#125. Planning, Housing, and the Push and Pull of Humboldt Growth | John Ford

John Ford, Director of Planning and Building for the County of Humboldt, talks with Scott Hammond about how planning, permitting, and code enforcement work in a county shaped by cannabis, housing pressure, and community debate. They get into ADUs, complaint-driven code enforcement, the We Are Up project in McKinleyville, and the tension between growth and the desire to keep Humboldt small. Ford also shares the winding path that brought him from Fresno to Humboldt by way of planning, ministry, and back again.

Transcript

Cold Open And Introductions

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, and all those out to see it. Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt Podcast with my new best friend, John Ford from Humboldt County. Hi, John. Hi, Scott. Thanks for having me. Hey, how's your day? It's been pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Pretty magical out there for a summer day. So summer day, it's a nice day. People seem a little bit more upbeat today. Aaron Powell Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

It doesn't take much after a lot of fog.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Tease us with a little sunshine, it will be nice. Absolutely. So tell us tell us about uh what's your job name, rank, and serial number?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Sure. So my name's John Ford. Um when I first got here, there was a John Ford here who was doing some things that weren't completely legal. The other John Ford. So the district attorney advised me that I should uh absolutely use my uh middle initial in all things.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

So I I knew the other John Ford personally, yeah. Okay. Who's a realtor than an insurance guy? Right, right, right. Wait, I have my insurance tag on. Wait.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Not with stay farm. Right. So um I'm the director of planning and building for the county of Humboldt. And uh within that department, we get to obviously do building permitting. We get to do planning permitting, we get to uh prepare uh recommended ordinances and policy documents for the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors, and we also get to do code enforcement. Ah and cannabis stuff too, right? Cannabis is really part of the uh permitting. Okay. And it's also part of the code enforcement. So say less lesser now, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Because it the industry's uh kind of tanked a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Aaron Ross Powell Industry is really down.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah.

unknown 2:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

It was uh one of the most uh amazing uh experiences to come in. I came in in 2016. Aaron Ross Powell Right on time. Just as that was starting. Ready to peak. Oh it hadn't peaked yet. Yeah. But it peaked days after that. I was gonna say, yeah. I mean when I came in, I think there was uh maybe twenty-six applications on file. By the end of that year, there were twenty three hundred and seventy applications on file. Whoa. And I came on October 31st. So that was November, December. In fact, I looked a long time ago, and this number just sticks with me, is that in the last what was the last two weeks of the year, we took in 1,500 applications. Is that right? That's 10 working days, 150 applications a day. Aaron Powell That's crazy. That's like an annual number. Yeah, it it actually is. It's uh it's bigger than an annual

Cannabis Permitting Boom And Bust

SPEAKER_01 3:20

number, frankly.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Aaron Ross Powell Funny, you know, it's um y'all want to grow some weed? Back then y'all did. And then um and then we know it's all burned and you know burned to the ground or mostly. But you know, but the boom and bust economy that is famous to our county. Right. You know, timber or or anything else, I suppose dot-coms and the steel industry and the well, there's a lot of people that applied.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

There's a there's a few people who are still making it work in Humboldt, which is good to see. Yeah. And you know, one of the struggles that a lot of us recognized is that new businesses, a new business if it lasts five years, that's a great thing. So not everybody was gonna make it. Yeah, that five-year window. Just statistically, not everybody was gonna make it.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

And they told me I started State Farm at 53. Just a year ago. Yeah. They said, you know, you gotta make it five years so that you'll know. Yeah, it's just a five year old. Well, you might make money at five years ago. Well, I'm gonna do it in two or three. It was five. You know, so five, five is probably a pretty good number.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

So we'll get to the we'll get to the weed and all the weed guys and all of our opinions on that in a minute. Okay. Uh tell us your life story. Where were you born and raised and school and how'd you get to Humboldt?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

So I was uh uh born in California. I was actually born in a town called Fresno, California. And uh my father every six years or so would uh change jobs. And uh so I went from Fresno to Sacramento to Walduck Creek uh to Modesto when I was growing up. Wow. Graduated from high school in Modesto, started in junior college there, came up to Humboldt State for a year and uh went to college here, and then ultimately transferred down to University of California at Santa Barbara and graduated from there. Cool school. It was a great experience.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah. My wife was raised in Ojai, California. Yeah. Not far from there. Nope. Just a little bit inland. What a great what what a great place. We've been down the last two Novembers. Yeah. And just um still a really cool little town. Gets crowded because that highway is the only road in town. But I get that. I'm trying to think of the numbers. Is it 94 or 7? I who knows, whatever. Yeah. Um and UCSB's uh that's where her daddy went to school for a pharmacy.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

So they lived in Isla Vista for a minute.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Lived in Isla Vista for a minute myself.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Fish tacos were good there back in the day. They were. Yep. That's where the that's where I was introduced. So we had our honeymoon there. We got married in um Port Sacall Wedding Chapel in San Pedro Harbor and did the great two-day honeymoon in Ventura, Santa Barbara. Nice. Yeah. It's what we could afford. So you do what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Right, right, right. It's a nice place to to be. I I mean it was good to go to class and then go out, enjoy the beach, enjoy the scenery. It's literally on the beach, isn't it? Yeah. Pretty close. It it is. Yeah. Brought on coal oil point. Wow. It's great to walk on the beach and have tar on the bottom of your feet. That was in the tar days. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Remember all the oil spills.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Hey, they maybe they're going to open those back up again. They've been struggling with that a little bit. They want some more tar in your feet. Um so where'd you what'd you what'd you study or where'd you go from there?

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Aaron Ross Powell So I I obvious I wanted to uh go into planning. And uh so I uh studied environmental studies and geography, got a degree in both at uh UCSB. And uh then uh went down, spent a year working for the city of Thousand Oaks. Okay, and then went up to uh the city of Roseville. Wow. Worked there for uh about 11 years, uh went to work as a consultant for a few years, processing permits, doing feasibility studies, things like that. Sacramento or uh actually over in Santa Cruz. Oh, better yeah. Lived up in the uh San Lorenzo Valley. And then uh actually um felt like I should uh take a different path. Felt like God was telling me that I needed to uh go into ministry. Wow. So I went back to uh seminary in Kansas City, moved up my young family and uh moved to Kansas City at the Nazarene uh theological seminary while I was uh there.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Um is that International House of Prayer somewhere by there, too, right? It's it somewhere outside of Kansas City. It could be.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

I'm I'm not aware of it, but it could be. Uh started pastoring in a small church out in a small town called Carrollton while I was there. Wow. Um and then uh kind of realized that uh my ability in that church to continue to evoke uh growth, change had reached its limit. That's a nice way to say that. I like that. And I was in the seminary that following Monday and was looking at uh the job board, and uh noticed that uh the nominational uh person for the church I'm a part of was gonna be um at the seminary. Oh wow. And so I uh made an appointment to see him. And uh by the time I was able to meet with him, he'd already talked to people who knew me within the district here on Northern California because that's where I came from originally. Trevor Burrus, Jr. So already kind of do you do his homework? Yeah. And uh That's a good sign, right? Yeah. So I uh agreed to go to McKinleyville to uh pastor the Nazarene Church there. Sure. And was there for about seven years at the Ross Peter on McKinleville Avenue. Yeah. Yeah, sure. The time my my wife at the time got sick and uh

From Fresno To UCSB

SPEAKER_01 9:10

couldn't work and I was struggling. We were struggling financially. And I'd applied to all kinds of second jobs, Starbucks, Safeway, I mean you name it. I put a application in and nobody gave me a call back. And so one day out of frustration, I um sent my resume back or down to uh for an opening in Monterey County. Uh huh. And they hired me. The dad's church? Uh no, for a uh planner. Okay. So I went back in the city. Because that was your skill set that was your yeah. Uh-huh. And uh I was down there for a year and a half, and uh the denominational superintendent uh called me and said, Hey, we've got a church open up in Cupertino. Do you want to interview? And I said, Yeah, sure. So I went up there and they called me, and and that was a great experience. But my wife at the time decided I don't I can't do this anymore. And so we ended up uh separating, and I didn't feel good about staying in the church as a separated, soon-to-be divorced person. Sure. So I resigned and Monterey County took me back.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

And uh I don't know, eight years later, ten years later, whatever it's been, uh somebody I met uh while I was pastoring up here uh and I started communicating um and then got remarried. And so she was either going to uh move uh someplace, which wasn't likely, or I was gonna move up here. Yep. And uh so I ended up uh interviewing for the position of director of planning a building.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

And uh was able to to get that job. What a cool God journey. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's a lot of that's a lot of twists and turns. It's a lot of twists and turns. I like that. There's a lot to be learned in in those turns.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah. Thanks for sharing all that. That's that's that's good stuff. So yeah, the God journey. It's um interesting listening to him and and not and when you don't. Absolutely. It's when you don't that you're in trouble. It's it's scary. It's scary. Um so you guys met, so you came back up here and you you came and took a job to be closer to your sweetheart. Yeah. And then we're now sweetheart. Well, and we got married, so yeah. That's exactly it. Yeah. Wow. I like that. So you've lived in a lot of places. I have. How do you like Humboldt so far?

SPEAKER_01 11:44

This is my third stint in Humboldt. So you keep coming back. I keep coming back.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

I like that. Hey, it could be worse. I always say that you know, there's so many worse places one could uh establish. Hey, if you're just joining us, my new best friend John Ford from County of Humboldt. And um uh I have so much resonance with your um your walk with God, your relationship to the Holy Spirit, the fact that you're a God guy, that that, you know, unashamedly uh stating that and me resonating with that in the same way. And the fact that um you know, the the life journey is is really quite interesting in terms of the twists and turns and uh and some of the people that let us down along the way, and and sometimes we wonder if God does, and turns out he doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Aaron Powell Sure. That's not a sign that God is absent. Aaron Ross Powell Right. And usually in those times God is most available.

unknown 12:51

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

And you know, it's the the hard part is admitting that and turning to him.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Aaron Ross Powell And so now your pastoral position is the planning director. Now your church looks a little different. It's a lot different. How's your congregation doing, John? Probably like any congregation, there's a bell curve.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Aaron Ross Powell Well, we we've gone through immense changes in because obviously the the whole cannabis uh thing was uh something we had to adapt to.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

And as part of that, we took on code enforcement. And so that was also a huge change. And so the department has faced continual change, continual growth in terms of how we do things and how to address things and adapt to things.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Aaron Ross Powell So that means that who used to do that, uh sheriff, or who would do code enforcement?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Aaron Ross Powell It was actually in the county council's office. Huh. Code enforcement became quite controversial for a while in Humboldt County because um it did get I think it was in the sheriff's office. And uh that was a long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

So what's an example? You come out and write me up because I have a bad sewer or septic or something just way out of line in the Trevor Burrus.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

So with the exception of a couple of things, uh cannabis being one of them, um abandoned vehicles being another. Okay. Um we don't proactively go out and look for violations. Where the co-enforcement is complaint-driven.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah. So A lot of complainers in Humboldt County. Love you, I mean it. No lack of those around.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

There's and in fact, one of the things that we experienced is during COVID, when people were home more, the number of complaints we received went way, way up. Like double.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah. Nothing else to do, huh? Nothing else to do with your time. I'm complaining now.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Or at least I'm condemning a little bit. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Some of the situations we run into, I mean, they're pretty rough. And they're they're really things that

Seminary Pastoring And Hard Choices

SPEAKER_01 15:00

need to be addressed.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah. Well, I've seen some things in insurance where, you know, blackberries have taken over a home or a hoarder, or you know, there's all kinds of other ancillary dangers. Aaron Ross Powell Absolutely. And somebody's got to say something, do something. Yep. Other than that, you want to burn down the neighborhood, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Aaron Ross Powell Nope. And and it's really difficult because in every situation you're dealing with a person. And obviously and oftentimes you're dealing with two different sets of people. You're dealing with the property owner who has a condition and you're dealing with neighbors who are being affected by it.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Right. And how do you politely, respectfully, and f firmly solve that problem? Right. I like it. Tough job.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

It is.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

So one of those jobs where nobody, nobody wants to talk to you.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Yeah. It's a lonely road at the top, John. Don't I know? Father of nine kids. I totally get it. Yeah. Dad, Dad, why you know, Joni can't do any sin at all. She's the amazing mom, and I married way up and I know that. But I can't get a win. I don't know what it is. That's poor dad. So let me play my sad dad story. So um so land use is part of your deal too, right? Yeah. Um since since we know this, we just discovered this Monday morning as I confirmed your attendance today that we're neighbors. So John's my backdoor neighbor, whatever. He's he's behind a giant thing, so I never see him. And he never sees me in my hot tub. So for that, be eternally grateful, John. Um but we were able to build an ADU during COVID. Good. So it is heroic in the sense that uh here's Gabriel, our special needs son, who's amazing and 27 with autism and downs and needs 24-7 care. Doesn't really care who's in office, never worries about a mortgage, he's the greatest guy around. He's kind of my group, you know. So the Mormons got that right. They think that people that with downs get an automatic ticket to heaven. And I gotta I gotta uh resoundingly agree with that. So wouldn't argue with that. So Christians think that too. So there you go. Anyway, so long story short, our our lot sits like this, John's at the back, we have a home in the front. The cool thing is I uh Joni's father died, which is not cool down in LA, Santa Barbara. And um Joni inherited a little bit of money, so we were able to build this ADU. Found out this new law came into effect in 2020 that we could it made planning easier to do ADUs. So I'll let you talk to that and then I'll tell the rest of the story. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

So it used to be that uh accessory dual units or ADUs were called granny flats, and uh they could be installed with uh you know some kind of permit, discretionary permit, that took a lot of time, uh too much time, probably. And uh the state changed the law and said, you know what, we need to see more housing built. So we're gonna just allow these as part of the residence. So they they're to code. Get a permit for them and they comply with all the other requirements that are part of any other development, they're good to go. So the county obviously followed suit, updated our code to reflect that. And we've been seeing a lot of ADUs built. Sure. Uh because they're it's a good way to provide housing. It's a good way for some people to uh have supplemental income on their property. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

What's a good number? Is it the hundreds, thousands of ADUs? Yeah, in the last five years. Hundreds. That's great, though. Yeah. Consider the shortage, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Yeah. Well, it's yeah. We're struggling to see housing built. And uh you know, part of it though, too, is maybe this is a little off topic, but you know, our population is not exploding. It's not growing. I never knew that. What? We don't grow.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

We we might go backwards some years. I I think the trend right now is backwards. Is it really? Okay. It's funny how some people are happy with that. Right. You know, we we we say that, we go wah wah, and other people are going, yeah. And um, we'll get to Amazon here in a minute. Is that part of your bailiwick up in uh in McKillinville?

SPEAKER_03 19:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Wow, we're going from weed to Amazon. And next stop, we're gonna talk about Trump. Just kidding. Um, I'll finish my Gabe story real quick in the CDU story. Um plan we're planning meets God stuff in miracles. So we have this money, we have the special needs son. We're not gonna send him to Section 8 housing because it we don't, who knows? And uh, we have the Will and the son-in-law that's a builder. He goes, I'll build something back there, you know. And he's built a beautiful 1,100 square foot two-bedroom, two-bath. That's awesome. It's awesome, dude, and it's beautiful, and it's it's not Shang, it's not Taj Mahal, but it's pretty f pretty cool. So um I call into the county, and I I I don't think I talked to you, but I talked to one of your guys. I go, hey, so uh this ADU law, uh, you know, we got C C and Rs in our, you know, cul-de-sac, and the C C and Rs must mean something. He goes, No, it's the state law, Scott. You can build a house. I go, well, you know, what about setback? Well, if you the setbacks work and you're but but but the CC he goes, Gavin Newsom signed a bill. It's law. You can I'm telling you you can do this within within the rules. And I go, are you sure? So so you know, that that non-believing mindset of like doubting that you know something cool could happen. So um, and it did. And and here's the interesting thing, and you'll appreciate this because you'll get it. Um, I'm looking for something long to to show this. Anyway, so our lot my prop here. Our home sits in front of the lot, and uh, there's a an airport transecting line. Uh what am I telling you? You probably know what it's called. Anyway, it uh it transects our property almost in half, less than half. And it became apparent with our planning uh our builder and our planner that we could drop a house right in right in there. And it's sure enough. And it's beautiful, and Gabe's um happy camper and mom and dad are uh we're off to Oregon tomorrow. Nice another travel. After nine years of being stuck in McKinleville. Well, I'm sorry, raising nine kids and having a delightful time in the fog. We're gonna go swim in the river in Oregon, thank you. And go see String Cheese Incident and Rhett Festival. So anyway, that's my Gabe story. And and he he um it's just worked out fabulous. You know, it's one of those stories. So there's a a great side to what you do and uh provide for, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

There is. Some of the things we get to do is is really help people do things that are meaningful and important. And uh that's probably what keeps me coming back, is the ability to make a difference.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah. So um before we go into weed and Amazon, um you help the county supervisors make it recommendations on land use and meetings and you run the planning commission. Do you run the meeting?

SPEAKER_01 22:31

I don't run the meeting. There's a chair. But you're present for that. I am present for that. Aaron Ross Powell Is that Ivor? Is that who does it? It was Ivor Scavdolf for a time. Now it's Sarah West. She's the chair. Aaron Ross Powell And Noah was the chair for a minute. Aaron Ross Powell They they rotate on an annual basis.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Aaron Ross Powell The only government meeting I've ever been to, except for we got recognized uh by Rex and the board for um Humboldt Heroes, which we recognize vets once a month for 10 years, uh, was the We Are Up testimony. Right, right. And uh, you know, she Marriott asked everybody, please be there. And and uh I think you pretty sure you were there. And that sailed right through. Um amazing person. And you know, I don't remember speaking, and maybe Joni did, I don't remember, but I remember attending and and being impressed with the whole how the how the board works.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Yeah. You know, the that and that thing, that's uh one of those projects that when you look at it, you think, wow, there is a lot of love um behind that to uh to make something like that work. Aaron Ross Powell Special Lady.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Yeah. Yeah. So um let's see when I color in the We are up for uh vision for people that don't know what it is. It's sure it's modeled after uh gosh, what what do I call it? It's modeled uh from something back east. I know that much, but it's a it's a farm, it's a tract of land by behind Grocery Outlet in McKinleyville. Aaron Ross Powell Correct.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

And what it will do is provide housing for seniors and uh uh really adult people who have autism and other things that it'll give them the seniors and the special needs populations the ability to interact, to socialize.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

And Cal Poly people could come and live and study there and nursing pro nursing students. Um big vision. So it starts with this um greenhouse and barn. Yeah. They're gonna grow their own. Not weed, you weed thinker. Um and and then expand out to a building and then a community center type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Aaron Ross Powell Right. And and ultimately it'll be a place where the community can come and uh leave space to have events, weddings, live shows. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah. So one of the interesting things there is that as I understand it, those events and the proceeds for those really go to underwrite the overall cost of the facility. So it keeps the cost down uh to the residents. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

And I I'm amazed, and uh I'll I'll I'll pivot to where I really want to talk about,

How Code Enforcement Really Works

SPEAKER_00 25:10

and that is the NIMBY headspace of Humboldt, some people in Humboldt that don't want anything in their backyard ever. And I I don't know much. I'm 67, I'm a B student from Humboldt. I was a feral hippie child that walked the streets of San Diego smoking weed till I came up and met Jesus and Joni in a degree at Humboldt and sobriety. However, I'm not stupid. And going to this meeting, I'm going, how could you oppose this? They thought of every detail, every environmental detail, every the thing was so was it buttoned up in your book? I mean, yeah, it was buttoned up. Obviously the board thought so and they approved it the night of with no concerns, right? Um or minor concerns. Minor something.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

The second time it got approved with no concerns. The first time it went through, there were some neighbors to the north. Correct. That uh had concerns about being able to see something um behind their fence. Sure. And uh the noise that may come from the events, the lights, and that sort of thing. Aaron Ross Powell And they mitigated all that or addressed it. They they they went way, way beyond. They uh purchased additional property, uh found alternative access, um oriented things away from those residents.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Aaron Powell So they did a redesign to accommodate six, not even maybe a half dozen home households. So the Max number. So we we got a name for them and and not just the people there, but uh we'll call them the neighbors to the north. And I I want to address those guys because I I I don't first of all, I don't really like who you are, neighbors to the north or how you act, at least I'm sure you're you're wonderful people. But I I think and I'm again not addressing them, I'm addressing the people who would say, um, any growth in Humboldt's bad. You know, here's here's Amazon, it's zoned for this. Here's We Are Up. How could you not fall in love with that program and just bite the bullet and deal with the lighting or deal with any noise? Because it's such a cool vision. And uh I guess it's the obstructionist mofo that I would would uh label the the neighbors to the north, uh, that keep things uh keep us small, keep us in poverty, keep us desperate, keep us um provincial and weird, and at the end of the day, broke. And I think, you know, my kids, your kids, your grandkids, you know, my my son's 22 today. He goes, Dad, I don't have a chance here. He's right. And I go, F. You know, you're right, dude. And I, yeah, well, and hey, well, you're gonna be okay. It'll be fine. And, you know, we're talking to our wealthy friends from church in Trinidad Sunday night. I go, why would you keep Amazon out? It's why would you be against that or try to get that on a ballot? It's providing 80 to 200 jobs, some wages, some medical care for people, and it's zoned for it. And it's in a corner of an industrial lot that nobody ever goes to. Um and here we are, here and we didn't even talk about the undeveloped bay. It's like, so love your insights. I I I don't have answers. I just kind of wonder if it's this protectionistic, obstructionistic at the end of the day, I'd call it freaking selfish headspace of I got mine millennials that and I don't really give a crap about any I just want to keep Humboldt small and green and and groovy. And it's like um and I could start being kind of nasty about it, and I don't think that's the point. The point is, how do you see that um that cadre of people and and and their value system behind that? I'm sure there's more than just one demographic here. Or cycle.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

There's more than one demographic that's involved in that. Um earlier in the conversation, you you mentioned that uh um no, you didn't. I was talking to somebody earlier today that uh went into Wildberries and they were trying to get the petition signed against uh Amazon. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

And it's failed, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

And uh Shucks, that's too bad. You know, he was like Am I losing listeners and watchers as I express I I I can't imagine.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Um but his thought was it's like you are an elderly European of European descent individual. Um you're probably wealthy, own your house. So why are you against this?

SPEAKER_03 30:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

And uh, you know, there's no answer for that. Yeah. And I think you're right, people do like uh Humboldt just as it is. Yeah. The struggle is that an economy, a society, is much like a body. If you're feeding it and exercising it and keeping it strong and it's growing, it functions pretty darn well. Even as we age. Speak for yourself, brother. I'm kind of stiff right now. Well, but you keep moving, you get up in the morning, you go for a walk. That's right. And uh so we'll tell you about the skunk in a minute. We uh continue to experience um you know the strength of and the function of our body. And the same thing happens in uh community. Trevor Burrus, Jr. An economy. You know, when you start to lose segments of the economy, you lose your industrial sector. Where are your jobs? Yeah. Where's lumber?

SPEAKER_00 31:10

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Yeah, yeah you have none. Aaron Ross Powell, Jr. Where's fisheries? Where's tourism? I mean tourism, yeah, that we talk about it, but that's not we probably get a pretty good number of tourists. Aaron Powell It's gotten better.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

But it ain't the struggle is it does not it produces some taxes, but the people who work in the tourist industry by and large aren't the highest paid. Aaron Ross Powell And they're seasonal.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

And yeah, their most of their work period is seasonal. Aaron Ross Powell I go down to Old Town from January to m early May, and it's it it's pretty dead. You know, there's a lot of booming in downtown. You know what it what it is? Dispensaries and thrift stores. If that's your groove, you're gonna do well in humble. And it it's like it's it's such a nasty true statement. And I and I walk it daily, so please argue with me. Because there's it's um it just ain't good. There's banks and there's insurance companies and dispensaries and thrift stores and a couple of restaurants. By the way, have you ate out recently? It's pretty also expensive.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

It's very expensive to eat out.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

It gets really hard. So so back to this NIMBY uh folks on the north side, folks to the north. Um what and I realize we both need to be careful. What what can we say to them or or do about that headspace?

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Aaron Ross Powell, I don't know that we can do anything about that. I mean, on the one hand, neighbors who have enjoyed a certain quality of life with nothing behind them for a period of time, uh I I get it. That becomes an

ADU Rules And A Family Win

SPEAKER_01 32:50

intrusion into their property. But it's not their property right because they're not own that property there is a a property to the south of them that has the right or some rights to develop. Trevor Burrus, Jr. I should have bought it. That's one option. But I think that what uh Mary did, like with We Are Up, is to recognize this like, you know what? I don't want to create enemies. Right. Before we even start. Right. So let's go ahead and take a take another look at this before we end up in front of the Board of Supervisors and have that.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Yeah, that fight. Aaron Ross Powell How many how many households are we talking about opposed this, John, roughly? Probably about six. Wow. How they could s six households could shift the the the the trajectory of a of a beautiful project.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Trevor Burrus The the one thing that becomes um important in that is you know your the f the way you effectively engage in the public process. You know, one of the things I like about what we do is it is public. So people do have a right to get up and say, hey, I think this adversely affects me, and I don't I don't like that. And so there's always the you know the desire anyway, or I had that desire, and I've seen many developers wanting to let's work this out. And Mary did that.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Um it's done. It's a done deal at the same time. It's it's approved now, it's done. Yeah. With conditions. Yeah. I I think Amazon's a little different. Amazon's more of a philosophical um hate of Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Yeah. Which is fine. Don't shop them.

unknown 34:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

You don't like porn? Stop watching porn. Philosophical maybe that's maybe that's not the greatest analogy. But okay. Um It's the points taken. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah. But but they're coming in legally and zoned correctly and trying to comply with the law, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:03

They're not coming in to close down stores, and that seems to be one of the arguments. Aaron Ross Powell, which is kind of a fallacy, right? Um they're coming in because people are already using their services. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Correct. And stores are already closed. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Right. And it makes business sense for them, rather than paying commercial freight charges to UPS or the United States Postal Service to use their own resources to ship uh material up here and distribute it. I mean, maybe I'm too simple-minded, but that's where I see it.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Well, and I I understand the argument, they may not be here for 50 years. Okay. So what what are you offering a friend from the north and other jobs that you're trying to bring in? And the answer is heck if I know, dude, and and I don't care. And it's like, so now we have a a deeper than philosophical difference. And and and and I see where it becomes insulting then on Facebook and other places where it's like, you're an idiot. No, you're an idiot. Screw you, now screw you. And so it I don't know where that gets us in the dialogue, but I I do know um little baby, the the day don't despise the day of small beginnings. And and we need small beginnings. We need Danco to do Samoa. We need um someone to come and build around the bay and do some, you know, the um Halverson project. Why don't we have a convention center? What is what is possibly wrong with us that we don't have that? Why don't we have a Home Depot? Really? A Home Depot? Uh uh Why did Walmart have to come into Gottshoks and go in the back door to get into Humboldt? I mean, are are we that exclusive and and um uh as much as I sit here and ask people how much they love Humboldt County, th there is there's an underlying uh philosophical um I would call it a disease or a pathology or even a poison that keeps um that has ancillary results of of a poverty and mindset that that doesn't touch the old fat white guy that shops at wild berries in Arcata. Love you old fat white guys, but you ain't you can't you can't own the day and you can't own the future, Humboldt. I'm sorry. So I think I found my passion. Been praying about that person that I want to help out, that demographic. Young families and humble, let's get let's get you guys some jobs. Let's bring in some business, you know? Let's let's bring in some manufacturing, let's let's do some real, real economic good damage. We're not bringing in nuclear power plants. Nope. We're not we're not drilling for oil here, folks. So it's like is there some I guess I would plead for some middle ground, but that's another story.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Aaron Powell And it's hard. We have some disadvantages too. Transportation is one of them. Yep. It's it's hard to mass produce things here and then ship them someplace. We could ride them down the railwood trail when it's built and put people on bikes and ship stuff out.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Aaron Ross Powell That'd be incredibly environmentally sensitive. Yep. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Hey, it's low on gas, but I got a lot of halayashi in the back. We're gonna ship some earrings. That's cool. Um anyway, we'll see. Paul, we want to get you on the show, by the way. Um so let's uh let's go back to the uh skunk story. Before we do that, any other thoughts to to our friends that are obstructionist uh brethren?

SPEAKER_01 38:37

No. And the the thing is, is that while uh uh NIMBY's are incredibly frustrating in a lot of circumstances, um they do have an appropriate place.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

You know, and so they can't be just completely disregarded. Then NIMBY kind of becomes one of those derisive terms. But the fact of the matter is, is that everybody gets to participate in the process. Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

And I think it's uh that that statement holds implies equity and fairness. And I I I see very I I don't see none, almost none. You know, it's like no, we uh the how about the uh well, no. How about no. How about offshore wind? Yeah, no. How about some fish? How about Hershey's chocolate? Way back. I heard uh when

NIMBY Pushback And Amazon Arguments

SPEAKER_00 39:30

I was younger in college, they tried to come in somewhere around the bay. Really? They were waiting for Dick Taylor. Speaking of which, oh wow, it's almost time for the quiz. Uh-oh. Oh, we have a you like vanilla milk chocolate or are you gonna like a dark chocolate? Oh, vanilla's good. Dark is good. This is delicious. Okay. Well, don't get carried away. You haven't won anything yet. So John and I are neighbors, and I was telling John this we have a bear up on Dows Prairie that's raising cane and going crazy. And I don't know, I got some trash. I said, Do you see the trash can Tuesday morning after we talked? I did not. It was down by the golf course, it's over it. Anyway, don't put your trash out on Monday night. I called the neighbors after you called us. I said, Pat and Jerry, you know, uh, bring that trash can in. Thank you, Scott. You're amazing. You know, our NIMBY neighbors. I don't call everybody that. Um, but they're great and they were appreciative. And um, so we have a bear running around. So I'm I I get up in the morning and take a walk outside and stretch my legs, and I look over, there's a skunk. I go, Oh, okay. I'm scaring the skunk away. And he's going nowhere. In fact, he's going in a circle. I get closer, and I go, he's got a cup on his nose. And it turns out it's a yogurt container, which is worse because it's it's hard plastic. I thought it was a little Dixie cup. And this skunk, and big skunk, too, not a little skunk. And and I call call Lynn this morning. I go, hey, um, first of all, I showed Jonah. I said, we don't, you know, this is I've seen weird stuff. This is pretty weird. Pretty funny. Not funny. It's it was funny, weird. And I called Lynn, I go, Lynn, I I don't know how to tell you this. Good morning, but you gotta one of the skunks that live around your house is doing circles in your yard. And and I thought about going over with a a long, you know, um 10-foot pole and trying to get it off. And she goes, Okay, thank you. And so she calls back. She goes, I had no choice. I walked up to it and pulled it off its nose. Go, Lynn, you are a bad A, man. Yeah, no doubt. Good, good job, Lynn. You're tough. She goes, it it it fled and it was happy.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Okay, so it didn't turn around and turn on her a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

No, we're gonna call, you know, fish a game and had a big plan, but she just did it the right way. Popped that off. So, hey, having said that, ready to make some uh some chocolate happen? I'll give it a try. All right, John, for all the money. John Ford, what was the best day of your life?

SPEAKER_04 42:12

That um has the moment one of the best days.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

I'm gonna say the the day that I decided to follow Jesus Christ. Wow. How old were you? I was 25 years old. Wow. What happened? Just lots of changes going on. You know, I'm done with college, struggling with the job, struggling with whether to take a new job, struggling with whether or not to enter into a relationship, and just okay. At bottom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

That's good. That's a good day. Mm-hmm. A lot of good days since then. Very good days. It's funny that he knew you then, but he did you didn't know who you would be now, but he knew and had you uh kind of lined up, if you will. I like that. I was 21, I married Joni 45 years ago. I had no idea how cool it would be. He knew how this would go. But I had no clue. And it's like, wow, you you could see beyond time. Wait. He must be God. Question number two, what's the worst day of your life? Ooh.

SPEAKER_04 43:27

Um I'm gonna go with the day my father died.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

Okay. How long ago was that? It was in 1992.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Wow. He's been gone a while. Wow. I'm sorry to hear that, but that's kind of the way of things at times. It is the way of things. Lost my dad in 04. The he ornery guy, he died on Valentine's Day, kind of ruined. And and now has made it beautiful. I I see it in a different light. Yeah. He lived a full life. And I was able to share Christ with him as I was the hippie feral child from Humboldt, giving my father an amazing Ryrie study Bible from Charles Ryrie, Dallas Theological Dad.

SPEAKER_03 44:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Presented it here, Bob. And he goes, You know, I only read the King James. And I said, You don't read any Bible, dude. You've never read the Bible. And it cost me a whole month of groceries. It's yours, bro. And he goes, Thank you very much. And what, you know, whatever. And a couple months later, he was on Camp Pendleton where he sold life insurance of all things to Marines. The chaplain goes, Hey, he was telling him about his hippie, stupid Christian son up at Humboldt State. Scott, you know, give me this dumb Bible, Ryrie something. And the chaplain in perfect secret agent God form said, You know, I studied under him at Dallas Theological. And Bobby, you would do well as a fellow Marine in reading that Bible. And it caught my dad flat footed and he became a student of the Bible, got baptized at 53 and the whole nine, and a beautiful story, sober since 1973. But it it just added that next layer of spirituality and Christ to his sobriety and died uh uh at 83 in a beautiful death, and just a neat guy that, hey, we're gonna hang out for too long, I'm sure. That's sweet. It's gonna be great. So hey, question number three. So we've all lost a dad, right? Correct. What do you find fulfilling in your life? Helping people. Nice. In what way?

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Meeting needs.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

More specific?

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Um solving their problems. Uh if I can. Yeah. You know. If uh they need help in the art, I'll do that. If uh there's something I see that I can do that, you know, maybe beyond them, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Aaron Ross Powell We always talk about throwing money at problems. I I think it we have a thousand other gifts and currencies besides writing a check. You know, to just spending time and being present with people.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

Aaron Ross Powell That was one of the things that I learned as a pastor that probably is the most important thing we can give to people is time. And sometimes we think that we have to say the right thing and do the right thing and all that, but sometimes it's just being present.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah. Just listening. I've watched my wife do that so wonderfully with our kids, especially our oldest son at home, who's um has a lot of things to say. And I'm in the other room going, better her than me. You know, because she can endure it. I I I I have a a limit, and then I have to go um, you know, put my head in the hot tub or something. But um but to be listened to and understood is what a great ministry to people. Just and by and large, they they got it worked out already. They just had to talk about and or be emotional or just freak out for a minute and and get it all out there, and then and then Mike is usually pretty good at the end of the day. Yeah. Thanks for, you know, never quite quite says thanks for listening, but uh yeah, what a gift. Um bonus question, and this is for all the chocolate. Um Jody's father used to ask this,

Skunk Rescue And The Big Questions

SPEAKER_00 47:20

who are you, John Ford, and what do you want?

SPEAKER_01 47:26

Um I am a child of God, and I want to make a difference. Nice. Define child of God and defined difference. I uh have come to discover that I am the beloved of God the Father of Jesus Christ. Awesome. And um part of that is loving others and finding what it is that I can do to improve their situation. And that particularly applies in my job. Sure. But more importantly, applies at home. Applies in the church, applies in the community. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:11

It's a high calling. Lucky we have uh help. Can't do it alone. I was gonna say, I I I can't imagine I I I don't know your job, but I can imagine the pressures of of uh the human beings involved and and just the baggage, the emotion, uh, all the all the stuff that comes with that and having to sit still with that and sit with that and try to try to do the right thing f f by them and for for the county and you know, to find that space. Uh I guess that's true in insurance. I'm trying to do right by the customer and the company, and there's the there's the call. Glad glad I have a job. Yeah. Yeah, there's there's the job. Go get them, Tiger. That is the job. Hey, uh uh thanks to uh Dick Taylor Chocolate. You're the proud owner of a vanilla milk chocolate, 55 percent. Oh, the Alexander Family Farm um up at Smith River and Ferndale. Delicious milk. Enjoy that, John. Thank you. You may not eat that on the way home. She'll get really mad. She will. Yeah, you better share that, because that's uh that's what we do. Yep. So tell let's talk about your legacy real quick. What would you like to be um remembered for in terms of uh your um your arrival and departure from Earth? Gravestone. Your uh your uh celebration of life. Yeah, I'm uh you probably presided over a few of those. I have.

SPEAKER_01 49:51

I absolutely have. And you know, some of them are a little bit uh more difficult than others. I think the thing that um I would like to be remembered foremost is that I like poured into people's lives in some way, whether it's professionally, personally, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

That's good. I like that. Um I like the one that I think it was a week or two ago. She said, uh, I'd like my tombstone to say she was a lot. I thought that's a pretty good one. I should ask Nick his one day. We'll see what his is afterward. Um so you would know a lot of Nazarene people. So um Pastor Zimmelman was a uh Nazarene pastor in 1979, where Joni and I went to church for a minute in Arcada.

SPEAKER_01 50:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

Is that still a Nazarene church right by the campus? That is still a Nazarene church. Okay, yeah. Yeah. He was an amazing dude, had a good youth ministry. My other Naz parallel is um Eureka Naz, Jerome used to be pastor there for a minute. We visited there when we were church shopping and founded one even though we lived in McKinleyville, it wouldn't work, but it was one of the most friendly, amazing, warm churches that I'd ever visited. And then uh closer to home is Pastor Nicole down at Fortuna. Yep. Yeah. Uh good uh my my office manager loves her. She she's plugged in as part of that and recently got baptized by her last summer. Oh good. Just uh I I look forward to Nicole, want to meet you. And then uh we're part of Catalyst Church, so we have Pastor Bethany and Jason.

unknown 51:32

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

Shea, I don't know if you've ever met them. I I haven't. Yeah. You would do well. They're great. Super, super great people. Yeah. Um, but she talks, you know, back to what you said about being beloved. Um Paul talks about that a lot, it turns out. So do all the writers of all the gospels. Um, and I think it's a really important uh note that if you don't get that, if if God's just this heavy-duty grandpa that wants to beat people, you missed you miss the New Testament, which is which is what they would like you to do. But uh, if you reread it, it's first John especially, or Romans or John, book of John, uh, you know, as God's holy, dearly beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another, forgiving one another, forgive as God forgave you. And above all that, put on love, which turns out it binds it all together in perfect harmony. And I think um it's taken 66 years of unlearning to relearn the fact that um, you know, I always figured God, you know, likes, you know, loves everybody. He might like me, I don't know. And I think it's that mentality that that that level of unbelief that God's after. That's way more s that's way more sinful than a heroin habit in my book. That that unbelief that keeps you from the rest of it.

SPEAKER_01 52:57

Yeah, it's that's a hard one. It's hard to overcome.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Yeah. Heroin's easy. Cussing, uh, cigarettes, vaping, get out of here. But overcoming that headspace of unbelief and going, well, I just know that God's this way. Well, really? Have you been outside today and looked around at the nature or the revelation of the creation or hanging out with people that love you and that are beloved also? And are you gonna like really reframe God in some way, or are you gonna just stay with your your uh weird unbelief? Right. Yeah. So hey, there's my preaching for the day. That was good. Good word. Yeah, I'm here for you. Well, uh, friend, any any closing remarks? Are you you good? I'm good. Good, I'm good. Uh fastest hour of the week is what I always tell Nick. I always tell my guests that too. Hey, and if you're just joining us, it's uh Pastor, Pastor John Ford. So how real quick, how long were you at the NAS in uh McKinleyville? I was there about seven years. Okay. We're just down the street at Church of the Light.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

Okay. On the corner. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:00

Yeah, which is now something else. Uh we we left there and went to Calvary, Arcata. Uh, and then that's uh transformed to Teleos now with Pastor Jim Thomas. Hey, Jim.

Beloved By God And Closing

SPEAKER_00 54:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:11

I've gone by Teleos a few times.

SPEAKER_00 54:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:14

Great. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 54:15

Yeah, he presents a good word. Yeah, he's a he's a good man and uh they're doing a good job and three services now. And you know, they they grew a lot during COVID. Um so they um they're they're a bunch of good guys. Um Having said all that, um, if you're just joining us, you're really late, and it's okay. It's John Ford, my new best friend and my new best neighbor. Uh I think he's a good neighbor. I know I'm a good neighbor. But the bear comes around.

SPEAKER_01 54:44

I did call you about the bear. You did.

SPEAKER_00 54:46

You're you're on it. Yeah. We saw the bear this morning. It's like, and I've talked about eight other people since then that yeah, there's been bear spottings. And Joni did call fish and game. Yeah. And she said that that's exactly they they move around. And uh did did you guys ever see a cub? Did not see a cub. That was a creepy squeal in the night, though. It was. And bears don't normally eat things, like live things.

SPEAKER_01 55:11

Aaron Ross Powell Well, and frankly, I don't want to be gross, but if a bear was eating something, it would only squeal for a little bit. Aaron Ross Powell That's true. This was a uh ongoing.

SPEAKER_00 55:21

This was ongoing for like hours. Aaron Ross Powell Oh, was it that long?

SPEAKER_01 55:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:25

Uh I only woke up. And then I heard it kind of go away. So interesting.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:32

So the the bear may be roaming around out there, and it looked like they had uh kind of made a little nest um there, but yeah, it could be stopping point.

SPEAKER_00 55:42

Uh there's an area there where deer hang have hung out. She's raised a generational deer spot there, but that's going to go away. The um so you kids out in Dows Prairie, keep it keep it out for the the bear. It's like it's not a grizzly. It's it's not a grizzly. Clap twice, it'll run. But yeah, it's kind of creepy to know there's something, you know. Next time you're out in your skivvies in the middle of the night around your house, you know, just be careful.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Um you don't want to see something uh with shining eyes that uh is running at you.

SPEAKER_00 56:18

No, no, and it's not your cat. Yeah. That'd be a huge bummer. Well, hey, thanks for being here, John. Thank you very much, Scott. It's a pleasure. Thanks for sharing. Yeah. Hey, so if you're uh just joining us again, you're you're super late. That's fine. Uh, but you can do this. You can um subscribe to us. I I I very rarely take much time. I think I'm gonna win the chocolate bar. Um we're on YouTube. You could come and make a comment, you could subscribe. We're on all the podcast platforms, right, Nick? Like Apple and Spotify. And is there a there's there's way many, there's thousands more. I guess Amazon's got a podcast. Um oh, we're on Access Humboldt TV. You ever watch uh Access Cable Channel 10, 11, 12? I do. Yeah. Oh, you would because you're on there a lot.

SPEAKER_02 57:05

I mean sorry.

SPEAKER_00 57:07

Sorry. That was a dig. That was uncalled for.

SPEAKER_01 57:10

Do you ever see yourself on TV? I guess you probably didn't. I did I try not to watch myself, and when I'm tempted to, my wife says, Don't you get enough of that at work?

SPEAKER_00 57:18

Yeah. There you are watching your friends again doing it work. Um yeah, no, they're really great. Access humble, they're doing a good job. They've just moved. I guess they're going to be in Eureka somewhere, and they come off the CR studio and they're going to be around for a little while.

SPEAKER_01 57:31

Yeah, appreciate them. They they they work hard.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

Hey, Christina on the show, she's great. And then Nate Dog and then Matt was just in there in my office one of their volunteering. What a great crew they have, and uh some special folks doing a good work um serving the community. Yep. Having said all that, you could like us, follow us. We have a website. Um, is it 100humboldt.com? That's correct. Nick says yes. And um, yeah, I got some cool people that are partners in this. Dick Taylor, uh, advanced security, um, quality body, and uh growing pains. Uh that's Nick's podcast. Nick Flores, ladies and gentlemen, 240 episodes, all of them three to four hours long. Joe Rogan format. Not all of them, but some amazing people there too. So thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time. Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt. Keep it real.