#124. The Long Work Behind Humboldt’s Trails, Housing, and Transit | Natalie Arroyo

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast with a, my new best friend, the woman, the myth, the legend, Natalie Arroyo. Hi, Natalie.

Natalie Arroyo: I love being introduced that way. Hello, Scott.

Scott Hammond: How's your day?

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, it's going great. Um, it's been a zooming all over Humboldt kind of day.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really? Like in a car or in a, in a computer zooming?

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, um, both actually.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, that's a pretty common day for me.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Natalie Arroyo: I'm zipping around to meetings in real life and then zooming, uh, across the, the airwaves, I guess.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that happens. And, and here's one more.

Natalie Arroyo: Yes. Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Actually, we won't zoom until Monday.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: But it's coming.

Natalie Arroyo: All right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So, uh, name, rank, and serial number, what do you do? What's your, what's your job? What's your role? Who, who are you-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Natalie Arroyo?

Natalie Arroyo: Do you want all the hats? Let's see. I, I, I'll start by, um, I'm, I'll start by saying I play roller derby, because you mentioned that already-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … um, before we got on the air. So, uh, that's my first… I'll wear, I'll wear my helmet first.

Natalie Arroyo: So I-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … I play with Humboldt Roller Derby. Uh, it's a big part of what I love about this community. Um, and then in addition to that, something that people might know about me is that I'm a Humboldt County supervisor representing District 4-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Natalie Arroyo: … the district we are in. And let's see.

Natalie Arroyo: I am-

Scott Hammond: Probably the latter one would be the one I would recognize.

Natalie Arroyo: Uh, the, the roller derby-

Scott Hammond: No

Natalie Arroyo: … identity? Oh, okay.

Scott Hammond: That's the for- that's the former. The latter. No, the supervisor. Um-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, I also serve in the Coast Guard, and then I teach, uh, one class at Cal Poly Humboldt, but I've been faculty there for quite a few near- years now, so.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We just had Dr. Richard on, and he was great.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What a great dude.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Psh.

Natalie Arroyo: That's great.

Scott Hammond: He's gonna take us next level.

Natalie Arroyo: Awesome.

Scott Hammond: So yeah, uh, raised on, um, roller derby in San Diego.

Natalie Arroyo: I love that.

Scott Hammond: San Francisco Bay Bombers-

Natalie Arroyo: Yes

Scott Hammond: … and the LA T-Birds would come down, and they would roller derby in San Diego Sports Arena.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Wa- was that bank track, not flat track?

Scott Hammond: Bank.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Natalie Arroyo: That's, uh, very rare these days, although there are still a few banked tracks around the country, one's in San Diego, another one in, I think, Michigan. There's a few left.

Scott Hammond: It was sort of the WWF of its day.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They had-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … hollow briefcases. They would hit each other, and coaches-

Natalie Arroyo: I know

Scott Hammond: … get crazy.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, we don't do it that way anymore. It's like a real sport now, so I kinda wish they'd renamed it when it was resuscitated in the early 2000s.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Natalie Arroyo: I wish that it had gotten a new name so that we could get some more respect as a real sport, you know?

Scott Hammond: So you know Paul Bressoud, your announcer?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He and I-

Natalie Arroyo: I love Paul

Scott Hammond: … he and I went to Humboldt together.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, wonderful. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hi, hi, Paul.

Natalie Arroyo: You both have that great announcer voice.

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Yeah. Guys and girls.

Natalie Arroyo: He's, he's gotten a, a good education in the, in the modern sport of flat track roller derby. He's, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, I bet

Natalie Arroyo: … he's been a good student of the sport. And they've got- gotten a lot of awards for covering it, so it's been really cool.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really? Okay.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Kudos to Paul.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Nice. So tell us, tell us the Natalie story. Where were you born? Where, where were you raised, and how'd you get to Humboldt?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. This is all the, um, the questions, the, the security questions.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, perfect.

Scott Hammond: Kinda.

Natalie Arroyo: I'll give everyone the security question answers. I was born in Miami. Um, my dad was in the Air Force, and

Natalie Arroyo: so-

Scott Hammond: Ooh

Natalie Arroyo: … um, I lived near or at a lot of Air Force

Natalie Arroyo: bases. Um-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … but, uh, so at Homestead Air Force Base at the time was near Miami before Hurricane Andrew, um, pretty much obliterated it.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and so we lived in Miami at the time. And, uh, let's see. Then I went to high school in central Florida on the coast, on the Atlantic Coast, uh, right near Kennedy Space Center.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: So, uh, a lot of my friends' parents worked at NASA.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: So that was cool.

Scott Hammond: Have you seen lift-offs?

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, many. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: Actually, it got very commonplace to the point where, you know, as, as commonplace as little bitty earthquakes are here-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … was how it felt. Like, oh, you know, one time I remember, um, my mom was really waiting for an important piece of mail, and she kept hearing little sounds and thinking that it was the mail arriving, and she kept asking me, "Oh, is that the mail?" Um, and I said, "No, Mom, I think it was just the space shuttle taking off." So that's how commonplace it was-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … is just we wouldn't even go outside.

Scott Hammond: Oh, so irritating. Again-

Natalie Arroyo: So annoying. Not even the mailman.

Scott Hammond: Again, that thing. Did you go to school there too?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I went to school, yep, uh, I graduated from University of Florida in Gainesville, so-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … North Florida. And then I moved to Louisiana after that, um, planning to pursue my master's degree there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: And then I must just be a little bit of a hurricane magnet 'cause Hurricane Katrina

Natalie Arroyo: hit, um-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Natalie Arroyo: … a few months after I moved there, so.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: So I moved to, uh, Humboldt from New Orleans.

Scott Hammond: There's a change.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, it was a big change. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So what did you study in, in Florida?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, yeah, I, I actually studied international relations and political science.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Natalie Arroyo: Uh, not thinking that I would ever end up in politics as a career. I liked government-

Scott Hammond: That's funny

Natalie Arroyo: … but I, I wasn't thinking that I would necessarily run for office.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So we have nine kids. My son Jesse studied that at University of Pacific.

Natalie Arroyo: Awesome.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I think a lot of, um, parents maybe aren't thrilled if their kid's gonna study political science. It's hard to think about the applicability.

Natalie Arroyo: But, um-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … I, I think it was helpful to-

Scott Hammond: It's pretty broad, right?

Natalie Arroyo: … study governance. Yeah, I got a, I got a chance to study abroad and, um,

Natalie Arroyo: actually intern in the European Union, um,

Natalie Arroyo: system and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … be sort of like a court runner type-

Scott Hammond: You travel over there?

Natalie Arroyo: … uh, young person. Yeah, in, in Belgium when I was-

Scott Hammond: Far out

Natalie Arroyo: … in the early 2000s, so that was really exciting.

Scott Hammond: We love Belgium. We've been there.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: To Ghent and to Bruges.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, very cool.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, I lived in Brussels for, for, uh, several months, so.

Scott Hammond: I bet that was cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, it was great.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, big city.

Natalie Arroyo: Big city. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. My daddy was in the Air Force too.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, cool.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Natalie Arroyo: All right. Both Air Force brats.

Scott Hammond: Yep. Army Air Corps in World War II.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay. Awesome.

Scott Hammond: He flew P-51s.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I've got a big Air Force and Army family. Uh, I'm the only Coastie though, but I, I, uh, joke with my Air Force family that, you know, well, at least I'm wearing blue, so.

Scott Hammond: That's right. We love our Coasties.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You're in reserves, right?

Natalie Arroyo: I am, yes.

Scott Hammond: Which is– What, what does, what's that duty look like? Do you go monthly, daily?

Natalie Arroyo: It's, it's usually a weekend a month, and then-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … two weeks of, uh, training a year. Although for most of us in the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard's so small that a lot of, a lot of, um… And, and on the officer side in particular It ends up being more work than that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, you know, when you're supervising people or working on projects or getting additional training, so-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … it's always been more than that for me.

Scott Hammond: So Group Humboldt Bay.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, no.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: I, I've never been attached, um, to Humboldt. Actually, that's not true. During COVID I, um-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's right. You're… AI says you're part of that other group that does, like, pollution and other emergent-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. AI-

Scott Hammond: … other stuff

Natalie Arroyo: … is not too bad, uh, too far off. I've, uh, I, I was at the Pacific Strike Team in Nevad-

Scott Hammond: Yes

Natalie Arroyo: … in Novato for, uh-

Scott Hammond: That's right

Natalie Arroyo: … several years.

Scott Hammond: It's right here.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah. Your notes are-

Scott Hammond: That's right, so-

Natalie Arroyo: … pretty close

Scott Hammond: … so do you go down there or do you, do you go, do you stay up here?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. There, there's no billets for non-pilots-

Scott Hammond: Gotcha

Natalie Arroyo: … who are officers up here, um, and reservists.

Natalie Arroyo: So-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Natalie Arroyo: … there's not a way that I could, um, be an officer and be in the reserves here. We're just too small up here, so.

Scott Hammond: Such a great bunch of coasties that we've known.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah. Although, um, you know, over the years I've, I've done some duty up at, um-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … Sector Humboldt Bay by and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, by the airport. Um, and I've spent some time there recently,

Natalie Arroyo: so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So I have kind of an adjacent surprise for you a little later when we do the, uh, remember the bell thing?

Natalie Arroyo: Yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: So she asked about the bell and-

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … she will find out. So we had a, um, a very good friend, Gary Todoroff, was the very first ever Coast Guard official photographer.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, how cool.

Scott Hammond: Captain Durfee, who's an amazing guy, Bob, was a, uh, helo

Scott Hammond: pilot in McKinleyville, and then he was the cap. And he got Gary to, uh, put through the system as the first ever photographer.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, very neat.

Scott Hammond: Of- official.

Natalie Arroyo: I love that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, we'll sit on that for a m- So stay with that one for a minute.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, um, so where'd you go after… So you came to Humboldt. What got you here from Louisiana?

Natalie Arroyo: It was actually an AmeriCorps program, the Watershed Stewards, uh, Program, which

Natalie Arroyo: is-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Natalie Arroyo: … still in existence. It's, uh, slightly morphed, and now they have a closer relationship with the California Conservation Corps. So they're a special program of the CCC. Um, but I came out to Petrolia from New Orleans-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … to do fisheries, um, science and fisheries restoration,

Natalie Arroyo: so-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … on the Mattole River. And, uh, I lived out there for a year and a couple months, and, um-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … and then I moved to, to town, so to speak, after that. I moved to Eureka.

Scott Hammond: To Honydew.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, right. Well, going to town when you live in, in Petrolia is often, um, you know, Ferndale or, or Garberville.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: So I spent a lot of time at the, you know, Chautauqua Market and

Natalie Arroyo: maybe-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … like Ray's Food Place in Fortuna, 'cause that was the closest grocery store that was-

Scott Hammond: Ray's Groceries

Natalie Arroyo: … any-

Scott Hammond: That's so funny

Natalie Arroyo: … considerable size.

Scott Hammond: So, so authentic hill people, like in the backwoods

Scott Hammond: of Petrolia.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, it was quite the experience. Um, I had never… I didn't know anything about Humboldt County before moving

Natalie Arroyo: here.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and I moved here in, uh, January of 2006.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: So kind of the heyday of cannabis, um-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … in southern Humboldt and in rural Humboldt. Um, but, uh, so I was a little bit– I had a lot to

Natalie Arroyo: learn. I was a little green.

Scott Hammond: Hey, hey, y'all.

Natalie Arroyo: And I don't mean green in that particular way.

Scott Hammond: That's funny.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, so.

Scott Hammond: I, I like what you did with that.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I was a little-

Scott Hammond: You came into the Wild Wild West.

Natalie Arroyo: I– It really was interesting.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I bet.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. So I moved with like one car load of stuff, and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … I was, uh, uh, considered, you know, essentially like a Hurricane Katrina refugee of sorts.

Scott Hammond: That's right.

Natalie Arroyo: I mean, I had not been, um, impacted the way that many people had been impacted.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Natalie Arroyo: But I did live in the city after the hurricane for another, uh, s- five, six months before moving out here, so.

Scott Hammond: I bet that was rough.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Many of us all just kinda shared a generator, but it was also very communal.

Natalie Arroyo: Um-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … people were really looking out for each other. I, I think in disaster and hardship, there's always that kind of, um, community element that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … and strength that, that shows up.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I wanna go to New Orleans sometime. I wanna go to the Jazz Festival.

Natalie Arroyo: Mm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: I've heard it… Did you go– Have you been?

Natalie Arroyo: You know, it's funny. When I lived there, I was like… I, I'm not sure that I, I was drawn to the big events. Um, and I think a lot of, a lot of, uh, locals, you know, depending on what they're into, you know, kinda tend to leave town-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … to let tourists kinda-

Scott Hammond: Oh, right

Natalie Arroyo: … take over during that timeframe. So no, I've never been. Um, but I, I've gone back several times. Uh, my sister lives in Louisiana now, just, uh, just a little bit outside of New

Natalie Arroyo: Orleans, so-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … just was there in January for my nephew's wedding.

Scott Hammond: That would be fun. I would– Never, never traveled there. I'd like to do that.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I love the architecture. So for me, when I travel, I, I wanna see– I wanna eat good food. I wanna see new and interesting architecture.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, you know, since I have lived there before, it's kind of nostalgic to go back,

Natalie Arroyo: but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … it's a great city.

Scott Hammond: Just got back from Spain, so there was some architecture.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, absolutely. What part of Spain were you in?

Scott Hammond: Uh, Mallorca. Palma de Mallorca, which is the island.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, Barcelona.

Natalie Arroyo: Wonderful.

Scott Hammond: And Alicante.

Natalie Arroyo: Wonderful. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We almost got to go to, um, Cartagena.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh.

Scott Hammond: But they closed the port for some reason, so.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I have two words: mango gelato.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, I love gelato.

Scott Hammond: And the coffee.

Natalie Arroyo: It makes me hungry for gelato.

Scott Hammond: Oh, it's so good. And there was-

Natalie Arroyo: I'm gonna have to pick up some on the way home.

Scott Hammond: They have like all– It's all fresh, and there's 100 of them, and you go, "Wow, this is– What do I do?"

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Too many gelaterias. It's a real problem.

Scott Hammond: A gelateria, is that what it's called?

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah. I've, um, a lot of my family… I'm, I'm, uh, my dad was Puerto Rican, and, um, a lot of my family trace the– our, our lineage to, to Burgos, which is, uh, in kind of central, a little bit northern Spain.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Natalie Arroyo: It's, uh, the, the capital, ancient capital of Castile, so it was the capital-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Natalie Arroyo: … at one point for some time.

Scott Hammond: It's a fascinating country.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Very interesting.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And Gau- Gaudi, the architect artist-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Amazing

Scott Hammond: … that created the Sagrada Família, the giant cathedral.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Not a cathedral. It's a basilica.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I'm not sure what the difference is, but-

Natalie Arroyo: Good question. That's a, that's a good one for the listeners.

Scott Hammond: Good art guy.

Natalie Arroyo: Let us know what the difference between a cathedral and a basilica is.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Write that down, folks. Hey, if you're just joining us, my new best friend, Natalie Arroyo. And, uh, Natalie, tell me, um… So District 4 supervisor.

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: But first, tell us about your adventure on Eureka City Council.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, that's right. Yeah. I was on the Eureka City Council for eight years.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that was eight years

Natalie Arroyo: It was a nice long eight years. It, uh, it felt like it was all of my 30s really, almost all of my 30s.

Scott Hammond: Is it blurry now or do you remember it w- clearly?

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, I remember it very well. Yeah. I mean-

Scott Hammond: Who'd you run against in t- initially?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, Chet Albin. Um-

Scott Hammond: Okay. Know Chet?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Chet.

Natalie Arroyo: Hi, Chet. Yeah. Um, I ran for that seat. Um, he was, uh, running unopposed, and I threw my hat in the ring.

Scott Hammond: Wow, and you won.

Natalie Arroyo: And, uh, yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Rad.

Natalie Arroyo: I, I did the, I did the campaigning. It was a lot of work. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: It's, uh, I d- I do like to say that I earned it because-

Scott Hammond: A lot of door-to-door

Natalie Arroyo: … each time I've, uh, run for office, uh, except this last time, which we'll probably get to.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, so each of… I, I ran three times for, you know, Eureka City Council twice and then-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, uh, in contested races, and there is a ton of door-knocking, a lot of talking with voters. You really have to spend the time-

Scott Hammond: Good for you

Natalie Arroyo: … talking to voters.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Don't tell people that that's the secret.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's

Scott Hammond: … People-

Natalie Arroyo: People will spend money on anything else except-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … uh, except, you know-

Scott Hammond: Hard work

Natalie Arroyo: … yeah, the, it's really the, you kinda can't skimp on the work.

Scott Hammond: Gosh, you know, it's, it's so true. I tell my kids that. It's like my son wants to buy a house. I go, "You gotta show up for work tomorrow-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … again, and then again the next day.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And you gotta build on it.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I think with campaigning, folks tend to talk to whoever wants to talk to them, which is good and important.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, but you also kinda have to strategize about who your, who your voters are, and it's kind of a numbers game, so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I've, uh, I've really enjoyed kinda getting into the-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … campaigning, um, approach and, and also, you know, the, the one-on-one conversations that I get to have with people when I'm doing that.

Scott Hammond: So is some of it marketing too and being a genius marketer?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I mean, I think you have to, you have to be good and comfortable with talking about yourself-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … which is awkward for some. I, I, it's awkward for me.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, maybe some people just love it, and they, they feed on the attention.

Natalie Arroyo: I think I'm-

Natalie Arroyo: … I'm not that particular type of person.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's adaptive behavior .

Natalie Arroyo: It's just I have to sorta get out there and put… It's like a constant job interview.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I find it both rewarding and exhausting, so-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Natalie Arroyo: … um, you know, it's, it's been a process to, to get comfortable with it.

Scott Hammond: I think I felt I've learned a lot of the best salespeople are really introverts.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, interesting.

Scott Hammond: But they've had to adapt because they like to make money and feed their families.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So they can really bust, bust it open and then go home and

Scott Hammond: hide.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. And the thing about running for office is, like, you're really talking about some of your deepest-held values and dreams-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … for your community, and it's very vulnerable.

Natalie Arroyo: So you-

Scott Hammond: I was gonna say

Natalie Arroyo: … a- and then you, you, you expose yourself to the, the most overt and kind of heinous criticism-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … all the time.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: And just go, "Yep, this is part of the job description."

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, so it's, it's very interesting.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: I- it's not for the, um, it's not for the faint of heart.

Scott Hammond: That is a different, different job, yeah. You know, "You really like the San Diego Chargers? What's wrong with you? We're Niner fans."

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, so whatever it might be.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Natalie Arroyo: And I think most people think that, like, politicians are inherently evil and sadistic people or-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … egomaniacs, and-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … I just really wanted to be able to represent my community and bring my skills to the fore. Um, and you know, I, I… When I, when I first ran for office, I'd just bought my first home in Eureka that I still live in, and, um, you know, I, I just kinda wanted to take my investment in the community a step

Natalie Arroyo: further.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: That by no, by no means, means that I think people have to be a homeowner to-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … be a successful, you know, um-

Scott Hammond: But you have skin in the game

Natalie Arroyo: … representative. But, but it-

Scott Hammond: You're here

Natalie Arroyo: … but it helped to feel like, okay, I'm really rooted here in this place, and-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … um, getting involved in sort of place-based politics was ex- an extension of that.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And that council, so s- who'd you run against second time?

Natalie Arroyo: Well, the second time I was the incumbent, so, um, I had, let's see, John Fullerton ran against… Was it John Fullerton? Yeah, it was John Fullerton-

Scott Hammond: Probably

Natalie Arroyo: … Jeannie Breslin, and one other candidate, and I'm forgetting them.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, but that was a four-way race.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, so that was, that was an interesting one. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And that council, the, I mean, the city council's done a lot of stuff in the last 12 years, right?

Natalie Arroyo: I… Yes. Absolutely. Whether, um-

Scott Hammond: Well, tell us

Natalie Arroyo: … some people like it, some people don't.

Natalie Arroyo: But there's-

Scott Hammond: Tell us more

Natalie Arroyo: … it's been a pretty active, uh, I mean, I-

Scott Hammond: It's true, right?

Natalie Arroyo: I took pride in, in not beating around the bush. We'll just say that.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: I, I wanted to get some things done.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: And you know, sometimes it's interesting to see the trajectory of how long it takes to actually get things done-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Natalie Arroyo: … even if you make pretty proactive choices and decisions. Like a lot of the, um, affordable housing that's being constructed right now this summer all over town-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, you know, came out of, um, decisions that happened while I was in the council. So-

Scott Hammond: Right. Years

Natalie Arroyo: … it took an extra four or five years beyond those, you

Natalie Arroyo: know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … those yeses happening at the council level for the projects to actually

Natalie Arroyo: see-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … the light of day, so.

Scott Hammond: S- speaking of the, uh, the, the project right by McCray Nissan-

Natalie Arroyo: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … they just pulled the, um, the screens off, and it looks, the high rise looks really good.

Natalie Arroyo: It looks nice, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Dang, it look-

Natalie Arroyo: The one on Myrtle too. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. I saw that.

Natalie Arroyo: I, I think it's coming, coming along.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I mean, I, I'm, I'm kinda like, "Show me the parking," but-

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: I think it's gonna be really weird and tight for a while, but we'll figure it out.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I think at least one of those is a, is a senior affordable complex, if I remember correctly. Not to, not to say that seniors don't drive, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … some don't.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, same with the, you know, student housing that, um-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … Cal Poly Humboldt developed. Um, I've actually had a number of students who, who live there and who moved up here without cars-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … and they're, they're very happy. So it's, uh-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Natalie Arroyo: … it's kind of interesting to meet people who are making that work.

Scott Hammond: What are some of the accomplishments from that, uh, city council that they're still

Scott Hammond: reaping-

Natalie Arroyo: Good question

Scott Hammond: … that you were a part of?

Natalie Arroyo: I mean, I think the strategic arts plan that we developed, um, was really cool. It was interesting to, to dig into the economic value of the arts in the community and not just the, the cultural value, which is-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, there's- Uh, a ton of it. Uh, but also, like, how many… You know, we have so many artists per capita here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Many people that make their living in some way through the arts and, uh, how they make it work and how the city could support them more.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: I think, you know, s- we're still seeing some of that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … um, blossom. The, the Eureka S-

Scott Hammond: What does that look like specifically? Do they have grants or galleries and-

Natalie Arroyo: Well, the Eureka Street Art Festival came from that-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Natalie Arroyo: … which was all, um, you know, a, a public/private collaboration.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: So the city did a lot of the organizing, but there were-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Natalie Arroyo: … volunteer festival organizers for much of that time, and then-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … all the, um, funding for the murals came from donations-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … um, from the local community and regionally. And it was cool to bring world-class artists here and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … participate in that, and I think it got people really jazzed about some parts of town that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … they might not spend a lot of time in. So even though people kinda pooh-pooh the arts as a, as a big driver of change-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … I think, um, it, it really brought people together.

Scott Hammond: That's a good one. I like that.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then there's Duane.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, Duane. Love Duane.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Duane.

Natalie Arroyo: Hi, Duane.

Scott Hammond: Did you go to his, uh, birthday party?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I heard-

Natalie Arroyo: My family was in town from, actually from Louisiana.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Natalie Arroyo: They were like, "What is this?"

Scott Hammond: What, what are you guys doing here?

Natalie Arroyo: You guys are wild.

Scott Hammond: This place is on fire.

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. They came, um, at a good time. They got to go to Oyster Fest, uh, stop by that. Um, just really see a lot of the best of Humboldt. It was really cool to-

Scott Hammond: Giant sculpture race. Were they there for that?

Natalie Arroyo: They weren't there for that.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: It was in June, mid-June, early to mid-June.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: But it was, um, it was really neat to-

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: It's always neat when you have people come to town when you're… You know, you live here, and you kinda forget about-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … some of the things that are so cool.

Scott Hammond: And they see it.

Natalie Arroyo: They see it, you know, very clearly.

Scott Hammond: And you can see it through their eyes.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: So neat. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like that a lot.

Natalie Arroyo: We took them tide pooling and, you know, my husband's a marine biologist, so it's, um… He's the best person to go tide pooling with.

Scott Hammond: I bet.

Natalie Arroyo: I'm a little biased, but he really does.

Scott Hammond: I was gonna say you're the, the very best or the very worst. They can go either way.

Natalie Arroyo: I know. If you don't want science facts the whole time, then it would be the worst.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: If you just wanna, like, quietly enjoy the beach, it's not gonna happen.

Scott Hammond: We love the marine lab when we go to Trinidad.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's so much, so much fun. So what else did you guys do as a city council that you're proud of?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, well, I mean, I think one of the things that I'm most proud of was the transfer of and return of land to, to, uh, the Wiyot Tribe on

Natalie Arroyo: Tuluwat. Um-

Scott Hammond: Mm. Right

Natalie Arroyo: … that was, um, you know, something that I didn't campaign on by any means or set out to do, but it emerged from conversations with the tribe and the tribal council at the time, and it ended up being, you know, feasible and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … a source of great community joy and healing.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: So that was a point of pride and, um-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Natalie Arroyo: … just honored, honored to be a part of it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then the bike lane too, right on G… What street? The-

Natalie Arroyo: H and I. Yep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, there's those.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But isn't there the bike street that goes all the way down-

Natalie Arroyo: The bike boulevard on C Street.

Scott Hammond: C Street. Thank you.

Natalie Arroyo: Yep. Yep. That was, uh-

Scott Hammond: Is that part of-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, that was after my time, but-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Natalie Arroyo: … uh, the, the council a- adopted that after I was-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … uh, already gone. But I actually, um, ride that almost every day, um, when I… Well, when the weather's good. I am a fair weather bicyclist.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Natalie Arroyo: So I, I ride it regularly, we'll say that.

Scott Hammond: So AI says that you're a trails advocate. So that's a good thing.

Natalie Arroyo: I'm a big trails enthusiast, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Were you part of, were, were you part of the, uh, Arcata Eureka Trail connection?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah, both at the county and then, um, prior to being at the county,

Natalie Arroyo: I worked-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, for a nonprofit locally called Redwood Community Action Agency.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Natalie Arroyo: And we did a lot of, um, development of trails all around Humboldt

Natalie Arroyo: County.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: So I've worked on a ton of trails over the years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's true.

Natalie Arroyo: A lot of the, the planning and the fundraising and, um-

Scott Hammond: Thank you for doing that.

Natalie Arroyo: Thanks. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. It's, uh, it's a… It gives me joy to, to, to be able to have that beautiful view of the bay and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, we're waiting for Arcata to Blue Lake.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. That's gonna be so cool.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Natalie Arroyo: There's some, there's some logistical challenges getting across the river.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and I think it may be an opportunity to collaborate with the water district, but TBD.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So Great Re- Redwood Trail too, that's happening.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Were you part of that?

Natalie Arroyo: There's-

Scott Hammond: Did you collaborate on that?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I mean, I've, I've worked with… Yes. I've worked on, um, some early stages of planning for the Great Redwood

Natalie Arroyo: Trail-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … when I was still at RCAA, but a lot of that also kinda happened after I left, but I'm, uh, eager to see what comes of that.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah. And I was on the, um, board, and I ended up being thrust into the role of board president of the Humboldt Trails Council for, for, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Natalie Arroyo: … quite a few years. I was on the board for, I think, nine years, and I was the president for five or so.

Scott Hammond: Do you know my buddy Reese?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah. Know Reese well.

Scott Hammond: Reese, Reese Hughes, the man, the myth, the legend.

Natalie Arroyo: Hi, Reese.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Reese.

Natalie Arroyo: See? I did, I did it. I looked at the camera.

Scott Hammond: And pointed. Hi, Reese.

Natalie Arroyo: I pointed. Hi, Reese.

Scott Hammond: I saw Reese's picture. He's on, uh… It was at the post office as a, as a wanted criminal. No, I'm kidding.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, wow. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: No, he's on the board of Coast Central.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Wanted for being too good a trail advocate.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man. Every time he sees Joni, "Where's, where's Scott? Why isn't he hiking today?"

Scott Hammond: I was busy-

Natalie Arroyo: I just got-

Scott Hammond: … doing a podcast.

Natalie Arroyo: I just went on a, a hike with, uh, Reese and several other folks up the Lost Coast,

Natalie Arroyo: um-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Natalie Arroyo: … in Petrolia, so headed from the, um, Mattole, Mattole

Natalie Arroyo: Campground-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, uh, mouth of the river to the lighthouse and back.

Scott Hammond: Rad.

Natalie Arroyo: Um-

Scott Hammond: Bet ya-

Natalie Arroyo: And actually, we went, we went up and around and over the bluff, which was, um, both beautiful and a little miserable. It was quite steep.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause it goes like that, right?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, it was very steep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: I, I had forgotten that.

Scott Hammond: Slept at that lighthouse before.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah?

Scott Hammond: In big gale winds. It's crazy.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh. I, it was very windy while we were there, but there were so many elephant seals. It was really cool.

Scott Hammond: I heard that, yeah. My friend David just hiked it. So, um, I wanna go back to Humboldt real quick-

Natalie Arroyo: Okay

Scott Hammond: … and then talk about your Coast Guard service.

Scott Hammond: So-

Natalie Arroyo: Sounds good

Scott Hammond: … what do you teach at Humboldt?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I teach environmental conflict resolution, so it's a conflict resolution class specifically for environmental science students, um, and forestry students-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … and folks who are have to, having to do that in the, in the sciences. So I use examples and have guests come in who are able to-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … talk about, um, that particular lens on conflict-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … which there's, you know- Non-stop conflict

Scott Hammond: Do they have conflict out there?

Natalie Arroyo: The resource manager. Amazingly.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Natalie Arroyo: And it's, uh… I, I think it, it gets people to think about the human

Natalie Arroyo: element-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … and how they can, you know… I think students walk away from it hopefully with a, a new set of skills and ways to think about it-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … but also a way to be a little bit more patient and compassionate with people when they're stressed out.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, because ultimately, when you're a decision-maker or you're involved in decision-making in any way-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, there's a, just a lot of strong feelings and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … a lot of… You have to kinda stick, stick with it and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … and get through it together.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You know, after talking to Wes Chesbro as a guest, it, it occurred to me that he was part of so many things that were pretty radical in the day that we take for

Scott Hammond: granted now.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Recycling and trails and the Marsh Project and-

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … Arcadia Redwood Park. And they were… He al- he had conflict.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? He… I don't… I, I imagine some gross conflict at times. And so I really, uh, I look back and I go, to your point, not all politicians are evil people. Any, any that I've met, actually pretty cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, I think most of us come to it because we really care about our community, and think, you know, we have some skills that we can apply. I think it's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … it's kinda simple for, for most folks. And then along the way, some people get a little lost and, and others-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, kinda stay on that, on that path.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, the Humboldt Bay Trail was highly controversial over the years, you know-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … with the, the railroad and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … a lot of the other,

Natalie Arroyo: you know-

Scott Hammond: Not no more.

Natalie Arroyo: Not anymore. Now it's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … I just, I saw some people, I think they were preparing for the Humboldt Bay Marathon. Um-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … there, there was a large group of runners and-

Scott Hammond: Terry

Natalie Arroyo: … um, yeah. Love Terry. Yeah, I'm gonna volunteer for the marathon this year.

Scott Hammond: Oh, good.

Natalie Arroyo: We're gonna have an aid station.

Scott Hammond: Oh, good.

Natalie Arroyo: Are you a runner?

Scott Hammond: I'm not.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I'm married to one.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … appreciate runners. My dad was a marathoner, but I, uh-

Scott Hammond: I'm a swimmer

Natalie Arroyo: … not into it. Yeah, I'm a skater.

Scott Hammond: Hey, I'm a lover, not a fighter.

Scott Hammond: Or a runner.

Natalie Arroyo: Definitely not a runner.

Scott Hammond: Def… No, I have two new hips from Stanford.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh.

Scott Hammond: So-

Natalie Arroyo: Congratulations

Scott Hammond: … it's ill-advised to-

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I guess, suppose I could, but-

Natalie Arroyo: Do you feel a little bit bionic, or…?

Scott Hammond: At times.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Depends on my mood. That's a great… I've never been asked that. I like… "Do you feel bionic today?" Well-

Natalie Arroyo: Maybe

Scott Hammond: … a little. I'm moving kind of bionic. I'm doing the robot.

Natalie Arroyo: Love it.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's funny. So, uh, hey, it's time for the quiz.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay. Can I take a sip of my coconut water real quick?

Scott Hammond: Well, oh, you're gonna need it 'cause this is gonna be the best quiz ever. And then I wanna come back and talk about, um, your supervisorial duties and-

Natalie Arroyo: Okay

Scott Hammond: … accomplishments.

Natalie Arroyo: All right. Sounds good.

Scott Hammond: Are you ready? 'Cause I've never done this before.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, okay.

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, if you're just joining us, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast with my producer, the amazing Nick Flores. I see him over there. And I see Natalie Arroyo, who is the fourth, District 4. Would I say fourth district or District 4?

Natalie Arroyo: Either one.

Scott Hammond: Um, supervisor-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in Humboldt County. And we're gonna use the prop here, where I don't have my pointer. Oh, Nick. He buried it in the Dick Taylor box. So Humboldt County's in California.

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: We're sitting here in Eureka.

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And that's where we live. I guess you know that.

Natalie Arroyo: I, I have managed.

Scott Hammond: So rather than you competing today-

Natalie Arroyo: Okay

Scott Hammond: … for a Dick Taylor chocolate bar, I brought something very special instead.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: You're going, "Oh, where is this going?"

Natalie Arroyo: I do love chocolate, though. Okay. That's all right.

Scott Hammond: Well, maybe we'll see.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So, so I brought something special for you. I think you'll like it.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: You're going, "Okay, just show it to me."

Natalie Arroyo: I don't know. The, the buildup is-

Scott Hammond: I know

Natalie Arroyo: … it's exciting. It's thrilling.

Scott Hammond: So this is a historical document-

Natalie Arroyo: Oh

Scott Hammond: … of the waterfront dedication, January 5th, 2002. I think we dedicated the waterfront and made us a Coast Guard city in the same thing, but I could be wrong.

Natalie Arroyo: And no, that's correct.

Scott Hammond: But I'm gonna give this to you if you win.

Natalie Arroyo: Eureka was the second Coast Guard city designated in the nation.

Scott Hammond: In the nation.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay. And my friend Gary, uh, shout out to Gary Todoroff, who just pa- perished last year. He was the official Coast Guard,

Scott Hammond: um-

Natalie Arroyo: Wow, look at… The building wasn't even there yet.

Scott Hammond: It wasn't even built, yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So this is gonna be yours for whatever purpose you may have for it.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna put it right here.

Natalie Arroyo: Only if I win, though, right?

Scott Hammond: You have to win. That's the thing.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Scott Hammond: I mean, nothing's-

Natalie Arroyo: Can't just give it to me

Scott Hammond: … I mean, don't get carried away here 'cause you… Am I gonna, is, is the prop gonna work?

Natalie Arroyo: Do you want me to just hold it? I, I'm really good at holding-

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna, I'm gonna make this work

Natalie Arroyo: … things. Okay.

Scott Hammond: See? There. There. Works.

Natalie Arroyo: Cool.

Scott Hammond: Isn't that– It's kind of a cool thing.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, so it's all mounted and, and maybe it's gonna be here. So question number one. Natalie Arroyo, question one.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Best day ever.

Natalie Arroyo: Best day ever?

Scott Hammond: Ever.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay, there's no right answer here? I think my wedding day to my husband. I know that's a little boring-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Natalie Arroyo: … but it was awesome.

Scott Hammond: A marine biologist.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. A knife maker.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Wow, that's kinda cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, he's very talented.

Scott Hammond: Does, does he have a name?

Natalie Arroyo: His name's Jason Lopiccolo.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Jason, what's up?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: All right.

Natalie Arroyo: Very, uh-

Scott Hammond: Nice guy.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, he's the best. He's a very Sicilian name.

Scott Hammond: How long you guys been married?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, we're going on seven years this, uh, end of this month.

Scott Hammond: Congrats.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Thank you.

Scott Hammond: Did you meet him up here?

Natalie Arroyo: I did, yeah. We met at a-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Natalie Arroyo: … Fourth of July party that our friends had in, uh, in their yard and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … anyway, I was, uh, I was like, "Who's that guy?" And I did a little sleuthing 'cause it's a small town, and I asked all the other people that knew him and then they just immediately tried to set us up and-

Scott Hammond: Of course

Natalie Arroyo: … yeah. Our first date was at the Humboldt County Fair, so we had a very-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Natalie Arroyo: … Humboldt romance.

Scott Hammond: That's, uh, I like that. Oh.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Natalie Arroyo: Got married at Pamplin Grove.

Scott Hammond: Oh, very beautiful.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's– I love that place.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, it's gorgeous.

Scott Hammond: It's gorgeous. Okay, question number two. Gotta get the bell going. Worst day ever.

Natalie Arroyo: Oof. Um, probably the day my dad died.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. It was O- October in twen- uh, 2011, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … he died of brain cancer.

Scott Hammond: Ouch.

Natalie Arroyo: Which is, we were very close.

Scott Hammond: Sorry. Were you guys close?

Natalie Arroyo: We were, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: I was like his little, uh, little clone, kinda.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, we had a, a very close relationship and, uh, he was a- Big positive influence in my life.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I have four daughters and I make an investment. I try to do it every day.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: That's awesome.

Scott Hammond: I mean, they don't- I don't see them, but I talked to Brianna in Medford today.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, that's great. Aw.

Scott Hammond: And the boys were in the back, "Hey, Grandpa.

Scott Hammond: What's up?"

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: It's good to make the best of the time, make the most of it. I- he was only 59, so we didn't get-

Scott Hammond: That's pretty young

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, as much. I was 27, and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … we didn't get as much time together as I would have hoped.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: But-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … um, but we got some really good quality in there.

Scott Hammond: Amen to that.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like it. Okay, question number three.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I'm gonna bring the bell closer.

Natalie Arroyo: I know. I was like, you're really reaching for it.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Just gonna really rap on this bell now.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Question number three: What do you find soul-crushing?

Natalie Arroyo: Soul-crushing?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Or draining.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Um, I mean, sometimes our board meetings. Is that wrong to say?

Scott Hammond: Ah. That's an honest answer. You heard it here first.

Natalie Arroyo: It's an honest answer. Yeah, I mean, sometimes, um-

Scott Hammond: I get bored watching you guys.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, really?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I mean, it's-

Natalie Arroyo: Sometimes the procedural issues-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … where we're trying to work through a procedural issue in real time.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, you know what I think it reveals, though? Is even when it's, like, a grindingly slow pace and people just are, like, rolling their eyes at us-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … it reveals that government is messy, and it's being figured out by humans in real time. There's no, like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … secret cabal behind the scenes pulling the strings.

Scott Hammond: There's no hurry.

Natalie Arroyo: Trying to, trying to direct us, you know?

Scott Hammond: That's right.

Natalie Arroyo: We're really just, like, regular people-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … trying to get through a difficult decision.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: So yeah, that's- it's, uh, both soul-crushing, and I think

Natalie Arroyo: it's, it's a sign of, of it working kind of the way-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … it's intended.

Scott Hammond: And same people saying the same thing sometimes.

Natalie Arroyo: Yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, wait.

Natalie Arroyo: It's exhausting.

Scott Hammond: Wait. Weren't you on last week? I saw you on… You're on TV a lot 'cause you're always saying the same thing.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Come on, man.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Come on, bro.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, totally.

Scott Hammond: Um, yeah. Interesting. Arcata cham- uh, the Arc- the, the Arcata, um, City Council's I find particularly hard to watch sometimes.

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, Eureka too. I think Eureka and Arcata both get a lot of-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … public participation, but also sometimes it's, um, you know, people who don't really know a lot about the process, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … I also think that form of education is important, but sometimes-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … it can just be hard to be the one on the dais and through it.

Scott Hammond: I bet, yeah. And-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … uh, people get kinda rude sometimes, right?

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, absolutely. Horrible.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Where's your decorum, man?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, I think they forget that we're, like, people that live in the same community they do, that are just, you know, kinda trying to figure it out too.

Scott Hammond: Come on, man. You're human beings.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Let's g- Let's… Let me talk to you guys that do that stuff. Let me say something to you.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Not right now. Okay, question number four. Almost, almost went off track there.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, what do you find fulfilling?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I-

Scott Hammond: Enriching, heart-drenching, glorious.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah. Um-

Scott Hammond: What fills your cup?

Natalie Arroyo: It really is, uh, spending time in the natural world for me.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Paddleboarding, um, you know-

Scott Hammond: Paddleboarder

Natalie Arroyo: … trail skating, um, backpacking. I go mushroom hunting in the winter, so kind of-

Scott Hammond: Did you say trail skating?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wait. What's that?

Natalie Arroyo: Just like roller skating on the trail.

Scott Hammond: How? They must be giant-

Natalie Arroyo: On roller skates

Scott Hammond: … like, standard skates?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, they have, like, squishy wheels. My– I have a separate pair of skates for roller derby and for skating outdoors just because-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … we'd want different wheel hardnesses.

Scott Hammond: Sure. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: But yeah, yeah. That's great.

Scott Hammond: So they work, like, in a redwood forest?

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, no, no, no. Like a, a paved trail.

Scott Hammond: Like a paved… Got it.

Natalie Arroyo: So, like, the Humboldt Bay Trail is one of my go-tos, you know, just-

Scott Hammond: Okay. And that would be different from an indoor track.

Scott Hammond: Or-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah. You want… There's little pebbles and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … grit and stuff, so you want kind of-

Scott Hammond: Did you ever do any dancing with roller derby? I mean, where you-

Natalie Arroyo: I haven't done a lot of, like, like-

Scott Hammond: Like couples

Natalie Arroyo: … jam skating or roller dancing, um-

Scott Hammond: With Jason, you and Jason on skates

Natalie Arroyo: … maybe, maybe eventually. Yeah. What-

Scott Hammond: See-

Natalie Arroyo: I did propose to him at a roller derby game, and then we put skates on him, and we did a lap together.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Natalie Arroyo: It was a couple skate in front of all our friends. Uh, it was a whole production, so.

Scott Hammond: Oh, oh, I bet.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I was raised by roller derby or roller skating rink.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Me too. I– Well, in Miami, I went to the roller skating rink all the time, and it was, like, the, the hippest place to be.

Scott Hammond: National City, California, Sweetwater Roller Rink.

Natalie Arroyo: Love it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: It was Hot Wheels in Miami, Florida for me.

Scott Hammond: Hot Wheel. Ooh.

Natalie Arroyo: Ooh, Hot Wheels.

Scott Hammond: Disco.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: All right. Uh, question number whatever it is.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Five?

Scott Hammond: That's, yeah, pretty close. Um, who are you?

Natalie Arroyo: Who am I? Oh, gosh. I'm not even gonna get this one right.

Natalie Arroyo: It's rough.

Scott Hammond: This is, this is, there's no right answer. There's no wrong answer.

Natalie Arroyo: I think I'm just Natalie Arroyo. I do like to roll the Rs in my last name when I get the opportunity to introduce

Natalie Arroyo: myself.

Scott Hammond: Can you roll it again, one more time?

Natalie Arroyo: Arroyo.

Scott Hammond: Arroyo.

Natalie Arroyo: It's like a gentle, "Oh, you did great."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Nailed it. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Natalie Arroyo: Are you bilingual?

Scott Hammond: Oh, me?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: No, ma'am.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, okay. Well, that was well done.

Scott Hammond: I should have spoken more Spanish in Spain, though.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's a lot of Sp- Es-Ps.

Natalie Arroyo: When, when I go to Puerto Rico, I really enjoy, like, leaning into it. I, I heard, um… I was spoken to in Spanish, and then I answered in English, which I-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … regret that my folks didn't have me speak more Spanish at home.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: But I can speak it when I kinda lock in and just commit, and-

Scott Hammond: That's it

Natalie Arroyo: … it's, a lot of times, it's… Well, I have the same problem in English that I have in Spanish where sometimes I can't think of a word, so I just describe it-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … with other words.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Natalie Arroyo: I do a lot of that in Spanish, but I, I, I get by pretty well.

Scott Hammond: Okay. So I know who you are, but who– I'm gonna re-ask.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Who are you?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Who are you? Who are you? Who are you really?

Natalie Arroyo: Who am I really?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. What are you all about?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I'm kind of a dork.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Natalie Arroyo: Um-

Scott Hammond: Dork is good.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I'm, I-

Scott Hammond: Who's, who's not a dork?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: I guess we're all dorks in our own way, huh?

Scott Hammond: We could use a few more dorks out there.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Self-admitted dorks.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I really like reading.

Natalie Arroyo: Um-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Natalie Arroyo: … I like, um, my- … dogs. I'm, I'm actually a little bit, maybe not boring, but, um-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … I have a very, like, um, just regular person life in my opinion.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: But then other people will see my life and be like, "Oh, you have such an-"

Scott Hammond: You're amazing

Natalie Arroyo: … "exciting life."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: I'm, I'm a, a little bit of a workaholic.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Natalie Arroyo: But I really enjoy working, and I think that's where I, I, what I mean when I say

Natalie Arroyo: I'm a dork.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: Like, I, I love the, um, the work that I get to

Natalie Arroyo: do.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: So yeah.

Scott Hammond: Love it.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Natalie Arroyo: And I love travel. I, I think I'm kind of just a regular, regular

Natalie Arroyo: human.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: But, um, I, I, uh, I also love very deeply, and that can be-

Scott Hammond: That's cool. That's a good admission. I like that

Natalie Arroyo: … that could be hard.

Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh, 'cause you get hurt.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: I used to wish I could be more cool and detached-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … when I was younger.

Scott Hammond: Ah, forget those guys.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But lo- love hurts.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like the song.

Natalie Arroyo: Enthu- I'm both enthusiastic and loving, and en- and I think, um, sometimes people are like, "Whoa, that's a lot."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: You know?

Scott Hammond: She's a lot. No, that's good.

Natalie Arroyo: She's a lot. That's-

Scott Hammond: That's who you are

Natalie Arroyo: … that's what I'm… Yeah, so I think I would say

Natalie Arroyo: I'm a lot.

Scott Hammond: Who are you? I'm a lot. Yeah, I'm a lot. I'm, I could, yeah, we could both be a lot. Um, last question. For all the fabulous prizes.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh my gosh, I'm, I'm staring at the prize.

Scott Hammond: So Joni's dad was this amazing guy, my father-in-law Tom-

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … from LA.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: He was a runner and an addict and pharmacist and great-grandpa and father.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So his two questions are who are you?

Scott Hammond: We got that. The, what, the, the corollary is what do you want?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What do… Hey, Roya, what do you want? What do you want?

Natalie Arroyo: I want to just really apply myself the best I can in the life that I have.

Natalie Arroyo: Um-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … and love on the people that are, that are dear to me.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I just-

Scott Hammond: Well, uh, I, it pleasures me to tell you-

Scott Hammond: … that after due consideration, the, the judge panel says that you're gonna take this home with you.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And I don't know where you'll put it. May- that's maybe a garage photo or that could go in your office.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But, um, on behalf of-

Natalie Arroyo: I think it'll go in my office, actually

Scott Hammond: … on behalf of 100% Humboldt-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … um, you're going to be the new winner of this Eureka Boardwalk dedication.

Scott Hammond: 2002, folks.

Natalie Arroyo: Mm.

Scott Hammond: How many years ago was that? 24.

Natalie Arroyo: Uh, 24. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, I love it.

Scott Hammond: By Gary, Gary Todoroff, who was an amazing, um, local photographer dude. And, um, uh, the more I look at this, the more I like… There's a lot going on in here, so-

Natalie Arroyo: There is a lot going on, yeah

Scott Hammond: … I'm gonna keep staring at it. Um-

Natalie Arroyo: It's very clearly raining in the picture. There's a lot of people in, uh, with umbrellas

Natalie Arroyo: and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. Raincoats

Natalie Arroyo: … rain jackets.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: So it's very Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Everybody's lined up here. They, and they kinda knew, 'cause look at them all

Scott Hammond: looking up.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So I don't know. I think he… Could, could that be a helo shot from a dolphin?

Natalie Arroyo: It might've been a helicopter. Yeah, 'cause I don't think it would've been a drone back then, right?

Scott Hammond: No, they didn't have them.

Natalie Arroyo: Well, no.

Scott Hammond: Well, not we know about.

Natalie Arroyo: I- it could have been, like, a l- a, a camera on a, uh, remote control

Natalie Arroyo: airplane.

Scott Hammond: Could have been.

Natalie Arroyo: Could have been.

Scott Hammond: He had a, he had a gyro that he created for the Dolphin helicopters-

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, cool

Scott Hammond: … so that it wouldn't blur.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So it kind of would move with the helo.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Kinda cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Awesome. Oh, those helicopters are great.

Scott Hammond: I know. So let's talk about your, uh, board of supervisor, um,

Scott Hammond: duties.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, sure.

Scott Hammond: And what do you, what do you like? What do you don't like? What, what do you, what are you all about today? What's happening?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Well, I, I've, I've really, um, sought in the last couple of years

Natalie Arroyo: to get into as many different things there as possible. Um, especially my first term, I really wanted to-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, understand all the functions of the county that are, that are much broader than what cities do. So I serve on a juvenile justice and delinquency prevention commission.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I work on the First 5 Humboldt Commission, which, um, deals with, you know, the children zero to five years old and their families. Um-

Scott Hammond: Love that

Natalie Arroyo: … lots of different things that I didn't really get to do at the city level.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, because I think I developed over eight years. You know, I don't wanna be overconfident, but I developed a pretty good sense of things like public works or-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … um, you know, uh, some of the, like, municipal finance, um, on a, on a basic level. Of course, the county's much more complicated in that regard.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: But, um, a- and I serve on the audit committee, so a lot of different, um, areas where I'm trying to, to, um, broaden and deepen my knowledge, and that-

Scott Hammond: Good for you

Natalie Arroyo: … has been really rewarding. Again, the, you know, the dork in me is like, "Oh, this is great. I'm learning-"

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … "more about different things."

Scott Hammond: Gonna nerd up on it all.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, good.

Natalie Arroyo: It's great. Um, so I've been really enjoying that. That's rewarding. It's, um, it's what I would consider boring but important. It's-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, I think it's really critical for-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … because we're expected to make decisions about so many different things-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … um, in a, in a competent manner, and usually we have a pretty good staff recommendation, but I still think it's helpful to, to really

Natalie Arroyo: get it.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: So yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good for you.

Natalie Arroyo: I think that's something I've been both enjoying and been proud of is really, um, I wouldn't say I'm, I'm ever gonna, like, have a sense of mastery, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … a sense of competence in a lot of, uh, different areas.

Scott Hammond: What's the vibe on the board now? Are you guys all great friends drinking beer together?

Scott Hammond: Or

Scott Hammond: what's-

Natalie Arroyo: We're all different

Scott Hammond: … how does that all, how does that all work?

Natalie Arroyo: We're different.

Scott Hammond: Why don't you, why don't you comment on, on the dynamics between cert- certain

Scott Hammond: individuals?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I, I think, um, we are all very different people, and I think that's good.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, from a governance standpoint, I think it's good for people to see that, like, their, their representatives-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … really are true to their districts.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: And I think when you look at the, the character of the different districts, we, we

Natalie Arroyo: have kind of one of a lot of different types of people and-

Scott Hammond: Very different

Natalie Arroyo: … different skill sets and-

Scott Hammond: Tell me about your district. Where is it bordered?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. My district is the smallest geographically.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: So it's a lot of the city of Eureka, but not all of it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, then Myrtletown and the Samoa Peninsula south of the bridge. So Samoa, Fairhaven-

Scott Hammond: Fairhaven

Natalie Arroyo: … and Fintown.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Fintown's just that tiny, little-

Scott Hammond: Right. Fintown

Natalie Arroyo: … nugget over there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And then Dan Co. owns Samoa.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Although it's slowly being, uh… Well, not so slowly. It's being sold off to, to private, um-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … owners, and so that's an interesting process to divide up a company town.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: We saw it happen in Scotia, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … now it's in the, in the midst of happening in Samoa.

Scott Hammond: Dan's gonna be on the show next month.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, cool.

Scott Hammond: Do you know Dan?

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, great.

Scott Hammond: Dan?

Natalie Arroyo: Uh, I, you know, what's funny is I don't really know him personally.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: I, I know I, I've worked- Uh, on things alongside him for many years.

Scott Hammond: I was blown away in Rotary how much housing they've put together-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in the western states.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like, what? How many units?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's wild stuff.

Natalie Arroyo: And we're about to break ground. I'm the chair- board chair of the Humboldt Transit Authority.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and that's one of the many, like, boards and commissions that I sit on in my county role, and we're about to break ground on the transit center, um-

Scott Hammond: That's gonna be big stuff, huh?

Natalie Arroyo: … and, and housing with, with Dan. So, um, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's right behind Lost Coast Brewery.

Natalie Arroyo: Yes. Yeah. That's the one.

Scott Hammond: Tell us about that real quick, just the highlights.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. So-

Scott Hammond: What, what's that gonna do for everybody?

Natalie Arroyo: So the first floor will be a transit center-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … so, um, really offering- … like, more information to travelers and, um, a, a place for our drivers to take a break. Um, it's already a major transit stop-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: But there'll be some seating and bathrooms, and it'll be staffed, so-

Scott Hammond: Coffee.

Natalie Arroyo: Uh, yeah. There's a-

Scott Hammond: Mango gelato.

Natalie Arroyo: There's gonna … There should be mango gelato. There's gonna be a little cafe space that we're gonna be trying to-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Natalie Arroyo: … attract a tenant for.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and then, on the… And there'll be some office space for Humboldt Transit Authority staff. And then on the upper floors, um, there'll be, I think it's 42 units of housing, but I could be-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … slightly off on that. I'm-

Scott Hammond: How many stories?

Natalie Arroyo: … right around the… Um, I think it's four stories total.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, that part is a City of Eureka project, so-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, they're leading it. And then, you know, Dan Coe's actually doing the

Natalie Arroyo: building.

Scott Hammond: Oh, will it be done next year or…?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, they're– We're breaking ground, like, in the next month.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: So I believe it'll be early next year that it's done.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Natalie Arroyo: But it could be even faster.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It just seems like these other ones have gone up so quick, and they have-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … not. They, they've just-

Natalie Arroyo: They've actually taken quite a while.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Perceptibly they look, oh, wow, they're done. No, no. Not quite, but-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. There's a lot of interior fittings.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: And, and I've, I've heard from builders incidentally that, um, you know, while it's more efficient to build inside a big box, right?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: 'Cause some of the exterior things are done.

Natalie Arroyo: And-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, making apartments is, is not that efficient-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, because they still have to have a kitchen, a bathroom. Everything has to have-

Scott Hammond: It's all got the same-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: All the fixtures, like, o- of, of any h- size of homes.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: Building, building smaller apartments doesn't necessarily reduce the cost exponentially, so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … but I'm not a actually a builder. That's just what I've heard.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So we have a housing gap then. Like, still. I mean-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … this is not gonna-

Natalie Arroyo: We sure do

Scott Hammond: … go away.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. And we've had, um- You know, sadly, we've had a really serious reduction in funding for Section 8 vouchers.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: So, um, you know, this housing will help, and, um, I think we're in a place where a lot of, um, important services that are lifeline services for people are being-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … curtailed. And-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … um, there's a program actually right now that, um, a special Section 8 voucher program to, to help people who are homeless, um, and there's no renewed funding for that particular program-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … and no expansion of the list of people. So people who are on the list to get a housing voucher, um-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … are, are not gonna be getting one for-

Scott Hammond: Is that a result of state funding or federal or both?

Natalie Arroyo: It's federal.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: So, um, that and some other areas, you know, it's gonna be hard to kinda make up some of

Natalie Arroyo: those gaps.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: So I think our community, one thing I've been telling people is like the, the bad news is we gotta just kinda brace and hold on-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … as best we can, and I, I don't know that any of us have easy solutions for things like that. So we do still have a housing shortage and a-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … housing gap, but we're working on it in, in all these ways.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So the three themes that have kinda come forward on this show have been, uh, homelessness and then housing and healthcare.

Natalie Arroyo: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: So we kinda just touched on the first one.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Do you wanna talk about homelessness real quick?

Natalie Arroyo: Sure.

Scott Hammond: Like what we can do or-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … what can we do? What can we do?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We know what you can do.

Natalie Arroyo: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Within reason.

Natalie Arroyo: I mean, it's so clearly linked to housing. Um, there are, um, there are some folks who I think are the most difficult to serve who are, um, unable to be housed without kind of constant services.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: And so we've seen a couple of facilities open in Eureka or the greater Eureka area in the last couple years-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, in partnership with the county, um, and that have provided, um, just a level of supervision and support that, uh, provides caseworkers 24/7-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … um, assistance with taking medication-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … things like that. Um, people still have to voluntarily be willing to go there. Um, sometimes there– depending on the circumstances, there can be court orders for very specific cases or-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … guardianships, um, conservatorship, that kind of thing. Um, but in most cases, um, you know-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … we, in California in particular, really balance the rights of individuals-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, and, and prioritize people retaining those rights, um, you know, while also compelling treatment sometimes. So when there's co-occurring behavioral health things like people have, um, a substance use disorder or they're, um, dealing with mental health needs-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, you know, that, that can be complicated.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Natalie Arroyo: So I think we've made big progress that's kind of hard to visually see-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … around homelessness because many folks will see, especially if they spend a lot of time in, in towns-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … some of the same folks over and over and over again-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … who are often frequent flyers with needing emergency medical care

Natalie Arroyo: or-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … other services. Um, so it can be hard to feel like we're making progress. Um, but then we'll get reports from, uh, Department of Health and Human Services about the number of people housed, for example, with these, um, special Section 8 vouchers, and the, the number is high. It's like over-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … ninety people, um, just in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Natalie Arroyo: So, you know, significant gains through programs like that, but they're pretty resource intensive.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: So as far as what all of us can do, I mean, there's programs where people provide food and essential, like, frontline care.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: And I think you can support those in our community.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: But a lot of the systemic issues are things like poverty-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … and, you know, um, inflation

Natalie Arroyo: and

Natalie Arroyo: …

Scott Hammond: Human nature.

Natalie Arroyo: And human nature-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … and, and people having very individualized … difficult circumstances that compound, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … that's hard to get at the root of.

Natalie Arroyo: So-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … yeah.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How do we get those? Those are the toughies.

Natalie Arroyo: I think people often, it's one of the areas where folks often have strong feelings about, like, "If only we did this-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: "… um, then we could solve everything," and that there's, you know, I'm here to tell folks that there's there's no magic "if only we did this" answer.

Natalie Arroyo: It's a-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … it's a, a whole world of interdependent things-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … that we have to do.

Scott Hammond: My last guest just said, "Do something."

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Pick, pick something.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, pick something and do it.

Natalie Arroyo: I agree.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: And, um-

Scott Hammond: Just-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … get busy.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Volunteer.

Natalie Arroyo: And the more some things- … you do or learn about, the more you realize how interconnected everything is.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I share on-

Scott Hammond: Especially here.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's, yeah. All right, seven layers of Kevin Bacon. Two, two layers of Humboldt.

Natalie Arroyo: Seven layers of K- Kevin Bacon?

Scott Hammond: Kevin Bacon. You'll have to look it up later.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay, I will.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, I'm gonna put-

Scott Hammond: It's a thing. It's a whole thing

Natalie Arroyo: … in my notes. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Somehow everything's… Somehow everybody's connected to Kevin Bacon.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, okay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: It's like the-

Scott Hammond: Nick, Nick will look it up.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay, okay. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Or somebody will.

Natalie Arroyo: Gosh, now I wonder how I'm connected to seven Bacon-

Scott Hammond: How am I connected-

Natalie Arroyo: … Kevin Bacon

Scott Hammond: … to Kevin?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What? So, um, before we talk about your legacy, um, let's talk about roller derby one more time.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay. Yeah, let's do that.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause that seems like-

Natalie Arroyo: Sounds great

Scott Hammond: … that seems like that's your-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … kind of your jam.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How is roller derby played? What are the rules, and can we go see y'all skate at Redwood Acres?

Natalie Arroyo: Absolutely, yeah.

Scott Hammond: When's the season? Is it year-long?

Natalie Arroyo: It is a year-long season. We take a two-month summer break, so right now we're in the, the, the last month of our summer break, and then it starts back up again in August. So there's games in September, October, and November, um, at Redwood Acres. And, um, they're so much fun.

Natalie Arroyo: We have a-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Natalie Arroyo: … band. We have-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Natalie Arroyo: … a DJ. We have-

Scott Hammond: Paul Bressoud on announcer.

Natalie Arroyo: Paul Bressoud doing amazing announcing. We have, um, they're always double headers, so we always have two games, um, back-to-back, and-

Scott Hammond: Is it a league? Is there separate teams that are here, all local?

Scott Hammond: Are they-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, we have-

Scott Hammond: … bring 'em in from somewhere else?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, so we have our charter team, um, which is our most competitive team, the Redwood Rollers-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … and that's who I skate with.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: I've been skating for 10 years, so I finally worked my way up to the Rollers.

Scott Hammond: One, one more time on your nickname, what was it called?

Natalie Arroyo: Uh, Bronn Luke Picard.

Scott Hammond: Oh, Star Trek-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Trek Next Generation.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, so everyone calls me Bronn.

Scott Hammond: Bronn, I like it.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How'd you get that?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I, I love TNG. Yes, I'm a, I'm a big Star Trek fan, and I-

Scott Hammond: All right

Natalie Arroyo: … um, I, I vetted a bunch of names. My, my list of potential names is, is long and very funny, I think. Um, and I love a good pun, so.

Scott Hammond: You-

Natalie Arroyo: But I, I'm not like, there's a lot of times people choose a name about being

Natalie Arroyo: fast or-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … um, agile, and I'm, I'm honestly as a skater, I'm not that fast or agile. I mean, I'm pretty good, but-

Scott Hammond: But you got the Bronn thing going

Natalie Arroyo: … I'm s- I'm tough.

Scott Hammond: Do you like to hurt people?

Natalie Arroyo: I'm strong.

Scott Hammond: You're out there hurting everybody?

Natalie Arroyo: I don't like to hurt people. I just like to hold, hold it down. Yeah. So you asked how the game is played. So we have, um, we have five players on each team, um, and this is played on a flat track. It's an oval, kind of looks like a roller skating rink.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and we, um, have one person from each team who's trying to score points by, they have a star on their head, and they're called the jammer. They start, uh, score points by passing the other

Natalie Arroyo: skaters.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and so when you're a blocker like I am, um, you're trying to play both defense and offense basically at the same time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: So you're trying to make sure your jammer can get through-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … uh, doing some strategic offense, so a little hitting. And, um, not a little. There's usually a good amount of hitting, but, um-

Scott Hammond: Jostling

Natalie Arroyo: … jostling, yeah. There's a lot of, um, like th- there's places in the body where you, you can't hit people-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Natalie Arroyo: … so you can no longer punch people in the face-

Scott Hammond: Or the groin

Natalie Arroyo: … sad to say. Or the gr- um, the groin, correct, or the middle of the back.

Natalie Arroyo: Um-

Scott Hammond: Oh, okay

Natalie Arroyo: … and you can't trip people.

Natalie Arroyo: So-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … you can get penalties for all those things. Um, and I think it's, you know, meant to-

Scott Hammond: There's rules

Natalie Arroyo: … keep people safe.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Natalie Arroyo: So even though we fall down and sometimes we hurt ourselves, um, one of the things I like to tell people who have this perception that it's a really brutal, like, mean kinda hitting sport is that it's super family-friendly.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, yes, we're playing a full contact sport, but we really try to play it with consideration for one another.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. It's awesome.

Scott Hammond: So before we talk about your legacy, what you wanna leave behind, and what we're gonna say at your celebration.

Natalie Arroyo: My celebration of life?

Scott Hammond: That one.

Natalie Arroyo: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Um, you're going, "I'm not having one of those."

Natalie Arroyo: I was like, I'm-

Scott Hammond: I'm not, I'm not gonna die

Natalie Arroyo: … 40, 42, but okay. I mean, you know, you never know.

Scott Hammond: Pretty young still.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, what, what do you wanna see for Humboldt County? I mean, if you were to dream big.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What would you like, like top three, five things that you'd love to see manifest before, before it's over?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Oh, that's such a good question. Top three to five things. I, uh, I'd love to see a lot of the old and beautiful homes and commercial buildings-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … like fully restored and brought back to life.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I feel like we have a lot of housing and a lot of commercial space that's sort of underutilized-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … and needs, um, to be either just fixed up or transformed. Um, it's also hard to get public dollars for private buildings.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, and you know, this picture you brought out, um, shows when we had redevelopment dollars-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Natalie Arroyo: … um, through the state, which are, um, which, which helped make public investments in beautiful public spaces-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … and some investments in restoring, um, some, some private buildings, but for, for public benefit.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: And so I'd love to see that.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I would love to see, uh, some thoughtful but ongoing development of the waterfront.

Scott Hammond: Ooh.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, the city of Eureka did develop the waterfront specific plan after I left the, the council, um, and it has some cool vision in there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, I'd love to see more trail connectivity, whether that's the Great Redwood Trail-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … or a combination of local trails, and for people to really truly be able to, um, use that both for transportation and recreation, just build out that system a little more.

Natalie Arroyo: Um-

Scott Hammond: Good one

Natalie Arroyo: … a big one for me is traffic safety-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, and road safety for all users of the roadway. Um, it's, it's pretty alarming how many fatalities and injuries we have, uh, particularly bicycles and pedestrians, but also, um, you know, motorists, um-

Scott Hammond: Are you speaking about Eureka specifically?

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, but Humboldt County-

Scott Hammond: Gen- generally, yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … ranks really high for that in the state.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, even-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. 101 is really gnarly down in southern Humboldt

Natalie Arroyo: … even, like, percentage-based, it's not just that we have, um… You know, no, no matter kinda how you parse the data, we rank

Natalie Arroyo: really high.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Natalie Arroyo: And also high for DUIs. So that is a tough nut to crack, 'cause a lot of it-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … is engineering solutions that are-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, that are both costly and controversial. Um, you can't really enforce your way out of a, a lot of those problems

Natalie Arroyo: long term.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: There's just never gonna be enough-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … people at any given time to, to solve those problems.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I work downtown. I'd have to navigate over to Old Town just walking.

Scott Hammond: It's like-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I, I'm looking both ways three times.

Natalie Arroyo: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Crazy, man.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: And I bike to Old Town to, well, to the courthouse downtown-

Scott Hammond: So you know

Natalie Arroyo: … all the time and, and walk there, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … yeah. It's, it can be scary. And, and I think folks are just rushing and distracted and maybe used to a time when there maybe was a little bit less traffic, and, um, so we-

Scott Hammond: Or on their phones

Natalie Arroyo: … we could all… Yeah. On their phones, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: So we could all stand to kinda-

Scott Hammond: Oh, geez

Natalie Arroyo: … take a deep breath and just give a little bit of grace to others.

Scott Hammond: Like my friend Dave Hulbert, the poet, last night at a pizza night, he said, "I get in my car, I have a routine. I s- I sit down, I put my phone on Spotify, and I set it

Scott Hammond: over on my, my passenger seat, and then I drive."

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "And I don't answer phones, calls."

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "I don't text, and I just chill out."

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I go-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … "Dude"

Natalie Arroyo: Such a good idea.

Scott Hammond: "I could learn from that."

Natalie Arroyo: I've, um, been trying to put it in the compartment that's between my two front seats, so I actually have to physically close something.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Natalie Arroyo: 'Cause otherwise, it's like, "Oh, I'll just like… You know, maybe I'll list- listen to the next podcast," or you know.

Natalie Arroyo: It's like-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I've done that

Natalie Arroyo: … there's such a temptation.

Scott Hammond: "Oh, look. Oh, it's, oh, it's my brother."

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "I'll talk to him."

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's easy to do.

Natalie Arroyo: And then the last one I wanna emphasize, 'cause you said three to five, so I'm gonna go all the way to five.

Scott Hammond: Go for five.

Natalie Arroyo: Is, um, is economic development, and it's hard to know how to… Um, that's an area where we're really spending some time-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … doing research about, you know, it's, it's about time for us to really evaluate what our strengths are and what the opportunities are.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Natalie Arroyo: Again-

Scott Hammond: Right

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, we've had several iterations of economic development plans for the

Natalie Arroyo: region that have been very helpful, and there's some, there's some good work being done in that department, but now we have to kind of put those plans into action.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: So it… And it's hard to know, like, if there… There's not gonna be one silver bullet of a new

Natalie Arroyo: industry.

Scott Hammond: Wait, Amazon's not gonna do it?

Scott Hammond: Doggone it.

Natalie Arroyo: You know, I think there's gonna be a lot of the different things that are opportunities and strengths-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … for us that we just have to amplify a little bit more.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: And folks may have to, you know,

Natalie Arroyo: um,

Natalie Arroyo: compromise-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … when it comes to some opportunities.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I think there's a lot of things about that, yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause I don't, I don't… At the rate we're going, we're not creating a lot of

Scott Hammond: jobs, and-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … kids and grandkids, and it's like, probably my pet peeve is that person that goes, "I don't give a crap about economic development, and it's not in my backyard," and that's s- so many reasons why one might say that.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Many of which are, like, probably reprehensible in my book, but-

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … that's just my two cents before we sign off.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. I mean, I think we, we also have a lot of people who are out of the workforce for whatever reason-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … um, proportionate to our population, um, either because they're

Natalie Arroyo: retired, um-

Scott Hammond: Great point

Natalie Arroyo: … you know, or they're seniors, or they're, um, disabled, they're-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Natalie Arroyo: … um, too young, although, you know, our childbirth rate isn't really growing. So we actually do, to some degree, need to attract workers here who

Natalie Arroyo: are gonna-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Natalie Arroyo: … like work, work for a while.

Scott Hammond: Have jobs that they can go work at.

Natalie Arroyo: Um, have jobs they can go, go work at-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … and who are, you know, kind of be- gonna be in the workforce for a while.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Natalie Arroyo: And that's kind of part of our society that we, we need-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Natalie Arroyo: … um, to, to help keep us going.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We wanna help you get, get there.

Scott Hammond: Let's do it.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah, yeah. No, just small stuff, right?

Scott Hammond: Real quick on your legacy, w- uh, what are we gonna say at your funeral? What's, what's your tombstone gonna say?

Natalie Arroyo: Um, "She was pretty fun, but nerdy."

Scott Hammond: Okay. That'll work.

Natalie Arroyo: She was a lot.

Scott Hammond: She's a lot.

Natalie Arroyo: And I do want-

Scott Hammond: She's a lot

Natalie Arroyo: … Jean-Luc Picard on my, on my tombstone somewhere. It can be, like, a byline or something.

Scott Hammond: You could do a little pic- picture of Patrick Stewart.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, that's so good. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What a great actor.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love that. I love that show.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Natalie, thanks for being here.

Natalie Arroyo: Uh, really a pleasure. Thanks.

Scott Hammond: Really appreciate you.

Natalie Arroyo: Yeah. Good times.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Pretty cool. Uh, so hey, if you're just joining us, you're really late.

Natalie Arroyo: You are.

Scott Hammond: But that's okay. You can make comments. You can send gold bullion. We have a Venmo page. We have ways for you to participate. And look for us on Access Humboldt, YouTube, Spotify, and next week I'll have a voice. It'll be better.

Natalie Arroyo: Your voice sounds like you're, like, a singer in a, a jazz band in a smoky lounge.

Scott Hammond: I'm just a singer in a rock and roll band.

Natalie Arroyo: Oh, that's what it is, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, I, I could… Let, let me s- don't tempt me, 'cause I might sing before we

Scott Hammond: go. Anyway, 100% Humboldt. Signing off. Have a great day. Thanks for coming.

Natalie Arroyo: All right. Thank you.