Episode 52 · Alex Stillman · August 24, 2024
Alex Stillman looks back on how she came to Arcata and the work that pulled her into community leadership, from city council and the mayor’s office to historic preservation and local planning. Her reflections trace how Arcata changed over time, and how people here shaped the city’s response to the freeway, the marsh, and the built environment.
Watch the conversation
What this episode covers
- Alex’s early life in Arizona, school on the East Coast, and move to San Francisco
- Working in retail at the White House department store and later returning to finish school
- Coming to Arcata after meeting her second husband, a professor in the area
- The early-1970s Arcata plaza, including the Boot Club, the Jacoby Storehouse, and a quieter downtown
- The Stop at Four campaign and the fight to scale back the planned freeway
- Arcata’s marsh, sewer, and historic preservation efforts, including the Phillips House and Celebration Hall
Listen to 100% Humboldt on
Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Amazon Music · Buzzsprout
Transcript
Read full transcript
Scott Hammond: All right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, my new best friend, Alex Stillman. Welcome to the 100% Humboldt podcast.
Scott Hammond: How are you?
Alex Stillman: Thank you. I'm fine, thank you.
Scott Hammond: Good. I wanted to learn a little bit about you, so as we were talking, uh, tell us the Alex story. How did you… What, what'd you do before you got here? How did you get here? Where'd you go to school?
Alex Stillman: Uh, I actually, um, basically grew up in the Phoenix area-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … of Arizona. And, um, I had gone to school in the west- well, in the East Coast. And so I- after that was over, I moved to San Francisco.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: And I graduated from a junior college and started working in retailing, 'cause that was my focus in junior college.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So I worked for the White House, which was a department store.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And-
Scott Hammond: In Eureka?
Alex Stillman: No, the White House was in San Francisco.
Scott Hammond: That one.
Alex Stillman: Yeah. S- it's on Grant. Oh, it's not there. It's gone, gone.
Scott Hammond: It's gone now.
Alex Stillman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Like all retail.
Alex Stillman: But, but it was on Grant.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And many other things moved in there. I don't know ac- actually what stores-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … are there right now. So I made a decision I would go back and finish my, uh, degree and get a BA.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: I, I'm a w- I'm the eldest of six, and my sisters all had their degrees.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And one of my sisters had her master's, and thought, "Well, I, uh, you know, I can do it." I always said I didn't like school.
Alex Stillman: Um, so I started back at s- San Francisco City College and got my under… Well, the classes that I actually needed so that I could go in as a junior, and I was going to go to San Francisco State. Then I met my second husband, who was a professor up here, through mutual friends in the city.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Alex Stillman: So I came up here, and I looked, and I go, "Well, I probably could live here," because I grew up in high school in Scottsdale, Arizona, where all the roads were dirt except for Scottsdale
Alex Stillman: Road.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: It's no longer like that.
Scott Hammond: Oh, it's huge.
Alex Stillman: And you tell people that, and they can't even imagine.
Scott Hammond: Scottsdale's big now, right?
Alex Stillman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: But you can't even imagine that. But that was actually true. So when I first came up here and I walked around the Arcata Plaza one Sunday morning, I go, "Well, you know, I could do this." You know, the… I didn't see any people.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: One car, that was all. And so I thought, "It's a small town, basically w- same as where I went to high school."
Scott Hammond: Right. Right. Was it during school year?
Alex Stillman: Um, well, I, uh, mm, I don't know. It was in the fall.
Scott Hammond: But nobody was around in the plaza on a Sunday. That's kinda nice and quiet.
Alex Stillman: Well, there were… Back in the '70s, do you know what the plaza looked like?
Scott Hammond: I do, yeah.
Alex Stillman: Okay.
Scott Hammond: Came up in '78. So I, I, I noticed that we're on the right up here, and I said, "Oh, the Boot Club." You, you'd mentioned that in, in a, in an interview at one point.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: And then, and then w- and then other places that I, I w- I was gonna actually ask about, but we'll get to those.
Alex Stillman: Well, it was pretty empty. The Jacoby Storehouse was still
Alex Stillman: functioning.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: The two businesses next to it was the grocery store-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … and a hardware store. Those were closed.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: So as you worked your way around the plaza, a lot of things were not… It was just sort of deserted.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Alex Stillman: Um, and so there were lots of opportunities that came about
Alex Stillman: later on.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: But it was,
Alex Stillman: it was just the way it was.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: And college students downtown on a Sunday morning, I don't think
Alex Stillman: so.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Why would they be… Yeah, Sunday morning, probably sleeping or-
Alex Stillman: Well, there was no place to eat.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So there was no Brio.
Scott Hammond: Really?
Alex Stillman: There was no gr- You know, where would you go? What would you do downtown?
Scott Hammond: There were bars.
Alex Stillman: There was no co-op.
Scott Hammond: Bars, but they don't serve food usually.
Alex Stillman: Well, I don't know if the bars were open that early in the morning.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: But there was no co-op, no Wildberries.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: You know, it's-
Scott Hammond: Just different world.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I remember the Boot Club. I do remember that.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: That bar. That, I walked in there as a young hippie person and going, "I, what am I doing here?" And these guys are, these guys are pretty hardcore bikers in here. Just kind of, uh, just stumbling around. Um, I have a… So I have a question. Let… There's something that, uh, there's an issue with the freeway going in when they constructed it, and it's noted here, uh, "Constructed through town and the Stop at Four campaign
Scott Hammond: and more."
Alex Stillman: Yeah, Stop at Four, um-
Scott Hammond: Just curious what that, that is back in the day.
Alex Stillman: Well, we, um… My husband was Ben Farrellys, and he, he had a party at the house where he invited professors. And so there was one professor that taught political science. And he was talking to me, and he said, "You know, it's time for, um, elections to happen really soon, and you should really consider running for Arcata City Council."
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: Okay. So I-
Scott Hammond: How, how old were you at the time?
Alex Stillman: Um, well, I was
Alex Stillman: 32.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: So I thought, "Okay. I'll look into it. I'll check into it and, and make a decision and see what it
Alex Stillman: entailed."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: He said, "You're right." I think it was because I'd come from San Francisco, and I was, had been, um, down there. I'd lived there for quite a while. And coming up here, probably a lot of the issues that I was talking about to him or whatever-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … were things that really needed to start happening in Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And it was also the time that we had the, um, you know, Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Those were all happening in the '70s. And Arcata was going to have a freeway that had three lanes installed with a fourth lane for expansion.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So that was, Stop at Four was about two lanes on either side.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Let's stop at four.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: There was a whole group of people in our-
Scott Hammond: Okay
Alex Stillman: … community-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … that really wanted that to happen. And they called me and asked me if I could be one of their candidates that they would promote and work for to get elected to city council. So in '72, there were 13 people running for, uh, three
Alex Stillman: seats.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: And I came in, uh, third. But it was also the first time-That the 18-year-olds ever had a, the vote.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: And I was the first woman ever to run for city council.
Scott Hammond: Wow. What year was that?
Alex Stillman: '72.
Scott Hammond: '72. Yeah. Wow. So, so the four lanes that we're talking about are the two main lanes, say, northbound and then the two emergency lanes?
Alex Stillman: No.
Scott Hammond: Or just two, two and two.
Alex Stillman: You have two lanes going north-
Scott Hammond: Both ways
Alex Stillman: … and two lanes going south.
Scott Hammond: Okay. That's helpful.
Alex Stillman: That's four.
Scott Hammond: And they wanted to do six?
Alex Stillman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: It's hard to imagine why we would ever need that, but okay.
Alex Stillman: And so since then, uh, this last year, um,
Alex Stillman: they, uh… Through the Biden administration, uh, they've been really interested in reconnecting communities because the freeways throughout the United States-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … have really bisected communities-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … and just changed lifestyles tremendously.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Alex Stillman: And it's really affected usually the mi- uh, normally always the minorities because those are the areas they would put the roadways through. S- so they, um… This last year, Caltrans, uh, awarded three grants. One went to the San Diego area.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: One went to South San Francisco.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And one went to Arcata for reconnecting Arcata-
Scott Hammond: Oh
Alex Stillman: … and reconnecting these communities. So Arcata will have a opportunity. We got funding to do this study.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so it'll be looking at how to reconnect Arc- the east side and the west side of Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And eventually, if it all works out, um,
Alex Stillman: happens-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … it could increase about five acres of land for Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: So that could be where the bus stations go.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Alex Stillman: It could be something similar to what's happening in Eureka with the Earth Center.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And, uh, probably it'll be… Who- All, all kinds of things could happen there.
Scott Hammond: So creative minds can figure out what-
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … So I saw some drawings I think in the Arcata Eye that where they, um, Arcata Mad River Union.
Alex Stillman: Yes. It's like a… It would be-
Scott Hammond: It would like-
Alex Stillman: There's a-
Scott Hammond: … cover over the highway, right?
Alex Stillman: Yes. Like, y- when you go to the Marina in San Francisco, you go-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … under some caps. I think that's what-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … they call them down there, caps. And up above that, they have, uh-
Scott Hammond: Oh, right
Alex Stillman: … walking areas, picnic areas.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: One thing and another. Um, some of them connect Crissy Field to the other side of-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … yeah. So, um, it's a similar idea.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Alex Stillman: The same thing will be happen down on Samoa Boulevard, and then there's a section that'll be looking at it out in Valley West.
Scott Hammond: Wow. Good. I love it. We got s- one of three. That's great.
Alex Stillman: Oh. Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: In the state. So I'm from San Diego. M- I, I'll, I guess I'll go look it up where they-
Alex Stillman: Okay
Scott Hammond: … where that grant was awarded. 'Cause they did the same thing with the 805 when I was a kid, probably 12, 13. They just scooped out a big chunk of this… They plowed a big thing for miles, and it was this big canyon, and then
Scott Hammond: there was eight-lane freeway.
Alex Stillman: Yeah, because what they did is they awarded the, uh, grants.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Alex Stillman: And they were in Southern California, and then they came up to the San Francisco
Alex Stillman: area.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So we were just there with the, uh, folks from South San
Alex Stillman: Francisco.
Scott Hammond: Oh, okay. So you were there when… So Wes, Wes Chesbro's talked about this a lot in, in terms of the marsh, the Re- Redwood Park, um, the freeway.
Alex Stillman: Bus system.
Scott Hammond: The bus sy- all this really cool stuff that we reap the benefit of now and don't think twice about much.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: And Humboldt State was growing, and, um… Not Humboldt State, Cal Poly. Kind of a, a running joke here that we're the correction of Cal Poly. But anyway, so, so you were there at the front, the front end of all
Scott Hammond: that.
Alex Stillman: Yeah, so as Wesley and Chesbro and Dan Hauser came
Alex Stillman: on-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … in '74.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: 1974, yes.
Scott Hammond: So you predated them.
Alex Stillman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha.
Alex Stillman: Two years. I came on two years before they did.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Hmm.
Alex Stillman: And then I became the mayor in '74, and I served as mayor for four years, and we did the general plan. We updated that.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: We fought the freeway to scale it down. Um, we definitely were going to be connected into a large treatment sewage system-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … which would have McKinleyville's, and ours would be Char- in a h-
Alex Stillman: line h- sending it all to Eureka.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Be treated in Eureka and discharged into the ocean.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: So they had HUBA, which was an organization that they were all working on trying to pull things together.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And when I became the mayor, I went to the HUBA meeting.
Alex Stillman: And, um, the engineers had done so many reports-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … and there was so much available. And so it took me two trips to get to my car with the, all the documents they gave me. And I came back in, and at that time, everyone was talking about tertiary treatment and so on.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: The, "Well, what's going on? Why aren't we thinking about alternatives like tertiary treatment," so forth. So the next thing you had, um, three professors from the university-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … came down, and they were very interested in helping us deal with this.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so that, that was how things began on that avenue.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: I was very interested in historic preservation-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and saving older buildings in Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: And, and I worked on that for a long time and was able to get an ordinance put together in the city. And, and also, if you had an older home, you, you'll see some of them have offices or medical offices
Alex Stillman: or-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … something on the ground floor, and on the top floor they have residential.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So we made all that available so we could protect our built in- historic built environment.
Scott Hammond: Love it. So you've been part of that restoration thing for a while. I know that Celebration Hall was part of that, and before it was, was it the Odd Fellows?
Alex Stillman: Odd Fellows.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: I bought that building from them and turned it into a event center.
Scott Hammond: It's beautiful, and it's still having church every Sunday.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: They tell us they love it there. It's still a beautiful building. They've done, I think, pretty decent stewardship of that place. But, so, so backing up, so all this schooling, Arizona, Bay Area, came up, married a professor. Uh, and then you're at the front end, as I'm, as I'm thinking this through, you're at the front end of all this-Um, evolution of cha- of really fun change for Arcata. A- and so a- and it's funny 'cause as I sat with Wesley, I go, "This is… I just take Redwood Park for granted." It, it wasn't always there, right? It was, it was-
Alex Stillman: Well, it was originally developed b- for the water system for Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: And you could see the, uh, troughs up there. I don't know if there are any left anymore, but-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … but definitely in the '70s you could see where the water was com- running down and would come into for, uh, for use in the city of
Alex Stillman: Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: But the Redwood Park has been drastically expanded over-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
Alex Stillman: … the years.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And also, um, the area where Health Sport is.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So in 1980, '81-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … there was a bond that was passed in order to acquire that
Alex Stillman: property.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: And that's where the community center is, the Health Sport, et cetera-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … the Phillips House Museum. Um, and that was paid off by, um, logging the park, Redwood.
Scott Hammond: I see.
Alex Stillman: And so that drove a lot of, like-
Scott Hammond: For the s-
Alex Stillman: … the forestry committee-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … sort of crazy because they, and our staff, Mark Andres, because they had to meet that criteria to pay the bond off.
Scott Hammond: Interesting.
Alex Stillman: The bond's paid off now, so that's-
Scott Hammond: Wonderful
Alex Stillman: … not an issue.
Scott Hammond: That's the softball fields and the soccer fields, the whole nine.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm. Yes.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Lived at The Colony in, during college, so-
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … yeah, know it, know it a l- well, and Steve Strombeck has kinda upgraded all that, I think.
Alex Stillman: He has.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: He's changed it from four rooms, two rooms sharing a bathroom-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … four rooms sharing a kitchen.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Now they're all individual units.
Scott Hammond: Oh, they are.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah, that was fun. Some of the roommates were not fun, but that's whole 'nother story. So, uh, back to the, back to the, the, the Marsh project. Uh, Franklin Klopp, he's city… Was he a city employee?
Alex Stillman: He was a, uh, assistant city engineer.
Scott Hammond: And he was, he was pivotal in this, right, along with the professors.
Alex Stillman: Yes, he became, um, the city engineer.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Alex Stillman: Um, our… We had a city engineer, and, you know, everybody has different thoughts about what they believe should be-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … happening. And I believe our city engineer at that time, he had been working for a long time on the project as it
Alex Stillman: was-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … and then we come in, sort of really disrupted the system.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so he retired from us-
Scott Hammond: Hmm. Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … but he went to work for an engineering firm. And Frank Klopp was elevated to, um-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … the city engineer, and then he was on board with this project.
Scott Hammond: You know, the professors, I'm trying to think of the names offhand. I should know them.
Alex Stillman: Well, you, you have, um…
Alex Stillman: Okay.
Scott Hammond: 'Cause they're all recognized, right, for the…
Scott Hammond: It's-
Alex Stillman: You have Allen. You, you can look at the Marshes.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: You have Allen, and you have Gearhart.
Scott Hammond: Gearhart.
Alex Stillman: And D- and Dan Hauser went on to Hubbard Board because it seemed like the most appropriate thing, uh, for him. He wore a suit every day.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: He was an insurance adjuster.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Alex Stillman: Um,
Alex Stillman: and you know, I just felt like he took a lot of abuse.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: And we thank him all the time- … for having to go to these meetings and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … have people all over his case.
Scott Hammond: Is Dan still in, in around Arcata?
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Still lives there? Yeah.
Alex Stillman: Yes, he still lives in the Nixon house.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, beautiful house. Now, Phillips House, back to, uh, on the hill there, did you… Were you part of that restoration of that house too?
Alex Stillman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's beautiful.
Alex Stillman: When the city was, uh, allowed us to take it over as a museum, and then we had a CETA program then early on, job training program. Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: I'm laughing 'cause I was part of CETA.
Alex Stillman: Okay, well-
Scott Hammond: I was a big part of CETA
Alex Stillman: … so you… So all these things from… The, they've changed. Everything's-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … changed, but.
Scott Hammond: I'm a product of a CE- a product of a CETA program.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, so the youth would get employed and come and work at different things. I, I loved it.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: We were part of the summer program with Pete Shepherd at, uh, Humboldt ar- uh, recreation program. And they had rec programs from all over the county that was funded in great deal by CETA kids that were camp counselors or, what do they call them? Um,
Scott Hammond: uh, peer counselors. And that was great for… You know, Manila had no recreation. Whitethorn has no rec program. You know, s- probably still doesn't, but in the day 'cause of CETA. Shout out to all you CETA guys.
Alex Stillman: I thought that was a great program. We had two contractors, and they-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … were working with the youth on that project-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … the Phillips House. You know, we made a lot of changes, and so
Alex Stillman: we had to-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … to meet some of the codes, like the stairs. We had to take out the chimney, you know-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … just different things. And so when you're doing that kind of work, you always wanna make sure that you make… It's noticeable that the-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … railings wouldn't be the typical railings.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Of course, there weren't any. But, um, so we used the craftsman, and that would never have had craftsman details on it-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … so that you know that that couldn't have been original.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: That's really important when you add an addition onto a historic house that you don't duplicate it exactly in kind.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: Sometimes you see buildings that say, um, 1872, and then above it they'll add a floor or something, and they have 1981 or something.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Alex Stillman: And it looks exactly the same, but the only way you'd know that they were different is because of the dates.
Scott Hammond: The dates around it.
Alex Stillman: That's a really big no-no.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, they don't do that. Yeah. Was there… Who was the chief contractor on that? Was there one builder that was the general?
Alex Stillman: Oh, there were, there were two fellows that were hired by CETA.
Alex Stillman: I'm sorry.
Scott Hammond: Huh. Who knows? Yeah.
Alex Stillman: I don't know their names. Mm-mm.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. So I, I liked this, this write-up. I, I f- I don't know where I found this. I found this on Google. Um, s- When you talked about Arcata, spirit of innovation, uh, working toward environmental solutions. So I, I loved… I was reading this with Joni. S- Create economic viability. We'll talk about Holly Yashi and those guys in a minute, and some of those folks who have made it well. Forward-thinking citizenry who support innovation and a university brimming with ideas and expertise they're willing to share.
Scott Hammond: Um, I think that's the hope and a prayer going forward, that Cal Poly can partner and be
Scott Hammond: amazing, um, outside of KHUM or outside of the Lumberjack football team, which are sadly all gone. But, um, my, my hope is that, that y'all, 'cause I don't, I live in McKinleyville, that, you know, they would find that, that… synergy with the university once again. And, and maybe you would tell me it's already there.
Alex Stillman: Well, t- everybody has different opinions on everything.
Scott Hammond: Sure. It's Arcata. Wait, it's America.
Alex Stillman: It's, yeah, I, I have, I have opinions, of
Alex Stillman: course.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And I feel like, uh, I feel like, uh, if we didn't have Cal Poly or if we didn't have Humboldt
Alex Stillman: State, uh, we, we wouldn't, Arcata wouldn't be what it is.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Alex Stillman: Eureka wouldn't be what it is. Our county wouldn't be what it is.
Scott Hammond: Amen.
Alex Stillman: And we have a lot of people that complain about it.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And they don't like this, and they don't like that. And I'm, and I'm thinking, well, there are many places to live.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And if you really don't like the university and it interferes with your life, you should go somewhere there isn't an, a university.
Scott Hammond: Go to, go to Coos Bay, Oregon. It's great.
Alex Stillman: There's so many places.
Scott Hammond: It's real nice up there.
Alex Stillman: And-
Scott Hammond: North Bend
Alex Stillman: … we would never have, I think a lot of people, whether they complain or don't complain, if they complain about it, they wouldn't actually even be here if it wasn't for the university.
Scott Hammond: Good point.
Alex Stillman: And they-
Scott Hammond: I, I wouldn't be
Alex Stillman: … and they love certain aspects.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so I, I think it's really, I really, uh, appreciate the fact that President Jackson made that effort to make us a Cal Poly-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … because we have all these natural resources-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Alex Stillman: … et cetera, programs.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so it's a natural that we would become one.
Scott Hammond: Was that his brainchild? Was he-
Alex Stillman: It was his idea
Scott Hammond: … was he the, the onus of that?
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: That's funny. I had-
Alex Stillman: He pushed it forward.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay.
Alex Stillman: Came up with it-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … as far as I understand.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Is he gonna teach at Cal Poly now? Did I hear that?
Alex Stillman: Yes, he wants to teach in international studies.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Alex Stillman: He has a program going on in the Philippines.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And they've been working this last year on Darwin Uni- University in
Alex Stillman: Australia.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: And he said he would like to come up with another place somewhere-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … that would be possible to have exchange students and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … students going back and forth. And I understand that Darwin is, even though it's a massive
Alex Stillman: university-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … is very similar to, uh, Humboldt in many different
Alex Stillman: ways.
Scott Hammond: Where is it in Australia? Do you know?
Alex Stillman: It's on the…
Alex Stillman: Oh, my gosh.
Scott Hammond: Like I know Australia. Hey, Nick, do you know Australia? Could you get us a map real quick? Where's Darwin, man?
Alex Stillman: It's, um, going to be, if you were to look at it this way-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … it's on that side.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Alex Stillman: It's not on the Perth side.
Scott Hammond: It's on the east, east side. Okay. Nick will find it. We, we, we'll wait on N- We'll wait on Nick for a few minutes here while we… No, I'm kidding. So y- five d- fe- five decades, you've seen Arcata, this arc
Scott Hammond: of change.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: I love that. I, I love the fact that you've experienced and been an onus in that. And so, and you're still serving on the council. Are you mayor this year?
Alex Stillman: No.
Scott Hammond: Or are you not?
Alex Stillman: No.
Scott Hammond: Do you feel like folks defer to you extra 'cause of your experience and your wisdom?
Alex Stillman: No.
Scott Hammond: No.
Alex Stillman: I mean, they, they aren't critical of me.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And I think it's, um, they're surprised at how much knowledge I have.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I don't know why that would be a surprise, but okay.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: Well, one of our, one of our council members, Sarah Schaefer, she's a history teacher.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Taught her kids, yeah.
Alex Stillman: And she just loves history.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And she, "Oh my gosh, that's what happened," or whatever.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Alex Stillman: But, you know, I only have current history-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … fr- from, you know, 1971 to now.
Scott Hammond: That's pretty big, though.
Alex Stillman: But I don't have the history before.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And a lot happened before.
Scott Hammond: Sarah, I love you, but Sarah wasn't born in '71 or maybe even '81 or '91.
Alex Stillman: Mm-mm.
Scott Hammond: So she taught her kids, so hi, Sarah.
Scott Hammond: The, um, so you bring that, that experience, so, which I think is everything. I think it's a lot to go, "Hey, here's how it worked, and here's how I see it," so good on you. What, so what else are you still involved with? So you're council- councilperson for Arcata, and you, and you're-
Alex Stillman: And what else do I do?
Scott Hammond: You're, you're up for re-election, or does that, that stop?
Alex Stillman: Yes, I am. I decided to run for re-election-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … um, uh, for additional f- four years.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Alex Stillman: So what else do I do? Well, I'm still involved with the Historical Society that runs the Phillips House Museum.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Um, I'm chair of the, uh, Humboldt County Aviation Committee.
Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.
Alex Stillman: I, um-
Scott Hammond: We were talking about the airshow a little bit.
Alex Stillman: Yeah. Well, I'm not gonna be able to tell you too much.
Alex Stillman: Cody-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … Roggens did that airshow.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Alex Stillman: And we knew about it happening, but we, he, we're gonna have a full report on it, and that's gonna be happening, uh, next Tuesday.
Scott Hammond: Sounds like, sounds like he did it kind of unilaterally and separate from the, the
Scott Hammond: committee.
Alex Stillman: Well, the committee volunteered, but we definitely weren't instrumental in developing it.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Is he on the committee?
Alex Stillman: No, he's the director of aviation.
Scott Hammond: Okay. For the county?
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm. Yes.
Scott Hammond: O- okay. Which means he runs the airport?
Alex Stillman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Gotcha.
Alex Stillman: And so also we have, um, you know, we have Justin Zabel, i- who's on our committee.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And he f- he goes to a lot of airshows, and so he's, I'm sure he was totally involved in many aspects of it.
Scott Hammond: Did you have fun at the airshow?
Alex Stillman: I, I did. I got sort of, you know,
Alex Stillman: sort of come there at 7:30 in the morning, finished at 4:00.
Scott Hammond: Oh, my gosh.
Alex Stillman: Worked at, uh, one of the gates, and that's what I d-
Scott Hammond: That's a long, long day
Alex Stillman: … that's what I did.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah.
Alex Stillman: But then they had 104 volunteers, and-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Alex Stillman: … about 10,000 people came.
Scott Hammond: We were amazed. We were watching it from our yard in Dow's Prairie and just going… And then they're blowing the ordinance off, and I'm going, "Man, that's a lot of smoke." So they, I guess they must have started a little grass fire out in the
Scott Hammond: field.
Alex Stillman: Well, they had their fire engine. It was constantly-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Alex Stillman: … being filled up, and they were constantly out there spraying-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Alex Stillman: … uh, water on it, and they had pr- that fire engine had total
Alex Stillman: priority.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And there's not a lot of, not a lot t- the tree, I, I'm sure it wasn't a huge fire danger, but it-
Alex Stillman: No, but you-
Scott Hammond: Famous last words, right?
Alex Stillman: Well, you always… Well, what was probably one of the most interesting things is here's United.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: They land, and then they come t- up-
Scott Hammond: Taxing down
Alex Stillman: … right down the runway right there into the terminal.
Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.
Alex Stillman: And it was just amazing to see. And then they took off, and they're on that main runway, and everybody has their, the tents are all facing and everyone's
Alex Stillman: facing.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Mike Wilson said he came in on a flight and everyone's waving-
Scott Hammond: Oh, I bet
Alex Stillman: … to the passengers on the plane.
Scott Hammond: Welcome home, Mike. Hey, Mike.
Alex Stillman: So I don't know if anyone knew who was on what flight, but he said it was quite something. And that's what I was thinking, individuals landing and taking off, it had to be an experience.
Scott Hammond: What's going on at the airport? Yeah. It's a w- it's a welcoming committee. Who was on this plane with me?
Alex Stillman: Well, also, that section of the airport you can't go on to under normal circumstances-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … ever.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: It's off limits. And so it was fun to be able to actually see that much of the airport land-
Scott Hammond: I bet. Oh, yeah
Alex Stillman: … even though it's off limits.
Scott Hammond: We could see a lot of it from our home, so it was fun to watch that. We just put out lawn chairs and, and had a great time. So what other committees do you serve on besides your, uh-
Alex Stillman: Hmm, I'm on, uh, American Association of University Women. I do programs with Connie Stewart.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Um, I'm a docent at the Friends of the Arcata Marsh.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Alex Stillman: And I- I'm chair of the Fire Arts Center.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Um-
Scott Hammond: Where's that? Is that on South G Street?
Alex Stillman: That's South G Street.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: It's, uh… S- we started that about 25 years ago-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … for clay and glass.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so a lot of these things have been going on for a long time.
Alex Stillman: So-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … I was very fortunate to be able to be in the beginning of many things.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And to stay, you know, s- I guess you'd say stick with them and support them-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … see them grow-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … become economic engines for our community.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: And that's one of the things we did in the 70, we, 70s. We also, um, developed Alder Grove Industrial Park.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: So you were gonna ask about some of the businesses.
Scott Hammond: Innovation, yeah.
Alex Stillman: And we did that because industrial parks, there weren't any.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: And we had businesses that were looking to establish themselves and to grow.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And we have a couple of lots out there that are for sale-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … if anyone is interested, and we would love to sell them.
Scott Hammond: Sure. How many acres was that when it started?
Alex Stillman: Oh, boy, you're asking me. My son always says to me, "I don't know how you make things work-"
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … "because you're, you're, you can't ask you numbers like that."
Scott Hammond: Yeah. You could-
Alex Stillman: How big is this?
Scott Hammond: You can just make it up. It's 150-
Alex Stillman: How tall is that? What is-
Scott Hammond: It's 150 acres, Scott. It's huge.
Alex Stillman: I don't know for sure.
Scott Hammond: No, but a lot of, lot of amazing people have c- come from and are still there. Casa Linda and, and DanCo's still out
Scott Hammond: there. And, um, who's the Lacey's guy, the, the dessert guy?
Scott Hammond: He's-
Alex Stillman: Yes, Amern, Amern, Amern.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: He's there, and he's really built quite a big space.
Scott Hammond: They're huge, yeah.
Alex Stillman: And, um, well, we have some people that are out there that don't have signs-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … so you wouldn't even know they were there.
Scott Hammond: Koketot's still out there, right?
Alex Stillman: Yes, they are.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: And Bubbles was out there, you see manufacturing, but they sold-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … and they aren't there anymore.
Alex Stillman: Um-
Scott Hammond: Did Victoria retire? Did she sell it?
Alex Stillman: Yes, she sold it.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. She's amazing. Hi, Victoria. So yeah, all the history with these people, 'cause I used, I used to sell advertising, so in Arcata was-
Alex Stillman: Like you know them all
Scott Hammond: … Arcata was my beat for 20 years plus, and,
Scott Hammond: um, I'd get that look. You know, you go, "Oh, you sell in Arcata?" And I'd get the
Scott Hammond: Arcata dim, dim eye, and I'd go, "It's great, man. I love Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Everybody… And I'm loved in Arcata." "I feel great going to Arcata. Is that a problem for you, Eureka?" Or whoever I was talking to, and they'd go, "No." So I, I loved it. I, I, I own that, that ground and, and those relationships. And, you know, I think of, uh, Jafra at the Camel. Jafa at the Camel.
Alex Stillman: Yeah, I was the mem- I was the owner of the Camel too.
Scott Hammond: Oh, really? Okay.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: And then Anne Russell that owned the Rocking Horse, and gosh, Keith Newcomer at, uh, Arcata Exchange.
Alex Stillman: And Christine Long, they both owned that together.
Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah. Wonder how she's doing. I haven't seen her.
Alex Stillman: She's fine.
Scott Hammond: Is she around somewhere?
Alex Stillman: She lives down in the Bay Area.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah, that's going back. Yeah, so all those people that were part of retail and early Los Bagels, and Dennis and Peter and their crew, and,
Scott Hammond: you know.
Alex Stillman: And a lot of them became property owners.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Bought, they bought their buildings and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … rent them out now and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … maintain them and take care of them. And I think it's really important when you own property to make sure you take good care of it, because it makes a big difference about how your town looks.
Alex Stillman: And-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … you, we know that if somebody decides to paint their house in a neighborhood, the next thing is someone else may spiff it up, or if you do some lawn-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … gardening and change your lawn around or add trees or flowers-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … then other people decide, "Oh, maybe I should do that too."
Scott Hammond: Let's go back to Food Works just real quick.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: So tell me more, um-
Alex Stillman: That's, that's out there
Scott Hammond: … tell me more about h- who else is still there. I know part of that's become ca- a cannabis zone too, right, to the north?
Alex Stillman: Yeah. Well, there was this effort when cannabis was becoming really popular, well, when it was becoming popular from a-
Scott Hammond: Economically popular
Alex Stillman: … popular from a different point of view than being grown and being
Alex Stillman: popular-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … at that time. Um, so they made that into a cannabis zone.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: It also created some issues.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: So some people that were businesses out there couldn't afford what was now going to be considered the new rent, f- and so they moved to McKinleyville.
Scott Hammond: Interesting.
Alex Stillman: So you ha- you had the Awning people, North Coast Awning.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: They're in McKinleyville.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: But they used to be at the Alder Grove Industrial Park.
Scott Hammond: Right, for a long time.
Alex Stillman: Fire and Light was out there for a very long time.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: The cannabis zone didn't affect them, but the, um, the, I think it was, uh, 2008 when we had the recession.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: That really affected their business.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. They were a real big deal-
Alex Stillman: They were
Scott Hammond: … for years, right?
Alex Stillman: And that was started by a collective, uh-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … individuals.
Scott Hammond: Were they over in the building that's by, um, Celebration Hall there, by
Scott Hammond: Arcata High?
Alex Stillman: No, that's George Bouquet.
Scott Hammond: That was something else, okay.
Alex Stillman: And he has Mad River Class.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Different.
Alex Stillman: But what he, he did was he started making plates and bowls.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And when I had Celebration Hall one time, he came up with a wheelbarrow full of that because they were doing a arts kind of sale.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And he brought that up'cause he decided he didn't wanna be in that kind
Alex Stillman: of business-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … 'cause he likes art glass. And he's, he's, right now he's in the Arcata Artisans.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Alex Stillman: So if you wanna see what he's been doing-
Scott Hammond: Okay
Alex Stillman: … or the smaller pieces that he does.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so you, um, he began that whole process.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. So I started thinking of the long list of innovative success business stories of, of Yakima Racks, and I lived with Steve and Janet Cole-
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … for a year during college when he would do 27-hour days, six days a week, and he was, you know, just, he and Don Benducci were building that. Think of Marimba One now, which Steve is part of still.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: I think of, uh, of course Halayashi, and I'm… And you must have some stories about all these guys, but, um, you know, and now Brio. Th- you, you… Who has better bread than Brio?
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm. And Brio location was a muffler shop. That was the first-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … ribbon I cut-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … in Arcata.
Scott Hammond: I remember that.
Alex Stillman: So you have a really good memory about all the businesses 'cause you were in sales.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: You were s- for advertising.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Therefore, you knew what was going on in a lot of the businesses and what happened to them and what was going on in this building and when that business
Alex Stillman: changed.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: So you have a lot of history in that whole area.
Scott Hammond: Some of it.
Alex Stillman: It'd be maybe really interesting v- sometime to be able to write that up, uh, over the changes you've seen in the various buildings.
Scott Hammond: Well, and I, you know, b- physical buildings and, and locations and people, but Arcata Main Street, which is on my list to talk to you about, you were part of getting Arcata Main Street up and running, right?
Alex Stillman: Well, I was part of actually bringing Main Street to California.
Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.
Alex Stillman: I had gone to a meeting-
Scott Hammond: So, so yes.
Alex Stillman: I'd gone to a meeting in Oregon, and on economic restructuring.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And it really sort of fascinated me. I had been at a historic preservation conference on building trades in Washington.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Alex Stillman: And then I heard about the Main Street program. I heard about, um, the economic restructuring that was gonna be, be holding a m- meeting, and that was in the Oregon area in Portland.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: So I, I went to that. And then, um, uh, later I went to one other meeting, and, um, there was one fellow there, and he was worked for the
Alex Stillman: city, um, in Southern California.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And his council was really close to Deukmejian, who was the governor at the time.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Alex Stillman: And so I was connected to Dan Hauser 'cause he was our assemblyman.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And we, we just decided this is a good program.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So if we could figure out what to do, we would make it happen.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So he was from the city of Vista. So I was able to get the legislation-
Scott Hammond: It was Vista. I remember
Alex Stillman: … written.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And he… And we went to so many meetings in Sacramento and did so much lobbying, and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and I really lobbied around the Historic Preservation California Preservation Foundation.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Um, there was the Business Improvement District. There were all these different organizations, and they were really worried that Main Street would take business away, some of them, would take business away
Alex Stillman: from them-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … instead of giving them more business as c- as consultants in-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … downtown revitalization.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: So we, it was one of the, um… Well, I was also one day, you know, I had a list of who supported it and who
Alex Stillman: didn't.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so I was o- offered an office where I could just make phone
Alex Stillman: calls.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: And having the name Alex, people always assumed I was calling for Alex, who was a man.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so I was able to always get through pretty fast.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: But when I was talking to city managers in various parts of California, they were pretty devastated about what malls had done to their downtowns.
Scott Hammond: Sure. Oh, yeah.
Alex Stillman: And they just had left them where dogs could sleep there all day, and maybe a car would come by, and maybe it wouldn't or whatever and, and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … just devastated their communities. So they were very, very anxious to find something that would actually-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … help re-stimulate their downtowns. At the time, it was the bill that had the most support of any bill in California.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: And so the, uh… There was a… And at that time we also had an office of, uh, hmm, trade and commerce.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And we don't anymore, but… And so it was pushed, put under them-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … uh, the California Main Street program.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Later it went under the Office of Historic Preservation when they removed that division-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … from the state. But it's, uh, still an effective program. It's run completely differently now. It's as a large nonprofit and-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … but it really meets the four points, and the four points were you have to bring promotions back to get-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … people to come.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Alex Stillman: You have to look at your economic restructure. What's your infrastructure? What are people doing? Are… How are they investing in your community?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Your design. What are you doing about design, and what are you doing about bringing back your historic-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … buildings and fixing them up?
Alex Stillman: And, um, organization, how can you organize your community? So those are the four basics-
Scott Hammond: I love it
Alex Stillman: … that they have for, for a Main Street program to make it work. It was started by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and they had many cities that were, uh, pretty devastated by the
Alex Stillman: malls.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so they hired… They came up with four cities, and they hired four executive directors.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And they were all in touch with each other as they were trying to implement this program and see-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … how it would work.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Alex Stillman: And that was how it was originally established.
Scott Hammond: What were the four? Do, do you, do you recall?
Alex Stillman: The cities?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: Um-
Scott Hammond: Was Vista one of those?
Alex Stillman: Oh, no, not California.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: It was all in the-
Scott Hammond: These are national
Alex Stillman: … it was in the East.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: The Southeast, East. It was all back East.
Scott Hammond: So these are bigger towns that were-
Alex Stillman: Well, I don't know how big they were, but they were towns that were definitely
Alex Stillman: affected.
Scott Hammond: That are mall affected.
Alex Stillman: And in those days, you know, just the fax machine hit. It was just coming in around.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So you can imagine the telephone and the fax.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, and the malls.
Alex Stillman: And so you didn't have a lot… Your communication-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … was a little different.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: But, um, they, the National Main Street program-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … found that it made a difference.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so they have a division on Main Street.
Scott Hammond: And I believe that Eureka Main Street has done a great job because the Bayshore Mall really devastated that for a minute-
Alex Stillman: Terribly
Scott Hammond: … long minute
Alex Stillman: And, and that was one of the things Arcata was really worried about-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … how that would affect us, too.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: Because you draw with major stores, and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … if you… One day I was coming down from, I was coming back onto Broadway, and I go, "Oh, there must be a terrible accident." 'Cause the traffic was stopped in this lane, and, and there was cones and… Well, it was the line of people going to Kentucky Fried
Alex Stillman: Chicken.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: So whenever we have something new-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … people just glom onto it. And with Kmart, which is not there anymore, but, you know.
Scott Hammond: Right. That was a big deal.
Alex Stillman: Um, when that happened, they ran buses to the Kmart-
Alex Stillman: … from different parts of Eureka so people could actually go there, 'cause the parking lot couldn't handle the cars.
Scott Hammond: That's so funny.
Alex Stillman: So we have anything new-
Scott Hammond: It's a big deal
Alex Stillman: … it, it really is.
Scott Hammond: In-N-Out Burger was big for a month.
Alex Stillman: And so I think-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … the Bayshore Mall was very exciting for people because-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … it sort of gave them an opportunity that they didn't have up here. 'Cause as they always talk about, we're behind the Redwood Curtain-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … and therefore, if, unless you're out of here, you go and check things-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … and go to Redding and Santa Rosa-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … wherever you might go, or visit family someplace else, you don't see that.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: So, um-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, it's funny. We got real excited about a Kmart. Woo. I mean, it was a whole thing.
Alex Stillman: It was very exciting.
Scott Hammond: You know? And the mall was big. And it's funny how things cycle, 'cause now the mall is the broken mall of broken tiles and empty buildings and, and it's just quite… I actually haven't been in in a couple years. I imagine it's-
Alex Stillman: Well, DMV is there, so obviously you have been.
Scott Hammond: I have been in, yeah. I have been in, 'cause it's quite near.
Alex Stillman: I was gonna say, you haven't renewed your driver's license.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, that, that's the exception, and it's much more efficient. But going back real quick, Vista, California, amazing downtown still. San Luis Obispo, oh my God.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Really? That's a cool downtown for a Cal-
Alex Stillman: And they're at Cal Poly.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, and they're at Cal Poly. Uh, Arcata, Eureka. So I was r- early adopter and in support of Arcata Main Street and had no idea that you are part of the history of the whole shooting match. That's cool.
Alex Stillman: You know, he, he and I, we're the mother and the father. We used to laugh. We're the mother and father of Main Street in California
Alex Stillman: because-
Scott Hammond: I love that
Alex Stillman: … we're the two that really worked hard on, on it.
Scott Hammond: I love it. And it's still, uh, very much in effect, right? I mean, Eureka's got a-
Alex Stillman: Well, in Arcata we don't ha- have it-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … because there was such a… I- in Eureka, they had the Business Improvement District.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so they were able to use that as their funding mechanism-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … because it's in concentric circles.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And, uh, Arcata didn't have any kind of business improvement district.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So we had the Chamber of Commerce, and then we had Arcata Main Street.
Alex Stillman: And-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … so you have everyone paying dues, and it, it got so confusing.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: Well, I'm part of the chamber. I'm downtown. And-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Alex Stillman: … why, what do I do with this and that?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So it became difficult. So for a number of years, I thought, "We should really think about how to consolidate-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … the two."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And it took the right mix of people, um, at the Chamber of Commerce to allow that to happen.
Scott Hammond: Mm. We have that now.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: So it's n- we don't have Arcata Main Street anymore.
Scott Hammond: We've, we've… I shouldn't say we've. I guess I'd say we've at a, at a bigger picture.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: We've had a great chamber for years in Arcata, and yeah, I think there's a lot of good chambers actually in the county for the… I'd list, give shout-outs everywhere, but,
Scott Hammond: um, yeah. I, I think Arcata Main Street made a big difference. And you're right, there is a whole history that I would have to talk about at some
Scott Hammond: point.
Alex Stillman: Yes, you do.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I, and, and some personalities that are just magical and fun. And, um, so there's Holly Oshie, and then there's the Yakama stories, and then the Brio and some of the folks that are over in the Creamery District-
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … right?
Alex Stillman: Well, there's all of that. I just remember, I heard that there was this, uh, organization in downtown Arcata. So when I thought we should create a really strong downtown because organization, because that's one of the things when you applied for Main Street
Alex Stillman: funding or-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … to become a Main Street city, you had to have an organization in
Alex Stillman: place.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So I called a couple of people that I knew that they, they said, "We aren't an organization. We're just friends that work in the downtown. We have stores."
Scott Hammond: Most of them.
Alex Stillman: "So we do President's Day, we do Valentine's-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and so forth." I made them really nervous-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … but I c- I was able to get them to start coming to. We started meeting-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … um, every Wednesday at 1:00 at lunch-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and we grew and grew until we had maybe 30 people coming, and we met for 10 years, and that was our-
Scott Hammond: I remember
Alex Stillman: … beginning for everything.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And, um, that's how we solved many, many problems and figured out what was going on. Everyone knew each other because of that.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: And that's how we came up with the Oyster Festival.
Scott Hammond: Nice. And that's-
Alex Stillman: That was a brainstorm
Scott Hammond: … spawned that. Yeah.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: I remember. So was that at Golden Harvest Cafe where it-
Alex Stillman: Yes
Scott Hammond: … used to meet there? Yeah.
Alex Stillman: Because they were fantastic there. Y- everyone would get… You could order-
Scott Hammond: Oh
Alex Stillman: … whatever you wanted. You got your individual bill.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: You didn't have to figure it out, and she'd just come, "Oh, do you want what you had last week?"
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: You know, she'd just go. And we did it at 1:00 'cause noon-
Scott Hammond: It's so funny. That waitress was amazing.
Alex Stillman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: I forget her name. She was, she was magical. She'd been there 20 years.
Alex Stillman: She was-
Scott Hammond: And she knew everybody.
Alex Stillman: She was fantastic, and she remembered all your orders.
Scott Hammond: She was great. Lesson Diane Christian. Oh my gosh, what a great
Alex Stillman: And they had their store there, too.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, and she had her little store up front. And I remember it w- the f- one of the, some of the first
Scott Hammond: s- uh, first issues were homelessness 'cause it was a, it was becoming a thing. After Jerry Garcia died and Arcata started to see the fruit of homelessness for, i- in, in, in spades. I mean, there was people showing up. Um, and it, merchants were concerned for good reason, and I remember some of that was the dialogue, too, but I digress.
Alex Stillman: Well, you know, they would have… I had a tenant. He worked all summer long for, in, for Jerry
Alex Stillman: Garcia.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: He was gone all summer. And then the bus, you know, rainbow bus would show up, and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … it was just, you know, it was an era, a period.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Well, hey, the part of the show, and we're almost done here-Where I ring the bell and, and it's kind of the pop quiz, so there's no wrong answers. This is about you and what you would like to do with your perfect Humboldt or Arcata day if you want. Um, and it, it's probably harder to go, "Hey, can you pick a restaurant? Can you pick a coffee shop?" Because w- 'cause you're, you're on the council and you, you have some neutrality, but we'll take a shot. So where are you, um… What do you do with your day off if you had a full day to do whatever and we gave
Scott Hammond: you, you gave you the day off?
Alex Stillman: I don't know if I'd think about it as a day off.
Alex Stillman: What-
Scott Hammond: What would you do with an afternoon that was yours, that was, I don't know, therapeutic and refreshing?
Alex Stillman: Hmm. Well, maybe I would get a massage.
Scott Hammond: There you go. In Arcata.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: My masseuse is in Arcata. She's amazing. Over by the co-op. Um, okay. How about another one? Uh, where do you go for coffee when you're in Arcata?
Alex Stillman: I don't drink coffee, so I only drink… I grew up only on iced tea, so hot tea was-
Scott Hammond: So hot tea
Alex Stillman: … sort of an unusual thing for me when I was-
Scott Hammond: Who's got tea? Where you, w- where would you drink tea? Who's got good tea?
Alex Stillman: Well, usually I go meet people at Brio.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Good place to meet.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Delicious food. And their coffee-
Alex Stillman: I have no idea
Scott Hammond: You don't, have no idea.
Alex Stillman: None whatsoever.
Scott Hammond: My father-in-law used to go, I'd go to Starbucks and be drinking. He'd have a Coke, and he, I'd be drinking a Starbucks. He goes, "How do you put that in your body?" And I go, "It's because it's delicious," and, and now, and now I have no use for Starbucks whatsoever. Um, what, what trails do you like to walk? Do you, are you a trail walker?
Scott Hammond: Do you-
Alex Stillman: The marsh.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Nice. It's always nice down there.
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Even when it's, it's windy, it's fun.
Scott Hammond: And what, I guess, what do you see as the future for Arcata? Five, 10, 20-year plan, what do you, what do you see? What do you wanna see?
Alex Stillman: Well, I always thought about when I was on the council about, about my grandchildren.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Now I have them, they're in their 20s, the ones that live here.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And, um, I, I think, um, I look at Arcata, uh, I think it's gonna be such an exciting place. I, I'm really happy that the gateway has been approved.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: It's g- no one, you know, people are like, "Oh my gosh, it's gonna happen." And I say, "Yes, yes, go to Target, spend an hour there, and when you come back, it'll be built."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Because that's the anxiety it created.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: But it takes a long time. The ma- minimum that you c- can probably get into a building project-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … maybe have it finished, is four years.
Scott Hammond: Descr- describe the gateway program.
Scott Hammond: Or-
Alex Stillman: Well, the gateway is just a, it's a land use code-
Scott Hammond: Okay
Alex Stillman: … over an area that's considered, um, very close to the downtown-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … within walking distance of the plaza.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Alex Stillman: So it's Samoa Boulevard, and it goes down, uh, K
Alex Stillman: Street.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And you, it's on both sides, the Creamery District.
Scott Hammond: How far up toward Humboldt does it go? Does it go up the hill?
Alex Stillman: It's not up that way.
Scott Hammond: Is it bordered up there?
Alex Stillman: It ends around, uh, it ends around, um, mm, 14th, 15th, 16th-
Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah
Alex Stillman: … down there.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: But it goes, you know, it has,
Alex Stillman: um, higher buildings-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … the further out, gets ne- lower and lower.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: But basically, um, four-story buildings is something that a lot of people can build because if you're under a certain
Alex Stillman: height-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … if you stay under 60 feet-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … then you don't have to have an additional elevator placed inside of the
Alex Stillman: building-
Scott Hammond: Oh
Alex Stillman: … for construction-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Alex Stillman: … because you're, and, uh, because you're 58-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … whatever it is. So all the OSHA doesn't come in that requires that.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Alex Stillman: So I feel like we're gonna have a lot of four-story buildings.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Alex Stillman: And we probably will for a long time.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: One of the more exciting things for me is mass timber and how that can affect, uh, our building, buildings.
Alex Stillman: And our-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … building, um, official was showing, he had just come back from a conference, and he was showing how you could take a four-story building, and you actually could have five floors in there-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Alex Stillman: … because of mass timber.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And mass timber, um, if you use that and where fires start at the edges, they don't start in the middle of a-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … a wood floor or whatever it might be.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So if you have your tight edges, and then with all the building codes that we have today that are so stringent-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and every two years, they redo the building codes-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and so they become a little more stringent.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Um, I think, um, we're gonna be fine.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: There's a lot of concern about the new dorms that Cal Poly is building-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and the heights of them. And I think it's really interesting how they've been building them, for one thing, um, in whole com- p- lete pieces, which have all the windows in them when they attach it to the
Alex Stillman: outside-
Scott Hammond: Right
Alex Stillman: … of the structure.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: Um-
Scott Hammond: I watch it go up every night when I drive home.
Alex Stillman: Oh.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: You would. It's really… I like it.
Scott Hammond: And there's two of them, right?
Alex Stillman: Yes, there's two of them. And then there's a lower one, well, a much smaller one, one story, which will be, like, the cafe, the-
Scott Hammond: Right. I noticed they left trees in, in line on the highway-
Alex Stillman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … to kind of just mitigate.
Alex Stillman: And there's gonna be a lot more landscaping on site.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: It just takes a while-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … to plant your trees and to have them grow and… S- so, um, I just, that's my feeling is that we'll have four-story buildings just because of, uh-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … the parameters and… If you drive down to San Francisco-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … you can see the, how many three and four-story buildings are-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … being built just off the freeway.
Scott Hammond: I think here's what I like about you, amongst many things, but can I pay you a compliment? For, may I pay you a compliment?
Alex Stillman: Yes, you may.
Scott Hammond: So for five decades, you've sat and listened to people
Scott Hammond: debate whatever the issue is, the high-rises, the high-rise dorms. Gotta be a lot of naysayers, right? And then the fire concerns and all that. But to patiently walk through that with people and go, "All right, so we, we have consensus," or, "Maybe we don't, but we're gonna move forward," or, "We're gonna pull it off, uh, pull it off the docket," whatever it is. But just to go through that process with, with those, um, who might just be obstructionist at heart and, and-
Alex Stillman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … not have a, a long-term vision, and to be able to differ with people and go-Hey, here's the pro- here's, here's the process, here's the law, here's what people wanna do.
Scott Hammond: Um, and to walk through that, I, I, I think it's extraordinary. It would r- just require amounts of patience I don't have e- even as a father of nine. And I've seen it, I've seen it all and, and, you know. So take that. I, I appreciate that about you.
Alex Stillman: Well, thank you. I, there's, uh, one of the drawbacks or unfortunate thing with the city council when the, uh, Crossland Mall was being discussed and, was that the city
Alex Stillman: council kept ch- well, they went through so many meetings with the planning
Alex Stillman: commission-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and the city council, and the developer just finally walked away.
Alex Stillman: And, um, eventually contacted the university and said, "You want the plans?" Whatever he did, he worked it out. I don't know what he did.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: But I feel like it was a loss for the city of Arcata.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: Because that would have allowed us to have property tax.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: And any sales tax that happened there. And we would, all the building fees and so forth.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: So we, we have that-
Scott Hammond: You forfeit
Alex Stillman: … it's gone.
Scott Hammond: And it's gonna happen regardless.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And, and I just think, what are people thinking in the long run of their community? If it's going to happen, why not ta- make it beneficial for you? Instead of, but there was nothing I could do. I tried really difficu- you know, to convince people.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: The council, please, please vote for this.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Because it's affected us economically, and we're-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
Alex Stillman: … we just have to deal with it.
Scott Hammond: Wouldn't it be great to have s- several million more dollars to create something
Scott Hammond: really cool-
Alex Stillman: Wouldn't it?
Scott Hammond: … to counter that. Yeah. Would, wouldn't hurt.
Alex Stillman: Instead of struggling-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah
Alex Stillman: … to m- make all the things meet, and then you have Amazon and you have this and you have that, and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … so we're, we're affected in many ways, and we live off sales
Alex Stillman: tax, and-
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … and so it's very difficult-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … I think, and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, I love the fact that you're in the, in the midst of that and that voice. I, I, we watch it all the time on, on Access TV and Eureka,
Scott Hammond: Arcata,
Scott Hammond: Rio Dell-
Alex Stillman: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … um, Trinidad, and the city c- and the people that get up and, and speak their piece and, and some- sometimes it's, um… I couldn't do it. Could you do it, Nick? Uh, Nick could do it. Okay. So hey, Nick Flores for, uh-
Alex Stillman: That's good
Scott Hammond: … city council in Eureka. Um, so last question, big question. What do you, what do you wanna leave behind? What's your legacy? What's your tombstone? However you wanna frame that, what, what do you wanna be remembered for, Alix Stillman?
Alex Stillman: As being a forward thinker.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Alex Stillman: And, um, not getting bogged down.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And a so- uh, and looking for solutions to make things work.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: Um, that's sort of what I, in preserving our built environment and making Arcata cohesive-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and a place that you really wanna be. And working well with the university because they are-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … our biggest asset that we have in Arcata-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and, and I would say in the county. And I think we have many, many opportunities, and all along we've had opportunities, and I felt like that starting out in the '70s and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Alex Stillman: … that's why I come back on the council periodically-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … because I can see things are going off the rails, and I think, well, we sh- we don't have to do that.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: We can work together, and we can create something that's really good for our
Alex Stillman: community.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: And that's why I come back. And so I'm really into housing. I know we don't have enough housing. 2008 really killed the housing market nationwide.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And that's why we have a homeless population like we do.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And with more housing coming along, whatever it might be, it's going to alleviate other kinds of housing, and eventually you'll have more housing available for all.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: But it's a hard, hard struggle.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Alex Stillman: And there's been many different ways it has been handled, and I think, um, there's worries and worries because homelessness in San Francisco is
Alex Stillman: enormous.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And you have climates that can handle homelessness better than you can, and where it's like North Dakota, South Dakota, where it's-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … freezing cold.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And so we have that. And we know that, too, that a lot of people have behavioral health issues.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: We don't have the behavioral health that needs to meet. And when Reagan was governor, and he got rid of our, um, institutions that we had for people-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … that could actually go and live there, that were, needed assistance in one way or another-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … and be stabilized. And so starting with that, when that happened, we all of a sudden saw this-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … incredible, um, issue with people becoming
Alex Stillman: homeless-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Alex Stillman: … and not in good shape. And so anytime you go down the street, you know, you see people here and there in Eureka, and you can see if we can only maybe, uh, house them, work
Alex Stillman: with them, see what they have going on. Is there some way to make it, their lives better-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … that they could become citizens instead of being-
Scott Hammond: Amen
Alex Stillman: … off.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: So I, I feel like there's a lots of work to do. I like to work.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Nice.
Alex Stillman: I like to get, accomplish things. I, I feel like I work hard no matter what I'm involved in. And sometimes I think I'm not devoting as, enough time to certain things that I should be doing.
Scott Hammond: We all feel that way. I love that about you, though. My dad said there's always work for a worker, so.
Alex Stillman: There always is.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And there's so ma- we're in an era right now that people don't volunteer as much as they used to.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: But I also think in order to live in our society now and with our housing prices-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … it takes two people to work in the family-
Scott Hammond: Crazy. Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … in order to, uh, support the household.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Alex Stillman: That wasn't true a long time ago.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: But with 2008, that
Alex Stillman: became true.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And you see that everywhere, and it's really unfortunate.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: And I hope that we can change that and so that
Alex Stillman: we can-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Alex Stillman: … have life as a little bit easier for people.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And we can all of a sudden get back into more volunteerism because we actually have the time to do it.
Scott Hammond: Hmm. And that's where you come in. Well, that's where we all come in. Thanks for being here. Appreciate you.
Alex Stillman: Oh, thank you very much for asking me to be with you.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. You know, I wanna do a shout-out to everything that's around Arcata, 'cause I think it helps and makes us one. I mean, the Blue Lake and the trail, Annie Mary Trail, it'll go there. The, the trail into Eureka, the connection to McKinleyville and Trinidad. It's like, it's all… I, I, I know that's not Arcata, but it's certainly part of-
Alex Stillman: No, it's the, that's the Great American tr- Redwood Trail.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Alex Stillman: That's gonna all, go all the way down-
Scott Hammond: It's gonna be great
Alex Stillman: … south. And so the furthest is Blue Lake, and so we've got a section of it done. The county's working on their section. Eureka has their section. They hope the next goes to CR.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Alex Stillman: And so we're working on the connection now of trying to connect Arcata to the Blue Lake portion.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Alex Stillman: So there's a lot going on in that area right now.
Scott Hammond: Love that, yeah. Western Road.
Alex Stillman: That you don't hear about or see because-
Scott Hammond: Oh
Alex Stillman: … because it's all in the development days.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. We can't wait, the whole trail thing.
Alex Stillman: So staff is very busy-
Scott Hammond: Yay
Alex Stillman: … getting things accomplished.
Scott Hammond: Go staff on the trails. All right. Alix Stillman, thanks for being here.
Alex Stillman: Thank you.
Scott Hammond: All right. Have a great day.
Alex Stillman: Thank you.