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

###

Cynde Soto, a quadriplegic who requires around-the-clock care, has been on Medi-Cal for most of her life. Recently, she came into a modest inheritance, about $8,000, that has helped cover her daily expenses. But it also means that she would lose her state health insurance under a proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom has proposed restoring a $2,000 limit on an individual’s assets — including savings accounts and property other than a home and a car — and $3,000 for couples to qualify for Medi-Cal. Anyone 65 and older or disabled who exceeds that limit would be ineligible. Newsom also is proposing a cap on how much home care Medi-Cal enrollees like Soto could receive.

In unveiling the proposal, Newsom said that California has a “spending problem” and needs to make “difficult choices” to address the state’s $12 billion deficit, which he attributed in part to growing Medi-Cal costs. His proposal would save the state $94 million this budget year and more than $500 million the next year, according to the governor’s budget document.

But health advocates say that it’s almost impossible for someone to live with just $2,000 in assets in California. Rent often exceeds that amount, and medical expenses not covered by insurance quickly add up.

Advocates say Newsom’s proposal unfairly targets people with disabilities and the elderly — those who are most likely to need full-time care and have fixed incomes.

“It’s draconian — $2,000 is no safety net for people,” said Kim Selfon, an attorney with Bet Tzedek, a legal services organization in Los Angeles.

For Soto, a Medi-Cal limit on assets would mean she would either lose the caretakers who help her bathe and eat or have to spend all of the money except for $2,000. With the inheritance, Soto said she can afford repairs to her Long Beach condo and buy medical supplies that Medi-Cal doesn’t cover, such as bandages or nutritional drinks to supplement her diet.

“It’s not cheap being disabled,” Soto said. “I’m really scared. I cannot live without my help.”

When asset limits were lifted, Medi-Cal enrollment surged

Some lawmakers and disability advocates have argued against the asset limit for years. They say it forces people into poverty and hasn’t kept up with rising inflation and cost of living.

Newsom agreed to raise the limit to $130,000 per person in 2022. Then in 2024, the limit was erased completely. Now Newsom wants to bring back the original limit of $2,000, an amount that was set in 1989.

This would reinstate complex rules about wealth and property that kept thousands of seniors and disabled people from qualifying for Medi-Cal. Under those rules, an individual’s first home and car are exempt, but other properties count toward the $2,000 limit. The balance of a 401k or retirement account are exempt, although payouts are considered income. Life insurance, cash on hand and savings accounts also count towards the limit. Even certain types of funeral plots count.

The test would apply only to people 65 and older as well as those with disabilities, which creates a financial cliff for those about to turn 65. Medicare, which many seniors use for health insurance, does not cover long-term care and requires some co-pays, so many people use Medi-Cal to supplement their Medicare benefits.

In a recent Assembly hearing, Newsom administration officials said when the limit was eliminated, far more people enrolled in Medi-Cal than anticipated, contributing to the state’s growing costs. Between 112,000 to 115,000 people enrolled compared to early estimates of just 40,000, said health care services director Michelle Baass.

Seniors make up a small portion of all Medi-Cal enrollees, but they’re about twice as expensive as the average enrollee because they use more medical care. The elimination of the asset test last year contributed to most of the senior enrollment growth and cost the state about $500 million more than expected, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Still, lawmakers during the hearing questioned the prudence of kicking seniors and people with disabilities off of the program and whether it would actually save money in the long run.

Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Democrat from Santa Clarita, said these groups would need more expensive care like nursing home stays or homeless services if the asset test were reinstated.

“This is going to lead to more homelessness of seniors and the disabled. That’s what’s going to happen, and that will cost our state money too,” Schiavo said.

Making it ‘more expensive to age in California‘

Al Sanderson, one of Selfon’s clients, says that’s exactly what would happen to him. The Redondo Beach resident broke his neck three years ago in a surfing accident that left him paralyzed.

Sanderson said his monthly rent costs more than the asset limit. He has significant savings as a former high school physical education teacher and baseball coach that he uses to pay for utilities, transportation and things that his kids need now that he no longer works.

If he got kicked off of Medi-Cal and lost his caretakers, Sanderson said he would lose his independence.

“How am I going to pay people to come help me? How am I supposed to survive and live? I’d have to go to a nursing home,” Sanderson said.

Without full-time home care, both Sanderson and Soto would most likely end up in nursing homes, a more expensive option that is covered by Medi-Cal. The state pays on average more than $114,000 per person each year for nursing home care, according to Justice in Aging, which pushed for the elimination of the asset test. In contrast, the average annual cost of in-home care is less than a quarter of that, $25,400 a year.

“How am I going to pay people to come help me? How am I supposed to survive and live? I’d have to go to a nursing home.”

AL SANDERSON, REDONDO BEACH RESIDENT

Kevin Prindiville, executive director of Justice in Aging, said Newsom’s proposal would “make it more expensive to age in California.”

California’s elimination of the asset test came under fire this month from congressional Republicans, who claimed that it allows the “wealthiest Californians” to get free health care. But lawyers with legal aid organizations that help people enroll in Medi-Cal say that’s not happening.

Regardless of their assets, Medi-Cal enrollees still need to meet income limits, which are currently 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $1,800 per month, said Linda Nguy, a lobbyist with the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

“Our clients are not millionaires,” Nguy said. “We’re talking about people with very low incomes who aren’t able to access the health care services that they need.”

Ronald Dallatorre, 58, enrolled in Medi-Cal just two months ago. He had been looking forward to getting caretakers to help him at his Compton home so that his wife could take a break.

Dallatorre got sick with COVID-19 in April 2020. He spent four weeks on a ventilator and almost a year in a hospital. Now the former heavy duty mechanic has Guillan-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system, causing muscle weakness and numbness.

Dallatorre uses a wheelchair and can’t move his hands. His wife quit her job with L.A. Unified School District to take care of him full-time. The Dallatorres also own a second home that a close family friend lives in, rent-free. Under the proposed budget, Dallatorre would be ineligible for Medi-Cal because of this property.

“Our clients are not millionaires. We’re talking about people with very low incomes who aren’t able to access the health care services that they need.”

LINDA NGUY, WESTERN CENTER ON LAW AND POVERTY

If he is kicked off Medi-Cal because of the asset test, Dallatorre said his medical costs would still be covered through his wife’s insurance, but they can’t afford caretakers. His wife would have to continue as his full-time support.

“I worked 40 years of my life never receiving help, always paying taxes. I was glad to do it because I thought maybe when I need it, somebody will be able to help me,” Dallatorre said. “I didn’t know how stupid the system is.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

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

###

The northern tip of the Vermont Square neighborhood in South Los Angeles gentrified in many of the usual ways over the last decade.

Median incomes shot up. The neighborhood’s share of Black residents declined. On the list of fastest growing home prices across the region, Vermont Square cracked the top ten. Along Western Avenue, new apartment buildings popped up as visible markers of change.

But there is a less obvious, if no less profound, marker: Fewer people began riding the bus.

Between 2012 and 2017, public transit ridership fell in this Census designated tract — a roughly half-square mile neighborhood spanning Western — by 24%. In that same period, the neighborhood-wide rent increased by an average of $468 per month.

That, according to UCLA researchers, is probably not a coincidence. A study published late last year compared changes in transit ridership numbers to rental market trends in neighborhoods across Los Angeles and Orange counties. It found that in neighborhoods well-served by buses and trains, transit ridership tended to fall in places where the rents were rising.

At the south end of Chinatown, average rents went up $379 and transit use fell by 21%. In a sliver of Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley, rent was up $305, ridership was down 28%. Across the region, a neighborhood-wide rental hike of an extra $230 per month predicted a 22% decline in bus and train boardings.

The most likely explanation, according to the researchers, is that as dense urban neighborhoods grow more costly, lower- and moderate-income renters, the very people most likely to ride the bus, are pushed out and replaced by a more affluent set who, on the whole, tend to favor getting around by car.

The findings suggest gentrification isn’t just bad for residents displaced by rising rents and scarce affordable units: It’s also bad for the transit systems those displaced residents rely upon.

Twin crises: Housing and transit

California’s public bus and rail agencies are in a decade-long slump. For that, there’s plenty of blame to go around.

COVID-19 steered commuters away from crowded buses and train cars and ridership numbers have yet to fully recover. Federal rescue funding passed by Congress in 2020 and 2021 propped up these systems for a time but has now mostly dried up. Inflation, supply chain snags and now tariffs have made the cost of maintaining aging, legacy infrastructure even costlier. Even before the pandemic-era tumult, the advent of rideshare apps and a steady nationwide rise in car ownership rates resulted in a slow and steady decline of transit ridership.

The UCLA study points to yet another culprit behind the state’s public transit woes: California’s housing affordability crisis.

“The basic premise of the paper is, ‘Can rising rents help explain why you’re losing transit ridership?’ And it seems to be that they can, because they reduce the likelihood that very high transit riders will live near transit stops,” said urban planning professor Michael Manville, lead author of the paper.

Manville and his fellow researchers weren’t able to track where displaced transit riders wound up. But given the relatively few number of transit-friendly neighborhoods in the Los Angeles and Orange County metro area, it’s likely most settled in neighborhoods with fewer public transportation options. Some may have felt compelled to lease or buy a car, at considerable expense to their own finances and to the environment. For others, unwilling or unable to incur that expense, being priced out of a neighborhood with steady bus and rail service might simply mean having fewer travel options.

That latter outcome might be more likely these days. The study uses data collected before the pandemic. Now, with higher interest rates, higher ride-share costs and higher auto prices — which could sail higher still if high tariffs remain in place — “you might actually see people not being able to switch to driving as much,” said Manville. Instead, displaced renters may simply be forced to move and rely on “transit in neighborhoods where the transit isn’t as good.”

Fewer transportation options have been found to put a person at risk of higher unemployment, poorer health and more pronounced social isolation.

The findings in and around the L.A. Basin are consistent with a general trend across California and North America, in which higher rents and prices push lower income residents further and further out of many dense, urban job centers. This “suburbanization of poverty” has changed who has access to public transit in cities as different and far apart as Toronto, Canada and Durham, North Carolina.

The desperate unaffordability of housing in California has a way of making virtually every other statewide problem worse. Higher rents swell the state’s population of homeless. Higher home prices widen economic inequality and put wealth accumulation out of reach for millions. Shortages of housing in urban cores push people further away from their jobs, snarling traffic and pumping more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The story of Vermont Square, and hundreds of other similar neighborhoods across the region, shows that California’s housing crisis is also making its transit crisis harder to solve.

Will California beef up housing near transit?

That double-whammy is top of mind for many legislators in Sacramento this year. San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat and prominent author of bills to boost housing production and support public transit agencies, is pushing legislation this year that is supposed to do both. Senate Bill 79 would allow for dense apartment construction around major public transit stops, including on land owned by transit agencies.

“If we’re going to make big public investments in public transportation, which of course I support and I know many of us support, we need to make sure that people can actually live near those stations and ride on those trains or those high-quality bus lines,” Wiener said at a legislative hearing late last month.

The bill has survived three committee hearings, but only barely, overcoming the opposition of two committee chairs. Supported by advocates for denser housing development and public transportation, it is fiercely opposed by construction labor unions, an array of city governments, anti-density activists and some advocates who argue the state should prioritize new housing set aside for low-income residents over market rate development.

The committee chairs who oppose the bill said they support more housing construction but think legislation like Wiener’s should come with more terms and conditions for private developers.

In an opposition letter written to a Senate committee last month, a coalition of anti-poverty and environmental justice groups led by the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation wrote that California law should “ensure that the existing low-income households and people of color who disproportionately use transit daily benefit from transit-oriented development.”

By allowing for more dense housing around transit stops without explicit affordability requirements the bill “risks accelerating displacement of these core transit users,” the letter reads.

The bill now awaits a vote before the entire Senate. The vote is expected next week.

The debate represents a broader rift within the California Democratic Party between those who believe the best way to alleviate gentrification is to build additional housing to accommodate an influx of new, higher earning residents and those who see market-rate development as, at best, a poor substitute for affordable housing and, at worst, something that makes the problem worse.

Manville said he has not been following the legislative debate closely, but argued that building more housing near transit stops is likely to boost ridership in two ways.

First, he said, incoming residents will be more likely to take the bus or train. Higher income gentrifiers may not ride transit as much as the lower income residents, but at least from a pollution and climate perspective, “one reduced trip by a high-income person eliminates so many more miles of driving than a trip by a low-income person, because rich people drive more.”

Second, and more importantly, building more apartment units diverts some of the feverish competition for existing units and eases pressure on rents. Slowing rent hikes will make it “easier for lower income people to stay in that neighborhood and continue to ride,” he said.

Born September 24, 1933 – Died March 25, 2025, in McKinleyville, Calif., at the age of 91 years, 6 months, and 1 day.

Jerry was born in Arcata, CA, to Earl Louis and Ardis Geraldine (Hunt) Spellenberg. He was the second of two children, having an older sister named Patricia (Patsy). His father, Earl, had a variety of careers. He was a gold miner with partner P.C. Sacchi at the Forks of the Salmon, a bookkeeper for P.C. Sacchi Chevrolet, worked as an equipment operator during the construction of the Eureka/Arcata airport, and briefly owned a dry-cleaning business (Arcata Drycleaners). Earl died of a brain tumor when Jerry was only 13 years old.

His mother, Geraldine, widowed at a young age, opened and operated a café in North Arcata called Geraldine’s Café. The building was later torn down during the construction of the freeway through Arcata. Jerry helped his mom and sister Patsy at the café after school by washing dishes. When his mother remarried Frank Gianoni, a baker at Tatman’s Bakery, Jerry worked part-time in the bakery while attending college.

Jerry attended primary grades at College Elementary School on the Humboldt State University campus and Arcata High School, graduating in 1951. He attended Humboldt State University (now known as Cal Poly Humboldt), graduating with a degree in business. He had originally wanted to be a teacher but decided against it after completing student teaching. After graduation, he took a job with the City of Arcata in the water and sewer department, digging ditches and performing similar work.

In 1956, his sister-in-law Norma told him about an opening at Caltrans for a Right of Way Agent position in the Eureka office (District 1). He interviewed and was hired. Jerry started as a Junior Right of Way Agent, was promoted to Associate, and eventually to Senior Right of Way Agent, overseeing the appraisal and acquisitions functions. While working in District 1, he appraised and acquired rights of way throughout Lake, Mendocino, Del Norte, and Humboldt counties.

In 1978, he accepted a position in the Sacramento headquarters office in Planning and Management. In 1986, he was promoted to Supervising Right of Way Agent and moved back to District 1 to manage the Right of Way staff until his retirement in 1992.

Jerry was a firm believer in the 7 P’s: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. You did not darken his doorway until you had completed your research and presented a proposed solution to the problem.

Jerry descended from hearty pioneer stock. His maternal grandfather, A.N. Hunt, was an early settler in Humboldt County, relocating there in 1886 from Sierra County to begin ranching. Prior to that, A.N. Hunt was a teamster, delivering timbers to the gold mines. Once he saved enough money, he moved to Arcata, purchased 40 acres on the Arcata Bottom (off Mad River Road), and began ranching.

Jerry’s mother, Geraldine, was the youngest daughter of A.N. and Mary Ann (Robinson) Hunt. His paternal grandfather, Patrick Henry Spellenberg, was born in Sierra County to a German immigrant, Johann George Spellenberg, and his Irish wife, Mary Ann (Quigley) Spellenberg. Johann George, born in 1827 in Heidenheim, Germany, immigrated to New York in 1849 and eventually made his way west to Sierra County. He married Mary Ann in 1855. He was a gold miner and died in a mining accident in 1878 at age 50.

Patrick later married Ida Mae Fischer of Sierra City before migrating to Humboldt County around 1918. We often wondered if A.N. Hunt and Patrick Spellenberg knew each other prior to moving to Arcata. Patrick owned a saloon in Sierra City called P.H. Spellenberg’s Saloon. The saloon burned down, but a photo of it still exists at Bassett’s Restaurant and Saloon near Sierra City. Patrick and Ida Mae had five children: Tilly (who died in infancy), Irene, Earl, Lester, and Homer. Jerry’s father was Earl L. Spellenberg.

Jerry met his wife, Barbara, at a dance at the Loleta Firemen’s Hall in December 1952. His sister-in-law Julia introduced them after deciding he was not the one for her. Barbara had just turned eighteen the week before the dance. Jerry married Barbara A. Papke on June 19, 1955. They celebrated 67 years of marriage in June 2022 before Barbara passed away on August 21, 2022.

They had a wonderful life together. Every summer, Jerry would take Barbara and their four children—plus a friend or cousin—to his Uncle Russ’s ranch at Shower’s Rock, where they would stay for two weeks in late August. We often stayed in the Shower’s Rock cabin (the old Wagner cabin) or at the Spellenberg family property known as Rottenwood. We camped in an old WWII army surplus tent. Jerry would join us on weekends after work, while Mom and the kids stayed the rest of the time. We had wonderful times riding horses, fishing, floating down the Mad River, and playing cards.

Jerry, his sons, and his cousin Al Taylor helped rebuild the old cabin by replacing the rotted foundation, residing it with shingles, and installing a new tin roof. Jerry had hunting privileges there, along with a group of hunting friends and relatives of Russell’s. They paid for the materials to repair the cabin. After Uncle Russ passed away, Jerry, his boys, former son-in-law Mark Sundberg, and cousin Al Taylor built the Rottenwood cabin and tool shed on the property. We spent weekends and vacations there from around Memorial Day through early November. Due to Dad’s health issues this past year, he was only able to make one trip in 2024.

After Jerry retired, he and Barbara took a road trip around the western United States, visited Baja, Mexico, with friends (camping in travel trailers), visited Hawaii with in-laws Norma and her husband Bill, made several trips to Germany to visit Barbara’s cousins near Frankfurt and to attend reunions with Jerry’s distant cousins near the Black Forest, and toured Guatemala with daughter Lisa and friends.

Their last big trip was for their 60th wedding anniversary, traveling by cruise ship to Alaska with the family. After Mom passed, Dad joined her Friday night ladies’ dinner group with cousin Peggy and friends Shirley, Joy, Cathy, Judy, Gaylyn, and Janet, as well as daughters Lisa and Lesley. He became the rooster in the henhouse. Jerry had a wicked sense of humor—when asked why he was attending ladies’ night, he replied, “I’m transitioning.”

Jerry kept up with his Arcata High School Class of 1951 by organizing monthly lunches. His last lunch, before breaking his hip, was in October 2024. His class maintained this tradition for 73 years. He also enjoyed the monthly lunches, summer picnics, and annual Christmas parties with his Hunt cousins—a tradition started years ago by his grandmother Hunt.

Jerry was a member of the Eureka Elks Lodge and the Buckeye Society for many years. He was also a long-time member and supporter of the Humboldt County Historical Society.

Jerry is survived by his four children: Lisa (Steve), Lesley (Arron), James (Teena), and Gerald Louis (Debbie); his seven grandchildren: Mark (Sammee), Stacy (Mike), Rachelle (Larry), Jamee, Jessica (Robert), Jason, and Katie (Rob); and his seven great-grandchildren: Aria, Melina, Daxton, Blythe, Carter, Granger, and Parker.

He is also survived by Barbara’s two sisters, Julia (John) DeMartini and Norma Dye; his nieces and nephews: Michele, Paul, Jean, Angela, Jack, Cathy, Eric, Jeff, Denise, Robert, Carrie, Penny, and Sandy; his first cousins Richard (Naida) Spellenberg and Steven (Sarah) Spellenberg and their children; his numerous Hunt cousins; and friends he considered adopted family: Becky Alsup, Helen Edwards, and Mike Rhodes.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Barbara; his parents, Earl and Geraldine Spellenberg; his sister, Patricia; his in-laws, Erwin and Anna Papke; his brothers-in-law, William Papke (aka Uncle Buddy) and Bill Dye; and his niece Dana. He was the last living grandchild of A.N. and Mary Ann Hunt.

We are deeply grateful to Hospice of Humboldt for their compassionate care, unwavering support, and kindness during Dad’s final days. We would also like to thank his caregivers: Jill, Dan, Indigo, Bernardino, Elijah, Michelle, and Jackie. This team of caregivers treated Jerry like family—with love and respect. We appreciate all you did for him in his final days.

At Jerry’s request, no funeral service or memorial will be held. The family will spread his ashes alongside our mom’s at the family cabin on Rottenwood Ranch later this summer.

Please remember the good times you enjoyed with Jerry. He loved a good martini and a glass of red wine—so the next time you lift a glass, think of him.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Jerry Spellenberg’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Patricia Jean Madsen passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 7th 2025 at the age of 85. She was born on October 31st 1939 in Canon City, Colorado to Virginia Thornton and Arlie Townsend. 

She spent much of her childhood growing up in the Blocksburg, Dinsmore, Carlotta, Hydesville area. She boarded for school in Fortuna, Hydesville, and Swain’s Flat. She graduated from Fortuna High in 1957. 

Patricia married her first husband, Richard Gaboriault in 1958. Shortly after getting married they welcomed their first son, Todd. Their second son Mark was born 2 years later. They spent many years on the road traveling as Richard was a logging truck driver. She took on the role of a den mother with The Boy Scouts and as a room mom for both of the boys. 

Patricia married her second husband Leland Madsen in 1975. They welcomed their first born daughter, Sonja in 1975. Their second child, Tara was born 2 years later. When the girls were little she became a member of the Methodist church in Fortuna. She started teaching Sunday School and also joined the women’s group. She became a teacher’s aid at Fortuna Middle School in 1987 and retired in the mid 2000’s. She also spent many years as a member of the Fortuna Genealogy Society and the Fortuna Library.

She loved having a hand in helping raise her grandchildren. They meant the world to her. Crafting and gardening with them when they were little was one of her favorite hobbies. Attending as many of their sporting events was a must. Time spent with the great-grandchildren was cherished just as well. Taking care of family was her pride and joy. She also enjoyed writing, star gazing, bird watching, MLB, Nascar, and old TV shows.

Patricia was preceded in death by her parents, Virginia & Arlie Townsend; her brother, Jerry “Bud” Townsend; husband, Leland Madsen; daughter, Sonja Armstrong; son in law, Calvin “Brad” Armstrong;  granddaughter, Adrienne LeRoy, and brothers in-law; Neil, Melvin, and Gary Madsen. 

She is survived by her sister Peggy Macy (Gary); son, Todd Gaboriault (Deb), and Mark Gaboriault; daughter, Tara Johnson (Sage Foley); grand children, Broc Gaboriault, Mallory Phillips, Ross Gaboriault, Nick Gaboriault, Hannah Nevins, Derek Johnson, Bailey Foley, Maxton LeRoy, Brooklyn Armstrong, and Beau Armstrong. Great granddaughters; Charlee Gaboriault, Veronica Cruz, Corbin Gaboriault, Sophia Shelton, Isabella Blankenship, Malia LeRoy, Kyler Gaboriault, and Nathan Gaboriault. She is also survived by her nephews Trent and Ty Macy; and niece, Ginny Townsend. 

There will be a memorial service at The Fortuna United Methodist Church on June 14th at 1:00. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the church.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Patricia Jean Madsen’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

###

PREVIOUSLY: Eureka City Council Unanimously Adopts 518-Page Bike Plan, a Master Plan for Human-Powered Transportation Improvements Throughout the City

###

The Eureka City Council on Tuesday narrowly approved a $2.34 million contract with local firm RAO Construction Co. to build the “C Street Bicycle Boulevard” project, which aims to enhance cycling infrastructure between Old Town and Henderson Center. The bid award was approved in a 3-2 vote, with councilmembers Renee Contreras-DeLoach and G. Mario Fernandez dissenting over concerns about community outreach and engagement.

The project, funded through a Caltrans Active Transportation Grant (ATP), will alter the configuration of 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. Once the project is complete, two-way traffic will be diverted off of C Street at four intersections (Seventh, Fourteenth, Buhne and Harris streets). 

“Local vehicular traffic will continue to have access anywhere along the corridor, though they may have to go ‘around the block’ to get to [their] destination on C Street,” the staff report states. “Bicycle and pedestrian traffic, however, will remain two-way.”

The project design also includes 11 “enhanced” pedestrian crossings at high-volume intersections that feature concrete bulb-outs, rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs), signage, striping, pavement markers and planters. 

City Engineer Jesse Willor said the project came about in 2020 when staff started working on the Eureka Bike Plan, which aims to make the city navigable for bikes. “It wouldn’t necessarily reduce access to anybody living along the street,” Willor said. “It’s more [of an effort] to inhibit people [from] using C Street as a cut-through street to get from one side of town to the other … and really allow for that street to be a way for cyclists to … get across town without having to navigate as much traffic.”

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Eureka resident Jessica Rebholtz expressed concern about the community engagement process, asserting that “not once has anyone on C Street been notified of this project.” 

Rebholtz | Screenshot

“There was no flyer, no mailer, no community meeting,” Rebholtz said, adding that the city could have saved money on a physical mailer by including information about the project in residents’ water bills. “Additionally, I [would] like to better understand the logic behind selecting C Street. … B Street already has flashing lights on Buhne. Why not pick B Street? Why C Street? It makes no sense to me. …  I can guarantee you, no one on C Street actually knows this is happening, so it’s being tucked away.”

As Councilmember Leslie Castellano would note later in the meeting (see below), there have, in fact been several public meetings on this issue.

Eureka resident Brett Gronemeyer spoke in favor of the project and underscored the importance of expanding bike facilities to enhance connectivity throughout the city and accommodate cyclists who aren’t comfortable riding through high-traffic areas.

“A high-quality bicycle facility like this one adds a needed north-south bike route roughly halfway between the H and I street couplet and Broadway,” he said. “It’s good to have [an assortment] of different bike facilities in the city because not everybody is confident when they’re riding … with a lot of traffic, and this would create a nice, quiet corridor for cyclists. I think the residents would also appreciate having less traffic and [fewer] vehicles speeding down their street that this project will bring with the volume and speed management features it’s going to contain.”

Shortly after public comment, Fernandez made a motion to postpone the council’s decision until its June 17 meeting, but the motion died lacking a second. Asked why he felt compelled to postpone the decision, Fernandez said he was “generally supportive of these type of projects,” but took issue with the community outreach process.

“As city government … we do what’s necessary, we do what’s required, but that community outreach is an ongoing process, and I don’t feel that we’ve done that in this situation,” Fernandez said, adding that, if postponement were granted, he would vote in favor of the project.

Castellano made a motion to approve the bid award, which was seconded by Councilmember Kati Moulton.

Before voting on the matter, Contreras-DeLoach explained why she planned to vote against it, echoing previous concerns about the public outreach process and the financial impact of the project. “It’s more of a budget thing for me,” she said. “I see this as nice and beautiful, but not necessary.”

Castellano said she could understand concerns around public input, but reminded her peers that the debate at hand was not whether the project should be approved, but whether the council should approve a bid award for its construction.

Castellano | Screenshot

“We’ve already approved [this project] through numerous public meetings,” she said. “I have attended at least two public meetings, and I understand that sometimes people miss something — I miss things too, and I’m frustrated by it — but also I just want to speak to the fact that this really is for awarding construction through a process that we’ve already approved on council. … This is grant-funded, and I think delaying the process will only bog down [the] government process for something that we’ve all [agreed] with for years.”

Speaking to the broader issue of community outreach, Slattery said staff could bring back a proposal that would set additional parameters for the public notification process.

After a bit of additional discussion, the council voted 3-2, with Contreras-DeLoach and Fernandez dissenting, to approve the $2.34 million bid award to RAO Construction Co. Detailed schematics for the project can be found at this link.

###

Other notable bits from last night’s meeting:

• During a special budget study session with the city’s Finance Advisory Committee, Finance Director Lane Millar went over the projected budget for the 2025-26 Fiscal Year. Staff is anticipating a nearly $400,000 deficit in the city’s General Fund, but Millar emphasized that that figure would likely change before the fiscal year is closed. “If you look at our financial statements, we tend to budget conservatively, meaning that we typically show worst-case scenarios,” he said. “If there are surprises, those surprises are improvements, not things that have gone in the other direction.” The council accepted the report but did not take any action on the item.
• The council also approved letters of support for two bills making their way through the state legislature. AB 609 would exempt environmentally friendly housing projects from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to streamline the permitting process for new housing developments. SB 79 would set state standards for transit-oriented zoning to encourage the development of multi-family housing around transit hubs. The letter for AB 609 received unanimous support from the council. The letter for SB 79 was approved in a 3-2 vote, with councilmembers Scott Bauer and Contreras-DeLoach dissenting.

Click “play” on the video below to watch the full meeting.

###

Eureka City Schools release:

Eureka City Schools (ECS) is pleased to announce that our Summer Community Meals program will return in 2025 with expanded access to service. 

Starting June 23, 2025, and continuing through July 31, 2025, children 18 years of age and younger can access free nutritious meals Monday through Friday from several designated sites, spanning from Eureka to Rio Dell. There is no service for any location on July 4, 2025. 

On-Site Meal Service 

Meals must be eaten at the location where they are served. The following schools will be open for on site lunch service: 

• Washington Elementary 
  3322 Dolbeer Street, Eureka 
  Hours: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 
• Alice Birney Elementary 
  717 South Avenue, Eureka 
  Hours: 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 
• Eureka High School 
  1915 J Street, Eureka 
  Hours: 12:15 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. 

Grab-and-Go Summer Meals 

Meals picked up from these two sites listed below do not need to be eaten on-site and may be taken  to go. Meals can pick up meals to take home from the following locations between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m.:

• 2292 Newburg Road, Fortuna 
• 50 Center Street, Rio Dell 

The ECS Summer Community Meals program provides an opportunity to continue a child’s physical  and social development while providing nutritious meals during vacation periods from school. Eureka City Schools takesfood insecurity very seriously and understands how much good nutrition is essential for not only learning in school but for a child’s overall growth and development. Having  consistent access to healthy food can stabilize energy, promote strong bones and teeth, improve mental health, help to maintain a healthy weight, prevent chronic diseases, and even reduce anxiety and give a child confidence. 

Our participation in this federally-funded program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture helps  children stay connected to their community and return to school ready to learn. 

If you have any questions, please contact Food Services at (707) 441-2501. The Summer Community Meals Menu and other Food Services information is posted at www.ecsnutritionservices.com. 

###

PREVIOUSLY

• Flouting State Guidance, Blue Lake City Council Votes Not to Adopt Its Own Updated Housing Element
• SERVED: Three Blue Lake Council Members Were Handed Recall Notices at Tonight’s Meeting

###

The Blue Lake City Council last night approved a plan to bring the city back into compliance with state housing law by the end of February 2026, and now they’re hoping state authorities will be okay with that timeline.

Blue Lake has been out of compliance with state housing law for nearly six years, as the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) politely reminded former City Manager Mandy Mager via a letter last month. 

Like all local government jurisdictions in the state, Blue Lake is required to regularly update its housing element to plan for its share of California’s projected population growth, known as its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). In Blue Lake’s case, it needs to submit plans for accommodating up to 34 new dwelling units in the coming years.

A housing element update has been completed and approved by the Blue Lake Planning Commission, and it was brought before the council for adoption last month. However, a new council majority, which narrowly won election in November, is possessed of a robust skepticism about the way the city has been run in recent years. Since being seated in January, this cohort has been closely scrutinizing past work and upending procedures in a DOGE-like shakeup of the municipal government.

This trio of council members — which includes Mayor John Sawatzky, Mayor Pro-Tem Elise Scafani and Kat Napier — are now facing a recall initiative mounted by residents in the wake of the unceremonious ouster of Mager earlier this month. (They were personally served notices of recall earlier in the meeting.)

Critics accused Mager of green-lighting various development projects — including a controversial mixed-use Danco project in the Powers Creek District — without sufficient public participation. (Mager’s supporters dispute such allegations while applauding her planning efforts.)

Last month’s HCD letter to the city warns that continued non-compliance with state housing law could have serious ramifications, including a lawsuit from the Attorney General, financial penalties of up to $100,000 per month, additional fines of up to $50,000 per month and even the loss of local control over when and where very low- to moderate-income housing and emergency shelters are built, via a mechanism called the “Builder’s Remedy.”

At last night’s meeting, City Planner Gary Reese walked the council through a draft response to HCD, which includes an outline of the tasks that still need to be completed. He said it’s up to the council to set target completion dates for the two big-ticket items on that to-do list:

• adopting the latest (6th cycle) housing element update and submitting it to HCD, and
• completing state-required rezoning

Napier voiced hesitation about the environmental review for this process. While an initial study conducted for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) concluded that there will be no significant environmental impacts from adopting a housing element update, Napier suggested that there should be more analysis of the cumulative effects of various proposed projects in the city.

“It doesn’t seem like we’ve looked at the full picture,” she said, noting a number of projects in various stages of development, such as housing, a sports recreation center, an RV park, a battery storage facility, a new amphitheater and a bike park.

Reese said the level of environmental analysis Napier is looking for might be typical of more robust and comprehensive planning efforts, like a full General Plan Update, but it’s beyond the scope of what’s usually done for a housing element update. Some of the projects she mentioned are still in the conceptual stage and thus not considered “reasonably foreseeable” for housing element purposes.

Napier defended the approach of pumping the brakes for the sake of increased scrutiny. She said asking questions about the housing element doesn’t mean somebody is against affordable housing; it’s about due diligence.

“To me, now is the time to ask those questions,” she said. “Now is the time to have more scrutiny rather than after the fact and have to live with regret.”

During the public comment period, former mayor Adelene Jones — who lost re-election to Napier by random chance following an exact tie at the ballot box — urged the council to move quickly to adopt the update, saying the city needs affordable housing and lamenting the fact that she and her former council colleagues hadn’t approved the update long ago.

Other public speakers, including Lisa Hoover, Beckie Thornton Raygoza and Lori Ponte, voiced support for the slow and deliberate approach and thanked the new council members for their efforts.

Council Member Michelle Lewis-Lusso, who’s a holdover from the previous council, proposed a timeline with a completion date of Dec. 31, but Scafani and Napier both said the city should take more time. [CORRECTION: Lewis-Lusso was elected in November.]

“I am of the mind to go with a much more cautious timeline,” Napier said. She went on to suggest that she had questions about a geotechnical study and suggested that perhaps it should be sent out for peer review. Napier also said the next few months should be focused on budget matters.

At that point, Interim City Manager Dani Burkhart spoke up. 

“While I love that we want to be thorough and do our research, we also need to remember that we pay subject matter experts to be that, and you do not have thousands of hours to dedicate to becoming subject matter experts in every single policy that comes before you for consideration,” Burkhart said.

She suggested that the council needs to prioritize efficiency, adding, “Your conversation about the budget will become moot if we are fined into oblivion.”

Scafani later made a motion to submit the updated housing element to the state by the end of the year and aim to complete the required rezoning no later than Feb. 28, 2026. 

Asked for his take on that plan, Reese said the city could get pushback from the state for such continued delays. However, the motion passed unanimously.