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Is the City of Fortuna ready for roundabouts? 

It depends on whom you ask. A recent social media post proved divisive on that question, though the conversation was based on a couple of conceptual designs that have not been (and may never be) approved.

Still, the post quickly racked up nearly 100 comments, with sentiments ranging from supportive (“That’s actually the best use I’ve seen for a roundabout”) to incredulous (“I hope this is a joke”) to vehemently opposed (“NOO!!!).

One photo in particular seemed to leave people scratching their heads:

In an email, Fortuna City Manager Merritt Perry explained that this “photo simulation” doesn’t depict an approved design. Rather, it’s a conceptual image from a proposal submitted to the city by engineering firm GHD in a bid to perform preliminary design and permitting work.

The caption that accompanied the social post claimed that the roundabouts are “Coming soon,” which is also not quite accurate. Roundabouts may eventually be built at two major interchanges of Fortuna streets near Highway 101, but even under the most optimistic timeline neither project will be completed for at least five years, according to Fortuna Public Works Director Brendan Byrd.

”If we got grant funding magically tomorrow, the earliest construction [start date] would probably be three to four years [away],” he said, adding that the work itself would likely take another 18-24 months. 

Fortuna staffers have been working since at least 2010 — with Caltrans, the Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG), the public and other stakeholders — on ways to improve and “modernize” the Kenmar and 12th Street interchanges with Highway 101, with the goals of enhancing traffic flow and safety while increasing pedestrian and bike connectivity on both sides of the highway. 

In a phone interview, Byrd said the city’s 2010 General Plan Update found those two interchanges would soon be outmoded. In fact, they’re already problematic. 

“There’s no bike or pedestrian connectivity, and during peak hours there can be traffic backups, sometimes onto the highway,” Byrd said, adding that the confluence of Hwy. 101, 12th Street and Newburg Road can get “pretty dicey sometimes.”

A project study completed in 2021 found that during peak traffic hours, there’s a poor “level of service” at the 12th Street interchange as a result of closely spaced, stop-controlled intersections. Furthermore, this interchange has no bicycle or pedestrian facilities and the various intersections can be confusing to visitors, the study found.

In March, the Fortuna City Council approved an Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND, a type of environmental review) for an improvement plan at the Kenmar Road interchange, though at the time the plan was only about 30 percent designed, and the funding to complete it has yet to be identified.

Staff continues to work on the preliminary design and permitting phases for redesign projects at both interchanges, using funding from a sustainable communities grant administered through Caltrans. Engineers have come up with a range of designs that could improve performance at the interchanges, and almost all of them involve roundabouts.

For example, here’s a design that includes two roundabouts at Kenmar:

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Civil engineers say these circuitous traffic features would solve many of the existing problems at these points of traffic confluence. With the Kenmar project, the city has yet to secure funding for final design, right-of-way work or construction, though Byrd said there are some promising possibilities from the federal government, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and other economic stimulus legislation from the Biden administration.

Both projects will be expensive. Byrd said it will likely cost $25 million to complete all phases of the Kenmar improvement project. And the interchange upgrades at 12th Street?

“I imagine that one could be upward of double that amount,” Byrd said, noting the project’s huge footprint and the necessary structural modifications to the overpass.

Meanwhile, the Great Redwood Trail Agency has expressed concerns about public safety, pedestrian and bike access and the potential for roundabouts to interfere with the railbanking process, which is intended to keep the railroad right-of-way intact in case trains ever make an unlikely return through the Eel River Valley.

“We put a lot of thought into the design for how to navigate bike and pedestrian access through there,” Byrd said of the Kenmar project. Staff will continue to coordinate with the GRTA and other agencies as these projects move forward.

City staff is also working with adjacent landowners, including Clendenen’s Cider Works and Sequoia Gas.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Byrd said.

Do you wonder why Cal Poly Humboldt students are living in motel rooms in Valley West? They are there because of Arcata’s lack of housing, and lack of will to develop housing. Take the loss of the Village Student Housing Project at the former Craftsman’s Mall site. You may remember that members of our community, our past Planning Commission, and our past City Council killed the project after three years of effort. If the Village had been approved, it would be built and in use today, housing nearly 700 students within walking distance of the campus.

The Arcata Planning Commission held 12 meetings and certified the Environmental Impact Report but ultimately denied the project. The developer went before the Arcata City Council with a substantial redesign to the project, and the Environmental Impact Report review. The project was not approved. The developer spent nearly a half-million dollars in the process, including accommodating public input regarding design and scope to no avail, finally throwing up their hands and walking away. The warning, “Do not touch Arcata” spread like wildfire amongst California’s development community professionals.

In the end, the Village developer contacted Cal Poly and offered their plans and documents. The existing dire need for housing in Humboldt, coupled Cal Poly’s plans for expanding student enrollment, meant they could meet some of their housing needs with the former Craftsman’s Mall project – without City government approval, permits or public input.

As for the City of Arcata, the defeat of the Village Project significantly impacted the City of Arcata’s coffers: no property tax allocation (Cal Poly is not required to pay them), reduced sales tax, and no development fees (which again, Cal Poly is not required to pay). Arcata’s general funds are comprised of sales tax, bed tax, and fees for services to support a balanced budget.

The lengthy debacle of the Village Project was disheartening and set housing for students back by three years. It is fortunate that Cal Poly was able to secure the property and be under construction to provide modern student housing with amenities.

Arcata has long been affected by the lack of housing. Rents continue to soar and consequently make Arcata unaffordable for many households. Unaffordable rents in Arcata and all of Humboldt County cause more people to become houseless.

The Arcata Gateway Plan, which is part of the General Plan, is part of the work being done to address our housing issues. The City Council asked the Planning Commission to provide an update on the proposed plan by July. Planning Commission Chair Scott Davis will make a presentation to the Council on Wednesday, July 19th.

Public commentors thought it was unreasonable to expect the Planning Commission to meet the July deadline even though the Commission had been working through the plan for two years. They did meet the deadline, and they should be thanked and congratulated.

Gateway supporters know we need more housing for a place to live. They also know that more housing means more people to support our business community – our retail stores, restaurants, music venues, movies, Arcata Playhouse productions, and non-profit events.

Many studies show that access to housing is important for a healthy community, and housing affordable to all income levels is necessary for Arcata to thrive.

Change is inevitable and can be hard, yet it is something I have seen and been a part of since I came to this community in 1971. If changes over the last half century had not occurred, what would Arcata look like today? Are you wondering? Fifty years from now, what will people say about how we are managing change today?

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Alex Stillman is a member of the Arcata City Council.

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It’s been over six years since the county shuttered the John Haynes Memorial Veterans Hall in Garberville — a once-vibrant gathering spot for Southern Humboldt residents — due to an infestation of black mold, a proliferation of toxic materials including lead and asbestos, along with other structural deficiencies following years of deferred maintenance. 

The building sat for years before, in June of 2021, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted to demolish and reconstruct a slightly smaller version of the original building. Today, the board unanimously agreed to execute a contract with Medford-based architectural firm ORW Architecture, Inc., to design the new building.

The entire project is expected to clock in at approximately $3,087,325, which includes hazardous materials abatement, demolition and design of a new veterans hall. The two-year consultant services agreement with ORW Architecture will cost the county an estimated $315,000 in funding from the county’s 2020 Finance Plan. 

During the ensuing board discussion, Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson, who requested the item to be pulled from the consent calendar for further discussion, asked whether staff had sought partners to help fund the project.

“I think that we also owe it to our, you know, the citizenry as a whole in the county to make sure that we are reducing the debt on something like this,” Wilson said. “Right now, the plan is for financing this at the tune of three or three-and-a-half million dollars … with interest rates – as we see it – [of] $250,000 a year for 20 years. … I just want to make sure that we’re looking at programming elements to this that are pretty broad … and if we’re programming all of these things, that [there are] a lot of external touchpoints with real relationships to other potential partner agencies.”

Public Works Director Tom Mattson reminded the board that the subject before them was “really just the award of the architectural contract” and said his department would look into Wilson’s request but said, “We don’t have that specialty in Public Works.”

“Doing that kind of fundraising is really a special job,” Mattson said. “It’s more than just being an engineer, it’s being the kind of person who can get out in the community, can meet with all the different groups. We just don’t have that capability within Public Works, frankly. It probably exists within the county somewhere. I think it’s a good idea, but I think it’s something we need to come back and discuss with the board on a completely separate agenda item.”

Wilson felt the architectural agreement should be informed by the needs of the agencies and organizations that will be offering services in the new building, not decided after the agreement is already signed. “Otherwise, it’s just drawing lines on paper and guessing,” he said.

“If that needs assessment and that programmatic element is looking at things that will have a nexus with [the Department of Health and Human Services] DHHS or [the Office of Emergency Services] OES, in terms of offering spaces for those things …  that’s the moment when we ask those programs and those partners ‘Do you have funding to assist in the capital part [of this project]?’ because that’s generally where you do [or] do not get the funding,” Wilson said. “I feel that this is the moment where we do that on this project.”

Mattson said he understood where Wilson was coming from, adding that he and his staff would reach out to Southern Humboldt veterans to see what they need and seek additional funding sources accordingly.

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, who has made the vets hall a top priority since she first ran for office, noted that there has already been a lot of outreach in Southern Humboldt to determine the needs of the community.

“The veterans have disclosed to us what the building was used previously for and … how they could get rents to pay the utilities and pay those types of things,” she said. “We have talked about a cold weather shelter because it would be a county facility, possibly an emergency shelter for [public safety power shutoffs] or any kind of emergency shelter. Don’t think that work hasn’t been done, Supervisor Wilson.”

Bushnell emphasized that she would not want to prolong the process any further. “That is something I don’t want to see and the community doesn’t want to see,” she said.

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo also urged staff to look at other potential funding opportunities for the project through OES or the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“As a fellow veteran, I think having a space for veterans is really important. I appreciate all the things that this can provide for the community and I also can appreciate the comment around seeking additional funding,” she said. “The Eureka Veterans Hall, I know the county participated in that project. There was another, I think, $7 million in grant funding from [OES] that helped with that. And similar to the Garberville facility, it was in disrepair for many years and then had to be closed to the public as a result.”

Mattson noted that “you can only apply for so many [grant] earmarks and you will only get a certain amount,” but said his staff would be willing to look into it. 

“If the board wishes to prioritize that we could do that for the next round [of federal grant funds], but I would highly recommend we stick with trying to get funds for our roads, because we have half a billion dollars in deferred maintenance on our roads – much, much less on our buildings,” he said. “So, no, we have not explored that. It would have to compete with all the other county priorities that everybody puts together for the earmarks because we are only going to get a certain amount of earmarks.”

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn quipped that the board has “this wonderful knack of stretching things out forever” and, like Bushnell, emphasized the need to move forward with the contract agreement.

“We’re worrying about what kind of frosting we’re going to put on this cake and we can’t even get the damn cake built,” he said. “I don’t want to say it’s completely our fault that we didn’t maintain [the Garberville vets hall] because I always said, ‘Couldn’t you guys have done something?’ but there’s nothing there now. … We’ve made a lot of promises but we haven’t fulfilled any of them.”

Bohn indicated that he wanted to make a motion to move forward with staff’s recommendation but was asked to hold off on the action by Fifth District Supervisor and Board Chair Steve Madrone, who prefers to hear from the public beforehand. Wilson indicated that he would second the motion when the time came.

Several Southern Humboldt community members spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, all of whom urged the board to move forward with the architectural agreement. Garberville veteran Doug Battles said he respected the board’s effort to find additional funding opportunities for the project but said, “It’s kind of like putting the cart before the horse.”

“You need to keep the process going,” he said. “I understand the situation but just don’t put, you know, something in there that’s going to stop any kind of evolution that it could go through right now. It would probably cause another year’s delay and we can’t afford that.”

Ryan Derby, manager of the Humboldt OES team and local veteran, emphasized the importance of veterans halls and said he would be happy to be involved in the project scoping phase of the project.

“Vets’ buildings play a really critical role in our community,” he said. “It’s an outlet for camaraderie. These people, they have a dedication to service, they have a dedication to loyalty and integrity, and if we show that towards them, they’re going to reciprocate it.”

Following public comment, Bushnell made a motion to move forward with staff’s recommendation and authorize Public Works to execute an agreement with ORW Architecture to design the new vets hall. As promised, Wilson offered a second to the motion.

The motion passed 5-0.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On July 17, 2023, at about 12:20 a.m., a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy on patrol in the area of U.S. Highway 101 south of Trinidad conducted a traffic stop on a speeding vehicle unable to maintain its lane.  

The deputy contacted one occupant of the vehicle, 50-year-old Aaron Joseph Thuney of Redding. Inside the vehicle deputies observed a firearm and an open box of alcohol in plain view. Thuney was detained and the California Highway Patrol was requested to conduct a DUI evaluation.

Deputies recovered the firearm and found it to be loaded. During a search of Thuney’s vehicle deputies located drug paraphernalia.

Thuney was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of felon in possession of a firearm (PC 29800(a)(1)), person prohibited in possession of ammunition (PC 30305), carrying a loaded firearm in a public place (PC 25850(a)), possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia (HS 11364(a)) and driving under the influence of alcohol (VC 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.

Press release from the Northern California Community Blood Bank. Donation schedules and contact information at that link:

The Northern California Community Blood Bank is urgently asking for blood donations from the community. The blood bank is currently experiencing a critical shortage of both A and O blood types. This shortage is putting local lives at risk, and the blood bank needs the community’s help to address this problem.

The Northern California Community Blood Bank provides blood to hospitals and medical facilities throughout the region. Without a sufficient supply of blood, patients who require transfusions may not receive the care they need. This is why it is so important for the community to come together and donate blood.

If you are able to donate blood, please consider doing so as soon as possible. The blood bank is asking for donors to make appointments and encourage their friends and family to do the same. The process of donating blood is safe and straightforward, and your donation can make a difference in someone’s life.

Thank you for considering donating blood to the Northern California Community Blood Bank. Your generosity can help save lives and make a difference in our community.

Again: Contact the Blood Bank at (707) 443-8004, or schedule a donation at this link.

Excessive drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic increased alcoholic liver disease deaths so much that the condition killed more Californians than car accidents or breast cancer, a KFF Health News analysis has found.

Lockdowns made people feel isolated, depressed, and anxious, leading some to increase their alcohol intake. Alcohol sales rose during the pandemic, with especially large jumps in the consumption of spirits.

While this led to a rise in all sorts of alcohol-related deaths, the number of Californians dying from alcoholic liver disease spiked dramatically, with 14,209 deaths between 2020 and 2022, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alcoholic liver disease is the most common cause of alcohol-induced deaths nationally. In California, the death rate from the disease during the last three years was 25% higher than in the three years before the pandemic. The rate peaked at 13.2 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2021, nearly double the rate from two decades ago.

The disease is usually caused by years of excessive drinking, though it can sometimes occur after a short period of heavy alcohol use. There are often no symptoms until late in the disease, when weakness, confusion, and jaundice can occur.

Many who increased their drinking during the pandemic were already on the verge of developing severe alcoholic liver disease, said Jovan Julien, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School. The extra alcohol sped up the process, killing them earlier than they would have otherwise died, said Julien, who co-wrote a modeling study during the pandemic that predicted many of the trends that occurred.

Even before the pandemic, lifestyle and dietary changes were contributing to more deaths from alcoholic liver disease, despite little change in alcohol sales, said Brian Lee, a hepatologist and liver transplant specialist with Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

Lee and other researchers found a connection between alcoholic liver disease and metabolic syndrome, a condition often characterized by excess body fat around the waist. Metabolic syndrome — often caused by poor diet and an inactive lifestyle — has risen across the country.

“Having metabolic syndrome, which is associated with obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes, more than doubles your risk of having advanced liver disease at the same level of drinking,” Lee said.

The Californians alcoholic liver disease most often kills are those between 55 and 74 years old. They make up about a quarter of the state’s adults but more than half the deaths from alcoholic liver disease.

However, death rates among Californians 25 to 44 roughly doubled during the last decade. About 2,650 Californians in that age group died of the disease during the last three years, compared with 1,270 deaths from 2010 through 2012.

“People are drinking at earlier levels,” Lee said. “People are developing obesity at younger ages.”

The highest death rates from alcoholic liver disease occur in rural eastern and Northern California. In Humboldt County, for instance, the death rate from alcoholic liver disease is more than double the statewide rate.

Jeremy Campbell, executive director of Waterfront Recovery Services in Eureka, said Humboldt County and other rural areas often don’t have the resources and facilities to address high rates of alcohol use disorder. His facility provides high-intensity residential services and uses medication to get people through detox.

“The two other inpatient treatment facilities in Eureka are also at capacity,” he said. “This is just a situation that there’s just not enough treatment.”

Campbell also pointed to the demographics of Humboldt County, which has a much higher proportion of white and Native American residents than the rest of the state. Alcoholic liver disease death rates in California are highest among Native American and white residents.

Death rates rose more among Native American, Latino, Asian, and Black Californians during the last decade than among non-Latino white Californians, CDC data shows. Part of that is due to disparities in insurance coverage and access to care, said Lee. In addition, Lee said, rates of metabolic syndrome have increased more quickly among nonwhites than among whites. Racial health disparities also manifest in differing survival rates for Black and white patients after liver transplants, he added.

The trend is expected to continue. Julien projects a temporary dip in deaths because many people who would have died of the disease in 2022 or 2023 instead died sooner, after a boost in drinking during the pandemic, but that deaths will rise later as bad habits developed during the pandemic begin to take a long-term toll.

“As people increased their consumption during covid-19, we have more folks who have now initiated alcohol use disorder,” Julien said.

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Phillip Reese is a data reporting specialist and an assistant professor of journalism at California State University-Sacramento.

This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.  KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

Rosemary “Rose” Ellen Hunter — 80, of Eureka — passed peacefully after a long illness Saturday July 1, 2023. The world is a lesser place for the absence of her beauty, her humor and indominable spirit.

Rose was born September 9, 1942, in Snowflake, Arizona, daughter to Charles E. “Charlie” and Nedra Akers Barton.

She was equally at home “pulling” a stubborn calf, canning fresh caught salmon, sewing without patterns, weaving a delicate basket fashioned after her beloved indigenous friends or dressed to the nines attending a more formal function.

Rose was a long-time member of the Humboldt Gem & Mineral Society and known for her knowledge and love of “rocks.”

She was a long-time devotee of the Clarke Historical Museum, where she used her extensive knowledge of native basketry to care for the museum’s large basket collection. Rose was curator of Naelis Hall – Native American History, as well as serving on the Board of Directors for many years. She also collected vintage hats, restored them and gave educational presentations (infused with her special humor) explaining the history and use of each hat.

Rosemary was preceded in death by her parents, daughter Angela Faustino, brother Charles Vernon Barton, sisters Dorothy Bright and Patricia Barton, and her beloved husband William “Bill” Hunter.

She is survived by:

Siblings: James W. “Jim” Barton and his wife Darlene, and sister Alice McCoy.

Her children Schelina Rose Estevo, John Curtis Perkins III, Ralph “Craig” Perkins and his wife Darla, and Manuel Chester “Tino” Faustino.

Grandchildren: Curtis Estevo and his wife Erin, Diane Estevo Bulicek and her husband Matt, Janell Perkins Mathews, Peyton Perkins, Paige Perkins, Rigel Perkins, Christopher Perkins, Westen Wratchford, Reya Wratchford, Brook Faustino, & Autumn Rose Faustino.

Great-grandchildren: Curtis Estevo Jr., McKenzie Estevo, Lucy Rose Perkins, Jasper Allen Flanagan-Hall and Isabella “Bella” Rose Wratchford

Many nieces, nephews and loving friends.

In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to the Clarke Historical Museum in Rosemary’s memory, 240 E. St., Eureka, CA 95501.

A celebration will be held July 22, 2 p.m. at the Pine Hill Baptist Church, 4675 Union Street, Eureka, CA 95503.

Please come prepared with a story or memory to share as we celebrate the life of this amazing woman. The celebration will continue with food and fellowship at the church.

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