Humboldt Domestic Violence Services needs new board members!

Humboldt Domestic Violence Services is in need of new board members. Our next meeting is this Wednesday at 5:30pm at 520 E st. at the Prosperity Center in Eureka. A community is only as strong as its volunteers at every level. Maybe this is a good fit for you? Come check us out.  

6th Slumoa burglary of the year 2016 for Samoasoftball.

I only turned in one of the claims to the Humboldt Sheriffs office. I was treated like I was the perpetrator instead of the victim. I had the thieves name and contacts who also tried identity theft on my personal accounts. I was shuffled around and I just gave up. Since then I have had 2 more break ins of my garage and 2 property thefts of covered storage area next to my cars. Yesterday I discovered that the jointly shared shed with my neighbor, (which was a heroin den and living quarter to a known drug dealer and person charged with murder) was used to break into my side of the shed from the attic and they ripped off my gas tanks and made a mess of the room. We didn't notice since the lock on the outside was not messed with. (They left my bats, huge BBQ, big lawn mower and other stuff behind since that would have been a huge challenge going through the attic.) So I see that Humboldt County has a high rate of theft. I wonder how many are like me and have only reported 1 out of 6 out of frustration with the process?  

Senior Softball host event at Arcata Playhouse!

King Salmon Fishermen's Channel Dredge Pilot Project. Residents Unite!

Over 50 people showed up to the King Salmon Fishermen’s Channel Beneficial Reuse Dredging Pilot Project open forum tonight at the Woodley Island conference room. Not much elbow room.  Pacific Gas and Electric representatives Kris Vardas and Loren Sharp were present as were Humboldt Bay Harbor 1^st Division Commissioner Larry Doss, Deputy Director Adam Wagshcal and Executive Director Jack Crider.

Mr. Vardas outlined the scope of the project and some history. In 1952 PG & E purchased the property. They last dredged the Fishermen’s channel in 1982 and removed 21,000 cubic yards of material. They are paying for the permitting process to allow the Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District to dredge the Fishermen’s Channel.  They did sampling of the channel in 2013 and realized that the Fishermen’s channel was basically not accessible.  The Regional Water Board focused on allowing dredge spoils on the King Salmon spit that was created with spoils. The spit is considered Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area (ESHA) and the California Coastal Commission (CCC) would not approve the project dredge spoils in that location.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USF&WS) came up with a Dredge Recycle Identity Plan that produced 30 soil samples from 3 general areas in the channel for a total of 90 samples that measured toxicity levels and predicted affects to animals and organisms in the channel.  The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) granted permission on Dec. 2^nd 2015 for the project to move forward with mitigation measures for Eel Grass and longfin smelt. Dredging will be done from August 1^st to October 15^th 2016. Other agencies that were part of this process were the County of Humboldt, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Humboldt Bay Harbor, US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) and other regulatory agencies.

The project itself will remove 5,000 cubic yards of material from the King Salmon Fishermen’s channel and pump the spoils to White Slough near College of the Redwoods, approximately 2 ½ miles from the dredge area. (The white slough area is in need of 100,000 cubic yards of material for buildup of that area. The Harbor District needs to mitigate 1.2 acres of Eel Grass by removing 6,000 cubic yards of material in the form of dilapidated pilings and replanting and monitoring replaced Eel Grass for 5 years. (Even though Humboldt Bay has the most dense Eel Grass population of any bay in California, by many times.)

Some of the residents in attendance were not happy with PG&E’s agreement with the Harbor District and felt the residents should have received PG&E’s 2 million dollar “gift” to the Harbor District for taking on 30 acres of responsibility. They also argued that PG&E promised the residents that they would dredge the private owned channel fingers. Mr. Sharp said that he tried to do just that, but PG&E legal counsel said they could not do a public benefit gift to PG&E rate payers. Harbor Commissioner Larry Doss suggested the 88 King Salmon home owners create an association to have a voice in the process. They would need to organize and come to solutions for mitigating 3 acres of Eel Grass in the channel fingers, and apply for grants to help pay for the dredging process for the home owners. (This was also suggested 3 years ago with no success to the residents. This time multiple residents stepped forward to help organize. “United we Bargain, Divided we beg!”) 

1^st District County Supervisor Rex Bohn voiced his opinion that there should be one fluid motion of including the resident owned finger dredge spoils to the process and sending 10,000 cubic yards to White Slough while the pipe line is available. He felt the timing could work to pressure the multiple agencies working on the project now.

There were some gripes from the public but also many solution oriented suggestions and it was good to see the King Salmon community rise to the occasion. This was a positive process overall.       

R.I.P. Charles Ollivier

A big loss. The Frenchman. Loved life, cooking, fast German cars, his family, and Humboldt Bay, the harbor and the port. So many good stories about life as a longshoreman, and in coming to Humboldt County in general.

◼ Charles Louis Bernard Ollivier August 20, 1936 - February 16, 2016

CHARLES LOUIS BERNARD OLLIVIER August 20, 1936 - February 16, 2016

Charles Ollivier died suddenly at home in McKinleyville with his wife and son at his side.

Born in Agen, France, he was the second of three children to Marie Jean Guibert Ollivier and Eloi Desiree Ollivier. Charles' family moved from France to the U.S.A. in 1951 when he was 14 years of age.

He graduated with a "Certificat d'Etudes Primaires Elementaires' from the Academie de Grenoble, Department Des Hautes-Alpes in 1950, and received a diploma from Arcata High School in 1954. He attended Humboldt State University.

Charles brought his love of everything French with him and was glad to share it with anyone anywhere.

Charles worked in local mills, Humboldt Plywood, Roddiscraft, Weyerhauser, and Simpson Lumber Company before proudly becoming a member of the International Longshoremen & Warehousemans Union Local 14. He worked as a longshoreman for 35 years before retiring in 2002. He spent 16 terms as Union President, and also served many times on the Labor Relations Committee as Chairman, Caucus Convention Delegate and on the California Small Ports Committee. He was proud of being a labor organizer and union supporter. With a love for meeting people and his interest in real estate, he completed and received his Certificate of Completion from Anthony Schools in 1971 and worked in several local offices as a Realtor while working as a longshoreman.

He was an elected 5th District Commissioner for 16 years on the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District, serving on numerous committees and with much pride on the Pilotage Committee. He was appointed to the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) Board of Directors. Appointed by Congressman Hamburg, Charles served on President Clinton's Forest Conference in Portland, Oregon on April 17, 1993. Certificate of Special Recognition from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors for five years of outstanding service on the Board of the North Coast Railroad Authority and for 16 years of exceptional public service as the 5th Division Commissioner on the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Board was awarded to Charles on August 18, 2009. His service on non-profit boards, Lions Club, and coaching sport teams are too numerous to list.

The enthusiasm and interests in his family and his community were primary in his life. He also thoroughly enjoyed cooking. He collected an impressive Jazz music library, and had an awesome singing voice, often being mistaken as Tony Bennett or another Hollywood celebrity. He enjoyed history, economics, geography and mathematics, and people. He loved dressing well.

He is survived by his partner, wife, and best friend of over 40 years, Carol Ollivier. He is also survived by his beloved sister Helene Black and brother Daniel (Jayne) Ollivier, and his much beloved children: Philip Ollivier (Denise Payne), Jeanine Ollivier Rollins (David), Marc Ollivier (YuShu), Carol's son Sean Sullivan; grandchildren: Jenn Ollivier, Brian Ollivier, Graham Payne, Sean Patrick Sullivan (Janelle Fauquet) and Maxx (Michelle) Sullivan; great grandsons Vincent Ostenberg and Patrick James (PJ) Sullivan; niece and nephew Cathie Hatfield (Matthew Buckley), and Robert Black (Michelle Palermo) and great niece Desiree Hatfield Buckley and Sophie Palermo Black; sister-in-Law Beverly Bennett, and brothers-in-Law Kenneth (Fumiko) Keltner and James Keltner. There are many, many other wonderful nieces and nephews, especially great grand niece Megan Harrison Evenson. Charles was preceded in death by his parents and stepson Patrick Sullivan.

Mass for Christian Burial will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 23rd at St. Bernard's Church, 6th & H Street, Eureka. Family and friends may attend the burial/interment at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at the Greenwood Cemetery, 1757 J Street, Arcata. Please sign the guestbook at www.times-standard.com under obituaries.

Obama care sucks! We need single payer health! Turbo tax story.

A friend of mine bought a Turbotax program but had one small problem. He did not have a computer. So he called me up and asked me to do his taxes. (I personally use John Fullerton to do mine.) My buddy is a widow made less than $30,000 last year. When it came to claim his insurance I was surprised to find out he did not have any. He had me claim in the form he could not afford it. That cost him a $352 penalty! Over 50 years of age and can't afford insurance and he has to pay over 1% of his yearly wages! That is just wrong and sick! We need single-payer health. Obama careless!

North Coast Rail Authority;Cash Poor, Land Rich. Rail With Trail Update.

Interesting North Coast Rail Authority meeting this last week.

At one point in the meeting NCRA Counsel Christopher Neary proclaimed the NCRA could be cash broke within 30 to 90 days. He mentioned not being paid and was worried. The NCRA is currently in the middle of a land sale in Ukiah that would solve a few of our financial issues. Some anticipated payments from North Western Pacific Co. might bail us out for the short term. The NCRA also has more property that might be for sale in the near future.

Arcata City Engineer's Doby Class and Netra Khatri gave a presentation of Phase 2 of the Rail with Trail project, or now known as, "Humboldt Bay Trail North." Phase 1 from Sunset to Highway 255 is complete. All lit and being used! Our action item was for the NCRA to come to a licensing agreement with the City of Arcata to continue the trail from Highway 255 to the Barcut area. (About 3 miles total of trail and rail.) After much discussion and back and forth the NCRA Directors voted yes. 8-0 vote.

The NCRA has a contractor named Parallel Infrastructure that identifies property right a way crossings for the NCRA and bills property owners accordingly. We were voting after the fact of the contractor changing fees without the NCRA directors input. So were officially using the Resolution process to officially adopt the new fee schedule. There were land owners who were not happy with the raises and showed up with Attorney Richard Hicks representing their interests. After much discussion the Directors voted 6-2 to accept the changes, with the 2 Mendocino Directors voting against.    

Umpires report! $67 per game to experienced Umps.

Norcal High School Umpires will have a organizational meeting February 8th at 6pm at the Prosperity Center at 520 E St in Eureka. $62 a varsity game for 1st year umps. Come on out if you are interested!

Musings on Sports

With baseball right around the corner, basketball near the All Star break and the Super bowl 50 this weekend, let me share:

I hope the Giants keep Tim Lincecum  is kept for the bullpen.  Hopeful lineup order: 1. Span 2. Panik 3. Posey  4. Belt 5. Pence 6. Crawford 7. Duffy 8. Pagan. The starting pitching should be great! I hope the A’s stay competitive all year long.

The Warriors are just totally ridiculous. 44-4? Would not have predicted that. Stephen Curry MVP? More like Draymond Green. But if Klay Thompson keeps on the streak he has been on, look out! LeBron James needs to accept his role in the Firing of Blatt. His likability is fading fast.

Is football still going? I am hoping Payton gets another ring for his great goodbye. Cam Newton looks like he will win a few himself. Let him do it next year. I hope Chip Kelly lights a fire under Kaepernick and the Niners fix the offensive line. 

Humboldt Bay needs “interim use” zoning for economic development

Local jobs and public revenues are being lost due to outdated coastal zoning designations that prevent the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation & Conservation District from leasing its property and providing economic development opportunities for our community. The Harbor District and our leasing agent have turned away many prospective tenants ranging from manufacturers to wholesale distributors because of this restriction on land use.

Other private and public coastal property owners in the City of Eureka and in the county are being impacted as well. We can’t speak for them, but we know that the Harbor District is losing out on rental income needed to support the existing infrastructure because of this barrier; and just as importantly, local residents are losing out on potential jobs.

We’re also alarmed at the declining state of many industrial buildings around Humboldt Bay as they sit vacant. Without tenants to use and maintain them, these important industrial assets, like the buildings, infrastructure and docks at former pulp mills, are deteriorating. These buildings and their associated electric, water, sewer and road infrastructure need to be utilized immediately or they risk becoming degraded to the point where they cannot be used at all.

Here’s the problem. The Harbor District’s 140-plus acres of property on the Samoa Peninsula are designated “coastal-dependent industrial” (CDI) in the Humboldt Bay Area Plan. CDI properties can only be used by tenants that directly require access to the bay, such as fishing, aquaculture, shipping, fuel terminals and facilities for offshore oil rigs.

Even uses most would consider CDI compliant such as wood-products manufacturers by the bay (i.e. pulp and lumber mills) are currently determined to be non-compliant and thus cannot be sited on CDI land.  One local company that manufactures posts for vineyards wanted to lease from us. Since they only ship by truck, they didn’t qualify—even though they hope to increase their sales enough to ship by sea in the future.

The district supports the goal and intentions behind preserving CDI zoning—to maintain essential coastal industrial land for shipping and other uses that require access to the sea. One day, some new type of business we can barely imagine now—perhaps wave energy generators—will need some of this land, and we want much of it to remain available for the future.

With over 1,300 acres of CDI-designated land on Humboldt Bay (compared to 950 acres for the Port of Oakland), and only about four percent or 50 acres in permitted use areas, we have a huge surplus of land reserved for coastal-dependent uses. The City of Eureka recently had an independent market study done which indicated that less than 10 percent (19 acres) of CDI-designated land in the city would be needed for coastal-dependent uses in the next 20 years!

Humboldt County—which has zoning jurisdiction over the Harbor District’s property—is now evaluating future needs for CDI land, and the next update of the local coastal plan will likely include proposals to change CDI designations on many parcels to more general commercial and industrial zoning.

Based on what we have seen, that process will likely take years.

That is why the district is seeking the ability to lease some of our CDI land now, especially our warehouse and shop spaces, to a wider range of industrial or commercial tenants on an “interim use” basis. We’re advocating for interim use approval by the County until the updated local coastal plan is amended and certified by the Coastal Commission.

This will allow us to rent to a broad range of industrial/manufacturing businesses. If a coastal-dependent tenant came along later, we’d move the existing tenant to another site. Coastal-dependent uses will always have priority, and lease terms will reflect this.

The district has been and continues to be committed to making sure that enough coastal industrial land remains available for businesses or other entities that need access to the sea. Given the large amount of coastal industrial land, buildings, docks and other facilities that are vacant—and have been for years—we think that granting interim use status to some of this property is not only prudent, but necessary, for job creation and to avert losing these assets’ potential for future CDI use.

Portable Toilets return to Palco Marsh.

The Times Standard did a good story on the portable toilets. Not a solution but a stop gap relief until the new trail with permanent toilets built and new solutions are created for the housepoor issue is addressed.

Porta Pottie revisited at tomorrows 1/14/16 Harbor Meeting. 7pm. Woodley Island Marina.

The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District board of Commissioners will re-visit portable toilets to be placed near camping areas around the bay. We will also be discussing illegal camping around the bay. Should be a fun one!

New Humboldt County Semi Pro Soccer Team. Welcome Emerald FC!

I am helping start a new non-profit semi professional soccer team, Emerald FC. The team will start as an under 23 male tournament team and may expand to a women under 23 program soon. The organization itself will promote higher end lower level youth soccer through a new league and camps in Humboldt. If you are interested in getting involved let me know or contact head coach Nathaniel Rivera at 707-499-1486.

NCRA meeting December 2015.

At the December 9^th meeting of the North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) at Novato, Marin county resident Jerry Peters was elected as Chair for 2016. Sonoma County representative Alan Hemphill was selected vice chair of the 9 person board. The positions are pretty traditionally rotated by counties. Humboldt County 2^nd District Supervisor Estelle Fennell served as chair for 2015.

Former North Coast Congressman Doug Bosco spoke for NCRA operator North Western Pacific Co. (NWPco) and updated the NWPco status with the Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit (SMART). It seems they are getting along better and not at odds. SMART recently tested the tracks for their trains at 80 miles an hour during a “Positive Train Control” program, which helps transit and freight coordinate to keep each other’s operations safe. SMART has agreed to put in some rail spurs as has DUTRA at $600,000 a switchback to help move freight cargo along the rail. NWPco garnered a new customer to haul 200 carloads a year of wheat grain out of Alberta. Bosco predicted NWPco approaching 1,000 carloads by next year. Hopes were for continued railroad freight expansion to Cloverdale in the near future. He estimated the cost at 6 million dollars and identified Mendocino Forest Products as a benefited customer. Mr. Bosco suggested maybe another future partnership between the NCRA and NWPco for another Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan.

Harbor District in Shelter Cove today.

The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Board of Commissioners will be meeting with the residents of Shelter Cove to see if they would like the district to take a more active role at the Cove. Meeting is tonight, Dec. 11th at 5pm. Hope to see you there.

Get your Bernie bumper sticker yet?

LP Pulp Mill 1974. What was.

Old you tube video from 1974 showing pulp making processes. I recognize Mary Pawlyk, Tom Fenwick, Ron Ross, Norm Miller and Jack Hamilton. Any old pulp mill workers recognize any others?

Republican debate. Marco Rubio the best Republican choice?

The latest Republican  debate was kind of an eye opener. Bush, no chance. Donald, complete joke. Cruz, marginal. Carson, overwhelmed. I always like to monitor these forums to see who will be the biggest threat to a Democratic candidate. Marco Rubio seems to be the one big threat to the Democratic party. Whether the nomination for Dem is Hillary or Bernie, don't discount the Marco as a worthy opponent. Just fair warning.

Love us or Hate us, this Commission has done alot! Congrats to Dale and Higgins.

Love us or hate us, we get sh** done! I would like to address some misinformation and provide updates on what has been done the last four years.

From an economic development and job creation perspective the district has been on a path of growth. This commission continues to be successful in working with our elected representatives at the state and congressional levels to lobby the Army Corps of Engineers for the continued dredging of Humboldt Bay even through lean ship traffic years. Working with local exporters there has been an increase in ship tonnage volume by over 100,000 tons this last year and we anticipate double that next year.

In order to have local control over the process of regularly dredging our docks, the commission purchased a dredge. The last time that Woodley Island and Eureka Marina were dredged by an outside company, it cost 3.2 million dollars. The cost savings by doing it locally will save both Eureka and Harbor District millions.

This commission acquired the former Evergreen Pulp Mill with its many assets our community was at risk of losing, including a commercial dock, needed warehousing, ocean outfall and other infrastructure that would have cost tens of millions to replace.  The district immediately went to work cleaning up the site that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, was an “immediate danger” to the health of the bay. The Harbor District successfully worked with the EPA who paid for most of the work to safely remove nearly 3 million gallons of caustic chemicals which were repurposed by a pulp mill in Washington. In addition, we continue with our oyster pre-permitting project that has interest from 11 new oyster companies which will bring more jobs to Humboldt.

This commission has done much to help local fishermen. We created a new gear storage area at Redwood Dock Terminal 1 that cleared space on Woodley Island and reduced the price to store fishing gear. We recently opened offloading at Woodley Island for the convenience of our local commercial fishermen. Increasing maintenance workers has allowed for repair and upgrades to bathroom facilities. We are in the final stages of permitting a Fish Market at Woodley Island to accommodate small scale purchasing and sales of fresh fish right off the docks. Recently the District enacted a “Right to Fish” ordinance, the first of its kind in California that protects and elevates commercial fishing activities above all others.

We not only expanded our Fields Landing boat repair facility, we added electronic gates so fishermen have 24 hour access. The recent structure and environmental upgrades, including the repair of the onsite water treatment facility, attracted a steel boat fabricator that allows repairs to stay local. Fishermen are now allowed to stay on their boats while they are in the process of being repaired. We have also stocked the facility with repair items such as paint and scrappers.

The Harbor Commission continues to support the fish cleaning station at Shelter Cove and has made many environmental improvements in the last few years, including repairing the breakwater structure protecting the harbor.

This commission has provided opportunities for Recreation by creating affordable kayak storage units, and finalizing the permitting process of the water trails project. We accepted the maintenance and operation responsibility of the Samoa Trail Project. We continue to support the Sea Scouts and built a new clubhouse for them in Samoa, and support Boy Scout endeavors on Woodley Island Marina.

On the Conservation side, this commission continues the removal of invasive Spartina vegetation to help our marshes to be more productive. We continue water quality monitoring around the Humboldt Bay as well as Shelter Cove. We did a carrying capacity study for potential local oyster expansion. We have held Eel Grass mitigation workshops as well as dredge sediment reuse meetings. We have also managed a sea level rise study and were successful in managing an Aquaponics demonstration project on the Samoa Peninsula that grew fish and lettuce and is now part of a partnership with HSU fisheries. The District is also working with HSU on several renewable energy projects.

The District has never been more transparent and accessible. In fact we are one of the only local special districts that posts our meeting minutes online and records and posts our meetings on public access TV. Our staff is prompt and courteous with all requests for public documents.

Finally, the hiring of current Executive Director Jack Crider was a much needed addition to move the District on the right path – keeping services and adding others while at the same time controlling spending. It is hard to imagine how many complex projects we work on with a budget of just 2 million dollars a year and a staff of 14.

I am proud of the vision and accomplishments of my hardworking fellow commissioners and our dedicated staff and I look forward to continuing the momentum, moving Humboldt Bay ahead both economically and environmentally. 

Last Tourney of the year.