The Eureka City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to allow food trucks or “mobile vendors” to operate in specifically zoned sections of the city, potentially pass a storage of personal property ordinance and (probably) grant two more contracts to the Mercer Fraser Co. The mobile vendors ordinance, which was discussed at length July 5, […]
homelessness
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Numbers from the PalCo Marsh Cleanup
The Eureka Police Department has released some information from the May 2 and 3 cleanup of the PalCo Marsh, in which over one hundred homeless people were displaced and/or rehoused. According to the press release, more than 60 tons of trash were collected in the two-day operation. Dozens of sharps containers, used to safely store […]
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A Morning Emergency in the Palco Marsh
It’s quiet. Despite its reputation as a chaotic place, the PalCo Marsh, also known as the Devil’s Playground, often is. A few dogs, tied in front of tents, bark. The motor of a fishing boat on the bay can be heard just out of sight behind the trees. Eureka City Councilmember Kim Bergel walks with […]
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Camping a Go at Koster Street Parking Lot
On Tuesday, the Eureka City Council voted 3 to 2, with council members Melinda Ciarabellini and Marion Brady dissenting, to allow camping in a city parking lot at Koster and Washington streets. The motion, which was a modified version of the Shelter Crisis Declaration approved by the council on Jan. 19, passed after a an […]
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City’s Shelter Crisis Declaration Up for Amendment
With the May 2 deadline for the estimated 180 people currently camping in the Palco Marsh to leave fast approaching, the Eureka City Council may use the much-debated Shelter Crisis Declaration, which passed in January after heated discussion and passionate public comment, to create some extra space for those in need. The original resolution, which […]
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City of Eureka Taking Proposals for Sanctuary Camp
This morning, the city of Eureka released an official request for proposals aimed at “nonprofit organization[s], religious institution[s] or other interested parties to provide a temporary-not greater than six months sanctioned camping facility within the city limits.” With a scant 39 days until the estimated 180 people living behind the Bayshore Mall are ordered to vacate in […]
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Palco Marsh Potty Fire an Act of Protest?
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning the portable toilets in the Bayshore Mall’s north parking lot burnt to almost nothing. So says the press release from Humboldt Bay Fire, which responded to a call at 5:28 a.m. to find the plastic potties completely destroyed by fire. But Richard Marks, who serves on the Humboldt […]
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Mayor Jager Joins Pro-Camp Camp
On the evening of Tuesday, Mar. 1, the Eureka City Council unanimously approved a resolution to support the Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction’s needle supply program, opted to send the Eureka Police Department’s little-used mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle back to the federal government and, after a smatter of discussion and dissent, approve changes to […]
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City of Eureka Poised to Embrace Needle Exchange, Oust Panhandlers
Brandie Wilson, founder of Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction (HACHR), says her organization has saved at least a dozen lives in 2016, thanks to its distribution of Naloxone, an opiate overdose reversal drug. HACHR has been able to give Naloxone to drug users within Humboldt County, along with 2,000 clean needles. Now the Eureka […]
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The Van Kirk and Vinyard Research Collection: HSU Honors Humble Heroines
Susie Van Kirk would probably not have approved of Humboldt State University’s plan to immortalize her. The decades-long activist for homeless and environmental rights was not a fan of the spotlight, according to all who knew her, going as far as to ask her son not to hold a memorial service or write an obituary […]
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Three Questions for Jared Huffman
Congressman Jared Huffman was in town last week for a short visit, and he sat with Journal to share his thoughts on a few newsworthy North Coast topics. On marijuana: “We’re fast approaching the tipping point,” Huffman said. Climate in Congress is “changing rapidly,” he said, and he expects legislators to reconsider marijuana’s placement on […]
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Inside the MAC
It’s a rainy Friday morning, but the bright yellows and oranges of the Multiple Assistance Center, tucked into the north end of Eureka next to the Pepsi distributor and Target, shine like beacons under the grey sky. Casey Crabb, deputy director of Redwood Coast Action Agency’s adult services and families in transition program, waits in […]