The Death of Redevelopment
With agency gone, what will happen now on Eureka’s waterfront?
Cover Story
The Death of Redevelopment
On Jan. 10 in a dark City Hall conference room, Director of Eureka Redevelopment Cindy Trobitz-Thomas clicks through a slideshow of renovated Victorians and storefronts. Her hair is piled in a loose bun on the top of her head. On the screen, a scrubby lot in front of some dilapidated brick buildings transforms into the…
Marine Protected Areas From On High
Journal graphic designer and photographer Drew Hyland zoomed through the skies on Monday to get a look at the sites along our stretch of coast that could become marine protected areas under the Marine Life Protection Act. Check out his great video, below. After that, if you haven’t already done so, you might want to…
Plaza Design to be Reborn, Sans ‘Design’
Plaza Design remains dead (the Arcata Economic Development Corp. shut it down last month for defaulting on a large loan), but their flagship store location on the corner of the Arcata Plaza will soon be reincarnated as, simply, “Plaza.” The new tenant, a retail store owned by Baroni Jewelry creator Sarah Baroni, will reportedly offer…
Yurok Embezzlement Fugitive Surrenders
Roland Raymond, the primary suspect in a $900,000 embezzlement case involving the Yurok Tribe, turned himself in this morning and has pleaded “not guilty,” according to the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office. “I’ve been in contact with his attorney for the last two days arranging it,” Chief DA Investigator A.C. Field told the Journal…
Joe Mark Leaving St. Joe’s
A couple of hours after word hit the Humboldt rumor mills, the St. Joseph Health System confirmed Wednesday afternoon that top boss Joe Mark is leaving, effective June 30. In a press release, St. Joseph and Redwood Memorial hospitals said Mark and his wife want to spend more time with their young granddaughter in Ohio.…
New Contest: Comment Poetics
You’ve already heard about our 99 words or fewer Flash Fiction Contest (deadline April 10). We’ve decided to add a new contest, Comment Poetics with a shorter deadline, in fact it’s today only. Among the entrants so far: Repeat Journal commenter and big fan PHARM, who always begins with a compliment and seems to favor repetition: Very…
Humboldt County: Classic 8-Bit Nintendo Version
Someone(s) at Google was A) born in the late ’70s/early ’80s and B) has a little too much time on their hands. How else can you explain the totally rad April 1 “release” of Google Maps 8-bit for NES featuring maps modeled after the video game classic Dragon Warrior (1986). We need this!(?) Let Google…
St. Joe’s ‘Vastly’ Downplays Layoffs
Back on Monday we reported that 68 people were losing their jobs at St. Joseph Hospital and Redwood Memorial Hospital. At a press conference, CEO Joe Mark said the jobs being cut were “predominantly in non-clinical support staff.” Moments later he one-upped “predominantly,” saying that while there were “some nurses” and “some clinicians” being let…
W– Now Hiring
Job seekers, an announcement: You may now go apply for a job at Wal-Mart in Eureka. The job announcements have just gone up on all those fun sites the unemployed pore over seeking something, something, to do with their groceries-yearning, bills-owing or parent-harangued selves. One site notes they’re looking for a pharmacy manager (by the…
Take It Back
Most likely due to the charged political season we find ourselves mired in, 2012 has seen a rise in the discussion of women’s issues and reminded us that we as a society have a long way to go in attaining true gender equality. So, as is the case every year, we welcome the return of…
Call a Therapist
THE HUNGER GAMES. The juggernaut is upon us! Based on its gargantuan opening-weekend box office, The Hunger Games seems poised to knock the Twilight “saga” off the top of the money mountain. I’m glad because The Hunger Games is actually a good movie. Not great, but very good. The titular games serve as a kind…
Soundtracks Sans Movies
There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Ensemble Economique, the solo project of Brian Pyle, but that name is internationally renowned in certain alt. music circles. Pyle has half a dozen EE albums out on small but prestigious European and American labels (and many more by Starving Weirdos, his duo with Merrick McKinlau). Pyle…
Hey, That’s Us!
Will and Andrew see Humboldt through the eyes of California’s lawmakers.
Bicycle Follies
Editor: I awoke Sunday morning with but one goal — to eat brunch as soon as possible, for it was already 10:30 a.m. Having no car, I was about to set off toward the Plaza on my bicycle when I remembered I had left its lock somewhere within the HSU Music Department. Little did I know,…
The Strange Case of Gluten
Gluten, a protein composite present in wheat and other grains, appears to be a kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a friend to bread bakers and a foe to people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Let’s take a closer look at this “strange case.” First gluten as Dr. Jekyll: The long molecules of…
Date Norman!
Editor: Thank you for your interesting and insightful article (“Congress: The Dating Game,” March 15). Although the Democratic candidates have a number of similarities, I was struck by their differences, not only in terms of style and experience, but also emphasis and world view. Our challenges are huge and we need leaders with vision, guts…
Chemo Day
The milky savior courses through my veins as…
Don’t Anoint Susan
Editor: Shame on you, Richard Salzman (Mailbox, “Anoint Susan,” March 22). You told me you wouldn’t do that again and then you went and did it. You agreed that there was a question of ethics, and yet you done went and did it again. You wrote that long letter filled with your reasons to vote…
Scott of the Antarctic: Glorious Failure?
Growing up in Britain in the 1950s, during a time when my native country was hungry for inspiration, I learned about the heroes of what was still (erroneously) called “The Empire.” One of the most prominent was Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912), better known as “Scott of the Antarctic.” Scott vied with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen…
The People’s Power
Editor: In response to Marcy Burstiner’s column (“Take the Money and Run With It,” March 1), stating only the wealthy and corporations have the power and money to access mass audiences, I couldn’t disagree more. As Erik Black pointed out (“Free Speech? Tweet,” March 15), not only is Twitter a free way to project our…
Ekstasis
LA-based composer, multi-instrumentalist and performer Julia Holter drew critical attention in 2010 with the release of her mostly ambient, full-length debut Tragedy. It didn’t prepare anyone for her new release, Ekstasis, meant to be a companion piece (home recorded roughly in the same period as Tragedy), contrasting vastly from its predecessor, exhibiting a pop sensibility…
Port Advocacy
Port Advocacy
Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women
What is it like to be Muslim in America? I chose this book because I wanted to know. I wanted my thin assumptions challenged. I got what I asked for. In this thoughtful collection, 25 women who identify as both Muslim and American tell their personal stories of love, sex, romance and coming of age.…
It Takes a Village
Before the modern age of nuclear families, human beings lived in closely knit groups of tribes and villages. The seriously committed extended family was a part of everyday life. Today, not so much. It can get lonely. So, we do stuff together. The pursuits we follow bring us into instant pockets of intentional communities. We…
Mal Voyage
On April 10, 1912, the ocean liner RMS Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage. Five days later, the ship struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and foundered. Out of 2,200 passengers, 1,517 died in the icy waters. To mark the 100th anniversary of this maritime disaster, the very successful James Cameron film Titanic…
Tasty Main Street
Editor: I was able to enjoy the delights of the “Taste of Main Street” (“Eight Days a Week,” March 22) last night! I just wanted to say thank you to all of the restaurants that participated, because I would have never tried several of those places and their delicious food! I do want readers and…
In Search of Seed
Are you a gardener, casual or otherwise? Planning a vegetable garden or maybe thinking about planting a few flowers now that spring has sprung? If so, the Humboldt Seed and Plant Exchange is the place to be this Saturday. A dedicated volunteer group of local sustainable agriculture enthusiasts now known as the Humboldt Permaculture Guild…
Billboard Blight
Bordering Highway 101, as if inviting a monkey wrench daydream, are 30 or so billboards that block views of Humboldt Bay and its surroundings. They intrude on vistas of shimmering tidal flats where shorebirds poke their beaks into the mud, or on green, gleaming wetlands where cattle graze. And they endure. Wes Chesbro and Dan…
