Arcata Fire Schedules Six Meetings in Different Locations to Discuss Measure R
Press release from the Arcata Fire District:
The Arcata Fire District Board of Directors and Fire Chief Justin McDonald have scheduled six town hall meetings in different locations within the Arcata Fire District. The goal for these meetings is to provide information to the public regarding Measure R, which is a proposed special tax on the March 2020 ballot.
If approved, the tax will generate $2.2 million dollars that would be used to Retain current staffing levels, Restore three frozen/vacant firefighter positions, and Replace and Repair fire engines and equipment as needed.
District Board President Nicole Johnson reports, “Arcata Fire District is planning to host six meetings over the next few weeks in order to discuss challenges the District is currently facing. I would like to encourage all members living within the five communities serviced by Arcata Fire, to attend these meetings. The District is about to determine the future of our emergency services and whether we can maintain current service levels or begin making drastic cuts. The fire district is here to serve and support this community, please come and join our discussion.”
“These meetings are designed to give the voters of the Arcata Fire District accurate information about why this special tax is on the ballot in March. If you are registered to vote, own property or rent property in McKinleyville, Arcata, Bayside, Jacoby Creek, or Manila, we hope to see you at the meetings. We want to answer your questions regarding Measure R, special tax.” stated Chief McDonald.
The first of these meetings is scheduled for Friday, January 24, 2020 at Azalea Hall, 1620 Pickett Road in McKinleyville, from 6-7pm. Our website and social media will provide the currently scheduled meeting dates, locations and times. The District is still working to secure meeting sites in Jacoby Creek/Bayside areas and Manila. Once staff secures any new meeting locations and dates, information will be updated.
Current Schedule of Meetings:
January 24, 2020, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Azalea Hall – 1620 Pickett Road, McKinleyville
January 27, 2020, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Arcata Fire Station – 631 9th Street, Arcata
February 3, 2020, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Proposed location, Bayside Area
February 6, 2020, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Pacific Union Elementary School District – Multi-Purpose Room, 3001 Janes Road,
February 7, 2020, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Dows Prairie Grange – 3995 Dows Prairie Road, McKinleyville
February 13, 2020, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Proposed location, Manila Area
More information can be obtained through the Fire District website at www.arcatafire.org or by calling 707-825-2000 and speaking with Fire Chief Justin McDonald.
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The fire district should get a lot more creative that just adding more fire fighters to the payroll. This tax will cost
both renters and land owners a tremendous amount of money.
Instead we should be looking at establishing a live in school for first responders at one of the fire houses. Probably the one in down town Arcata. This would solve several problems without the high costs.
Having a well funded fire dept is good for property values and saves you money on home insurance. “Taxes are the price we pay for civilization”, someone smart said. It’s hard to understand ‘no tax’ conservatives. Have you seen countries with no government institutions? It’s not nice. Be thankful for what we have and pay your fair share, I say.
(I don’t have a problem with people who are watch dogs on the government budget like you Uri)
“Have you seen countries with no government institutions? ” No, I haven’t. Could you name one of these countries for me?
Countries without functioning governmental institutions? We call them third world countries. There are many even on this continent. Seeing other countries and observing how they operate has been very instructive in my life. One observation is that not enough Americans have passports.
Now you’re changing what you said. You said, “Have you seen countries with no government institutions?” Not, “Countries without functioning governmental institutions…” Heck, the USA has plenty of non-functioning “governmental institutions “.
So, your first comment was a bit over-stated.
Well I stand by my original point, nitpicking aside.
It’s not nitpicking. There’s a world of difference between “no government institutions ” and “without functioning governmental institutions”.
I was really hoping you had an example of the former. The latter are commonplace.
So would you rather chip in and pay for decent roads, schools, fire depts etc or live in a third world country where gangs rule and there are no taxes? Third option: live in this country and do nothing but complain about taxes and government.
You present a false dichotomy.
It’s a common debate tactic.
It’s obfuscation.
So in pursuit of poor argument, you support poor argument?? An interesting idea.
If you can’t discuss the points then retreat!
It’s actually the whole point. Government should do what is good when it can’t be done by individuals. We don’t need to pay for government making it worse.
I wish government and those who have a knee-jerk reaction to expand it would follow the Hippocratic Oath- “Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free.”
Or even one as simple as “primum non nocere”- ” first do no harm.”
OK I’ll call you next time I have a fire at my house
Look below. Logical fallacies are accusations, not debate.
That is always the trouble with such responses. No one said anything about underfunding or no tax. That is just typical hyperbole of those who have a goal of chastising everyone without regard to what is actually being said.
It’s called a fallacy of bad inferences. It’s sort of a flat earth logic where a small item about objecting to a certain tax or the use to which it is put is suddenly extrapolated to become objecting to all taxes.
https://buildingcriticalthinking.com/inferences/bad-inferences-fallacies-and-biases/
I said I support people playing the watchdog role, like uri. I’m not supporting knee jerk tax for every pet project. But I like good infrastructure, I like well paid teachers and I like a well funded emergency service. Go to Mexico and see what happens when you don’t pay police enough.
…or keep people from defending themselves.
So your issue is that you think teachers and police are not paid enough. That is not what you said.
Yes you did. But only as an after thought on bringing up “no tax” conservatives. So do not complain if people bring up “no value taxes.” That would imply you do object to watchdogs after all.
Boy it’s hard for you to see between black and white
I don’t mind paying taxes for efficient and valuable services. What bothers most of us is government wasting our money. Piling up more taxes doesn’t solve all problems and can cause some unnecessary ones. The costs of PERRS is getting out of hand and will cause a serious lack of funding for other programs down the road.
A First Responder school would be an asset to our community as well as creating good paying jobs for the graduates.
Dont we have 2 or 3 assessments on our houses for the fire departments for this exact same things? Do they really need new fire trucks every 5 years?
We are paying two assessments for Arcata Fire District already. For a single family residence, there’s one from 1997, a flat fee of$20, and another passed in 2006, flat fee of $88. So, over $100/household every year, regardless of income or home value.
Kneeland too.
“Taxes are the price we pay for civilization” No,taxes are the price we pay to stay out of jail. If the government has proved one thing and one thing only, it’s that they can’t be trusted with revenue. Hence the 22 trillion $ debt. But hey, maybe this tax will fix it. It’s not that I don’t want hospitals, roads, police and fire departments but obviously the government can’t provide it to a satisfactory level, ever.
Most decent tax yet, but, really, more taxes! When will it stop in this state. O…… only the working class who are job holders and don’t shoot drugs and steal for a living have to pay…. ahhhh ok.
Mike- what’s your solution? I can’t even get 5 neighbors to get together and fix our little neighborhood road. No one wants to pay for anything- that’s the truth. But they love to complain when everything’s not perfect. Human nature 101
Actually there are already rules on easements that cover that.
What’s my solution? Bring back tar and feathering for politicians so your tax dollars actually get spent on what they’re intended for. I guarantee that’ll work better than another tax