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This year’s Eureka City Council election is shaping up to be an interesting race, with multiple candidates vying for each seat. Some of the candidates have answered your questions in LoCO Elections, but who are they really? What do they care about? And why are they subjecting themselves to public scrutiny and the slow-moving bureaucracy that is inherent to public office? 

LoCO is going ward by ward to introduce you to the next round of civic leaders. We’re going to start with Ward 1, which spans the West Side and Clarke-Jefferson neighborhoods and a good chunk of the Broadway corridor. The seat is currently held by Leslie Castellano.

Meet your candidates for Ward 1!

Victor Garcia: ‘For the Future Eureka Deserves’

Victor Garcia hails from the Southern California city of Glendale. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara with a political science degree and bouncing around service industry jobs in Orange County for a few years, Garcia moved to Eureka in December 2020 and took a job as a code enforcement/permit technician with the City of Arcata.

During a recent interview with the Outpost, Garcia said he’s been involved in politics in some form or another since 2016, when Bernie Sanders launched his first presidential campaign. After Sanders lost in the Democratic primaries, Garcia kept organizing within the Democratic Party, serving as a delegate in Southern California and cofounding the Lavender Democrats, an LGBT+ political club based in Orange County.

After moving to Eureka, Garcia joined the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee and currently serves as the organization’s vice chair. In 2024, he became involved with the “No on F” campaign, which opposed Measure F, a controversial ballot initiative that sought to halt half a dozen planned or in-progress affordable housing developments on four city-owned parking lots downtown Eureka.

Garcia

“That was also my introduction into just how personal a lot of the politics are here. … I think people really were upset at the sleight of hand that they were seeing,” he said, referring to the Eureka City Schools board of trustees’ decision to sell the former Jacobs Middle School campus to a mysterious developer. The land swap deal was scrapped eight months later. “That really started getting me more [politically] involved locally.”

Asked what inspired him to run for Eureka City Council, Garcia said, “I want this city to deliver.”

“I still believe that government can and should be a force for good in people’s lives, but specifically local government needs to deliver because when it doesn’t, people lose faith in government, and there’s only so much trust or faith to go around,” he said. “When you talk to someone [who works] with the homeless … they’re feeling frustrated and abandoned [because] they feel a lack of attention. I’ve gotten that feedback multiple times, and that worries me because what happens when we lose those people? … We can’t let that happen.”

Affordability is a consistent theme in conversations with Ward 1 residents, Garcia said, with many people expressing concerns about property taxes and rent. 

Others were worried about rate hikes and some of the city’s infrastructure projects, like the C Street Bike Boulevard. The controversial project reconfigured C Street between Waterfront Drive and Harris Street to deter drivers from using it as a north-south corridor and make the road safer for cyclists. The project has received widespread condemnation from residents who claim the city didn’t provide adequate notice about the project’s construction.

“There are a lot of ways we can … make people feel more felt and seen, and I think C Street’s a great example of not being heard and not being seen,” Garcia said. “Not my words, but these are [the] words [of constituents]: nightmare, confusing, dangerous, underutilized. … The design — the way I say it diplomatically — was very ambitious. A lot of individually good ideas went into that design, but for one short street, that’s a lot.”

Garcia acknowledged that the project was tied to grant money that had specific criteria that influenced the design of the project. Still, he felt the city should work with residents rather than imposing projects on the community. “Ultimately, I think the city council had the opportunity to approve or deny the design, and as frustrating as it is to go back to the drawing board, I think maybe it’s a good lesson for when a similarly ambitious design [is proposed].”

Given his involvement with the “No on F,” I asked Garcia what he thought about the ongoing parking-versus-housing debate. He acknowledged that it can be difficult to find parking in Old Town, but expressed more concern about parking along Fourth and Fifth streets.

“Parking on Fourth and Fifth is not safe [and] there aren’t that many parking lots available that serve Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh,” he said. “There’s a lot of businesses there, and that’s something I think we don’t talk about enough because we focus on Old Town. We have parking — maybe not enough parking as people are used to, but we have parking.”

That said, Garcia said he isn’t a fan of the city’s new Passport Parking Program, which rolled out earlier this year. The program, which requires app-based pre-payment through a smartphone, generated $40,000 in revenue for the city in its first four months, with an estimated $30,000 worth of unpaid parking citations. 

Garcia isn’t against the idea of paid parking, but he doesn’t like the use of third-party apps and “having to put people through more hurdles to do something they already don’t want to do.”

“In general, I do think the evolution is that we need to consider a multi-story parking structure or a couple strategically placed throughout the city,” he continued. “We are seeing these bigger housing units going up, and there will be an impact. … I support trying to get folks to use public transportation or biking, but people are still going to have a car up here. It’s also just the culture.”

There are several housing developments already underway in Eureka, but city staff will have to plan for another 1,740 over the next decade as a part of the state-mandated Housing Element — almost double the target set in the current planning cycle. The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) doesn’t require cities and counties to build all these units; they just need to plan for them.

Given that the city is largely built out, Garcia spoke in favor of innovative strategies and “alternative housing models,” such as tiny homes and accessory dwelling units. However, he said he generally disagreed with the state “forcing local jurisdictions to solve a statewide issue.”

“That is a bone that I have to pick with the state because the grant money that they offer is not enough money [to build],” he said. “What’s the point of raising all these bond measures and billions of dollars if we’re not gonna use them to give people housing? … I objectively disagree with the way that we have been cornered, and by ‘we’ I mean every jurisdiction has been cornered into carrying water for what is a statewide crisis.”

Garcia clarified that he is not advocating to “sacrifice the city at the altar of the state” but felt the current strategy fails to address the “bigger structural problem that’s happening.” He added that the current economic crisis is “pushing more and more people to the brink” and advocated for rent stabilization to help keep people in their homes.

“The main reason folks end up homeless is because of loss of income,” he said, adding that people end up on the streets for a variety of reasons. “I will dispel this idea that you’re homeless because you’re an addict. It’s loss of income … because there’s a lot of folks dealing with addiction or mental health [issues] [who] are housed.”

Speaking more generally about the city’s homelessness crisis, Garcia emphasized that “getting folks into stable housing is the first step.” He also spoke in favor of supportive programs including Uplift Eureka, the Eureka Police Department’s Community Safety Engagement Team (CSET) and Crisis Alternative Response Eureka (CARE). 

Asked for his thoughts on Eureka’s controversial anti-camping ordinance, which was rejected by the city council last year, Garcia said, “In general, I don’t believe in incarcerating people for trying to find a place to sleep because the cards are already stacked against houseless folks.” The ordinance would have increased penalties for some people living in unauthorized homeless encampments, but the council felt it was “far too broad,” with some council members arguing that it targeted an individual’s “status, not conduct.” 

“We have laws that should be enforced already,” Garcia said, referring to two existing city policies that restrict unlawful camping, sitting, lying and loitering in public spaces. “We have to figure out how to get people off the streets and into housing. [There is] all this affordable housing that’s being built, [but] the reality is we still need an income … that’s why I’ve been pushing for boarding-style kind of homes and alternative ways of housing folks, because we don’t have the money to put everyone up.”

You can read more about Victor Garcia on LoCO Elections or at victor4eureka.com.

Jason McCutcheon: ‘Bring Back Common Sense’

Jason McCutcheon, a security supervisor for the Bear River Casino and lifelong resident of Eureka, was the first to throw his hat in the ring for the Ward 1 seat. He’s been actively engaging with constituents and posting AI imagery to his candidate Facebook page since early March. (McCutcheon has since committed to stop using AI, claiming he’s “only used it a few times.”)

During a recent phone interview, McCutcheon told the Outpost that he was inspired to run because he’s dissatisfied with the city’s current governance.

McCutcheon

“I’ve lived here my whole life, and I’ve seen some stuff that I would personally like to change,” he said. “If you want to see stuff change, you either need to step up and try [to] find a solution for it or sit down and keep your mouth shut.”

One of McCutcheon’s main objectives is improving the local economy. If elected to the city council, he hopes to reduce startup costs for local businesses to encourage new retailers to set up shop in empty storefronts. Doing so, he said, would help generate sales tax and reduce the city’s reliance on grant funding to “help Eureka be prosperous again.”

“If you have enough businesses, the city is self-sustainable,” he claimed.

Some of the business owners McCutcheon has spoken with throughout his campaign have attributed declining profits to the city’s homelessness crisis. “A lot of them are worried that they may have to leave because of the homeless issue,” he said. “I’ve told these [businesses] that we don’t want [them] to leave, and [that] the city is going to have to find a way to resolve or at least find solutions for the homeless issue.”

McCutcheon acknowledged that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to addressing homelessness, but felt the city should be doing more to “find solutions that work.” 

“I mean, we can’t group them all into one big category and think one solution works for everybody because that’s not how it works,” he said. “[I]f people want the help … why don’t we try and find ways to try and get them into some sort of rehab, so we can get them into housing and help them find jobs and stuff like that.”

The city has a few existing programs that provide such services, including Uplift Eureka, CSET and CARE, described in further detail above. McCutcheon voiced support for the programs, noting that he’s ridden with CSET twice, and said, “They do amazing work.” Still, he felt the city could do more to get people off the street.

Asked what he would do to address the issue if elected to council, McCutcheon said, “There’s a fine line between enforcement and removing [people] from the streets — and you don’t want to do that because then that looks like kidnapping, and … I 100% do not want that. … I have visited the Rescue Mission down on Second Street, and I believe it is a fantastic organization. … Teen Challenge [also] does amazing work. … If we could have more organizations like that, that’d be fantastic.”

Asked about the now-discarded anti-camping ordinance, McCutcheon said he wasn’t necessarily opposed to the proposal, but felt the version presented to council last year was poorly written. “I would not be against revisiting [it],” he added.

On the parking-versus-housing debate, McCutcheon acknowledged that the city needs more housing, but said it should be built in residential areas, not downtown and Old Town. “[B]y taking away parking in Old Town, they are taking away business from the businesses,” he said. “Old Town is meant for businesses and tourism, not housing.”

McCutcheon was particularly critical of the Linc Housing development being constructed on Myrtle Avenue due to the lack of parking. 

“I personally wouldn’t have picked that spot because there is no parking,” he said, suggesting that new complexes should be built with parking on the ground floor and apartments up top. “[That way] you’re not taking parking away from the people who’ve lived in that area.”

Instead, McCutcheon felt the city should build on empty lots in neighborhoods, like the long-vacant property just up the street from the California Market. 

“I don’t know who owns that lot, but one day I was sitting here thinking, ‘Why can’t we build up like a fourplex there?’” he said. “That would be perfect. … We have lots like that all over the place.”

Asked about his feelings on the city’s vacant building ordinance being used as a tool to reduce blight in the city and open up the city’s housing stock, McCutcheon said he didn’t like the idea of fining people, but agreed that there should be penalties for property owners who aren’t tending to bushes and trees blocking the sidewalk. 

“I would understand that, [but] that would also come down to how much is the city trying to fine people,” he said. “If they’re gonna sit there and start charging people $200, $300, $400, $500 as a fine, I’m not going to be okay with that since we’re all struggling as it is. A lot of us don’t even have that extra $100, you know?”

Like his opponent, Victor Garcia, McCutcheon feels the city’s leadership should be better at listening to their constituents, a complaint he’s heard time and time again while out door-knocking. He used the C Street Bike Boulevard as an example of a project that residents “were not too happy about.”

“I don’t think it was designed right, personally,” he said. “I have talked to a lot of constituents that I have on C Street, and I have been told by a lot of them that they were never told about [the] C Street [Bike Boulevard] being built. … And I’ve also been told by quite a few [people] that they’ve seen very little or no bikes riding down that road, which makes you wonder: Was that really the best place to put it?”

“I’m all for all types of transportation, but we just got to fully think out where we’re going to put these and how we’re gonna construct them,” he added.

Asked for closing thoughts, McCutcheon reiterated that the city should do more to engage with residents. 

“That’s probably one of my biggest pet peeves,” he said. “[T]he people want to feel heard. The people want to have a voice. Maybe sometimes we just need to have a smaller agenda at city council and just let the people be heard.”

You can learn more about McCutcheon’s campaign on LoCO Elections or votejason2026.org.

Audra Sisson: ‘Rooted in Community, Focused on You’

After living between Southern California and the Bay Area for the last 20 years, Audra Sisson has returned to her hometown to be closer to family. After graduating from San Diego State University with degrees in finance and psychology, Sisson found herself a job in the transportation sector working in fleet management technology. Now that she’s back home in Eureka, she’s transitioning into a new career as a small business owner and running for a seat on the city council.

During a recent interview with the Outpost, Sisson described herself as “a very big-hearted, very compassionate person” and a mental health advocate. She recently joined the board of directors for the local branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and is hoping to start a local veterans support group in honor of all the veterans in her family. 

As a self-proclaimed spiritual healer and founder of Grove Field, a newly formed life and wellness coaching practice, she hopes to help others “create meaningful growth in life, work and community.”

Sisson

“The universe has directed me into giving back to the community and helping others heal from their own trauma,” Sisson said. “I have 20 years of lived experience from trauma myself — relationship trauma, childhood trauma, and so forth — so I am happy to be out of the corporate world and to be following my dreams. It’s exciting.”

Asked what inspired her to run for Eureka City Council, Sisson credited the city with taking a more compassionate approach to policing and implementing supportive programs (CSET, Uplift Eureka, CARE, etc.) but said, “I think we’re missing the finish line.”

“I say that out of all due respect because there are so many great programs here,” she said. “What’s happening is people are getting housing, people are being helped with employment, people with addiction problems are getting treatment — what happens after that? … Oftentimes, we’re seeing these same people back on the streets, and it’s a vicious cycle.”

For Sisson, the “finish line” looks like continued support and mentorship “to make sure the person feels seen, heard and safe.” Maybe one of the city’s support groups could assign a mentor to people who are getting back on their feet, she suggested. “I do believe there’s a way to collaborate within all the work of city, county, nonprofit and for-profit programs.”

While out door-knocking, constituents have expressed concerns around housing, public safety and community services, Sisson said. Like her opponents, she’s heard a lot of people complain about not being heard by elected officials.

“Some residents are happy with Mayor Kim Bergel and the city council and recognize progress that has been made … [but] others tell me they feel certain longstanding issues aren’t being addressed quickly enough or that they don’t always feel heard in the decision-making process,” Sisson said. “There are things the current leadership deserves credit for, and there are also areas where residents want more urgency, transparency and follow-through.”

“That’s one of the reasons I’ve tried to spend time listening to people throughout the ward rather than assuming everyone views City Hall the same way,” she added.

Asked about her feelings on the C Street Bike Boulevard, Sission expressed support for more bicycle infrastructure but didn’t like how the project was implemented. 

“I’ve heard concerns about confusion and traffic flow, and from my own experience I don’t believe the current configuration achieved the right balance,” she said. “When we’re making significant changes to established traffic patterns, they need to be intuitive not only for residents but also for visitors who have never driven those streets before.”

The City of Eureka is planning for another bicycle boulevard on G Street, between Seventh and Henderson streets. Sisson said she would want to look at the proposed design and hear community feedback before deciding on it, but admitted she was concerned about “creating new problems while trying to solve existing ones.”

On the subject of Measure F and the parking-versus-housing debate, Sisson said the failed ballot measure revealed “just how strongly people felt about this issue,” and acknowledged legitimate concerns on both sides.

“Eureka absolutely needs additional housing, including affordable housing, but we also have to recognize how important accessible parking is to the small businesses that make Old Town and Downtown vibrant,” she said. “As a small business owner myself, I hear the concerns from business owners who are already dealing with increased costs and a difficult local economy.”

If elected to council, Sisson said she would advocate for more data on parking utilization and business impacts, as well as projected housing needs, anticipated development costs and potential revenue to ensure “the best overall outcome.”

“That could include better use of existing lots, reasonably priced paid parking, permit options and, where financially feasible, looking at structured or multi-level parking rather than continuing to treat every surface lot as an either/or choice between parking and housing,” she added.

You can learn more about Sisson’s campaign on her candidate Facebook page.