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Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Timothy Canning this morning dismissed one of several lawsuits against the City of Eureka brought by backers of an upcoming election initiative aimed at preserving downtown parking spaces by blocking several housing development projects.

Munson (left) and Costantine-Blackwell at a town hall meeting last month. | File photo by Andrew Goff.

Michael Munson and Michelle Costantine-Blackwell, the organizers behind the “City of Eureka Housing for All and Downtown Vitality Initiative,” still have four cases pending that accuse the city of violating the California Environmental Quality Act, but today’s suit concerned alleged violations of state election code. 

(The other four cases were filed by Citizens for a Better Eureka, a group to which both Munson and Costantine-Blackwell belong.)

Representing the plaintiffs and appearing via Zoom, attorney Brad Johnson argued that the city was legally obligated to certify the “Housing for All” initiative at its Oct. 3, 2023, meeting. He cited California Elections Code section 9115(d), which says that once a voter initiative has verifiably gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, an election official “shall certify the results … at the next regular meeting of the board.”  

Instead, the Eureka City Council didn’t certify the initiative until its subsequent regular meeting, which was held two weeks later, on Oct. 17.

Eureka City Attorney Autumn Luna, who appeared in person this morning, reasoned that the agenda for the Oct. 3 meeting had already been set and publicly circulated by the time the “Housing for All” petition signatures were verified on Sept. 28.

She also argued that none of this really matters at this point. The initiative will appear on Eureka’s General Election ballots in November. No harm, no foul, essentially.

But Johnson argued that Eureka needs to be reprimanded, at the very least, to ensure that this behavior doesn’t happen again.

“The bottom line is the city violated the law,” he said. “That’s harm enough.”

Johnson also accused city officials of lying when they claimed that the “next meeting” after the county clerk-recorder certified those petition signatures was the one on October 17.

“Your Honor, I don’t know what to call that. Obviously, it’s not the truth,” Johnson said.

He said the city had “plenty of time” to get the matter inserted onto the Oct. 3 agenda, noting that the Brown Act, California’s open meetings law, simply requires that agendas be posted at least 72 hours in advance. In this case, the city had almost six days.

“Black and white, that’s a violation of the Elections Code,” Johnson argued.

Autumn countered that the city needs to “harmonize” its obligations under election law with other considerations, including compliance with its own Sunshine Ordinance, a 2017 public transparency measure that means the city circulates its agendas up to a week before public meetings are actually held.

And besides, she said, the petitioners didn’t raise any objections about the timing until just hours before the Oct. 3 meeting, at which point it was far too late to do anything.

Johnson said that’s not the point.

“I am not the city attorney,” he noted. “It’s not my job to monitor the city’s compliance with the law.”

But Judge Canning ultimately sided with Luna. He said that the concept of a “regular meeting” includes the idea of “regular notice” procedures, and in this instance Eureka staff would have had to resort to “special procedures” to get the matter on the Oct. 3 agenda with such short notice.

He also said, “The court is concerned about the lack of actual harm, because all of the events have already occurred.”

Canning sustained a demurrer filing from the city, dismissing the case “without leave to amend,” meaning his ruling cannot be appealed the case cannot be refiled in Humboldt County Superior Court.

In the courthouse hallway afterward, Luna said she didn’t want to comment on such a politically charged matter, especially when there are still four more cases pending.

“I will say I’m happy for the city,” she offered. “This was a good outcome for the city today.”

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[CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect that the dismissal “without leave to amend” does not preclude appeal to a higher court. We have also clarified the identify of the plaintiffs in the CEQA suits against the city.]

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PREVIOUSLY:

• Backers of Eureka’s Pro-Parking ‘Housing for All’ Initiative Say They’ve Gathered and Submitted Enough Signatures to Get It On the Ballot
• Arkley-Affiliated ‘Citizens for a Better Eureka’ Files Two More Lawsuits Against the City, Aiming to Block Linc Housing Developments
• Backers of Pro-Parking Lot ‘Housing for All’ Initiative Say They’ve Filed a Lawsuit Against the City of Eureka Because They Believe They Should be on the Spring Ballot Rather Than the Fall Ballot
• Eureka Council Sends Pro-Parking ‘Housing for All’ Initiative to November 2024 Election Ballots
• Security National Has Spent at Least $236,000 on the Pro-Parking ‘Housing for All’ Initiative So Far
• State Attorney General’s Office Joins the Fight Against the Pro-Parking Group ‘Citizens for a Better Eureka’
• Housing for All Backers (Meaning Security National, Really) Have Outspent Opponents by Margin of 163-1
• PISTOLS for TWO: An Exchange of Letters on the Eureka Housing for All Initiative and the Outpost’s Coverage Thereof

Traffic is crawling in downtown Eureka at the moment due to an incident involving two vehicles near the corner of Fifth and L streets. The stretch of Fifth Street between J and L streets is currently closed and motorists are being redirected. 

Officer Ryan Swanson, with Eureka Police Department, tells the Outpost that the cause of the incident is still under investigation but that alcohol does not appear to be a factor. The driver of the overturned vehicle was momentarily stuck inside, but Humboldt Bay Fire was able to extricate them without much effort. 

Press release from the Humboldt Journalism Project:

Ryan Burns of the Lost Coast Outpost has won the third annual “40th Award” for local journalism relevant to those who are sometimes left behind economically. Honorable mentions went to Thadeus Greenson of the North Coast Journal and Sage Alexander of the Eureka Times-Standard.

In his report “Inside Hoopa’s ‘Pill Mill’: State Medical Board, Former Employees Accuse Doctors of Over-Prescribing Opioids,” Burns digs deep into the practice of overprescribing opioids like morphine, oxycodone and diazepam at the only medical facility and pharmacy available in Hoopa. Interviews with insiders and whistle blowers reveal that doctors in Hoopa were responsible for prescribing what Burns describes as “breathtaking amounts of prescription opioids, indirectly supplying a thriving black market in diverted pills.”

“His in-depth report casts a beam of light on a long-term problem of opioid addiction in and around Hoopa,” said Deidre Pike, Humboldt Journalism Project judge. “His reporting is backed by rich, well-sourced data. His work gave me a crisper understanding of the complexity of a situation where doctors are influenced by pharmaceutical companies. He quotes sources who explain how poverty contributes to drug sales – with families who rely on the illegal sales of their prescription drugs to pay bills.”

Like Burns’ reporting, which relied in part on state government records, Greenson’s “The Soeth Files” was developed from a combination of interviews and public records. To tell the story of Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputy Maxwell Soeth’s past, including shootings and legal settlements, Greenson turned to court records, internal affairs reports and video footage. The North Coast Journal needed public records requests and at least one lawsuit to pry loose the information.

“Studies suggest that lower-income people are both more likely to come into contact with police and more likely to experience police uses of force,” making the topic relevant for the 40th Award, Greenson wrote in his contest materials.

In the other award winning piece, the Times-Standard’s Alexander focused on the plight of mobile home residents north of Trinidad, who are struggling with repeated rent increases despite the county’ mobile home rent control law. In “To Measure V or not to Measure V,” Alexander talked with residents, advocates and county officials to probe conflicting interpretations of the rent control law, which at the time did not apply to the “Trinidad Extended Stay” park. Humboldt County is re-evaluating whether the law should apply, Alexander wrote.

The 40th Award is given annually by the Humboldt Journalism Project, a DreamMaker Project of the Ink People. The award’s name was chosen to put the focus on those living within the lower 40 percent of the income scale. The breadth of this year’s entries demonstrates again that a key motivation behind award-winning journalism is the refusal to look away from people’s struggles.

In addition to its annual award, the Humboldt Journalism Project also gives reporting grants to freelancers working on a wide range of topics, and it is exploring creating an informal coaching program.

Back in October, there was a widely reported confrontation in Arcata between the College of the Redwoods baseball team and an activist protesting the war in Gaza. (See here, here.) This confrontation took place around the Cal Poly Humboldt Campus Store — the old bank building at the corner of Eighth and G — after a game at the Arcata Ball Park.

This morning, Cal Poly Humboldt informs us that the University Police Department, which was the investigating agency, has completed its investigation, and has recommended charges against the activist — Gihane Hyden — for filing a false police report, vandalism and false imprisonment.

Cal Poly Humboldt sent us the following this morning:

Following a game at Arcata Ballpark in October, College of the Redwoods baseball players were getting into their cars that were parked at the Campus Store, Arcata parking lot.

Around that time, a Plaza demonstration on the Israeli-Hamas conflict on the Plaza had just ended and participants of the event passed by the Arcata Campus Store.

An argument occurred between the baseball players and two demonstrators, one of whom is identified as Gihane Hyden. CR players and coaches, and a third-party witness called 911 to report the argument. Those demonstrators left before Cal Poly Humboldt University Police Department officers arrived.

Hyden later alleged that members of the baseball team had assaulted her with a vehicle. She also reported that a coach had assaulted her by placing his arm around her neck.

According to UPD’s investigation, the evidence does not support Hyden’s allegations, and that Hyden vandalized a player’s windshield by breaking it with her fist and prevented that player from exiting the parking lot in his vehicle.

UPD has recommended charges of vandalism, false imprisonment, and making a false police report, and the case has been referred to the District Attorney.

When a new legislative leader takes charge, the biggest changes are usually to the internal power structure rather than to policymaking.

So today, state Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, who was sworn in this week as head of the chamber, unveiled his reshuffling of the leadership team and committee assignments. The shakeup rewards key allies who helped the Healdsburg Democrat pull together the votes last summer to secure his office — but also several rivals he beat in the process.

That includes Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a progressive Long Beach Democrat, who will succeed McGuire as majority leader, his deputy in charge of wrangling the Senate’s ideologically diverse supermajority Democratic caucus. Gonzalez’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sen. Monique Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat whose name was also batted around last year as in the hunt to become pro tem, will continue as Democratic caucus chair.

Sen. Angelique Ashby, a Sacramento Democrat who was a major player in whipping support for McGuire, will be one of two assistant majority leaders and take over the business, professions and economic development committee. She said in a statement that receiving those appointments “in my second year is beyond humbling.”

Perhaps in recognition of the challenging optics of a straight, white man heading an increasingly diverse Legislature, five of the seven members of McGuire’s leadership team are women and five are people of color.

“We couldn’t be more excited to get to work for California, tackling the tough issues facing our communities,” McGuire said in a statement. “The members of the California State Senate — who are more representative of the Golden State than ever before — are ready to keep us moving forward, all of us, all together,”

McGuire appointed another close ally, Sen. Anna Caballero, a Merced Democrat, to chair the powerful appropriations committee, which determines the fate of every bill with a significant fiscal impact during the semiannual suspense file process.

Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, will now oversee the budget committee as California navigates a projected multibillion-dollar deficit. A major advocate for increasing housing construction and public transit, he could serve as a bulwark against significant funding cuts that have been proposed to those programs this year.

“Our state has made real progress on critical priorities in recent years, and it’s vital we protect that progress,” Wiener said in a statement.

Overall, McGuire kept more than half of the two dozen Senate committee chairpersons intact. Other changes include swapping Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat who led the budget committee for three years, to head the housing committee, replacing Wiener; elevating first-term Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, a Los Angeles Democrat, to lead the labor committee; and splitting the governance and finance committee into two separate committees on local government and on revenue and taxation.

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

Beloved and devoted husband, father and Papa Nolan Fritz, passed away Feb. 2, at 102 years young, surrounded by family at Timber Ridge in Eureka. He was born on August 27, 1921, to Jack and Olive Fritz in Eureka. He was a tribal elder of the Karuk Tribe.

Nolan was intelligent, kind, innovative, resilient, and a constant hard-working man with a great sense of humor. Nolan served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He was with the 15th AF 463rd bomb group, 772nd squadron in Italy. He flew 50 missions, receiving the air medal with two oak leaf clusters and a campaign ribbon. He was the last surviving member of his crew.

When he returned from the war he married the love of his life, Marion Harrison, in December of 1952. They were married for 66 years until her passing in 2018. The two of them would be inseparable and a team throughout the adventures of their life together. They built their own home in Eureka with the help of Marion’s aunt. They had four children, Nolan II, Lynn, Kavan, and Cleone.

Nolan tried his hand in various occupations. He worked for Mercer-Fraser on the north and south jetties as a powder monkey, pulled green chain, worked the assembly line at Loleta Milk Co., laborerd with the Pierson Building Company, painted houses with his father and brother and fished commercially with his future father-in-law. After WWII he bought his own boat, and while crabbing along the south spit he capsized and was rescued after swimming for 25 minutes in the ocean.

He decided to move on and went to work for Caltrans, which led him to move to many places throughout the state. His favorite place was Forest Glen. There he enjoyed fishing, cutting wood, berry picking, deer hunting, riding quads and camping at Naufus spike camp with his family. He returned to his home in Eureka and retired from Caltrans as a supervisor after 20 years.

He enjoyed gardening, eating Marion’s delicious home-cooked meals, babysitting his grandkids, and returning to his beloved camping and hunting grounds in Forest Glen every year.

Nolan is survived by his son, Nolan II, daughters Lynn Fritz and Cleone Ehlers (Allen), and many dearly adored grandchildren and great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Marion, son Kavan, great-grandson Kavan, brother Earl, father Jack , and mother Olive Brazil.

There will be no services, per his request. The family would like to thank Hospice of Humboldt, Larona Farnum, the caregivers and staff at Timber Ridge. Their support during this difficult time was greatly appreciated.

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

Frank William Ames Jr. was born in Hoopa on March 13, 1957. Frank passed away peacefully in his daughter’s house, surrounded by family, on February 6, 2024, in Trinidad.

Frank was a Hoopa Tribal member with Yurok descent and lived all his life in his homelands on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. Frank Ames enjoyed playing with trucks, bikes, and marbles as a child. He was the eldest son of Frank Ames Sr. and Ruth Ames and had seven siblings. He enjoyed being in Pecwan at his grandfather Jackson Ames’s home. He loved to fish and talk about the pigs his grandpa raised.

Frank picked up a love for music at a very young age. This passion remained with him his entire life. Frank was a talented musician and played in three different bands. Franks’s first band was Rainbow Hotel, formed in high school. The second band he played in with his brother-in-law, General Lee, was New Dawn Tribe, and they toured across Indian Country, opening for bands such as Red Bone. His final band he played with was Friends with a bunch of his local buddies. Frank enjoyed playing music; when he wasn’t playing music, he was listening to music. You could not go anywhere with Frank and not hear him playing music.

Frank married Linda Ames in 1980. Frank took in Linda’s three children as his own. Frank was a devoted father and helped his children Kori, April, and Raymond “Guy” in their passion for Karate, and they traveled up and down California in their Love Machine Van. Frank enjoyed children and doted on his kids. When his grandchildren were born, Frank helped raise them. He loved to watch cartoons and sit around and eat cereal with them. Frank raised his three children and his grandsons, Jakob Sanderson, David Sanderson, and Ricky Sanderson. His greatest joy was to be with these boys and all his grandkids.

Frank is preceded in death by his wife, Linda Ames; his parents, Frank and Ruth Ames; his brothers, David and Timothy Ames; his sisters Diana Pilgrim, Alberta Jackson, and Caroline Lowry, nephews Michael Ames, Robert Lee, and Wyatt Lowry; niece Arli Lowry and grandson Jakob Sanderson.

Frank is survived by his sisters Linda Lee and Debra (Rob) Ulibarri his children Kori Rakestraw, April Nix (Sonnie), Guy Baldy (Meagen), and grandchildren Gary Baldy (Tausha), Alberta Nix (Harley), Keesha Kress, Robert Baldy, Emily Baldy (Tommy), Antonio Correa, Raymond Baldy, Riley Baldy, Santiago Moon, Kateara Jarnaghan (Darin), David Sanderson (Courtney), Ricky Sanderson, Lori Ann Sanderson (Aaron), and Hunter Sanderson, his nieces Carolyn Lee, Stacy and Raven Ulibarri, Roberta Jackson, Jacklyn (KG), Pam (Lisa), Carrie “Shells,” Naomi, Autumn, and TekWes Ames, his nephews Robert Lee, Brandon Lara, Loren Colegrove, Robert and Jody Jackson, Jess and Chet Lowry, James Rickaby III, and his Godchildren Nena and Penny Hames Frank is survived by numerous cousins, great-nieces, nephews, and great-grandchildren.

Services for Frank will be held at the Hoopa Assembly of God at 11:00 am, with burial at Jackson Cemetery and reception at Hoopa Trading Post on Monday, February 12, 2024.

Pallbearers: David Sanderson, Ricky Sanderson, Hunter Sanderson, Gary Baldy, Sonnie Nix, Robert Baldy, Antonio Correa, Raymond Baldy, Riley Baldy, Santiago Moon, Robert Lee, Brandon Lara, Darin Jarnaghan Jr, Thomas Kelley, Aaron Mix-McKown, Harley Crum.

Honorary Pallbearers: David Breakman, Loren Colegrove, Robert Jackson, Jody Jackson, Robert Ulibarri, Jess Lowry, Chet Lowry, Allen Lowry, James Rickaby, Ryan Ames, Jessie Bain, Kaydon Matilton, Cam Matilton, Eugene Masten, Stanley Ferris Jr, Arden McCovey, Charles McCovey I, Gordon McCovey, Inker McCovey, Mike McCovey Mike Gabe, Dominic Obie, Richard Blake, Jack Jackson, Patrick Jackson,Chuck Hames, Pete White

Please forgive us if we forgot anyone. Frank loved so many of his friends and family.

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