1 800 WE FIXIT

Okay. That number is taken but you get the idea. Arcata needs one centralized phone number for anyone to call when something needs fixing. Pot holes, broken down sidewalks, graffiti, smoking cars, garbage, and un-mowed lawns. You name it and the problem will go away fast either by our existing departments or by the Round Up For Arcata fund.Remember the Round Up For Arcata fund is your rich uncle. When you have to turn to him he'll be there.

Sidewalks, Cut Curbs and Disability Compliant Streets

One basic responsibility of a city council member is fixing the roads. Roads include sidewalks. I've never seen such a sorry state of sidewalks in my entire life. I never expected Arcata to have sidewalks, when there are any, in such a pathetic condition.I am a big believer in a neighborhood that chooses not to have sidewalks if it comports with the character of the neighborhood. But when a neighborhood wants sidewalks or has sidewalks, such as my neighborhood in Sunny Brae, then a neighborhood should have sidewalks. Not some sorry sidewalks left in disrepair for years and years. The sidewalks in Sunny Brae start then stop and you are left going into the street. Imagine walking with a baby carriage, how about a wheelchair. They are cracked and bulging and pocked, with very few cuts in the curbs.

The sidewalks are not ADA compliant by any means. A city like Arcata that conscientiously cares about the elderly and disabled, not to mention the Americans With Disabilities Act requirements, should be ashamed of itself. One of the first things I'll do is get this city ADA compliant. I'll get us new sidewalks everywhere there should be sidewalks. Sidewalks that are compliant with the ADA, with cut curbs for wheelchairs and strollers.

Gas Has Got To Go

Imagine roads with shuttle stops and shelters telling you when the next zero emission vehicle will stop and pick you up and, it will never be more than ten minutes away. The buses we now have running are gas guzzling polluters and way too big. We need to improve our mass transportation so that it is convenient and affordable if not free for people to use. The more people use the system the cleaner our air will be. The shuttle system I propose would replace the current Mad River system, which is ridiculously outdated.

There would be as many routes as it takes with shuttles running all of the time to pick up people within five to ten minutes, for real. People can get online to find out when the shuttle will be at their location. Or, you can call the shuttle by email, text messaging, telephone or simply flag it down taxi style when it comes by. At the designated stops you'll be able view a screen telling you where the shuttle is and how long it will be until it arrives.

No one living in the city who needs to get to another part of the city will prefer to use a car over the new shuttle system. There are times of course when people will need a car. During those times Arcatans can take advantage of the City Car Share program and borrow a zero emission car or truck. (See separate post)

We also need a biking and walking path to Eureka. I will support the work in progress to get the bike path completed. It is crazy to see people riding their bikes on 101. We have the space to put in a bike and walk path from the Plaza to Old Town. What are we waiting for?

We also need to reestablish the railway line, at least between Arcata and Eureka. The right-of-ways are already established.

Economic Development: HSU Go Local!

The city should work with HSU to have the school give priority to local Arcata businesses with its service contracts. Imagine how much work (and dollars) is contracted out by HSU. Now imagine how much of that work and dollars go elsewhere. For instance the primary food service contractor is SYSCO Food Services, a national company from Texas. Why not a food business or businesses from Arcata? HSU must prioritize their contracting and work with our local businesses to bring them the services they need whether it be food services, construction, or other suppliers of all of the needs of the university.

Why can't the campus provide organic foods? We know Arcata businesses can supply them and the students want them. Why can't the school buy its bread from Brio? Why can't the cheese come local. The possibilities are endless. There are many millions of annual dollars that can be generated right here from HSU alone that would go right back into our businesses and our city. The revenue the city would receive can go toward our infrastructure and housing, issues that directly benefit all of us and HSU students as well.

Roland Richmond recently said he wants to work more closely with Arcata. Here is his chance.

Habitat for Arcata

A friend who works in Arcata and makes what many consider a fair salary is frustrated that she cannot afford a house in Arcata. I don't see any reason why Arcata can't provide housing for its working people.

I would like to encourage the building of multifamily homes close to the Plaza that could be sold as tenants-in-common units -- two to three flats per house, built on small lots -- for an affordable price to working people.

Each building would have a private garden in the back. In some cases a block of houses would be built with a shared, semiprivate garden. To discourage cars, and to be able to build more of these houses and keep the prices down, they would not come with garages or parking spots for cars. Ideally, you would not need parking because you could walk, bike or shuttle to the Plaza and university. If you need a car or truck you could borrow a vehicle from my proposed City Car Share program. (See separate post)

Throughout Arcata there are vacant lots and abandoned industrial property perfect for housing. We need to provide housing for our working folks.

It can be done. Arcata will find the money from redevelopment funds, to county funds, to private funds. I know that with creative thinking and decisive action we can implement this program and help people to be able to both own a place here and work in this town.

Marijuna, Marijuana and Marijuana

Marijuana should be legal. Plain and simple. The war on drugs started 50 years ago and no progress whatsoever has been made. We are doing better in the war in Iraq than we are on the war on drugs, and you know how that is going. There are a lot of battles to fight with limited resources and fighting marijuana is a huge waste of money. What can Arcata do? Not much. Some say it is a state issue; Humboldt County has made it a county issue. Arcata can support medical marijuana laws, which affect our HSU students everyday. We need to encourage the university to stop punishing students who lawfully possess marijuana for medical purposes.

Arcata should not prioritize the criminalization of marijuana. We should encourage law enforcement here and other places in the County and State to direct its resources toward dangerous drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine. Every penny spent in arresting a person on marijuana charges, whether it be for possession or cultivation, is a penny that could have been spent on persons dealing methamphetamine, cocaine or heroin. Or more so, it is money that could have been spent on drug counseling for harder drugs.

Every marijuana arrest takes a police officer off the street and away from dealing with violent crimes. When an arrest is made the officer is off the street for at least an hour and often much more. Then he or she will spend many hours and days waiting around a courtroom while the case meanders its way to a conclusion.

Let's use our law enforcement resources more wisely.

Homelessness and Our Plaza

I go to the Plaza often with my wife and baby girl. It's a beautiful place, but sometimes we don't feel comfortable there because of the activity of some of the people who hang out there.

If people are not doing anything illegal, even if they are unkempt, they should be left alone. I don't want to live in a society where police can tell people to leave a public square just because other people don't like the way they dress, or don't like the way they wear their hair. I don't want a Stepford Plaza.

We need to have a police officer assigned specifically to the Plaza who can get to know the people out there and work with them. Getting to know the people will help the officer make sure that criminals on the Plaza don't stay on the Plaza. Also we need to give the officer more choices when he or she confronts a person violating the Plaza rules. If someone is smoking or drinking, the officer does not have to immediately ticket them or arrest them but talk with them -- like the old time beat cop. He or she can give them a chance to follow the rules or help them get to my proposed Integrated Shelter for Integrated Services (ISIS) -- a one-stop service center where all of the services necessary to help the homeless person will be at one location. (See below)

Tolerance is important for people who have many other more serious problems. The ISIS Center would take care of most of those problems. But at some point if repeated Plaza violations continue the officer will have to resort to more stringent alternatives. We have to be tolerant, but I don't think people should flaunt laws we set up in order to protect public spaces that we make comfortable for everbody to be able to enjoy. At some point a repeat offender cannot continue to smoke cigarettes or marijuana in a public place where smoking is not permitted, drink alcohol in a public place where alcohol is not permitted, or buy and sell drugs, undress or urinate in a park where families gather and children play.

Direct action with the Plaza is only one part of our homeless problem in Arcata. We also need long term solutions that help people get shelter and the services they need.

Let's first acknowledge that most homeless people are not homeless by choice. Studies show that many are addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs and many are mentally ill. Many lack any job skills and this county lacks entry level jobs that pay a decent wage.

A civilized society takes care of its downtrodden. But here, our federal government is not doing that, our state government is not doing that and our county isn't doing that. That means that if we want something done Arcata has to find its own solutions.

We need a multifaceted facility that will integrate the services that in part are being offered by non-profit organizations, the city and the county. I envision a place that offers transitional housing, mental health counseling, twelve-step programs, and vocational and job placement programs, a respite for those without a home, a place to congregate. We might call it ISIS--Interagency Shelter for Integrated Services.

We want to help people who are ill get the treatment they need and if possible reconnect them to their families.

San Francisco has a program called "Care Not Cash" that was very controversial in the beginning, but which most residents of that city would acknowledge as highly successful. There the city eliminated the $355.00 a month general asssitance payment to the poor, and gave them instead $51 a month along with housing and other suport services.

The program reduced homelessness in the city in half almost overnight because many of the people left to look for a city that would pay the money instead of the services.

Arcata can't control what Humboldt County does but we can try to shape policy. I suggest that the City Council urge the county to look to a care not cash program as well.

We need to get our homeless people the shelter and treatment they need, and we can find the money to do that. We need to take away any incentives that encourage criminal elements to come to our city and linger here and to take advantage of programs intended to help the disadvantaged and needy. We want to help the people who want to be helped. We want to leave alone the people who cause no trouble. And we want to deal with the people who refuse help when its offered and who break laws intended to keep the city a safe and enjoyable place in which to live.

We need to think creatively and act decisively.

Energy Independence. Goodbye PG&E

We must be energy self sufficient now! We can't wait around while relying on the federal, state and county governments to supply our high polluting energy. With solar, water, wind and wave power we can become fully independent from outside energy sources and clean our air and set an example for other cities. All new construction will be required to develop a self-sustaining energy source and made out of green products. If it is impossible or impractical for a builder to do it because of lack of sun or space, then the builder will have to pay a fee to the city's green energy department who will then supply the supplemental clean power the building needs.
No paying your way to pollute but paying your way to clean power.

All existing buildings will have to become self-sufficient as well. If an existing or new residential owner, or small business startup cannot afford the conversion to green energy the city will help.

We will say goodbye to PG&E.

Art and Technology --Arcata's Poet Laureate and Wi-Fi

Two matters come to mind that should be pursued. The first relates to my art and cultural agenda. Arcata's own poet laureate. Does this better Arcata? Absolutely. Is it the most important issue we face? No. But Arcata is more than a town that just survives from day to day. Art is the soul of any good town. The search for and then the admiration of our own poet laureate are good things.

Now to technology. I was just reading about Google Wi-Fi-ing its hometown Mountain View, California. Arcata needs to move forward with free Wi-Fi within the city limits. Take your laptop around just about anywhere in the city and it seems that you already can get a wireless signal. City sponsored, it would be reliable, available everywhere and free.

Local Local Local

As a resident of Sunny Brae I know that the people of Arcata want their local government to concentrate on local issues. Arcata residents deserve first-rate city services; we need to make sure our roads are repaired and maintained and we need to expand bike lanes in this town.

There are so many local issues that need to be addressed.

There is a shortage of quality daycare in this city and we need to do what we can to provide daycare to our working families. More people would recycle if we had free curbside pickups of mixed recyclables.

But I know that if we want to improve the quality of life for Arcata residents we need to find ways to increase city revenues. How can we do that? One way would be to encourage ecotourism. I don't understand why we sat back while the city of Eureka debated whether to approve a cheap motel or an eco-tourism environmental center. We should have gone to the backers of the environmental technology center with open arms and found them a place in our town, perhaps near the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary or the Community Forest.

We could also do more to promote cultural tourism. When we hold events like Shakespeare in the Park people come to Arcata, eat in our restaurants and shop in our stores. By supporting our local businesses we help generate sales tax revenues. And we can also take more advantage of the state-funded university right here in our town to elevate culture and entertainment.

As an attorney, I believe Arcata needs to fight for all the funds we are entitled to. We have to make sure that outside government agencies and private companies pay their fair share and obey the law. We shouldn't allow the county, the state, the federal government or corporations to tap our resources without a beneficial return. If we're entitled to county, state or federal monies, I'm determined to fight for it. If contractors are overcharging us, I want to make sure they won't work here again and that they’ll pay back any overcharges. If corporations are polluting our air I'll fight them on our own turf and our own terms to stop them. I don't think we should rely on some ineffective, federal or state bureaucrat to tell us that “they are in compliance.”

We hear too often that things can't be done because there isn't enough money. But I think many Arcatans would be willing to contribute more towards improving the city if given the chance and if they knew their money would be used efficiently. Why can't we follow the example of socially responsible companies like Working Assets, which lets its customers round up their bills and gives the spare change to worthy causes. In Arcata, local businesses could give customers a similar opportunity to round up their bills, so that the spare change goes into a fund devoted to beautifying the city and improving the quality of life in Arcata.

You pay your $23.92 cent phone bill and you round up to $24.00. Those pennies add up.

We need to think creatively and act decisively.