list of things you may have thought were pie-in-the-sky, but are actually already yesterday’s (or last year’s) news. (All grammatical and typographical errors are [sic].) 

“Put a bathroom at redwood park! It’s probably the most used park in Arcata and there’s one port o potty?! Which by the way kids are scared of. People poop in the woods which is not good for wildlife .” 

It re-opened in November. 

“To combat government corruption, Arcata should be as transparent as possible with the budget…”

It is. Check out this neat overview of all $110.7 million in Arcata’s budget, and this informative tool that breaks everything down by category. Can’t blame you for not being able to find it, though; these are a little buried on the city’s website.

“Please put in additional outdoor Pickleball (only)Courts. The Larson Park area is used more by Pickleball players than tennis players, yet we have no permanent outdoor pickleball courts with permanent nets in Arcata.”

There have been pickleball-specific courts open at Carlson Park since September 2024.

“…Make Arcata more bike friendly: Purchase a compact/mini-sweeper specifically designed for protected bike lanes and narrow streets/trail. This would help keep bike lanes clear from debris and minimize flat tires, encouraging bike riding.”

Does this thing count? The city has been cleaning bike lanes with it since its purchase last year. 

“…A large enclosed dog park would be beneficial for the many, many dogs living here locally…”

Already been done. 

Have fun enjoying your bathrooms, street sweeper, dog park, and data visualization tools, everybody!