Blocksburg unveiled

If you haven’t seen the 7 min. video about the Humboldt Hamlet of Blocksburg posted over at Chocolate Covered Xanax, go check it out.

Image from the Blocksburg website.

Supes tackle Housing Element

Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) was topic #1 at Tuesday’s Humboldt County Board of Supervisors hearing on the Housing Element of the General Plan Update.

Kay Escarda, a veteran of two Housing Element plans, encouraged Supervisors to adopt Inclusionary Zoning.

About 20 citizens spoke during the public comment portion of the hearing, many voicing support or opposition to IZ, which the Planning Commission approved by a 4-2 vote.

Proponents believe IZ will finally address the need for affordable housing in the county, while opponents — mostly Realtors — want the market to solve the problem.

Humboldt County has one of the worst housing indexes in the state, said Kay Escarda of Eureka’s Housing advisory Board.  IZ is “the best chance of actually producing some housing for lower income people,” she said.

John LaBoyteaux of the North Coast Growers Association said 4 of the 5 homes he’s owned were zoned IZ, and all have been in nice neighborhoods with a variety of housing types.

Brian Mitchell of the pro-development group Humboldt Economic & Land Plan (HELP) said IZ would concentrate low income housing in McKinleyville, Cutten and unincorporated Fortuna.

But Jon Zaiglin of Healthy Humboldt said IZ does the opposite by demanding affordable housing that doesn’t segregate economic classes.  IZ would prevent “ghettoization,” he said.

The hearing was continued to August 18.

Authorities predict record pot year

Illegal marijuana plantations are proliferating due to fewer patrols of state and national forestlands in California, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.   Authorities blame Mexican drug traffickers.

Human chess at Mad River Brewery

The Humboldt Herald received notice of a “big live human chess game” taking place tonight at the Mad River Brewery in Blue Lake.  Festivities start at six.

What is it, you ask?  We haven’t the slightest, but guess that it’s something like that scene in the first Harry Potter movie — back when they reasonably resembled the books — where players take the part of the rook or knight or pawn.  Presumably, you won’t have to beat the dark lord.

Since when has strategy, logic and long periods of standing still been the goal of beer drinkers?  Perhaps the board will come equipped with something to lean on.

EXCLUSIVE: Why GFS quit the Eureka Reporter

[Former Eureka Reporter managing editor Glenn Franco Simmons responded to a recent post on the Humboldt Herald with a scathing, inside scoop on the reason he quit the now defunct paper.  Below is an excerpt. --HH]

To clarify my comment on Bleacher Report: The Eureka Reporter was successful as an online-only publication because it was affordable and focused on Eureka City Council and the Board of Supervisors.

When I was hired, I was told we would not branch out to Arcata, Fortuna, McKinleyville, etc. The operation was to stay small.

That was the initial agreement I signed up for.  It changed. It is no secret going to print was a waste of millions upon millions upon millions of dollars.

As far as my critics contend concerning circulation, you give me no credit for not repeating the lie of a 25,000 circulation, yet all the other Eureka Reporter employees did.

Since I doubted the circulation totals the spring I resigned, then found out all kinds of papers were ending up being dumped, stored in houses, etc., and when the publisher refused to remove defamatory comments from The Eureka Reporter’s Web site (which the owner finally agreed with me and forced their removal), and when I was told (NOT by the owner) to fire an employee whose “long” “hair was unkept” and “because he wore his beany to his desk,” and when I refused, and then I was told “find a way,” I went home, talked to my wife, and then sent by e-mail a resignation to Rob Arkley II.

If the North Coast Journal were a real newspaper, and if it had a real media critic, it would have found out this information.

[Read the rest here.]

Former Eureka Reporter editor sports blogging

Onetime Eureka Reporter managing editor Glenn Franco Simmons has become a man of many blogs.  His pink blog, as previously discussed on the Humboldt Herald, has now become a “Blog Portal” which links to no less than seven separate blogs by Simmons.

But the Portal doesn’t list his contributions to the Bleacher Report, which focuses on sports.

Simmons’ bio on the Bleacher Report includes an intriguing comment about the old ER:

Since graduating from college with honors as a journalism major in 1985, I’ve edited several weeklies and co-founded and managed a now-defunct 24,800-circulation daily.

For several years, I was a publisher/managing editor until our publication became too large, and I went back to what I love most: editing.

It became too large?

Simmons sports articles appear to be enjoying a large readership.  The feed for the Bleacher Report is posted on CBSSports.com.

Capping growth good for cities, farmlands

[Below is an excerpt from the Sacramento Bee: Values hold up in cities that limited growth.  Emphasis added.]

In the aftermath of the Sacramento region’s housing boom it’s abundantly clear now that keeping a lid on housing growth can pay off for cities and their inhabitants’ home values over the long run.

Yolo County property tax assessments announced Thursday show that Davis, long resistant to growth, is having none of the declining values associated with fast-growth suburbs throughout the capital area.

Neither is farmland that county activists work to save from residential development. Agricultural values for tax purposes climbed 3.5 percent over last year, records show.

HOME DEPOT: Just like Wal-Mart

A group of former assistant managers are suing Home Depot for failure to pay overtime and other complaints.

Three named plaintiffs say Home Depot fires assistant managers or cuts their pay if they do not work at 11-hour shifts five days a week, and misclassifies assistant managers as exempt from overtime pay. This saves Home Depot “millions of dollars in employee compensation,” but happens to be illegal, the class claims.

There may be hundreds — if not thousands — of asst. managers eligible to join the suit, which is seeking class action status.

Once upon a time we were told that bringing Home Depot to Eureka would bring us prosperity.  These (allegedly) bilked employees would probably predict a different outcome.

[Image source.]

Quick Notes, round 3

A fresh Quick Notes thread is ready to receive your off-topic comments.  As always, find it at the top of the page below the header.

Flemming resignation mystery continues

Today’s Times-Standard says the mystery behind Rio Dell City Manager Nancy Flemming’s resignation “may never be revealed.”  But Eureka’s daily seems to have a line on the “rumors and off-the-record discontent” still circulating over the issue.

There’s definitely interest in the subject.  The Herald inbox is hosting calls for more info, and KHUM’s Mike Dronkers is inviting anyone with story to phone the station.

“An article like [the one in the T-S] only makes me want to think of the most grandiose reason” for the resignation, Dronkers said, but added he’s not interested in rumors.

One rumor is that Flemming will make a second try at unseating Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely in 2010 (she narrowly lost in 2006).  If Flemming puts her name in the hat, interest in her Rio Dell resignation will enjoy a long shelf life.

–

Previously on the Humboldt Herald: Another quitter