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In case you’re among the lucky/wise locals who don’t spend much time on Facebook, here’s what you’re missing locally: Virtually everyone, it seems, is talking about Sushi Spot.

The popular local restaurant, which offers sashimi, sushi and other Japanese cuisine in Arcata, McKinleyville and Eureka, recently announced that it will no longer accept gratuities – aka tips – at any of its locations, starting this week.

Instead, as the restaurant explained on its website and on printed handbills placed at each table, a service fee, or “employee equity charge,” will be automatically added to all orders at a fixed rate: 18 percent for dine-in customers, 10 percent for take-out. 

Reached by the Outpost on Monday, owner Eric Stark said that he and his managers have been considering this change for a long time. The goal of this new system is to improve pay equity among employees, eliminating the gap between servers and chefs while making the business more sustainable in the long run.

“We’ve been thinking about doing this since COVID,” Stark said. During the months-long shutdown of the pandemic, when restaurants were only offering food to go, Sushi Spot pooled its tips and distributed them among the staff equally – though, of course, servers weren’t waiting tables. Once restaurants reopened for table service, though, Sushi Spot went back to the old system, in which customers typically tip waitstaff but not sushi chefs or other kitchen workers – at least, not directly. 

To Stark and many of his employees, this just felt wrong. “We have a lot of really experienced chefs, and there needs to be fair treatment,” he said. “We view those [positions], server and chef, as equally qualified, but because of tips they can’t make the same.” 

Sushi Spot is by no means the first restaurant to implement such a system. In fact, the online Chef’s Store, which markets to restaurants across the country, wrote about “the no-tipping movement” back in 2022, and the San Francisco Chronicle recently covered the growing popularity of “gratuity-free models” in the Bay Area, where newly opened establishments have adopted the practice alongside some long-established eateries and Michelin-starred fine-dining restaurants.

However, as Chef’s Store cautions, not everyone in the public likes or understands this system: “Tipping culture in the U.S. is second nature, so some consumers might find the switch confusing,” the publication says. “Plus, patrons are accustomed to tipping based on merit, so requiring them to pay a predetermined percentage might feel uncomfortable.”

As it turns out, many Humboldt County residents feel more than just confusion and discomfort. On Sunday afternoon, someone posted a photo of Sushi Spot’s “equity charge” announcement to an opinionated Facebook forum called Humboldt County on Alert, and the response has been robust.

In the first 24 hours the post racked up more than 1,000 comments, most of them negative, with the majority falling somewhere between indignant and outraged. 

“Have fun going out of business,” one user remarked.

“Yeah you lost my business … ,” another agreed, adding, “It’s in our culture to tip.”

One comment garnered more than 250 likes with this interpretation: “Lemme translate: ‘We don’t want to have to pay our employees a livable wage so we’re just going to make the customer do it.’”

Stark said the social media response caught him a bit off guard. “We knew there’d be people who are not happy, but we didn’t think it would be like that,” he said.

In an effort to quell the uprising, Sushi Spot posted a follow-up statement to the Humboldt County on Alert page yesterday, offering a more thorough explanation of the reasoning behind the change. In speaking with the Outpost on Monday, Stark said a lot of factors played into the decision.

For one thing, he said, inflation, distribution woes and rising labor costs are making an already challenging industry even more precarious. Restaurants here in Humboldt County have been going out of business left and right, and nationally, few businesses have been hit as hard by the economic headwinds as sushi restaurants. 

“It’s been a whole mess,” Stark said. The Bay Area trucking company that Sushi Spot used for distribution for the past 20 years recently went out of business. Meanwhile, record-breaking inflation in Japan has drastically raised costs for many items the restaurant imports. (One Sushi Spot employee said red tuna from Japan that cost $11 per pound before the pandemic now runs $21 per pound.) And California’s minimum wage increases mean that even the entry-level servers get paid $5 more per hour than they did just five years ago.

Why not just pay the kitchen staff higher wages, as many Facebook commenters have suggested? Stark said it’s not that simple. While tips are generally viewed as a reward for exceptional service, the fact is that nearly every customer who dines at Sushi Spot leaves a gratuity, and Stark said a tip to the server alone fails to account for the chain of labor that makes good service possible – a chain that includes chefs, prep cooks, hosts, dishwashers, bussers and bartenders.

“Without everyone working as a team, the tips for great service would not be possible,” he said. “In a sushi restaurant it is even more important to account for everyone in the chain of service because it takes more labor and staff to operate than other types of restaurants.”

David Bush is a lead server at the McKinleyville Sushi Spot who was recently promoted to a management position. He admitted to having mixed feelings about the new system, especially since it will inevitably mean less money in his pocket.

“This is a big pay cut for the servers,” he said. “It’s a bit stressful for us. We understand the public doesn’t want to pay an 18 percent price increase, and to be the ones breaking that [news] and get pay cut as well has been hard to swallow.”

Bush said that about one in every 10 customers who called or came in to the restaurant yesterday and learned about the new “equity charge” decided not to eat there. 

“So it’s been quite a big hit already,” he said.

But he does see pros to the new system. While Sushi Spot employees have historically tipped out the kitchen staff, giving them a 40 percent cut of their take on any given night, Bush said back-of-the-house workers still got a raw deal. While the server would pocket 60 percent of any given tip, the rest of that money would be divvied up among several people working in the back, including multiple chefs, prep cooks, dishwashers, etc. On a busy night, a server might take home $250 or $300 in tips while kitchen workers pocketed just $40 or $50 apiece.

Under the new system, he explained, employees will split the 18 percent gratuity (or 10 percent for take-out orders) based on a tiered formula, with new employees getting half as much as their Level 2 colleagues, who, in turn, get half as much as workers in Level 3, a tier reserved for the most experienced sushi chefs and longest-employed servers.

Bush said this system rewards loyalty from sushi chefs in particular, which is important when you consider that it can take a decade or more to become truly proficient at the art.

“We want to keep them in Humboldt County, because otherwise they might move to San Francisco or go to fast food since they pay a $20 minimum wage at this point,” Bush said.

He anticipated that as much as 20 percent of Sushi Spot’s waitstaff would quit once the new system was implemented, but so far he said only three servers have left. He’s not sure what to expect over the coming weeks.

“We just started this system,” he said, adding that the public rollout could probably have been handled better.

“I guess we kind of regret how we worded [the announcement],” Bush said. “What this really is, when we get rid of semantics, is an 18 percent increase in price to the customer,” albeit with the elimination of tipping. “I think a lot of servers make a 20 percent tip on average, so this is a bit of a decrease. But we decided to call it an ‘employee equity’ charge so the community knows that 100 percent goes to paying staff. It doesn’t go to the owner.”

Bush said that when customers balk at being charged a “mandatory tip,” he tries to reframe the fee as a means of paying staff a higher wage. 

Fellow Sushi Spot employee Jaime Osorio, who rolls sushi at both the Arcata and McKinleyville Sushi Spot locations and waits tables when needed, said this model is not unheard of.

“It’s something that’s happening across the country, though it’s somewhat new in Humboldt County,” he said. Like Bush, he thinks the new method will improve loyalty and job satisfaction – not to mention pay – for people working in the kitchens.

”There are nights where we get absolutely murdered in the back,” he said, referring to the busiest evenings. “At end of the shift you think, ‘Yeah, we made it as a team,’ but then you see the server hand out tips,” with kitchen workers who’ve been there for 20 years getting a small fraction of the $300-$400 that servers collect.

He believes those employees should be treated as equals, and he thinks people who work in the service industry work hard because they value their job and enjoy serving people, not to convince customers to tip them.

Stark said he think working for tips can actually be demeaning, taking away from what he called the “dignity of service.”

“We want our staff to feel good about serving our community without expecting a tip afterwards,” he told the Outpost. “That is why we feel it is better to include the charge and account for the whole team rather than accept tips that go mostly to one person.”

He added that customers who tip won’t wind up paying any more than they did before – in fact, those who tip 20 percent or more will wind up paying less. And since all service charges are taxable income, Sushi Spot will pay more in payroll taxes toward Social Security, Medicare and disability.

Stark said he hopes Sushi Spot can set a good example of changes in the restaurant industry that are long overdue.

Bush agrees.

“I still think this is a great place to work,” he said, “so I hope customers will still come to Sushi Spot to support a company that wants to go away from America’s tipping culture a bit.”

Business at Sushi Spot’s three locations over the next month or so should reveal whether or not this experiment in employee equity will work here in Humboldt County.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On 2/6/2024, at about 1:59 am, Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the 1300 block of Fernwood Drive in McKinleyville for the report of an attempted residential burglary.

Ronald Payton

Deputies arrived on scene and contacted the homeowner. Deputies were informed a male subject attempted to break into the residence by kicking in the front door. The suspect left in a vehicle prior to the deputies’ arrival. Deputies were provided a description of the male suspect and the vehicle he was driving. Deputies searched the area and located the suspect vehicle driving near Murray Road and US Hwy 101. The vehicle fled from deputies when they attempted an enforcement stop. The suspect vehicle turned southbound on Hwy 101 and accelerated away at a high rate of speed. Deputies pursued the vehicle and observed it drive off the roadway near Hwy 101 and School Road. The vehicle became stuck in a muddy area and the driver was taken into custody without further incident. The driver of the vehicle was identified as 29-year-old Ronald Payton. Payton was identified as the suspect who attempted to break into the residence and was also determined to be driving under the influence of alcohol.

Payton was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and charged with attempted burglary (PC 664/459), felony evading (CVC 2800.2(A)), and DUI (CVC 23152(A)).

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.

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When the last remaining pulp mill on the Samoa Peninsula shuttered in 2010, the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District (HBMWD) lost its entire industrial customer base, resulting in an 80 percent drop in water consumption across the district. 

To make up for the dramatic reduction in water use, the district launched a water resource planning initiative to look for ways to increase industrial use to maintain its existing water rights, which are slated for review by the State Water Resources Control Board in 2029. If the district can’t find a way to increase its water use in the next five years, it could stand to lose nearly 50 percent of its water rights under the state’s “use it or lose it” system.  

“We have to figure out how to maintain our local water rights because, in the state of California, water rights are owned by the state,” district General Manager John Friedenbach told the Outpost. “The water board could say, ‘Well, you’re not using the water that you used to use for the pulp mills, so we’re going to take that water back and you can only lease what you’re using for municipal customers.’ That would have, in our opinion, a dramatic detrimental effect on the aquatic life in the Mad River.”

So the water district is applying to permanently dedicate a portion of its rights to the Mad River for instream flows for environmental benefit. The proposal would incorporate the district’s current water releases from Ruth Lake Reservoir, which mimic natural seasonal flows on the Mad River, into its water right, allowing the district to retain as much of its water right as possible while also ensuring enhanced summer flows that benefit salmonids and other special status species for the foreseeable future.

The proposal would not change the water district’s current instream flow allocation, which accounts for roughly 25 percent, or 20-25 million gallons per day (MGD), of the district’s proposed water rights allocation, as seen in the pie chart below. “It’s not going to increase the rate of outflow from Ruth Lake,” Friedenbach said. “We’re just trying to preserve the status quo.”

The water district received a $693,000 grant from the state Wildlife Conservation Board in 2018 to fund the various studies needed to amend its water rights and “all of the components that were necessary to get us in a position to file this petition for change,” Friedenbach said. 

“We have a draft petition that we’ve sent to the water board staff for their draft review, and they’ve provided feedback to us,” he continued. “Our next step is to talk to the public about this petition for change and receive feedback. I want to reiterate that [this proposal] would not impact customers.”

The water district will host an informational workshop at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka on Feb. 12. (More information below.) If the state water board grants the instream flow petition, that would keep approximately 27 percent of the district’s existing water rights intact. 

“Of the remaining 55 MGD (35 MGD transport [and] 20 MGD local sales), the district could stand to lose the 35 MGD transport, or about 47 percent, in 2029 when our water rights are up for renewal,” Friedenbach said. (In this case, “transport” refers to water sales outside the district’s existing boundaries. ) “That said, the district will put forth an argument to the water board that we continue to seek beneficial users of those 35 MGD through our transport option in our Water Resource Planning effort.”

The water district has explored the possibility of piping water to municipalities and public agencies outside of the district to boost water sales but, surprisingly, there hasn’t been much interest from neighboring counties. 

“We did a high-level engineering study to kind of flesh out the concept of building a pipeline from Humboldt County south through Mendocino and most likely to Sonoma County because of the high population down there,” Friedenbach said. “Our board marketed the idea during the recent drought years, I think between 2014 and 2017, but none of the agencies we went to in Northern California said, ‘Yeah, that’s a great idea! Sign me up!’”

Selling water outside of the area would provide additional protection for the district’s water rights, but doing so could also put the district in a vulnerable legal position. For example, customers could become dependent on our water supply and “litigate or legislate for terms beyond contractual agreements,” according to a 2010 Water Resouce Planning Report.

The district has also looked into the possibility of increasing local sales in recent years. Three years ago, the water district agreed to conduct a feasibility study to investigate the possibility of extending water service from McKinleyville up to the Trinidad Rancheria to supply water for the proposed multi-story Hyatt hotel at the Cher-Ae Heights Casino. The district is also working on a Mainline Extension Agreement with the Blue Lake Rancheria. 

The district was hoping to bolster industrial sales by supplying the water needed for Nordic Aquafarms’ onshore fish farm, but those plans fell through when Nordic decided to raise yellowtail kingfish at the facility rather than Atlantic Salmon.

“Nordic was going to take about three [MGD] of industrial water, which isn’t a lot compared to the 65 [MGD] the two pulp mills used when they were in operation,” Friedenbach said. “[The Department of] Fish and Wildlife didn’t approve their permit for a salmon species, so Nordic had to change their fish species to a saltwater fish. They don’t require industrial water, but they’re going to take domestic water for their fish cleaning process. It’s disappointing, but nonetheless, they will be a retail customer.” 

The district is also working with the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District to look into the possibility of supplying industrial water to the Humboldt Offshore Wind Terminal Project.

But for the time being, the district is focused on incorporating its instream allocations into its water rights, Friedenbach said.

If you have thoughts on the matter you’ll want to attend the workshop on Monday, Feb. 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Wharfinger Building at 1 Marina Way in Eureka. More information can be found in the flyer below.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last fall signaled he was ready to bring psychedelic drugs into the mainstream of California’s mental health system, and a pair of lawmakers today submitted a bill to hold him to his word.

Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, and Assemblymember Marie Waldron, a San Diego Republican, are carrying a bill that would legalize psychedelic therapy. It would allow adults 21 and older to use the hallucinogenic drugs psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA, DMT and mescaline in a controlled setting and under the supervision of a licensed and trained facilitator.

The new proposal follows Newsom’s veto of a broader bill in October that would have decriminalized the possession of psychedelic drugs. At the time, he indicated he would support a measure focused on therapies.

“California should immediately begin work to set up regulated treatment guidelines — replete with dosing information, therapeutic guidelines, rules to prevent against exploitation during guided treatments, and medical clearance of no underlying psychose,” Newsom said in his veto message.

The new measure, Senate Bill 1012, would require the state to establish a licensing board that would develop training and oversight rules for therapy facilitators. Facilitators would have to screen individuals before they can participate. The bill also asks for the creation of a public-private fund to support grants for public health education related to psychedelics.

“I want California to be on the leading edge of psychedelic access for people seeking therapy, I also want California to be on the leading edge of public education and safety around psychedelics, and this bill will point us in that direction,” Wiener said in a briefing with reporters.

New research into psychedelic therapies

Growing research characterizes psychedelic drugs as promising in helping people address various mental illnesses, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved psychedelic-assisted therapies, although some may be close. In December, the nonprofit research group Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies applied for FDA review of its MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. That review could come later this year.

Meanwhile, the Department of Veterans Affairs last month announced its intent to study psychedelics for the treatment of PTSD and depression. According to the department, this is the first time since the 1960s that it is funding such research.

Wiener said California can move forward on psychedelic therapies even though their status is uncertain with the federal government. “We are not waiting for the federal government to bless us,” he said. “We are addressing California’s legal obstacles to this therapy.”

Oregon last year became the first state to open centers that offer regulated psilocybin therapies. More than 700 people used these services in the second half of 2023, said Dr. Brian Anderson, a psychiatrist at UC San Francisco.

“And they had waitlists of thousands of people at the different centers,” Anderson said. “In Oregon, you see people coming from out of state, so we’d have to anticipate how many Californians would access this versus other people possibly wanting to access it, but there seems to be quite a demand.”

Bipartisan support for mental health measures

Several Republicans voted for last year’s decriminalization bill. Waldron said lawmakers from both parties support the therapies because they see a new need for new mental health solutions. She shared she’s heard from veterans and first responders who shared that psychedelics have helped them overcome severe traumas and suicidal thoughts.

“Our current approach to mental health has been criminalization and lack of access, we can do better,” said Waldron, who is also the author of a second bill that establishes a state workgroup to study psychedelic-assisted therapies.

A UC Berkeley poll last year showed that 60% of those surveyed supported psychedelics for therapeutic use, and 78% supported making it easier for researchers to further study psychedelics. Meanwhile, 49% said they supported removing criminal penalties for personal use.

A number of law enforcement unions, cities and the state lobbying group for district attorneys opposed last year’s decriminalization bill. Parents and several researchers also spoke at hearings on the bill, with some requesting additional safety and education components.

Outside of the Legislature, a group of doctors and advocates are gathering signatures to place a measure on the November ballot that would approve $5 billion in state general obligation bonds to create a state agency for psychedelic therapy research. The group has until March 20 to submit signatures.

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Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

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

Jim Meade, 103, of Fortuna, passed away peacefully on January 11, 2024, in Fortuna. Born on April 28, 1920, in Eureka, Jim was a beloved father, brother and friend. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

Jim, also known as James Martin Meade, was a cheerful and positive individual with an very active social life. He had a great love for his family and made it a point to call them every day. Jim’s warm and caring nature endeared him to those around him.

Jim is survived by his children: Sue Tresback of St. Louis, Dian Jung of Bakersfield, Tim Meade of Fortuna, and Bruce Meade of Hawaii.

He is also survived by his siblings: Don Yarger of Palm Springs and Ken Meade of Alhambra. Jim was preceded in death by his parents, Clark Sidney Meade and Florence Virginia McNamara, his wife Alma, his son James Meade Jr. (Little Jim), and seven siblings.

Orphaned at the age of 15 Jim continued his education through St. Bernard Primary School, Ferndale High School and Humboldt State University. He had a strong passion for aviation and served in the U.S. Army Reserve for one year and the U.S. Navy for three years. Jim was a pioneer helicopter pilot, co-developer of Rohnerville Airport, and served as a pilot for the U.S. Forest Service in the California Fire Division. Jim and “Little Jim” received the Outstanding Civilian Service medal from the Department of Army for their efforts in the 1964 flood relief. Jim was also the founder of a major ultralight plane manufacturing company called Mitchell Aircraft.

In his free time, Jim enjoyed indulging in his hobbies, which included flying planes and riding motorcycles. His major love was a passion for the sea, and he spent several years of his retirement sailing the world, mostly solo on his sailboats. He also enjoyed building model airplanes and engaging in numerous social activities.

A Celebration of Life with Military Honors will be held on February 23 at 1 p.m. at Fortuna’s Veteran Hall. Goble’s Funeral Home in Fortuna is assisting the family with the funeral arrangements.

Jim’s memory will forever be cherished by his family, friends, and all those whose lives he touched. He will be remembered for his kind heart, adventurous spirit, and contributions to the aviation industry. May he rest in peace.

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

Leona Marie Bishop
September 30, 1953 - January 28, 2024

“It’s Not The Freaking Lottery, Everybody Gets Picked”

— Leona

On Sunday, January 28, 2024 Leona, also known as “B” lost her courageous two-year long battle with cancer. She passed comfortably surrounded by her husband and girls.

Leona was born in Scotia the youngest of four and She was raised in Holmes Flat. She attended Fortuna Union High School ,where she met her future husband, Grant. She graduated in 1971. After two long persistent years of asking, she finally accepted his proposal! Grant and Leona were married July 1, 1972.

They resided in Scotia for 28 years, where they raised their two daughters. She was a stay-at-home mom and a house cleaner for many years. In 2002 they moved to Rio Dell, where Grant still resides.

Gardening was her passion and she spent the next 22 years creating the garden of her dreams. She absolutely loved sharing seeds, plant starts and vegetables from her garden with her neighbors, friends and family.

She loved her grandsons dearly and was very proud of her “boys.” Although a tiny person in stature, she was a large presence in spirit and attitude. She was true to her word and spoke it as she saw it. She lived life on her own terms. She never said “why me?” or that “life is fair.”

She accepted “The Old Boy Upstairs” would be calling the shots.

• “Everybody has choices. It’s better to laugh than cry. If you don’t have a sense of humor, you’re going to have a long, miserable life. “
• “I am who I am. If it works for you good, if not, oh well.”

She was preceded in death by her parents, Antonio and Marie Machado and her brothers, Bob Bellum and Don Bellum.

She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Grant Bishop, her daughters Heather Collings (Jared), and Jenni Gans (Randy) and five grandsons — Jordan, Riley, Branson, Rogan and Calvin.She also leaves behind her sister, Bernie Miranda, Sister-In-Laws that she considered sisters, brother-in-law’s and numerous nieces and nephews.

Special thanks to her amazing hospice nurse, Bridgette as well as her very special neighbors.

In lieu of flowers, Heather and Jenni will happily be accepting red wine. (Just kidding, mom would be honored to have donations made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or Hospice of Humboldt.)

A celebration of life will be announced at a later date.

On December 7, 2023, in Eureka, Angela Price unexpectedly passed away. Angela was born November 16, 1981.

She was a mother to three children — Heather, Tina and Kaden. She was a loving sister to her brother Josh, a sister/best friend to Juanita and a sweet friend to Kristen. She was a wonderful aunt to Nolan and Peyton as well as to the many other nieces and nephews she shared. She will be greatly missed by us and all of her extended family.

Angela spent some of her years serving the Eureka Rescue Mission Thrift Store and women’s shelter. She worked hard at the Recology Humboldt and other local retail service stores. She was a gentle spirit with a soul hard to forget.

Celebration of life for Angela will be on February 28, 2024 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Eureka Rescue Mission Men’s chapel building — 100 Second Street, Eureka.

Family and friends are welcome to attend for a time of remembrance of Angela. We will share stories and a meal. Dessert will be potluck style.

Please email siemprese24@gmail.com with any questions.

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