Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman Talks About Tree Planting, Celebration of Health Care Heroes and Case Counts

This is a press release from the City of Eureka:

Hello. I’m Mayor Susan Seaman.  As I have mentioned in previous addresses, the City of Eureka is continuing to work tirelessly to support the health and well-being of our citizens, our community, and our economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’m here at the Eureka Inn, an historic structure on 7th and F Streets where tomorrow, I will return with Keep Eureka Beautiful. If you’ve been by the hotel lately, you may have noticed there are holes in the sidewalk where 47 flowering cherry trees and magnolia trees will be planted all around this magnificent structure.

Keep Eureka Beautiful is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with the city to plant trees in both residential neighborhoods and business districts. Trees and landscaping have traditionally been shown to slow traffic and draw people into commercial areas and adds to the beautification of our community. We’re all looking forward to watching these trees develop and bloom in the coming years…  

Earlier this week, the City Council received a report on the FY21/22 through FY25/26 Capital Improvement Program. This 122-page document presents the projects that create the infrastructure that is core to a city’s operation. It looks at development on the Harbor and Waterfront, Parks, Information Technology, Land and Facilities, Streets and Storm Drains, and Wastewater. Our Public Works Director Brian Gerving once said that if they’re doing their job right, nobody notices. That’s an apt assessment. Clean drinking water, safe parks, and maintained roads are all things that take ongoing planning, maintenance, and investment, and the work that goes into it is often unseen unless there’s a problem. The work done by our small, but mighty crew – working with aging infrastructure, and for the last several years, a very limited budget – is to be commended.  We’re grateful that Measure H passed, and we will be better able to meet the ongoing demands of all of our systems.  If you are interested in what changes or upgrades we have in store, I highly recommend taking a look at the plan, which can be found at our website: ci.eureka.ca.gov.

Yesterday, I visited St. Joseph Hospital where they kicked off their three-month celebration of Health Care Heroes. It was such an honor to participate and meet several of the folks who help keep things operating at the hospital, from health care providers to the many unsung team members – from lab techs to nutritionists to facility maintenance workers who work together to make sure everybody has what they need to make hospital operations function. I’m not going to lie – many staff members I met were tired. Everybody has had different challenges to face in light of this pandemic, but our health care providers have had to carry a load that many of us can’t imagine. They’re not only doing their job to help keep patients physically well, but since family members and loved ones can’t be with patients, they’re also supporting these patients emotionally. They’re giving their whole selves, whether a patient has COVID or a broken arm. Our thanks is the least we can offer at this time, and the City does thank all of you at St. Joseph’s Hospital and all of our local hospitals and clinics in our area, wholeheartedly.

Like California in general, we’re seeing some improvement on the COVID front. Case counts are down, test positivity rates are down, and we met the equity metric which is one of the key things for us to move out of the purple tier and into the red tier, according to Dr. Hoffman from the Department of Public Health. As we consider the transition into a more lenient tier, remember, we want to stay there. Continue to follow the guidelines we’ve talked about from the beginning – wash your hands often, practice social distancing, wear a mask, avoid gatherings, get tested – and remember that after you’re vaccinated, you can still be contagious to others, so continue to practice these habits.

Again, I’m Mayor Susan Seaman, and I appreciate everybody’s commitment to listening to this message.  We will get through this. Please be patient with yourself and kind to your neighbors and family. We’ll talk again soon.