PREVIOUSLY:

• Claiming Infringements on Free Speech Rights, Northcoast Environmental Center Staff Members Strike
• Striking Northcoast Environmental Center Staff Issue Statement

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The Northcoast Environmental Center (NEC) is in turmoil. Its staff have gone on strike, accusing the board of misrepresentation, disrespect, and silencing of their political activism. Their demands call for sweeping changes to the NEC’s governance, communications, and even its very identity.

The staff clearly feel strongly about their vision for the future. But here’s the hard truth: if your ideology no longer matches the institution you work for, the solution is not to seize the institution and bend it to your theology. The solution is to build your own.

The NEC is not a blank slate. It is nearly fifty years old, with deep roots in the North Coast’s environmental history. It carries the legacy of redwood protection campaigns, citizen science, coalition building, and the long, slow work of conservation in both policy and community. You may not agree with every decision made by past leaders, but you cannot erase the foundation they built.

Trying to reshape an established institution to reflect a new and radically different ideology comes at a steep cost. It risks alienating longtime members, confusing the public, and burning through the credibility that took decades to build. It fractures the community into factions rather than broadening the movement.

I know this because I’ve created not one, but two organizations myself. Building something new is hard — far harder than taking the keys to an existing brand. It requires vision, persistence, and the ability to inspire people to join you. It demands earning the trust of funders, members, and partners. And it forces you to prove that your vision is viable: that it resonates with enough people, and that your target base has the resources to sustain it.

If the NEC staff’s ideology truly reflects the future of environmentalism, then they will find an audience. They will attract members. They will secure grants and donations. They will stand on their own. And in doing so, they will earn the freedom to shape governance and communications exactly as they wish, without being constrained by the expectations of an older institution.

But if the ideology is too fringe, or if the target community lacks resources, then the new organization may not survive. That is the test every founder faces — and it is a fairer test than dismantling an elder institution from within.

The NEC was born in another time, to meet the needs of that era. Its staff are calling for something new, born of today’s intersectional justice movements. Both have value. But they don’t have to be in the same house. The respectful path is to allow NEC to continue in its tradition, while new organizations rise to carry forward new visions.

Our community needs both continuity and innovation. It needs legacy institutions with deep roots, and new ones with fresh energy. But we must resist the temptation to cannibalize one to create the other. If you believe the future demands a new theology, then have the courage to build it.

Press release from the City of Eureka:

On Saturday, September 13, 2025 the community celebrated the grand opening of Da’ Yas “Where the Cypress Are” Park located between Buhne St. and W. Henderson St. and between California St. and Union St. The event, hosted by the City of Eureka Community Services Department, featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony, community painted mural, free ice cream, scavenger hunt, games, sports demonstrations, and free bike valet.

The four-acre neighborhood park received a $6.4 million grant from California State Parks, Prop 68 Statewide Parks Program, Round 3. Prior to improvements, the space was largely undeveloped, the condition had visibly deteriorated, and was lacking basic amenities needed to serve the community. The revitalized park now features a custom egret and watershed themed all-inclusive playground, multi-use sports courts, new parking and restrooms, fitness equipment, accessible pathways, grass play area for volleyball and soccer, new plaza on Union St. as well as upgrades to Jacob Haney Ball Field.

Park History

Previously named 20/30 Park, the City of Eureka opened the park in 1953 through the assistance, both financially and physically of the Twenty-Thirty Club of Eureka. Though no longer active in Eureka, the Twenty-Thirty club functioned as a service club for 20-30-year-old men. The park we know today is a direct result of their past investments in supporting city parks and we celebrate their history and impact on our community.

Visionary Planning

The thoughtful park design includes features for all abilities and can be attributed to the brilliant creative minds at Melton Design Group (MDG), the landscape architects behind this project. Based out of Chico, CA, MDG worked with the community to transform a blank slate into a community asset that beautifully blends artful form and functionality. Every design element was intentional, from curving pathways to connect all aspects of the park to sight lines for parents that allow clear visibility whether children are on the little league field or on the playground, and inclusive access to play pieces such as wheel devices being able to roll directly onto the playground structure. Custom made by Landscape Structures for this park project, the egret playground is one of a kind and does not exist anywhere else in the world. The egret emerged as the park’s central symbol, reflecting its widespread presence in the local environment. This careful attention to detail and innovation not only creates a visually appealing park, but also ensures it serves the diverse needs of the community for years to come.

A local community member said, “This park is a wonderful addition to our neighborhood. We are grateful to be able to be within walking distance to the park. It is ADA accessible for my son and all the other kiddos with special healthcare needs. We have been four times in the past week. It was needed for our neighborhood. There are a lot of grateful families, thank you!”

Renaming With the park slated to receive major improvements, an opportunity was provided to consult the community about the park’s identity. The first renaming survey shared information about the origin of the park and its current name. A majority of respondents supported renaming the park. Survey respondents were also provided the opportunity to suggest possible names. The majority of the respondents expressed a desire for the park to have a Wiyot name. In consultation with the Wiyot Tribe, a list of possible park names was provided translated into Soulatluk. The final renaming decision was placed in the hands of Eureka’s residents. By survey, the community chose Da’ Yas Park - “Where the Cypress Are”.

A New Era

The park welcomed over 1,000 visitors from the community during the Grand Opening party. HumBubbles, a group of local volunteers, brought a magical touch to the park with bubbles. Local muralist, Mir De Silva, led a collaborative paint-by-number mural on the restroom, allowing community members to leave their mark by painting their own section. The Coalition for Responsible Transportation, offered a free bike valet service to ensure all who biked to the park had a safe place to leave their bike. Local sports leagues, Humboldt Soccer and Humboldt Hockey, performed sports demonstrations of futsal and roller hockey on the multi-sport court attracting many enthusiastic spectators.

Robin Praszker, Project Manager, said, “This unprecedented level of investment in our city parks system marks a transformative moment for both the immediate neighborhood and the broader community. Da’ Yas is more than just a park, this is a space for community and connection.” 

Tennie Helena Brooks born March 14, 1939 passed away peacefully at her home on August 26 after a long courageous battle with dementia.

Tennie grew up in Holland, where her grace and spirited nature inspired many. She pursued a career in nursing and worked as a resident nurse on a cruise ship traveling the Rhine River in Europe.

Her compassion for others and adventurous spirit eventually carried her across the ocean to America in the early 1970s. In California, Tennie found her calling as an OB nurse in the Turlock area, supporting countless families through some of life’s most important moments.

In 1995 she and her beloved husband Hank Brooks moved to Humboldt County. Tennie went on to devote nearly three decades as a lead registered nurse at the Northern California Community Blood Bank, where her steady hand and kind heart touched colleagues and donors alike.

Beyond her profession, Tennie found joy in sewing, theater, music, crafts and gardening, avidly supporting the arts locally. She was a frequent volunteer at the Humboldt Botanical Garden, where her love for nature and flowers brighten the lives of all who worked alongside her.

Tennie was preceded in death by her husband, Hank. She will be remembered with love and gratitude by her friends and colleagues, and all who were fortunate to know her. Her legacy is one of compassion, resilience, and quiet strength.

A memorial will be held at the College of the Redwoods Humboldt Botanical Garden on Saturday October 4, at 2 p.m.

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The owner of Eureka’s Vista del Mar, a dockside restaurant and bar at the intersection of Waterfront Drive and Commercial Street, is not very happy with the City of Eureka right now.

Kito Vorobik, who purchased the blue-collar watering hole in December of 2016, took to the internet yesterday to launch a change.org petition lambasting the city over plans to install an above-ground fuel storage tank along the western fence line behind his establishment.

“[M]y business is facing a significant threat that could not only affect my livelihood but also pose serious risks to the safety and well-being of our neighborhood,” his petition states.

Reached by phone, Vorobik said he was notified by city staff in June about plans to remove a big underground fuel tank near his property and replace it with an above-ground tank that will eliminate a handful of parking spots often used by his customers. 

“I’m mainly concerned about my property value and what I could maybe do with the property in the future,” he said, though he also noted that his property line encompasses only the footprint of the restaurant, plus a four-foot setback.

His petition, which had gathered 51 signatures as of this writing, also cites environmental and public safety concerns and says the city should have given him more notice. 

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Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery told the Outpost that state law requires the city to remove any and all single-walled underground storage tanks before the end of the year and replace them with above-ground double containment systems. There’s a tank buried near the Vista that’s been there since the 1950s or ‘60s. It stores fuel for the local commercial and recreational fishing fleets.

“It’s the only fuel we have on Humboldt Bay … ,” Slattery said, adding, “[This location] has been an active commercial fishing dock since before ‘the V.D.’ [Vista del Mar] went in,” 120-odd years ago. 

The city plans to install a new 25,000-gallon fuel storage tank (with 20,000 gallons of storage for diesel and 5,000 gallons of storage for regular) that will be enclosed under a covered structure that’s 12 to 13 feet tall, counting the foundation, with a catwalk around the top of the tank for maintenance purposes. The structure will also be surrounded by a fence of vinyl-coated chain link. 

Slattery said the city gave Vorobik plenty of notice about these plans and has offered to work with him, even agreeing to build a fence or screen of some kind. 

But the bottom line, he said, is that this location makes the most sense because, not only is it zoned properly, with all of the necessary permits, but it’s also directly adjacent to the underground plumbing that supplies fuel to the dispensing hardware at the dock. The city put the removal project out for bids and will soon put the new tank installation project out for bids. 

Slattery noted that there will be no open-air fueling near the restaurant, and he argued that the new tank will actually eliminate environmental risks inherent with the existing underground setup. He added that all the other parking spots surrounding the Vista del Mar, including a large lot on the east side of the building, are on city-owned property, meaning parking for Vorobik’s business is effectively being subsidized by taxpayers.

More to the point, the infrastructure is necessary.

“We have to do this,” the city manager said. “The viability of our commercial fleet definitely takes precedence.”

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Vorobik said he doesn’t expect his online petition to actually prevent the city from moving ahead with its plans. But he pointed out that the law requiring the city to install this above-ground tank was passed more than a decade ago, giving Eureka plenty of time for more public engagement and exploring other possible solutions. He’s annoyed that this is all happening at the last minute.

“This is just typical City of Eureka,” he said. “They just don’t give a shit about local businesses.”

In the Outpost’s phone conversation with Slattery, he said to pass along the message to Vorobik that the city is still willing to work with him, and he added, “Tell Kito I’ll still come and get his fish tacos, ‘cause they’re delicious.”

When we passed this along to Vorobik, he was nonplussed. He offered a concise reply: “Eureka, do better.”

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UPDATE 1:15 PM: There is no tsunami threat to the West Coast, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning Center.

Original post: A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula shortly after 12 p.m. PDT. As of this writing, “potential impacts to the West Coast of the United States are still being evaluated,” according to the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services.

The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center reports a tsunami advisory for Amchitka Pass, Alaska, and a tsunami threat to Hawaii. There are no additional threats reported at this time.

We’ll update this post when we receive additional information.

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This article has been updated to include new information from the Arcata Police Department.

A man rushed the city councilmembers at last night’s meeting of the Arcata City Council before being tackled by city manager Merritt Perry and a police officer. 

The man, Shaine Haugen from Fresno, was arrested on counts of assault and battery, possession of pepper spray and a butterfly knife, resisting arrest, public intoxication, and using violent means to “deter or prevent an executive officer from performing any duty imposed upon such officer by law.”

Haugen walked into the city council meeting around the time the first public comment period started at 6:30, cradling a package wrapped in a towel: a fake molotov cocktail made from a 40 ounce bottle of malt liquor with a piece of paper stuffed in it, according to several witnesses. He also had the butt of a foam-dart shooting NERF gun sticking out of vest over his left breast, painted black to look like an actual firearm.

A police officer in the audience intercepted him and took the fake molotov away from him, but didn’t stop him before he attempted to rush up the stairs towards the councilmembers on the left side of the dais. Perry stopped him and threw him on the ground before he made it all the way up, holding Haugen there for a second before the officer subdued and arrested him. Booking records show he had pepper spray and a switchblade.

The city council resumed the meeting as normal after about 10 minutes and worked their way through the rest of the agenda.

Haugen, 36, has an extensive rap sheet. He was sentenced to a five year prison term for unlawfully driving away an automobile in Michigan in 2015, and in 2011 was charged for possession of a controlled substance in California. 

Haugen’s motives are unknown, but according to Perry was at the city council meeting in August where public commenters spent hours berating councilmembers for the city’s approach to the homeless and Gaza. 

City council meetings in the future might have increased security measures, such as metal detector wands and an increased police presence. 

Mayor Alex Stillman said in an email to the Outpost this morning that she was “concerned about civility everywhere.”

“It’s just really disappointing, the way the world is going,” Perry said in a phone interview with the Outpost this morning. “In the past, when you saw incidents happen, people would try to unite the country, but I think you see people trying to divide the country on both sides.” 

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Press release from the County of Humboldt:

Avelo Airlines has informed Humboldt County officials that they will discontinue service between the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport (ACV) and the Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) earlier than expected. 

In July 2025, Avelo announced that service from ACV to BUR would be discontinued in December because they will be closing their base at the Hollywood Burbank Airport to focus on their east coast operations. 

Avelo has now informed the county that its last flights between ACV and BUR will now end Monday, Oct. 20. Travelers will be notified about the changes to their flight reservations and refund options. Avelo customers should visit aveloair.com or call 346-616-9500 if they are in need of customer support.

United Airlines will continue to offer flights out of ACV to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver. 

Beginning March 12, 2026, Breeze Airways will offer new nonstop air service between ACV to BUR and connecting service to Provo Airport (PVU). Flights are scheduled to run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Travelers can book their flights on Breeze Airways now at FlyBreeze.com. 

The County of Humboldt continues to prioritize recruiting new air service providers to meet the region’s growing travel needs. The Department of Aviation, in partnership with the County Administrative Office’s Economic Development Division, is actively working with carriers to expand flight options, including northbound routes. 

“Humboldt County is a unique destination with so much to offer travelers,” said Second District Supervisor and Board Chair Michelle Bushnell. “Our commitment to meeting the needs of our community and visitors by exploring new destinations and expanding flight options at ACV is ongoing.”

For more information on the California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport and the Humboldt County Department of Aviation, please visit FlyACV.com.