According to an article in the Tululwat Examiner, Eureka city staff plans to apply for grant funding to purchase a generator for use at a warming center that can accommodate up to 2,400 people during future blackouts.
While we wholeheartedly support the desire to create centers to care for our community members during future outages, we know that investing in more generators – which are huge consumers of fossil fuels, as well as terribly noisy/smelly/polluting, and a fire risk – is not the solution.* City of Eureka, please consider alternatives before you proceed. We at Cooperation Humboldt would love to work with you on grant applications for solar panel systems for more city buildings and community spaces that can provide power/warmth in a much more responsible way, and lead us as a community in the direction we need to go, not backwards.
We advocate for pursuing a Resilient Hubs model, and hope to engage with local governments and community groups to make plans in alignment with values of resilience, regeneration, and community wellness.
Call to Action
Eureka residents, please call your city representatives and demand that the city’s planning for disaster preparedness be done responsibly (bonus points if you offer to serve on a committee to support this goal!) –
- Greg Sparks, City Manager – (707) 441-4144
- Susan Seaman, Mayor – (707) 441-4200
- Leslie Castellano, Councilmember, Ward 1 – (707) 441-4169
- Heidi Messner, Councilmember, Ward 2 – (707) 441-4168
- Natalie Arroyo, Councilmember, Ward 3 – (707) 441-4171
- Austin Allison, Councilmember, Ward 4 – (707) 441-4167
- Kim Bergel, Councilmember, Ward 5 – (707) 441-4170
* We understand that for those of us with extreme needs (medical, etc.), generators may be the only affordable solution at the moment at a personal/household level during crisis. We aren’t seeking to shame anyone who uses one for legitimate need. But we believe the City has an opportunity here to lead by example and show a better way forward.
