#124. The Long Work Behind Humboldt’s Trails, Housing, and Transit | Natalie Arroyo

Trails, housing, transit, and public art can take years of quiet work before the results become visible. Humboldt County District 4 Supervisor Natalie Arroyo joins Scott Hammond to discuss her eight years on the Eureka City Council, the projects that outlast election cycles, and what sustained public service looks like when change moves slowly. She also traces the path that brought her from Miami and New Orleans to Humboldt through AmeriCorps watershed work, the Coast Guard, teaching, and roller derby—and reflects on Eureka’s Street Art Festival, the Humboldt Bay and Great Redwood trails, affordable housing, and the community relationships behind them.

Transcript

Welcome And Natalie’s Many Hats

SPEAKER_05 0:30

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt Podcast with my new best friend, the woman, the myth, the legend, Natalie Arroyo. Hi, Natalie. Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I love being introduced that way. Hello, Scott.

SPEAKER_05 0:42

How's your day?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Aaron Powell It's going great. It's been a zooming all over Humboldt kind of day.

SPEAKER_05 0:47

Oh, really? Like in a car or in on a computer zooming?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Oh, um both, actually. Yeah. That's a pretty common day for me. Uh zipping around to meetings in real life and then zooming uh across the the airwaves, I guess.

SPEAKER_05 0:59

Aaron Powell Yeah, that happens. And here's one more. Yes, absolutely. Actually, we won't zoom until Monday.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Okay. All right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

So uh name, rank, and serial number, what do you do? What's your what's your job? What's your role? Who who are you? Yeah. Natalie Arroyo.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Do you want all the hats? Let's see. I I I'll start by um I'm I'll start by saying I play roller derby because you mentioned that already before we got on the air. So uh that's my first I'll wear I'll wear my helmet first. So I play with Humboldt roller derby. Uh it's a big part of what I love about this community. Um and then in addition to that, something that people might know about me is that I'm a Humboldt County supervisor representing District 4, the district we are in. And let's see.

SPEAKER_05 1:42

Probably the latter one would be the one I would recognize.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Uh the the roller derby identity. Oh, that's the four.

SPEAKER_05 1:49

That's the four supervisor.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, I also serve in the Coast Guard, and then I teach uh one class at Cal Poly Humboldt, but I've been faculty there for quite a few near years now. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:00

We just had Dr. Richard on. He was great.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:03

What a great dude.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah. That's great.

SPEAKER_05 2:05

He's gonna take it next level.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Awesome.

SPEAKER_05 2:08

So yeah, uh raised on um roller derby in San Diego.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

I love that.

SPEAKER_05 2:12

San Francisco Bay Bombers. Yes. And the LAT birds would come down and they would roll our derby in San Diego Sports Arena.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah. Bank. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:22

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

That's uh very rare these days, although there are still a few banked tracks around the country. One's in San Diego, another one in, I think, Michigan. There's a few left.

SPEAKER_05 2:30

It was sort of the WWF of its day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:33

Hollow briefcases, they would hit each other and coaches get crazy.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah, we don't do it that way anymore. It's like a real

Roller Derby Then And Now

SPEAKER_01 2:40

sport now. So I kind of wish they'd renamed it when it was resuscitated in the early 2000s. I wish that it had gotten a new name so that we could get some more respect as a real sport, you know.

SPEAKER_05 2:48

Aaron Ross Powell So you know Paul Brisseux, your announcer?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Aaron Powell Yeah. I love Paul.

SPEAKER_05 2:52

He and I went to Humboldt together.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Oh, wonderful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:54

Hi, Paul.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

You both have that great announcer voice.

SPEAKER_05 2:56

Aaron Powell Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

unknown 2:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:59

Guys and gals.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

He's gotten a a good education in the in the modern sport of flat track roller derby. He's uh been a good student of the sport. And they've gotten a lot of awards for covering it. So it's been really cool.

SPEAKER_05 3:10

Mr. Paul.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:11

Nice. So tell us tell us the Natalie story. Where were you born? Where where were you raised? And how'd you get to Humboldt?

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yeah. This is all the um the questions, the the security questions. Yeah. Um perfect. Kind of. I'll give everyone the security question answers. I was born in Miami. Um, my dad was in the Air Force. And so um I lived near or at a lot of Air Force bases. Um but uh so at Homestead Air Force Base at the time was near Miami before Hurricane Andrew um pretty much obliterated it. Um and so we lived in Miami at the time. And uh let's see, then I went to high school in Central Florida on the coast, on the Atlantic coast, uh, right near Kennedy Space Center. Wow. So uh a lot of my friends' parents worked at NASA. Wow. That was cool.

SPEAKER_05 3:59

Have you seen liftoffs?

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Oh, many. Yeah. Actually, it got very commonplace to the point where, you know, as as commonplace as little bitty earthquakes are here was how it felt. Like, oh, yeah, one time I remember um my mom was really waiting for an important piece of mail, and she kept hearing little sounds and thinking that it was the mail arriving, and she kept asking me, Oh, is that the mail? Um, and I said, No, mom, I think it was just the space shuttle taking off. So that's how commonplace it was. It's just we didn't even go.

SPEAKER_05 4:26

So irritating.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

So annoying. Not even the mailman.

SPEAKER_05 4:29

Again, that thing. Did you go to school there too?

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Um, I went to school, yep. I I graduated from University of Florida in Gainesville, so North Florida. And then I moved to Louisiana after that. Um planning to pursue my master's degree there. And then I must just be a little bit of a hurricane magnet because Hurricane Katrina hit um wow uh a few months after I moved there. So I moved to uh Humboldt from New Orleans.

SPEAKER_05 4:54

There's a change.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah, it was a big change. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:57

So what did you study in in Florida?

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Um, yeah, I I actually studied international relations and political science. Uh, not thinking that I would ever end up in politics as a career, like government, but I I wasn't thinking that I would necessarily run for office. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:11

So we have nine kids with son Jessie studied that at University Pacific.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Awesome. Yeah. I think a lot of um parents maybe aren't thrilled if their kids are gonna study political science. It's hard to think about the applicability, but um I I think it was helpful to study governance. Yeah, I got the I got a chance to study abroad and um actually intern in the European Union um

Miami Childhood And Space Coast Years

SPEAKER_01 5:35

system and be sort of like a court runner. And travel over there. Yeah, in in Belgium when I was in the early 2000s. So that was really exciting.

SPEAKER_05 5:44

We love Belgium. We've been there.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:46

To Ghent and to Bruges.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Oh, very cool. Yeah. I lived in Brussels for for uh several months.

SPEAKER_05 5:53

So I bet that was cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_05 5:55

Yeah, big city.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Big city, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:57

My daddy was in the Air Force too.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Oh, cool. Right. Both Air Force brats. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 6:01

Army Air Corps in World War II.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 6:03

He flew P51s.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I've got a big Air Force and Army family. Uh I'm the only Coastie, though, but I I uh joke with my Air Force family that, you know, well, at least I'm wearing blue.

SPEAKER_05 6:14

So that's right. We love our coasties. But you're in reserves, right? I am, yes. Aaron Powell, which is what what is what's that duty look like? Do you go monthly, daily?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

It's usually a weekend a month and then two weeks of um training a year, although for most of us in the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard's so small, but a lot of a lot of um and and on the officer side in particular, it ends up being more work than that. Um, you know, when you're supervising people or working on projects or getting additional training. So it's always been more than that for me.

SPEAKER_05 6:42

Aaron Powell So Group Humboldt Bay.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Um No, I I've never been attached um to Humboldt. Actually, that's not true. During COVID, I think Well, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 6:51

You're AI says you're part of that other group. That does like pollution and other emergent Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

AI is not too bad uh too far off. I've uh I I was at the Pacific Strike Team in Novato for uh several years. Yeah, yeah. Your notes are pretty close.

SPEAKER_05 7:07

So do you go down there or do you do you go do it?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah, there's no billets for nonpilots who are officers up here um and reservists. So there's not a way that I could um be an officer and be in the reserves here. We're just too small up here.

SPEAKER_05 7:22

So such a great bunch of coasties that we've known.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Yeah, yeah. Although um, you know, over the years I've I've done some duty up at um Sector Humboldt Bay by and you know, by the airport, um and have spent some time there recently. So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:35

So I have kind of an adjacent surprise for you a little later when we do the uh remember the bell thing?

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_05 7:41

So she asked about the bell and she will find out. So we had a um our very good friend Gary Todoroff was the very first ever Coast Guard official photographer. Oh, how cool. Captain Durfee, who's an amazing guy, Bob was a uh Hilo pilot in McKeniville, and then he was the cap. And he got Gary to uh put through the system as the first ever photographer.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Oh, very neat.

SPEAKER_05 8:06

Official.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

I love that.

SPEAKER_05 8:07

Yeah. Uh we'll sit on that for a minute, so stay with that one for a minute. Okay. Anyway. Um so where'd you go after? So you came to Humboldt. What got you here from Louisiana?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

It was actually an AmeriCorps program, the Watershed Stewards uh program, which is still in existence. It's uh slightly morphed, and now they have a closer relationship with the California Conservation Corps. So they're a special program of the CCC. Um, but I came out to Petrolea from New Orleans to do fisheries um science and fisheries restoration, so on the Matole River. And uh I lived out there for a year and a couple months, and um and then I moved to to town, so to speak, after that. I moved to Eureka. Yeah, right. Well, going to town when you live in and petroleum is often um, you know, Ferndale or or Garberville. So I spent a lot of time at the you know, Chautauqua market and maybe like raised food place in Fortuna, because that was the closest grocery store that's groceries.

SPEAKER_05 9:05

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Considerable size.

SPEAKER_05 9:07

So so authentic hill people, like in the backwoods of petroleum.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, yeah. It was quite the experience. Um I had never I didn't know anything about Humboldt County before moving here. Um and I moved here in um January of 2006. So kind of the heyday of cannabis um in southern Humboldt and in rural Humboldt. Um but uh so I was a little bit I had a lot to learn. I was a little green. Hey, hey, y'all. And I don't mean green in that particular way. That's funny.

SPEAKER_05 9:41

I like what you did with that. Yeah. You came into the wild, wild west.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

I it really was interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I bet. Yeah. So I moved with like one car load of stuff and I was uh considered, you know, essentially like a Hurricane Katrina refugee of sorts. I mean, I had not been um impacted the way that many people had been impacted, but I did live in the city after the hurricane for another uh five, six months before moving out here.

SPEAKER_05 10:07

So I bet that was rough. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Um people really looking out for each other. I I think in disaster and hardship, there's always that kind of um community element that and strength that that shows up.

SPEAKER_05 10:24

Yeah. I want to go to New Orleans sometime. I want to go to the jazz festival. I've heard it. Did you go have you been?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

You know, it's funny. When I lived there, I was like, I I'm not sure that I I was drawn to the big events. Um and I think a lot of a lot of uh locals, you know, depending on what they're into, you know, kind of tend to leave town to let tourists kind of take over during that time frame. So no, I've never been. Um, but I have gone back several times. Um my sister lives in Louisiana now, just uh just a little bit outside of New Orleans. So just was there in January for my nephew's wedding.

SPEAKER_05 10:56

Aaron Powell That would be fun. I would never never traveled there. I'd like to do that.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah, I'd love the architecture. So for me, when I travel, I I want to see I want to eat good food. I want to see new and interesting architecture. Yeah. Um, you know, since I have lived there before, it's kind of

International Relations And Katrina Aftermath

SPEAKER_01 11:10

nostalgic to go back, but it's a great city.

SPEAKER_05 11:12

Aaron Powell Just got back from Spain, so there was some architecture.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Aaron Powell Yeah, absolutely. What part of Spain were you in?

SPEAKER_05 11:17

Uh Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca, which is the island. Yeah. Um Barcelona. Wonderful. And Alacante.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Wonderful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:26

We almost got to go to um Cartagena. They closed the port for some reason. So Yeah. And two words. Mango, gelato.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Oh, yeah. Oh my gosh. Oh, I love gelato.

SPEAKER_05 11:37

And the coffee.

unknown 11:38

Sh the truck.

SPEAKER_05 11:41

Oh, it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

You may have to pick up some on the way home.

SPEAKER_05 11:45

They have like all it's all fresh, and there's a hundred of them, and you go, wow, this is what do I do?

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah. Too many gelatorias. It's a real problem.

SPEAKER_05 11:51

A gelateria, is that what it's called?

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Mm-hmm. I like it. Yeah. I have um a lot of my family. I'm uh my dad was Puerto Rican, and um a lot of my family traced the our our lineage to to Burgos, which is uh in kind of central, a little bit northern Spain. Okay. It's uh the the capital, ancient capital of Castile, so it was the capitalism for some time. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_05 12:13

It's a fascinating country.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Aaron Powell Yeah. Very interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:16

Yeah. And Gaud Gaudi, the architect artist that created the Sangria Familia, the giant cathedral. Yeah. Not a cathedral, it's a basilica.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:27

And I'm not sure what the difference is.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

But good question. That's a that's a good one for the listeners. Let us know what the difference between a cathedral and a basilica is. Right.

unknown 12:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:37

Write that down, folks. Hey, if you're just joining us, my new best friend, Natalie Arroyo. And uh Natalie, tell me um so District 4 supervisor. But first, tell us about your adventure on Eureka City Council.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Oh, that's right. Yeah, I was on the Eureka City Council for eight years.

SPEAKER_05 12:51

Well, that was eight years.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

It was a nice long eight years. It uh it felt like it was all of my thirties, really, almost all of my thirties.

SPEAKER_05 12:59

Is it blurry now or do you remember it?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Oh, I remember it very well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:03

Who did you run against in to initially?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Um Chet Albin.

SPEAKER_05 13:07

Um, Chet?

unknown 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Hi, Chet. Hi, Chet. Yeah. Um I ran for that seat. Um he was uh running in a post and I threw my hat in the ring. Wow. And uh yeah. I I did the I did the campaigning. It was a lot of work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

It's uh I do I do like to say that I earned it because each time I've uh run for office, uh except this last time, which we'll probably get to. Um so each of I I ran three times for you know, Eureka City Council twice and then Humboldt County Board of Supervisors uh in contested races. And there is a ton of door knocking, a lot of talking with voters. You really have to spend the time talking to voters.

SPEAKER_05 13:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Don't tell people that that's the secret.

SPEAKER_05 13:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

People who spend money on anything else except except, you know, hard work. Yeah, that it's really the you kind of can't skim on the work.

SPEAKER_05 13:58

Gosh, you know, it's it's so true. I tell my kids that it's like my son wants to buy a house. I go, you gotta show up for work tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:06

Again, and then again the next day. Yeah. And you gotta build on it.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah. I think with campaigning, folks tend to talk to whoever wants to talk to them, which is good and important. Um, but you also kind of have to strategize about who your who your voters are, and it's kind of a numbers game. So yeah. I've uh I've really enjoyed kind of getting into the campaigning um approach and and also, you know, the the one-on-one conversations that I get to have with people when I'm doing that.

SPEAKER_05 14:34

So is some of it marketing too and being a genius marketer?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Um I mean, I think you have to you have to be good and comfortable with uh talking about yourself, which is awkward for some. I I it's awkward for me. Um maybe some people just love it and they they feed on the attention. I think I'm I'm not that particular type of person. I have to sort of get out there and put it's like a constant job interview.

SPEAKER_05 15:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Um I find it both rewarding and exhausting. So um, you know, it's it's been a process to to get comfortable with it.

SPEAKER_05 15:10

Aaron Powell, I think I felt I've learned a lot of the best salespeople are really introverts.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_05 15:15

But they had to adapt because they like to make money and feed their families.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:19

So they can really bust bust it open and then go home and hide.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah. And the thing about running for office is like you're really talking about some of your deepest held values and dreams for your community, and it's very vulnerable. I was gonna say. And then you you you expose yourself to the the most overt and kind of heinous criticism all the time. And just go, yep, this is part of the job description. Um it's it's very interesting. I it's not for the um it's not for the faint of heart.

SPEAKER_05 15:49

That is a different, different job. Yeah. You know, you really like the San Diego Chargers. What's wrong with you? We're Niner fans. Yeah. So whatever it might be.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Yeah. And I think most people think that like politicians are inherently evil and sadistic people or egomaniacs. And I just really wanted to be able to represent my community and bring my skills to the fore. And, you know, I I when I when I first ran for office, I just bought my first home in Eureka that I still live in. And um, you know, I I just kind of wanted to take my investment in the community a step further. That by no by no means means that I think people have to be a homeowner to be a successful, you know, but you have skin of the game. But but it but it helped to feel like, okay, I'm really rooted here in this place. And um getting involved in sort of place-based politics was ex an extension of that.

SPEAKER_05 16:36

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:37

And that council. So this who'd you run against second time?

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Well, the second time I was the incumbent. So um I had let's see. John Fullerton ran against was it John Fullerton? Yeah, it's John Fullerton, Jeannie Breslin, and one

AmeriCorps Brings Her To Humboldt

SPEAKER_01 16:55

other candidate, and I'm forgetting them. Um, but there was a four-way race. Oh wow. Um, so that was that was an interesting one. Yeah.

unknown 17:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:03

And that counts the I mean the city council's done a lot of stuff in the last 12 years, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

I yes, absolutely. Whether um some people like it, some people don't. But there's it's been a pretty active I mean, I I took pride in in not beating around the bush. We'll just say that. I I wanted to get some things done. And, you know, sometimes it's interesting to see the trajectory of how long it takes to actually get things done, even if you make pretty proactive choices and decisions, like a lot of the um affordable housing that's being constructed right now this summer all over town. Um, you know, came out of um decisions that happened while I was in the council. So it took an extra four or five years beyond those, you know, those yeses happening at the council level for the projects to actually see the light of day.

SPEAKER_05 17:52

So speaking of the uh the the project right by McCrae Nissan, they just pulled the um the screens off and it looks the high-rise looks really good.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

It looks nice, yeah. Dang. The one on Myrtle, too. Yeah. I think it's coming coming along.

SPEAKER_05 18:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

I mean, I I'm I'm kind of like show me the parking, but I think it's gonna be really weird and tight for a while, but we'll feel like at least one of those is a is a senior affordable complex, if I remember correctly. Not to not to say that seniors don't drive, but some don't. Um same with the you know, student housing that um Cal Poly Humboldt developed. Um I've actually had a number of students who who live there and who moved up here without cars and they're they're very happy. So it's uh it's kind of interesting to meet people who are making that work.

SPEAKER_05 18:33

Aaron Powell What are some of the accomplishments from that uh city council that they're still reaping that you were part of?

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I mean, I think the strategic arts plan that we developed um was really cool. It was interesting to to dig into the economic value of the arts in the community and not just the the cultural value, which is, you know, there's uh a ton of it, um, but also like how many, you know, we have so many artists per capita here.

SPEAKER_04 18:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Many people that make their living in some way through the arts and uh how they make it work and how the city could support them more. I think you know, we're still seeing some of that um blossom. The the US.

SPEAKER_05 19:11

Does that look like specifically?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Did they have grants or well the Yorkist Street Art Festival came from that, which was all um, you know, a public-private collaboration. So the city did a lot of the organizing, but there were volunteer festival organizers for much of that time. And then all the um funding for the murals came from donations um from the local community and regionally. And it was cool to bring world-class artists here and participate in that. And I think it got people really jazzed about some parts of town that they might not spend a lot of time in. So even though people kind of poo-poo the arts as a as a big driver of change, I think um it it really brought people together.

SPEAKER_05 19:49

That's a good one. I like that. And then there's Dwayne.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Oh, Dwayne. Love Dwayne. Hi Dwayne. Hi, Dwayne.

SPEAKER_05 19:55

Did you go to his uh birthday party?

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah.

unknown 19:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

My family was in town from actually from Louisiana. They were like, what is this?

SPEAKER_05 20:02

What what are you guys doing here?

SPEAKER_01 20:04

You guys are wild.

SPEAKER_05 20:06

This thing's on fire.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 20:08

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Yeah. They came um at a good time. They got to go to Oysterfest, uh, stopped by that. Um, just really see uh a lot of the best of Humbled. It was really cool. They weren't there for that. It was in June mid-June, early to mid-June. But it was um it was really neat to it's always neat when you have people come to town when you're you know, you live here and you kind of forget about some of the things that are so cool.

SPEAKER_05 20:32

And they see it.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

They see it, you know, very clearly.

SPEAKER_05 20:35

And you could see it through their eyes.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah. So neat. Yeah, we took them tide pooling and you know, my husband's a marine biologist, so it's um he's the best person to go tide pooling with.

SPEAKER_05 20:44

Oh, I bet.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

I'm a little biased, but he really does.

SPEAKER_05 20:47

I was gonna say you the the very best or the very worst. I know.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

If you don't want science facts the whole time, then it would be the worst. If you just want to like quietly enjoy the beach, it's not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_05 20:57

Aaron Powell, we love the marine lab when we go to Trinidad. It's so much so much fun. So what else did you guys do for as the city council that's well?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

I mean, I think one of the things that I'm most proud of was the transfer of and return of land to to uh the Wii Ot tribe on Tulawat. Um that was um, you know, something that I didn't campaign on by any means or set out to do, but it emerged from conversations with the tribe and the tribal council at the time, and it ended up being, you know, feasible and a source of great community joy and healing. So that was a point of pride and um just honored, honored to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_05 21:33

Cool. And then the bike lane, too, right? On G what street?

SPEAKER_01 21:37

H and I. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's those.

SPEAKER_05 21:39

But isn't there the bike street that goes all the way down?

SPEAKER_01 21:42

The bike boulevard on C Street.

SPEAKER_05 21:44

C Street, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Yep, yep. That was uh Yeah, that was after my time, but uh the the council adopted that after I was uh already gone. But I actually um ride that almost every day um when I well, when the weather's good. I am a fair weather bicyclist, so I I ride it regularly, we'll say that.

SPEAKER_05 22:01

Aaron Powell So AI says that you're a trails advocate. So that's good. Were you part of were you part of the uh Arcadic Eureka Trail connection?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Yeah, yeah, both at the county and then um prior to being at the county, I worked um for a nonprofit locally called Redwood Community Action Agency. And we did a lot of um development of trails all around Humboldt County. So I've worked on a ton of trails over the years. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of the the planning and the fundraising and thank you for doing that. Thanks. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. It's uh it's a it gives me joy to to to be able to have that beautiful view of the bay and uh we're waiting for arcade to blue lake. Yeah, that's gonna be so cool. There's some there's some logistical challenges getting across the river.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Um and I think it may be an opportunity to collaborate with the water district, but DVD.

SPEAKER_05 22:48

So Great R Redwood Trail too, that's happening.

unknown 22:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:52

We part of that. Did you collaborate on that?

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Um I mean I've I've worked with yes, I've worked on um some early stages of planning for the Great Redwood Trail when I was still at RCAA, but a lot of that also kind of happened after I left. But I'm uh

Running For Eureka City Council

SPEAKER_01 23:05

eager to see what comes of that.

SPEAKER_05 23:07

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah. And I was on the um board and I ended up being thrust into the role of board president of the Humboldt Trails Council for for uh quite a few years. I was on the board for I think nine years and I was the president for five or so.

SPEAKER_05 23:19

Aaron Ross Powell Do you know my buddy Reese?

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:23

Reese Hughes, the man that myth the legend.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Aaron Ross Powell Hi, Reese. I did it. I looked at the camera.

SPEAKER_05 23:28

And pointed. Hi, Reese. Pointed. Hi, Reese. I saw Reese's picture. He's on uh I was at the post office. Is it is it wanted criminal? No, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 23:38

No, he's on the board of Coast Central.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah. Wanted for being too good a trail advocate. Oh man.

SPEAKER_05 23:43

Every time you see Joni, where's where's Scott? Why isn't he hiking today? I was busy doing the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

I just went on a a hike with uh Reese and several other folks of the Lost Coast in Petrolea. So headed from the um Metal Metal campground, you know, uh mouth of the river to the lighthouse and back.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Um actually we went we went up and around and over the bluff, which was um both beautiful and a little miserable. It was quite steep.

SPEAKER_05 24:12

Because it goes like that, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Yeah, it was very steep. I I had forgotten that.

SPEAKER_05 24:16

Slept at that lighthouse before.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:18

In big gale winds, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

I was very windy while we were there, but there were so many elephant seals. It was really cool.

SPEAKER_05 24:24

I heard that, yeah. My friend David just liked it. So um want to go back to Humboldt real quick and then talk about your Coast Guard service. Sounds good. What do you teach at Humboldt?

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Um I teach environmental conflict resolution. So it's a conflict resolution class specifically for environmental science students and forestry students and folks who are have to having to do that in the in the sciences. So I use examples and have guests come in who are able to talk about um that particular lens on conflict, which there's, you know, nonstop conflict. Do they have conflict out there? Amazingly. And it's uh I I think it it gets people to think about the human element and how they can, you know, I think students walk away from it hopefully with a a new set of skills and ways to think about it, but also a way to be a little bit more uh patient and compassionate with people when they're stressed out.

SPEAKER_04 25:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Um because ultimately when you're a decision maker or you're involved in decision making in any way, you know, there's a just a lot of strong feelings and a lot of you have to kind of stick stick with it and and get through it together. Aaron Powell Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:31

You know, after talking to West Chesbrough as a guest, it it occurred to me that he was part of so many things that were pretty radical in the day that we take for granted now.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 25:44

Arcadera Wood Park. And they were he all he had conflict.

SPEAKER_04 25:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:49

You know, he I don't I I imagine some gross conflict at times. And so I really uh I look back and I go, to your point, not all politicians are evil people. Any that I've met actually pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Aaron Powell Yeah, I think most of us come to it because we really care about our community and think, you know, we have some skills that we can apply. I think it's it's kind of simple for for most folks. And then along the way, some people get a little lost and and others, you know, kind of stay on that on that path. Um the Humboldt Bay Trail was highly controversial over the years, you know, with the railroad and uh a lot of the other. Now it's I just I saw some people I think they were preparing for the Humboldt Bay Marathon. Um there there was a large group of runners and Terry. Um Terry. Yeah, I'm gonna volunteer for the marathon this year. We're gonna have an aid station. Okay. Are you a runner?

SPEAKER_05 26:43

I'm not. Okay. I'm married to one.

unknown 26:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

I appreciate runners. My dad was a marathoner, but I uh I'm a swimmer. Not into it. Yeah, I'm a skater.

SPEAKER_05 26:52

I'm a lover, not a fighter. Or a runner. Definitely not a runner. No, I have two new hips from Stanford.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Oh, congratulations.

SPEAKER_05 27:02

Okay. Yeah. I guess I suppose I could, but do you feel a little bit bionic or at times. Depends on my mood. That's a great I've never been asked that. I like do you feel bionic today? Well, a little I'm moving kind of bionic. I'm doing the robot.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

I love it.

SPEAKER_05 27:20

Oh, that's funny. So uh hey, it's time for the quiz.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

Okay. Can I take a sip of my coconut water?

SPEAKER_05 27:25

Well, you're gonna need it because this is gonna be the best quiz ever. And I want to come back and talk about um your supervisorial duties and accomplishments. All right, sounds good. Are you ready? Because I've never done this before.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 27:40

Ladies and gentlemen, if you're just joining us, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast with my producer, the amazing Nick Flores. I see him over there. And I see Natalie Arroyo, who is the fourth district four. Would I say fourth district or district four? Either one. Um supervisor. Yeah. In Humboldt County. And we're gonna use the prop here where I don't have my pointer. Oh, Nick. He buried it in the Dick Taylor box. So Humboldt County is in California. We're sitting here in Eureka, and that's where we live. Yeah, I guess you know that. So rather than you competing today for a Dick Taylor chocolate bar, I brought something very special instead.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:22

You're going, Oh, where's the choice?

SPEAKER_01 28:24

I do love chocolate though.

Arts Plan Murals And Community Pride

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Okay. That's right. That's right. We'll see. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:27

So I brought something special for you. I think you'll like it.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:31

You're going Okay, just show it to me.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Yeah, the the buildup is exciting. It's thrilling.

SPEAKER_05 28:37

So this is a historical document of the waterfront dedication, January 5th, 2002. I think we dedicated the waterfront and made us a Coast Guard city in the same thing, but I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

I know that's correct.

SPEAKER_05 28:50

But I'm gonna give this to you if you win.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Eureka was the second Coast Guard city designated in the nation.

SPEAKER_05 28:55

In the nation. Okay. And my friend Gary uh shout out to Gary Todorov, who just perished last year. He was the official Coast Guard.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Um, look at the building wasn't even there yet.

SPEAKER_05 29:05

It wasn't even built, yeah. Yeah. So this is gonna be yours for whatever purpose you may have for it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Only if I win, though, right?

SPEAKER_05 29:12

You have to win. That's the thing. It's nothing's just give it a carry it away here. Because you am I gonna is is the prop gonna work?

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Do you want me to just hold it? I I'm really good at holding. I'm gonna make this work.

SPEAKER_05 29:24

See? There.

unknown 29:25

There.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Works.

SPEAKER_05 29:27

It's kind of a cool thing. Anyway, so it's all mounted in in maybe it's gonna be yours. So question number one Natalie Royal, question one. Best day ever.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Best day ever?

SPEAKER_05 29:37

Ever.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Okay, there's no right answer here. I think my wedding day to my husband, I know that's a little boring, but it was awesome.

SPEAKER_05 29:45

Marine biologist.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Yeah. And knife maker. Oh, really? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 29:48

Wow, that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yeah, he's very talented.

SPEAKER_05 29:51

Does he have a name?

SPEAKER_01 29:52

His name's Jason Lopiccolo.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

Hey Jason, what's up?

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Very uh nice guy. Yeah, he's the best. He's a very Sicilian name.

SPEAKER_05 30:00

How long have you been married?

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Um we're going on seven years this uh end of this month. Congrats. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 30:06

Did you meet him up here?

SPEAKER_01 30:07

I did, yeah. We met at a fourth of July party that our friends had in uh in their yard. And anyway, I was uh I was like, who's that guy? And I did a little slew thing because it's a small town, and I asked all the other people that knew him, and then they just immediately tried to set us up. And our first date was at the Humboldt County Fair. So we had a very Humboldt romance.

SPEAKER_05 30:27

I like that.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Yeah. Got married at Pamplin Grove.

SPEAKER_05 30:30

Oh, very beautiful. That's I love that place. It's gorgeous. Okay, question number two. Gotta get the bell going. Worst day ever.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Oof. Um probably the day my dad died. Yeah. It was October in tw uh 2011. And uh he died of brain cancer. Oh.

SPEAKER_05 30:51

Sorry. Were you guys close?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

We were. Yeah. Yeah. I was like his little uh little clone kind of. That's cool. Yeah. We had a a very close relationship and uh he was a big positive influence in my life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:03

I love it.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:05

I have four daughters and I make an investment. Try to do it every day.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 31:10

I mean, they don't I don't see them, but I talked to Brianna in Medford today.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yeah. And the boys are in the back. Hey grandpa, what's up? Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 31:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

It's good to make the best of the time, make the most of it. I he was only 59, so we didn't get you know as much I was 27 and we didn't get as much time together as I would have hoped. But um but we got some really good quality in there.

SPEAKER_05 31:31

Amen to that. I like it. Okay. Question number three. Okay. I'm gonna bring the bell closer.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

I know. It's like you're really reaching for it.

SPEAKER_05 31:39

He's gotta really rap on this bell now.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:42

Okay. Question number three. What do you find soul crushing? Soul crushing. Or draining. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Um I mean, sometimes our board meetings, is that wrong to say?

SPEAKER_05 31:56

That's an honest answer. You heard it here for first.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Yeah. I mean, sometimes um I get bored watching you guys. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05 32:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yeah. Sometimes the procedural issues where we're trying to work through a procedural issue in real time. Um You know what I think it reveals though is even when it's like a grindingly slow pace and people just are like rolling their eyes at it, it reveals that government is messy and it's being figured out by humans in real time. There's no like secret cabal behind the scenes pulling the hurry trying to trying to direct us, you know. We're really just like regular people trying to get through a difficult decision. So yeah. That's it's uh both soul crushing and I think it's it's a sign of of it working kind of the way it's intended.

SPEAKER_05 32:48

And same people saying the same things sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 32:52

Yes. Oh, wait. Wait, weren't you on last week? I saw you on You're on TV a lot because you're always saying the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:58

Come on, man.

unknown 32:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:00

Come on, bro.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:01

Totally. Um Yeah. Interesting. Arcada cham uh the the Arcada um city councils I find particularly hard to watch sometimes. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Eureka too. I think Eureka and Arcada both get a lot of public participation, but also sometimes it's um you know, people who don't really know a lot about the process. And I also think that form of education is important, but sometimes it can just be hard to be the one on the dais and throw it.

SPEAKER_05 33:29

I bet. Yeah. And people get kind of rude sometimes, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Oh, absolutely. Horrible. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:35

Where's your decorum, man?

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Yeah. I think they forget that we're like people that live in the same community they do that are just, you know, kind of trying to figure it out too.

SPEAKER_05 33:42

Aaron Powell Come on, man. You're human beings. Let's let's let me talk to you guys that do that stuff. Let me say something to you. Yeah. Okay, question number four. Almost went off track there. Um what do you find fulfilling? Um enriching, heart-drenching, glorious.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Yeah. Yeah. What fills your cup? It really is uh spending time in the natural world for me. Paddleboarding, um Paddleboarder. Trail skating, um backpacking. I go mushroom hunting in the winter.

SPEAKER_05 34:15

I've seen trail skating.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:17

Wait.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Just like roller skating on the trail.

SPEAKER_05 34:20

How? They must be giant. Roller skates. Like standard skates?

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Yeah, they have like squishy wheels. My I have a separate pair of skates for roller derby and for skating outdoors just because we'd want different wheel hardnesses.

SPEAKER_05 34:33

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:34

So they work like in a railwood forest?

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Oh, no, no, no, like a uh paved trail.

SPEAKER_05 34:39

Like a paved guy.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

So like the Humboldt Bay Trail is one of my go-to's, you know.

SPEAKER_05 34:43

Okay. And that would be different from an indoor track. Or yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Yeah. You want there's little pebbles and grit and stuff.

SPEAKER_05 34:49

So you want to ever do any dancing with roller derby?

SPEAKER_01 34:52

I mean, where you I haven't done a lot of like like jam skating or roller dancing. You adjacent on skates. Yeah. I did propose to him at a roller derby game and then we put skates on him and we did a lap together. It was a couple skate in front of all our friends. Uh it was a whole production.

SPEAKER_05 35:09

So I bet. Yeah. He was raised by a roller derby, a roller skating rink.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Yeah. I know, me too. I well

Returning Tuluwat And Building Trails

SPEAKER_01 35:15

in Miami. I went to the roller skating rink all the time, and it's like the hippest place to be.

SPEAKER_05 35:19

National City, California, Sweetwater Roller Rink.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Love it. Yeah. It was Hot Wheels in Miami, Florida for me.

SPEAKER_05 35:24

Hot Wheels. Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

Hot Wheels. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:27

All right. Question number whatever it is. Yeah. Five? Yeah, pretty close. Um, who are you? Who am I?

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Oh gosh, I'm not even gonna get this one right. It's rough.

SPEAKER_05 35:40

This is this is there's no right answer. There's no wrong answer.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

I think I'm just not a little arroyo. I do like to roll the R's in my last name when I get the opportunity to do that.

SPEAKER_05 35:49

Can you roll up against one more time?

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Arroyo.

SPEAKER_05 35:51

Arroyo.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

It's like a gentle, oh, you did it great. Yeah. Yeah. Nailed it. Yeah. Are you bilingual?

SPEAKER_05 35:57

Oh, me?

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:59

No, ma'am.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Oh, okay. Well, that was well done.

SPEAKER_05 36:01

Aaron Powell, I should have spoken more Spanish in Spain, though.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:04

That's a lot of span SPs.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

When I go to Puerto Rico, I really enjoy like leaning into it. I I heard um I was spoken to in Spanish and then I answered in English, which I regret that my folks didn't have me speak more Spanish at home. But I can speak it when I kind of lock in and just commit. And that's it. It's a lot of times it's well, I have the same problem in English that I have in Spanish, where sometimes I can't think of a word, so I just describe it with other words. I do a lot of that in Spanish, but I I I get by pretty well.

SPEAKER_05 36:36

Okay. So I know who you are, but who I would re-ask. Who are you?

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:40

Who are you? Who are you? Who are you really?

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Who am I really?

SPEAKER_05 36:44

What are you all about?

SPEAKER_01 36:45

I'm kind of a dork.

SPEAKER_05 36:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Um Dork is good. Yeah. I'm who's not a dork? Yeah. I guess we're all dorks in our own way. Yeah. Yeah. Self-admitted dorks. Yeah. I really like reading. Um I like um by dogs. I'm I'm actually a little bit maybe not boring, but um I have a very like um just regular person life, in my opinion. But then other people will see my life and be like, oh, you live such an exciting life.

SPEAKER_04 37:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

I'm a little bit of a workaholic. Okay. But I really enjoy working. And I think that's where I what I mean when I say I'm in the work. Like I I love the um the work that I get to do. So yeah. Yeah. And I love travel. I I think I'm kind of just a regular, regular human, but um I I uh I also love very deeply.

SPEAKER_05 37:42

And that can be That's a good admission. I like that can be hard. Oh my gosh. Because you could hurt.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I used to wish I could be more cool and detached when I was younger. Yeah, forget those guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:54

But love hurts. Yeah. Like the sum.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

I'm both enthusiastic and loving. And and I think um sometimes people are like, whoa, that's a lot. Yeah, she's a lot. She's a lot. That's who you are. That's what I'm yeah. So I think I would say I'm a lot.

SPEAKER_05 38:10

Who are you? I'm a lot. I'm a lot. I'm I could yeah, it could both be a lot. Um last question. For all the fabulous prizes. Oh my gosh. I'm I'm staring at the prize. So Joni's dad was this amazing guy, my father-in-law Tom from LA. Okay. Who's a runner and an addict and pharmacist and great grandpa and father.

unknown 38:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:33

So his two questions are who are you? We got that. Like what the the corollary is what do you want?

SPEAKER_02 38:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:39

What do you Hey Arroyo, what do you want? What do you want?

SPEAKER_01 38:45

I want to just really apply myself the best I can in the life that I have. Um and love on the people that are that are dear to me.

SPEAKER_05 38:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Yeah. I like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:57

I just Well, uh I it pleasures me to tell you that after due consideration, the the judge panel says that you're going to take this home with you.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 39:08

And I don't know where you'll put it. May that's maybe a garage photo, or that could go in your office. Yeah. But um, I think it'll go in my office, actually. On behalf of 100% Humboldt, um you're going to be the new winner of this Eureka boardwalk dedication. 2002, folks. How many

Teaching Environmental Conflict Resolution

SPEAKER_05 39:25

years ago was that?

SPEAKER_02 39:26

Uh 24. Yeah. Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_05 39:28

Gary Todoroff, who is an amazing um local photographer, dude. And um the more I look at this, more like there's a lot going on in the U.S. There is a lot going on in there.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

It's very clearly raining in the picture. There's a lot of people in uh with umbrellas and rain jackets. So it's very humble.

SPEAKER_05 39:47

He's lined up here. They and they kind of knew because you look at them all looking up.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:51

So I don't know. I think he could that be a helo shot from a drink. Aaron Powell No, they didn't have them. Well, that we know about.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

It could have been like a a a camera on a uh remote control airplane.

SPEAKER_05 40:03

Aaron Powell Could have been.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Could have been.

SPEAKER_05 40:05

He had a he had a gyro that he created for the dolphin helicopters.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_05 40:09

So that wouldn't blur, so it kind of would move with the hilo.

SPEAKER_01 40:11

Yeah. Kind of cool. Oh, those helicopters are great.

SPEAKER_05 40:14

I know. So let's talk about your uh board of supervisor um duties. Yeah, sure. Trevor Burrus, Jr. And what do you what do you like, what do you don't like? What what do you what are you all about today? What's happening?

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Yeah. Well, I I've I've really um sought in the last couple of years to get into as many different things there as possible. Um especially in my first term, I really wanted to um understand all the functions of the county that are that are much broader than what cities do. So I serve on a juvenile justice and delinquency prevention commission. Um I work on the first Five Humboldt Commission, which um deals with, you know, the children zero to five years old and their families. Love that lots of different things that I didn't really get to do at the city level. Um, because I think I developed over eight years, you know, I don't want to be overconfident, but I developed a pretty good sense of things like public works or um, you know, uh some of the like municipal finance um on a on a basic level. Of course, the county is much more complicated in that regard. But um and I serve on the audit committee. So a lot of different um areas where I'm trying to to um broaden and deepen my knowledge. And that has been really rewarding. Again, the you know, the dork in me is like, oh, this is great. I'm learning more about different things.

SPEAKER_05 41:30

Kind of nerd up on it all.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Yeah, it's good. It's great. Um, so I've been really enjoying that. That's rewarding. It's um it's what I would consider boring but important. It's um I think it's really critical for because we're expected to make decisions about so many different things um in a in a competent manner. And usually we have a pretty good staff recommendation, but I still think it's helpful to to really get it.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

Right. So yeah. Good for you.

SPEAKER_01 41:55

I think that's something I've been both enjoying and been proud of, is really um I wouldn't say I'm I'm ever gonna like have a sense of mastery, but a sense of competence in a lot of uh different areas.

SPEAKER_05 42:07

Aaron Powell What's the vibe on the board now? Are you guys all

Best Worst And Soul Crushing Moments

SPEAKER_05 42:10

great friends drinking beer together? Or what's how does that all how does that all work? Why don't you why don't you comment on on the dynamics between certain certain individuals?

SPEAKER_01 42:19

Aaron Powell Yeah. I I think um we are all very different people and I think that's good. Um from a governance standpoint, I think it's good for people to see that like their their representatives really are true to their districts. And I think when you look at the the character of the different districts, we we have kind of one of a lot of different types of people, very different. Different skill sets.

SPEAKER_05 42:40

And tell me about your district. Where is it bordered?

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Aaron Powell Yeah. My district is the smallest geographically, so it's a lot of the city of Eureka, but not all of it. Um then Myrtletown and the Samoa Peninsula south of the bridge. So Samoa, Fairhaven, and Fintown. Yeah. Fintown's just that tiny little nugget over there.

SPEAKER_05 42:58

And then Danco owns Samoa.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Yeah. Although it's slowly being uh well, not so slowly, it's being sold off to private um owners. And so that's an interesting process to divide up a company town. We saw it happen in Scotia and now it's in the in the midst of happening in Samoa.

SPEAKER_05 43:14

Dan's gonna be on the show next month.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Oh, cool. Do you know Dan? Uh I you know what's funny is I don't really know him personally. I I know I I've worked uh on things alongside him for many years.

SPEAKER_05 43:25

Aaron Powell I was blown away in Rotary how much housing they've put together in the Western states. It's like, what? How many units? Yeah. It's wild stuff.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

And we're about to break ground. I'm the chair board chair of the Humboldt Transit Authority. Um, and that's one of the many like boards and commissions that I sit on in my county role. And we're about to break ground on the transit center on the big stuff and housing with Dan. So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:48

That's right behind Lost Coast Brewery.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:50

That's tell us about that real quick, just the highlights. What's that gonna do for everybody?

SPEAKER_01 43:54

Aaron Powell So the first floor will be a transit center. So um really offering like more information to travelers and um a a place for our drivers to take a break. Um it's already a major transit stop in Eureka, but there'll be some seating and bathrooms and it'll be staffed. So coffee. Uh yeah, there's Mango Gelato. There's gonna there should be mango gelato. There's gonna be a little cafe space that we're gonna be trying to attract a tenant for.

SPEAKER_05 44:20

Well, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

Um and then on the and there'll be some office space for Humboldt Transit Authority staff. And then on the upper floors, um, there'll be, I think it's 42 units of housing, but I could Be slightly off on that. I think it's four stories total. That part is the City of Eureka project. So they're leading it. And then Danco's actually doing the building.

SPEAKER_05 44:41

When will it be done next year?

SPEAKER_01 44:44

We're breaking ground like in the next month. So I believe it'll be early next year that it's done, but it could be even faster.

SPEAKER_05 44:51

Yeah. It just seems like these other ones have gone up so quick and they have not.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

They've actually taken quite a while. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:57

Perceptibly they look, oh wow, they're done. No, no, not quite.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

Yeah, there's a lot of interior fittings. And and I've I've heard from builders incidentally that um, you know, while it's more efficient to build inside a big box, right? Because some of the exterior things are done. And um making apartments is is not that efficient, you know, because they still have to have a kitchen, a bathroom, everything has to have all got the same all the fixtures like of any size of homes. So building building smaller apartments doesn't necessarily reduce the costs exponentially. So but I'm not a actually a builder, it's just what I've heard.

SPEAKER_05 45:32

Yeah. So we have a housing gap, then I still I mean it's not gonna be go away.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Yeah. And we've had um, you know, sadly, we've had a really serious reduction in funding for Section 8 vouchers. Um, and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. Wow. So um, you know, this housing will help. And um I think we're in a place where a lot of um important services that are lifeline services for people are being curtailed. And um, there's a program actually right now that um a special Section Eight voucher program to to help people who were homeless. Um, and there's no renewed funding for that particular program and no expansion of the list of people so people who are on the list to get a housing voucher um are are not gonna be getting a lot of.

SPEAKER_05 46:17

Is that a result of state funding or federal or both?

SPEAKER_01 46:19

It's federal. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So um that and some other areas, you know, it's gonna be hard to kind of make up some of those gaps. So I think our community, one thing I've been telling people is like the the bad news is we gotta just kind of brace and hold on as best we can. And I I don't know that any of us have easy solutions for things like that. So we do still have a housing shortage and a housing gap, but we're working on it in in all these ways. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:43

Yeah. So the three themes that kind of come forward on this show have been uh homelessness and then housing and healthcare. So we kind of just touched on the first one. You want to talk about homelessness real quick? Sure. What we can do or what can we do? What can we do?

unknown 46:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

We know what you could do.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

I mean I mean, it's so clearly linked to housing. Um there are um there are some folks who I think are the most difficult to serve who are um unable to be housed without kind of constant services. And so we've seen a couple of facilities open in Eureka or the Greater Eureka area in the last couple of years in partnership with the county that have provided um just a level of supervision and support that uh provides caseworkers 24-7, um assistance with taking medication, things like that. Um, people still have to voluntarily be willing to go there. Um sometimes they're depending on their circumstances, there can be court orders for very specific cases or guardianships, um conservatorship, that kind of thing. Um, but in most cases, um, you know, we in California in particular really balance the rights of individuals and and prioritize people retaining those rights, um, you know, while also compelling treatment sometimes. So when there's co-occurring behavioral health things like people have um a substance use disorder or they're um dealing with mental health needs, um, you know, that that can be complicated. Sure. So I think we've made big progress that's kind of hard to visually see around homelessness because many folks will see, especially if they spend a lot of time in in towns, some of the same folks over and over and over again who are often frequent flyers with needing emergency medical care or other services.

Supervisor Work And District 4

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Um it can be hard to feel like we're making progress. Um, but then we'll get reports from uh Department of Health and Human Services about the number of people housed, for example, with these um special Section 8 vouchers. And that the number is high. It's like over 90 people just in Eureka. So, you know, significant gains through programs like that, but they're pretty resource intensive. So as far as what all of us can do, I mean, there's programs where people provide food and essential like frontline care. I think you can support those in our community. But a lot of the systemic issues are things like poverty and, you know, um inflation and human nature. And human nature and and people having very individualized difficult circumstances that compound and that's hard to get at the root of. So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:34

Right. How do we get those? Those are the toughies.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

I think people often it's one of the areas where folks often have strong feelings about like, if only we did this, um, then we could solve everything. And that there's, you know, I'm here to tell folks that there's there's no magic if only we did this answer. It's a it's a a whole world of interdependent things that we have to do.

SPEAKER_05 49:53

Aaron Powell My last guest just said do something. Pick something.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

Yeah, pick something and do it. I agree. And um, get busy.

SPEAKER_05 50:00

Yeah. Volunteer.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

And the more some things you do or learn about, the more you realize how interconnected everything is. Um I sort of air. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:11

Yeah. Oh, seven layers of Kevin Bacon. Two layers of Humboldt.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

Seven layers of Kevin Kevin Bacon.

SPEAKER_05 50:17

Kevin Bacon. You'll have to look it up later.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

Aaron Powell Okay. I will. Yeah. I'm going to put it on my notes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:22

Somehow everything's somehow everybody's connected to Kevin Bacon.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 50:27

It's like the nickel look at it.

SPEAKER_01 50:29

Okay, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:30

Somebody will.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

Gosh, now I wonder how I'm connected to separate. Yeah. What?

SPEAKER_05 50:36

So um before we talk about your legacy, um, let's talk about roller derby one more time. Okay. That seems like that's your career jam. How is roller derby played? What are the rules? And can we go see y'all skate at Redwood Acres?

SPEAKER_01 50:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 50:50

When's the season? Is it year-long?

SPEAKER_01 50:52

It is a year-long season. We take a two-month summer break. So right now we're in the the the last month of our summer break, and then it starts back up again in August. So there's games in September, October, and November at Redwood Acres, and um they're so much fun. We have a band, we have a DJ, Paul.

SPEAKER_05 51:10

Paul Brursu and Announcer.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Paul Bursu doing amazing announcing. We have um they're always double headers. We always have two games um back to back.

SPEAKER_05 51:18

Is it a league? Is there separate teams that are here all local? Are they a man from somewhere else?

SPEAKER_01 51:23

Yeah. So we have our charter team, um, which is our most competitive team, the Redwood Rollers, and that's who I skate with. I've been skating for 10 years, so I finally worked my way up to the rollers.

SPEAKER_05 51:32

One more time on your nickname, what was it called?

SPEAKER_01 51:33

Uh Braun Luke Picard.

SPEAKER_05 51:35

Oh, Star Trek Trek Next Generation.

SPEAKER_01 51:37

Yes, everyone calls me Braun.

SPEAKER_05 51:39

Braun. I like it.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

How'd you get that? Um I I love TNG. Yes, I'm a I'm a big Star Trek fan. And I um I I vetted a bunch of names. My my list of potential names is is long and very funny, I think. Um and I love a good pun. So but I I'm not like there's a lot of times people choose a name about being fast or um agile. And I'm I'm honestly as a skater, I'm not that fast or agile.

SPEAKER_05 52:07

I mean, I'm pretty good, but I'm just I'm tough. Do you like hurting people? Do you either hurting everything?

SPEAKER_01 52:12

I don't like to hurt people. I just like to hold hold it down. Yeah. So you asked how the game was played. So we have um we have five players on each team. Um, and this is played on a flat track, so an oval kind of looks like a roller skating rink. Um, and we um have one person from each team who's trying to score points by they have a star in their head. They're called the jammer. They start uh score points by passing the other skaters.

SPEAKER_00 52:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 52:37

Um and so when you're a blocker like I am, um, you're trying to play both defense and offense basically at the same time. So you're trying to make sure your jammer can get through, uh, doing some strategic offense. So a little hitting and um not a little, there's usually a good amount of hitting, but um Jostling. Jostling, yeah. There's a lot of um like the there's places in the body where you you can't hit people. So you can no longer punch people in the face. Or the groin.

Transit Center Housing And Funding Gaps

SPEAKER_01 53:05

Um the groin, correct? Or the middle of the back. Um you can't trip people. So you can get penalties for all those things. Um and I think it's you know meant to keep people safe. Yeah. Yeah. So even though we fall down and sometimes we hurt ourselves, um one of the things I like to tell people who have this perception that it's a really brutal, like mean kind of hitting sport is that it's super family friendly. Um yes, we're playing a full contact sport, but we really try to play it with consideration for one another. I like it.

SPEAKER_05 53:36

Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. So before we talk about your legacy, what you want to leave behind and what we're gonna say at your celebration.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

My celebration of life.

SPEAKER_05 53:45

That one. Okay. Um You're going, I'm not having one of those.

SPEAKER_01 53:48

Yeah, it's like I'm 40. I mean, you know, you never know.

SPEAKER_05 53:53

Yeah. Um what what do you want to see for Humboldt County? I mean, if you were to dream big.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:59

What would you like like top three, five things that you'd love to see manifest before it's over?

SPEAKER_01 54:07

Yeah. That's such a good question. Top three to five things. I uh I'd love to see a lot of the old and beautiful homes and commercial buildings like fully restored and brought back to life. Um I feel like we have a lot of housing and a lot of commercial space that's sort of underutilized and needs um to be either just fixed up or transformed. Um it's also hard to get public dollars for private buildings. Um, and you know, this picture you brought out um shows when we had redevelopment dollars um through the state, which are um which which helped make public investments in beautiful public spaces and some investments in restoring um some private buildings, but for for public benefit.

SPEAKER_03 54:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:00

And so I'd love to see that. Um I would love to see uh some thoughtful but ongoing development of the waterfront. Um, the City of Rika did develop the waterfront specific plan after I left the the council um and has some cool vision in there. Um, I'd love to see more trail connectivity, whether that's the great Redwood Trail or a combination of local trails and for people to really truly be able to um use that both for transportation and recreation, just build out that system a little more. Um a big one for me is traffic safety and road safety for all users of the roadway. Um it's it's pretty alarming how many fatalities and injuries we have, uh particularly bicycles and pedestrians, but also um, you know, motorists.

SPEAKER_05 55:54

Um, we're speaking about Eureka specifically?

SPEAKER_01 55:57

Yeah, but Humboldt County ranks really high for that in the state.

SPEAKER_05 56:00

Um, 101 is really gnarly down southern Humboldt.

SPEAKER_01 56:03

Even like percentage-based, it's not just that we have um, you know, no matter kind of how you parse the data, we rank really high and also high for DUIs. So that is a tough nut to crack because a lot of it is engineering solutions that are um that are both costly and controversial. Um you can't really enforce your way out of a a lot of those problems long term. There's just never going to be enough people at any given time to to solve those problems.

SPEAKER_05 56:30

Yeah, I work downtown and have to navigate over to old town just walking is like I I'm looking both ways three times.

SPEAKER_01 56:37

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 56:38

Crazy, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:39

Yeah. Yeah. I bike to old town to well to the courthouse downtown all the time and and walk there. And yeah. It's it can be scary. And and I think folks are just rushing and distracted and maybe used to a time when there maybe it was a little bit less traffic and we could all be

Homelessness Services And Hard Truths

SPEAKER_01 56:55

on their phones, yeah. Yeah. So we could all stand to kind of take a deep breath and just give a little bit of grace to others.

SPEAKER_05 57:02

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Like my friend Dave Holpert, the poet last night at a pizza night, he said I get in my car, I have a routine. I I sit down, I put my phone on Spotify, and I set it over my my passenger seat, and then I drive. And I don't answer phones, calls, I don't text, and I just chill up.

SPEAKER_01 57:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:22

I got two. I could learn from that.

SPEAKER_01 57:25

I've um been trying to put it in the compartment that's between my two front seats, so I actually have to physically close something. Oh. Because otherwise it's like, oh, I'll just like, you know, maybe I'll list listen to the next podcast. Or, you know, it's like there's such a temptation.

SPEAKER_05 57:38

Oh, look. Oh, it's oh, it's my brother.

SPEAKER_01 57:40

Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk to him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:43

Yeah. That's easy to do.

SPEAKER_01 57:44

And then the last one I want to emphasize, because he said three to five, so I'm going to go all the way to five. Go for five. Is economic development. And it's hard to know how to um that's an area where we're really spending some time doing research about, you know, it's a it's about time for us to really evaluate what our strengths are and what the opportunities are.

unknown 58:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 58:04

Again, you know, we've had several iterations of economic development plans for the region that have been very helpful. And there's some there's some good work being done in that department, but now we have to kind of put those plans into action. Yeah. So it and it's hard to know like if there's not going to be one silver bullet of a new industry.

SPEAKER_05 58:23

Wait, Amazon's not going to do it. Doug on it.

SPEAKER_01 58:25

You know, I think that's going to be a lot of the different things that are opportunities and strengths for us that we just have to amplify a little bit more. And folks may have to, you know, um compromise when it comes to I think this whole thing's about that. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 58:40

Because I don't I don't at the rate we're going, we're not creating a lot of jobs and kids and grandkids. And it's like probably my pet peeve is that person that goes, I don't give a crap about economic development and is not in my backyard. And that's so many reasons why one might say that. Yeah. Many of which are like probably reprehensible in my book. But that's just my two cents before we sign off.

SPEAKER_01 59:03

Yeah. I mean, I think we we also have a lot of people who are out of the workforce for whatever reason, um, proportionate to our population, um, either because they're retired, um, they're seniors, or they're um disabled, they're um too young, although you know our childbirth rate isn't really growing. So we actually do to some degree need to attract workers here who are gonna like work work for a while.

Roller Derby Rules And Game Nights

SPEAKER_05 59:25

Have jobs that they can go work at.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

Have jobs they can go go work at and who are you know kind of being in the workforce for a while. And that's kind of part of our society that we we need um to to help keep us going.

SPEAKER_05 59:37

Aaron Powell Wow. Yeah. We want to help you get get there. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

Yeah. Yeah. No just small stuff, right?

SPEAKER_05 59:42

Aaron Powell Real quick on your legacy. Uh what are we going to say at your funeral? What's what's your tombstone gonna say?

SPEAKER_01 59:48

Um She was pretty fun but nerdy.

unknown 59:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 59:51

That'll work.

SPEAKER_01 59:53

She was a lot. She's a lot of people. And I do want problem like Picard on my tombstone somewhere. It can be like a byline or something.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:02

Oh, that's so good. Yeah. You're a great actor. Yeah. I love that. I love that show. Natalie, thanks for being here. Aaron Powell.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:09

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:09

Really appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:10

Yeah, good times.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:11

Pretty cool. Uh so hey, if you're just joining us, you're really late. But that's okay. You can make comments, you could send gold bullion, we have a Venmo page. We have ways for you to participate. And look for us on Access Humboldt, YouTube, Spotify. And next week I'll have a voice. It'll be better.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:28

Your voice sounds like you're like a singer in a a jazz band in a smokey lounge. I'm just a singer in a rock and roll band. Oh, that's what it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:34

Yeah, no, I I could let me s don't tell me because I might sing before we go. Anyway, 100% Humboldt. Signing off. Have a great day. Thanks for coming.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:43

All right, thank you.