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When it comes to thwarting the City of Eureka’s current housing development plans downtown, Security National Properties has shown that money is no object.

The commercial real estate servicing firm founded by semi-local tycoon Robin P. Arkley II has spent more than $710,000 to date financing Measure F, the “Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative,” according to the latest financial disclosure documents submitted to the City.

The “Yes on F” committee, sponsored by Security National, spent $396,729.38 in the first six months of this year, plus $314,415.27 last year. All but $500 of that has come exclusively from Security National, which is also financing Citizens for a Better Eureka, a political group that has filed multiple lawsuits in an attempt to preserve parking lots by blocking affordable housing developments. (The other $500, as we reported in February, was donated by former Renner Petroleum owner Michael Lawrence Renner, who now lives outside Las Vegas.)

Arkley has been engaged in a very bitter and personal feud with Eureka staff and council members for more than three years now, ever since he learned about the City’s plans to convert municipal parking lots into affordable housing developments, an initiative aimed at promoting infill development while meeting the city’s regional housing needs allocation (RHNA), as outlined in its general plan and required by the state. 

Security National executives initially explored the possibility of entering into a land-exchange deal with the city to preserve the parking lot at Fifth and D streets, near its Eureka headquarters. But when those negotiations fell through, an irate Arkley threatened lawsuits, a referendum and a recall drive.

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This past November, Security National paid $650,000 to purchase the parking lot in front of City Hall, at the corner of Fifth and K streets, and promptly put up barricades that prevent anyone from parking there. The company’s Knoxville, Tenn.-based spokesperson, Gail Rymer, explained via email, “The company is currently conducting highest and best use studies for the property and for liability reasons does not allow access to the site.”

Campaign finance reports show that, in the “Yes on F” campaign, Security National has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring out-of-town political consultants, plus tens of thousands on glossy mailers, radio ads, web development and professional services. The campaign reported more than $142,000 in outstanding debt. 

Rymer alone charged Security National more than $115,000 for her services in the first half of the year, mostly for consulting. (About $51,000 of her bill has yet to be paid, according to the forms.)

Meanwhile, the Committee Opposed to the Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative [which last month renamed itself “No on Measure F: A Committee to Defend Eureka’s Housing”] raised $11,904.38 through the end of June and spent $7,686.08. In other words, the campaign nicknamed “F No Eureka” has been outspent by a margin of roughly 93-to-one.

[CLARIFICATION: “F No Eureka” is unaffiliated with the “No on Measure F” committee. That committee’s social media page is titled “I Like Eureka Housing” and it’s website, realhousing4eureka.com, is here.]

Top donors to the “F No” “No on F” campaign include the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, AFL-CIO (which chipped in $1,000); the Humboldt Democratic Central Committee ($1,500); and Eureka resident Tyler Chapman ($1,000). 

The next campaign finance disclosure deadline will be on Sept. 26, followed by one more pre-election report deadline on Oct. 24. Election Day is Nov. 5.

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ADDENDUM, 2:40 p.m.: Just a couple other observations worth mentioning here: The last time Eureka had a citywide initiative on the ballot was in 2020, with both Measure C (ranked-choice voting) and Measure H (a 1.25 percent local sales tax). Both measures passed, with Measure H receiving the higher number of total votes: 12,129.

Like this year, 2020 was a presidential election year, so it’s probably safe to assume that turnout will be similar. If we go ahead and make that assumption, then divide the total amount Security National has spent on Measure F thus far by the number of likely voters, we get a per-voter dollar total of $58.63. In other words, if you’re a Eureka resident planning to vote in November, Arkley’s company has spent almost $60 trying to convince you personally to vote “yes” on Measure F.

Also interesting: Thadeus Greenson over at the North Coast Journal notes even more connective tissue between the “Yes on F” campaign and AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC, the secretive corporation seeking to acquire the former Jacobs Middle School campus from Eureka City Schools in a deal valued at $6 million.

The “Yes on F” campaign has enlisted Everview, the San Diego law firm founded by attorney Bradley B. Johnson, who, in addition to being Security National’s go-to lawyer, has been intimately involved in the Jacobs deal, and he’s representing Citizens for a Better Eureka in its lawsuits against the city. 

The “Yes on F” campaign also paid $11,190 to a Sacramento-based political consultant named Sara Lee, which is the same name as a spokesperson who has responded to media inquiries on behalf of AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC, Greenson reports.

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Press release from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force:

Nickols. Photos: DTF.

On August 4th, 2024, Humboldt County Drug Task Force (HCDTF) Agents served a search warrant on William Andrew Nickols (34 years old from Hoopa). During the months of July and August, the HCDTF received information that Nickols was traveling to Oakland and purchasing large quantities of narcotics for the purpose of sales, specifically in the Hoopa Valley.

HCDTF Agents observed Nickols travel from Humboldt County to Oakland, California. Upon Nickols’ return to Humboldt County, Agents conducted a traffic stop on his vehicle as he entered the city of Fortuna.

Nickols was detained without incident and his vehicle was searched. Agents located approximately 3 ounces of fentanyl (street value of over $9,000) concealed in a hollowed-out headrest inside of Nickols vehicle.

William Nickols was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where he was booked on the following charges:

• 11351 HS Possession of narcotics for the purpose of sales
• 11352(a) HS Transportation of narcotics for the purpose of sales
• 11352(b) HS Transportation of narcotics (noncontiguous counties)

Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics related crimes is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-267-9976.

With all the hubris of a startup founder, Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, took to the stage in March to launch Ed the chatbot. He told parents and students it had “the potential to personalize the educational journey at a level never before seen in this district, across the country, or around the world.”

“No other technology can deliver real time on this promise,” he said. “We know it will succeed.”

In June, after only three months and nearly $3 million, the district shelved Ed following layoffs of more than half of the staff at AllHere, the startup that made the conversational AI assistant. District spokesperson Britt Vaughan refused to answer questions about the bot’s performance or say how many students and parents used it before the shutdown.

Also in June, an AI controversy unfolded in San Diego, where school board members reportedly weren’t aware that the district last summer bought a tool that automatically suggests grades for writing assignments. The dustup began after Point Loma High School teacher Jen Roberts told CalMatters that using the tool saved her time and reduced burnout but also gave students the wrong grade sometimes. A week later, Voice of San Diego quoted two members of the school board saying they were unaware the district had signed a contract involving AI. In fact, no one on the board seemed to know about the tool, the news outlet said, since it was included as part of a broader contract with Houghton Mifflin that was approved unanimously with no discussion alongside more than 70 other items. (None of the board members responded to CalMatters’ requests for comment. San Diego Unified School District spokesperson Michael Murad said that since AI is a quickly evolving technology, “we will make an increased effort to inform board members of additional relevant details related to contracts presented to them in the future.”)

Mistakes in Los Angeles and San Diego may trace back to growing pressure on educators to adopt AI and underline the need for decision-makers to ask more and tougher questions about such products before buying them, said people who work at the intersection of education and technology. Outside experts can help education leaders better vet AI solutions, these people said, but even just asking basic questions, and demanding answers in plain English, can go a long way toward avoiding buyer’s remorse.

No one disputes that educators face increasing demands to find ways to use AI. Following the release of OpenAI’s generative AI tool ChatGPT nearly two years ago, the California Education Department released guidance referencing an “AI revolution” and encouraging adoption of the technology. Educators who previously spoke with CalMatters expressed fear that if they miss the revolution, their students could get left behind in learning or workforce preparedness.

Grading AI tools

Staff shortfalls, techno-optimism, a desire to be on the cutting edge and a fear of missing out all push educators to adopt AI, said Hannah Quay-de la Vallee, a senior technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit that’s studied how teachers and students are adopting generative AI.

She thinks recent events in Los Angeles and San Diego show that more education leaders need to engage in critical analysis before bringing AI tools into classrooms. But whether a particular AI tool deserves more scrutiny depends on how it’s used and the risk that use poses to students. Some forms of AI, like the kind used for grading and predicting if a student will drop out of school, she said, deserve high risk labels.

The European Union regulates AI differently based on risk level, and in the U.S. the National Institute of Standards and Technology released a framework to help developers, government agencies, and users of AI technology manage risk.

California’s state schools superintendent, Tony Thurmond, was unavailable to respond to CalMatters’ questions about any action he could take to help prevent future school AI snafus.

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would require the superintendent to convene a working group to make recommendations on “safe and effective” use of artificial intelligence in education. The bill was introduced by Josh Becker, a Democrat from Silicon Valley, and supported by Thurmond and the California Federation of Teachers.

Quay-de la Vallee suggested that educators work with organizations that vet and certify education technology tools such as Project Unicorn, a nonprofit that evaluates edtech products.

When education leaders rush to adopt AI from education technology providers anxious to sell AI, both may cut corners, said Anaheim Union High School District Superintendent Michael Matsuda, who hosted an AI summit in March attended by educators from 30 states and more than 100 school districts.

He thinks the recent AI problems in San Diego and Los Angeles demonstrate the need to avoid getting caught up in hype and to vet claims made by companies selling AI tools.

School districts can assess how well AI tools perform in classrooms with help from tech-minded teachers and internal IT staff, Matsuda said. But assistance is also available from nonprofits like The AI Education Project, which advises school districts across the nation about how to use the technology, or a group such as the California School Boards Association, which has an AI task force that tries to help districts and counties “navigate the complexities of integrating artificial intelligence.”

“We have to work together, consider what we learned from missteps, and be open about that,” he said. “There’s a lot of good products coming out, but you have to have the infrastructure and strategic policies and board policies to really vet some of these things.”

Education leaders don’t always have an intimate understanding of tech used by teachers in their school district. Matsuda said Anaheim Union High School District uses AI to personalize student learning material and even offers classes to students interested in a career in AI, but he said he doesn’t know if Anaheim educators use AI for grading today. Following events in San Diego, Matsuda said the district may consider high risk labels for certain use cases, such as grading.

Using common sense

You don’t have to be an expert in AI to be critical of claims made about what AI can do for students or teachers, said Stephen Aguilar, co-lead of the Center for Generative AI and Society at the University of Southern California, and a former developer of education technology. District officials who sign contracts with AI companies need to know their own policy, know what the district seeks to achieve by signing the contract, and ask questions. If contractors can’t answer questions in plain English, that may be a signal they’re overselling what’s possible or attempting to hide behind technical jargon.

“I think everyone should take the lessons learned from LA Unified and do the post mortem, ask questions that weren’t asked, and slow things down,” Aguilar said. “Because there’s no rush. AI is going to develop, and it’s really on the AI edtech companies to prove out that what they’re selling is worth the investment.”

It’s really on the AI edtech companies to prove out that what they’re selling is worth the investment.
— Stephen Aguilar, Center for Generative AI and Society, University of Southern California

The challenge, he said, is that you don’t evaluate an AI model once. Different versions can produce different results, and that means evaluation should be a continuous process.

Aguilar said that while events in Los Angeles and San Diego schools demonstrate the need for greater scrutiny of AI, school district administrators seem convinced that they have to be on the cutting edge of technology to do their jobs, and that’s just not true.

“I don’t quite know how we got into this cycle,” he said.

The market is pressuring edtech providers to include AI in their products and services, foundations are pressuring school leaders to include AI in their curriculum, and teachers are told that if they don’t adopt AI tools then their students might get left behind, said Alix Gallagher, head of strategic partnerships at the Policy Analysis for California Education center at Stanford University.

Since AI is getting built into a lot of existing products and contracts involving curriculum, it’s highly likely that San Diego’s school board is not alone in discovering AI unexpectedly bundled into a contract. Gallagher said that administrative staff will need to ask questions about supplemental curricula or software updates.

“It’s close to impossible for districts and schools to keep up,” she said. “I definitely think that’s even more true in smaller school districts that don’t have extra people to devote to this.”

Gallagher said AI can do positive things like reduce teacher burnout, but individual teachers and small school districts won’t be able to keep up with the pace of change, and so trusted nonprofits or state education officials should help determine which AI tools are trustworthy. The question in California, she said, is who’s going to step up and lead that effort?

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

James (Jim) Lowell Lindquist
Born October 9, 1928, deceased July 17, 2024

Dad lived a long, happy life and was 95 years old when he passed, a milestone few of us ever achieve and certainly one he didn’t expect. He was born in Muskegon, Mich., an only child to Ernest and Jennie Lindquist. At the age of four, his family moved back to Hector, a small town in south central Minnesota, where his parents had been born and raised. Once back in Minnesota, his parents purchased a farm and resumed the longstanding family tradition of farming. No matter where life would take him over the years, Hector and the farm would always be home.

Upon graduation from high school, he enlisted in the Navy and completed boot camp, but the war was ending and troops were being withdrawn, so he decided he would enroll in college at the University of Minnesota to study forestry. It was here that he met the love of his life, Diane DeLaurier. She was a student pursuing her degree in English and education. Jim and Diane dated on and off throughout their last two years of college and he often said he could not believe how lucky he was to have found the most beautiful, intelligent and unfailingly kind girl he had ever met, and although she didn’t say so at first, she felt the exact same way about him! Jim and Diane were married shortly after graduation, while he was on leave from Air Force Candidate school and she was on winter break from teaching high school at a small high school in southern Minnesota and they soon started their family.

Dad was a veteran of the Korean War and served in Korea and was later stationed in Osaka, Japan, where he was joined by Mom and their first two children. They returned to the U.S. in 1956 with the impending birth of their third child very near. Jim then entered the masters program of forestry at the University of Minnesota. In 1958, shortly after the birth of their fourth child, the family of six moved to California after he accepted a job with the California Department of Forestry at Berkeley, as a research scientist specializing in silviculture. The family settled in the Bay Area, living in Walnut Creek and later Concord, where their fifth and final child was born in 1963. In 1968 he accepted a job with the U.S. Department of Forestry and the family moved to Riverside. In 1970 he was able to transfer to Humboldt County and the Redwood Science Lab on campus at HSU.

Jim’s career in forestry spanned 40+ years both as an employee of the CDF and USFS and later as an independent contractor working and conducting studies on his research plots in the Jackson State Demonstration Forest in Mendocino. He was proud of his career and research accomplishments and never lost that drive to learn: always reading, studying and willing to share that knowledge with others through lectures and scientific publications.

Dad was a firm believer in community and although you would never hear him brag about it, he was a regular blood donor and was on the Northern Humboldt Community Blood Bank honor roll with over 22 gallons of blood donated locally, plus countless gallons of blood donated earlier in his life. Dad was also well known around town among a vast and wonderful community of fellow coffee drinkers and his twice daily visits to the various coffee houses throughout the years were always the highlight of his day. We know he and his stories will be missed by all of his many friends both young and old, as his absence now leaves a large void.

Dad is survived by his five children: Frances (Jeff) Getty and their children Aron (Secorra) Getty and Amanda (Derek) Gurtler, Thomas (Julie) Lindquist and their children Jonathan (Mae) Bullock, Jenny (Pat) Simco and James (Lindsey) Lindquist, Jennifer (Thomas) Swift and their children Clayton (Jen) Swift and Tory (Jessica) Swift Jeffrey (Connie) Lindquist and his children Samantha Lindquist, Emilie (JW) Lindquist and Rachel Lindquist, and Thea (Brad) Tucker and their children Christopher Tucker and Cameron Tucker. Dad is also survived by 19 great-grandchildren and one great great grandchild.

Jim was preceded in death by his wife, Diane, and his parents Ernest and Jennie Lindquist. At Dad’s request, there will be a small graveside service for family at the Hector Cemetery at a later date where he and our mother’s ashes will be interred in the family plot. Here, they will be reunited with his parents and after a life well lived, Dad will finally be back home.

The family would like to thank the entire staff at Timber Ridge McKinleyville, especially Edwin, who took such dedicated and tender care of our father, and also the dedicated nurses and staff at Hospice of Humboldt. Memorial donations can be made to Hospice of Humboldt.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Jim Lindquist’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

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In announcing his candidacy for Eureka’s Ward 2 City Council seat via press release this morning, Security National Project Manager Kenny Carswell describes himself as a lifelong Eureka resident who grew up in Ward 2. 

This may well be true (or mostly true, as you’ll read below), but Carswell hasn’t been living in Ward 2 recently. According to property deed records on file with the Humboldt County Assessor’s Office, he just closed escrow on a house in Ward 2 a week ago today.

Carswell re-registered to vote at his new address that very day, and while he was at it he changed his political party registration from Republican to “no party preference.”

Carswell’s previous address was on the 4400 block of Little Fairfield Street, which may qualify as Eureka for the purposes of civic pride and the U.S. Postal Service, but it’s technically outside of city limits, which means that until his recent (or imminent?) relocation, Carswell was not eligible to vote in Eureka’s municipal elections, much less run for a seat on its City Council.

A few of you may recall a post we published 39 days ago reporting on a local realtor who had a client with a very specific real estate wish list. They were looking to purchase a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house “in ward 2 of Eureka … as soon as possible!”

Why such a specific location? we wondered. And what’s the rush? Might it be related to the fact that Ward 2 incumbent Kati Moulton is up for re-election this year and the candidate filing deadline is August 9th (now just four days away)?

Under Eureka’s “True Ward” election system, approved by voters in 2016, candidates for City Council must live within the ward they wish to represent, and only residents of that ward get to cast votes for that particular seat.

The house Carswell purchased last week fits this rather particular bill. It was described in an online listing as “a charming 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom Craftsman home,” and it is in Ward 2! Albeit just barely, and only because the boundary lines were moved three years ago to reflect updated population figures from the U.S. Census.

As for his party registration, that may not technically matter, since Eureka’s City Council seats are non-partisan. But Republicans have not fared particularly well in Eureka’s recent electoral history, and Carswell is by no means the first to ditch the “R” shortly before running for office — see Mike Newman (who switched addresses and de-Republicaned himself in 2010) Chet Albin (who underwent an unconvincing political change of heart in 2013) and Virginia Bass (who left the GOP prior to her 2010 run for the Fourth District seat on the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors).

[UPDATE, Aug. 6, 11:18 a.m.: A reader reminds us that former Fourth District Supervisor Bonnie Neely flopped from longtime R to freshly minted D in 2009. She lost to Bass in the following year’s election.]

Perhaps also worth mentioning: Carswell’s employer, Security National, has dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into both a political campaign and a series of lawsuits aimed at stymieing the City of Eureka’s current housing development plans, which involve the conversion of downtown parking lots into apartment buildings.

Two voicemails left for Carswell today had not been returned by the time this post was published but we’ll update when we hear from him.

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PREVIOUSLY: 

• Is There a New and Mysterious Contender for Eureka City Council’s Ward Two Seat? In Facebook Post, Local Realtor Calls for Help Finding a House to Buy Specifically in that Area ‘ASAP’
• Security National Project Manager Kenny Carswell Announces Bid for City Council Ward 2 Seat

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Ed. note — The Second Ward is currently represented by Kati Moulton, who has announced that she will seek reelection. It includes the Jacobs Campus.

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Press release from Kenny Carswell:

Lifelong Eureka resident Kenny Carswell has announced he is running for Eureka City Council, representing Ward 2. Carswell filed his candidate paperwork with the Eureka City Clerk’s office this morning.

“I genuinely love this community,” Carswell said. “Growing up in Ward 2, I have always felt a strong connection to the people and places that make this area unique.” He added that his goal is to be a voice for the community and residents of Ward 2 and to work to ensure the council remains objective and representative of its citizens.

Carswell grew up and attended school in Eureka. His current civic activities include serving as a Rotarian and a member of the Humboldt County Workforce Development Board.

“I have actively supported my community and wish to be a voice that truly represents the community and residents of Ward 2,” Carswell said. “I will work to ensure the council remains objective and representative of all its citizens.”

Will Adams, president of ACGC, Inc. (Adams Commercial General Contracting), said, “I have known Kenny Carswell for some time and think he will make an excellent addition to the Eureka City Council. As Eureka hopes to grow and redevelop, we are going to need level-headed, practical people like Kenny in positions of leadership.”

At a recent meeting of supporters, Carswell told attendees that advocating for the needs and concerns of Eureka’s residents while engaging with and listening to community members is truly important and something he genuinely values and enjoys.

Carswell’s deep love for Eureka drives his desire to serve on the council. He is passionate about making a positive impact.

“I am dedicated to prioritizing the collective voice by making decisions that correspond with the consensus of the majority. I deeply love Eureka, and it would be a privilege to represent my Ward on this council,” Carswell added.”

The presentation was unassuming, just a handful of picture books arrayed on the side of a bookcase — the ABCs of a Pride parade, biographies of the gay World War II codebreaker Alan Turing and 50 LGBTQ+ people who made history, the sex education manual “It’s Perfectly Normal,” a retelling of the Stonewall riot and “My Shadow Is Pink,” in which a young boy explores his gender identity.

But when Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau heard a complaint from a constituent that Clovis librarians had put together a graphic Pride Month display for the children’s section, he was concerned enough to check it out. It wasn’t the type of material that he thought should be available alongside books about skunks and pirates.

“I don’t like a kid going in there and seeing ‘I can choose to be a boy or girl,’” Brandau said. “It didn’t seem age-appropriate, especially without the parent being involved.”

After flipping through the books, Brandau said he left the library in June 2023 “horrified” by images he believed were too sexually explicit and topics he felt were too mature for young readers. He began reaching out to local officials elsewhere — in states such as South Carolina, Kentucky and Texas, where library book controversies have become commonplace — to learn what they were doing.

Last November, Brandau led Fresno County in creating one of California’s first citizen review committees for library books, which could soon decide whether to move material with “sexual references” and “gender-identity content” to a restricted area where it could only be checked out with a parent’s permission.

Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau stands outside his office in the Fresno County Hall of Records on Aug. 1, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

The committee, which has not yet been selected, is already a lightning rod for fears about parents’ rights, censorship, the politicization of libraries and LGBTQ people being pushed out of public life again. Supporters say they are concerned about sexual content, not LGBTQ themes, and they do not want to ban books from the library entirely.

Tracy Bohren, a queer mother of two from Clovis who helped rally local LGBTQ residents against the committee, said adults who object to books about gay and transgender people are applying their own biases to sexualize material meant to help children understand the world. She said it’s important to have library books about marginalized groups available to LGBTQ kids who don’t come from supportive homes and need the message that they are loved.

“Somehow in the ‘we need to protect kids’ platform that they have stated, trans kids, LGBTQ kids, have not been considered part of that population that they need to protect,” Bohren said.

Now the book battle has become another front in the intensifying clashes between more conservative pockets of California and the state’s liberal government over values and local control. A bill on track to pass the Legislature before the session ends on Aug. 31 would effectively outlaw book review committees and other policies that limit access to materials at public libraries — potentially shutting down Fresno County’s efforts before they ever get off the ground.

“It appears to me that they believe that children are best educated and raised as wards of the state,” Brandau said. “We have age limits for movies. We have age limits for alcohol. And it’s not unreasonable to have age limits on sexually graphic material.”

Books bans surging nationwide

Though disagreements over what constitutes suitable reading material for young people are nothing new, public libraries have been thrust into a pitched culture war over the past few years as conservative activist groups across the country organized to demand more books be removed from collections.

The American Library Association has tracked a massive increase in the number of books being challenged at schools and libraries, which soared by 65% in 2023 to a record 4,240 titles. Nearly half featured LGBTQ or racial themes, according to the association.

Many Republican-led states have subsequently embraced policies requiring schools and libraries to remove books with any sexual content — including nudity, masturbation and homosexuality — or keep them in a separate adult section. New statewide restrictions have taken effect in Utah, Idaho, South Carolina and Tennessee in recent weeks.

California is not at the center of this conflict, though it has faced scattered fights over school materials, including a high-profile showdown last year between Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Temecula school board that tried to ban an elementary school social studies textbook because it incorporated a lesson about assassinated gay politician Harvey Milk of San Francisco. In response, Newsom signed a law to penalize local districts that block books for including the history or culture of LGBTQ people and other diverse groups, while voters recalled the school board president in June.

The public library in Huntington Beach Nov. 11, 2023. Photo by Lauren Justice for Cal Matters

Besides Fresno County, the city council in Huntington Beach, the iconic Orange County surf community, has also voted to create a citizen committee to review children’s library books, part of a broader push by local officials to establish a bulkhead against progressive California policies. In the latest salvo of a bitter brawl over the political future of the city, opponents are collecting signatures to place a repeal of the review board before voters next spring.

These incidents caught the attention of Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Torrance Democrat, who said public libraries are cornerstone institutions that should provide all Americans with a diverse range of perspectives.

“Teens exploring gender identity issues absolutely should have access to books that speak to their experiences and that may provide support or guidance,” he told CalMatters.

His proposal, Assembly Bill 1825, would require public libraries in California to establish a clear policy for choosing books, including a way for community members to voice their objections, but would prohibit banning material because it deals with race or sexuality. It also clarifies that library material can include sexual content that’s not obscene and leaves to the discretion of librarians where to display those books, though they could not prevent minors from checking them out.

“At the center of this bill is the fundamental respect for professionally trained librarians to be making the decisions as to what book titles and how to present them to the general public,” Muratsuchi said.

The measure has received the support of the California Library Association. Peter Coyl, the director and CEO of the Sacramento Public Library and a member of the association’s intellectual freedom committee, said librarians want to provide people with information, not pornography. While parents have the right to decide what their own children read, he said, libraries need to have materials available to serve their full communities, including families with same-gender couples and children who are questioning their identities.

“Not every book is meant for every reader,” Coyl said. “You can’t then take your belief about what’s right for your child and apply it to everyone else.”

The bill, which won overwhelming approval in the Assembly in May and has advanced smoothly through Senate committees since, must pass the Legislature by the end of August to reach the governor’s desk. A spokesperson for Newsom said the governor would not comment on pending legislation.

If it is signed into law, it could still potentially face legal challenges from defenders of library book review committees, who argue the bill prevents parents from protecting their children from adult material.

“How do we make sure our public libraries really are tools that can be used by everyone?” said Diane Pearce, a city councilmember in Clovis, a fast-growing and Republican-leaning Fresno suburb. “We want to empower our parents in this situation and the state is telling us that they can do it better than we can.”

LGBTQ families feel targeted

The debate over the book review board in Fresno County has been deeply enmeshed with anxieties around LGBTQ rights, particularly transgender youth, underscoring how advocates on either side see the committee in starkly different terms.

Clovis City Councilmember Diane Pearce posted these photos on Facebook on June 28, 2023, warning constituents: “Might want to wait until June is over to take your kids to the Clovis Public Library.” Photo via Diane Pearce’s Clovis City Councilmember Facebook page

As Brandau was researching his proposal last summer, the issue blew up publicly when Pearce posted a warning on Facebook that people “might want to wait until June is over to take your kids to the Clovis Public Library” alongside photos of the Pride display and a page from a book about gender identity.

Pearce said she does not object to LGBTQ content, but rather to graphic sex education books and others dealing with “transgender ideology” being targeted to young children, which she said are not appropriate themes for that age.

“I looked at it as a public service announcement,” Pearce said. “I believe that parents should be involved in their children’s exposure to that. Those issues are controversial.”

Pearce asked her city council colleagues to send a letter to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors seeking a solution, though they did not ultimately agree.

That effort mobilized local members of the LGBTQ community, such as Boren, who said the library skirmish is part of a broader pattern of religious conservatives in Fresno County overlooking or discriminating against LGBTQ families.

The Clovis school district was one of the first in the state last year to require parental notification when a student changes their name, pronouns or gender identity — a policy that the Legislature and Newsom recently made illegal in California, effective in January and pending several lawsuits.

When advocates rallied against the review committee proposal before the board of supervisors last fall, Bohren said officials ignored their expressions of support for the library and seemed only concerned with serving their constituents who aligned with their ideology.

An art display in the children’s section in the Fresno County Library Clovis Branch on July 31, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

“I feel like it was contrived,” she said. “It’s one specific group of people — Christian nationalists — who are deciding what is appropriate or not appropriate for my children to see.”

Brandau said opponents fundamentally misunderstood his proposal, known as the Parents Matter Act, which he already considered a compromise. No books will be banned, he said; the committee will merely move material to a restricted section of the library that parents can access if they want, allowing Fresno County to set its own community standards for what books should be readily available to children.

He said he took months to develop a policy that was “not targeting one lifestyle,” though he acknowledged that language limiting “gender-identity content” and other “content deemed age-inappropriate” encompasses books about sexuality and transgender people.

“I’m not against this material. I’m against it at the wrong age,” Brandau said. “If this didn’t involve children, it’s not the biggest deal on the planet.”

Librarians under siege

California librarians say morale in their profession has plummeted in recent years. The backlash to certain books has fomented public distrust of their intentions and stoked a host of stressful and sometimes terrifying new threats — protesters, prank calls, bomb threats and “First Amendment auditors,” who record their encounters with library workers on their phones.

“These are things we never worried about before,” said Coyl of the Sacramento Public Library. “It’s not what we signed up for as library workers. And it is probably the worst that it’s ever been.”

Books on shelves in the children’s section at the Fresno County Library Clovis Branch on July 31, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

Some libraries that have not faced a huge number of book challenges are making precautionary changes to their policies, such as requiring that demands come from someone who proves that they actually reviewed the material and not allowing another challenge if the library keeps the book on the shelf.

“Not every book is meant for every reader. You can’t then take your belief about what’s right for your child and apply it to everyone else.”
— Peter Coyl, Director and CEO of the Sacramento Public Library

The tumult has stretched even to liberal California communities not used to conflicts over cultural values. Programs where drag queens read stories to children have become a particular flash point. Two years ago, members of the far-right militia group the Proud Boys stormed a drag storytime at a library in the East Bay city of San Lorenzo.

The library in Redwood City, on the San Francisco peninsula, started a drag queen story program remotely during the pandemic. When it hosted the event in-person for the first time in 2022, several groups protested that the library was grooming and indoctrinating children. The protesters included people associated with the Proud Boys and a local homelessness nonprofit with an evangelical Christian affiliation, according to Derek Wolfgram, interim director of Redwood City’s parks and recreation department.

Wolfgram, a past president of the California Library Association, said he tries to use these situations as an opportunity to engage positively with the community. The evangelical nonprofit wanted to host a Bible storytime in response to the drag queen event, so the library created a series of story hours with faith leaders of different denominations, which Wolfgram said has been popular and appeared to draw new library users.

He recalled another exchange with a man who said the library didn’t have enough books with conservative viewpoints. Wolfgram asked for a list of recommendations, some of which were already in Redwood City’s collection and at least one — “Why I Stand,” the memoir of NBA player Jonathan Isaac — that the library added. It has since been checked out several times.

“Don’t tell me what you want to take away from anybody else. Tell me what you want to add so you feel included,” Wolfgram said.

Parents divided over review committee

In Fresno County, another Pride Month has come and gone and the library book review committee still has not launched. The deadline for applications was in April, but more than three months later, the board, which will primarily be selected by county supervisors, remains vacant.

Brandau said he received more than 40 applications, which he is reviewing. He expects to finish interviews and choose his two representatives to the committee by the end of the month.

“We have age limits for movies. We have age limits for alcohol. And it’s not unreasonable to have age limits on sexually graphic material.”
— Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau

A spokesperson said the library is waiting to receive direction from the review committee before it moves any material. In the meantime, the Clovis branch put together an elaborate Pride display in June, with a case of featured books, a historical timeline and, in the children’s section, a banner depicting melting popsicles of every color in the rainbow, with the slogan “Love is Love.”

John Gerardi, executive director of Right to Life of Central California, is among the applicants waiting to find out whether he’ll be on the committee. The Clovis father of three “frequent library-goers” under the age of 10 said he wants to move books about sexuality that he believes are being presented to children who are far too young.

On several library visits, Gerardi said, his wife has found books in the children’s section that included explicit material that did not seem appropriate for the marked grade level, such as “Sex Is a Funny Word” by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth. The sex education comic book for 8- to 10-year-olds has been one of the most challenged books in the country in recent years because of its frank discussion of sexual topics. Gerardi objected to an image that depicts a character masturbating in a bathtub and a passage about the meaning of the word sexy.

An image from the sex education comic book “Sex Is a Funny Word” by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth depicts a character masturbating in a bathtub, which some parents argue is too graphic for the children’s section of the library. Photo courtesy of John Gerardi

“Some of these books just seemed completely inappropriate for healthy childhood development around sex,” Gerardi said.

Gerardi said he has lost confidence in library officials, who he believes have been dismissive of parents’ concerns even though they are not all experts on early childhood development.

“There’s this idea that they have access to some secret hidden knowledge that we don’t have. And I just don’t think that’s true,” he said. “I think that appropriate presentation of sexual themes to children is something that the taxpayers who are paying for this darn library can understand.”

Others are seeking positions on the library book review committee precisely because they do not believe it should exist at all.

“It’s absolutely disgusting trying to control a public library that way,” said Jamie Coffman, a Fresno mother of four children ranging in age from 2 to 11. She said it’s a parent’s job to monitor what their kids are reading, not anybody else’s, and people should trust the librarians’ judgment about what books they put on the shelves.

Coffman said she submitted her application with vague answers that she hoped would conceal her true intention to “take it down from the inside.” She has yet to hear back.

Raised in a conservative, Southern Baptist family, Coffman said reading helped expose her to other viewpoints as she was growing up. She worries that society is moving backward on accepting diversity and said she’s scared that her own children might have fewer books available to them.

“You can’t hide the world just to make your children into who you want them to be,” she said.

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