Carmelo Flory Gamaza (“Venezuela”)
January 22, 1949 - April 1, 2025

Carmelo Gamaza, known to most of his friends as “Venezuela,” passed away suddenly in his Arcata home on April 1st in the company of his dear friend and caretaker, Arleeth Torres.

Carmelo was born in Caracas, Venezuela and as a young man traveled the world, throughout South America and Europe. He emigrated to the United States when he was in his 20s, and established a home in Los Angeles where he managed properties. He moved to Humboldt County in 2001 and helped manage the Arcata Night Shelter.

He leaves behind his son Benjamin and daughter Triana, both of Los Angeles.

Venezuela had a fun-loving and positive attitude about life, and was a loyal friend to many. He had an intense interest in spirituality and meditation, he loved learning and music, and he especially loved the ladies.

He will be sorely missed by all.

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PREVIOUSLY: There’s a Ticking Time Bomb in the Heart of Orick, and It’s Not Clear Whether Anybody Can Do Anything About It

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After more than ten years of meticulous planning and collaboration among local landowners, government officials, tribes and environmental scientists, the Redwood Creek Esturary Restoration Project is finally gaining momentum.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Humboldt County officials will host a public meeting at the Orick Community Hall at 4 p.m. on Wednesday to discuss next steps for the estuary restoration project, which aims to revitalize critical habitat for threatened and endangered salmonid species in Redwood Creek.

“This week’s community meeting intends to introduce the Redwood Creek Estuary restoration study to members of the public that are not involved in the study through the Redwood Creek Estuary Collaborative,” Joél Flannery, senior project planner for the Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District, wrote in an email to the Outpost. “We also hope to gain valuable insights and engage in conversation about the estuary, drainage impacts and restoration visions.”

The restoration project would undo decades of ecological degradation caused by the earthen levee system that runs through the heart of Orick. Originally designed to control flooding along the lower 3.4 miles of Redwood Creek, the levees have “reduced the size, complexity, and ecological function of the estuary,” according to the project’s description.

Over the years, Redwood Creek has become overgrown with vegetation and impaired by large sediment deposits, dramatically reducing flood capacity.

Looking at an aerial view of the estuary, as seen below, you can see where the levee system cut off a large meander on the south side of Redwood Creek. This not only altered the natural flow of the estuary but also impaired its ecological function.

“The levee impacts to the estuary were identified many decades ago,” Flannery said. “Discussions about how to leverage [the] Corps’ authority to address the levees’ impacts to the estuary have been ongoing since at least the early 2000s.”

When the Redwood Creek Flood Control Project was constructed in the mid-1960s, the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t know the channel would rapidly accumulate sediment because the project’s designers didn’t sufficiently evaluate environmental impacts downstream. The levees were built just a few years before the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) — the nation’s first major environmental law that required federal agencies to consider the environmental impact of their actions — was enacted in 1970. As such, the project was not subject to the rigorous environmental review required by today’s standards.

The County of Humboldt periodically removes sediment and vegetation from Redwood Creek, but it’s been about a decade since any substantial maintenance occurred.   

While restoration would exclude the portion of the levee system that runs through Orick, the project could alleviate flood risk upstream by enhancing floodplain connectivity at the estuary.

At the end of last year, the Army Corps of Engineers and the county, in partnership with the Redwood Creek Estuary Collaborative, initiated a feasibility study for estuary restoration. Once that process is complete in the next two and a half years, the collaborative will finalize the design selected through the NEPA process and apply for the permits needed to move forward with estuary restoration.

“Given the complexity of the study, coupled with planning and design requirements, the earliest we can expect construction would be the summer of 2029,” Flannery said. “The length of construction time is currently unknown.”

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The Redwood Creek Estuary Restoration Project public meeting will take place at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at the Orick Community Center — 101 Swan Road in Orick. Check back later this week for coverage of the meeting.

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PREVIOUSLY

• North McKay Ranch Subdivision Stymied by Inaction on Request to be Annexed Into Humboldt Community Services District
• Developer of McKay Ranch Subdivision, a Proposed 320-Unit Housing Development in Cutten, Seeks Annexation from Humboldt Community Services District

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Humboldt County’s most significant unbuilt private housing development project could take a major step forward at tonight’s meeting of the Humboldt Community Services District’s (HCSD) Board of Directors, as that body considers a request to annex the project site into its service boundaries.

One of those directors, Heidi Benzonelli, is encouraging residents of the district to attend the meeting and have their voices heard.

“At times like this, when such an important decision is going to be made about the future of our community, that’s when I’d love to hear your personal voices,” Benzonelli said. “I can carry the message so far but there are times that we just need people to show up to meetings to tell us how you feel, and tonight is the night.”

Last time we checked in on the North McKay Ranch Subdivision, the major mixed-use development in Cutten proposed by local developer Kurt Kramer, the project appeared to have reached an impasse. 

The plans, which call for up to 320 residential units and 22,000 square feet of commercial space to be built in phases over many years, hinge on getting the underlying parcels annexed into the HCSD. Without annexation, the project won’t have water, wastewater or street lighting services.

But as of a few months ago, that prospect had been stymied by a three-way disagreement over who should bear the infrastructure development costs.

The HCSD, which has already invested tens of millions of dollars of ratepayer money on infrastructure to accommodate population growth that never materialized, doesn’t want to carry the financial burden on its own.

“Given the District’s limited resources, we can only focus on pursuing grants that help reduce the cost of providing services to our existing ratepayers,” General Manager Terrence “TK” Williams said at the time.

So staff and board members tried negotiating with Humboldt County in hopes of reaching a deal to share incremental property tax revenues. But the county wasn’t particularly interested in sharing. A spokesperson told the Outpost in January that counties don’t typically divert tax revenues to community services districts unless the CSD assumes responsibility for some county-supplied services. That’s not the case here.

As shown in the map below, the North McKay Ranch Subdivision site is located just outside of the district’s service boundaries (shown in red) but within its sphere of influence (in yellow). (Zoom in to see the the project site itself, shown in black.) 

In total, all phases of construction call for 50 small-lot single family units, 96 standard-lot single family units and 174 multi-family units. Another 34 accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are estimated to be developed at full build-out, according to the HCSD plan for services.

Reached by phone on Monday, Williams said the HCSD is not trying to be obstructionist on this project. Rather, staff and the board just don’t want to saddle current ratepayers with the cost of new development.

“I guarantee nobody’s gonna build over there until somebody builds a [water] tank,” he said. “If a tank is built, that opens capacity for building. It’s a matter of who’s gonna pay for the tank.”

Up in McKinleyville, the community services district is building a new 4.5-million-gallon water storage tank thanks largely to a $5 million FEMA/CalOES Hazard Mitigation Grant. But unlike MCSD, HCSD has sufficient fire-flow capacity to serve its existing ratepayers, so the district wouldn’t qualify for such hazard mitigation grants, Williams said.

With that option out, an ad hoc committee comprising board members Benzonelli and Michael Hansen has been meeting with Kramer in search of a solution.

“We ironed out some clauses to include [regarding] plans for service,” Williams said. “With that, the ad hoc committee feels pretty confident that the district is protected from continuing to pay for growth in the community.”

Those clauses, included in a staff report for tonight’s meeting,  say that funding for a new 250,000-gallon water storage tank — and for upsizing the district’s water main on Walnut Drive, between Holly Street and Cypress Avenue — will be supplied by the developer (Kramer) “or other sources” but definitely not by the district. That will be a condition of approval. 

A new sewer lift station will also be needed at the northeastern portion of the project site which. Kramer is planning to do that, as well. The project applicant is technically Fairhaven Cottages, LLC, a subsidiary of Kramer Properties, Inc. Kramer has already paid for an Environmental Impact Report and received project approval from the Humboldt County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

If the HCSD board elects to approve annexation, the move will also require approval from the Humboldt Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo). 

A call to Kramer for this story was not immediately returned. In previous interviews he has argued that the seemingly unending succession of impediments to this project show that the state and local governments can’t be serious about the supposed need for new housing construction.

Benzonelli said that she takes her responsibility as a representative of the public seriously, and when she’s gone campaigning door-to-door in the district’s various neighborhoods — including Cutten, Ridgewood, Myrtletown, Freshwater and more — she has heard a variety of strongly held opinions about the North McKay Ranch project. But people hardly ever attend the HCSD board meetings.

“At some point we need you to speak in the public forum,” Benzonelli said. She wanted to issue a call to all residents with an opinion on the project, not just its critics and not just its opponents — “just real, true, genuine community ideas and concerns.” 

She wants residents to weigh in on the question of what they want their community to be like in a perfect world.

“And this is our opportunity to hear that: tonight, 5 o’clock. “

HCSD meetings can be attended in person at the district offices, 5055 Walnut Drive in Eureka. You can also join via Zoom by clicking here, entering Meeting ID 388 963 6754 and Passcode 202520.

And if you don’t Zoom, you can join via telephone only by calling 1-669-900-9128.

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DOCUMENT: HCSD meeting agenda and board packet for April 8, 2025

How are things going in Rio Dell? A short-handed Humboldt County Board of Supervisors got a bit of an update today, some two years and change after a sharp 6.4 magnitude earthquake damaged some 350 buildings in the town, leaving 90 homes at least temporarily uninhabitable.

By the end of the meeting, there seemed to be a pretty clear consensus: Homes are getting repaired, things are plugging away … but not nearly as quickly as would be ideal.

The board heard from Camille Benner, the director of family services at the Yuba/Sutter office of Habitat for Humanity. Shortly after the earthquake, the Board of Supervisors set aside $1 million for recovery efforts, and part of that went to Habitat and its partners, to help cash-strapped Rio Dellers to repair their homes. The nonprofit received $250,000 up front, with the promise of another $250,000 when its work was complete. (Read the original contract here.)

Today, Benner came to the board, which was missing both Supervisor Steve Madrone and Supervisor Natalie Arroyo, with a presentation on the the work her organization has done so far, and also with a request. All told, she said, Habitat has been part of a coalition, with different organizations and different funding sources, that has repaired 33 Rio Dell homes. It was the lead agency on seven of those cases.

The request she had for the board was: Would it be possible to get that additional $250,000 now, so as to start repair work on four additional homes immediately? Those projects are pretty much ready to go, and at least one of them is suffering from rain damage that will only get worse the longer they delay.

“We are not in a position right now to cover the construction costs and I don’t want to leave contractors waiting to be reimbursed,” Benner said. “So these families are approved, they have all of their paperwork in and they have waited an incredibly long time and they’re very, very excited.”

The decision to release the funds will apparently be relegated to a future meeting, though the board as a whole seemed very receptive. The funds have already been budgeted, so it won’t cost any more money.

But first, as is his habit, Supervisor Rex Bohn wondered why there was so much red tape, and why the hell things are taking so damn long. He reminisced about immediate aftermath of the quake.

“I mean, we got burrito trucks galore down there in two days,” he said. “We had, I mean, there was two houses put up the same weekend. And they put them up that weekend. Two houses, foundations, everything. And you’re right, no permits or anything else. But they got the family back in the houses. Is there a way we could do this quicker?”

He had a receptive audience this time. Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, said that the whole rushed process of providing relief in the immediate aftermath of the quake was “a learning curve.” To that point, Kerry Venegas with Changing Tides Family Services, one of several local organizations working with Habitat for Humanity, told the board that she had created a system to track the work done in Rio Dell and the lessons learned throughout, and that she would be eager to share those conclusions with the county.

“We definitely have some ideas about what worked faster, because there were things that rolled out by April,” Venegas said.

The only vote the board took on the matter was to accept the report from Habitat for Humanity. It passed 3-0.

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Every meeting of every public agency devotes at least a little bit of time on ceremonial matters. It works like this: A member of the governing body will propose to recognize next month as “The Month of the Young Marine Biology Student,” for example. The member reads a formal proclamation, possibly written by ChatGPT, which contains lots of “whereas” clauses leading up to one climactic “therefore” clause, in which the month is so proclaimed. Then a representative young marine biology student, or possibly several of them, stands up to accept this honor bestowed upon their discipline, and talk a little bit about the importance of their work and what drew them to it.

Possibly because it was such a short meeting, otherwise, the Board of Supervisors packed in a whole enormous load of these things today, taking up a total of an hour and a half to get through what Supervisor Mike Wilson took to calling “Procl-a-thon 2025.”

Here are the things that were honored today:

• The Grange.
• The Child Abuse Services Team.
• Young children.
• Humboldt Sponsors.
• Crime victims’ rights.
• Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
• National Public Health Week.
• Police dispatchers.
• Animal control officers.

Click those links to read florid language in praise of those things.

“Sometimes I have people say, what does Humboldt County government do?” Bushnell mused near the end of the item. “And today we did everything from sheriff’s department to dispatchers to the DA to public health and a lot of proclamations to childcare … And there was a lot of happy things today and not so happy things, but it is what makes us work as a community.”

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And that was almost all. As Izzy wrote yesterday, a potential settlement agreement concerning Kernan Construction’s controversial Glendale gravel operation, originally scheduled for today, was put off until next week.

But also: Coming out of the board’s closed session, which was largely devoted to ongoing negotiations with the unions representing county employees, Bushnell, the board’s chair, had an announcement. 

“So typically the board addresses their compensation and benefits once all bargaining units have been negotiating,” Bushnell said, “That said, I would like to direct staff to return with an item next week to publicly state that the board does not intend to increase their base pay in calendar year 2025.”

Union negotiations have been tense this year, and it looks like they’re about to get more tense yet.

PREVIOUSLY

• ‘A Crushing Blow’: USDA Cancels Local Food Purchasing Programs That Serve Humboldt’s Schools, Tribes, Seniors and Food Bank While Supporting Ranchers and Farmers
• California Food Banks Brace for Funding Cuts, and Not Only From the Trump Administration

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A bit of good news arrived to us this afternoon from Food for People, Humboldt County’s food bank. The nonprofit organization’s development director, David Reed, tells the Outpost via email that upon learning about the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance program, a local couple reached out.

“They were very concerned about the neighbors we serve and our local farmers,” Reed said. “They decided to do something about their concerns and have pledged to match any donation made to our Locally Delicious Farmers Fund up to $50,000.”

Reed said the generous couple does not want to be the center of the story, but they did give their permission to be named in the press release below and to have some of their words shared. Reed said their gift will have a significant impact.

“This is a huge deal for us,” he said. “It will make a dent in the roughly $300,000 we expected to spend on local food through the Local Food Purchase Assistance program starting this summer.”

That figure is an estimate based on the annual award received by Food for People received over the last three years, he clarified.

Here’s the press release from Food for People:

In response to Federal Cuts to food banks, two dedicated supporters of Food for People, have stepped forward with a $50,000 pledge to match every donation made to the food bank’s Locally Delicious Farmers Fund through June 6th. Melanie Williams and Barbara Goldberg decided to make the commitment after they learned that the federal government had ended a key program Food for People uses to purchase locally grown food from small farmers and other producers.

“When we learned this vital funding had been cut we felt a sense of urgency. Farming is Earth-based, the growing season has begun, we can’t wait. Our local farmers need our financial support now to insure local seniors, children and tribal people have healthy food again this season,” Williams and Goldberg say.

For the past three years, Food for People received an average of $360,000 annually from the US Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) Program, which funded the purchase of locally grown produce from small farmers. On March 10, that vital funding was abruptly cut leaving a major gap for the food bank and local farmers. The funds enabled Food for People to purchase from local farmers through the North Coast Growers Association’s Harvest Hub, providing nearly 90,000 pounds of fresh produce last year alone.

“The unexpected cut to LFPA was a huge blow for us, and it is harmful for the local farming community,” says Carly Robbins Food for People’s Executive Director, “Many farmers had already planned their growing based on these funds, some already have crops in the ground. This challenge to raise funds for our Locally Delicious Farmers Fund will help us keep supporting our local farmers and get fresh produce to our neighbors.”

The Locally Delicious Farmers Fund was created in 2010 by a group of women dubbed The Heirloom Tomatoes. The group’s dual goals were to make sure that people who access Food for People’s programs had access to more local foods and to support small farms and the local food system.

The challenge runs through June 7 or until the $50,000 goal is reached. Donations can be made by mail to Food for People, PO Box 4922 Eureka, CA 95502 or by giving online at: tinyurl.com/Food-for-People-Farmers-Fund. Williams and Goldberg say this is an opportunity for Humboldt to turn a setback into something positive, “Together we can increase our resilience, strengthen our local nutritional security, avoid damaging long distance shipping and monoculture practices, and guarantee that by late summer everyone at Food for People will know the taste of fresh produce.”

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Food for People, the food bank for Humboldt County, distributed 2.4 million pounds of food last year, and its services reach more than 21,000 people monthly. Food for People’s 18 programs include a countywide network of emergency food pantries, food distribution programs for children, seniors and homebound individuals, nutrition education and outreach activities, local food recovery and disaster relief, as well as many partnerships throughout the community. For more information, go to www.foodforpeople.org.

QR Code Link to Locally Delicious Farmers Fund:

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This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

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The investment chief who’s responsible for the retirement plans of 1 million California educators saw foreboding signs when he spoke to the state’s teachers’ pension board last month.

Scott Chan pointed to the torrent of executive orders and policy changes coming out of the new Trump administration and noted they “caused a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the marketplace” He warned of a recession, and a potential drop in stock markets of 20% or more.

“I would say that potential risks here are unprecedented. They are world changing,” said Chan, the chief investment officer at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System.

Two weeks later, President Donald Trump announced new tariffs against nearly every country, triggering a global financial shock that included the steepest stock market declines since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and wiped away trillions of dollars from investors’ portfolios.

The tariffs and the market plunge represent a new challenge for California’s underfunded pension plans, including Chan’s CalSTRS and the larger California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Combined, the two funds with headquarters on opposite banks of the Sacramento River hold more than $800 billion in assets and serve millions of beneficiaries.

CalPERS lost about $15 billion on Thursday and Friday, the first two days after Trump’s announcement. It held $516.5 billion on Monday morning. CalSTRS does not release updates on its portfolio, but it likely also recorded losses on a similar scale.

California’s retired teachers, cops, firefighters and other civil servants can count on their checks to keep coming. The threat of pension losses centers on government employers, such as cities and school districts, that would have to pay more money into the funds to make up for losses.

“It’s something we’re all bracing for and hoping there can be some course correction federally to allow us to steer the ship and recapture some of these losses,” said Dane Hutchings, whose firm, the California Public Policy Group, writes grants for and lobbies on behalf of California cities.

Terry Brennand, who watches CalPERS closely on behalf of the unions that represent public employees, likened the drop to the market crashes that followed the tech bubble of the 1990s and the housing downturn of the Great Recession.

“This one is not scam marketing or a bad market,” said Brennand of Service Employees International Union California, describing the economic conditions that preceded the downturns in 2000 and 2007. “We just turned the gun on ourselves and fired it.”

Trump has characterized the turmoil associated with the tariffs as a short-term pain that will ultimately make Americans wealthier by inducing companies to invest in domestic manufacturing. Members of his administration also have said the tariffs could prompt nations to seek new trading deals that would be more beneficial to the U.S.

“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump said to reporters on Sunday. “What’s going to happen to the markets, I can’t tell you. But our country is much stronger.”

What CalPERS and CalSTRS have to earn

But the tariffs carry the potential for a debilitating trade war, one of the risks that Chan highlighted to the CalSTRS board last month.

“It’s not so easy to say, ‘We’re going to assess tariffs on everybody else, but no one is going to assess tariffs on us,’” said California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democrat. “We’re going to see a lot of anxiety and disruption, and we’re seeing that in the markets.”

Ma has a close look at the recent volatility from her seat on the boards overseeing CalPERS and CalSTRS. Her office also manages a mix of other public investments including bonds, college savings accounts and a kind of bank for local governments.

She said the stock market shock has not yet jeopardized other state and local finances. For instance, last week the state successfully sold creditors $2.6 billion in bonds — voter-approved loans that the state will pay down over time. And, local governments have not asked to pull money from their pooled investment fund.

Both big California public pension funds emphasize that they are long-term investors with diverse portfolios that do not rely solely on the stock market, but both are also under pressure to meet annual investment targets — 7% at CalSTRS and 6.8% at CalPERS. Their deadline to hit that sum comes every June 30.

Government agencies have to pay more to fund pensions when the funds miss those targets.

Looking for opportunities in market decline

Coming up short also can have long-term consequences. Both CalPERS and CalSTRS are considered underfunded because their portfolios are worth less than what they owe cumulatively to their beneficiaries. That’s partly because state lawmakers boosted retirement benefits for public employees during the dot-com bubble. Both funds have plans to become fully funded, and government workers hired after 2013 receive less generous benefits than the employees who preceded them.

So far, the market crash that followed the COVID-19 pandemic cost CalPERS and CalSTRS more money, at least at first, than the current downturn. Each fund recorded historically high returns the following year, softening the blow.

Stephen Gilmore, chief investment officer at CalPERS, in a written statement said the fund is “well-positioned to weather unsettled times.” He pointed to potential opportunities that could emerge in the shakeup:

“There’s still a lot to learn about the nature of the governmental actions that have taken place, especially when it comes to the imposition of new tariffs and their impact on GDP and inflation. On the upside, market volatility can present opportunities to buy assets that may be oversold relative to their real value. Those purchases can boost our portfolio in the years to come.”

William ‘Bill’ Hummel
March 10, 1942 – April 3, 2025

William “Bill” Hummel, beloved husband, brother, veteran, business owner, and dedicated community member, passed away unexpectedly on April 3rd 2025 at the age of 83, at his home. Born in Schaller Iowa on March 10th 1942, Bill enlisted in the United States Navy in September 1962 in Des Moines, Iowa. He completed his recruit training in San Diego, California, and went on to serve aboard the USS Ernest G. Small, USS Lenawee, and USS Eldorado. His naval career took him throughout the Western Pacific and included deployments to Vietnam during times of active conflict. He proudly served as a Second-Class Electrician’s Mate until his honorable discharge in 1966.

His military decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Navy “E” Ribbon, and Vietnam Service Medal with one Bronze Star. Following his military service, Bill began a civilian career with the Western Union Telegraph Company, later supporting government contracts in locations such as Kwajalein, the Philippines, and Honolulu.

In 1976, he returned stateside to enter a business partnership with brother Hal Hummel, founding Hummel Tire & Wheel. Six years later In 1983, Bill married “a wonderful woman from Nebraska , on and April 8th of this year Cee Cee and Bill will have been married 42 wonderful years .The shop remains a proud family-run business by his nieces Wendy Hummel and Lisa Hummel.

Bill was deeply committed to serving his fellow veterans. A loyal member of VFW Post 2207 since 1995, he held several leadership roles, including Post Commander (2012–2013) and Quartermaster (2014–2022). In 2023, he was honored with the Distinguished Citizen Medal by the Daughters of the American Revolution, recognizing his extraordinary dedication to veterans and the local community.

Bill was known for his quiet but constant service — placing flags on veterans’ graves, setting up community dinners, distributing poppies, and raising the American flag with reverence. He was the hardest-working veteran they had ever known. He was also a member of the Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department for 5 Years. The many acts of service that Bill performed for individuals and the Community as a whole, cannot be numbered.

Bill is survived by his loving wife, Cee Cee Hummel, son John and his wife Debbie, daughter Sherry, and five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren and his brother Lloyd Hummel his sister Mary Ann Bishop and two nieces Wendy and Lisa Hummel.

Bill’s life was marked by a quiet and unselfish dedication—to his country, his family, his community, and his values. He will be dearly missed and forever remembered. A celebration of Bill’s life will be held on April 26, 2025 at 2 p.m. at the Fortuna Veterans Memorial Building, located at 1426 Main Street in Fortuna.