It’s official! Eureka City Clerk Pam Powell confirmed at 4 p.m. today that four Eureka City Council nominees have officially qualified for the November ballot. These folks will be vying for two open seats in the November general election. The nomination period is now closed for all council positions.
Here’s a list of the candidates who have qualified for the race:
Ward 2 - Kati Moulton – A current Eureka City Council member and Old Town business owner. Moulton secured a seat on the council in November 2020.
Ward 2 - Kenny Carswell – A Eureka resident and project manager for Security National. Carswell has served as a Rotarian and as a member of the Humboldt County Workforce Development Board.
Ward 4 - Scott Bauer – A current Eureka City Council member and senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. Bauer was elected to his seat on the council in November 2020.
Ward 4 - Thavisak “Lucky” Syphanthong – A Eureka resident and commercial real estate broker. Syphanthong is also the founder and owner of Eureka Skate Shop in Henderson Center and president of the Rotary Club of Eureka.
Check out the stories below to learn more about the new candidates. Check back next week for the highly anticipated launch of LoCOElections, the subsite we made for you, dear reader, to put your questions directly to the candidates in all the major races in Humboldt County.
Apparently the implosion of the Jacobs Middle School property deal between Eureka City Schools and the anonymous AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC, won’t dissuade Security National from positively dumping money into the passage of Measure F, the “Eureka Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative.”
Quite the opposite, it seems! Sometime yesterday, Security National Properties Holding Company, the real estate servicing firm founded by periodic Eureka resident Robin P. Arkley, cut a check to the “Yes on F” campaign for a whopping $285,710.98, according to a campaign finance form just uploaded to the City of Eureka’s elections website.
Add that to the $710,644.65 that the company already spent on the campaign and SN’s grand total comes to just shy of a cool mil: $996,355.63. And there are still nearly three months to go before Election Day.
On August 9, 2024, at approximately 8:36 a.m., Eureka Police Department
Officers along with personnel from Humboldt Bay Fire, were dispatched to
the report of an injury traffic collision at the intersection of Henderson and
K Streets in Eureka.
The investigation revealed a Ford Bronco was traveling on Henderson
Street when a Toyota Tacoma failed to stop at the posted stop sign on K
Street and collided with the Bronco. The Bronco then left the roadway and
came to rest in the yard of a residence adjacent to the intersection. The
driver of the Tacoma suffered minor injuries and the driver of the Bronco
suffered moderate injuries and was transported to the hospital by City
Ambulance. The residence and landscaping suffered some damage but no
injuries were sustained inside the residence.
As a result of the investigation, the driver of the Tacoma, Henry Zaragoza
(20 years old from Eureka), was arrested for Felony Driving Under of the
Influence and Driving on a Suspended License. Zaragoza was transported
and booked at the Humboldt County Jail.
The inaugural Rumble Over the Redwoods Air Show will be taking place this weekend, Saturday, August 10th and Sunday, August 11th. Times are weather dependent however as of now, the aerobatics and pyrotechnic shows are scheduled from 11am - 5:30pm.
The Tora Bomb Squad will be providing large-scale pyrotechnics at this year’s airshow. These walls of fire and explosions may appear dangerous, but rest assured that emergency personnel (ourselves included) will be present at the airshow in case of emergency.
*Central Ave. behind the airport will be CLOSED to through traffic while the airshow is happening.*
With just hours left before the scheduled close of escrow — and half a day after the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees declined a request for another delay in completing the deal — the anonymous corporation AMG Communities - Jacobs, LLC, issued a statement saying it was actually their idea to back out of the land exchange agreement.
The statement, which was sent in response to emailed questions from the Outpost, goes on to accuse the City of Eureka of working to actively repel affordable housing development.
Back in January, Gov. Gavin Newsom designated Eureka as one of 37 “Prohousing” communities in the state, officially recognizing the city’s efforts to cut red tape and speed up housing approvals. A month later, Attorney General Rob Bonta lauded city leaders for acting “swiftly and fiercely” to address the housing crisis and climate crisis through its plans to convert downtown parking lots into apartment complexes.
When reached by phone, Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery said that AMG’s allegation that the city is to blame for this deal falling through is false.
“That is the most laughable statement I’ve heard from any agency in a very long time,” he said.
Slattery insisted that, if anything, city staff members went out of their way to expedite AMG’s request to rezone the former Jacobs Middle School property. The Eureka City Council approved a “Mixed Neighborhood” overlay zone for that property in April.
“We made sure we did everything in our power to make this happen,” Slattery said of the rezone request.
Here’s the statement from AMG:
###
AMG Communities has decided to withdraw from the exchange agreement with Eureka City Schools for the former Jacobs Middle School property, and to wait until the passage of Measure F, the Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative, on the November ballot to reconsider purchasing the property if it is still available at that time.
We sought this property and were willing to make a substantial investment in the community because we believe the community supports the construction of badly needed housing at this site. Our investors were willing to pay an above-market price for the property in order to provide as much benefit as possible to the School District.
However, the strident opposition of several City officials, including certain members of the City Council, to efforts to rezone this site for family housing has created a political climate that is too risky for the size of investment needed to bring our vision for the Jacobs site into reality.
With a few exceptions in southern California, nearly every city in the state is working hard to attract developers interested in providing housing that is affordable to average working residents. The City of Eureka, by comparison, has been working hard to repel this type of investment. That is unfortunate and a loss to City residents.
###
NOTE: This post has been updated from its original version to include comments from Slattery.
Longtime Sun Valley Group CEO Lane DeVries recently sent the following message to his colleagues in the floral industry explaining the factors that led to the recent closure of the company and the elimination as many as 700 local jobs.
A Message from Lane August 2024
Dear Floral Industry friends,
Now that the news of Sun Valley closing has reverberated through the floral industry and our local community, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on good times, but also the journey through the dark valley.
I wish to express my gratitude to the fantastic team we had in our company with dedicated team members. The Sun Valley team spirit and the agility of the Sun Valley team have been a cornerstone and integral to the success of the company throughout the years. It was incredibly painful to say goodbye to this wonderful team in the last 2 months.
The sense of being a Sun Valley family was at the core of our company culture. We had fun building this company with a mission to make a difference and leaving a legacy of a commitment to quality in product and service and advancing the American floral industry at large.
Thank you to our customers and industry friends, many of you have sent messages, emails and phone calls, we very much appreciate these expressions of concern and comfort.
Originally Sun Valley started in 1948 in Southern Oregon, and the company has been doing business in Humboldt County California for 65 years. I have been blessed to be part of this great company since i arrived here in January of 1984.
In the last 40 years, Sun valley went through a period of phenomenal growth. The Sun Valley team continued to expand, and many customers across the USA were eager to buy our flowers. Meanwhile Sun Valley’s involvement in the local community, and its employment base of over 400 team members, were a vital part of the North Coast economy.
Starting 16 years ago our company encountered several serious setbacks:
For instance, in 2008 we lost 75% of our workforce in Arcata due to an immigration action by the government. The ensuing domino effect on operations lasted for nearly 18 months and left the company with a huge financial hole, and lasting scars.
In 2019 “FTD/Proflowers” one of Sun Valley’s largest customers at the time, filed for bankruptcy right after Mother’s Day and several million dollars never were paid. The pandemic in the Spring of 2020 left us with millions of flowers blooming in the greenhouses.
At the same time business conditions in California have made operating a greenhouse flower company very challenging.
The rising cost due to a series of rapid minimum wages increases, and the phased-out elimination of the agricultural overtime exemption has seriously raised the company’s unit cost in recent years.
Insurance expenses have quadrupled in the last 5 years. Natural gas costs have gone up dramatically and electricity expenses have nearly tripled in the last 10 years.
These cumulative factors had a dramatic impact on our competitive position in the marketplace. In many cases our customers were unwilling to accept price increases needed to offset the cost increases.
These conditions have put the company deeper into debt and with the current interest rates, it has deteriorated the financial state of the company.
As owners we reached the point of having difficulty seeing a viable way out on our own accord.
In the last 12 months the company has searched for a suitable investor or a buyer for the entire business. While there were some leads, no buyer for the entire company materialized.
This left us at the point of closing the doors, many have asked what all this means to the supply of core Sun Valley crops.
We are pleased to announce that Continental Floral Greens has assumed the leases of the Willow Creek farm. This assures the continuity of the well know Sun Valley crops like “Spirit Series” Ilex, Rosehips, Cotinus, Snowberries Flowering Cotinus and Snowball Viburnum.
The other core Sun Valley crop that will continue are the Butterfly Ranunculus, and possibly Iris, Continental Floral Greens will be growing these at their Watsonville location.
After finishing winding down Sun Valley, I will be involved in an advisory and consulting capacity to Continental Floral Greens to lend my experience in growing and bringing these crops to the marketplace. Tim Crockenberg, Sun Valley’s lead grower will also come on board.
Many of you know that I’m a man of faith and I trust that our Lord has a plan, and good things are in store for those who believe.
Thank you for all the kind words, prayers, emails and calls of support and encouragement.
I know it is hard to accept but I trust there will come a time that all of it starts making sense.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz walk on stage at during Harris’ presidential campaign rally at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Mich., on Aug. 8, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local.
A pair of ceiling fans spun lazily inside the jam-packed hangar as the sun blazed down on thousands of supporters outside. As the crowd of 15,000 — the largest of the 2024 Democratic presidential campaign — waited for Vice President Kamala Harris, some began to faint.
That didn’t stop the supporters from bursting into waves of deafening cheers that lasted two minutes as Harris took the stage. It was what her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, called a “warm Midwestern welcome.”
“OK, come on, we’ve got business to handle,” she finally said.
The rally outside Detroit on Wednesday afternoon marked the third stop on a five-day, cross-country tour to woo voters in battleground states, which beganin Pennsylvania when Harris introduced Walz as her vice presidential pick. The duo plan events in North Carolina and Georgia before rallies tonight in Arizona and Saturday in Nevada.The Harris campaign has jolted the Democratic base in the three weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed her, bringing in record amounts of money and drawing massive audiences.
Although California has sent three Republicans to the White House, it has never produced a Democratic president. Several tried — including former Gov. Jerry Brown, whom critics nicknamed “Governor Moonbeam,” and Harris herself in 2019. Some political strategists blame the sorry track record in part on the Golden State’s liberal image.
Can Harris finally break through in 2024?
To reach the White House, she may need to overcome any California-ness qualms, and must aggressively defend her California record against intense attacks from former President Donald Trump’s campaign. In a new 1-minute ad released Thursday, Harris leaned heavily into her Oakland upbringing and her California prosecutor career. She also agreed to the first debate with Trump, on Sept. 10.
Harris’ California roots are already under attack. Labeling her as a “California radical” and “San Francisco liberal,” Republicans have hammered her stances, particularly on crime and immigration. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the GOP nominee for vice president, is trailing Harris’ travels this week and holding press events to criticize her. Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday: “She destroyed the state of California along with Gov. Gavin Newscum,” he said, using his pejorative for Newsom.
Harris has backed away from some of her more liberal campaign promises from 2019 and no longer supports a fracking ban or a single-payer health care system. But she must also navigate criticism from progressive Democrats, who want her to go further than Biden on abortion and climate policies.
Her California ties have given some undecided voters pause, but those connections are likely not the deciding factor, according to 20 voters, consultants, officials and political experts interviewed by CalMatters in some of Michigan and Arizona’s most purple districts. And some voters and experts argued that Walz’ Midwestern roots could help balance the ticket.
“People will understand through the Walz lens that Kamala, it doesn’t matter where she’s from geographically,” said Democrat Carl Marlinga, who is running for Congress in Michigan’s competitive Macomb County. “Maybe she says things a little differently, but she wouldn’t have picked a guy like us if she didn’t want to connect with people like us.”
Growing up Republican in Michigan, Michael Taylor knows well a common Midwestern conservative sentiment toward California: His mother often told him the state is a “hellscape” detached from the rest of America, with rampant crime, illegal migrants and unfettered homelessness — even though he said he disagrees.
“There’s a lot of … media portrayal that the West Coast liberals are just out of touch and don’t really know what’s going on in the heartland,” said Taylor, mayor of Sterling Heights since 2014.
His blue-collar city of 132,000 is home to four automotive assembly plants. Thursday, Harris spoke at a Detroit rally hosted by the United Auto Workers, which endorsed her last week, citing her “proven track record of delivering for the working class.”
Michael Taylor, mayor of Sterling Heights, outside his office at City Hall in Sterling Heights, Mich., on Aug. 6, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
Sterling Heights is in Macomb County, the quintessential swing county where disillusioned Democrats ditched their party for Republican President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. The county went for Democrat Barack Obama twice before favoring Trump in 2016 and 2020. Taylor, who now identifies with neither major party, supported Trump in 2016 but voted for Biden in 2020.
California is perceived as elitist and progressive and seems distant to a lot of Macomb County voters, sometimes even himself, Taylor said.
“I sense that from talking to Republicans. There’s this conflict between the real America and the America of the little blue islands along the coasts,” he said. “When you talk to some people, they almost act like California is a different country.”
That’s true for Republican Cheryl Costantino, a teacher in Macomb County’s Shelby Township: “To us, California is like its own weird, liberal place where people poop on the sidewalks and live in tents.”
McClellan Grote, a registered independent and nuclear engineer from Gilbert, Arizona, hesitates to vote for Harris. Although he supported Trump twice and still favors his policies, Grote said he must vote against Trump’s vitriol. But he’s reluctant to support Harris, partly due to the liberal image of California and Newsom, who Grote also calls “Newscum.”
That perception represents a “key vulnerability” that Harris must overcome to win moderate voters, said Matt Grossmann, a political science professor at Michigan State University. Historically, Black and female candidates are considered more liberal than white men, he said, and Harris’ history representing a largely Democratic state, particularly in the U.S. Senate, may cement that impression.
Republicans are hoping to cash in on that exact sentiment. In a National Republican Senatorial Committee memo, executive director Jason Thielman deemed Harris a “radical” from San Francisco.
While it’s too soon to tell if those attacks have dented her support, Grossmann noted that down-ballot Democrats in swing states have suffered in previous electionswhen tied to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco. “That gives (us) a reason to expect that the same attacks would be successful against Harris,” he said.
The person who may help counter those critiques is Walz, whom Democrats are counting on to help connect with Midwesterners with his rural roots and his background as a gun owner, hunter, public school teacher and veteran. The Trump campaign, on other hand, quickly tried to paint Walz in an emailed statement as a “West Coast wannabe” who wants to spread “California’s dangerously liberal agenda.”
First: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to the crowd at a campaign at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Mich., on Aug. 8, 2024. Last: Supporters hold up signs at the Harris/Walz campaign rally at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Mich., on Aug. 8, 2024. Photos by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
Walz is “a perfect description of a Democrat who could win in Macomb County,” said Marlinga, a self-described moderate Democrat who lost by a razor-thin margin to Republican U.S. Rep. John James in 2022 and is set for a rematch this November.
Marlinga called the Minnesota governor a “positive populist” who is easy-going and approachable. Walz called Trump and Vance “weird,” just like an “ordinary guy … sitting down for dinner at a deli somewhere” would, Marlinga said.
“We like conservation, we like sports, we like fishing, we like hunting,” he said. “We’re not like the Democrats in New York and California, because we’re not here to grab your guns and to change your life and to preach to you about things.”
In the Republican attacks on Harris, her record on crime is coming under intense scrutiny, as she leans into her prosecutor background in contrast with Trump — a convicted felon who was found in a separate civil case to have sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll.
“She prosecuted sex predators. He is one,” an ad for Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign said.
The attack resonates with some Michigan Republicans, including Robert Wojtowicz, who is running for a competitive state House seat in Macomb County.
While courting voters at a Clinton Township polling station on Tuesday, Wojtowicz associated Harris with California’s recent increases in some violent and property crimes, even though she left to serve in the U.S. Senate in 2017. He argued the state’s prosecutors “are not prosecuting … serious crimes,” echoing California conservatives who are advocating for tougher penalties.
Costantino, the Shelby Township teacher, noted that the number of violent crimes in San Francisco rose during Harris’ early years as district attorney. The city’s current struggle with crime is something Harris still should own, Costantino said.
“The fact that she’s from California should make her more sensitive to those issues, not less sensitive,” Costantino said. “Just because she goes to Washington doesn’t mean that she should be removed from them.”
“We’re not like the Democrats in New York and California, because we’re not here to grab your guns and to change your life and to preach to you about things.” — Democrat Carl Marlinga, who is running for Congress in Michigan’s competitive Macomb County
But most of the Michigan voters interviewed by CalMatters spoke more about policies from her time as vice president, not while she served in California. While conservative voters blamed the Biden-Harris administration for increases in gas prices, illegal border crossings and national debt, Democrats celebrated her for advocating for abortion rights — an issue that turned out a historic number of Michigan voters in recent elections and helped flip the state Legislature blue.
And some Michigan voters — both Republicans and Democrats — said they did not know Harris for her time in the Golden State.
Joe Koch is a 58-year-old electric operator and a self-described “Christian conservative” in Clinton Township, where Biden won by less than 1 percentage point in 2020 after Trump won it by 4 points in 2016. He called California a “mismanaged” state, blaming Newsom for the state’s budget deficit. “He’s just a populist guy, good hair, but I don’t see him governing,” Koch said.
But Harris’ California roots are “secondary” compared to her policy stances, Koch said. “She could be from New Mexico or Washington,” he said.
Tamela Washington, a 55-year-old Democratic voter, also does not associate Harris with California. She said she only began to notice Harris when she was in the U.S. Senate.
“It doesn’t matter whether she’s from California, Hawaii, Timbuktu. Doesn’t matter. It just blinds us from … what connects us and what keeps us wanting to make this country just better every day,” she said.
Among Michigan’s Arab community, Harris’ California roots fade even further into the background.
During Wednesday’s rally, a small group of pro-Palestinian student protesters from the University of Michigan briefly interrupted Harris’ speech before security escorted them out. They chanted: “Kamala Kamala you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide!”
“It seems that the number one driving factor in this race will be the Gaza issue. People are not looking at much else,” said Qarim Abdullah, an imam at the American Muslim Center in Dearborn since 2018. A sense of “betrayal” by Biden’s Gaza policies, he said, has driven some to vote for Trump.
The American Muslim Center in Dearborn, Mich., on Aug. 5, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
First: A man in prayer at the American Muslim Center in Dearborn, Mich., on Aug. 5, 2024. Last: Qarim Abdullah, an Imam at American Muslim Center, stands in the prayer room of the mosque in Dearborn, Mich., on Aug. 5, 2024. Photos by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local
And in Arizona — a traditionally-red Sun Belt state that Biden narrowly flipped in 2020 — Harris’ record on illegal immigration at the border will come into laser focus.
The Grand Canyon State’s border with Mexico makes immigration a top concern among its voters. The state’s GOP-led Legislature placed a controversial measure on the November ballot that would allow state and local law enforcement to crack down on illegal border crossings, even though courts deem it a federal power.
Harris — portrayed by Republicans as a liberal “border czar” lenient on illegal migrants — has gone on the offense, tapping into her background cracking down on transnational gang activities as California’s attorney general.
“In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico,” she said at a rally in Atlanta. “I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers that came into our country illegally. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won.”
But on other issues, Harris’ California brand could prove to be an advantage, especially abortion.
“She’s always been an advocate for women’s health care, and she’s a woman. She gets us,” Patti O’Neil, chairperson of the Maricopa County Democratic Party, said of Harris.
Harris’ support for abortion rights won over Karla Grote, a developer in Gilbert and a former Republican who re-registered as independent after becoming disillusioned with Trump.
“I don’t hate her policies. I don’t hate her thought patterns. Well, she’s pro-choice! That’s a big one for me,” Karla Grote shouted while talking to her husband at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, waiting for a delayed flight back home to Arizona.
“Anybody miss that?” McClellan asked while rolling his eyes, drawing a few chuckles from passengers nearby.
###
CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
pyrotechnics
at this year’s airshow. These walls of fire and explosions may appear dangerous, but rest assured that emergency personnel (ourselves included) will be present at the airshow in case of emergency.
