#39. Navigating Change: Steve Madrone on Humboldt’s Resilience and Civic Unity

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the 100% Humboldt podcast with my new best friend, Steve Madrone.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Steve.

Steve Madrone: Good afternoon, Scott.

Scott Hammond: How's your day?

Steve Madrone: It's going good.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Steve Madrone: Getting things done.

Scott Hammond: Appreciate… Getting, getting things done. Glad you're here.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, I appreciate it.

Scott Hammond: So real quick, uh, tell us what your job is, your name, rank, serial number. What, what are you all about?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, well, serial number C54…

Steve Madrone: No.

Scott Hammond: Some guys know theirs, right?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, right. Uh, well, I'm not giving out my social on air-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … that's for sure. I guess-

Scott Hammond: Mine is, uh-

Steve Madrone: I guess that is our serial number, but, uh-

Scott Hammond: There it… I guess it would be

Steve Madrone: … at any rate, um, Steve Madrone, uh, current fifth District supervisor for Humboldt County. And fifth District, looking at your map, is everything

Steve Madrone: north and-

Scott Hammond: It's good

Steve Madrone: … east of the Mad River, except for the city of Blue Lake.

Scott Hammond: And the Mad River is, like, right here along 299, so it's-

Steve Madrone: Sure is

Scott Hammond: … this whole quadrant, right?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, the whole northern two-fifths of the county.

Scott Hammond: Geez, that's a-

Steve Madrone: It's huge

Scott Hammond: … that's a big district probably.

Steve Madrone: It's a really big district.

Scott Hammond: Compared to the rest of the state, that's probably geographically pretty big.

Steve Madrone: It's as big as some counties, right?

Steve Madrone: So.

Scott Hammond: That's true. Yeah, yeah. So Nick and I were debating, how long have you been a

Scott Hammond: supervisor?

Steve Madrone: I'm in my sixth year.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Steve Madrone: So five and a half years. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How's it going?

Steve Madrone: Oh, I love it.

Scott Hammond: Is it fun?

Steve Madrone: It's a great job. I mean, you know, there's a lot of difficult parts to the job, there's no doubt about that.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: And it's kind of a 24/7, even though we're not technically first responders, it sometimes feels that way with all the emergencies we have here.

Scott Hammond: My gosh.

Steve Madrone: In Humboldt, we go from fire to flood, flood to fire, wind st- you know, on and on.

Scott Hammond: Crazy winter. Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Um, but no, I really enjoy it. It's, uh… I consider it a privilege to be able to work-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Steve Madrone: … with people and try to help s- solve problems, right?

Scott Hammond: You know, I, I don't know, I'm sure people ask, it, it isn't paid tremendously, right? It's, it… There's a-

Steve Madrone: It's much less than the department heads-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … or the sheriff.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: Uh, that's for sure.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: But it still pays quite a bit for Humboldt County's, uh, status.

Steve Madrone: About-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … about 100 grand a year.

Scott Hammond: So it's not a stipend, it's, it's a wage.

Steve Madrone: It's a wage, unlike city council members or service dir- district board members-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … or school board members who maybe they get mileage reimbursements

Steve Madrone: or a very-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … small stipend, but, uh, they, the… You know, like a mayor of a city, gosh, I can only imagine how many hours that is-

Scott Hammond: Oh, my gosh

Steve Madrone: … uh, in between your paid job, right, and everything else, so.

Scott Hammond: The morning calls, the texts, and the-

Steve Madrone: So it is a full-time job, and that's good because it is more than full-time work-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … frankly speaking.

Scott Hammond: Let me hit you with my two hardest questions that people really struggle with.

Steve Madrone: Okay.

Scott Hammond: You probably already have them. Uh, who is Steve Madrone, and, and what do you want? That was my father-in-law's t-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … genius question.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Most people go, "I, I, I don't know who I am and… Or therefore, I don't know what I want."

Steve Madrone: Yeah, absolutely. Uh, well, who I am, I'm a newcomer. I've only been here 50 years.

Scott Hammond: Okay. You're fresh.

Steve Madrone: And it's interesting because I've met many people that, um, lay a, a serious claim to being a local.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: They've been here 10 or 20 years, but-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … there are a particular culture or a particular belief system or whatever, and somehow they think that that's the case.

Scott Hammond: That's local, yeah.

Steve Madrone: I say that not as a joke, frankly, but because our native peoples, as you know, have been here thousands of years.

Scott Hammond: Long time.

Steve Madrone: And there are a lot of other, uh, homesteaders and ear- early settlers that, you know, their families can trace back 100, 150 years as well, so.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: Uh, I do see myself new in that way, but I have been here a long time, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … I've got, uh, four children, 19 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, so.

Scott Hammond: Good for you, man.

Steve Madrone: Uh, most of them live here in the county, and some on the property. We've got a few acres up in the area up above Trinidad and a couple of homes, and we're able to-

Scott Hammond: Very nice

Steve Madrone: … kinda help take care of each other.

Scott Hammond: The compound.

Steve Madrone: I- it's a, it's a village.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, absolutely. Just like-

Scott Hammond: It's wonderful

Steve Madrone: … you know, the native peoples had villages that were 30 to 50 so people, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … those were extended families-

Scott Hammond: Good for you

Steve Madrone: … basically, you know? So I feel lucky-

Scott Hammond: 19 grandchildren

Steve Madrone: … to see my kids and grandkids as often as I do. It's a, it's a real blessing.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Steve Madrone: So that's who I am.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: Uh, and I've- how long I've been here. But, you know, what I wanna see is us solving problems.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: You know, Humboldt is an incredible place full of natural resources-

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy

Steve Madrone: … and incredible, you know, hardy people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And we always have a lot of challenges-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and I, I live and breathe to try and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … work with people and figure out how to move forward and get things done, so.

Scott Hammond: Just… You triggered a thought in me. Larry Doss said, "People with grit."

Steve Madrone: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: I thought that-

Steve Madrone: Absolutely

Scott Hammond: … what… You said it in a different way.

Scott Hammond: Perfect.

Steve Madrone: Well, and Larry would know. You know, he's done a lot of work with getting people

Steve Madrone: homes and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … helping to finance all that. He's also a rancher, as you may know.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Sure.

Steve Madrone: And, uh, I've enjoyed running into Larry over the last, uh, year and a half.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Steve Madrone: You know, seeing each other-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … at different… or at community service district meetings, things like that.

Scott Hammond: So funny story that you'll remember. Nick doesn't hear this, so, um, first letter to the editor I ever wrote to, uh, endorse a candidate was Larry Doss.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so-

Steve Madrone: That was your first? Wow.

Scott Hammond: First ever. And guess who I would run into in Trinidad-

Steve Madrone: Of course.

Scott Hammond: … at the parking lot-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know, campaigning the couple days before, and, and, "Hey, Steve, how's it going? You're, you're very gracious." Go, "Hey, Scott. And hey, I liked your letter to the editor in The Journal."

Steve Madrone: Well, you know-

Scott Hammond: And I go, "This is awkward," and you made it cool. You were gracious.

Steve Madrone: It… We, we both stayed above board. We dealt with the issues that were-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … in front of us, I think, and, um, I appreciate that 'cause we saw in the recent, uh, assembly race, there was some pretty kinda, you know, the stuff that people don't like to see, the really negative ad type of stuff-

Scott Hammond: The judge race, right?

Steve Madrone: … going on there. The judge race, the assembly race, the-

Scott Hammond: Did Greg lose? Did he end up losing?

Steve Madrone: He did lose.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And they dropped all that data on him right before the election.

Scott Hammond: Isn't that-

Steve Madrone: There's always, always a lot of interesting stuff in politics, right?

Scott Hammond: Isn't that timely? It's so weird that that happened. How did they get that data and drop it to the news?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Uh, different story. So-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … so what do you want? You're a problem solver. That's what you wanna do is solve some problems.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: What do you, what do you see as our, I don't know, top… I always joke in my life-

Steve Madrone: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and my home and my grandkids, top three takeaways. If you were to say top three issues that we face as a county, what, what… How would you rank… I… What are they, just generally?

Steve Madrone: Well, healthcare has gotta be right up there up top.

Steve Madrone: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … our healthcare system's falling apart at every, every angle, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … with the lack of, uh, workers wanting to get into the profession.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Steve Madrone: How difficult it is for the workers that are in the profession.

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.

Steve Madrone: Like, if you go to the ER room, you know, at St. Joe's or Mad River and you see the, you know, overwhelming need-

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy

Steve Madrone: … and, uh, you know, it's easy to see burnout and all-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … kinds of other issues.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Young people that are coming into the medical profession don't wanna get into, um, personal practice because of malpractice lawsuits and other kinds of issues, so they're looking to work for a hospital or a clinic or whatever.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: And we don't have nearly enough of them, and we don't have enough housing-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … not only for them-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … but working class families-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … as well as, uh, our large homeless, uh, our population of people experiencing homelessness.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: Um, so that's another huge issue, the mental-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … health issues, the, uh, you know, p- public health, mental health, our healthcare system, uh, people experiencing homelessness due to lack of housing, and there are a lot of reasons for all of that.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: Um, Proposition 1 has some really good things, and it, it just barely squeaked by in the recent March election.

Scott Hammond: Tell us about that.

Steve Madrone: Uh, but some of the n- you know, well, there's gonna be care court, there's gonna be, uh, more hospital beds-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and other kinds of things happening-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … across the state, but it's gonna divert money away from some of our very important preventative programs like-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Steve Madrone: … what's called HCTAY-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Steve Madrone: … Humboldt County Transitional Age Youth programs-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … that is preventative. They're out there working with young people who are having all kinds of problems, and they're helping to mentor them. They're helping them develop job skills.

Scott Hammond: Is that Youth Bureau, uh-

Steve Madrone: It's part of DHHS-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Steve Madrone: … Department of Health and Human Services.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And then there's a Hope Center.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Steve Madrone: Uh, and we have a hospital here. We're lucky to have one, Sempervirens, but it's ancient, and we all know it needs to

Steve Madrone: be-

Scott Hammond: It's not many beds, yeah

Steve Madrone: … rebuilt. Not very many beds. We don't have youth beds.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: So I would say, you know, the three Hs. How's that sound? Hammond, Hammond… No, wait.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, that's me.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, that's you. That's the trail. That's a bunch of other history.

Scott Hammond: Hammond Trail, yeah.

Steve Madrone: But the-

Scott Hammond: We, we own the trail, did you know that?

Steve Madrone: That A. Hammond family goes way back here-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Steve Madrone: For sure, into the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they had the-

Steve Madrone: … early lumbering and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … and such. Hammond Lumber, Hammond Railroad, uh-

Scott Hammond: They had a monopoly on the redwood industry at one time.

Steve Madrone: They did.

Scott Hammond: They were the biggest.

Steve Madrone: They had most of the holdings, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: It was pretty amazing.

Scott Hammond: So maybe explain that. They… There was a, a, a monopoly buster that came in and they divert, uh, uh, GP and LP-

Steve Madrone: Yep

Scott Hammond: … split them.

Steve Madrone: Split them up.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, that was back in the late '60s, early '70s, I think it was.

Scott Hammond: So we'll come back to the three Hs.

Steve Madrone: So the three Hs.

Scott Hammond: Housing.

Steve Madrone: Housing, homelessness-

Scott Hammond: Heal-

Steve Madrone: … and healthcare.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good. That's an easy way to kinda corral it.

Steve Madrone: Not that there aren't a lot of other problems to start with, other letters like-

Scott Hammond: Boy

Steve Madrone: … R-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … or roads.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Uh, and, and many other things, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. D for drugs.

Steve Madrone: Drugs.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: It's coming in, being produced, you know-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Steve Madrone: … all of that stuff, so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … yeah. Plenty to work on, right?

Steve Madrone: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, there's no lack of, of, of-

Steve Madrone: Of issues

Scott Hammond: … projects.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So tell me, uh, uh, early Steve, what, what, uh, you came up when, 50 years ago, so-

Steve Madrone: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … class, you know, you must have came to Humboldt in '75 or-

Steve Madrone: '73.

Scott Hammond: '3, okay.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, I did. I came to, uh, go to school and become a forester.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, me too.

Steve Madrone: So, uh-

Scott Hammond: Who knew?

Steve Madrone: A lot of people did, right?

Scott Hammond: Who did?

Steve Madrone: 'Cause Humboldt was well known as the forestry school in America, unless you were going to a higher level like Yale or, or-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … some of the other places, right? But Humboldt was the place. I was a Boy Scout growing up in Orange County in the-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Steve Madrone: … the '60s.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Steve Madrone: '50s and '60s.

Scott Hammond: What, what town?

Steve Madrone: In Anaheim originally, so we were a mile and a half from Disneyland.

Scott Hammond: And it's all orange gr- groves, right?

Steve Madrone: We'd ride our bicycles through the orange groves, hang out out front, get free tickets from people leaving.

Scott Hammond: Sweet.

Steve Madrone: And the, uh, entrance fee was a buck and a quarter.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Right? So…

Scott Hammond: And now it's a buck and a quarter again.

Steve Madrone: 100 buck and a quarter.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's right.

Steve Madrone: Or more than-

Scott Hammond: It's probably more

Steve Madrone: … 200 buck and a quarter, yeah.

Scott Hammond: The, the joke is that when you live by Disneyland you don't go much, but you guys-

Steve Madrone: Oh, we did all the time.

Scott Hammond: I would-

Steve Madrone: But I spent most of my time on the only place you can touch the earth in

Steve Madrone: Disneyland.

Scott Hammond: Oh, the island.

Steve Madrone: Tom Sawyer's Island-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … where there's actual dirt.

Scott Hammond: We used to go out there and smoke-

Steve Madrone: And you're running around in the caves and all this stuff.

Scott Hammond: We'd go out there and smoke weed and-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … get crazy.

Steve Madrone: All right.

Scott Hammond: But you were a Boy Scout, so you didn't do that.

Steve Madrone: No, no, didn't do that. No, I came to Humboldt to figure that one out.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Um, but no-

Scott Hammond: My story's opposite. I came up and got sober from being a feral child in San

Scott Hammond: Diego.

Steve Madrone: For you. Yeah. Oh, okay.

Scott Hammond: In '78. So you're way older than I am.

Steve Madrone: Well, I guess so, yeah. '71.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's funny.

Steve Madrone: But, you know, growing up as a Boy Scout, uh, we went… The main thing we did was went camping a lot.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: And that got me to the Eastern Sierras, up to Mammoth and other places.

Scott Hammond: Oh, very nice.

Steve Madrone: And I was like, "Wow, there's more to the life than Orange County-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … which was being suburbanized, you know, pretty rapidly.

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.

Steve Madrone: Everything was being cut down and-

Scott Hammond: And now it's a mess

Steve Madrone: … all the trees and stuff. It is. The, the congestion, just everything, it, it's kinda outgrow its-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … means, right? Which is a-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … a basic tenet to maybe pay attention to.

Steve Madrone: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … and so people ask you when you're young, "Scott, what are you gonna be when you grow up?" And you'd say, "A forest ranger."

Scott Hammond: Forest ranger. Of course.

Steve Madrone: That was what I would say, and I meant it 'cause everybody I'd see when I went camping I thought was a forest ranger.

Scott Hammond: And weren't they cool?

Steve Madrone: Whether they were in the store or the campground or wherever.

Scott Hammond: They're all rangers.

Steve Madrone: They're all forest rangers.

Scott Hammond: Everybody's a ranger of some…

Scott Hammond: Who is it?

Steve Madrone: And it was this dream of, wow, wouldn't it be neat to live in a place where most people like to go to recreate, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … on their vacation-

Scott Hammond: And have fun

Steve Madrone: … and actually live there, you know?

Scott Hammond: It turns out it's pretty much law enforcement.

Steve Madrone: Yeah. Well, that's exactly-

Scott Hammond: My friend Brian's a ranger.

Steve Madrone: It was that or, um, you know, laying out h- harvest plans to cut down trees, and I wanted to plant trees. I wanted to do forest health work.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: I wanted to do watershed work and-

Scott Hammond: Was that your major at Humboldt? Did you-

Steve Madrone: My major was natural resources.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Steve Madrone: And it was a five-year major, believe it or not, when it first was created-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Steve Madrone: … because what you did was you took a little bit of every science, and economics-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Steve Madrone: … and social science and psychology.

Scott Hammond: It's a great major.

Steve Madrone: So you took a little bit of everything, which meant you were being trained as a generalist, but with the potential to become a specialist in any number of fields if you just took a few more-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … classes down the road.

Scott Hammond: Like a business major, then-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … master's in whatever.

Steve Madrone: Yeah. Economic development or whatever.

Scott Hammond: So did you… You have to- You have the basis of calculus and physics and chemistry,

Scott Hammond: right?

Steve Madrone: Yeah. Well, especially all those as a bachelor's, but then I came back to

Steve Madrone: Humboldt, before it was Cal Poly, in 26.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And in 2011 got my master's there in watershed management-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Steve Madrone: … and, uh, hydrology, wildland hydrology.

Scott Hammond: So you know Terry Roloffs?

Steve Madrone: I do. I know Terry quite well.

Scott Hammond: A great guy.

Steve Madrone: He was one of the professors, along with Dr. Rudy Beching and others, that had this vision to create the natural resource

Steve Madrone: department.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: 'Cause everybody was kinda doing their own thing.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause he was fishery, right? He was a fisheries guy.

Steve Madrone: Here's fisheries, here's soils, here's wildlife, here's forestry, and they were all their own different thing.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Steve Madrone: And there was no integration.

Scott Hammond: Huh, and they brought it under one-

Steve Madrone: So the idea was let's have that all integrated-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Steve Madrone: … and create some programs where people learned a little bit about all those

Steve Madrone: things.

Scott Hammond: Genius.

Steve Madrone: So that was Humboldt State, really very-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Steve Madrone: … very innovative.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, Terry's a great guy.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Remember the cluster program-

Steve Madrone: I do

Scott Hammond: … was a general ed program?

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So we were part of that, so-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … all of us hippie feral children got to do, um, you, you'd really like this. It's, uh, it's quarter, quarter system. You get, uh, 20 units pass/fail.

Steve Madrone: Yep.

Scott Hammond: And you gotta show up. There's no tests, no grades.

Steve Madrone: Ah.

Scott Hammond: But you had to show up-

Steve Madrone: Just participate, yeah

Scott Hammond: … and particip- and it-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … probably, you go, "Wow, come on." It was the best thing ever.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And the, the people and all the, and all the disciplines came in, like Terry-

Steve Madrone: Yep, yep

Scott Hammond: … and different people and taught, um, taught us, uh, taught us well. It was good basic-

Steve Madrone: And there was that house up on the hill, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the Buck House

Steve Madrone: … the Buck House.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. The old Buck House, the alternative energy.

Steve Madrone: Which now they've actually down the hill a little ways, but right there under the BSS building, uh, they've got their own operation there that-

Scott Hammond: That's what I've heard, yeah

Steve Madrone: … you know, shows how to do, uh, gray water systems-

Scott Hammond: The whole nine

Steve Madrone: … or, you know, storm water runoff, rainwater gardens, all that stuff.

Scott Hammond: You remember the yurt that was back there?

Steve Madrone: Absolutely, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: The, the yurt? And they-

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So we had all of our classes in, in the Buck House.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, up, up on the hill.

Scott Hammond: It was great, yeah. It was, those were good times.

Steve Madrone: It was, it was the last little kind of wild place on the campus until they needed to build the five-story BSS building.

Scott Hammond: It was really beautiful there. Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: My wife and I met-

Steve Madrone: Good views

Scott Hammond: … through that program.

Steve Madrone: Oh, wonderful.

Scott Hammond: You, I think you met Joanie probably.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, probably have over the years.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Joanie. How you doing, sweetie?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, at one of those, uh, events we go to, chamber events or something else.

Scott Hammond: Some, probably some… Yeah. I, I think we did. So, uh, so you came up from Orange County-

Steve Madrone: Yep

Scott Hammond: … when Orange County was a nicer village.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, uh, and st- stayed here. Did you meet your wife and-

Steve Madrone: I did

Scott Hammond: … buy some property and-

Steve Madrone: She came to the dorms, uh, at Humboldt the same semester I did.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Steve Madrone: I always joke that I saw her across the room and fell in love, you know.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: It was actually several years later that we met.

Steve Madrone: But yes-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Steve Madrone: … I did see her and fell in love right there on the spot.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Steve Madrone: And, uh, we've been together now, uh, 44 years.

Scott Hammond: Bless you guys.

Steve Madrone: So yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's awesome.

Steve Madrone: We're very lucky, I feel, in this world, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And four kids that created 19 grandkids.

Steve Madrone: Yes.

Scott Hammond: That's really cool.

Steve Madrone: Well, six of those were adopted foster kids.

Scott Hammond: That's wonderful.

Steve Madrone: So you can, you know, build your numbers really quick if you wanna-

Scott Hammond: Better yet

Steve Madrone: … take in even more.

Scott Hammond: That's great.

Steve Madrone: And so bless my daughters, the family, for bringing those kids into our family. And there's a lot of challenges, but boy, they're so much better off having been adopted than just staying in the foster system or not having anybody, you know, frankly.

Scott Hammond: So are you the patriarch of the village?

Steve Madrone: I am, apparently so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. They let you-

Steve Madrone: But I wouldn't say I'm the leader.

Scott Hammond: Your wife lets you do that every day sometimes?

Steve Madrone: I have… I go to the women to get most of my permits.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Steve Madrone: Like, if I need to mow, there's the wildfire, fl- uh, wildflower committee I have to go through.

Scott Hammond: You gotta go through them.

Steve Madrone: And get…

Scott Hammond: Get ratified.

Steve Madrone: It's good. I love it, you know?

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Steve Madrone: It's, uh, some people are threatened by strong women, but I am not. I admire them.

Scott Hammond: It's a team.

Steve Madrone: I think they rule the world, and they're stepping up in Humboldt. If you look around, more and more boards are becoming a majority of, if not almost entirely, women who have stepped up for positions on city council-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Steve Madrone: … school boards, and, uh, yeah, they got the long-term family at heart, right? So.

Scott Hammond: One of my first guests was Bethany Shea from Catalyst Church.

Scott Hammond: She's-

Steve Madrone: Oh, wonderful.

Scott Hammond: You know Bethany and Jason?

Steve Madrone: I don't think I do.

Scott Hammond: Right across from the co-op, we got a church.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And she's, um-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … had dinner with them last night in Blue Lake. She's tremendous.

Steve Madrone: Oh, nice. Wonderful.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. A girl pastor. Everybody… Who would've figured?

Steve Madrone: You know, the world's-

Scott Hammond: To your point

Steve Madrone: … changing, and we can either get angry about it and fight each other on petty, stupid little things, or we can try and find that common ground-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … and see the good in each other-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and find out places we can work together on stuff, you know?

Steve Madrone: So.

Scott Hammond: Like, our, our going, uh, l- advanced maturity philosophy with Joanie and I is let's get

Scott Hammond: curious.

Steve Madrone: Yes, absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Why not?

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, he's a Trumper. Oh, he loves Biden. Oh, he loves women pastors. What's-

Steve Madrone: All of a sudden you got-

Scott Hammond: What's up with that?

Steve Madrone: … commonality. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Talk to me.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What's the, what, how do you figure that?

Steve Madrone: Yeah. And then when you think about the effect on your own health of just being angry all the time-

Scott Hammond: Oh, my God

Steve Madrone: … and blaming everybody else-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Steve Madrone: … like the problem all exists somewhere else, as compared to loving yourself, recognizing your frailty, working on the things you can change, 'cause you can't really change anybody else.

Scott Hammond: No.

Steve Madrone: But we can change ourselves.

Scott Hammond: Sometimes.

Steve Madrone: If we want to. It's not easy. But there's a lot of support out there to do that if we seek it out, you know?

Scott Hammond: That's my joke. I'm not good at anybody. I can barely do me-

Steve Madrone: Oh, yeah, right

Scott Hammond: … day to day.

Steve Madrone: And it's a full-time job, right?

Scott Hammond: It is a full-time job.

Steve Madrone: Plus, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, so the top three issues, the three Hs.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, what would be, I don't know, early first steps for health? I mean, we, we got, we got, um, Destination Humboldt bringing doctors in, in early, uh, t- for training and-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and residency and doing, um, paying their debts.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So kinda I'm, I'm actually part of that-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … which is really cool.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, that, that seems to be a proactive-

Steve Madrone: It is

Scott Hammond: … move.

Steve Madrone: It is. Well, the biggest overarching umbrella is healthcare for

Steve Madrone: all.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: Which has been on the platform for a long, long, long time, but never seems to quite happen, and I would say that's the power of the pharmaceutical corporations-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and insurance companies.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Not any dig at you and your profession.

Scott Hammond: We're, we're-

Steve Madrone: 'Cause-

Scott Hammond: We're not that big. We-

Steve Madrone: I've been with State Farm for 40-some years, so, and I've had-

Scott Hammond: That's right, you're a State Farm guy

Steve Madrone: … great, great service and great care. So, uh, in no way-

Scott Hammond: Good for you

Steve Madrone: … would I wanna disparage the hard work that people do and the difficult decisions in a world with fire and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … loss and everything else. But within the healthcare system, it is well known that actually adopting that… Now, government's not great at running anything, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: So k- you know, trying to get something to become more government regulated

Steve Madrone: has-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … its own pitfalls. There's no doubt about that. But the way things go right now is pharmaceuticals are the richest lobbying entity on the planet, bar, bar none.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: More than defense, more than oil-

Scott Hammond: Part of-

Steve Madrone: … energy, any of it

Scott Hammond: … part of the broken lobby system.

Steve Madrone: And so things don't happen that are gonna affect the bottom line there, and what that is, is it's taken out of the people-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … in the lack of healthcare or the cost of it.

Steve Madrone: And-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … you know, just had a conversation with St. Joe's today about things that are gonna have to change there because of the bottom

Steve Madrone: line. And so we've gotta fix that. And as a county official-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Steve Madrone: … I know for a fact that the county would save millions of dollars in terms of its health insurance plans and all the rest of it if we had, you know, healthcare for all systems in place.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: So there's a lot of money to be saved-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Steve Madrone: … and better care to be acquired. It's not easy. It hasn't worked everywhere perfectly.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: There is no… I mean, that's the one thing you first have to realize in anything in life, right, is-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … perfect's not on the table.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: It's just not.

Scott Hammond: Just work toward it.

Steve Madrone: But there are ways to make things better.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: And I think we got a lot of work to do in that arena.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. The Open Door Clinic has come up-

Steve Madrone: Oh, my God

Scott Hammond: … a couple times.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You were early, and Herman Spetzler and the-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … when it was in the little

Steve Madrone: Near-

Scott Hammond: Was it, was it in Tin Can Mailman in the old building there?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, that was maybe… Well, it was-

Scott Hammond: Early on

Steve Madrone: … bounced around several places-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … for sure. Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's become a-

Steve Madrone: Without them, I mean, they're half the system in Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: And, and then you got Mad River and St.

Steve Madrone: Joe's, but-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … without Open Door and North Country Clinic, I mean-

Scott Hammond: My goodness

Steve Madrone: … uh, they're covering a lot of bases.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Steve Madrone: And they are non-profit.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And so they run from a different model.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: Uh, not that they don't also struggle with costs and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, sure

Steve Madrone: … and everything else, you know, so-

Scott Hammond: How could they not? Everything's gone up.

Steve Madrone: Everybody does, yeah. So no simple solutions. I, I don't actually have to be the one responsible for making it happen, but-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … if I have a microphone in front of me and I can speak to what I believe should

Steve Madrone: happen-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … you bet.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: That's part of the solution.

Scott Hammond: And how about homelessness? What are your initial-

Steve Madrone: Boy.

Scott Hammond: Hey, could you fix homelessness?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, well-

Scott Hammond: That, that makes

Steve Madrone: … I get that a lot. I get that a lot. And, you know, uh, Prop 1, like I said, is gonna take away from some of these preventative systems. And so what happens is the outcome of that is that more people will fall through the cracks and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … potentially chil- you know, juveniles as well as adults-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … end up experiencing homelessness.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: Uh, one of the things I try to tell people in my district, and that I talk to in the county, is that, you know, you probably already have homeless camps

Steve Madrone: nearby you.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: If there's a wooded area near you-

Scott Hammond: There's probably some

Steve Madrone: … there's homeless camps in there. There's at least one, if not multiple camps in

Steve Madrone: that area.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And there's no sanitation, there's no garbage-

Scott Hammond: It's terrible, yeah

Steve Madrone: … there's no way to bring services to them.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And it's a horrible life for them as well as-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Steve Madrone: … others. Now, there's some that no matter what you do, no matter what programs you create, they're gonna still live in the woods.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: And that do- has to do with all kinds of other choices and decisions and conditions that they may be experiencing.

Scott Hammond: Well, just sort of dart throw, what do you think that percentage is? A third? Half?

Steve Madrone: Of the population?

Scott Hammond: That would just stay, that would stay in the woods no matter-

Steve Madrone: Oh, of the people experiencing homelessness.

Scott Hammond: That would just choose the woods.

Steve Madrone: Could be as much as a third.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Steve Madrone: Some places it might be only 10 or 20%.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Steve Madrone: But it's significant. But-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's a big chunk

Steve Madrone: … the more significant number is the other side of that-

Scott Hammond: I know

Steve Madrone: … 100% puzzle, which is, you know, 60 to 80%-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … of the people, if given half a chance, could probably turn their lives around.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: That requires resources, and some people have no empathy for that. They think that, "Well, they should just make better choices and get their lives

Steve Madrone: together."

Scott Hammond: Serves them right.

Steve Madrone: These are not all people… Uh, and many of them aren't just people that have just gone and decided to be this

Steve Madrone: way.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: They're dealing with mental health issues that only get worse in a condition where you can't get a shower but once a month, or whatever it might be. Uh, some of them might be people that just got an injury and got prescribed opioids, and before they knew it, the prescriptions ran out, and they were addicted, and then they started getting them on the street, and then they lost their home and their job, and things unraveled.

Steve Madrone: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Or my, or my wife left with my best friend, and-

Steve Madrone: We all, we all-

Scott Hammond: … I lost my job and drank myself to death, yeah.

Steve Madrone: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Uh, reasons and, uh, for, for why these things happen.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: So we can either play that blame game-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … or we can say, "Who can we help, and how do we help them?"

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And what I try to say to people is that you already have these camps in your neighborhood.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: So would you not necessarily be jumping up and down excited, but could you feel that you would be willing to see if

Steve Madrone: it works-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and have some sanction camps nearby-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … where there's, you know, uh, management on site, there's facilities for garbage, showers.

Scott Hammond: How does, how does that work across the nation?

Steve Madrone: Well, you know, we can-

Scott Hammond: Are there, are there good stories?

Steve Madrone: We could examples.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: We could examples all over of problems where it failed and problems where it worked.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Steve Madrone: Uh, Sacramento's been experimenting with different approaches all, uh, for a long

Steve Madrone: time.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Steve Madrone: Chico has several hundred trailers they put on some surplus property that are like little tiny home units and stuff. We've got a modular plant out in Hoopa that's been shuttered forever and could-

Scott Hammond: All right

Steve Madrone: … be running again.

Scott Hammond: Remember that, yeah.

Steve Madrone: And I'm working with the tribe and Senator McGuire to see if we can get funding to

Steve Madrone: open it up.

Scott Hammond: Doesn't Betty Chinn have something down in the-

Steve Madrone: Betty Chinn has stuff. Arcata House Partnership, uh, has all kinds of different programs they're doing with the city, the county, with

Steve Madrone: DHHS. So if somebody came forward, we need non-profit partners, but if they'd step up and they're willing to partner with the county and get the funding they need, like Arcata House and others, um, wouldn't it be better to have a sanctioned camp, a sanctioned safe parking lot-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … maybe still nearby in your neighborhood, but it's got all these better qualities about it? Wouldn't that be better-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … than what you have right now? I know it's not what you'd like. What you'd like is not to have any homeless-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … that you have to see

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: Or something. I don't know what it is, but…

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: And I get people with a lot of empathy and those that have almost no empathy for solving the problem and think-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Steve Madrone: … it's a handout and it's, you know, whatever.

Steve Madrone: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … I don't know. I, I, I believe people are doing their best, and, uh, you know, if they're in the situation they're in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … it's for reasons-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … that if you spend a little time with them, you might start understanding.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: You know?

Scott Hammond: Empathy, it's in short supply.

Steve Madrone: But it's not, not easy. It's probably one of the hardest problems to solve, but so is healthcare.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Even roads is a tough problem to solve, you know?

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: I mean, everything requires resources.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: And we're living in an age right now where they're getting seemingly more

Steve Madrone: limited.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: The cost of living on every level is going up.

Scott Hammond: Gosh.

Steve Madrone: And people are going, "What do I pay my PG&E bill or go pick up my meds?" Or-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … or what? Or, you know-

Scott Hammond: Can we talk about gas real quick?

Steve Madrone: Oh my goodness. Yeah, right. Humboldt, you can go anywhere and it's cheaper.

Scott Hammond: Gosh, it's 5.89.

Steve Madrone: Anywhere, that's the good news.

Scott Hammond: Good Lord.

Steve Madrone: Anywhere you go, if you go on a trip, it's cheaper.

Scott Hammond: We were in Boise, Idaho two weeks ago, it was 3.39.

Steve Madrone: Yeah. Same thing in New Mexico.

Scott Hammond: It's crazy.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like, are you kidding? And so, and, and it's the age-

Steve Madrone: It's the gas tax in California. It's the cleaner gas that we are required to burn for air emission control, so that's a special blend that costs a lot more n- money to produce. We have a limited number of refineries.

Scott Hammond: But even Redding has much cheaper gas.

Steve Madrone: Redding does, the Central Valley on down and others. Maybe a buck cheaper, so then-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … you're in the four something range.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is it a buck a gallon to transport it up? I know a couple of the guys actually that-

Steve Madrone: It comes up by barge-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … right? And it, it gets offloaded into the depot there in Eureka by the

Steve Madrone: mall.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And then from there it gets trucked out, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … and supplied to everybody, and-

Scott Hammond: Well, a lot of the casinos have cheaper gas.

Steve Madrone: They do.

Scott Hammond: So it could be done, and probably-

Steve Madrone: Well, and they don't pay the gas tax.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Steve Madrone: And, uh, there are a few other things I think they, they don't get.

Scott Hammond: There's a reason then. Okay.

Steve Madrone: Yeah. And, you know, speaking of roads, I mean, the gas tax is not gonna cover the cost of highways anymore-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … once we go more and more electric.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: So the state's looking at a use tax-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Steve Madrone: … maybe using your GPS to track where you've been, Scott, and then-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Steve Madrone: … okay, you were five, five miles on county roads, 100 miles on state

Steve Madrone: high-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Steve Madrone: … you know, and

Scott Hammond: Big Brother.

Steve Madrone: Yeah. I

Scott Hammond: Here's your bill.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, that's-

Scott Hammond: Here's your bill, bro

Steve Madrone: … let's see how that one works, right?

Steve Madrone: So.

Scott Hammond: You used the highway.

Steve Madrone: Oh, look, Scott was at Steve's house today.

Scott Hammond: Where is he?

Steve Madrone: What the heck's going on there?

Scott Hammond: What's going-

Steve Madrone: You know?

Scott Hammond: What was he doing up there at the, the, the village?

Steve Madrone: Right.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, uh, I, I'm, I'm hesitant to talk about the insurance crisis-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in California 'cause, 'cause I, I'm a State Farm agent and-

Steve Madrone: Yeah, well you have to disclose that

Scott Hammond: … I have to, I have to be kind of careful to kinda never speak for the company,

Scott Hammond: and I'm-

Steve Madrone: Absolutely

Scott Hammond: … not gonna do that.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But the truth is, um, Ricardo Lara a- and the commissioner and the fires and, and the, um, um, consumer watchdogs have repressed, you know, rates for a long

Scott Hammond: time.

Steve Madrone: Yep.

Scott Hammond: And now, um, the California Fair Plan, 300

Scott Hammond: billion in exposure with a billion in the bank.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like, what, what's even happening?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I, I don't expect you to fix that or maybe even comment much, but-

Steve Madrone: Fair Plan doesn't seem all that fair-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … for those that have been forced into it.

Scott Hammond: It's been called the Unfair Plan.

Steve Madrone: Um, I think it's common news, if not, people might hear it here, but part of the reason why State Farm and Allstate and others said, "We're not gonna write new policies in the state of California," was that bottom line, that they are responsible to their shareholders and others to-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … adhere to, you know, in order to stay in a business i- in this, this world that we have in America.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: Um, and the rates have not been allowed to adjust over time.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: And they were always figured out on past, uh, hazards-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … versus projection of future hazards.

Scott Hammond: Cost of materials, cost of labor.

Steve Madrone: And yet we now-

Scott Hammond: Permit

Steve Madrone: … have so mu- many better tools to be able to actually assess future

Steve Madrone: hazard.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: We know a lot more about home hardening-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and steps that we as individual homeowners can do-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … to help our homes survive a wildfire. We have more exemptions from CAL FIRE that allow you to go out 150 feet from your home-

Scott Hammond: And-

Steve Madrone: … and do significant-

Scott Hammond: Medication

Steve Madrone: … clearing cutting.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: I'm getting ready to sell my first load of logs off of my property-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Steve Madrone: … because it's seven acres. It was cut 40 years ago, and so there's 40-year-old sprouts that are now two-foot diameter.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Steve Madrone: And I'm limiting them up 50 feet high. My son's my faller climber. My grandkids are my swampers.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Steve Madrone: We got a, you know, a family crew going-

Scott Hammond: Have a logging operation

Steve Madrone: … with my, with my, with my company. I'm now a licensed timber operator.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Steve Madrone: And with all those exemptions, you know, we can see that there are gonna be a lot of landowners like myself that are not only gonna do the work around their own home, but it'll cross my whole property-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … with Natural Resource Conservation Service assistance-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and funding, as well as working with my neighbors to make it more of a neighborhood approach of fuel reduction-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Steve Madrone: … and fire prevention activities, along with we set up a NEST team-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … a neighborhood emergency support team-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … with a, a phone tree.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Steve Madrone: We've got– we've developed an emergency evac route to the east through Green Diamond land, thanks to their incredible cooperation-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Steve Madrone: … because we're on a one-end, a dead-end road, like many people are in Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Green Diamond, yep.

Steve Madrone: And how do you get out if the fire starts below you?

Scott Hammond: Green Diamond.

Steve Madrone: Well, that's it, 'cause everybody butts up against Green Diamond or in Southern Humboldt, the little Humboldt Redwood.

Scott Hammond: That's a good company.

Steve Madrone: You know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: It's– it– they– I think those kinds of things are fantastic. And so, you know, what I'm hoping the evolution-

Scott Hammond: That's a great model that you're talking about.

Steve Madrone: It is.

Scott Hammond: That's hard stop. That's, that's-

Steve Madrone: It is, and I think-

Scott Hammond: … kinda the future

Steve Madrone: … what people are hoping for is that we will soon get past the current approach to insurance rates on an individual

Steve Madrone: property-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … that is being based on broad brushstroke maps-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … or broad data-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … not site-specific, uh, site inspections-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … that say, "You know what? These people have done everything right."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And yes, they live in a forest environment, but they have done all of the things to help their property survive-

Scott Hammond: Adjust their rates

Steve Madrone: … to avoid liability.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: And adjust the rates appropriately to the site spec- I know that costs a little bit more money, but every landowner would be willing to pay a couple extra hundred

Steve Madrone: bucks-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Steve Madrone: … for a site visit to get a-

Scott Hammond: That's-

Steve Madrone: … an accurate rate rather than tens of thousands of dollars of increased rate.

Scott Hammond: And bigger still a, a safe environment.

Steve Madrone: For everybody.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: You're doing the right thing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, for the entire hillside, yeah.

Steve Madrone: And if, if you don't have insurance right now or you're finding it hard to get it renewed or this or that, whatever, put your money into home hardening and doing all the things that actually might protect your home in the first place.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Steve Madrone: Insurance doesn't protect your home.

Scott Hammond: No.

Steve Madrone: It pays you if you lose it.

Scott Hammond: But the bank wants you to have it.

Steve Madrone: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Sadly, the– they don't even want you– They demand that you have it.

Steve Madrone: Oh, yeah, and especially if you're selling a property and somebody's coming in to buy it, it's pretty much creating all kinds of chaos-

Scott Hammond: And that's what makes everybody sick

Steve Madrone: … in that real estate field, you know?

Scott Hammond: That poor young couple that just qualified and they're, they're in the escrow and they're ready to sign and, "Oh, wait. Insurance is triple. I'm– We're bumped out of the deal."

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What?

Steve Madrone: And it's not just an extra thousand. It's five, 10, 15,000 kinds of stuff that we're hearing.

Scott Hammond: Crazy money. So what, what are you hearing from Sacramento, uh, generally around

Scott Hammond: what, what, what are, what are they saying? And is there-

Steve Madrone: Well, there's, um-

Scott Hammond: … is some– There's– I mean, it's a crisis. They've seen this four-

Steve Madrone: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … five years ago.

Steve Madrone: Absolutely. It's two-part, at least two-part. One's in the insurance commissioner's realm. The other's in the CAL FIRE, you know, the fuel and fire realm.

Scott Hammond: He, he's going away, right?

Steve Madrone: He's going away, and some talk is that McGuire, according-

Scott Hammond: Heard that

Steve Madrone: … to his website, said that he might be considering insurance commissioner. That's kind of a step-

Scott Hammond: Dude

Steve Madrone: … sideways or so– I don't know what you would call that, but-

Scott Hammond: He's got enough energy, man

Steve Madrone: … he's got enough energy to handle anything pretty much.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Maybe he'll actually s- Then he could go to being the healthcare guy, and then he

Steve Madrone: can get-

Scott Hammond: Recycling.

Steve Madrone: No. McGuire is amazing. I mean, you see him at a town hall and he's a-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Steve Madrone: … he's a spark plug. He-

Scott Hammond: Mr. Auction Man

Steve Madrone: … covers a lot of ground, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like, what-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … what espresso is that man drinking?

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I mean, he's just like-

Steve Madrone: He's a dynamo

Scott Hammond: … he's, he is like Mr. Energy.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like, the dude works out or something.

Steve Madrone: Well, you can tell he's younger than us, right?

Scott Hammond: Way younger.

Steve Madrone: Younger than me.

Scott Hammond: Younger– Well, you, you're the one with advanced maturity.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So three H is homeless, health. What was the third one?

Steve Madrone: Housing.

Scott Hammond: Housing.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What, what, what are you thinking on that?

Steve Madrone: Well, there's several things. Again, you know, uh, every issue you can point to has its details. With housing, we've added a lot of cost to it, like sprinklers.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: That's good for fire protection, right?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: Saves the home.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: Maybe causes some sheetrock damage, but hey, you still got a home.

Scott Hammond: But it's expensive.

Steve Madrone: Um, it's expensive. Solar.Um, parking requirements or like a big subdivision like the McKay Track, uh, being required to do all kinds of bike lanes and electrification of everything and, uh, uh, a transit stop or two and this and that-

Scott Hammond: Well, they have to do a park

Steve Madrone: … and off- offsite stuff, you know.

Scott Hammond: They have to do a park, green space.

Steve Madrone: All kinds of extra requirements that we as a society would like to see

Steve Madrone: happen.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And they may be w- worthwhile pieces.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: The question for me has been w- who pays for that?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: And if we… You know, so a, a big 300-home, whatever that is, size development has been delayed-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … for decades because of those added costs.

Scott Hammond: We have a friend with a lot there, yeah.

Steve Madrone: And the person who is the developer feeling like it just doesn't quite pencil

Steve Madrone: out-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … at the level he feels the need to to take those risks and make that investment.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: 'Cause it is a risk. It's still an investment. Yeah, there's a housing demand, but still, will they sell at the price you need to sell them at in order to recoup your costs, right?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: And that's the penciling out that they do.

Scott Hammond: It's a dice throw.

Steve Madrone: It is a total dice throw, and so there's getting to be less and less contractors-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Steve Madrone: … willing to build housing. And, you know, just looking at it locally, right? And I'm sure this is compounded statewide-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … uh, because of those things. So shouldn't we maybe have public programs that help provide those additional things?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: Like, for a long time we had solar tax credits that paid 35 to 50% of the effort.

Scott Hammond: Love that.

Steve Madrone: But a lot of that went away or has been declined.

Scott Hammond: That went bye-bye, right?

Steve Madrone: Yeah. And s- and then not only that, but then they said anybody new coming on solar won't get to spin the wheel backwards, which was always… You know, it was always the cost of installation-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … minus the tax credit minus the money you'd save every month because you're turning the wheel back during the, you know, the, the high, the high sun months, right, and stuff.

Scott Hammond: So it's less attractive.

Steve Madrone: But now you- PG&E won't even buy that power.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: So there's some serious complications to the housing

Steve Madrone: issue-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … uh, including that, including land use planning. And, you know, what I, when I work with developers, I always try to help them embrace the wetlands or the other unique characters of the property. So often those things are seen as just problems. They're gonna, uh, be associated with various costs-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … to deal with, mitigate for the wetland filling or whatever it might be, and I, I never see it that way.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Steve Madrone: You know? But again, I'm trained in natural resources and land use planning, and so for me, I see those as assets.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: Everybody loves to have a restaurant with a veranda overlooking duck

Steve Madrone: ponds.

Scott Hammond: Of course.

Steve Madrone: You know? And, and guess what? The ducks don't care.

Scott Hammond: No.

Steve Madrone: They're just sitting there watching them . You know, they don't care, you know. Frogs don't care.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: A lot of wetland qualities are actually replicable even in urban environments, you know, and stuff.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: So, so what I try to do is help developers embrace those

Steve Madrone: qualities-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … of the property they're living on-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and turn them into assets in their design-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … that help them with stormwater retention, runoff, stormwater filtering-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … as well as creating wetlands a- and benefits.

Scott Hammond: Kind of like We Are Up did with Mary Keane and the project.

Steve Madrone: That's exactly right. The-

Scott Hammond: She did a really good job

Steve Madrone: … the neighbors there should really recognize the incredible luck they have in having somebody like her come in-

Scott Hammond: They're unstoppable with their compla- I mean, it's-

Steve Madrone: I understand their complaints, but it, at some point I think it becomes somewhat unreasonable given what the other options are, such as HSU. Cal Poly could come in and buy it and build whatever they wanted with no say-

Scott Hammond: High-rise

Steve Madrone: … on anybody's part whatsoever.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's-

Steve Madrone: You know?

Scott Hammond: Come on, guys.

Steve Madrone: So, I mean-

Scott Hammond: Let's get reasonable quick

Steve Madrone: … again, there's no perfect.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: And she has bent over backwards with her team of people-

Scott Hammond: No, they've too, done a great job

Steve Madrone: … to create an amazing development, and it's gonna cost money to sustain it, so they're trying to create an event center within reasonable bounds of parking, hours of operation, noise control.

Scott Hammond: So there's a limit in which the public can complain, and then at a certain point they've been heard, mitigations have been, it's approved.

Steve Madrone: In terms of the legal process.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Yes. But, you know, one can cause w- by, by appealing and threatening to sue and doing different things, and certain lawyers are pretty gnarly at this. They're kinda known as the person you wanna hire for a project like this to go after.

Scott Hammond: obstructionist mofos.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: I mean, they're on all side, right?

Scott Hammond: Can I cuss?

Steve Madrone: We got We got-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, I, I have no room for…

Scott Hammond: It's like-

Steve Madrone: It's tough on both sides that way.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: And frankly, all that does is raises the cost for everybody, and lawyers make more money, and they win in the end, and the-

Scott Hammond: And you delay this-

Steve Madrone: Both sides have lost, frankly

Scott Hammond: … a world-class project-

Steve Madrone: Yes

Scott Hammond: … gets delayed for a year.

Steve Madrone: With high need. Seniors with disabled youth.

Steve Madrone: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Come on

Steve Madrone: … hello. You know? Seniors, I mean, it's always been the thing, right? That young, little kids have a ton of energy but no wisdom yet, although I will say I think when they're born they're given all the wisdom of the world, and then our job as parents is to minimize the loss-

Steve Madrone: … along the way, right? So, but-

Scott Hammond: Don't, don't leak too much out.

Steve Madrone: Yeah. At any rate, then you got the middle folks that are working, you know, to make, make, uh, ends meet, and then you got the old folks that have a lot of wisdom but not a lot of energy. So it's always been a thing where you take the old folks and put them with the little young folks-

Scott Hammond: It's gonna be cool

Steve Madrone: … and combine those things together, you know.

Scott Hammond: Cal Poly students, it's gonna be a great project.

Steve Madrone: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, real quick back to housing, and then I wanna talk about Fifth District

Scott Hammond: projects-

Steve Madrone: Sure

Scott Hammond: … like We Are Up and-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and, and then we'll wrap.

Scott Hammond: The, um, the parking situation down in, in Old Town and Downtown is– I realize you're, you're not City Council, but you probably have some opinions on that. What you… How would you weigh in on, on what's, what they're proposing and where that's going?

Steve Madrone: Oh, with the conversion of parking lots into housing.

Scott Hammond: Correct.

Steve Madrone: Well, I believe they've done studies in regards to the use of those lots-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … and seen what capacity they're at over time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And I've seen that they're rarely at full capacity or even half capacity, and it depends on which parking lot you're talking about.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Steve Madrone: Some of them are do- down in Old Town, but one of them is right at the Eureka City

Steve Madrone: Hall.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: Right there on Fifth Street, which is-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Steve Madrone: … Downtown, not Old Town.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: Um, so I think it varies quite a bit. I mean, I think often there's a push on the part of, uh, certain individuals that really wanna see us get to more transit-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … uh, more electric vehicles, more issues that'll help us with our climate issues and stuff like that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And that's where this stuff comes from.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Steve Madrone: But sometimes that push to do that is out in front of us actually transitioning to something different, so it becomes very painful-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … you know, for people to lose parking and be able to stop and park right next to

Steve Madrone: where-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … they're at. And yet in a tourist economy, you might note that the downtowns and old towns that have been restored with the greatest economic positive effect are the ones where you park outside of the districtAnd you walk in Right, or they have high-rise or underground Or they, and they might have some little trolleys that run around to be able to move people around that are a little less mobile and things- Mm-hmm … like that. But people flock to those kinds of places, those pedestrian-friendly environments. Right. And nobody would argue that we have a great transit system. We have a great set of staff and board members running a transit system- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm … but it still isn't meeting the needs of the community as a whole. Hmm. I mean, I wish we could find a way for the county just to pay for the fares so it was free- Mm-hmm … and we'd have increased ridership dramatically. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, and there needs to be more runs on the weekends and the evenings. The Willow Creek run is the one that has the greatest, uh- Use … use of any of them in the whole- Pretty big deal, right?

Steve Madrone: … in the whole county- Yeah … is because those students are coming into high school- Huh … you know, in the morning to- Okay … Arcata or- Yeah … McKinleyville, and, um, that bus is a huge connection for all those families. Yeah. Oh, I love it. Plus it's now working with the Yurok tribe, uh, going all the way… Hoopa Yurok tribe's going all the way up to Weitchpec. Wow. And a little bus comes in from Pequan that brings them to Weitchpec. That's way up there. And then Orleans is a feeder, and so, yeah, that's- I'll show you where that is … again, that's Way up here. That's not Humboldt.

Steve Madrone: No, come on. That's probably… Well, there's Siskiyou. That- Yeah, it's Sis- There's Orleans … and Trinity, yeah. Yeah. No, it's- That's the map, yeah. It is, uh… Most people don't realize Orleans is in Humboldt County. Oh, yeah. The great northeastern reach. Is Pequan in- Pequan's in Humboldt- Mm-hmm … downriver to Johnson's. Right. Yeah. And then from there down, the boundary is south of the river. What a beautiful area. So like Klamath is just north of the boundary. Okay. It's in Del Norte. Okay. Yeah. Huh. Yeah, big district. Yeah. Lots going on. Eight out of nine of the recognized tribes are in that district, right? So tell us what's happening in the district, uh, real quick. Uh, I- Sure … obviously we are up, and then- Yeah … Humboldt, uh, Life Plan Humboldt is gonna be built in McKinleyville. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so there's a lot going on, and it is f- useful to talk about it by area. Mm-hmm. So McKinleyville is the most populated area- Mm-hmm … in the fifth District and, uh, is the second largest non-city city. Right, in the world. Um, and there's a lot of momentum going on working with Cal Poly Humboldt and a committee of the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee, or MCMAC- Mm-hmm … that is working on incorporation exploration- Mm-hmm … and gathering data, because the thing that's never happened around that discussion of should we incorporate or not is, well, what are the total revenues? What are the total expenses on the part of the county? They've never run the, never ran the numbers. Never b- The numbers aren't collected that way. Huh. Like for instance, the sheriff is the whole northern area command, including Orleans and Orick- Right … not just McKinleyville. So the way it's looked at, yeah. Right, so, so I was able to get the board to direct, uh, department heads to start tracking the money differently- Mm-hmm … so we could get the- Mm-hmm … the numbers for McKinleyville in particular. But all these districts would like to know, "How much are you collecting from us? How much are we getting back?" You know, that kind of a thing. Funny, that's not been done. I- isn't that an interesting concept, you know, of accountability? 'Cause numbers are pretty important. They tell a story. They're pretty important. So anyway, once we have all that data, we can get past these arguments one side or the other, or fear factors like, "Oh, my taxes will go up." Well, only if you vote to raise your taxes. Nobody does that to you. Right. That's something you vote for. Right. And if you're gonna have better roads or better sheriff dep- more deputy service or whatever it might be- Yep … you might vote for it, you know, like Measure Z or Measure O- Mm-hmm … that passed with 70-some percent of the vote, right? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Um, so that's a big thing in McKinleyville, and like you said, senior housing, uh, Life Plan- Mm-hmm … Humboldt has got a lot of momentum. Big deal. Working with the Pearson f- uh, family, Anne Pearson in particular- Great … south of Hiller Road- Mm-hmm … and west of Central, back in there where all the eucalyptus trees are. Thank you, Pearsons. Yeah, yeah. Little shout-out. That family has been amazing- They're a great family … to, to this county and community. And Anne has this vision of creating a town center for McKinleyville. Imagine that. Uh, so it wouldn't just continue to be this strip mall- Yeah … along Central Avenue, Anywhere, USA. So you were here when it was all- Chain stores … open sewers, right, on Central? Open sewers with brown trout floating in the, in the creek. Really gross. Yeah, yeah. And our, and our guy going, "Oh, no." Oh, no. Oh, no. And, you know, it was also a much smaller town. There was all the cypresses lining the road down by the Mill Creek Marketplace and all that stuff. But, uh, she has a vision, and we've now completed, uh, with the MCMAC and- Mm-hmm … the community's engagement, county planning department staff- Mm-hmm … dedicating a lot of time for three years- Mm-hmm … to put together a town center draft ordinance. Wow. And that's now got an EIR being completed on that. That's cool. When, then when that's done, it'll come back before the board for approval of- Where would that be, by the- Behind Safeway. Behind Safeway? Everything from Safeway- That big field that's- That whole massive, big field, one of the last big areas in McKinleyville to- With the homeless. There are not that many camps in that particular area 'cause there's cows in there. Yeah. They don't wanna camp by the cows. Yeah, yeah. Somehow that's a deterrent, I guess. Smells bad. Yeah. Um, but anyway, great vision on her part. Good work by the MCMAC and the, um, community service district, you know. It's- You know Scott B- Bender? … one of the best… I do. Scott's the current president of the board. Great guy. He's t- and he's done- He's on the show. Yeah, he, he's done the trash bashes forever with Pack Out Green. Mm-hmm. Scott Bender, shout out. He, uh, he's been there forever and ever, uh, on all kinds of things. He's, you know, the face on Facebook. He's… Yeah, he- On so many informational items … he's kind of the unofficial mayor, right? He is in a way. He is. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. First mayor. Yeah, yeah, so. Yeah, no, what a neat guy. And he's the senior resource center, uh, director. Correct, yeah. And so they're so grateful to have him as, as well. Oh, he does a great job. And there's other housing projects happening. McKinleyville is a place that is still growing, and thankfully so. Mm-hmm. More and more of those projects are becoming multi-storied rather than just single-story homes- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm … for a good reason- Right … because we do need more housing. Um, so a lot of growing pains there. Roads are a mess because it's unincorporated. Half the roads are private and gravel- Oh my gosh … and a mess. Hey, help me with this. And, yeah. On North, North Central- Yeah … down by the Clam Beach Inn. Yep, yeah. That's, that's scheduled for paving? Yeah, so from Grange Road all the way- Joni told me, yeah … down to the beach, there's gonna be overlays happening and repaving on that. So it'll happen. It will happen. Sweet. It's in the budget. It was budgeted by, uh- Gosh, what a mess that is … HPOG. That, that's a key mess. And we're gonna improve all the shoulders 'cause people bicycle and, and walk down to the beach that direction. Yeah, the shoulder's this big. It's pitted. It used to be Highway 1, and it actually had a big set- Right … of shoulders, but they're all… thrown in or pitted or whatever

Scott Hammond: You ever seen the old photos of the Clyde Beach Inn-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and the dance hall down there?

Steve Madrone: It was a happening place down there-

Scott Hammond: Oh, dude

Steve Madrone: … in the day, you know, down by the beach. All these cottages everywhere and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … all that. Um, so, you know, Hammond Trail, we, we did all the projects we did. As you know now, there's the Great Redwood Trail-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Steve Madrone: … which I sit on the board of, but that's south. You know, that's Eureka South, and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … that's happening this summer to be completed all the way around the bay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: But on the Hammond, you know, we've been looking for 25 years to build a connection north to Little, over Little River, uh, to Scenic Drive-

Scott Hammond: That'd be great

Steve Madrone: … and make that connection. And then of course Scenic Drive's a huge issue, but that's outside of McKinleyville. But in my district, uh, Scenic Drive's kinda like our Pebble

Steve Madrone: Beach north-

Scott Hammond: Right

Steve Madrone: … you know, Pebble Beach Drive without toll stations, thank goodness.

Scott Hammond: And falling in the ocean.

Steve Madrone: But it's falling in the ocean. And the good news is it's actually very repairable, but very expensive.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: So we had a, a tour with Congressman Huffman and the, the Rancheria and the

Steve Madrone: city-

Scott Hammond: Saw that, yeah

Steve Madrone: … and land trust and all these people to talk about how are we gonna start bringing Scenic Drive back, 'cause it's-

Scott Hammond: It's a treasure

Steve Madrone: … a cultural trail.

Scott Hammond: Dude, it's a treasure.

Steve Madrone: As well as a treasure, access to all these beaches.

Scott Hammond: And the trail down to-

Steve Madrone: All of it

Scott Hammond: … to Blue Lake, right? Annie Mary?

Steve Madrone: Absolutely, yeah. Annie and Mary's part of-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … the Great Redwood Trail's effort-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … as well, so.

Scott Hammond: So how much of, say, next 10, 20 years, will we see, you and I see, be alive to see how much of the Redwood, Great Redwood Trail would be completed,

Scott Hammond: say, south?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, so we have huge momentum in Humboldt, and actually the other counties are very jealous. They're like, "How in the hell you get all…" Well, we've been working at it for 30 years.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: This isn't something we started yesterday.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: Um, in fact, I and, um, my cohort Jen Rice did the first study of seven alternative routes around Humboldt Bay-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Steve Madrone: … back in the '90s, you know.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: So like 27, 28 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Seven.

Steve Madrone: We, we put the first study together, which was a grant from the Air Quality Board, because we knew the more we could get people out of cars onto bikes and walking, the less emissions, right? So it was a kinda nice connection that way.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: And so that took 27, 28 years of momentum to now be completing the, the final leg of, uh, Humboldt Bay South-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … into Eureka. And of course Eureka has embraced the Waterfront Trail.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's great.

Steve Madrone: Arcata has embraced the trails. They're building a section from Arcata, you know, by the skate park north-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … all the way up to Korbel collection, and then eventually to the first park with the Humboldt Bay Water District-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … uh, along the Mad River. And then Annie and Mary's segments are, are starting to happen.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Steve Madrone: There's talk about the Manila-Samoa sections, the Carlotta Spur that goes all the way out to Carlotta-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Steve Madrone: … um, near the Van Duzen River. So these are all gonna create incredible economic vitality, and-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … they're very different than fishing and timber and other things that are more

Steve Madrone: extractive-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … that have their boom and bust cycles, including cannabis.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And they're more of a long-term sustainable income-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … is what we've found across America-

Scott Hammond: It's gonna be great

Steve Madrone: … as we've converted rails to trails, or in some cases, like around the bay, it's rails with trails.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: Uh, and of course Timber Heritage is hoping to really bring back some of the, not just the speeder rides, but eventually a train around some portions of the bay,

Steve Madrone: and-

Scott Hammond: Wouldn't that be nice?

Steve Madrone: Yeah, I think it would be, you know. Trying to figure out how we can have both those would be a great thing.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: You know?

Scott Hammond: Plate Industry.

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Kind of.

Steve Madrone: Yeah. We're never gonna be shipping with train out of here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: If we were Europe, we would've put the 5 billion or more it would've

Steve Madrone: taken-

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy. Yeah

Steve Madrone: … to keep the rail open in the canyon, 'cause you would've had to treat every landslide like it's a river of logs, rock, and mud, and suspension

Steve Madrone: bridge it-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … in a, in a very isolated construction environment, right?

Scott Hammond: Right.

Steve Madrone: So big ticket items, but-

Scott Hammond: Big ticket

Steve Madrone: … Europe does that with their train systems.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: We, we don't in America.

Scott Hammond: Oh, Europe's amazing. We got back from, uh, Hol- or Amsterdam, and-

Steve Madrone: Train system's amazing, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man. It's just-

Steve Madrone: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What-

Steve Madrone: I, I took it out of Amsterdam too

Scott Hammond: … why would you own a car there?

Steve Madrone: Everybody starts in Amsterdam.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's, it's all trains and bikes-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and mass transit and trams-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and buses, and it's like-

Steve Madrone: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Joanie loves it, so it's funny.

Steve Madrone: And they got canals, people on little boats and canals and stuff.

Scott Hammond: There's co- Yeah, there's canals. So, uh, wrapping up, what, what do you want your legacy to be? What would you… If you could choose your legacy or tombstone, what would you… What, what, what do you want us to say at your, your, uh, celebration of life?

Steve Madrone: Uh, that he kept growing up and learning along the way, and that he used that, um, that

Steve Madrone: gift of growing up and having good mentors and teachers to learn how to respect each other.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And even though there are differences, figure out how to work together.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: You know, something like, you know, he, he really liked working with people and trying to help us all work together.

Scott Hammond: Like it.

Steve Madrone: You know, something like that would be a great moniker. I would be… I mean, that's, like I said, I think that's what gets me up every morning to try and-

Scott Hammond: It's good

Steve Madrone: … there's plenty of stuff to work on.

Scott Hammond: Gosh, such a rare commodity in a battle-worn world right now. It's like-

Steve Madrone: It is

Scott Hammond: … oh, my gosh.

Steve Madrone: I, I think our board, uh, exemplifies this very thing right

Steve Madrone: now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: Uh, you know, many people might think that there's such huge differences between me

Steve Madrone: and Rex or-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … Michelle or Mike or Natalie or whatever, and there are.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: And thank goodness there are, right, Scott?

Steve Madrone: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Steve Madrone: … what a boring world if it was all Scotts and Steves.

Scott Hammond: It's called democracy.

Steve Madrone: Right. And so really it's not a matter of trying to squash that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … difference of opinion.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Steve Madrone: It's a matter of each of us learning to hear each other-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … respect each other, and not feel the need to double down on saying it again to oppose the other person's point of view.

Scott Hammond: Put it on social media.

Steve Madrone: Which is what makes meetings go forever-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … frankly, 'cause, you know.

Scott Hammond: And everybody's tired of it- …

Scott Hammond: nationally-

Steve Madrone: Jeez

Scott Hammond: … internationally.

Steve Madrone: Right. So, and you know, for our staff, frankly-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … uh, lately we're having, like, 98% 5-0 votes-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Steve Madrone: … even though there are really big differences of opinion in the discussion.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Steve Madrone: And I gotta say, for staff, having a split board fighting all the time is the worst possible thing you could have.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Steve Madrone: So when we work better together, I think the county works better together, and we serve the community better, so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Maybe Congress could take a lesson.

Steve Madrone: Well, I think we could all take lessons in that regard. Like I said, I, my first four years I was a little bit testy, I will say, on the board, challenging on things and stuff. And I realized I wasn't gonna change other people, but I could change myself, and I-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Steve Madrone: … doubled down on that. And, uh, I feel grateful I've had good teachers to-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Steve Madrone: … show me how to do that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Steve Madrone: … 'cause it's important work.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hey, thanks for your service.

Steve Madrone: Thanks for you, Scott.

Scott Hammond: Appreciate it.

Steve Madrone: Appreciate it.

Scott Hammond: Um, any parting shots?

Steve Madrone: No. I'm glad you're doing this. It's nice to get more voices out there. I like your focus, and-

Scott Hammond: Thanks, man

Steve Madrone: … I appreciate being a guest on the show.

Scott Hammond: Hey, thanks for coming. Appreciate you.

Steve Madrone: Yeah, you bet.

Scott Hammond: Thanks, Steve.

Steve Madrone: You bet.