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Sundberg in
Trinidad Rancheria Tribal Councilman Ryan Sundberg is officially running for 5th district Humboldt County Supervisor. The Journal has the scoop.
Sundberg is the latest to emerge from the pool of rumored candidates in the race for Jill Duffy’s soon-to-be-vacated seat. So far the grapevine is proving accurate.
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The 5th district is really starting to look like an interesting political race. Head to head, how does the clout of Trinidad Rancheria leadership stack up against the countywide name recognition of the Pats (particularly Cleary) in the 5th?
Ryan Sundberg isn’t socially connected. He doesn’t have the name recognition. It’s a popularity contest, sorry Ryan.
you must not live in the 5th
Blue Lake Rancheria vs. Trinidad Rancheria Higgins needs to find himself a sugardaddy fast.
Although I am very conservative, I think Ryan is a strong moderate candiate who will whip Cleary. I agree with 421, Zeno must live in a hole in the ground if he/she thinks that Cleary is better known than Sundberg, especially in McKinleyville. Cleary is better known on the South side of the river.
Great news. Finally a real person to support. If Mr. Mayo gets in the race the 5th will have a choice between two who are well known and liked.
I think he [Cleary] is so well known due to the questionable actions he has taken, and tried to take in his role as president of the Headwaters Fund. Clearly, you can take the banker out of Wall Street, but you can’t take Wall Street out of the Banker.
I have run into Ryan and his family around town a couple of times. He always remembers my name and asks me about my children.
Ryan is a very thoughtful person and would be great at listening to all sides of an issue.
I have a question, though: has the 5th district ever elected a Native-American as a Supervisor before? I wonder if the demographics of the district would work for him or against him.
“Although I am very conservative..”
Does that mean you support giving all our jobs to China? Which is what those billionaires supported by “Conservatives” have done.
Great, no work for Americans. You must be proud. When are ya moving to China? Lots of conservatives there.
Isn’t moviedad the one who was decrying all the name calling around here a few weeks ago?
Way to dumb down the conversation dude. One can actually be conservative and not support any of what your your strawman implies.
conservative, liberal, moderate-conservative, progressive-dem, compassionate, green, fiscally this or that, neo-conservative, neo-geo….
All good words for political mad libs. As long as we segregate ourselves from each other we will have no control over our government. We are all responsible for this cultural inefficiency.
moviedad, why did those jobs go to china?
Is Jim Bernard jumping in to the 5th district pool? Talk about name recognition…
Jim Bernard has the reputation of being the most arrogant person in the world. He seems to be relying on his name recognition over his substance. Hey, moviedad, when I said I am conservative, that had nothing to do with China, where did that come from?
Wow…some title “most arrogant in the world” what rock did you crawl out from under, spewing your hate and discontent. And what does China have to do with 5th district? Try and focus people…rambling hate-filled innuendos serve no purpose, other than to discredit the author. And Ryan who…..? Guess you gotta be a tribal member or a casino mole to get that one.
I thought Opie was gonna run. EVERYONE knows Opie!
@Anon A Me 8:00 am: You didn’t really read my post very carefully. I said “countywide name recognition” for the Pats (esp Cleary). Would anybody really argue that Cleary doesn’t trump Sundberg when it comes to countywide name recognition? My question, however, was how all of that plays out in the 5th. (And why the ad-hominem about “living in a hole?” Is that really necessary to making your point, Anon A Me?)
Looking at this objectively, Cleary is very well known, and has had some significant successes, most notably the private-sector Lost Coast Communications. Cleary is a widely respected moderate. Sundberg has clout from his leadership role at the Trinidad Rancheria, and his American Indian background adds a new twist. I don’t know Sundberg’s politics, however.
Objectively speaking, I suspect the early favorite is Cleary, but the 5th is a tricky district to carry in an election. Higgins may be to the left of the 5th district’s political center, and could present problems for Cleary on the left.
I agree that Higgins is to the left of Cleary and that could pose problems for him since he has to move to that direction. Although at his announcement, the crowd did not represent moderates but the very left, aka Nichols.
I do agree with you that Cleary is well known in some areas of the county but I do not think that includes most of the 5th where Sundberg has lived his whole life. If you split the population into “politicos” and non-pliiticos, Sundberg has the edge in the non-politicos, and we know that is who elects.
Higgins will hurt Cleary and not Sundberg.
So at this point we have a centerest, Sundberg; a left of center, Cleary; and very left, Higgins. Lytle does not count, less than 4%. If a conservative like Mayo or Shepherd enters the race, that will hurt Sundberg. Only time will tell.
Added note:
If the public is upset with insiders, then Cleary has a big problem and Sundberg has a big advantage. Cleary is as inside as you can get.
Mayo is a lot of things but conservative is not one of them. If there ever was an independant Dennis is it.
Outside of Arcata no one has ever heard of Cleary. This doesn’t mean he can’t be competitive but it does mean he will have to raise a ton of money to get the word out. With Richard Saltzman and Ken Miller firmly behind him he will be able to bring in the dough but not without some baggage. It remains to be seen if Higgins and Sundberg can compete financially.
I predict a new high in 5th district spending.
A-nony-mouse 2:05pm…Opie probably has more experience than Cleary, just not as much money. I’ll bet this election sets a record for the 5th district for money spent to buy a seat.
Cleary’s gonna run on Blue Lake casino money + the big bucks he stole from the public in his overpaid job as investment banker at Chase Manhattan.
Sundberg’s gonna get big bucks from the Trinidad casino + the rich developer family his is married to.
Should be fun. He with the most $$ wins?
Sundberg is not from a developer family and if Blue Lake funds Cleary the rest of the Native American community with burn the place to the ground (figuerativly only) and they would be right to do it.
Sundberg is married into the Miller Farm family. They are developing a huge lot in McKinleyville. Read Cleary’s announcement in the McK Press. He says he hopes to get Blue Lake casino money and that he would not be able to vote on anything related to the Rancheria because of the obvious conflict of interest he has and would have in the very unlikely event he gets elected. Now doesn’t that make you feel confident in his independence from the casino? This guy lies just like you’d expect a banker to.
Isn’t Blue Lake Casino a major stockholder in Lost Coast Communications…duhhhh…
Isn’t Blue Lake Casino a major stockholder in Lost Coast Communications
Answer: YES
Blue Lake either funds the Native American candidate or sits it out. Besides as it was said, Cleary can’t vote on their issues, Sundberg can.
You mean Sundberg can OK money coming from the casino to his campaign? Nice.
What I said in earlier post is that Cleary would have a major conflict of interest if he ever got to be supervisor. He is not giving up his business, and they are major owners of that business. If they fund his campaign and they probably WILL one way or another – he will be indebted to them FOREVER. Forget about reccuse, the conflict are too big to ignore.
battle of the casino $$ 5:07 looks like Sundberg has his own conflicts
not reccuse – recusal.
Wasn’t this the crux of the problem with the tribes joining HCOAG?
Wasn’t this the crux of the problem with the tribes joining HCOAG?
Don’t know. Tribes have the legal right to be on HCOAG, and should be because they are legit governments and should have a voice in these things. Politicians that don’t observe the law won’t let them get on.
I agree they should have a voice. But other government bodies (ie HCOAG members) can’t make political contributions.
Sundberg is married into the Miller Farm family. They are developing a huge lot in McKinleyville.
nice try but wrong sundberg, wrong developer.
You are thinking of randy sundberg, ryan’s cousin, but he is not married into the miller family, his mom was a miller.
The project was Miller Farms property but was purchased by JLF Construction. Try reading the McK Press once in a while.
AnyMouse, the government mixed with political donations does make it a different can of worms. If political $$ from corporations was banned, and if casino generated $$ could be classified as corporation $$, lots of problems with the political system would be fixed. If only.
Jim Bernard is on crack if he thinks being a longtime news weather guy in and of itself will get him elected supervisor. People in the 5th aren’t that stupid, Jim. In all of your time on the North Coast, when have you taken a political stand on anything? It appears that claim of arrogance was dead-on.
Anon 4:41 pm obviously doesn’t know Ken Miller…when you spout off about what you don’t know, it kind of makes the rest of your post not worth reading.
421: you make it sound like everyone in McKinleyville is related!
I’d be delighted to see a November run-off between Sundberg and Higgins, with Chase Manhattan media monopoly bankster Pat Cleary dead last and out of the running. Bankers are about as popular as tweakers these days.
I’m looking forward to the campaign…if only to turn the conversation to something more interesting than random insults.
Cleary left the banking world and moved here to start his life over, almost 10 years ago. Slamming him for being a banker seems like a stretch.
His so-called localism stations don’t match the fake notoriety about his generous public service either. Not one of them actually hosts a daily local news reporting program. Even those always-broke hippies at KMUD can manage that.
421: you make it sound like everyone in McKinleyville is related!
no comment
You’re absolutely right. I apologize; still mourning the loss of the country I guess. I’ll be more careful with my words in the future.
I realize the traitors at the top call themselves “Conservatives” when they are anything but. Perhaps “real” conservatives should find another term so they don’t find themselves aligned with the anti-America, anti-Constitution, anti-human rights crowd.
As a socialist I refuse to call myself a “Liberal” seeing as those so named have turned out to be so gutless and accommodating to the new Monarchy.
Anyway, sorry for the emotional outbreak.
Country Mouse 8:08pm Just FYI…off the tube, Bernard has served on Trinidad Planning Commission and City Council. Are you suggesting he should have Politicized the Weather. I haven’t see any of these candidates (except Higgins) taking political stands on anything. They’re all waiting to see what 5th district voters want to hear.
Bernard lives in Westhaven. Unless things have changed, he could not serve on the City Council unless he lived in the city limits. Check your facts.
If you say it often and loud enough it becomes true?–Doesnt it?? We need a REAL candidate…
A Non A Me Ditto, he used to live in Trinidad, duhhh.
And when was that? He has been in Westhaven for many years. Duhh.
All of this is oh so ineresting, but like a typical political discussion, there is no there here. What are the issues and who stands for what? That’s great that someone worked somewhere and married someone, but what are the freaking issues that they take a stand on? What’s the plan, man? And how come there aren’t any women in this one?
Funnygirl: you should run!
I think it strange that a wanna-be politician that has been in McKinleyville all his life has not one issue coming into the campaign. He is waiting to hear the buzz words that he will then grab hold of. Shallow.
Cleary came here recently from Wall Street and now thinks he can buy the supervisor seat for himself like he buys a business or like he helped Fox News get all its power.
Only candidate talking about real issues for the 5th is Higgins.
Who cares why no woman? Women-ness does not mean good-ness. Think Sara Palin and look at what Geist-Duffy became. Vote for the best person, not the gender.
Jobs, Affordable Housing, and quality of Life. No real issues there. Seriously you do not have a clue of what you are talking about, you should research the points they give you.
What real issues is Higgins talking about, MLPA folks spend 30% of their time getting Pat to shut his mouth and stop screwing up the process. He has not done a damn thing on the Harbor Board but run his mouth. Pat jumps on anything that gets him attention. He is pissing off the Salzman crowed who put him in and you will see how much support they give him.
Seems like what happened to Jill is that she became a decent supervisor. Ask her who see would like to see put in the seat. Hell go to any public meeting, or gathering of people ie church, bar, casino, eating establishment etc in the 5th district and ask people.
Cleary pushed Fox, same guy that had Paykeepers, Richard Salzman, Ken Miller, and John Wooley on stage when he declared. As I stated before research the points they give you.
So the county is responsible for jobs, affordable housing and quality of life. The first, jobs – what exactly could the county do to create jobs? Affordable housing is a non-issue because the county cannot control what people will pay for housing. The market decides that – that would be you and me. Quality of life is a personal issue, not a government one. different strokes for different folks. I would like to see the roads taken care of – that word infrastructure comes to mind. Everyone talks about”Public Safety” which translated means more sheriffs. If you live in the 5th that would incude Orick and Orleans. They would like to see a sheriff now and again. Discuss.
The County mainly has a negative impact on jobs through its policies, especially in land use and the availability of land for businesses that could create jobs. As far as affordable housing, the county has the greatest impact because they control the costs of building new homes and the availability of places that can provide affordable housing. One big step for the County is to just get their act together and complete an accurate housing inventory. As far as quality of life, see all of the above. Of course this is my opinion and I simply do not have input into what candidates choose to say. At this point Sundberg has the clearest positions.
Ben, how does the county control the cost of building houese??–I’m not to quick, elaborate please..
Ben said: At this point Sundberg has the clearest positions.
Which are?
Better start pouring some your thoughts into Sundberg’s. Your such a winner, afterall.
local government regulations add much to the cost of housing. google “housing costs, government regulation” and see what the scholars say. there are too many links to post here.
Spanky,
So how many times have you had to ask the county for permission to do anything? If you had, you would not say something so stupid.
So, really?, I don’t know Ben’s thinking, but I read what Higgins had to say in the McKinleyville Press and the TS and it is as clear as mud. Lets see didn’t he say something about talking to the Forest Service about something to do with jobs? And then there are trails for economic development! Very clear thinking. Cleary was talking about jobs, fiber optic link, and oh how beautiful it is here. He talked about how we need to educate people for the new economy (installing grow lights?) I have not read Sundberg’s points yet, but they must be clearer than Higgins and Cleary. Oh, I forgot Lytle. Hard to see his message getting out.
Ryan Sundberg would make a wonderful Supervisor for the 5th District, after Patrick Cleary serves two or three terms.
What are the exact regulations we should dump?
Jack,
Read HCD’s letter to the County on the housing element and what needs to be done will be clear.
A Non A Me,
I don’t know if we’re referring to the same HDC letter, but the one I read refers to maintaining an adequate inventory of developable land to meet current housing needs. It sounds like a case of requiring the county to follow regulations, rather than reducing regulations on developers.
Perhaps you’re referring to a different document?
Jack, in the appendix to the letter dated Nov.30th from HCD, page 3 item 2, “Analyze potential and actual governmental constraints upon the maintenance, improvement, or development of housing for all income levels…”
“…This analysis shall also demonstrate local efforts to remove governmental constraints that hinder the locality from meeting its share of the regional housing need…”
Real World:
Customer “A” develops 3 lots where property all around it is fully developed. No sidewalks within 1500 feet. County requires developer to install 2 ADA ramps and crosswalk at entrace to development. These go nowhere at either end and propbably never will. If you are in a wheelchair you can now get dropped off here and cross the street to be picked up. Cost $12,000.00
Customer “B” wants to develop a mother-in-law unit on a 1+ acre parcel. County requires widenening the pavement in front of the entire parcel 10′, installing a curb, gutter, sidewalk, a 24″ drain pipe the length of the property. Cost: +/- $80,000. Still no project. These are the same improvements one would have to make for a 5 lot subdivision on the same parcel.
Tim,
Now we’re getting somewhere! There should be a way to rewrite county requirements to prevent expensive, but unnecessary, improvements like the ones noted above.
The existing codes don’t have exceptions for this? Or is it a matter of how the planning dept. interprets the language?
Jack,
I actually built those handicapped ramps to nowhere. Let me add that when I applied for lot line adjustment between two parcels we owned with the idea of splitting the new larger parcel into three lots. I knew I would have to build a road through the parcel and I asked the planner if the road area would be subtracted from the lot areas and the planner said no. I then completed the lot line adjustment, took 2 years! When I completed the plans and engineering for the subdivision and was ready to go to a hearing at the Planning Commission, I was called by planning staff and was told that they withdrew the project from the agenda because they discovered that I did not have enough land because they subtracted the road area from the project. Remember that was the question I asked. I contacted the neighbor and negotiated a lot line adjustment to give me enough land and reengineered the project. Many thousands of dollars later and after much time, I was told that after looking at it again, the land for the road would not be subtracted, so we went back to square one. I missed the constructions season and had to complete the project the next year at a considerable increase in cost. I won’t even go into the issues with Bella Vista Road where there were two conflicting reqirements and I had to widen the road because the project across the street did not leave enough room for parking.
Infill is what everyone seems to want, but it is a nightmare.
That’s why we need reasonable and balanced people serving at the city and county level. We have the political/environmental elite in positions of power in our agencies. Common sense does not hold much water these days. When a Ralph Faust runs our planning dept by default it is obvious that our community is in deep trouble. I’m voting for Mayo if he runs or Sundberg if he does not.
Yes, please bring back the a supervisor that is in the pocket of the developer elite.
“No sidewalks within 1500 feet. County requires developer to install 2 ADA ramps and crosswalk at entrace to development. These go nowhere at either end and propbably never will.”
They never will go anywhere if you don’t start building them.
There should obviously be exceptions to the sidewalk rules. However, if there’s nearby property that undeveloped, but has development potential, then you’d want those sidewalks.
As for being jerked around by the planning dept., that sounds like more of an issue of personnel/management.
As we all know, there was an effort to solve that problem that is no longer politically viable.
The bigger problem in McKinleyville is drainage. Piecemeal sidewalks and curbs etc would be better done when the street is repaved. All the property owners could vote on what they were willing to pay for. And it should be majority rule because there is always some asshole who won’t want to pay for anything. Assess the properties. Done. All at once. What a concept.
2:44 do you live in a house? Just asking because it wasn’t developer elite responsible for your home. It was loggers,mill workers,truck drivers,salesmen,carpenters,planners,plumbers,the hardware store owner,painters,cement workers,etc,etc,etc. To be fair some of the lots were created by developers but it was a symbiotic and good relationship. Life is much more about balance than it is radical ideologies. Mark Lovelace is not a good supervisor. He might be a good community organizer. He is a progressive with an absolute no growth agenda. How is that balanced? Let’s elect a person from the 5th that will represent us all.
I suppose the “developer elite” was as much responsible for my home as the “environmental elite” was responsible for the clean air and water we have.
I don’t think Mark Lovelace is running for supervisor in the 5th district.
“They never will go anywhere if you don’t start building them.”
“property all around it is fully developed”
they will never go anywhere if the property around it is fully developed.
Jack,
All neighboring properties are fully developed and there are no sidewalks on Bella Vista Road anywhere. Since it is fully developed, there will be no sidewalks built. So is anyone suggesting that homeowners be forced to build sidewalks? Did anyone check on the cost of construction?
The first meeting with Public Works I was told that I may have to place sidewalks along Bella Vista Road and on both sides of Sylvan Place, which would have meant I had to move a power plole on Bella Vista. If I remember just to move a power pole is $25,000. The person from Public Works had no idea of what Bella Vista Road was like and had never been on it. After showing him the road, he changed his mind. The requirement would have meant no project because it would have doubled the price of the lots.
If we want infill, anyone who is doing a small project can not fix everything that has previously been done in the area.
Sounds like a responsive public works department.
battle of the casino $$ Says:
January 23, 2010 at 5:24 pm
What I said in earlier post is that Cleary would have a major conflict of interest if he ever got to be supervisor. He is not giving up his business, and they are major owners of that business. If they fund his campaign and they probably WILL one way or another – he will be indebted to them FOREVER. Forget about reccuse, the conflict are too big to ignore.
Check your facts! Although Blue Lake Rancheria does indeed own shares of Lost Coast Communication, they do not own enough to be called “major owners” Controlling shares of LCC Inc are own by Cleary’s family.
Ben,
Sounds like Public Works ultimately agreed with you. It also sounds like there are already mechanisms in place to disallow unnecessary improvements, but they don’t always work the way builders think they should.
Or maybe planners are out of touch with the needs of McKinleyville because they don’t live here. In that case, maybe a local planning commission would be in order.
Don’t tell Mayo that, He might take it personal.
Jack,
They certainly do not have “mechanisms in place to disallow unnecessary improvements”. Did you forget the handicapped ramps to nowhere?
A Non A Me,
But are the “handicapped ramps to nowhere” a result of poorly written codes, or the result of planning staff’s interpretation of those codes?
If the codes or policies are inadequate, then they need to be changed. But if they already address these issues, then it’s a problem with staff’s interpretation.
Many times I have discovered there aren’t policies, it is just what they want. Then it becomes a condition of approval when you go to the planning commission. It is not necessarily the fault of the planners or public works people, they are just trying to get the facilities up to snuff and their budgets (well, public works, anyway) have been decimated.
You can fight this if you are willing to spend big $$ because the exactions (or extractions) are supposed to be relative to the nature and extent of the development, according to the U.S. Supreme Court. The problem is you need to be prepared to drop six figures on a lawsuit and delay your project for years. If you have employees and a family to feed, this is not realistic. Hang up your principles and submit.
FYI
The Nollan-Dolan Two Pronged Nexus Requirement
First, an “essential nexus” must exist between the asserted legitimate state interest” and the permit condition imposed by government. Nollan v. California Coastal Comm’n., 483 U.S. 825, at ___ ,107 S.Ct. 3141, 3148 (1987); Dolan v. City if Tigard, 512 U.S. 374, 114 S.Ct. 2309, 2317 (1994).
Second, if the required nexus to a valid public purpose exists, the court must then analyze the “degree of connection” between the exaction and the “projected impact” of the proposed development. There must be “rough proportionality” between the two. Dolan, 512 U.S. at ___, 114 S.Ct. at 2317, 2319.
The burden of proof, at least in the second phase of the Dolan analysis, is on the government, not the property owner.
Dolan, 512 U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. at 2319-2320, n. 8.
No “precise mathematical calculation” is required, but the regulator must make “some sort of individualized determination” that the exaction “is related both in nature and extent to the impact of the proposed development.” Id.
_ Government must make an effort “to quantify its findings” in support of the action. Dolan, 512 U.S. at ___ 114 S.Ct. at 2322.
Tim,
Couldn’t the planning commission over-ride these requirements? I realize that would be a pain in the ass, but still.
This discussion started with someone saying we needed to change (or dump) the regulations, but now it appears that the problem is the requirements as dictated by human beings in various departments.
I’m not sure how a supervisor would solve this.
By getting new staff!
A supervisor is not a king.
Jack,
You could sit the developers, public works, and planners at the same table and say, “What can we do to expedite this process and minimize costs?”
Or a queen? I’ve seen evidence to the contrary.
But it’s true that county staff consider themselves the royalty of the Pink Palace, and they don’t conceal their indifference to instructions they disagree with. A Supervisor is, in fact, a supervisor. But as we know, it may cost 281 thousand dollars for the brief thrill of acting like one. But lawyers are more costly than petty royalty . . .
Why I was just in the planning department today and was treated with total distain at the counter. Like I smelled bad, had bad breath and was really hard to look at without making a face. What’s with that? Do they take a special class to act like that?
you can get that way when you are not accountable to anybody. try to get an appointment with anita. she isn’t there, her message box is full and nobody knows where she is or when she will be in. nice gig if you can get it.
Would you think that since a “customer” pays the full cost for any project, that they would want to be nice?
Time for a change of leadership!
Jack,
Are you some pocket planner? Your posts seem to want to find excuses for a bad situation. You would think that a reporter would like to be a little more investigative. I do not know anyone who has to deal with “Community Development” who has had a good experience. Remember time is money and when it takes 4 years or more to get a subdivision approved and just ask all the people who have asked for Certificates of Compliance who have waited over 10 years and still can not get action. So what are they doing with a staff of over 60 and very few applications for projects? Don’t you think that is a good question? But, Jack,if you have a bias, I guess you can’t change from rosey glasses.
Jack,
Dig deeper! Pretent you are a real reporter.
pretend I can spell, too :)
These types of complaints have been repeatedly reported in the paper. I’m interested in real reforms that solve real problems rather than debating political rhetoric for the sport of it. This thread has provided some insight into needed reforms, but more info is needed.