The former Jacobs Middle School campus at 674 Allard Avenue in Eureka. | File photo.
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Today was supposed to be the day that Eureka City Schools finalized a deal with the shadowy corporation AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC, to swap the district’s former Jacobs Middle School campus for a small residential property at 3553 I Street in Eureka plus $5.35 million — a “land exchange” agreement valued at $6 million.
But at a special meeting last night, the district’s Board of Trustees approved a second amendment to the agreement, extending escrow until next month.
“The District is working with our surveyor to finalize the remaining details and plans to submit documents to the City of Eureka sometime next week, with a close of escrow by our next regularly scheduled Board meeting on August 8th,” the district’s executive assistant in the superintendent’s office, Micalyn Harris, told the Outpost in an email.
This represents the third delay in closing the deal following an initial feasibility period that was mutually extended to Feb. 26 and then an amended agreement approved by the board back in April. It has now been nearly seven months since the surprise announcement of the deal at a Dec. 14, 2023, board meeting.
According to the agenda for last night’s meeting, this second extension is necessary “to allow the Developer to cure certain conditions at 3553 I Street which were raised by the District, and to allow the District to complete the surveying and subdivision process to facilitate the conveyance of the Jacobs site.”
As noted in previous reporting, the interests behind AMG Communities have repeatedly refused to identify themselves except to insist that Security National founder Rob Arkley is not among them.
A website established by the company says it is backed by “a small investment firm that holds interests in real estate and businesses,” though a spokesperson told the North Coast Journal back in January that the company is “a private group of small individual and family investors focused on the single purpose for which it was formed — acquiring the former Jacobs Middle School site.”
While AMG Communities has provided the district with a $100,000 deposit, the text of the agreement says that this money “shall promptly” be returned if the deal doesn’t close by Aug. 9, unless both parties agree in writing to extend escrow yet again. (A $35,000 deposit that AMG put down on the I Street property is non-refundable.)
AMG Communities says on its website that while the 8.6-acre Jacobs property “is large enough to support a mix of housing and some neighborhood-serving commercial uses,” it also acknowledges that no “firm plans” have been developed yet.
The City of Eureka has several multi-story housing projects in various stages of development as part of a years-long plan to convert underused municipal parking lots into affordable apartments. Security National, meanwhile, is financing both a political group (Citizens for a Better Eureka) and a ballot measure (the “Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative”) aimed at stymying those developments and preserving the downtown parking lots.
On July 10, 2024 at about 10:49 PM a Fortuna Police Department Officer patrolling the 1000 block of Loni Drive in Fortuna located an occupied suspicious parked vehicle, which was quickly determined to be a reported stolen vehicle. As officers investigated the occupant was identified as, Christopher Johnson (age 39) of McKinleyville.
As a result of the officers investigation Christopher Johnson was found in possession of over an ounce of
methamphetamine and over four grams of fentanyl packaged for sales and distribution.
Christopher Johnson was taken into custody on multiple felony charges and the stolen vehicle was returned to
the owner.
Christopher Johnson was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where he was booked on the
following charges.
California Penal Code Section 496D(A), Possession of a stolen vehicle
Health and Safety Code Section 11351, Possession of narcotics for sale
Health and Safety Code Section 11378, Possession of narcotics
Health and Safety Code Section 11352(A), Transportation of narcotics
Health and Safety Code Section 11379(A), Transportation of controlled substance
California Penal Code Section 1203.2(A), Violation of probation
The Fortuna Police Department commends the involved officers for their professionalism and dedication in
safely apprehending the suspect committing these crimes.
The Lena Reed McCovey Community Center, on the grounds of the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People.
Press release from the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People:
The Tribe formerly known as
Resighini Rancheria has a new name. On May 8th
Tribal Citizens
voted to amend the Tribe’s Constitution and change the name of the
Tribe to the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People. This official change
occurred through a Secretarial Election conducted by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs with collaboration from the Tribe. The Tribe has been
working to change the name since 2019 and the new name signifies the
deep connection the Tribe has to ancestral lands, the Klamath river,
cultural traditions, and identity.
Pulikla
translates to “down river people,” which is the traditional
name of people that reside or descend from the villages along the
lower Klamath River.
“A
name has a spiritual connotation to it. That’s why it’s important
that we pick our own name,” said Chairperson Fawn C. Murphy. “Our
new name reflects a generational change and a reclamation of who we
are as Yurok people. ‘Resighini’ was a name given to us by the
Federal Government and did not reflect who we are. We picked a name
that has meaning to us, connection to culture, and connection to
place. It is a beautiful thing, and it makes me happy to hear people
say our new name. We are, and always have been, Yurok people. Now our
name reflects that.”
The
Pulikla entered into an unratified Treaty in 1851 with the federal
government and are part of the original Klamath River Reservation of
1855. In 1938, land was purchased on the lower Klamath River by the
federal government from Augustus Ressighini. The intent of the land
purchase was to provide a place for Tribal people residing along the
Klamath River and on the coast in Del Norte and Humboldt Counties.
Several Yurok families moved to this land to take up residence, and
in 1939 the Resighini Rancheria was formally proclaimed an Indian
Reservation. Tribal Citizens of the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People
have been living on the land ever since.
“Pulikla
is a traditional name of where our people come from. With this name
change, we will no longer be seen by others as people that came here
from somewhere else. We are from the Klamath River and have always
been on the Klamath River. This name personifies that connection
since time immemorial and the pride and responsibility we feel as
Yurok people,” said Council Member Spa-ghe Dowd.
The
official name change will be published in the Federal Register in
January of 2025. In the meantime, the Tribe will work internally to
make necessary adjustments, and with Local, State and Federal
agencies and other partners to ensure a smooth transition.
About
the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People.
Tribal
Citizens of the Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People have remained on the
lands and waters where our ancestors have survived since noohl
hee-kon (the
beginning). The
Tribe is governed by a Tribal Council made up of five elected Tribal
Citizens. The Tribe’s reservation is located just upstream from the
mouth of the Klamath river and its ancestral area extends along the
Pacific Ocean coastline from the northern boundary of Damnation
Creek, south to Little River; from the mouth of the Klamath River,
upstream to Slate Creek; and extends west to include the Pacific
Ocean.
On Wednesday, July 10 at 2:12 P.M. the Arcata Fire District was dispatched
to a traffic collision on West End Road at the HWY 101 overcrossing.
First responding units arrived to find a single vehicle that had collided with one of the bridge
pillars.
The engine company extricated the single occupant of the vehicle out of the passenger’s
side, as the driver’s side had been impacted heavily, with part of the engine encroaching
into the driver’s legroom area.
The driver was extricated from the vehicle and care was transferred to Arcata/Mad River
Ambulance personnel. The patient was then transported to the hospital for moderate
injuries.
The cause of the accident is unknown and under investigation by Arcata Police.
We would like to thank our mutual aid partners Arcata/Mad River Ambulance and Arcata
Police for their assistance during this incident.
Crash two:
On Wednesday, July 10 at 5:44 P.M. the Arcata Fire District was dispatched
to a traffic collision involving two vehicles on K street at 6th Street.
First responding units arrived to find one vehicle overturned that had collided with an
unoccupied parked vehicle.
The driver of the overturned vehicle was extricated from the vehicle by firefighters,
transported to a local hospital for treatment of significant injuries.
The cause of the accident is unknown and being investigated by Arcata Police.
We would like to send our thanks to mutual aid partners Arcata/Mad River Ambulance and
Arcata Police, and to remind citizens to use caution while driving at any time of day.
Stay alert, stay focused and stay safe.
A fast-moving wildfire has burned an estimated 80 acres of grass and oak woodland along Alderpoint Road a little over a mile northeast of Garberville as of Thursday morning.
The Point Fire has resulted in an evacuation order for a zone containing an estimated 160 residents. An additional 205 residents live in an adjacent zone under evacuation warning.
Residents in the red zone are currently under Evacuation Order.
The location of the Point Fire | Cal Fire
At this time, Cal Fire’s website lists the Point Fire as being 10% contained. Alderpoint Road is currently closed around the fire while crews work to stop the blaze’s forward progress. The fire’s activity seems maybe less aggressive than it did when it broke out Wednesday evening, still Cal Fire says there is hard work ahead.
“Forecasted winds and poor relative humidity recovery pose additional risks to the containment lines,” Cal Fire said. “There has been a significant augmentation of air and ground resources to combat the fire, with continued efforts to construct and improve control lines.”
We will update as additional information becomes available.
More info from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
Yesterday evening at approximately 5:46 p.m., the Point Fire ignited east of Garberville on Alderpoint Rd.
Due to the Point Fire, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has issued an Evacuation Order for the following zone:
Zone HUM-E220-A (North of Wallan Rd., south of Alderpoint Rd., east of Wallan Rd., Alderpoint Rd. and west of Alderpoint Rd., Clark Rd.)
Residents who are already evacuated this zone are not permitted to return to their residences. Any residents remaining in this zone should evacuate immediately. There are road closures in place on Alderpoint Rd. at Sawmill Rd. and on Alderpoint Rd. at Wallan Rd. Residents are advised to take Highway 101 North as an evacuation route.
Due to positive developments in fire behavior and the hard work of firefighters from Humboldt County, the Evacuation Order for the following zone has been downgraded to an Evacuation Warning:
Zone HUM-E220-B (North of Alderpoint Rd., Timber Ln., south of Anita Dr., east of US 101 South and west of Wallan Rd.)
Residents of zone HUM-E220-B may return home with caution. Please note that road closures remain at Alderpoint Rd. and Wallan Rd. in this zone to prevent access to zone HUM-E220-A, which is currently under an Evacuation Order. Stay alert for outstanding dangers upon return including debris in roadways, gas leaks, hot embers and emergency response traffic. Residents should remain ready to evacuate again at a moment’s notice if conditions deteriorate.
An Evacuation Warning has been issued for the following zone:
Zone HUM-E201-A (North of Alderpoint Rd., Anita Dr., south of Skyway Rd., east of US 101 South and west of Maw Drive Rd., Alderpoint Rd.)
Residents should continue to prepare for potential evacuations, including gathering personal supplies and overnight accommodations. More information will follow if an Evacuation Order is issued.
Point Fire Information Line
Community members in need of evacuation information and those with questions related to the Point Fire and its impacts on Humboldt County should call 707-268-2500. Please do not call 9-1-1 unless you are experiencing an immediate emergency.
Community members residing in areas under the evacuation order should travel away from wildfire activity and take Highway 101 North. There are road closures in place on Alderpoint Rd. at Sawmill Rd. and on Alderpoint Rd. at Wallan Rd.
Emergency Shelter
The American Red Cross has established an Emergency Shelter at South Fork High School, located at 6831 Avenue of the Giants in Miranda. Water and information will be available at this site. This site will be open today, Thursday, July 11, until 1 p.m.
Sign Up for Humboldt Alert
Humboldt County residents are encouraged to sign up for Humboldt Alert to receive local emergency notifications, including information regarding evacuations and emergency sheltering in the event of a wildfire or other emergency incident. Residents can sign up by going to humboldtgov.org/alert.
For more information regarding the Point Fire, current impact and evacuation areas, please go to humboldtsheriff.org/emergency, visit @HumCoOES on Facebook and Twitter, or call 707-268-2500.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
On 7/10/2024, at about 12:05 a.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the 4600 block of Crane St. in Eureka for the report of a stabbing.
Upon arrival, deputies located and detained 25-year-old Maria Hernandez-Ruelas, who was being restrained by persons on scene. Deputies also located a 30-year-old female victim suffering from multiple stab wounds and lacerations. During the investigation, it was learned that Hernandez-Ruelas and the victim were acquainted. The victim was transported to a local area hospital with significant injuries.
Hernandez-Ruelas was arrested for attempted homicide (PC 664/187(A)) and was later booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility after being medically treated for injuries she sustained during the assault.
This case is still under investigation.
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
Construction workers building an apartment complex site for an affordable housing project in Bakersfield on May 29, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
When a shortfall of several hundred thousand dollars almost derailed new homeless housing in Bakersfield, the savior that swooped in to salvage the project wasn’t an affordable housing nonprofit, state housing grant or other traditional source.
Instead, it was a health care company that had never before built a single home.
That unorthodox move is part of a broader effort to commingle California’s health care and homeless services agencies, as providers in both areas increasingly acknowledge a glaring truth: It’s nearly impossible to be healthy if you’re living on the street.
Health care company Akido Labs, which runs clinics and street medicine teams in Southern and Central California, covered about 10% of the cost to build that 16-unit project in Bakersfield. Health insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is funding homeless housing projects in Alameda, Kings and Tulare counties. And Los Angeles County’s biggest health plan is paying to lease properties for its homeless clients.
“For the unhoused, housing is medicine,” said Karthik Murali, head of public health at Akido Labs. “Providing stable housing can alleviate more health conditions than taking them to the ICU and the hospital and providing street medicine…Knowing that fact, we wanted to be part of the solution.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom set the marriage between housing and health care in motion in 2022, via his massive overhaul of the state’s Medicaid system. With the launch of CalAIM, the state allows Medi-Cal to fund things not traditionally covered as health care — such as helping homeless clients find housing, paying for security deposits and preventing evictions.
As an incentive for health care plans to ramp up these new services, the state also provided $1.3 billion in additional funding under the Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program. Managed care plans can earn those funds by investing in solutions to homelessness. It’s that money Akido and other health care providers are using to build and lease new homeless housing.
Dr. Rishi Patel from the Akido Street Medicine team checks on an unhoused man living in a vineyard in Arvin on May 28, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
It’s still a relatively rare use of the money — it’s more likely to pay for services for unhoused people, such as case managers or safe RV parking sites. That’s partly because creating housing is so expensive in California, and partly because most health care providers don’t know much about homebuilding.
Even so, Murali said the new funds made a big difference. Recognizing that it could only do so much to help its homeless patients as long as they were living on the street, Akido had long wanted to get into the business of developing housing. The incentive program gave it the funds to do so.
“It could not have been possible before, and it’s possible now,” Murali said.
Housing as medicine
Los Angeles-based Akido Labs got its start as a health tech company out of Y Combinator, the startup incubator that grew big-name companies such as Airbnb and Dropbox. It later launched medical clinics and street medicine teams in Central and Southern California.
When the Kern County Housing Authority found itself over budget on the Bakersfield homeless housing project — in part because the housing authority underestimated the cost of an expensive retaining wall — Aikido jumped in.
Construction workers building an apartment complex site for an affordable housing project in Bakersfield on May 29, 2024. Photos by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
“We would have been stalled, and who knows where it would have been now if we hadn’t had that money come in,” said Stephen Pelz, executive director of the housing authority, who said Akido funded about 10% of the roughly $3 million project.
The two-story development, where tenants will pay 30% of their income in rent, sits on a formerly vacant lot next to what used to be a large homeless encampment. Each apartment is a small one-bedroom, one-bath — about 500 square feet — and you can see the Sierra Nevada from the upstairs windows on a clear day. It’s a big deal to complete a project in that area, where most of the street doesn’t even have a sidewalk and new construction is rare, Pelz said. You’re more likely to see something here catch fire and then be torn down than you are to see something new get built, he said.
Aikido also took on a second, 40-unit homeless housing project in Bakersfield. That development, now set to open in 2025, would have fallen apart without the health care company’s funding. The county had applied for a state Homekey grant, but that wasn’t enough to buy the property or fund the project.
Aikido paid about 20% of the project’s total $10 million cost, and it’s now working with the county housing authority. Akido is advocating for features it knows will help its clients, such as wheelchair accessible outdoor spaces, suicide prevention designs (such as shelves in closets instead of rails) and semigloss paint that makes cleaning easier. The health care company is learning to navigate the complicated world of housing production as it goes.
“That’s been an interesting process,” Murali said.
Homeless housing from Sacramento to L.A.
Other counties are using the money to secure housing units without putting shovels in the ground. Sacramento County won $3.2 million for its Landlord Engagement and Assistance Program, which gives unhoused clients rental subsidies and places them with private landlords, while also working with landlords to prevent evictions.
That money will allow the county to expand that program by about 30%, said human services program manager Neil Kurtz.
“It’s everything,” Kurtz said. “We’re going to be able to make a significant impact, I think, in reducing homelessness.”
A homeless encampment at W Street and Alhambra Boulevard in Sacramento on April 11, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters
Los Angeles County’s largest health plan, LA Care, is using the incentive funds to help open 1,700 homes to homeless residents by 2027. Working with the county, the health plan is funding programs to buy and lease those units, or pay for security deposits and other expenses. As of the end of last year, 600 of those homes were available, said Dr. Sameer Amin, chief medical officer for LA Care.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield recently put money into a 42-unit homeless housing project in Tulare County, helped fund two more projects in Kings County, and contributed to a fund in Alameda County that’s building additional units.
“We’re looking at other opportunities,” said Kris Kuntz, program director for housing and homeless strategy at Anthem. ”We’re looking at: Do we go purchase single family homes that are on the market? Things like that.”
Can the housing-health care partnership be sustainable?
Blurring the line between housing and health care has been confusing for many involved, said Carolina Reid, faculty research advisor at the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
Health care providers don’t know what organizations to partner with in order to get housing built, or how to enter their clients’ information into the state’s homelessness data system. Housing providers don’t know how to navigate strict patient privacy laws. The Terner Center is researching ways to help both sides adjust.
The state paints this health-care-meets-housing experiment as a success so far. Health care providers using the Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program money reported they now are more frequently screening their patients for homelessness, while also offering them more housing-related services. According to the state Department of Health Care Services, 48,172 patients have received housing – and 81% of them have remained housed.
But the problem with this money is that it’s a one-time grant, and Newsom has given no indication that he’ll replenish the coffers when it runs out. After Newsom and legislators scrambled to close a multibillion-dollar budget deficit this year, there’s little state funding up for grabs.
“One question I have that I can’t answer is: Are these efforts sustained after the HHIP funds run out?” Reid said. “There needs to be a sustained source of funding to help managed care plans do this type of work.”
A sign for a construction site for Golden Empire Affordable Housing in Bakersfield on May 29, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
Murali hopes Akido can drum up private equity to replace the state funding in future projects, but whether investors can be convinced it’s a good business move remains to be seen.
What’s more, when up against the steep cost of building or buying housing in California, the money the state allocated doesn’t amount to that much, Reid said. That’s why, she said, we haven’t seen more health care providers using the money to create new housing.
Kuntz agrees.
“When it comes to housing and homelessness,” he said, “you think it’s a large amount of money, but per county, it’s still…not huge, per say, given the need.”
In Kern County, the housing authority typically receives anywhere from 500 to 1,000 applications for each new project, Pelz said. The project set to finish next month in Bakersfield has room for just 16 households.
That means, if you get chosen, Pelz said, “It’s kind of like winning the lottery.”
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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
A homeless encampment at W Street and Alhambra Boulevard in Sacramento on April 11, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters
