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Like many other police departments around the state and country, the Arcata Police Department (APD) has seen a severe staffing shortage over the last few years. And recently it has gotten so bad that the department is asking the Arcata City Council to approve a $50,000 transfer bonus for trained officers. 

According to a city staff report, the department currently has 19 officers on staff, down from 29 at the beginning of 2020. That means the department is about 34 percent understaffed, and two more officers are expected to depart soon. APD Chief Brian Ahearn told the Outpost that the department has been struggling to keep staff, and that it’s causing issues both within the department and for the community. 

“Because we’ve had to really constrict operations due to our staffing shortage, we’re not able to provide specialty services and haven’t been able to deliver some of those services that we know our community members expect,” Ahearn said in a phone interview Tuesday morning. “And just the sheer volume of work has really created a lot of fatigue within the organization, both mentally and physically.” 

The department already offers a $15,000 lateral transfer bonus, but Ahearn says that it has not been enough and thinks that increasing the amount will incentivize more officers to move to APD. And though $15,000 to $50,000 is a pretty huge bump, Ahearn said that it’s going to take a huge increase to keep Arcata competitive with other agencies. 

Hiring and transfer bonuses are nothing new, but have become increasingly common since COVID. Over the last few years many police departments in California and across the country have dramatically increased their transfer incentives, with cities like Redding and Chico offering a $40,000 transfer bonus, and Alameda offering a staggering $75,000 for lateral transfers. 

If approved by the council, the $50,000 bonus would be offered to police officers currently employed in the state of California who have successfully completed law enforcement academy and are “performing satisfactorily” in their current employment, according to the staff report. The payment would be spread out over two and a half years, with the first $10,000 added to the employee’s first paycheck. 

Additionally, Ahearn is suggesting the council approve $60,000 in funding to the police department to improve the department’s workstations, locker rooms, floor surface, lighting and equipment. According to the staff report, in recent exit interviews with officers leaving APD for other cities many shared that the departments they were transferring to had higher quality facilities and equipment. Ahearn believes that making some of these improvements could help APD recruit new officers and also improve conditions for the current employees and hopefully encourage them to stick around. Also to help keep the current staff on, Ahearn is proposing a short-term retention bonus that would offer current employees $7,500 a year for three years. 

Ahearn | Stephanie McGeary

This all might sound like a lot of cash to give to the police department, especially when Arcata’s budget is looking pretty tight this year. But part of the costs would be offset by the salaries and benefits savings the department has accumulated from the unfilled positions. Ahearn also holds that the long term savings from keeping officers and recruiting transfers who would be able to enter the field much more quickly would be worth the investment. The $50,000 transfer bonus is still less than the cost of supporting a candidate through the academy and field training, which is estimated to cost $65,000. 

When asked about why it has been so difficult to keep Arcata’s police department staffed over the last few years, Ahearn said it is not only the competitive market, but also that not as many people are interested in being police officers these days, something Ahearn attributed largely to the increasing scrutiny of police officer and department practices across the country. 

“I just think the profession has seen so much change in the last several years,” Ahearn said. “There’s been so many reforms, and many of those have been the right reforms. We need to continue to evolve as a profession. We have to continue to achieve excellence. But along the way, a lot of people have forgotten that police officers are human beings…and police officers are just being absolutely vilified.” 

Amid the calls for police reform that were largely sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement, many people have urged municipalities to “defund the police” and direct that funding toward alternative forms of emergency response, such as mental health services. Arcata Mayor Sarah Schaefer even said that reallocating funds from the police department budget was one her top priorities, back when she was running for council in 2020. 

And Ahearn feels that the APD and the City of Arcata have done a good job at responding to those cries for change. The department has been working with the county’s Mobile Intervention Services Team (MIST), which provides services for those struggling with mental health issues and/or substance use disorders in the community. Members of MIST are on staff at APD four days a week. 

Ahearn also mentioned Arcata’s Community Ambassador Program, a collaboration between APD and Arcata Main Street that was launched in 2022. The community ambassadors are trained in de-escalation techniques and can respond to issues that aren’t necessarily a crime. City staff is also proposing the council approve a .25 percent sales tax to be placed on the ballot in 2024 to help fund the Community Ambassador Program and additional upgrades for the police department. 

With these alternative programs in place, Ahearn feels that APD is a very progressive police department and hopes to attract officers who want to be a part of an organization that will “redefine and reimagine how policing is going to look moving forward.” He hopes that, if the incentive program is approved, that it will help make Arcata’s department more desirable and that once someone transfers here and sees what the department does for the community that they will want to stay. 

Ahearn does also realize that hiring bonuses only offer a temporary solution and that the department will need to continue to improve and possibly offer other incentives in the future, like housing allowances, covering education or childcare costs. But right now, the bottom line is that APD needs to fill these positions as soon as possible. 

“This is designed to bring these officers to us immediately,” Ahearn said. “We have been slowly bleeding out with our departures out numbering our new hires. So this is not a bandaid, it’s a tourniquet. Because if I don’t stop the bleeding now we’re going to bleed out and potentially we’re going to no longer exist as an organization. And I can’t let that happen.” 

The Arcata City Council will consider the APD’s proposal during its meeting tonight (Wednesday, Apr. 19) at 6 p.m. You can view the full agenda and directions on how to participate here. 

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Press release from the California Attorney General’s Office:

California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued an alert to Californians to promote awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) through an event sponsored by the California Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Native American Affairs (ONAA), in partnership with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, the Yurok Tribal Police Department and the Hoopa Valley Tribal Police Department, called Missing in California Indian Country. This first-of-its-kind event will occur in the Northern Region at the Blue Lake Rancheria, on Saturday, April 22, 2023 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Blue Lake Rancheria in Blue Lake, California. The event is free and open to the public to bring awareness and provide the opportunity for tribal families to come together and uplift ongoing tribally-led efforts to confront this crisis.

“Tribal communities form the foundation of our state’s rich cultural tapestry, but have long been overlooked and undervalued,” said Attorney General Bonta. “We cannot erase our dark history, but we can — and must — recognize it, apologize for it, and vow to break the cycle. That’s why this event is so important: Our tribal communities have and continue to contribute to our society in immeasurable ways. And yet, the struggles they have endured have been nothing short of brutal. Loved ones, especially women and girls, have gone missing or been murdered and their cases lay unresolved — as do generations of historical trauma. The California Department of Justice is committed to listening and learning. We will continue to follow the lead of tribal communities to partner in justice and create the change we need to see.”

This is part of an ongoing series of events taking place throughout the four regions of California. They, in part, serve as critical public safety events for tribal communities and aim to elevate the state’s response to the MMIP crisis. These events will allow for loved ones to report an individual missing, receive an update on an active missing person’s case, and/or provide a DNA sample for inclusion in the DOJ’s Unidentified Persons Database. The event has been developed and planned in collaboration with the tribal governments within Northern California to be most responsive to the needs of the region’s tribal communities. Local, state, tribal, and federal justice partners will come together for this event to share critical information, resource availability, and partnership in addressing the MMIP crisis in California.

This event is part of an ongoing effort of ONAA, an office established in DOJ in 2000 to support the rights of tribal citizens and governments and help protect the public safety of tribal communities. ONAA provides three main functions within the DOJ and those functions are as follows:

• ONAA advises the Attorney General on matters of importance to California tribal governments and tribal citizens that promote the health, safety and, welfare for California’s tribal citizens.
• ONAA serves as tribal liaison between the DOJ and federal, tribal, state, and local justice systems.
• ONAA facilitates and promotes a statewide framework for state and tribal partnerships that encourage the cooperation and collaboration between tribal, state, federal and local justice agencies through coordination of intergovernmental services, programs and technical assistance for justice-related issues.

These efforts continue the ongoing work of Attorney General Bonta to protect the rights of the Indigenous People of California and is committed to attend the Candlelight Vigil for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People at the State Capitol on May 3, 2023. Recently, the Attorney General fought for a $5 million investment in the state budget aimed at supporting public safety on tribal lands in California. The funds are for the implementation of California Assembly Bill 3099 (AB 3099), which calls for the California Department of Justice to provide training and guidance to law enforcement agencies and tribal governments to help reduce uncertainty regarding criminal jurisdiction and improve public safety on tribal lands.

To find out more information about the upcoming event and to register for Missing in California Indian Country: Northern California Region event, please click here.

Supervisor Natalie Arroyo’s presentation to the Board of Supervisors.

We’ve heard a lot about Nordic Aqafarms’ plans to build a state-of-the-art onshore fish farm on the Samoa Peninsula but the question remains: What would the facility’s day-to-day operations entail once it’s up and running? 

Seeking answers, Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo – a self-proclaimed “vacation nerd” – took it upon herself to visit Sashimi Royal, the Norway-based seafood company’s onshore fish farm in Hanstholm, Denmark, on a recent trip to Europe.

“I was able to make it work [with my schedule] and I thought it would be really informative,” Arroyo noted during this morning’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting. “It was not a proposal by the company that I come and visit. … They didn’t sponsor my trip. I asked for it and [paid for it] on my own dime.”

Nordic staff walked her through the various operations of the facility, from the hatchery, where yellowtail kingfish naturally spawned eggs grow into fingerlings, to the juvenile-rearing area and, finally, to the grow-out facility, where they stay until they reach market size. 

“The goal is to rear healthy fish that are bred in captivity,” she said. “These are really fish that are being bred to be grown out for food. They’re not impacting wild stocks of this species. … They’re selecting the healthiest fish to gather fertilized eggs from and rear them in the hatchery.”

Arroyo added that the facility was remarkably odor-free with only “a little bit of notable funk” near the settling tanks in the hatchery.

“But they’re quite far from any neighborhoods,” she said. “It was only really [when I was] standing that close to the tank that I could smell it, so the smell was really minimal. … Where the adult kingfish are grown to scale it smelled like a freshwater aquarium. You could kind of smell that fish food smell, but it was so faint. Even inside the facility.”

Unfortunately, Arroyo said she didn’t have time to chat with locals about how they felt about the fish farm, but she did carve out some time to visit a local restaurant and sample some raw kingfish. “The fish was very tasty,” she said.

Following the presentation, Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson said he also appreciates “nerdy side trips” on his vacations abroad. “It’s good for us to get some perspective about where the rest of the world is on some of these issues,” he said. “It’s interesting to see how much effort goes into these facilities, in the energy it requires and the treatment that it requires to meet those effluent standards and the challenges around that.”

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn asked Arroyo if she had learned anything about the status of the proposed fish farm on the Samoa Peninsula and whether that facility would be built ahead of another proposed facility in Belfast, Maine.

Arroyo said the CEO of Sashimi Royal, Søren Mattesen, is clued into company-wide projects to an extent but isn’t fully aware of what’s happening at other project sites. He has tentative plans to visit Humboldt Bay at some point in the future “to help advise or make recommendations about the [Samoa] facility and incorporate lessons learned,” she said, but he didn’t specify when that visit would occur. 

“I don’t know what the timing is going to be, whether they’re going to put our project before the Maine project or not,” Arroyo added.

The Board of Supervisors approved development permits and certified the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project last September. One month later, a group of local residents dubbed Citizens Protecting Humboldt Bay filed a lawsuit against the county and the Board of Supervisors alleging that, as the lead agency, it had violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by approving the project. 

Planning and Building Director John Ford did not comment on the status of the lawsuit but said Nordic is “very actively pursuing permits” with the California Coastal Commission, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The board unanimously agreed to accept the report but did not take any further action on the item.

Evergreen Exotics Zoning Amendment

The board also reviewed and approved a zoning code amendment petition, brought forth by Evergreen Exotics, LLC, to allow for indoor cultivation in the Evergreen Business Park between Redway and Garberville. 

The site is currently zoned as a major business (MB) zone. Indoor cannabis cultivation was previously authorized in MB zones under the Commercial Medical Marijuana Land Use Ordinance (Ordinance 1.0) but it is not authorized under Commercial Cannabis Land Use Ordinance (Ordinance 2.0).

“There was some anecdotal evidence that there was concern that if indoor cultivation was allowed in MB  zones, there might be odor in passing in buildings that had multiple tenants or suites,” Senior Planner Steven Santos explained. “If the board does move forward with this process, one of the things the board may want to consider is looking at specific performance standards related to odor if indoor cultivation is allowed.”

Santos added that the zoning amendment “wouldn’t change any of the eligibility criteria for housing development currently allowed in MB zones,” including caretaker units allowed on upper floors and transitional housing.

Wilson asked if the project would exacerbate ongoing issues with the county’s electrical capacity or interfere with PG&E’s ability to provide power to the business park.

Ford | Screenshot

“At this point, we have to be aware of power [with] everything that we do in Southern Humboldt, whether it be land use and zoning or a project-specific impact,” Ford said. “The property owner believes that they would be able to have adequate power to support this [project] at that location. That’s something we can look into more, but at this time, it’s our understanding that it would not affect other properties or the ability of other users on this property.” 

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell emphasized that “PG&E isn’t going to hook anybody up until there is a solution to the power issues in Southern Humboldt” and urged Ford to continue conversations with the property owner and with PG&E to address capacity issues.

“Also, you know, with the decline of things that are going on around Southern Humboldt, this area is largely empty,” Bushnell continued. “There are a lot of empty buildings up there. … We could use some additional stuff going on in Southern Humboldt and I think this [zoning] change could open up something that doesn’t have to be cannabis … even something for heavier industrial. … I, frankly, would welcome any kind of growth.”

Bushnell made a motion to move ahead with staff’s recommendation and approve the zoning amendment. Bohn seconded.

Before voting, Wilson brought up the possibility of changing the zoning designation to accommodate mixed-use development in the business park to allow housing in the future.

“If the point is to allow more flexibility and thus more economic opportunity within that space, this potential change would only do one thing,” he said. “Maybe this is an opportunity to take a look at how we might expand opportunity through other changes within that space, in terms of flexibility. … The trend these days is to make zonings more flexible and around creativity and mixed-use and maybe this is an opportunity to take a look at that because this is only looking at one opportunity.”

Ford expressed interest in Wilson’s proposal, noting that it is “always opportune to take a look at doing things like allowing mixed use” when considering a zoning amendment. “That’s typically not something that’s in the business park vocabulary just because some of the uses aren’t necessarily always compatible with residential uses, but I have no objection to take a look at that if that’s the will of the board.”

Bushnell was hesitant. 

“The [business park] was built to keep away from the residential and [allow for] the loud noises, the industrial type activities that people in residential areas don’t really care for,” she said. “I don’t want issues to come forward with people that have bought properties up there for the intent of commercial activities to have to deal with. … Mixing it with housing for a residential person to say, ‘I don’t like that noise. I don’t like that logging truck starting at three in the morning.’ How would you see that play out?”

Ford acknowledged her concern and said the mixed-use designation would “create opportunity and not a requirement” for properties in the business park.

“If it’s not conducive to developing a mixed-use common environment, typically people won’t do that,” he said. “We could create a process or even performance standards by which the mixed-use would be deemed acceptable, and if it’s acceptable under those circumstances, then it could be a by-right use or it could be a discretionary use. There are several different ways to look at it.”

After quite a bit of back and forth among board members, Ford suggested they “split the baby” and create two separate motions to appease everyone. 

The first would approve the petition to modify Ordinance 2.0 to allow for indoor cannabis cultivation in the MB zoning district. The second action would direct staff to evaluate the MB zone to determine whether or not there are other economic development opportunities through an additional modification that would give flexibility for mixed-use and other related uses.

The amended motion passed 5-0.

Abbey Road Farming, LLC, Appeal

The board also considered an appeal to the Zoning Administrator’s recent denial of a conditional use permit for an existing 15,236 square-foot outdoor cannabis farm in the Bridgeville area. The conditional use permit, brought forth by Abbey Road Farming, LLC, was denied by the Zoning Administrator earlier this year due to the applicant’s unresponsiveness throughout the application process. 

“I scheduled this item for denial in front of the Zoning Administrator because [staff has] made nine requests for information since February of 2017,” Santos explained. “We’ve had no contact with anyone since day one and there was insufficient evidence in the objective record to approve the project. … We try and put things in referrals as close to when we receive the application, but if an application is so incomplete that we don’t have an adequate project to describe, it’s just a waste of time for the county and for referral agencies to receive a project because they don’t have enough to actually review.”

The Planning and Building Department received an appeal to the Zoning Administrator’s decision on March 15. The appeal was signed by Kathy Moley, environmental division manager of Pacific Watershed Associates, on behalf of the applicant. 

Moley | Screenshot

Speaking to the board on Tuesday, Moley described her tumultuous relationship with the previous property owner, who apparently fled the country after being made aware of numerous violations on the property.

“When Pacific Watershed [Associates] was first on the property in 2017 – and for the series of years afterward – I just want to say that the applicant at that time was what I would deem a bad player,” she said. “There was not a lot of forward motion. There was not a lot of progress. There were large amounts of refuse on the property – things that were completely unacceptable to Pacific Watershed Associates.”

The current applicant took over the property in September 2020. Moley said she was previously unaware that there was an incomplete application transfer packet associated with the property. Without it, the project application cannot move forward. “That’s something that I can then go back to my client and pretty much enforce that this needs to happen,” she said.

But her main question was whether the application would stay open despite the Zoning Administrator’s denial of the permit. 

After a bit of back and forth between planning staff and Moley, Bohn suggested the board extend the Zoning Administrator’s ruling and revisit the subject in six months to give the applicant time to complete the application.

Ford said that would be acceptable but suggested Bohn also include in his motion that the applicant must “provide a minimum of $3,000 [to] the Planning and Building Department to continue processing the application.”

Bohn went ahead with the motion, which was seconded by Arroyo.

Wilson questioned whether there were “capacity issues” within the Planning and Building Department, noting “when that happens it really puts a strain on everybody.” He also asked if $3,000 would be sufficient to cover the remainder of staff’s time on the project application.

“It probably will not finish the permit,” Ford said. “Normally a permit like this would run in the neighborhood of $9,000 to $12,000. I think they’ve probably put down about $3,500. So another $8,000 to $9,000 is likely water will cost to finish this.”

After a bit more discussion, the board voted 3-2, with Wilson and Fifth District Supervisor and Board Chair Steve Madrone dissenting, to extend the Zoning Administrator’s ruling and return to the matter in six months.

Press release from the Humboldt County Office of Education:

Amalia Baugh, with Freshwater science teacher David Haller.

Amalia Baugh, an 8th-grade student from Freshwater Charter Middle School, has made waves in the science community by winning several awards for her outstanding project in Earth and Environmental Science. She not only won 1st place in the state qualifier at the California Science and Engineering Fair (CSEF), but she also received the Science Achievement Award from the California Association of Professional Scientists (CAPS).

Si Talty, Superintendent of Freshwater School District, praised Amalia’s accomplishment, saying, “We are incredibly proud of Amalia’s hard work and dedication to science. Her project is the only one eligible in our region to compete in CAPS Outstanding Young Scientist program, and she will receive recognition, a certificate, and a check for $100. This is also a testament to the infusion of NGSS strategies and inquiry-based learning opportunities that her Science Teacher, Mr. Haller, and Freshwater School are so dedicated to.”

Her project also was given 1st place honors by the Northern Group of the Sierra Club and was recognized by the California Association of Professional Scientists, North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District, and the California Native Plants Society.

As a result of her 1st place win as the state qualifier, Amalia is eligible to submit her project application for consideration to move on to the National Competition. She has been named as one of CSEF’s nominees to the Thermo-Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), a national competition involving students in grades 6-8 from hundreds of fairs spread throughout the nation.

The project sought to determine the impact of reduced fog and climate change on the Northern California Redwood Forest ecosystem. Amalia’s question involved looking at how transpiration and foliar uptake in redwood forest species are affected by the amount of fog. Baseline data was collected to determine which redwood plants have the greatest ability to take in fog through their leaves. Transpiration data was collected spraying sword ferns, redwood sorrel, evergreen huckleberry and coast redwood in 5 different fog treatments. The change in mass was taken daily to determine overall transpiration rate. Foliar uptake was then measured for all plants in the transpiration/fog treatments.

The Top 300 finalists will be announced on September 6, with each receiving a cash award of $125 and other prizes. From this set, 30 finalists will be announced on September 20, with each being invited to an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to showcase their research.

Finals week will be held on October 28 - November 2, where the finalists will engage in a variety of scientific and engineering activities, in addition to presenting their own research. The week will end with more prizes and awards, including the top prize of $25,000 for the Thermo-Fisher Scientific ASCEND Award.

“We congratulate Amalia on her impressive achievements and wish her the best of luck as she moves on to the national competition,” said David Haller, Amalia’s science teacher. “Her passion for science and dedication to her project is truly inspiring.”

Other Freshwater students who received recognition for their science projects included Sankara Momo Carnahan, Sadie Barrett, Kaya Scofield, Eliot Block, Dylan Scofield, Sylvia Celli, Wren Hall, Ellie White, Meghan Reiske, Noah O’Neill, Layla Rasmussen and Naomi Rush Copple.

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For lots of years, the Old Town restaurant space next to the Romano Gabriel Sculpture Garden seemed cursed. Restaurants came and went almost as quickly as we bought new calendars.

Then, finally, along came the Greene Lily, which not only survived but thrived in the space. And now it’s outgrown it! In the last couple of weeks, restaurateur Charity Desbrow has shifted her operations to the old Oberon space near the corner of Second and F and acquired a hard liquor license to boot. Big doings!

Desbrow joins the Outpost’s John Kennedy O’Connor to talk about the newly empurpled space and her plans for it. Video above, transcript below.

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JOHN KENNEDY O’CONNOR:

Well, welcome to another Humboldt Conversation. I’m really thrilled to say that we’re here today with Charity Desbrow, who’s just opened a new restaurant — but it’s not a new name to Eureka. It is the Greene Lily Cafe, which you opened three years ago, actually, in downtown.

CHARITY DESBROW:

Seven and a half.

O’CONNOR:

Oh, my goodness. Even longer. Yeah. But we’re now in this beautiful new facility, which has literally just opened. Yes. So, congratulations. Thank you.

CHARITY DESBROW:

We kind of outgrew our space, so just … fell in my lap.

O’CONNOR:

I think you’re going to be expanding more now you’re in this wonderful new position.

DESBROW:

Yeah, we’re definitely gonna be doing dinner now that we have a full bar. I feel like it’s kind of necessary, but we’ve been doing breakfast, lunch and brunch for seven and a half years. And yeah, we’re growing. 

O’CONNOR:

Yeah, it is one of the most famous spots. Now, champagne please?

DESBROW:

Yes.

O’CONNOR:

Yes, please!

DESBROW:

Where’s my button?

O’CONNOR:

So you mentioned you have a full bar here as well. Now, you also have a very cool upstairs space. What’s going to happen with that?

DESBROW:

Yes, so we’re gonna probably do some private parties, maybe extra seating like during Mother’s Day and graduation. You know those big holidays and stuff where you need a little extra seats.

O’CONNOR:

Well, it’s very cool space. So that’s going to be available for evening rental.

DESBROW:

And daytime also and I joke with everybody because there’s a cute little booth up there. You don’t see me down here. I’m hiding up there.

O’CONNOR:

It’s a good place to hide. Now, it seemed to me that the new cafe space opened very quickly. Oh, yeah. Everyone went up and suddenly you’re all open.

DESBROW:

Yeah, yeah, 34 days and counting. 

O’CONNOR:

So, who did the design work?

DESBROW:

So a gentleman that did the initial padded walls, I got in touch with him. His name is Thomas Ocean and I asked him if he’d be willing to do some more work on my booth and he said hey, I just happen to have a crew right now And so we just went from there and yeah, he was like, we can do the flooring we could paint, we can do all this stuff

O’CONNOR:

It’s really lovely and the outside is looking great.

DESBROW:

Yeah, yeah, nice and bright. Can’t miss me.

O’CONNOR:

Now, any changes to the menu since you’ve moved? 

DESBROW:

No, just the full bar. That’s a big change for all of us. I’ve never served a cocktail in my life. So when people order something, I’m like, huh?

O’CONNOR:

But you’ve probably had a few?

DESBROW:

Just a couple, but I’m more of a champagne girl!

O’CONNOR:

A woman after my own heart!

DESBROW:

Oh, thank you.

O’CONNOR:

So obviously this is a big expansion for you. What’s next? Another restaurant?

DESBROW:

Oh God, no, we’re just gonna hold on tight right here. Yeah, I haven’t slept in days. We joked earlier, I haven’t had a vegetable in a month.

O’CONNOR:

Vegetables are a right.

DESBROW:

Right? I got an apple yesterday, we’re good.

O’CONNOR:

Well you’re looking great in it. Anything else you’d like to share about the future of the Greene Lily?

DESBROW:

No, just that we’re so happy to be here. And I mean, we don’t even have a phone yet. And look around. Like, we’ve been so busy. Everybody knows that we’re here. Everybody has been so supportive. And I am so blessed and thankful.

O’CONNOR:

Yeah, I mean I came in a couple of last week and the week before and you’ve been absolutely popping every day.

DESBROW:

Yeah, we’ve been crazy. We’ve been totally crazy. We’re all really tired. And this space is much larger, so we’re getting our steps in.

O’CONNOR:

That’s making up for the lack of vegetables.

DESBROW:

That’s right, that’s right.

O’CONNOR:

The vegetables are on the menu…

DESBROW:

Yeah. There are lots of vegetables on the menu, and lots of grapes.

O’CONNOR:

Well, next time I come along we’ll have champagne.

DESBROW:

Wonderful. I look forward to that.

O’CONNOR:

Charity, it’s a great pleasure to meet you. Thank you. Congratulations and good luck with the new space.

DESBROW:

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

O’CONNOR:

Thank you for joining us for a Humboldt Conversation. See you again very soon.

When Reyna Bonilla lost her job cleaning hotel rooms in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, she used tax credits and other pandemic relief to chip away at past-due rent so she and her two children could stay in their Koreatown apartment in Los Angeles.

This year things are different. Bonilla cleans homes a few days a week but only makes about $10,000 a year. Most of her pandemic aid has phased out, so she struggles to keep up with expenses.

Add to that, her youngest child turned 6 in November, making Bonilla ineligible for California’s Young Child Tax Credit. Her tax refund will be $1,083 less this year, squeezing her already tight budget.

“Sometimes I say I’m going to save money and I start saving,” she said, “but the prices go up and I can’t do it anymore.”

Advocates say California’s tax credits are more crucial now, as low-income families like Bonilla’s struggle to financially recover from the pandemic as other government relief programs end.

For instance, the federal government in 2020 expanded its tax credits to send advanced monthly payments to low-income families with children and, for the first time, included very low-income earners. It helped cut child poverty, but the federal credit expansion ended in December 2021.

Democratic Assemblymembers Mike Gipson of Gardena and Miguel Santiago of Los Angeles recently authored two bills that would expand California’s Earned Income Tax Credit and its Young Child Tax Credit.

Combined the bills would cost about $1.1 billion annually, in a year the state is predicting a $22.5 billion to $25 billion deficit.

Who gets earned income, young child tax credits?

“The need for lower-income tax credits is as dramatic as ever,” said Teri Olle, California campaign director of the Economic Security Project, a nonprofit based in New York.

“Gas prices, food prices — none of that is better than it was before the pandemic. Now a lot of these supports that have been in place are expiring and people are left with higher prices, a higher cost of living and nothing to support them. “

Currently the California Earned Income Tax Credit gives credits of $1 to about $3,400 to tax filers who earn as much as $30,000 in annual income.

In 2022, 3.6 million Californians received the state’s earned income tax credit, according to the Franchise Tax Board. It had a modest impact; about 83% of those filers got less than $300 in state tax credits.

That’s partly by design. The state earned income tax credit is structured to provide an incentive for people to work, so it phases in more cash as earned income increases to $30,000.

For instance, someone who earned only $200 in 2022 and has three children would receive $67 in earned income credit, while someone who made about $9,000 with three children would receive $3,417.

Those who make $30,000 receive $1, regardless of how many children they have. Those who earn more don’t qualify.

It targets working individuals with dependents who are most in need. But it leaves out many people who can’t work because they are caring for loved ones and single filers who don’t have dependents but struggle to get by, advocates said.

“It doesn’t go far enough, especially in the economy we find ourselves in,” Gipson said.

Raising minimum child credits

His Assembly Bill 1498 would raise the minimum credit to $300 from $1, regardless of number of dependents, as long as a recipient makes less than $30,000 a year.

On the other hand, California’s Young Child Tax Credit currently gives $1,083 to filers with a dependent under the age of 6. Once a family’s youngest child turns 6, the family no longer qualifies for the credit.

Santiago’s AB 1128 would enable tax filers with dependents who also qualify for the state Earned Income Tax Credit to continue qualifying for the young child tax credit after the youngest child ages past 6. Those families would keep the child tax credit until the child reaches 18, or as old as 23 if they are a student.

Families with a dependent with disabilities also would qualify for the young child tax credit regardless of their dependent’s age.

“We are in a recession, but there’s a lot of folks that always come out unscathed — because they have certain tax credits those of us in the working class don’t have access to.”
— Monica Lazo, senior policy manager of Golden State Opportunity

Santiago said the proposal is a “modest” ask that would greatly benefit families that suffered the biggest financial losses during the pandemic.

“This program is one of the most effective anti-poverty programs we have,” he said. “We can expand the current program and help more people than have ever been helped.”

The young child tax credit bill would benefit 700,000 to 1 million more children each year, said Monica Lazo, a senior policy manager of Golden State Opportunity, an anti-poverty organization.

Lazo believes there is ample support for stretching California’s tax credits.

“The will is there,” she said. “We are in a recession, but there’s a lot of folks that always come out unscathed — because they have certain tax credits those of us in the working class don’t have access to.”

‘Essential workers’ could benefit

Many very low-income workers were forced to go to work during the pandemic, she said, while higher earners often could work from home.

“These are people who are helping our local economy; we declared them essential,” she said. “So this is a way we can help them and really prove to them they are essential.”

Research shows that people spend tax credits almost immediately on basic needs, such as school supplies for their children, which means the money immediately goes back into the economy. For every $1 of tax credit, $1.70 is invested in a local economy, said Anna Hasselblad, director of public policy for United Ways of California.

“Where you’re going to see the greatest economic stimulation and impact is if you invest it in folks with lower incomes,” Hasselblad said. “They’re going to put that money to work immediately.”

Taxpayers lined up for complimentary tax preparation services at the Nakaok Community Center in Gardena on April 1, 2023. Photo by Pablo Unzueta for CalMatters

Bonilla said she has spent her tax credits on electricity bills, clothing and shoes for her children. If she were to get an extra $1,083 in child tax credits each year, Bonilla said, she would save it for future expenses for when her daughter starts college.

“There wouldn’t be so much worry. I would have extra money,” she said.

Expanding California’s earned income tax credit would benefit people of color the most because they make up three-quarters of eligible workers in the state, said Alissa Anderson, policy researcher at the California Budget & Policy Center, a research nonprofit.

It also would simplify the process of claiming tax credits; the Franchise Tax Board would more easily identify qualifying workers and automatically send funds, Anderson said.

Seeking bipartisan support

Tax credits traditionally receive bipartisan support, but the two bills may face a challenge in the projected state budget deficit. If passed, the proposed earned income tax expansion would cost about $460 million annually and the proposed expanded youth tax credit would cost about $700 million annually.

Both bills are new versions of a proposal last year which would have provided a one-time payment of $2,000 per child to families who received California’s earned income tax credit.

That proposal, also sponsored by Santiago and anti-poverty organizations, included a permanent increase of the earned income credit’s $1 minimum payment to $255.

“When you recognize the contribution people are making and allow them to reinvest that money themselves, instead of allowing government to take that discretion, it’s a better pathway.”
— Assemblymember Tom Lackey, Republican from Palmdale

Last year, the state had a projected surplus of $31 billion. But as inflation rose, other state priorities arose, such as the “middle class tax refund” that gave households $9.5 billion in financial relief.

Santiago pulled the bill from the Senate Governance and Finance Committee because it did not have enough votes to pass, a spokesperson for Santiago said.

Assemblymember Tom Lackey, a Republican from Palmdale, said the long-term benefits of tax credits outweigh the short-term financial challenges. Lackey co-authored the earned income credit bill and supports the young child tax credit expansion bill.

“The Republican Party believes in fiscal responsibility,” he said. “When you recognize the contribution people are making and allow them to reinvest that money themselves, instead of allowing government to take that discretion, it’s a better pathway. It’s the people’s money.”

State Sen. Nancy Skinner and Assemblymember Phil Ting, Democratic chairpersons of the budget committees, declined to comment on the feasibility of the bills.

The Senate has stated it intends to protect the state’s earned income tax and young child tax credits from budget cuts and would support the tax credits once the economy improves.

Is it worth it?

Advocates say there’s plenty of evidence that spending more via tax credits pays dividends. Studies show tax credits are associated with better grades, higher educational attainment and improved earnings later in life.

Households receiving such payments had significant declines in credit card debt and were less likely to rely on payday loans, pawn shops or on selling blood plasma, according to a Brookings Institution study.

A month after the child tax credit payments stopped, 3.7 million children joined the nation’s poverty ranks, according to a Columbia University study. The national child poverty rate went from 12.1% to 17% from December 2021 and January 2022.

That includes 553,000 California children who floated above the poverty line thanks to the tax credit, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

Hasselblad, of United Ways of California, said the proposed expansions of the earned income and child tax credits are “comfortable” compromises to request from the state.

“It’s a lot of money; we’re not pretending otherwise,” she said. But “there’s an immediate return on investment.”

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

Elzie “Dave” Holbrooks left our presence but not our hearts on March 18, 2023 at the age of 58. Other than his brothers, Dave shared his childhood with many beloved cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

He had a large close-knit family that spent many beautiful, fun filled summers together at the family’s shared summer home in Bridgeville. They passed the time playing in the dirt, swimming, fishing and playing pranks on each other and wrestling around and fighting a lot as rowdy kids are known to do.

Growing up, Dave, his brothers and cousins were always very protective of each other. Well, the adults in the family for that matter too. They could beat the crap out of each other and call each other names but if someone outside the family did … look out! His brothers fondly speak about him helping raise them and being like a second dad to them. Time was especially grateful to him for this.

Dave was always a charmer. Like most Holbrooks and Bartleys he definitely had the gift of gab and a great sense of humor to go along with it. He loved to laugh.

He was a great storyteller. Whether all his exciting and tall tales were all completely true or not … we will leave up to you and your judgement. Wink wink.

Back to charming: Dave was very friendly and could be very giving at times. He definitely was considered a ladies’ man. He always had a pretty girl or two by his side up until the end of his life, with his last life partner, Vanessa.

Dace was an outdoors person. In his younger adult years, he was an avid hunter. He was an amazing fisherman as well. His brothers and others used to say that he could tie a damn rock to a string and still catch a fish with it. He really could too. Everyone was jealous of his skill or just plain dumb luck when it came to fishing.

Dave was an avid movie-watcher, just like his parents and brothers. They all enjoyed lending, trading and giving movies to one another to watch together, discuss at great lengths and laugh about.

Even though he may not have been perfect with the way he showed love for his friends and family, we all know that he loved every one of us very much. No matter what he was doing, where he lived or what his life evolved at the time, he never missed a family reunion. Dave, even though you may have worried a lot of us a lot of the time, and drove us all crazy at times, you will be sorely missed. We all loved you and cherished you very much. We all will forever work hard to keep your love and light alive through our thoughts, memories and many future conversations with your crazy ass being the main topic.

Dave was preceded in death by his parents Valerie “Val” and Elzie “J.R.” Holbrooks, his grandparents Lillie and Autry “Hap” Bartley, and his stepbrother Paul.

He lived on through his children: Andrew, Felicia, Autry “Audie,” Elzie, Billy Joe “E.B.”; step-sons: Jonathan and Michael; grandchildren Jonah and Evelyn; brothers Casey and Vick, Tim and wife Paula, Mike and wife Shasta; stepbrother Bobby, stepsister Shelly, stepmother Donna, stepfather Ray’ ex-wives Chis and Cheri; last life partner Vanessa; aunts Andrea, Vera and Anne; nieces and nephews Leta Tahina, Vernon, Charlie, James, Darrell, Gage and Chase; and many beloved cousins and friends, including his best friend Stephanie.

Please join us at his potluck memorial this Sunday, April 23 ar 1 p.m. at The Arcata Veterans Hall located at 1425 J Street Arcata. Bring your favorite dish if you like and are able. Although we will happily welcome just yourself with open arms. Please bring your loved memories and funny or fond anecdotes about Davey.

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