Arcata Free Energy Company?

By Dex Anderson

What I'm for.

No secret government. All negotiations and planning must be done in the open. If we are told we "have to" because of some "law" or protocol, then we should petition them to change their laws and work around them peacefully. Even for lawsuits, there is something wrong, something we are hiding from THE GOVERNED if we aren't in the OPEN. This is a Constitutional prerequisite. [Art. 4, Sec. 4: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence."] When State or Federal or any nefarious "law" tells us what we "have to do" we must question the very basic correctness of such, and do what we can to right and/or change what is blocking our Constitutional Rights to not be interfered with as long as we are protecting the equal rights of individuals, and the basic form of the balance of powers of the CONSTITUTIONAL federalist system of organic common law.

Let's face it, the rules we are saddled with are way beyond their bounds, and transgress on the concept of sovereignty so important to the universal harmonic concepts of Constitutional Law. {Missing 13th Amendment: http://www.frii.com/~gosplow/13th.html. The Bill of Rights are to be defended, by all peaceable means.

Freedom from Monopolies. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson proposed an Amendment explicitly prohibiting monopolies? Why don't you know? http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch14s46.html Jefferson wrote to Madison, "...which calls for a bill of rights. It seems pretty generally understood that this should go to Juries, Habeas corpus, Standing armies, Printing, Religion and Monopolies."

Well, it is implicit in the 1st Amendment. Extortive power of any supply/demand imbalance erodes the equal and inalienable rights of those with less "choices". An ideal government would ensure the capitalization of competition against the relative few on the short side of the market "balance". Unfortunately we have been saddled with an unConstitutional "Federal Reserve" which a corrupt judiciary has overlooked. http://www.tax-freedom.com/mindex.htm

We should have competitive banking with capital available for those who intend to produce, but we don't. We have Monopoly. At this point, particularly at the City level, we can choose to empower competition to the short side of market supply in a few important areas, UNTIL the private sector gets adequate competition, at which time the Government should "get out of the business". It may sometimes be appropriate for a City to own a business, run by democratic principles, with individual equal rights guaranteed. For instance, a Free Arcata Energy Company. http://www.frank.germano.com/nikolatesla.htm

Being that there is strong energy to curtail monopolies' exploitation of the many, Arcata had come up with Measure F several years ago, which sort of went by the wayside, watered down to prohibitions against chain restaurants, while there are many locally owned restaurant business who do already compete. But Media? Etc.?

We do not have adequate competition to "mainstream media" (monopoly media corporately connected with other big business, often with blatantly interlocking ownership). http://www.cjr.org/owners/

In the past few years we have had a relatively independent Arcata Cable Access Television (ACAT) station brought under greater control of parties who are apparently not tolerant or presenting competitive viewpoints outside of the "mainstream", who do not allow the full use of the television creative resource, for whatever reasons. I do not believe there is a lacking of local video-audio producers who can express beautifully through the time slots that are now filled with "community calendar" type "filler" material. Why is this resource not exploited to the max? And because of our being inundated with international corporate media, it wouldn't hurt to use "non-local" material to provide for the information base of local citizens.

Governing One's Own Time. By the way, Council should not choose for future Councils who is to be running Arcata Public Education Government (APEG, now) access t.v., for us all in a time period beyond Council's own. Even the 3 present Councilpersons, who will be in office the next 2 years for the remainder of their 4 year terms, can change their minds with further information and public persuasions. This "governing one's own time" is an integral part of The Principle of Self-Government. I am reminded that 3 of the Councilpersons who approved the "interim contract" that runs through 2003 would still form a majority of City Council...but we all know how some politicians turn like a leaf blowing in the wind {smile}, and it is still a matter of Principle.

We need diverse culture, art, and music, sports, happy poetry, but we severely need "alternative" information that is not available in network media, the newspaper chains, nor National Public Radio/KHSU. Sherman Skolnick writes, "...Note that the great grandson of old John D. Rockefeller, founder of the infamous bloody Standard Oil Trust, namely John D. Rockefeller 4th, has been U.S. Senator from West Virginia. Senator Rockefeller's wife, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, plays a key role with NPR, which we call National Petroleum Radio and PBS Network. Once Arkansas Governor was William Rockefeller Clinton [elsewhere we explain why we use that as his middle name]. See our website series, "Wal-Mart and The Red Chinese Secret Police". ..." http://skolnicksreport.com/ootar7.html

Yeah, some label this "conspiracy theory", and I too am discerning and skeptical of what I believe in the course of my own studies, but you know what?: If you haven't studied something don't judge it! And certainly, you have no right to censor it from others' purview. Study it FIRST, study it again, and put the puzzle pieces back together in the ways YOU think make sense to your education and thinking abilities, and Lighted Intuition. Not what you are TOLD it is. In other words, we, the people have the right and the need to this suppressed information; whether you believe it or not is essentially irrelevant to the concepts of American freedom, in my humble opinion. I submit that it is a citizen's duty to expand one's awareness to encompass what's outside the box, as well as our more conventional "education". And it is our responsibility to assure that our minds are not monopolized with what the "elites" of High Finance demand, or by the mimickry of "mainstream media" on the local level, and I mean this generically.

We must stand up to the Federal Communications Commission's corrupt intrusion against Free Speech in Arcata and all places. The only true cause of an F.C.C. is to assure that frequencies are distributed or shared so that the many can produce broadcasts without interfering with one another, and so that none have to be subjected to what one doesn't choose to be "programmed" with! But the F.C.C. is a de facto tool of the Monopolies, and here again, alternative viewpoints, other than disinformation versions which defame the original presenters, are censored. This is relevant to suppressed science, history, and current events. This Speech is being quashed by the Monopolies' public "regulatory" agencies. Sounds like "self-regulating" by their control of the public sector too. For no good reason.

But how would you know if you don't have the other sides or if you don't even question that there is a monopoly interest in the "news" as presented on their networks and chain newspapers? Don't be a stupid bigot, STUDY it, THEN JUDGE for yourself; critique it all, and always update your opinions and beliefs. Wisdom has the humility to accept being in error without throwing out the whole ball of wax in ego humiliation.

Arcata, or even one loud-mouthed media exposed Councilperson can make a big difference in the absurdity of the F.C.C. coming into our area and shutting down micro-power radio stations that start to present what the "elites" don't want us to hear, as was my experience when election season started 2 years ago, and certain City Council persons were being criticized on a local "pirate radio" station, and the F.C.C. "happened" to show up. I personally witnessed Councilman Ornelas come to the radio station to complain at the end of the first show. Perhaps it was just a routine check, but the F.C.C. doesn't seem to be all that concerned with "pornography" as it does with what actually causes political change. We can light the fires of public opinion, network with other communities, especially from the advantage of being in City Government, and cause the agencies of monopoly to back off or make their ridiculous control issue more blatant. Without violence. http://www.rense.com

Bicycle Rights: "...deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. ..." [excerpt of 14th Amendment] When there are obstructions in the paths of cars our taxes clean it up, faster than glass is cleared from bicycle ways. We are reminded that we bicyclists are required to obey the traffic laws just as cars do, but we are not "equally protected". Abeit there are some squirrelly things about the way the 14th Amendment was written and applied, the CONCEPT is clear: We are to be treated as equals. Purely, it we should be PRIORILY protected by law because we are less harmful, take up less space and natural resources, pollute less, and are more vulnerable to injury by cars.

Paradoxically, in Arcata, a Green Party stronghold, broken glass is left for too long. It should be a priority of City works to clean it up in the spirit of "equal protection of the laws". The cops should observe and report, and cleanup crews dispatched quickly. This brings up the idea of the taxes that go to CalTrans being kept here for more local street improvements, since we are subsidizing larger cities' transportation maintenance. We have the power to network with other cities to change these State and Federal problems. It is but the critical mass of public awareness that causes these entities to change their tune. Don't underestimate our power in this regard.

By the way, I am not a registered member of the Green Party (or any party), but I challenge anyone to show that I am not as "Green" or more so. I know that our recycling can be made more comprehensive and convenient; it is stagnant now! And I still think about the equity of all those nickels I pay. I have a feeling we are paying more than costs and reasonable profit for a fair market, and this should be studied by Councilpersons. Not contracted out. Studied by we, your elected servants.

Others have pointed out fraud in the local recycling business, based on City finances, but their knowledge has been put down by ad homynym tactics rather than addressing their allegations reasonably and with proved auditing outside the good ol boy network. This can save us more $$$ $$$. I will use my own legal counsels and not rely on the city attorneys and city managers to tell me what to do. I will listen to, and question, mind you, these people. But I expect there are lawyers and others who would joyfully serve through such public service, for much less money.

I don't like the Metropolitan form of Government that the State has socked us under, which takes power away from citizen participation and gives it to a more corrupted network of city bureaucrats who get along well with other city bureaucrats in diverse places, without the public Light. I want more of a Charter City type Town Hall form with citizens able to address the council and get feedback, wherupon the citizen can re-address what the politican hands down as the final word. Are you, the reader, aware of the connections of these "experts" who are making big bucks off of us, and THEIR common interests? It is one thing having persons who are practiced at city management, but it is another to have them running us and snowballing us under their corruption. The more you get into City government the more evident this will become. But for the general public, their niceness covers over the criminality that has been swept by the wayside in past years. Some time we should go into the history of this quaint little town and the larger connections of the past and present players. We can network with other locales who also object to the nefarious connections and fraud that their "expertise" and "experience" covers, and the excretious politicians who rubber-stamp them with their finger to the wind of public relations, sometimes with that unseen palm that is taking away more than it is handing out, like that Statue of McKinley in the Plaza.

Street signs: That inform drivers when there is a 2-way stop, and which way the cross traffic is running. A sign could read: "2-way cross traffic does not stop", or "1-way cross traffic does not stop", with arrows indicating the direction of that cross travel. This differentiates from a 4 way stop intersection. This would prevent accidents. Especially for out-of-town drivers in a hurry or even locals having a bad-hair day, late to that pressing appointment.

Restrooms: We can divert some of our money from the good ol boy and bad investments network to build several places around our fair city for people to go to the bathroom without making it the center of their attention. Council should meet in public with people who can build automated cleaning facilities, hopefully locals. This automation washes the whole restroom and disinfects it, which minimizes maintenance. Then there is no excuse for the excrement of p'd off people, but then there are less $$$ tickets for City and "other" revenues. At any rate, there is something wrong when restrooms are closed because of vandalism. What are our cops doing? Perhaps helping to fuel the problem by going after "victimless crimes", while the messy bullies make it their art to evade being caught?

Homeless: The problem with Homeless Rights is that we would have to put a population cap on our fair city, and in my brainstorming I haven't got a solution yet. Remember that I am idealistic and humane and believe in equal rights for all, including those who don't "demand" housing and need less hours of a job in order to survive. Remember that some of these people are the types that are misfits because of their intelligence, soul, creativity, and yes, because they do not want to feed into an overloaded supply of would-be tenants or would-be low wage workers. some would rather spend their time doing what they think the universe needs, rather than providing more "supply" for an over-saturated market.

How do we honor these people? Not by treating them the same as the low-lifes who piss in your business doorways and leave their filth in our natural spaces. But, on the other side of it, where DO they go? And why would they feel cooperative when we are persecuting them no matter how respectful they are? How do you expect them to react to being terrorized not only by "your" police, but also by punks whom the police don't protect them from? What an opportunity for psychopaths to express... full circle! Do you see the class-warfare game?: abuse begets anger which some act on, and that triggers more abuse by those acted upon, while the ones who want to be abusive and angry anyway, of all "classes", just go their merry way making more sick and fighting people. Cynics call this "business as usual" http://www.psychassault.org/war_against_mind2.html, http://land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/brainwsh.shtml

We honor all of us by equally protecting all from "harassment" and imposition on private, including personal, property. That means your right to have your business clear and it means my right to not have someone "in my face", of whatever strata of society. That is why we need to articulate the laws to make these laws ACCURATE to Cause of Harm. Why do the laws in nearly every city you go to... allow harassment as long as there is no witnessed "physical contact"? Some more of those multi-city bureaucrat experts who like to meet with each other and decide FOR us? Why are property owners penalized by so many city governments for not painting over "their" graffiti right away, with the city coming in and doing it for them and charging them. As if the property owner victimized by graffiti is the criminal who de facto deserves his due process rights ripped off? And this just "happens" to encourage the power-trip ego who gets off on making the property owner his/her inferior in crime. Don't the City Attorneys know how to advise their bosses how to write laws, or is there a Constitutional problem here? I can write, and it is this articulation that's important, not the rules of grammar, which the attorneys know how to expand well. I intend to study the City Codes and bring changes to Council. For instance, it is not "alcohol" that causes messes and obnoxiousness, in every particularity, it is the behavior of some individuals who often BEHAVE badly with alcohol. Or without.

Remember, we guarantee the rights of individuals, with the presumption of innocence in America? Or we SHOULD. Not all drinkers get anti-social while under the moderate influence. If the cops need to patrol somewhere, they need to attend the crimes that ACTUALLY IMPOSE upon others' rights to peace and freedom. Not "associated activity". Part of the punishment phase of individuals caught in destructive behavior may very well accurately be their particular prohibition, both from the "influence" and from the area which they behave destructively in. But it is not protecting individual rights in equality of law to generalize such to all, or to special classes of people. How about worrying less about those pipes and nickle and dime bags of pot with a NO-FOCUS policy directive to our police public servants.

Free our cops up to protect the bathrooms from vandalism. Unless it is in their face or somebody elses! We can lawfully not get in one anothers' ways by civil parameters of harmonic interaction in a community that claims it loves diversity. And respects personal space. And we get around draconian "laws" thrust upon us by the hypocritical Pharmaceutical-Oil elites, by such NO-FOCUS policies. If I were a cop I would find much joy in going after crooks hurting other people, including those so stoned/drunk that it is a burden on others to take care of their childishness. Our morale would be better, and we would attract less power-tripping bully types into our employment opportunities. Wouldn't it be nice to see a real friend on patrol, coming by fairly often, who isn't paranoid of that small object near you, and would rather make it his/her cause to see that you are not put upon by jerks? Shouldn't the cops be focused on somebody brandishing a weapon instead? And checking to see that you are depositing your beer bottle in a recycling bin and not just smashing it in the street in angry rebellion, because you can't be seen with it while you're WALKING?

Remember Bicycle Rights? Ah, psychopolitics. We write the laws so that the punishment for leaving messes and being loud nuisances is stiff. Such as banning from using these areas that are sacred to us. So that the "homeless" individual who cleans up and leaves no trash, who leaves the place that he slept upon pristine, is protected by the cops. So that people sleeping in their cars and having the extra cash to fuel other than the landlord economy are protected, as long as they are clean and don't monopolize an area in front of a business or residence. So that the children of we the people can walk and live in peace and the beauty of respect for all living things! Some people look at what is, and some politicians see how class-warfare can empower their careers. But some of us visualize what SHOULD BE. http://land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/13th-amend.shtml

Affordable Housing: We can "afford" whatever the plantation owners demand, right? How about Fair Housing?: What percentage of our wealth would it take to own one'sland, with the house, if we all had equal bidding power against one another? if the supplies and demands were equal, or at least not so unreasonably unfair?! As it is, public relations benefits and contractors get public monies, but most of the poor are still out of the market. I object to this welfare to such as DanCo by the taxes of those who still do not benefit. And a tax by any other name is still a tax. If you are doing the work and getting a lower wage than your manager (who is working in another way, but not a necessarily more productive or superior one), the difference between your wage and his is, in fact, a de facto tax without representation. It is unConstitutional, unless your supply and demand were really in balance, which they aren't. The Planning Commission wisely rejected the proposal (Aug.13) but do we see these ideas? If a Co-op cashier can't afford it, it ain't affordable, though it may be fair for that professor who you want to attract to your University, get it? And that manager or hierarch who also works at the Co-op.

I will do without the "progressive liberalism", thank you. All the nice, artsy sugar (or is it aspartame?) does not make the deal digestable, much less fair, in fact, it burns my brain. http://www.dorway.com/

OXYGENATION: and ozonation are the way to kill bacteria/viri/fungi/mycoplasma. Why doesn't the University teach about oxygenation technology, for treating sewage and reclaiming tainted marshland, and killing disease microbes in our bodies? Investigate the killing of supposedly incurable diseases http://clean-flo.com/restoration/rivers.htm, http://www.ozone.co.uk/Ozonation_systems/ozonation_systems_for_the_treatm.htm, http://www.spinalrehab.com.au/disorders/AIDS.htm, http://jnaudin.free.fr/

"Free Energy" and "anti-gravity": the Biefield-Brown effect is a gravitational, not an electrostatic, pull towards the positive charged side of a strong voltage, HIGHLY RESISTED dielectric, away from the negative charged side. Check what's left of Borderland Sciences http://www.borderlands.com. They had an office across the alley from the now-burned down N.E.C. and Marino's Bar, and I spent hours watching videos and reading, while doing vounteer work there. I came upon their office by serendipity, not knowing it was in Arcata, after reading their journals elsewhere. This is suppressed science, the kind that would make public school daringly interesting. http://www.keelynet.com/mainnew.htm

And check out http://www.syzygyjob.net on Earthquake Prediction Science, where I post in free form, in the moment. Read Jim Berkland's stories about predicting the Santa Cruz Quake of '89 based on animal behavior and the alignment of the Sun, Earth, Moon. He nearly got fired from his job as County Geologist for "successfully predicting quakes on county time", etc. Have you heard of Jack Coles? He has documented high percentage predictions, especially for the S.F. Bay Area. He says he has been receiving precursor signals since Feb.11, which he calls, "initial". I would like to see THIS on Arcata public access t.v.!

Back to OXYGENATION: Why doesn't the University teach about oxygenation? Chloroform bacteria are stimulated by chlorination. C'mon, my Green brothers and sisters, more study is in order. Business As Usual for the making of disease of the Petrochemical/Pharmaceuticals? Have you studied how the Red Cross caused HIV/AIDS to be spread in the blood supplies because that great charity wouldn't oxygenate the blood? http://www.rense.com/general28/ddosb.htm

The American Red Double Cross, by Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz. http://www.educate-yourself.org/forbiddencures.html

FORBIDDEN CURES. Read Trevor James Constable's weather engineering projects. I saw his videos in the Borderlands office; too bad the N.E.C. and the Klamath Farmers haven't...YET! And why hasn't the American Cancer Society found a cure for cancer yet? They're great at fund-raising, and all that publicity, but where does the money go? Check out "Royal Raymond Rife" and his suppressed frequency cures. It works like the opera singer on a bad glass of wine, on virus and the symbiotes thereof.

One City Councilman can cause these industries to occur here by advising his/her constituents of these hidden sciences, and bringing inventors here to hold public forums. I WILL exploit media to let the cat out of the bag, and then there is enough "public" to set the ball rolling. If you're skeptical, then study this, and give me reason instead of prejudice!

Fluoridation: http://www.nofluoride.com/santa_cruz_wins.htm, http://www.fluoridation.com Do we really want fluoridation, or are we victims of propaganda of the medical establishment that profits by disease, not to mention certain aluminum mining companies who can dump their waste fluorides, for profit, such as who is involved in CalPers (the largest pension fund in the world), and the Bush S&L scams. Remember the Railroad Grants and the Rockefeller monopoly trusts? What's next after Enron, Dyncorp, Carlyle (which Calpers allegedly has 10% interest in)? Who will defend us from the looting of your homes when the guys collapse their own front companies/banks? Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat her. Do you expect F.E.M.A. to protect you? City managers are de facto liasions with F.E.M.A., by the way. Good luck, citizens.

The last kind of person the Monopolies want in public service such as this is someone who is a Constitutionalist free enterpriser and who is proud of what Earth First! is doing in peaceful active ways. There are many other areas who are also interested in this grass-roots effort and we will network internationally. http://www.jailhurwitz.com/

Town Hall Council Meetings: We should allow a few exchanges with the haunchos setting up there in their high chairs (The Council), perhaps 3-5 exchanges, so that a citizen needn't sit down with a Councilperson having the last word, which is often b.s. I envision a mayor who calls on citizens in the audience, who have their hands raised, who can speak to the previous speakers, and/or raise another issue, whether Councilperson or fellow Citizen. I visualize this near the beginning of Council meetings. Not only is this more interesting, more fun, we also will learn much!

I'd continue the Meeting to the next or another evening, perhaps several evenings. I think it would be better to adjourn at, say, 10pm. We can digest what went down, and it won't be so dreary and tiring. We will be more refreshed for those later agenda items that we need to be focused about. My headache won't be so bad {smiles}. It is better to practice a few hours more often than all the hours at once, as some students know! http://quanthomme.free.fr/MG_PalmaKawai1.htm

Mars In No-nay: As I write this there are NO places to go dance and have beer/wine in Arcata, which is a young student community, by the way. Does this stimulate frustration, thus disease and fighting energy? Added to it are the cops ever on the lookout for pedestrians toting a beer, and their paranoia that someone with pot may escape the legal tentacles of a several cop-car bust, including all that paperwork and interpersonal love of cop and citizen.

The Chief of Police and the City Manager have allegedly made statements that crowds in front of a now closed-down Plaza dancing venue have caused fights and traffic blockages. Now, my thinking is that people tend to feel happier and more sociable when their natural juices get to express, and there IS an afterglow, in spite of drinking some beer. But if the protocol is to CAUSE disease and fighting and 3-beer hangovers then our City Parents should do everything they can to make sure we either go to the bars or stay in our apartments, etc.

Since it is practically illegal to be outside in the parks, especially after dusk curfew, we are corraled into T.V. and isolated feelings inside of our rentals and the sportsbars, augmented by home video war games, whew! Thinking about "affordable RENT". I know the landlords don't like their status quo cut back, but I don't thinks rents are truly FAIR either. You want to just get your degrees and get the hell out of Dodge, fine, but that doesn't leave a very good attitude for the place you lived in, nor does it make Arcata a better place than it was before you came!

Since the City Parents, like the Chief of Police and the City Manager seem to associate YOU having a freer night life with increased alcohol-related crimes, I'd say we should get used to anesthetizing our angst "at home", preferably with that T.V./War Games programming. (Just a bit of sarcasm here, I don't really mean that!) Really, I think THEIR policies CAUSE more crime, disease, fighting energy.

But that is good for their business, and their war hysteria, and we can all pray for more cops to augment whatever they are doing with their attention, as the City Parents claim there is a cop shortage too. I wonder why? Seems like the circle of psychopolitics to me! They sure aren't watching what my bankers are doing with my money, on the bankers' own computers. http://www.proparanoid.com/truth.htm

http://www.votescam.com How your votes are altered on controlled election computer systems! A must read; this really brought in the troll calls on pirate radio! I'll have more to say about this sticky wicket!

Finally, a short Prose-Poem:

For all our State taxes, with Federal entanglements, and corporate communist controlling interests over curricula

While they mouth "democracy"

It smells like de-mock-er-ee

Why can't the Big U come through with computer labs for All the People

We were told that professionals get more money in "the free market" because they are helping the peasantry gain better lives improving society with science leadership medicine law and keeping the bad teachers out of the free market place of free choice!

But the gap between credentialled professional salaries and the lower class working peons gets larger, even as the pros' gain less real wealth Plus State taxes.

If you really wanted an educated "democracy", an informed electorate, competitive independent research to challenge your doctrines and dogmas of state enforced belief systems while we tout separation of church and state(?!)

You'd provide a return for All the People, and have internet access for anyone who wants to research think communicate network freely associate, and BRING UP THE FIELD OF EDUCATION http://www.jailhurwitz.com/bankpetition.html

I respect Jim Test's work, and am here building on his ideas with a few long-term ideas of "my own" for constructive criticism. His thoughts have provided catalyst for my thinking and I honor him for putting them out there.

I am not so concerned with car traffic speed as I am with separating them from bicyclists and pedestrians. I envision thin but strong concrete barriers between the street and the bike ways, which bicyclists can see over. These bike ways must constantly be kept clear of glass and debris. [End Dex comment.]

[Begin snippet from Test article] "Part of the code's content will be directed at subdivision and street regulations. "I want to make certain that when we look at street and road right-of-ways and cross-sections, that the primary emphasis is on bicycle and pedestrian safety ˜ to move cars efficiently but s-l-o-w-l-y."

Money, not talk. Citing Sunny Brae's multi-lane Chester Avenue as the type of street design he wants to "eliminate," Test said the recently-constructed roundabouts on Old Arcata Road (whose speed limit was formerly 50 mph) demonstrate how street design can calm traffic.

Alliance Road is next up for pedestrian-friendly improvements. But Test said that Arcata's leaders "haven't put our money where our mouths are" on encouraging non-motorized transit. He's looking to the development code process for headway on that, and this year was able to get a budget item for pedestrian/ bicycle facility maintenance.

He wants to do more. "I'm almost to the point where next year, I think I'm going to say I want 20 percent of the street budget dedicated to bicycle and pedestrian activity ˜ Arcata does a good job of talking about it and trying to promote it but it hasn't done a very good job of putting its money on it. So in the next four years, I hope to be able to change that." [end snippet from Test article]

[Begin Dex comment.] Good start with the electric vehicles, I'm with you on this; lets do more, more quickly.

I agree with preserving open space, and restricting fruther building to the areas already built on.

Several candidates want to vanguard Arcata in Energy Independence. Bravo! But there are technologies which the mainstream hasn't considered yet, that would "at least" make the solar panel concept sufficient. Investigate. We should attract inventors and investors for our Arcata Free Energy Co. We should not wait or depend on the County or any public entitiy. We should move ahead quickly. Along these lines, we should become as independent and self-sufficient as possible in all "survival" ways, so we are not vulnerable to either international shutdowns, or major earthquake cutoffs. Ideally private persons should build up our own Emergency Supplies, but the City can begin to spur this with food banks, and moreover, multiples of water sources in case of damages to one of our water connections. I still believe there is good desalinization technology for both the private and public sectors for our security.

I appreciate Jim and all the others who have stopped the use of poisons. That is awesome and what I reallly like about living here. But do we have to mow the public lawns so much? Like the lawn in front of City Hall, and the parks? We can secure trees that endanger buildings with braces and supports in order to minimize cutting them down. [End Dex comment.]

[Begin snippet from Test article] The City's environmental consciousness needs to be demonstrated through policy, Test continued when asked to discuss issues he cares about. He mentioned the replacement of the "old, noisy, polluting little beasts" that were the City's parking enforcement vehicles with electric cars.

Also noteworthy to Test is Arcata's recent and dramatic additions to its open space and forestlands. Large tracts of pasturelands near the Bayside Cutoff have been acquired, and the Jacoby Creek Community Forest has been significantly expanded.

An energy specialist has been hired to plot resource-conserving strategies, and Arcata is collaborating with the county to create a public energy utility. And Test added the City doesn't spray chemicals on its municipal and street landscaping.

"That's why there's weeds," Test said. "We like weeds, they're green."

How about outfitting City Hall with solar panels, as one candidate has suggested? Test said it's been looked into, but was deemed unfeasible because of insufficient power generation. [End snippet from Test article]

[Begin Dex comment.] I don't think children should be subjected to having to witness alcohol and drug use; they will be exposed soon enough! Common sense is that when there are camps at the parks, the people imbibin can be asked to stand back and go out of sight. But we still do not have to be looking behind trees to catch users. The Police can be trained and directed very simply on how to do this. While it is not right for any "group" to take an area over, it is also not right to punish every individual who will cooperate with social peace. Persons not making themselves are public nuisance and who are cooperating with people who don't want to be around their lifestyle...have the right to do their own thing, and vice-versa. It is important we differentiate behavior from bad interactions. It is not only hypocrisy that we target marijuana users, out of the total field of all mind-altering substances (such as legal pharmaceuticals that the F.D.A. approves of), it is also unfair, unequal, and none of a Government's business...whether it is "medical" or whatever is up to the beliefs of the individuals making such choices. This is implied in the 1st Amendment in regards to "religion". [End of Dex comment.]

[Begin snippet of Test article.] On police issues Arcata has seen policing changes that seem sudden, though, and municipal reliance on policing strategy has gained media attention. The Arcata Plaza is a different place since police bike patrols and new laws sent lots of street folk to jail and ultimately out of town.

Test said the change has been positive. "What was happening was that one group of people was taking over downtown ˜ nobody else could move in downtown with going up against another segment that was in their faces."

Acknowledging that "there's been a lot of discussion on whether the City is Œtargeting' a certain population," Test said that "to the extent that we're targeting alcohol and drug abuse yeah, we are targeting a certain population."

The City's doing it at Redwood Park as well, and Test asserted that it's necessary. He said the City's summer camp program saw a 60-percent drop in attendance because of conspicuous alcohol and marijuana use and intimidating behavior. "It was just out of hand people have to take responsibility for their actions."

Arcata's spirit of openness started to be threatened about four years ago, when Test said he noticed "a change in the way people were treating that openness."

Addressing criticism that Arcata's police do much enforcement of "victimless crimes" like marijuana use, Test said that local government wields limited control over drug laws.

"Marijuana is against the law ˜ I can't do anything about that," he continued.

There has also been a sense that City police are enforcing laws more aggressively and not only in response to nuisances. Test said the Police Department has lost many older officers through retirement or injury, and guessed that 70 percent of the force is relatively new.

"Part of being a police officer is knowing how much enforcement to apply... to know where the edges are, and you don't learn that in your first year. It takes time and experience with interacting with people."

City policy on medicinal marijuana hasn't changed, Test said, though some feel that it has since the departure of former Police Chief Mel Brown almost two years ago. Test said that the City's medicinal marijuana ordinance is still official policy, but he added that "Federal pressure" influences police-enforced growing limits.

And he also said that "part of the problem is that some of the City's 215 folks have a difficult time differentiating between medicinal use and recreational use." [End snippet of Test article.]

This article was originally published in the Arcata Eye and on arcataeye.com on September 10.