As the post-recession drags on and on, and budget politics gets more and more bizarre,  we can take heart from the fact that at least locally there are folks who actually are trying to do something constructive in the Humboldt community. Here are two such groups.

The Humboldt Bay Harbor Working Group was started during the recent update of the Prosperity program.  An enthusiastic group is meeting at the Samoa Cookhouse on the last Wednesday of each month at noon to share and promote ideas and projects to promote harbor-related employment.  The February meeting was attended by a group of about  forty.  About half of them were familiar from the old Citizens for Port/Rail Development, but there were a lot of new faces too, at least new to me,  We heard an update presentation by Dave Hull, who made the point that even if the current harbor plan is fully implemented, it would still impact only about 15% of the Humboldt Bay shoreline.

A word about the CPD.  Kaye Strickland, who organized and led the CPD meetings for many years, passed away in February shortly after her husband Bill,  and is sorely missed. Kaye and Bill had both been hospitalized and their passing was not unexpected, but that doesn’t make it any less sad. They were both very active in the community- Bill was on the old Zoo Advisory Board with me and Kaye was active in the League of Women Voters. The CPD suffered from a lack of structure but it was an invaluable group for anyone who wanted to stay on top of Harbor issues and if the new Working Group succeeds it will be because of the framework built by Kaye and the other CPD regulars. I was delighted to see Virginia Bass  at the February meeting as well as a host of folks who were never involved in the CPD, at least that I can remember, so it appears that the CPD will have a worthy successor.

PLEASE RSVP if you’re planning to attend this month’s meeting, to Susanna Munzell, s.munzell@yahoo.com so the folks at the Cookhouse can plan accordingly.

The second group you should be aware of is in its beginning phase, but they mean business.  This is the  Humboldt Inventors’ Club recently begun by Joseph Twohig , and meets on the second Thursday from 6:30 -8pm in the community room at the rear of The Meadows townhouses on Hubbard Lane in Eureka, between Myrtle Avenue and Harris, entrance directly across from the Myrtle Avenue Market parking lot. Joe states, “Suggestions for  topics and presentations most welcome” and some of the projects are startlingly original. You will be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement if you attend. Contact Joseph Twohig at (707) 267-0775 or joetwohig@gmail.com.

So there you have it: grass-roots activism and innovation. May the Year of the Snake bring inspiration to everyone struggling to make Humboldt  County a place where our kids will be able to live their lives out in prosperity , or at least make a decent living.