Live from the top of Humboldt Hill.

This is headline Humboldt.

I'm James Falk.

Thanks for joining us.

There's only a few days like today in American history where society instantly shifts in a massive and tectonic way when you know that in that very precise moment, things are never going to be the same and no one knows for sure how it's all going to settle out.

So, yes, I felt a little sick to my stomach today.

As the father of two girls, I felt like they had been betrayed.

Later, riveted to national news feeds, I heard over and over how the US Supreme Court had disposed of a half century's worth of precedent and decided to repeal Roe versus Wade, thus destroying a rite women had long held.

It will now be up to individual states whether abortion services within their borders will be accessible or become a crime punishable by years in prison.

Even though we had warning that this decision was in the offing through the leaked draft opinion from Justice Sam Alito.

That foreknowledge did very little to mute the outrage coming from women all over this country.

The other side, meanwhile, celebrated their decades of perseverance and their almost single minded desire to make abortion illegal.

Despite the majority's opposition, they say the arc of the moral universe is long and bends toward justice.

Given the backsliding and political dithering we've seen so much of in recent years, one has to ask justice for whom and how bent is this arc?

Any straight line bent too far will send us all wandering aimlessly around and ever tightening circles.

How do we change that dynamic?

Our guest tonight may have some ideas.

After a long period of wondering, we can now pretty safely say that our next fourth district supervisor will be Natalie Arroyo, a fierce and proud advocate of strengthening women's rights and someone who will certainly have something to say about where we go from here.

She represents a fresh infusion of diversity and a long, staid board of supervisors.

And we'll hear about her future plans and concerns as she prepares to take over her seat on the board.

Now, just to be clear and make sure that we see why, A, as they say, it hasn't been certified yet, right?

Correct.

We're about a week out from that.

And but the way the vote totals have been moving, every time that they've done a count, your lead has increased.

And it would be almost numerically impossible at this point for you to lose to go below 50% and then require the runoff.

Exactly.

I'm sitting just below 54%.

And I've had to remind a lot of voters that in the primary for the supervisor elections, if you get 50% plus one, that means it doesn't go to a runoff in November.

So I'd be looking at not going to the general election and just taking office in January of 2023.

So you'd actually have six months to prepare yourself for.

Exactly.

Do some studying?

Exactly.

Yeah.

I plan to do a lot of listening sessions with community members.

I really want to do my due diligence and really research, you know, what people want to see.

I've talked to a lot of folks at their doors and really spoken with a lot of community members about their concerns.

But I want to do more of that now that it's clear, you know, what the path forward will be.

Yeah.

Before we get into some of the more general subjects, I mean, I did mention the Roe v Wade decision and there was a protest, which we have footage of that's probably still going on right now at the county courthouse.

Hundreds of hundreds of people are down there very loud and boisterously, you know, expressing their opinions.

Do you have any reaction to the fact that this long established precedent has been overruled?

Yeah.

I woke up this morning to the to the news and was pretty devastated.

I mean, I knew it was coming or expected that it was coming, but it was a devastating decision.

And, you know, thinking about living in California, we expect that these rights will be sustained in our state.

But I've lived in Louisiana and Florida.

And, you know, I really think that it's unlikely to be upheld.

The right, you know, rights to abortion are already very restricted and will likely become more restricted in many states.

So it's it's really important, I think, for people to get as politically active as possible if this is an important issue for them and to not take lightly the the progress that California plans to make.

I know that, you know, we're looking at potentially changes to the state constitution to codify the right to abortion.

Had the amendment.

Yeah.

Do you think I mean, does this represent to you a larger sign of kind of where our country is headed?

And if so, what can we do as private individuals to kind of head that off if we don't like where we see things going in terms of this kind of reactionary, you know, move?

Absolutely.

So I see this really representing a pretty big shift that I think will have other impacts down the line, perhaps impacts on marriage rights and other privacy impacts, health care impacts for people throughout the nation.

So I think what what I see it doing and what really struck me today as I was reflecting on it was it's it really feels like it's deepening the divides between states and making us more of a patchwork and less of a unified nation where we we protect, you know, common.

Rates throughout the throughout the United States.

And, you know, as a member as a member of the the federal government in some ways and having a federal capacity as well, it's really through the Coast Guard.

I really think about, you know, what that means to me.

Like, what does it mean to to sign up to to serve in domestic service?

You know, to me, it's about protecting the rights that we all have as community members, as well as the specific mission of the Coast Guard.

But but it's broader than that.

It's about defending what we have as a nation, you know, together.

So I think I think that that's been what struck me the most.

You know, I've already been through the kind of arc of of anger and frustration and concern about the rights to reproductive health and, you know, in hearing the leak.

But today, I was struck by that feeling of of grief for our nation.

Yeah.

You know, for the first time, my daughters, you know, woke up this morning with less rights than their mother had had through her through her life.

And they're her grandmother for the past 40 years or their grandmother.

What can we say to young girls now about what the how the country views them in the face of this who've.

That's a tough one.

I mean, I will say, as someone in my mid-to-late late thirties now, I, I can say that to the women and girls of our community and communities.

Beyond that, you know, I will do everything in my power to stick up for you.

And I think that there are many people many, many, many people like me.

So, you know, there are many of us who will get into office and fight for policies that are equitable and really look at equity issues, broadly speaking, in local government and state government and, you know, the federal government.

So there are many of us who are on their side and who will look out for them and get them the access to care that they may need and the access to resources that they may need.

Excellent.

Excellent.

Sorry to throw that heavy stuff in.

Yeah, it's a huge issue.

It is.

Absolutely so.

But your election is sort of been that kind of, you know, an advent of of fresh air and change and diversity on the board of supervisors, given that it holds.

But basically, you know, you're a woman of color and you're coming under the board of supervisors.

That's been white.

As far as I know, forever, or at least close.

And so how does it feel to break through that barrier, for one thing?

And then how do you feel like your perspective will help the county do its work better?

Sure.

So as far as I'm aware, I'm the first Latina to be elected to the Board of Supervisors.

And again, that big caveat of, you know, the election results haven't been certified, but I'm probably elected.

I'm looking like it's going that way.

And so I think that's really important.

You know, I have had for example, I teach at Cal Poly Humboldt.

I just teach one class typically as a lecturer there.

But I have students every semester who sign up for my class who say that they specifically selected me, not because I thought they thought I would give them any special preference, but just because they felt comfortable having a Latina person teach them.

And they they felt a kinship and they felt more welcome and they were excited for that.

So a lot of students of color will specifically point that out.

And I've also had folks say that about me serving in the city council, that it really means something to them and makes them feel like that door is open for them too.

So in the future, I hope that that, you know, will help people feel that they too could run for office or seek senior leadership positions and that they have a lot to offer.

And then I think it gives me just a little extra insight into what policies are crafted and how they include everybody in this community.

And I've spent a lot of my work in the nonprofit sector here in Humboldt over the last 16 plus years, really thinking about equity issues as well .

So I bring that to the table.

Absolutely.

It's interesting.

I mean, we've had a burgeoning Hispanic community.

And I think that one of the ways that our community has failed is, I think building bridges and outreach to those communities to help, to sort of draw them in more into the processes of government and also in the media .

And I think that anything we can do to further that goal is worthwhile.

I've tried on the show to have guests who can, you know, speak to that perspect So I have a list of several issues I want to talk to you about, sort of that are I kind of view as the, you know, the big kahuna of Humboldt County problems or whatever?

One of those is addiction, high rates of addiction and how that ties into Aces.

What are your thoughts on where the county is at now?

Do you think that there's more that the county could do sort of generally or off the top of your head that you'd like to see tried?

Or do you think that with under the leadership of first five Humboldt and Marion Hanson, the county is kind of doing what it can at this point.

I think there's always room to improve the access to resources for youth, to try to mitigate for adverse childhood experiences.

We know that that has a really significant impact on people's mental health, on behavioral health, and ultimately on addiction and substance use disorders.

So, you know, I think it's important to keep in perspective that when we talk about substance use, we're talking about health care, we're talking about a medical issue.

And we do have some treatment programs that provide, you know, medication based treatment.

It doesn't have to be exclusively abstinence based.

And that's important to acknowledge that there are other treatment options to help people who are ready for another alternative to to move towards that.

So continuing to partner with organizations that offer medication based treatment, I think is key and continuing to partner with as many community based groups.

I mean, I think we need to really first five is wonderful.

And there's also, you know, programs that are more culturally responsive and important for folks who are people of color, for native community members, for our black and Latinx community members.

So I think, you know, thinking about how to support youth in a culturally responsive way is really key and continuing to build those partnerships.

And thankfully, we're really rich with people who want to do good and with organizations that are community benefit organizations here in Humboldt.

So I bring a lot of experience with that in the nonprofit sector here.

And I, you know, I've always thought about trying to kind of bridge boundaries and silo kind of our responses to different issues, whether it's environmental or social issues.

So I think those are some you know, I know those are pretty words.

And then actually, you know, the reality of that is it's really hard because people have their work that they need to do.

And anything beyond that is, you know, it's a stretch.

Absolutely.

But I think setting that intention is important.

Yeah, absolutely.

And you mentioned, you know, the last discussion we had on the show.

We talked about how this is a rich community for nonprofits and they cover the gamut.

And so if the government can tap into those resources, I think that absolutely would be huge.

On the addiction front now, you were with the city when the whole situation went down with the.

Right.

How do you feel about how that ended up?

Did you feel like the county or the city handled that properly?

And do you think that the county should be more proactive in forming that kind of a relationship with harm reduction groups or for what?

So the county offers their own harm reduction services through public health.

And so there's always the need and the request to expand those services.

So to the extent possible, I think we should as a county, expand the hours and the availability of those services for folks.

When it comes to Hatcher, though, there's where I mean, it continues to be challenging.

As far as the community response.

Yeah.

And I think they continue to have needs as an organization to meet their harm reduction goals.

And so nobody's getting what they want right now.

Yeah.

And I will say that, you know, the city doesn't license or control the program.

We simply they they operate in city limits.

And so we've had to kind of go through the process of creating sideboards around that.

And frankly, you know, the current iteration of that program isn't what I would have selected, but it's what we're working with now.

And so while, you know, while it's been a really controversial issue, I will say that I do believe that having access to harm reduction resources does minimize the spread of disease, and that's really important to me.

So continuing the services that the county provides and expanding those I think is is probably one of the best avenues because the county would have more control and be more able to respond to public concerns and needs.

Yeah, really thoughtful answer.

And as a recovering addict, the harm reduction absolutely does save lives and keeps people feeling like they're human beings because people care about them.

And I think that that's part of the most important strategy that should be pursued and the Hatcher situation.

To me, it seems like they caught a lot of negative attention from the community and maybe blame for some things that they were responsible for.

I'm not saying that they were blameless, but in a way thoughtful answer is thank you for that.

One of the issues that you raised in the campaign was housing stock.

And I've covered this issue.

Through four years through the housing update.

You know, housing element updates and everything else in.

But it's always it's a perennial challenge of how you provide the appropriate number of units per economic group, especially for low and moderate income.

Did you come to any sort of conclusions during the campaign about how you'd like to see that move forward or what you could do the county could do to sort of improve that situation?

I mean, the county is on the track of wanting to develop more housing.

There are a few developments already proposed.

And, you know, I think we have planning documents that really lay out the need for more.

I think we're just catching up to this problem where we I don't think government was assertive enough in the identifying the land use and zoning kind of processes to move forward with housing and and incentivizing the development of housing.

And so we've seen skyrocketing costs of materials, a reduction in the construction sector, contracting firms and labor pool.

And meanwhile, you know, the there was a little bit of a slow response policy wise.

So now we're in the place where we really need the political will to move forward with the plans we have.

So there aren't really specific locations for developments that I have in mind, but I want to work with my colleagues and staff right away to work on pushing the envelope with housing a little bit.

We've done that in the city of Eureka and I think we'll start seeing the results in the next couple of years.

We're already seeing the development where Myrtle and Seventh meet the Dan Co-led Development and city property.

That's going to be quite a lot of units of senior, low income, senior housing.

So that's much needed in our community.

So projects like that I think are a win win and I look forward to pushing them forward.

Rents, prices are through the roof.

I mean, how much control or how much, you know, help can the county be in terms of mitigating those costs?

Is there anything to be done?

I mean, more supply, right?

But I mean, that's long term.

Yeah.

So I mean, there's certainly the possibility of rent control and I think that's an issue I need to explore more to understand, you know, what, what's in the county's purview and what would have to go to voters.

But it's certainly something we can explore as a county.

I think increasing supply is the biggest thing that we need to be doing, and I think government needs to take a hand like some of those projects need to be led by government and not just incentivizing private business to do, you know, housing development, because right now, private contractors just can't make ends meet and with the kind of housing that we need.

Yeah, absolutely.

So now you're leaving the city council after a very storied and successful term.

Two terms, actually.

What do you feel like was your proudest accomplishment during the eight years that you served there?

And is there anything that you can bring over as sort of your passion to see the board?

Yeah.

Well, I. I think there's a few proudest accomplishments.

I do have a hard time picking one, so I hope that's okay for you.

Okay.

So, you know, our general plan and zoning code were are in the slightly boring but very important category of documents that I think are really going to shape the way that Eureka looks in the coming years and the way that District four looks in the coming years.

And by that token, and I think as the county see it, we're really in the position to lead the way on, you know, forward looking development patterns.

And that's what I think we'll see in Eureka.

And I'm really proud of that happening, having happened on my watch.

When you say forward looking development plans, what do you mean?

I mean development that is more modern, somewhat denser, infill development, really multi-functional, smart planning, sort of like, yeah.

Okay.

Bringing together places where people need to to shop and live and into a relatively, you know, walkable footprint.

Yeah.

Those kinds of development patterns are, I think, you know, how Eureka, an old town and downtown in particular, which are like the jewel of what people describe.

You know, this is like what Eureka is and people think about old town.

You know, of course there's more to Eureka, but they really think of that as like the heart of the town.

And that's very densely developed and, you know, looks much more urban.

And I think people like that and respond to it.

So I think we'll see more patterns like that spanning the rest of the town.

We have 90 seconds left.

So if you go, sir, you're proud of sir?

I'm absolutely proud of the return of two.

The two that we had Tribe and then the Eureka Chinatown project that we've been working on with the Asian Pacific Islander community .

And it's not just Chinatown, it's we expanded to include more involvement with the Asian Pacific Islander folks and the Humboldt County, you know.

Often occurs to me, we have a minute left that this company has one of the biggest native populations in the state of California.

And it seems like it's a path not taken, really.

I mean, we talk about our partnerships with the tribes in terms of the Klamath River and dam removal and other stuff, but it seems rather unexplored.

Yeah, there's a lot of relationships to build there and I think projects to work on together.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, I appreciate you joining us this evening and congratulations on your apparent victory.

We'll find out.

But I'm pretty sure you're going to win.

So you heard that from me.

Thank you very much for having me.

Yeah, no problem.

Thank you.

We'll be right back after this short break.

There's a whole life out there just waiting for you.

I think I don't actually give my therapist enough credit.

I know now that medication is necessary.

You think you can love it out of him?

That will fix it.

No, it doesn't.

People do overcome having a mental illness.

I am bipolar.

This is okay.

I'm just me.

I started having some thoughts around the end of third grade.

At that age, how are you ever going to admit I can't see past tomorrow?

It feels like you want to cry, but there's nothing there.

We all have stuff.

We all have struggles.

People do overcome having a mental illness.

You're never alone.

And you're going to get through this.

That show looks amazing.

Anyway, the news world exploded today just moments after the US Supreme Court announced its decision to overturn Roe versus Wade this morning.

People pointed fingers in every direction, outraged that something that had once seemed so impossible had actually come to pass.

North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman summed up the mood by saying it was a sad day, but one that might finally spur the kind of political action necessary to make real and lasting change.

So several dozen of my colleagues and I just marched to the Supreme Court to express our outrage over this decision.

We knew it was coming, but the reality of this and all of the implications for women.

Or where we're going as a country really are sinking in.

So people are struggling today.

It's sad.

It's outrageous.

It's going to be tragic for millions of women in this country.

And I hope today is a call to action.

Nancy Northup, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which argued the pro-choice case in front of the Supreme Court said that this day would long stain America's reputation in the world, as so many democracies are expanding their rights and protecting liberty.

America appears to be backsliding, she said.

Roe versus Wade.

It's clear.

And the brief that were filed before the court, including by leading economists across the nation, changed the arc of women's lives for the better, reducing maternal mortality and increasing educational and job opportunities.

This decision is affront to the rule of law.

Its impact is going to reverberate beyond abortion no matter what the majority tried to say about that, putting at risk constitutional protections for the use of contraception, intimate sexual relationships, and the right to marry, and other intensely personal decisions that people expect to be able to make for themselves under our Constitution and in a free society.

And with today's decision, about half the states in the United States are likely to completely ban or severely curtail access to abortion.

The center has been tracking what if Roe fell since 2004.

13 states have already passed trigger laws that purport and are designed to spring into effect within days or weeks of a case being overturned or being overturned in the Supreme Court.

It's going to leave vast swaths of the South and the Midwest forcing without protection for abortion and forcing people to drive thousands of miles if they have the means to do so.

Not all will have the means to do so.

And it is not hyperbolic to say that they will be severely harmed.

And we know that those who will be most harmed are those who have the biggest challenges to access accessing health care to begin with.

We know that half the people who seek abortions are living in poverty, and today's decision will fall hardest on them and others who already face economic and systemic barriers to health care, including communities of color, young people, LGBTQ plus communities, immigrants and those in rural areas.

And I want to underscore, because the Center for Reproductive Rights works around the world, and we have seen change and liberalization of abortion laws in recent years in places where it was thought impossible.

And this elimination of abortion rights by the Supreme Court in the U.S. Constitution makes the United States an outlier against this global trend.

More than 60 countries have liberalized their abortion laws in the last 30 years, since the court decided the Planned Parenthood versus Casey decision and the very few countries where we're seeing retrogression are those where democratic institutions have eroded.

And it is shameful that the United States is joining that company.

A crowd gathered outside the Humboldt County Courthouse Friday evening tonight to protest the decision and vent the overwhelming frustration felt by so many.

Key contributor Brian Hudson was on the scene and captured the following footage as scores of women and their allies protested the ruling.

The images hearken back to the Women's March of 2017, when hundreds and hundreds of local women took to the streets to protest the defeat of Hillary Clinton and the election of Donald Trump.

Many of those folks back in 2017 warned that Trump's presidency would lead to a restriction of women's rights.

While we took those warnings seriously, it nonetheless still comes as an unnerving shock today to actually see a constitutional rights stripped away, given the reasoning used by the conservative majority.

Many now fear that such logic could lead to further truncation of rights surrounding same sex marriage and even birth control.

Yes, birth control.

Is this the America we've all come to love?

Or is it just the America we've come to deserve?

That's all the time for this evening.

I'd like to refer all of you to our podcast, Crossing the Bar.

It's on every podcast service I think that you can come up with, whether it's chatterbox and juice box and the idiot box, you know, all the all the ones, so you can look it up.

Crossing the bar.

We've got two episodes up and a new one coming soon.

So Jerry Rody and myself, we we get at it.

So thanks for joining us.

Stay tuned.

Stay informed.