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January 4, 2001
HGTV
coming to town
Home and Garden Television (Channel
29) is coming to Eureka in January to film three area homes --
a Queen Anne Victorian, Mayor Nancy Flemming's residence on Indian
Island and a former bordello in Old Town.
"They can't use the word
`bordello,' so they're going to call it a `former rooming house,'"
said Mary Beth Wolford, president of the Eureka Heritage Society
and owner of the former bordello, which is now her apartment/home.
Wolford was instrumental in
convincing the producer of the Washington D.C-based show, called
"Old Homes Restored," to film an entire segment in
Eureka.
"I'm a friend of his mother,"
Wolford said. "She called and asked if I had any ideas for
the show."
At first the producers were
interested just in Wolford's home, a second-story apartment across
from Restoration Hardware near Second and F streets.
"Mine is not an authentic
restoration. It's called an adaptive restoration," which
she decorated in the "shabby chic" French apartment
style. But since it was so expensive to come to the West Coast
just for one home, the producers began looking in San Francisco
for two more.
"I said, `San Francisco?
We have plenty of homes here to choose from,'" she said,
and began pitching possibilities.
One home the producers choose
was a classic Queen Anne, located at 16th and G streets, which
is undergoing extensive renovation by owners Melanie and Ron
Kuhnel.
"It's a true restoration
with period wallpaper and carpeting," Wolford said. The
large garden restoration, designed by Sue Natzler, will also
be filmed for the feature.
"It's an enormous project,
a great work in progress," said Wolford.
The island home of Mayor Flemming
and her husband, Mark Staniland, also caught the interest of
the show's producers.
"It's a former fisherman
cottage renovated into a wonderful home," Wolford said.
Each home will be featured in
a 10-minute segment. The show will be shown on national television
10 times during 2001.
Hospice
census doubles
The number of patients treated
by Hospice of Humboldt, which provides home-based health care
to the terminally ill and their families, has doubled since mid
2000. Does that mean more people are dying?
Not exactly, said Raeann Bossarte,
Hospice marketing director.
"It really means more people
are aware of our services," she said.
One big factors was a special
PBS television series on death and dying by journalist Bill Moyers
shown on KEET-TV in September, Bossarte said.
"We do a lot of personal
marketing to physicians and to community groups, but that show
had a big impact," she said. "It was amazing how the
public responded. It's easier for people to come in now."
In June the average number of
patients receiving care from Hospice on any given day was 22.
By September that number jumped to 53 and has held steady ever
since.
"That is about the right
number of patients for a population this size," Bossarte
said, and she doesn't see demand for hospice services dropping
off. "We are gearing up. We are hiring another social worker
and an additional part-time chaplain, and more home health aides
and nursing staff to accommodate the demand," she said.
There was also a change in 2000
in Medicare reimbursements which resulted in a shift from home
health to hospice care.
Town-gown
tiff grows in Arcata
Disagreements over traffic,
parking and land use issues are always part of the natural friction
in a city-university relationship. But there's something going
on in Arcata that transcends mere disagreement: Two potential
lawsuits and some very harsh words point to a breakdown in cooperation
between the city of Arcata and Humboldt State University.
One big issue is the construction
of a five-story, 87,222-square-foot building on Union Street
between 15th and 16th streets to house the future home of the
Behavioral and Social Sciences College. Mayor Connie Stewart
says the city is prepared to stop the project "by any means
necessary," including a lawsuit.
Even though it's officially
not within city limits, the building site is adjacent to a residential
neighborhood and residents worry about traffic.
"Aesthetically we're not
too crazy about it either," said Damon Maguire of the Union
Street Association, a group formed to represent the neighborhood's
concerns. As planned the building is 95 feet tall, which will
make it the highest structure in Arcata.
"We've already told them
that the trees surrounding the project site are higher now than
the project will be, and those trees will grow," said Ken
Combs, HSU director of physical services. Combs maintains that
in addition to mitigating the visual impact, the university has
softened the congestion impacts with a traffic plan that will
keep cars off Union Street.
But Maguire remains unconvinced.
"I'm having a hard time
believing what the university says. I don't know if they're entirely
credible." He cites a controversial traffic study as a case
in point.
As part of an environmental
review undertaken in the early '90s when the building was being
planned, a traffic study found there were 600 vehicles a day
on Union Street. A later study by the city found there are more
than 2,000.
The university initially offered
to do a new traffic study, but withdrew the proposal after City
Attorney Nancy Diamond reminded HSU officials that partial reopening
of an environmental review was illegal.
"One reason we decided
not to go forward with the study was because of a threat of city
litigation," Combs said matter-of-factly.
Another issue is the university's
refusal to provide the neighborhood association with three-dimensional
images of what the building would look like once constructed.
Combs said that the university is afraid "to lose more time
and spend more money," he said. "And it's not going
to satisfy the neighbors because this is an emotional thing.
We're now at the point where it doesn't matter what we do, we'll
still get sued by the city."
Ironically, no one disputes
that the building is important to the university's plans for
the future.
"We are absolutely in favor
of the building. Nobody is arguing that this building does not
need to be built," Stewart said.
Maguire agreed, saying Union
Street residents "are not anti-college, not opposed to them
having good facilities. We just want them to move it."
But Don Christensen, vice president
for development administration, said HSU has little choice but
to put the building on the proposed site.
"We just don't have the
option. People say `move it,' but we have a tremendous shortage
of field space," Christensen said, noting that HSU already
rents field space from the city. And even if another site were
available, there isn't enough time to redo the plans. The building's
financing is part of a bond issue authorized by the passage of
Proposition 1A, passed in 1998.
"That money is not available
to us indefinitely. We lose the opportunity, we lose the building,"
Christensen said.
Maguire said he and Stewart
have met with Sen. Wesley Chesbro to try and freeze the funding
until another site is chosen, but the university is planning
to put the project out to bid in January. Once a building project
is out to bid, the bond financing cannot revert back to the state.
Simmering in the background
is a second issue -- the installation of metered parking on L.K.
Wood Boulevard along HSU's western edge.
"Four years ago the city
staff came to us with a request for us to put meters on L.K.
Wood," Mayor Stewart said. "At the time HSU [officials]
came down and said, `We'll be dealing with parking and we really
don't like this idea.'"
Stewart said the council agreed
at the time, but said the proposal is "a message [to HSU]:
`You need to deal with parking.'"
Regarding parking, Christensen
said the university's hands are tied. There are plans to build
a parking structure, but unlike the BSS building, parking structures
don't quality for state funding.
Ironically, the university's
concerns about parking on L.K. Wood are similar to those expressed
by city officials and neighbors regarding the new BSS building
-- aesthetics and traffic congestion.
Combs said metered parking would
increase danger to bicyclists and that L. K. Wood Boulevard is
the "front door" to the university.
"The last thing we want
is to have cars parked out by the front door," he said.
The solution of last resort
may also be litigation.
"It is a legal question,"
Combs said, whether or not the city could install meters. While
the city has an easement, the road actually belongs to HSU.
The city and university have
several successful cooperative programs, including a bus service
for students and a mutual assistance agreement for police aid.
But Maguire says he sees some "real animosity between the
city and HSU" lately.
"The overall philosophical
problem is that you have two conflicting government agencies,
HSU and the city of Arcata," Stewart said. "We have
spheres of influence that impact each other, and we have feelings
about how we wish each entity operated in their own sphere."
But she said that the university isn't being responsive while
the city has been "extremely patient" with the university.
"That patience is at an
end," however, she warned.
Combs said the friction may
not be as great as some think.
"A small group of citizens
is causing great turmoil for the university and city, but the
large body of Arcata residents is not concerned," he told
the Journal. "I think what we are talking about here is
the silent majority of 15,000 Arcata citizens who are not expressing
themselves."
-- reported by Arno Holschuh
Cloverdale
mayor announces
Bob Jehn, mayor of Cloverdale
and chairman of the North Coast Railroad Authority, announced
last week that he will run in 2002 for the Assembly seat held
by Virginia Strom-Martin.
Strom-Martin, who was reelected
in November, is serving her third and final term under the state's
term-limit restrictions. Both are Democrats.
Jehn, 56, has served on the
Cloverdale City Council since 1994 and has been active in Sonoma
County senior programs. He also serves as vice chairman of the
Sonoma County Transportation Authority and president of the League
of California Cities' Redwood Empire Division.
The 1st Assembly District includes
Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake and Mendocino counties, and part of
Sonoma County.
Gingerbread
Mansion award
Ferndale's Gingerbread Mansion
Inn has been selected as the "Most Excellent Inn in North
America" for 2001 by Johansen's, an international publisher
of guides to hotels, country houses and traditional inns.
Gingerbread Mansion owner Ken
Torbert was in London in November to accept the award.
"This is the first major
international acclaim the inn has received," Torbert said,
although certainly not its first recognition.
"The Gingerbread Mansion
was the second bed and breakfast inn in a historic building in
California to be given a Four Diamond rating by AAA," Torbert
said.
And in 1998 it was chosen by
the editors of America's Favorite Inns, Bed & Breakfasts
and Small Hotels. "These accolades got the attention of
Johansen's," said Torbert, and the publisher began a lengthy
and rigorous selection process.
The Gingerbread edged out three
other finalist for the award -- The Willows in Palm Springs,
Castle Hill & Resort in Newport, Rhode Island and Eliza Thompson
House in Savannah, Georgia.
Leadership
training set
The third Cascadia leadership
training program will begin Feb. 12-13 and will include five
monthly two-day seminars. Application deadline is Jan. 17.
Cascadia, sponsored by the Humboldt
Area Foundation, trains leaders from the business community,
government, education, nonprofit organizations and neighborhood
groups. Workshops and activities include leadership skills, community
needs and resources, economic trends, team-building, problem-solving
and conflict resolution.
This third series will be facilitated
by Dr. Robert Mauer, recently featured on ABC's 20/20,
and Mary Gelinas and Roger James, trainers; Mitch Glanz, facilitator/coach;
and Gayle Abramson, drama therapist.
"We hope Cascadia participants
will ultimately take on our toughest community issues,"
said program director Julie Fulkerson.
Fees are $1,075 and include
all meals, materials and tuition. Some scholarships are available.
For a brochure, application
or more information, call the Humboldt Area Foundation, 442-2993
or e-mail.
Scenic Drive
reopens
Scenic Drive one mile south
of the town of Trinidad and north of the Trinidad Rancheria reopened
last month after completion of $400,000 in repairs. The road
was damaged during heavy rains in 1995.
The repair consists of a wall
nearly 280 feet long and up to 20 feet high with a new guard
rail along the outside lane and a paved drainage ditch.
The project was primarily funded
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but not before
it denied the project four times.
Steve McHaney of Winzler &
Kelly Consulting Engineers worked on Trinidad's behalf preparing
appeals and documentation to demonstrate the stability of the
site and the importance of the road to the regional area.
The state Office of Emergency
Services funded an engineering study, final design and construction
of the project and the Trinidad Rancheria contributed $30,000
to $50,000 of the local share.
Repair work was completed by
Clemens Construction of Redding using a welded wire wall patented
by Eureka-based Hilfiker Co. in the 1970s. A Hilfiker spokesperson
said the material has been used in more than 6,000 projects throughout
the U.S., Canada, Africa, Indonesia, Siberia and South America.
COVER
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