REMINDER: Deadline this Friday for Valentine edition

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Mayo Out, Masten In

Press release:

Humboldt County 5th District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg appointed Susan Masten of Hoopa to the Humboldt County Planning Commission today. Masten is the former chairperson of the Yurok Tribe and has held a number of key federal, State and County appointments.

“As one of the most accomplished citizens of the 5th District, Susan Masten brings a wealth of experience to the Planning Commission as it works to chart Humboldt County’s future,” said Sundberg. “I am delighted that Susan has agreed to serve and I look forward to her steady, thoughtful contributions to the work of the Commission.”

Ms. Masten, who has testified before Congress and conferred with Presidents, has worked for decades to protect fish, fishing rights and water quality in the Klamath River.

“I look forward to using my expertise to help complete and implement the General Plan Update and to bringing a rural perspective to the process,” said Masten. “My goal is to work with people both in the 5th District and throughout Humboldt County to protect and sustain the quality of life that we enjoy – and that we want our children to enjoy.”

Sundberg noted that elements of the General Plan Update are of particular importance to McKinleyville, the population center of the 5th District. “I totally support Susan’s position that the residents of McKinleyville be provided the opportunity to influence the direction of their community and to preserve their way of life,” said Sundberg.

Masten replaces Dennis Mayo, who served as Planning Commissioner from November 2009 until his term was completed this month.

“I appreciate the knowledge, expertise and effort that Dennis has contributed to the Planning Commission and Humboldt County,” said Supervisor Sundberg. “We give him our heartfelt thanks for serving in this unpaid yet important and demanding position.”

Ms. Masten was appointed by the U.S Secretary of the Interior to serve as a Yurok transition team member to implement the Hoopa-Yurok Settlement Act of 1988. She was elected by the base-roll members of the Tribe to serve on the interim Yurok Tribal Council in 1991 and, with the Tribe’s formal establishment completed, she served as Chair of the Yurok Tribal Council from 1997 until 2004.

Ms. Masten has served as vice chair of the Intertribal Monitoring Association on Indian Trust Funds, as co-chair of the Department of the Interior Trust Reform Task Force, as vice chair of the Klamath Fisheries Management Council and as chair of the Klamath River Traditional Indian Fishers Association.

She is a past president of the Klamath Chamber of Commerce; she chaired the Del Norte County Democratic Central Committee; has served on the California Democratic Central Committee and, as a California delegate, addressed the Democratic National Convention in 2000.

Ms. Masten’s extensive public service includes appointment to the Humboldt County Commission on the Status of Women, Founder and Board Member of Klamath River Early College of the Redwoods Charter High School, President of the Humboldt Business and Professional Women’s Association, as committee chair for the Humboldt County League of Women Voters, Founder and Co-Chair of Woman Empowering Women for Indian Nations, President of the National Congress of American Indians, and currently she is chair of the Indian Law Resource Center.

Since 1976, Susan Masten has served as the Mistress of Ceremonies at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, and is a Festival Board Member.

She has been selected as an “Outstanding Young Woman of America,” Humboldt County’s “Outstanding Citizen,” Del Norte County’s “Young Woman of the Year” and has been listed in numerous “Who’s Who” publications. She recently was Vice President of Union Bank of California for the Native Market Division.

Planners mull marijuana money

From the 1.26.11 issue. To read all of the articles in the Press, subscribe.

By Daniel Mintz
Press Staff Writer

The county’s economy is more diverse than most people realize, the Planning Commission has been told, but assessing one of its most significant contributors remains elusive.
At their Jan. 20 meeting, commissioners noted that marijuana production is missing from the economic graphs and pie charts that accompany the economic development chapter of the draft General Plan Update.
County Economic Development Director Jacqueline Debets presented a snapshot summary of local wage generation and the industries that deliver it. Upon learning that assessments of various industries are based on payroll data, commissioners quickly asked about the industry whose payouts are often delivered under the table.
“Obviously, if you’re growing marijuana, you’re not paying taxes so it wouldn’t show up,” said Commissioner Mel Kreb.
He noted the high level of awareness promoted by the emergence of Proposition 19 and added, “Somehow, as we move along here, we’re going to have to bring the elephant into the living room and talk about it.”
And that’s what commissioners did, with Kreb fostering the discussion by further noting that the industries being analyzed are “probably being supported by people paying cash.”
“I’m not sure how we would treat marijuana,” Debets said. “It’s very difficult to get data on it.”
Talk drifted away from pot, with Debets explaining how economic contributions are gauged and how industries like information technology have grown while forestry and logging has shrunk.
Commissioner Denver Nelson brought the elephant back into the room when he related that a few years ago, he’d mentioned marijuana at an economic conference and “it was like I used the F-word in public.”
He added, “No one wanted to talk about it – at least people are talking about it now.”
Nelson doubted the veracity of a color-coded pie chart showing percentages of economic contribution. “I hate to say this, but there’s a lot of people that supplement their income in all of those industries by growing dope,” he said. “Marijuana is the real growth industry in this county and there isn’t even a color there.”
He suggested “bright green” and told Debets, “If we are going to base the future, ten years from now, on what’s going on here, you really have to include marijuana whether you like it or not.”
“It’s a big subject – I’m not sure how much you want me to get into it,” Debets replied. “At this moment, I think it would detract us.”
Community Development Services Director Kirk Girard reined in the discussion by telling commissioners that marijuana is difficult to handle from an economic development policy perspective.
“Are you suggesting that we should promote the growth of marijuana, to develop the economy or perhaps retard it?” he asked.
Girard said the only above-the-surface aspect is medicinal marijuana, and “it’s a touchy subject because that really is just a crack in the door of the much larger illegal market.”
He described marijuana production as “a policy black hole” that “truly is a hands-off subject” from a planning perspective.
Commissioners continued to note its relevance, however. Commissioner Dennis Mayo said that at an economic forum held during the last election cycle, building contractors proclaimed that they’re having a hard time hiring plumbers, electricians and other specialists because “they’re growing pot.”
Mayo asked if pot money is being “captured” in economic considerations.
“It’s cash circulating in the economy,” Debets replied. “From an economic point of view – it’s good, cash is good to an economy.”
But she added that a downside is that it “distracts labor” and sways people away from learning marketable job skills and eventually securing stable wages and benefits.
As for the payroll percentage contributions of the less interesting but more reliable industries – government is at 14 percent, education and research accounts for 12 percent and health services contributes 11 percent of the county’s total. Ten percent is from retail, six percent tourism, six percent construction, five percent professional services and four percent is from manufacturing.
Arts and culture, media and information services, fishing, dairy and specialty agriculture all contributed one percent shares but Debets pointed out that even the “slivers” on the pie chart represent contributions of “tens, twenties of millions of dollars.”
Commissioners began reviewing the chapter’s goal statements and continued the hearing to Feb. 10.
The Jan. 27 hearing on the county’s controversial plan to rezone properties for low income housing was cancelled because of commissioner absences and was rescheduled for Feb. 17.