Press release from the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury:

Humboldt County Superior Court distributed a press release on April 26th to request interested members of our local community to submit applications for the 2023/2024 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury. However, to date we have not received enough applications to proceed with our normal member selection process and timeline. We implore more members of our community to please apply to serve as a member in order for the important work of the civil grand jury - to investigate and review citizen complaints concerning the operations of city and county government as well as other tax supported and non-profit agencies and districts – to continue without interruption.

Based on the Civil Grand Jury’s reviews, they publish reports of its findings and may recommend constructive action to improve the quality and effectiveness of local government, which benefits our local community and county. The Humboldt Superior Court empanels 19 citizens to act as an independent body of the judicial system each year. The Humboldt County civil grand jury is seeking applicants for fiscal year 2023/2024 (term: July 1-June 30). The Court also encourages citizens to apply and serve as alternates if and when vacancies occur during the FY term of service. The Civil Grand Jury is currently meeting both in-person and occasionally via Zoom. The weekly time commitment ranges from 10-30 hours.

The civil grand jury does not consider criminal indictments, and members cannot be serving as an elected public official.

For more information and the application process, please complete and submit a fillable application on the Court’s web site at this link, or contact Administration at 269-1245. You may also request an application, complete/download, and email an application by emailing: GrandJuryApps@humboldtcourt.ca.gov. Or you may return a completed paper application to Jury Services in Room G03 (4th Street entrance). Thank you for your interest and support of our local community!

Like many recent arrivals to California, Prem Pariyar searched for work and a home within communities of fellow immigrants.

So when coworkers at a South Asian restaurant in Davis refused to room with him in an apartment his employer provided, he was shocked by their reason: his caste. Not his race, religion or nationality, but the centuries-old social hierarchies still prevalent in some South Asian societies.

Pariyar is Dalit, which means “broken” in Sanskrit and is considered the lowest-ranking caste, formerly known as “untouchables.” In Nepal, he said, his family faced violence and harassment. He thought he had escaped that here.

“I was speechless,” he said of his coworkers’ actions, which left him depressed, traumatized and living in a van for a month in 2015 until he quit the restaurant. “Why did these people practice these kinds of things here in the U.S.?”

Today Pariyar, who won asylum and became a U.S. citizen, is one of California’s most vocal activists for a ban on caste discrimination. After successfully pushing for California State University to adopt a ban in 2022, Pariyar, a social worker in the East Bay, is focused on getting protections for so-called lower-caste people into the state’s fair housing and employment laws.

Prem Pariyar, a Nepali Dalit activist who got CSU to include caste in its anti-discrimination policy, at his home in Richmond on May 16, 2023. Photo by Loren Elliott for CalMatters.

Legislation to do that is contentious. In April, it drew one of the largest public hearing turnouts for any bill before California’s Legislature this session. It would be the first statewide measure of its kind in the nation, although Seattle passed a similar ordinance in February.

While many Californians may never know anyone who experiences caste discrimination, or even what it is, for some, it’s both hidden and inescapable.

For many worshipers at Shri Guru Ravidass Temple on the outskirts of Sacramento, the issue is about their families’ futures: Will the discrimination they experienced as Dalits in India follow them to California? Will it stop their children from achieving the American Dream?

Followers of the Ravidass religion, which is related to Sikhism, belong to the Dalit caste but formed their distinct faith as a move against caste discrimination. On a recent Sunday, between services and a meal, members swapped anecdotes about discrimination they encountered, including in the U.S.

In social settings among other South Asians, they said, they’ve heard derogatory comments about Dalits. One man, a hospital janitor, believes he got tougher assignments because his supervisors and colleagues from upper castes played favorites.

Some said bosses, coworkers and classmates asked probing questions — about their last names, the temple they attended, their relatives’ jobs back home — that to an outsider may seem innocuous, but are common ways to discern someone’s caste background in India.

Several who spoke to CalMatters work as truck drivers. In many ways, they said, the legacy of the caste system had already shaped the trajectory of their lives, because it limits the jobs and education available to them both in India and now the U.S.

“It was really hard for our people to get up, to get a high-paying job and higher education,” said Raj Rohl, 40. “We struggled a lot. We don’t want that to happen here, so our kids struggle again here to get the education they want, to get the jobs they want.”

“Honestly, we don’t really deal with that many Brahmins here,” said Raj Vadhan, 50, referring to the highest caste classification. The bill, he said, would help more with “discrimination going on at the upper-level jobs, the higher-paying jobs.”

Priest Bhai Manhor Singh at the Shri Guru Ravidass Temple in Rio Linda on June 3, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

South Asians on the other side of the debate say the bill is unnecessary — and unfair.

“To tackle discrimination, we have very strong existing laws and existing protections under categories of ancestry and national origin. They can, and should, be used to deal with any issues of caste-based discrimination as they arise — and they have actually already been used,” said Samir Kalra, managing director of the Hindu American Foundation, an advocacy group opposing the bill.

“Creating an entire separate category and law that only applies to minority communities is inconsistent with our constitutional norms.”

The bill’s historical roots

Sen. Aisha Wahab, a first-term Democrat from Fremont, wants to add caste as a protected category to the state Unruh Civil Rights Act, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and the state policy that bans discrimination in public schools.

“As our state and country become more and more diverse, our laws have to go further and deeper and clarify more specifically, what is being protected,” she told CalMatters. “And caste discrimination is something that should not take place here in the United States, let alone in California.”

The Senate approved her bill, SB 403, on a 34-1 vote on May 11, but advocacy groups opposed to the measure will try again to kill or change it in the Assembly.

The concept of the South Asian caste system has been in the U.S. since at least 1965, when a federal immigration law overhaul resulted in immigrants from more Asian countries receiving visas. But because those visas focused on skilled labor, the legacy of caste discrimination in India meant upper-caste Indian immigrants were able to establish themselves in the U.S. decades before lower-caste Hindus.

The issue became more prominent recently, partly because the rise of the Hindu nationalist movement in Indian politics reinforced caste divisions as it sought to unify and strengthen the Hindu identity in India.

One of the earliest examples of caste making headlines in California: In 1999, federal prosecutors charged Berkeley real estate magnate Lakireddy Bali Reddy, as well as his brother, sister-in-law and sons, for smuggling Indian women into the U.S. for illegal sexual activity. Prosecutors said Reddy “took advantage of casteism and economic class to exploit these women.” He was convicted of sex trafficking and spent eight years in federal prison before dying in Oakland in 2021.

Caste issues have surfaced prominently in Silicon Valley, where Indian workers with bachelor’s degrees made up 27% of tech workers in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in 2021. In April 2021, the Santa Clara County Human Rights Commission held informational hearings about caste discrimination.

In 2020, what is now the state Civil Rights Department sued Cisco, the San Jose-based networking and cloud management company, and two engineers after an employee filed a complaint alleging he received less pay and fewer opportunities because he was Dalit. He also said the defendants retaliated against him when he spoke out.

The two engineers denied the allegations, saying in court filings they reject caste hierarchies and recruited the employee to Cisco with competitive pay and stock options. The state dropped its case against the engineers, but continues the suit against the company. The state and Cisco are in mediation talks. Attorneys for the company and the two engineers did not respond to requests for comment.

Legislating conflict

While caste discrimination is difficult for corporations to navigate, it’s also a thorny issue for politicians.

Rohit Chopra, a professor of global media and cultural identity at Santa Clara University, said some politicians don’t want to be seen as targeting any community — including the Indian community, which has political clout. That gives the opposition a window of opportunity, particularly those in the “Hindu right,” he said.

“Whatever organizations are sort of spearheading this … they keep appropriating this right to speak for all Hindus and all Indians,” he said.

Wahab, the first Afghan-American lawmaker in the Legislature, is not South Asian, but represents a district that is home to many. In response to the bill, she said she has been the target of threats and derogatory comments about her identity, as well as a recall campaign led by congressional candidate Ritesh Tandon, a San Jose-area former Cisco engineer. He says his platform includes protecting Silicon Valley jobs, addressing climate change and ending racial preferences in hiring.

There are two South Asians in the Legislature: Democratic Assemblymembers Ash Kalra from San Jose and Jasmeet Bains from Bakersfield.

Bains, who represents a large Sikh population, signed on as a co-sponsor to the bill in mid-April, but did not respond to requests for an interview on her reasons. Kalra, who is not a co-sponsor and represents part of Silicon Valley, declined an interview. Neither has had to vote on the bill yet. Naindeep Singh, executive director of Jakara Movement, a community organizing group for Sikh Californians, said the group supports the bill because “while Sikh theology calls for caste abolitionism, still among some Sikh societies casteism is still practiced.”

While some opponents say the bill will make them targets for discrimination, Singh argues that much of the opposition is in bad faith. “The argument that the bill singles out South Asian communities is a canard,” he said. “It is rather simple: If you don’t discriminate against others based on caste, you have little to fear with SB 403’s passage.”

Kalra, of the Hindu American Foundation, pushed back on that argument.

“You’re already going to be assumed to be caste-ist just as a South Asian, so you are already facing suspicion. And if you are falsely accused, it’s a nightmare to go through that process,” he said.

The foundation has submitted amendments to the bill that would remove language such as “caste-oppressed,” which it says would result in racial profiling of South Asians, he said.

Amar Shergill, former chairperson of the California Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus whose family is from India, said politicians have hesitated to discuss caste, but “thankfully, we are at that place now.”

“Let’s face it, this is a difficult issue to discuss,” he said. “Like so many issues of oppression within the community — whether it’s sex discrimination or child abuse or caste opppression — folks don’t want to talk about the pain in their own community.”

It’s a small world

The caste bill is the latest flashpoint as immigrants bring conflicts from their home country to California.

The state is home to 10.5 million immigrants — 23% of the foreign-born population nationwide, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Nearly a third of California’s population is foreign-born, and almost half of California children have at least one immigrant parent. The fall of the Soviet Union, wars and other global conflicts touched off new waves of migration to California.

Included in those waves are Asian Americans, who make up about 15% of the state’s population, according to the 2020 Census. In 2021, nearly 1 million in California self-identified as South Asian — from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, according to an analysis by the University of Minnesota.

Data on subgroups of immigrants, such as by caste, can be more difficult to track.

A 2016 national survey by the Oakland-based activist group Equality Labs found that two-thirds of Dalit respondents said they had been mistreated at work, one-third said they experienced discrimination during their education and one half said they feared being “outed.” In a 2022 research paper Pariyar co-authored while studying at Cal State East Bay, 24 of 27 Dalit Nepalis interviewed in the Bay Area said they had experienced some form of caste-based discrimination, including two who said they were forced out by roommates or landlords when their caste was discovered.

Opponents of the bill say caste discrimination reports are overstated in the Equality Labs survey. They point instead to a broader 2021 survey of Indian Americans in the U.S. by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in which only 5% of respondents reported experiencing caste discrimination — though the study notes that the majority of respondents who were Hindu and identified with a caste reported being from an upper caste.Scholars such as Audrey Truschke, a historian of South Asia and associate professor at Rutgers University, say California has set a precedent for addressing issues that affect even “micro-minorities.”

That may be due to California’s diverse population, which has long forced its lawmakers to confront broader issues.

Take, for instance, an international dispute between Armenian and Turkish people. Among California’s oldest and largest immigrant populations, Armenians first settled in Fresno as early as the 1870s and in larger numbers after World War I, following their deportation from what is now Turkey. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died from starvation or disease during the forced expulsion in 1915 and 1916 to Syria and elsewhere, in what most scholars call a genocide.

California officially recognized the genocide in 1968. But the Republic of Turkey balked, acknowledging the deaths but denying what occurred was systemic. And due to its alliance with Turkey, the United States did not recognize the conflict as a genocide until April 2021.

Former Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, who pushed for a 2022 law establishing Genocide Remembrance Day in California, said he wrote the bill in a way that would not just solely acknowledge the trauma of the Armenian community.

“It’s only respectful if we have a day of commemoration that every community can identify with,” he said. “No one’s trauma is at the end of the day greater than the others, or at least we should never treat it that way.”

A more recent example was in 2017, when then-Assemblymember Rob Bonta authored a bill to repeal a Cold War-era ban on communists working for the state, though it was rarely enforced. Bonta, now attorney general, said he pulled his bill out of respect for Vietnamese immigrants who had fled the communist regime in Vietnam.

Vincent Tran, organizing director for VietRise, an advocacy group for the Vietnamese community in Orange County, said many immigrants’ political activism is rooted in both the conflicts they fled and quality-of-life issues such as affordable housing.

“It’s part of the bigger plan to institutionalize the identity,” Tran said. “What does it mean to be Vietnamese American?”

In the case of caste, Dalit activist Thenmozhi Soundararajan of Equality Labs said the anti-discrimination bill is more than a statement on international politics.

“It’s not about, ‘We need to make a moral stand,’” she said, “It’s actually that California institutions, California workers and California renters are being impacted.”

Necessary, or duplicative?

At the heart of the state’s debate now: Does California already prohibit caste discrimination?

The Cisco case shows that the state can already act on allegations of caste discrimination, though the company in court filings has contended that caste is not a protected identity. California’s civil rights department said current law allows renters and employees to make caste-based discrimination claims under the state’s bans of discrimination based on race or ancestry.

The department could not say — out of the more than 10,000 annual complaints of racial or ancestry-based discrimination — how many mention caste. Nor would it comment on how adding caste to the law would specifically affect how it handles those complaints.

“Generally speaking, any effort to further strengthen existing civil rights protections may result in an increase in complaints filed with our office,” a spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “Should that occur, the Civil Rights Department will work with the Legislature to ensure any new workload is adequately resourced.”

But Jessica Ramey Stender, policy director with Equal Rights Advocates, which provides legal assistance to workers, said the bill is necessary to add clarity, despite existing protections.

“The key to a discrimination case, of course, is that you are treated differently or adversely based on a protected characteristic,” she said. “And so if the two workers who are being treated differently are of the same race, national origin or ancestry, they may not be able to establish a claim if (they’re) being discriminated against based on being of a different caste.”

Guha Krishnamurthi, an associate professor of law at the University of Oklahoma who has studied the bill, said he understands the “ever-present anxiety that one might worry about being sued.“You’re balancing the potential for frivolous cases against making sure people who are facing legitimate cases of caste discrimination have a way of remedying that,” he said. “As a lawyer who believes in the truth-finding function, I am not as worried about our system not being able to ferret out frivolous cases.”

He said that the bill also serves an educational purpose: “It tells managers and companies, don’t do this. But it also tells HR departments — be vigilant about this.”

Head priest Bhai Gurdeep Singh at the Shri Guru Ravidass Temple in Rio Linda on June 3, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

While state law could address discrimination in the workplace, it would be far more difficult to do so in other parts of daily life.

In interviews, several Californians of Dalit descent described experiencing how other South Asians had subtly divided them based on caste. Some said it came in the form of ostracism at school — sometimes by parents of their classmates who found out about their family background — and in university groups or immigrant social circles.

Pooja Singh, founder of Hindus for Caste Equity, one of the bill’s sponsors, said that when a health care colleague bragged about her family’s upper-caste background, she could see her promotion opportunities shrink because her boss was also from that upper-caste.

“When I found out you could go to HR, I just didn’t even take it, because nobody would understand that,” she said. “Americans see, like, Asians fighting Asians. They think it’s personal grudges or something. They don’t understand it’s a caste issue.”

###

CalMatters newsletter writer Lynn La contributed to this story. CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Press release from the California Highway Patrol:

On June 7, 2023, at approximately 7:05 AM, CHP Humboldt Communication Center received a call of a male pedestrian lying in the median of United States Route 101 (US-101), south of the 7th Street overcrossing, in Arcata. CHP, along with emergency medical and fire personnel, responded to the scene and located an unresponsive subject who had succumbed to blunt force injuries. Based on CHP’s preliminary investigation, it is believed the subject was crossing US-101 Northbound at approximately 9:00 PM on June 6, 2023 when he was struck by a vehicle that continued from the scene of the crash.

CHP is seeking the public’s assistance in locating the driver and vehicle involved in this crash. It is believed the involved vehicle sustained front end damage and may be missing its right (passenger) side mirror. Anyone with information regarding the crash is urged to contact the Humboldt Area CHP office at (707) 822-5981 during business hours, or (707) 268-200 after business hours.

IN TODAY’S HEADLINES: Board of Supervisors rundown, with news on the temporary moratorium on new short-term rentals and the (failed) temporary moratorium on new billboards, plus the budget; Crescent City votes for new support for firefighters; missing Loleta woman located; a big anniversary for the Yurok Tribe. Plus: Weather!

In the poll today: What new regulations would you like to see on billboards? Vote below.

Billboards! Some people love ‘em, some people hate ‘em! It turns out the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is pretty split on the matter.

There’s been a recent surge in local municipalities taking action to ban or limit the construction of new billboards, off-premise signs and illuminated signs. Earlier this year, the City of Eureka adopted an ordinance to ban new digital billboards and signs across the city.

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors considered a request from staff during Tuesday’s meeting to adopt a 45-day urgency ordinance that would place a temporary moratorium on permits for new billboards, off-premise signs and illuminated signs within the county’s jurisdiction.

County staff have been working on a draft ordinance to limit the construction of new billboards for several months. Planning and Building Director John Ford noted that it can take time – even years – to develop and adopt such an ordinance. A temporary moratorium could prevent potential developers from rushing to permit new billboards and digital signs while the draft ordinance is under review, he said.

“There’s a lot of experience in the state that when jurisdictions start proceeding down this path, [it] can sometimes trigger a bit of a stampede towards trying to get [their permits] in before the ordinances get established,” Fifth District Supervisor and Board Chair Steve Madrone reiterated. “This doesn’t actually eliminate anything that currently exists.”

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn asked if staff had seen a dramatic uptick in permit applications to build new billboards in Humboldt County. Ford said his department has “not seen any new applications for billboards” in the last year but noted that there is an illuminated sign on South Broadway that would be affected by the proposed regulations because it was constructed without permits.

“[It] seems like we worry about a lot of stuff that’s not going to happen and we’ve got a lot of stuff that is happening right now that, I think, is a lot more pressing,” Bohn said. “I don’t see a problem. … I know one business that was using [billboards] said 65 percent of his business came from that. So, I guess it might be as good a time as any to put a dagger in somebody’s business, but I don’t think that’s what we’re going to try to do. I’m probably not in favor of this one.”

Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson countered, noting that the City of Eureka received “numerous” permit applications to construct illuminated signs after the city announced that it was modifying its sign ordinance. 

“There were numerous applications made and some of them were actually put through under the wire [even though] they didn’t conform with the regulation[s] as it came out the other end,” Wilson said. “A rush did happen. We see it and we can point to those in Eureka and we drive by them all the time. … If Eureka had done what we’re talking about today those wouldn’t be there.”

Wilson also pointed out the environmental impacts associated with digital billboards specifically, including impacts to nighttime wildlife and light pollution in neighborhoods that are adjacent to commercial zones.

Bohn noted that some businesses, including Shafer’s Ace Hardware on Harris Street, turn off their digital signs around 10 p.m. He added that he has “never gotten a residential complaint” about that sign and reiterated his doubts that the proposed regulations would spur an onslaught of businesses wanting to build new billboards.

“Anybody that brings anything in front of us to build or anything else, we want to have our hand in it and restrict it in as many ways as possible and make it unfeasible to happen,” he said. “But then we’ll talk about the shortage of tax dollars, business, housing and everything else. … I just can’t support this.”

Madrone reiterated that the temporary moratorium would not take away any existing billboards, but said it does prevent a big onslaught. “And if we don’t have a big onslaught, then it’s not a problem either way, right?”

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo also highlighted the visual and environmental impacts associated with billboards, adding that “there is something to be said for the unique and beautiful character of this place.”

Arroyo | Screenshot

“The natural beauty [of Humboldt County] is a huge aspect to why people come to this place … and I don’t think we can overstate that,” she said. “That’s one of our biggest assets. My own personal buying habits aside – because I’m a millennial and I don’t care – I would so much rather not see a billboard. It just doesn’t do anything for me except seem obnoxious. … There are many ways to advertise these days and most patrons of businesses are utilizing other means to find out about businesses and to determine where to take their business.”

Giving staff time to research the subject further “is no problem in my book,” Arroyo added.

“This is not my first sign rodeo,” she said, referring to her time on the Eureka City Council. “I have learned from the past … that hemming and hawing and taking a long time to decide about something because there were some folks who had concerns ended up resulting in some of those exact outcomes that we didn’t want.”

Arroyo made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation and approve the temporary moratorium. Wilson seconded the motion.

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell asked Ford if there were currently any applications in the queue to build new billboards. He said there were not.

“So, we could assume then that nobody’s ordered that machinery or whatever because they would have to do the permit first with all the specs and blah, blah, blah,” Bushnell suggested.

“There’s always an action and a reaction,” Ford said. “When jurisdictions put regulations out and people [see] that it’s going to regulate something that they may want to do, there’s a rush to go out and build them and ask for forgiveness or ask for permission and submit an application to get in ahead of the regulatory process.”

Ford added that the county is just about ready to issue the draft ordinance for public review. “That [process] will probably take a month to six weeks and then move to the [Humboldt County] Planning Commission for approval.” 

After a bit of additional discussion, the board voted 3-2, with Bohn and Bushnell dissenting, to approve the temporary moratorium on new billboards. But because the item required a four-fifths vote for approval it did not pass. Staff informed the board that it would have to either modify the motion to reach a four-fifths vote or pass a motion affirming that the initial motion did not pass.

In most cases, the board would continue to deliberate until some level of consensus was reached among its members to provide a reportable action for the discussion at hand, said County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes. “Affirming that the moratorium has not passed with a two-thirds vote will give the [Clerk of the Board] an action that can be recorded as it relates to this.”

Wilson made a motion to apply the temporary moratorium to the third, fourth and fifth districts, which Arroyo seconded, in an attempt to appease both sides. “I’m parsing here because it’s just, like, I want to protect my community,” Wilson said. “And that’s where I’m at. I feel it’s important.”

After a bit of confusion surrounding the procedure and protocols for the item, the board eventually voted 3-2, with Bohn and Bushnell dissenting once again, to affirm that the first motion did not pass, meaning the temporary ban on billboards did not go through. 

Clear as mud, right? 

Short-Term Rental Ordinance

The board discussed a similar moratorium that would temporarily ban new short-term rentals (Airbnb, Vrbo, etc.) in Humboldt County while staff circulates a draft ordinance that would regulate dwelling units that are rented to guests for 30 consecutive days or less. 

“Commercial use of residential structures for short-term rental has led to speculation on homes which has exacerbated housing scarcity and inflated housing prices, and the new regulations seek to better balance the supply and demand for housing,” according to the staff report. “In other jurisdiction[s] that have adopted regulations for short-term rentals, consideration has been given to existing rentals even though operating in violation of the Zoning Ordinance. The moratorium would remove the incentive to claim a pre-existing status.”

While the exact number of short-term rentals in Humboldt County is unknown, Ford estimated that there are roughly 1,000 short-term rentals operating in the county, most of which are unpermitted.

Wilson spoke in favor of a temporary ban, noting that the influx of short-term rentals has hindered access to housing across the county and even caused renters to be evicted.

“Property owners are trying to rush to convert [housing] into short-term rentals because they see a potential cap coming,” he said. “For me, the crux of the issue [and] why I strongly support this moratorium … is so we don’t we don’t give incentive … for properties that have long-term renters into conversions because they may think it’s their last chance to do so.”

Bushnell asked Ford what would happen to existing short-term rentals if the temporary moratorium did not move ahead. 

Ford | Screenshot

“Well, we do not proactively go out and search for short-term rentals,” Ford replied. “We are complaint-driven and, frankly, not a week goes by that we’re not dealing with a struggle with a short-term rental because the neighbors are complaining about it.”

Bushnell asked if there would be preference given to individuals who are already operating short-term rentals in the county. Ford said it wasn’t written in the draft ordinance as of yet but assumed there would probably be “a strong lobby to include that in the ordinance.”

Bushnell acknowledged the issues of housing inaccessibility in the “more urbanized areas” of the county but said rural communities are struggling to fill empty homes.

“In Southern Humboldt specifically, there are so many empty homes [and] apartments,” she said. “I don’t want to impose a moratorium on something that I feel some people are going to turn [to] … to try and save their homes … now that they’re empty. I’m struggling a little bit with it.”

The board spoke at length about the pros and cons of a temporary moratorium on short-term rentals, noting several times the anticipated impacts associated with increased enrollment at Cal Poly Humboldt, in addition to several other incoming developments around the Humboldt Bay region.

After quite a bit of discussion, the board eventually passed the temporary moratorium on short-term rentals in a 4-1 vote, with Bushnell dissenting. The item will appear before the planning commission for approval later this summer.

Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2023-24

Earlier in the meeting, the Board of Supervisors took its first look at the draft budget appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year and, unfortunately, it looks as though the county is in store for another year of financial distress.

Sales tax revenues have dropped considerably in the last year, cutting millions of dollars from the county’s projected income. With costs simultaneously rising due to inflation, higher employee salaries and more expensive benefits, the county is looking at a $17.7 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2023-24. 

“The total proposed budget or spending plan before your board is $578.5 5 million … [which] represents an increase of $7.2 million, or 1.3 percent more than the [2022-23] adopted budget,” Deputy CAO Jessica Maciel told the board. “The small increase is a combination of the efforts of departments to minimize expenditures while incorporating salary and benefit increases and the impacts of inflation and most expenditure categories.”

Staff are projecting $126.97 million in revenue for the general fund in 2023-24, a decrease of $26.2 million from the current fiscal year. Maciel largely attributed the decrease in revenue to the county’s decision to move the capital projects budget into a fund separate from the general fund, “as well as reductions in Measure Z expenditures and use of one-time [American Rescue Plan Act] ARPA funds for the jail medical contract.”

The general fund will utilize $35.9 million in other financing sources, Maciel said, including the use of that $17.7 million fund balance to present a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year. 

The Board of Supervisors made strides toward fiscal sustainability in the current fiscal year by contributing $5 million to the county’s general reserves, Maciel said. While the proposed budget does not include a contribution to the general reserves, she urged the board to revisit the subject and see if additional funds are available during the mid-year budget review in February 2024.

Maciel briefly touched on the county’s history of delinquent transactions and fiscal turmoil, noting that fiscal year 2021-22 “has not officially closed.”

“The auditor-controller has worked diligently to catch up delinquent transactions and prior years’ financial reporting so that staff are better able to estimate year-end fund balances,” she said. “While staff are able to provide estimates, there is still a significant amount of work that needs to be completed.”

The bulk of the board’s discussion revolved around Measure Z, the county’s half-cent sales tax for public safety and essential services, which has helped to fund hundreds, perhaps thousands of programs and individual projects over the years. However, the last year has had a significant impact on the Measure Z fund due to a dramatic reduction in economic activity across the county.

Deputy CAO Sean Quincey said the county is expecting to bring in $12.67 million in Measure Z revenue for fiscal year 2023-24, $1.8 million less than staff’s estimate for the current fiscal year. Current expenditures are expected to exceed $12 million, leaving approximately $623,429 for discretionary spending.

“Your board, during the May 22 meeting, approved deallocating seven of 16 positions that were allocated last year,” Quincey said. “Some of the positions were already projected to be funded for only half of the year so the salary savings amounted to a little under $500,000. It should be noted that the deallocated positions are all vacant. Still, the county added nine positions to Measure Z within the last year, increasing pressure on Measure Z funding.”

Bohn also acknowledged the increasing pressure on the Measure Z fund. “A lot of these services, I mean, the ambulance service in the Willow Creek area has doubled in nine years,” he said. “Everybody’s requests have grown and I think it’s part of our job to kind of look at that stuff and[realize] everybody’s going to have to take a little bit of a hit on this … It’s just going to be painful as we do it.”

Revenue through Measure S, the county’s cannabis cultivation tax, has also dried up. Last November, in a last-ditch effort to provide relief to struggling cannabis farmers, the Board of Supervisors agreed to suspend the tax for two years, which brought in as much as $18 million annually.

“This has added to the significant decline in the county’s discretionary revenue budget,” Maciel said. “[Over] $14 million remains outstanding for taxes assessed prior to the board’s action in November [of 2022]. Staff will return later this year to discuss potential changes and seek direction on alternative approaches to this tax.”

Speaking during public comment, Natalynne DeLapp, executive director of the Humboldt County Growers Alliance, thanked the board for choosing to suspend Measure S “because that gave a lifeline to cannabis farmers.”

“Things could have been worse if we didn’t look at that,” she said. “Unfortunately, as the nation, the state and the county are looking at a recession, cannabis is not the vital industry that it once was to be able to support this.”

Following public comment, Wilson made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation to approve the proposed budget appropriations for fiscal year 2023-24, which will be further subject to further discussion and potential modifications during a special meeting next week. Bushnell seconded the motion.

After a bit of additional discussion, the board passed staff’s recommendation to approve the proposed budget in a 5-0 vote. 

The board will hold a public hearing on Monday, June 12, to make final changes to the draft budget. If everything goes according to plan, the budget will be adopted two weeks later on June 27.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

A 25-year mystery has been solved and a family is finally getting closure thanks to a partnership between the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) and Othram Inc.

In October of 1997, a duck hunter located a dismembered female torso in the Ryan Slough, just north of Eureka. The remains were recovered, however, attempts to identify the female victim were unsuccessful. In January of 1998, additional remains were located and recovered on Clam Beach.

On November 3, 1998, Wayne Adam Ford arrived at the HCSO’s Main Station in possession of a female body part. He subsequently admitted to murdering several women throughout the North State, including the unidentified female. Investigators interviewed Ford numerous times, obtaining descriptive details of the female. Ford’s encampment was searched as part of the investigation. Investigators located additional remains belonging to the female recovered from the Slough. Attempts to identify the female were made, but ultimately were unsuccessful.

In June of 2006, Ford was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in a San Bernardino County court and was sentenced to death.

Through the years, HCSO investigators never gave up on attempting to identify Ford’s unknown female victim, routinely searching missing persons reports from all of the West Coast to obtain leads. Using DNA, investigators were able to confirm that the remains located on Clam Beach were also that of the unknown female. The DNA was entered into both the California Missing Persons DNA database and the National Unidentified Persons DNA index. The DNA profile was routinely searched against profiles from both missing persons and other human remains in the Combined Index System. No profile matches were ever made.  

HCSO Sheriff William Honsal created the Cold Case Unit in 2021, assigning two investigators to exclusively review HCSO’s unsolved cases for new leads. In December of 2022, the HCSO and the CA DOJ partnered with Othram Inc, a forensic genealogy lab, to determine if advanced forensic DNA testing could help establish the identity of the unknown female, or a close relative.

“During our review of cold cases, we identified multiple cases that could benefit from this DNA technology,” HCSO Cold Case Investigator Mike Fridley said. “Earlier this year we were able to identify another unknown person by using this technology. We were eager to submit this case for consideration and to finally bring some closure to the victim’s family.”

The case was determined to be eligible for advanced forensic DNA testing and the HCSO sent Othram a DNA extract from the remains. Othram scientists used Forensic Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the female. Utilizing this profile and forensic genealogy, a potential DNA match was developed for a close relative. Investigators contacted the relative, inquiring if they had any missing family members. The relative stated that their family member, Kerry, had been missing since the mid-1990s.  

HCSO Investigators were able to track down Kerry’s sister who confirmed that Kerry’s last contact with family was in 1997. Kathie provided investigators with a DNA sample which was then compared to the DNA sample from the unknown female’s remains. These DNA profiles were confirmed to be a genealogic match- officially identifying the remains as that of Kerry Ann Cummings, born in 1972.

During her last contact with family in 1997, Kerry was suffering from untreated mental illness and told family that she was couch-surfing in the Eugene, Oregon area. Despite multiple offers from her family, she refused to come home.

“Kerry was beautiful, funny, smart and an artist. She was great at making us laugh,” Kerry’s sister, Kathie Cummings, told investigators. “It is devastating what mental illness can do in a span of only two short years.”.

Kathie told investigators that after Kerry went missing her parents tried to report her as missing in Arizona and Oregon, and even hired a private investigator, but due to laws surrounding the report of missing persons at that time, a missing persons report was never taken. Therefore, Kerry was never listed as a missing person or entered into any national missing persons databases.

“Unfortunately, back then they were told that Kerry was an adult, that she had chosen the lifestyle, and that if she wasn’t a threat to herself or others, there was nothing that [law enforcement] could do,” Kathie said. “As the internet expanded, I took to searching the NamUs website when I was missing her, scanning for mention of her tattoo and searching through the pictures of the Jane Does. She was dearly loved.”

The Humboldt County Coroner’s Division is working with family members to release Kerry’s remains for burial with other deceased family members.

“I’d like to thank the California Department of Justice DNA Lab and Othram for once again providing outstanding work and assistance in solving this case,” Sheriff William Honsal said. “While we can’t take away the pain of loss, we hope that this identification can help bring closure to Kerry’s family and the community. I’m thankful for the dedication of our investigators who never gave up on Kerry and continue to seek resolution for the outstanding cases that remain to be solved.”

The HCSO is continuing its partnership with the CA DOJ and Othram, and is reviewing other missing and unidentified persons investigations for the use of this DNA technology. This effort is partially funded by the county’s Asset Forfeiture Fund, with additional grant funding anticipated in the near future to continue this work.

Anyone with information about this case or other unsolved homicides is asked to contact HCSO Investigator Mike Fridley at 707-441-3024. A full list of the HCSO’s unsolved cases and current missing persons can be located at: https://humboldtgov.org/2772/Unsolved-Cases

• View all previous press releases related to this case

In his May budget revise, Gov. Gavin Newsom pitched spending $250 million on infrastructure and transportation improvements in downtown Fresno.

The money will fund much of the city’s decade-long plans to revitalize its decaying water and sewer systems and improve amenities such as parking and sidewalks, to ultimately attract residential development.

The announcement comes as many California city centers are still trying to rebound after the pandemic.

Fresno is one of five US cities whose downtown foot traffic rebounded since the pandemic, according to a recent University of Toronto study that periodically compared cell phone data to track foot traffic from 2019 to February 2023.

While city centers in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento were still struggling to regain their pre-pandemic bustle, Fresno and Bakersfield’s foot traffic rebounded above 2019 levels, the study shows. A Los Angeles Times report pointed out both Central Valley cities experienced population growth, often from more expensive California cities.

Newsom’s administration has long identified Fresno as an anchor to Central Valley’s economy and thus important to California’s future. This new proposed investment would tackle several projects city leaders say are necessary to spur a renaissance in downtown housing development.

About $70 million is earmarked for new parking structures and spots, while the rest would pay for sidewalk improvements, green spaces, new water and sewer systems and other investments. The goal is to attract housing development for 10,000 more residents downtown.

Local leaders also have a broader five-year plan called Rebuild Fresno. Community members say the proposed city budget won’t invest enough in Fresno’s poor neighborhoods.

CalMatters spoke to Elliott Balch, who recently left the Central Valley Community Foundation to become CEO of the Downtown Fresno Partnership, a business improvement district. He managed Fresno’s downtown revitalization efforts from 2009 to 2014, during former Mayor Ashley Swearingen’s administration.

Like many born and raised in the valley, Balch left for college and returned with a broadened perspective, he said. He recognized patterns in Fresno that could impede its future success. For instance, he said, people’s reliance on cars as the city grew outward makes it hard to improve air quality, and an underinvestment in transportation options prevents a more accessible downtown.

“It really seemed very clear to me that you would never expect the city to change how it allocates resources and grows, unless there’s a very attractive alternative,” Balch said. “And that means we need to have a lively, engaging, fun downtown.”

Elliott Balch, CEO of Downtown Fresno Partnership, stands on the sidewalk along the Fulton Street Mall in downtown Fresno on May 31, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

Here is an edited version of the conversation.

Q: What do you know about how this proposal of the governor’s came about? Why is the governor interested in downtown Fresno?

A: The time is right. We’ve had years of work — which I’ve been a part of some of it — to create new land use plans, a new development code for Fresno … policies that make sense for the oldest part of our city.

We’ve already seen that you get results from investments in infrastructure. When we rebuilt Fulton Street, for example … since that happened you’ve seen increases — many-fold increases — in taxable sales that have occurred in that area. You’ve seen smartphone-driven data on where people are going. And we have one of the few downtowns … that’s seeing an increase of about 20% (in traffic) from 2019, pre-pandemic. We’ve fully rebounded and then some.

Not only are we seeing more people downtown, but the people who are coming downtown really are reflecting our region. It’s a cross-section of our community, where the median age of Fulton Street visitors in the last year was 32.6, 56.2% Hispanic, median household income of $55,000 … You have a place that our region is embracing.

Q: What do you think an investment in downtown like this could do for the city of Fresno, and for what the city of Fresno wants to be moving forward?

A: Bottom line is, our city and our valley — like our state — have a real housing shortage, and we see the results of that housing shortage show up in lots of different ways. People challenged with eviction. Folks paying too much for bad housing. Overcrowded housing that impedes student learning. Having to move out to different housing but then having transportation challenges as a result … We are one of the largest cities in the country with the lowest rental vacancy rate, so we’re a very tight market.

Now, how does investment in our Central San Joaquin Valley solve our housing shortage? One way is what we’ve done for generations, which is just only continue to invest in building out, out, out.

The alternative is that at least a significant portion of that growth happens internally. When you see housing units downtown, you see them contributing to, and being part of, the story and the reality of downtown.

Another piece of the data that we’ve learned is that the median distance of a Fulton Street visitor from home is six miles. So, if you’re a small business without a huge marketing budget, half of your people are coming from beyond six miles. If we can bring thousands more people within walking distance, it greatly lowers the barriers to bringing folks in the door.

Q: Do you think this investment could have a broader impact on the region?

A: It’s already the case that this is the downtown for the central San Joaquin Valley. The reality is that the region and its counties and cities need to house more people in a way that reduces the incremental addition of vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions. And our downtown can help with that.

We’re zoned for 75,000 housing units. And we’ve got the desire to see development. What we also have is 125-year-old infrastructure. And so unlocking the potential to really help the valley meet its housing goals — economic inclusion goals, sustainability goals — downtown is here for that.

Q: What does an influx of money to Fresno’s downtown do for racial and economic equity?

A: When I talk to small business owners of color, one of the recurring themes that I hear is the need to have more of a market that is within walking distance. There needs to be continued investment. There needs to be continued growth and progress. Fundamentally, they established their business downtown because they believe in downtown and the belief is that there will be continued investment … They didn’t invest in a business downtown and put all of their livelihood into a business, only to see the area around them stagnate.

I think the beautiful thing is that we have longtime families who’ve been invested in downtown for generations, as property owners or as business owners. And we have a downtown that for generations and decades has been a place for immigrants and refugees to get a foothold, to establish a business. We have the greatest concentration of black owned businesses anywhere in the central San Joaquin Valley.

Q: Like many California cities, Fresno is struggling with homelessness. Do you see any portion of this investment helping impoverished residents of Fresno, particularly those struggling with homelessness?

A: Homelessness is driven in a big way by housing supply, by housing prices. And so the absolute best thing that downtown can do for homelessness is to provide more housing in the market, so that folks who may be struggling with poverty aren’t seeing huge price increases year to year. Or if they do have an eviction, that it’s not completely calamitous, that there’s not (any) other place for them to go … Not every homelessness situation is just about housing, but it’s amazing how the dominoes can fall when somebody’s stable housing is lost.

###

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.