Arcata City Councilmember Kimberley White has a lot to say about Valley West. It is, she says, one of her subjects.
After all, Valley West is the place White has called home for 20 years, the place she set down her Humboldt County roots and raised her daughter, and it’s the focus of her work as a co-coordinator with the bilingual community organization Comunidad Unida del Norte de Arcata/Community United North Arcata — better known as CUNA.
But it’s also, White says, a place where residents have long felt left behind or shunted aside, like they were an afterthought compared to the rest of Arcata. It’s something she understands because she once felt that way, too.
“In the past, I would have referred to it as the other Arcata, the forgotten Arcata, but I don’t think that’s accurate anymore,” she says. “As I said, I’m always, like, ‘Hurry, hurry hurry,’ but that’s just not how government works. Or even life. So it’s never happening fast enough for me but, in reality, it really is changing. … There’s a lot of momentum.”
To her, CUNA — which started during the pandemic as a group of community members meeting on Zoom, looking for ways to help their neighbors — has been a large part of that shift.
“People needed resources,” she says. “There were families that had COVID but they still needed to feed their children. And, so, we were all in tears and we just started making things happen, getting commodities and bags of groceries, and making trips out to Blue Lake Resource Center and getting the necessities that were needed for families, and then it just kind of took off from there.”
From those humble beginnings, CUNA evolved into an instrument for change in the neighborhood, first as a project of Cooperation Humboldt and now operating under the umbrella of the nonprofit Playhouse Arts, with the stated purpose of “focusing on community engagement and strategic collaboration” to “collectively work toward building a better represented Valley West.”
That work has included networking with other community organizations and seeking out grants. Those included one from PG&E that allowed White to complete a feasibility study on developing a resilience hub that will also double as a resource center in the geographically isolated area where many residents lack access to a vehicle.
While that remains a long-term goal, White says, those efforts drew attention, leading to a partnership between the city and CUNA, which now acts as a bridge between officials and Valley West residents. It conducts community outreach to better understand their needs and priorities, while also promoting community-building events and working collaboratively to bring improvements that uplift the quality of life in an area that has long felt overlooked.
Last year, with $15,000 in American Rescue Act Plan (ARAP) funds allocated by the city for Valley West improvements in hand, CUNA set out to ask residents what they wanted to see done with the money. At first, White says, there was some apprehension, especially from residents who had gone to city visioning sessions time after time only to see nothing happen — something she experienced herself in the past.
“We were the very first in all of Humboldt County to bring that participatory budget process, where the residents in the community get to help decide how the money is spent,” White says. “So, rather than the city coming in and saying, ‘Well, you need this,’ we have the community as the stakeholder and they bring about proposals and then we vote, so they get to decide what they want to see.”
It all started with a series of brainstorming sessions to develop a list of priorities. Using those ideas as a guide, a steering committee came up with project proposals that community stakeholders — residents, businesses and even students at a local private school — voted on before the results went to the city council for final approval.
While White says some of the most popular wish-list items — like a public restroom, a community center and a community garden — were just not feasible given budget constraints, several others have been completed, including planting fruit trees, installing an ADA picnic table, adding trash and recycling bins, and a series of murals painted by community members at a park on Hallen Way off Valley East Boulevard.
Right across the street, a barbecue area was also constructed next to a basketball court installed by the city in 2020, which received its own mural upgrade in conjunction with the Ink People’s REBOUND project (“Reimagining the Paint,” Oct. 28, 2021).
The latter, White says, was especially meaningful because everyone who worked on the project was paid. And, she adds, the new grill got a major breaking in last month when CUNA hosted a community barbecue that drew more than 100 people, including families, Cal Poly Humboldt students and residents of two nearby transitional housing complexes.
The ARAP monies also helped fund free dance and theater classes for local youth, teen meet-up events and several family-friendly community happenings, including a bike rodeo and tianguis — or a Latinx-style flea market — which brought in people from near and far into Valley West.
“We were really frugal and we got a lot done, in my humble opinion, out of $15,000,” White says, noting in-kind donations from partners like “The Mural Man” Ben Goulart, who led the park mural project, also played a crucial role.
The funds and the process have also been a game changer as far as building trust in the community.
“When the first participatory budget process came to fruition, I think that was very promising for them. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. This isn’t a false promise. This isn’t another visioning session that we do and they ask us what we what, but then nothing happens, and then two years later there’s another visioning session and nothing’s changed,” White says. She adds she understands city resources have been tight and community projects often depend on nabbing the right grant at the right time in a highly competitive field of proposals.
“I know that the city has been working really hard over the years,” she says.
But that work, she notes, often happens behind the scenes and when a proposal doesn’t come to fruition, all residents see is another project that never happens. Now there are tangible examples as another round of brainstorming sessions is currently taking place, with voting on the final project priorities set to take place in the next couple months.
While many people consider Valley West as the area where Valley West and Valley East boulevards form a U-shaped loop, with the shopping center and line of hotels on one side and an array of apartments, condos and pockets of single family homes on the other, it’s larger. The neighborhood technically stretches from the west side of U.S. Highway 101 — starting at the city’s northern reaches by Lazy J Ranch Mobile Home Park — and encompasses all of Giuntoli Lane, from the overpass out to Boyd Road.
According to the city, Valley West houses a large portion of Arcata’s Latinx and Cal Poly Humboldt student populations. It also includes Arcata’s three mobile home parks and the county’s sole emergency overnight shelter, as well as the only fast-food drive-thrus in the city.
City Manager Karen Diemer says she started seeing a shift in the focus on Valley West about eight to 10 years ago, as the city began making plans for more recreational access and ways to better connect the community to the rest of Arcata via pedestrian and bicycle routes.
That effort included the acquisition of Carlson Park, the only city-owned property with access to the Mad River, with some $2.5 million in improvements — including a public restroom, which will be the first in the Valley West area, a playground, a pickleball court and kayak launches — expected to be done next year, made possible by a series of grants, including $1 million from the state.
Diemer also points to a series of other projects that took place in that time period, including the installation of new Valley West bus stops and improvements at a large affordable housing apartment complex in the area, as well as playground upgrades, the basketball court, major repaving work, and water and sewer expansion out to Boyd Road.
“As a small city, projects always take longer than we hope but the city has been dedicated to bringing improvements to Valley West for many years,” she says in an email to the Journal.
Once farmland that was annexed by the city in the late 1950s, Valley West began attracting amenities, like hotels and fast-food restaurants, especially in the 1970s and ’80s, due to its close proximity to U.S. Highway 101 and State Route 299, Diemer says.
“These same highways, however, created a tremendous physical barrier that bisected the town,” she says.
But Diemer says several housing developments proposed for central Valley West, as well as the conversion of two hotels into transitional housing, “will grow the residential neighborhood feel for the area.”
One of the city council’s current priorities, she notes, is establishing an indoor community center.
“We believe that we are close to finalizing a lease for a space on Valley East Boulevard,” Diemer says. “The space would be used for community recreation programs, events and will have office space for the police department.”
While the space will need some improvements, Diemer says she is hopeful the center will open by spring, around the same time the community’s other chosen improvements — which are currently being decided — are expected to be completed.
“CUNA has done an excellent job of connecting the neighbors, bringing events and enrichment activities to the residents based on what they are interested in and communicating between the residents and businesses,” Diemer says. “They have also provided a warm welcome for [Cal Poly Humboldt] students that have been provided temporary housing at the Comfort Inn and the new residents of the two HomeKey shelters.”
Arcata Police Chief Brian Ahearn, who is stepping down from the position next week, says every time the department has held meetings or events like Coffee with a Cop in Valley West — the place he selected for his very first neighborhood walk after arriving in town five years ago — they’ve always been well attended.
And, the chief adds, he always walks away “with good work tasks to work on.”
In many ways, Ahearn says, the input he’s received in Valley West echoes those voiced across city, including a need for increased traffic enforcement and concerns about property crime and quality of life issues, such as panhandling at the shopping center’s entrances and a recent “significant volume” of RV parking along Valley East Boulevard.
Valley West is by no means alone, he says, noting those are issues in other areas of the city, as well.
“I think Valley West really reflects all of Arcata when it comes to crime and quality of life trends,” Ahearn says.
In the case of the RV parking — which at one point saw nearly an entire side of Valley East Boulevard lined with vehicles — he says the department recently initiated an abatement effort that dramatically reduced those numbers, but he concedes it’s an “ongoing challenge” across the city.
The department, Ahearn says, tries to strike a balance between allowing people to stay in the only shelter they may have and gauging the community’s level of tolerance before using laws on the books to move people along by issuing citations.
When that happens, he says, the effort includes making sure individuals are aware of available services, often working with Arcata House Partnership and the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, or other street outreach programs to give them information on shelters and other options.
But, in the end, it is a complaint-driven process.
“Sometimes people accept the help and sometimes they don’t,” Ahearn says, noting in his experience the issue tends to simply pop up again somewhere not very far away.
Ahearn says one of his goals — one of the things he says he’ll be passing along to whomever becomes the new chief — has been to restore the designated Valley West patrol position. He’ll be recommending patrol be increased to two officers to provide seven-day coverage for the area. He says this will not only improve service but allow more time for officers to get to know the residents and have a better understanding of the community.
Meanwhile, he says, the increase in community events taking place in Valley West has been positive, not only for the neighborhood but the city as a whole.
“I think CUNA has done a tremendous job of bringing in those activities and really shining a light on Valley West, and I put our city council right there along with CUNA,” Ahearn says. “In fact, this city council has, more than any others that I have worked with, prioritized Valley West publicly. Now I’m not saying the other city councils didn’t prioritize Valley West but we are hearing it talked about more.”
White says one of the reasons she ran for office was to make sure the community she calls home has a voice at the table, adding she believes she is the first person from Valley West elected to the city council.
“I represent all of Arcata,” she says,” but my passion is Valley West.”
One of the things about Valley West that she feels is often overlooked is the tremendous amount of sales and transitory occupancy taxes the nearly 80 businesses in the area bring into city coffers each year.
According to the city, for the last four quarters, businesses in Valley West have accounted for $521,860 of Arcata’s $3.1 million sales tax total — or about 17 percent — while four of the area’s hotels and motels brought in $1.27 million of the city’s total TOT revenues, or 70 percent.
The community, White says, still has many challenges ahead, but she’s seeing a lot to be excited about, pointing specifically to the opening of a community center and the coming improvements at Carlson Park, which she notes will be a “boon not just for Valley West but all of Arcata.” They will also check several items off the community’s wish list.
The story of Valley West, she says, is one of resilience.
“I feel that the folks out in Valley West are tough as nails and hopeful and they do not give up,” White says. “That’s the glue that holds us together. Our community is resilient and hopeful.”
“It’s all starting to come together,” she adds. “All the hard work is starting to pay off.”
Kimberly Wear (she/her) is the Journal’s digital editor. Reach her at (707) 442-1400, extension 323, or kim@northcoastjournal.com
This article appears in Transforming Valley West.
