Embattled longtime Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Alan Bongio, who was censured by the Board of Supervisors in September for comments widely construed as racist and biased while chairing a meeting in August, has stepped down. First District Supervisor Rex Bohn, who appointed Bongio to the commission and said in September he would not remove him […]
Alan Bongio
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Bongio Ousted in Community Services District Race
UPDATE: Long-time Humboldt Community Services District Director Alan Bongio has lost his bid to keep the board seat he’s held for 24 years. In the final Election Night tally, Bongio finished with 27.55 percent of the 4,174 ballots counted thus far, trailing fellow incumbent Gregg Gardiner and challenger Julie M. Ryan, who finished with 39.55 […]
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Local Developer Started Controversial Home Construction Without Permit
When then Humboldt County Planning Commission Chair Alan Bongio did some undisclosed concrete work at local developer Travis Schneider’s home, it may have been during a more than eight-month period in which Schneider was building without a permit, the Journal has learned. According to Schneider, Bongio did the concrete work on the project one day […]
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Bongio Steps Down as PlanCo Chair, Commission Approves Letter of Apology to Tribes
Humboldt County Planning Commission Alan Bongio officially stepped down as the commission’s chair before last night’s meeting, at which he and fellow commissioners voted unanimously to send a letter of apology to three Wiyot area tribes stemming from his conduct at a meeting last month. Bongio did not speak at the meeting about stepping down […]
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PlanCo to Consider Formal Letter of Apology to Wiyot Area Tribes
The Humboldt County Planning Commission will consider Thursday sending a letter of apology to three Wiyot area tribes after Commission Chair Alan Bongio’s comments during its Aug. 18 meeting, which tribal officials found deeply offensive. After a representative for local developer Travis Schneider accused the Wiyot Tribe and Blue Lake Rancheria representatives of lying during […]
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Effort to Remove Bongio from Services District Presidency Fails
A Humboldt Community Services District director’s effort to strip fellow Director Alan Bongio of his board presidency due to racist and offensive comments Bongio made at a recent Humboldt County Planning Commission meeting failed without a vote tonight. Director Michael Hansen, who requested the agenda item be brought forward, made a motion to have the […]
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Planning Director: Developer’s Home is More than Double Permitted Size
It appears Travis Schneider’s problems may have just doubled in size. The local developer’s efforts to get a permit and permit amendments necessary to lift a county stop work order and resume construction of his family home on Walker Point Road south of the Indianola Cutoff have already been complicated by concerns over the permitted […]
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Supes to Consider Censure of Bongio
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is slated to consider censuring Planning Commission Chair Alan Bongio tomorrow, a month after he made incendiary and offensive comments about local Native tribes, referring to them as “Indians” while intoning they had lied and negotiated in bad faith with a local developer. The agenda item will also see […]
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Humboldt CSD Board to Consider Stripping Bongio of Presidency
The Humboldt Community Services Board of Directors will consider at its next meeting whether to remove Director Alan Bongio from his role as president amid an ongoing backlash over recent comments made in his role as chair of the Humboldt County Planning Commissioner that left local tribal officials deeply offended and shook their confidence in […]
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Planning Commission Sends Schneider Permit Back to Staff
The Humboldt County Planning Commission voted unanimously last night to send the issue of local developer Travis Schneider’s permits back to staff in an effort to find a path forward that will be agreeable to local tribes and the California Coastal Commission. While Schneider and Commission Chair Alan Bongio expressed deep frustration at a meeting […]
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UPDATE: Planning Director Disputes Developer’s Account as More Permit Problems Arise for Schneider
UPDATE: Planning Director John Ford followed up with the Journal this afternoon after publication of this article to say he’d checked his records and wanted to clarify the timeline surrounding his Jan. 19 conversation with developer Travis Schneider. Ford was adamant that he did not undermine what county planner Cliff Johnson had relayed to Schneider […]
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PlanCo Staff Recommends Approval of Schneider Permit; Documents Shed New Light on Contentious Meeting
A couple weeks after the matter spilled cantankerously into public view, Humboldt County and Building Department staff is recommending the Planning Commission approve the permits necessary to allow a local developer to continue construction of his family home, with some revised conditions, at its meeting tonight. The issue arose after Travis Schneider violated the terms […]