An election is coming up fast! On March 5th, propositions and measures for healthcare, cannabis farming, and more will be decided, and several candidates in national, state, and local politics will be on the ballot.
Young people should vote and make their voices heard.
“People struggled and died for people to be able to vote at eighteen,” a director of the League for Women Voters, Anne Hartline, said in reference to the widespread protests during the Vietnam War that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
Local elections are a key component of the primaries and Mike Wilson, the Third District Supervisor, urges the community to look beyond the flashy national races.
“I always want to remind people your biggest impact as a voter is in local elections,” Wilson said. “Everything you see around you was done with decisions made by people that were local.”
One important local position up for election is the Humboldt County District Supervisors.
Five District Supervisors comprise the Humboldt’s Board of Supervisors, a committee with responsibilities including managing county roads, healthcare, social services, budgets, parks and recreation, and much more throughout the county. This year, districts one, two, and three are up for election.
Mike Wilson and Rogelio (“Roy”) Gomez are currently running for the Third District, which includes Arcata, each vying to be on the Board for the next four years.
Wilson has lived in Humboldt his entire life and is the current third district Supervisor. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from San Francisco and a degree in Environmental Science from Humboldt State University. He worked for the Harbor District for over a decade and is on the California Coastal Commission and Humboldt Transit Authority. Wilson is running for his third term.
Gomez has not held an elected position in Humboldt County government, but he said he has expertise managing supplies and people from his experience owning several local businesses. He has lived here most his life, first attending College of the Redwoods and later receiving a degree in Political Science with an emphasis in law from HSU. He has locally owned a growstore called A Fertile World, Humboldt Nutrients soil company, and the Heart of Emerald dispensaries.
How do you plan on addressing the county’s housing needs?
“Not just build[ing] new housing but also preserv[ing] housing because so much of it gets converted into vacation homes or Airbnbs [and] these trends have made housing more scarce and thus more expensive and we have to address that”
—Mike Wilson
“Have town halls and get the community interested and have community feedback. [Additionally,] I advocate for mixed-income developments, affordable housing along with market-rate housing. I don’t feel [building fully low-income developments] will promote diversity.”
—Roy Gomez
How will you address healthcare needs in our community and beyond?
“I think our private healthcare system is just failing everybody. I’ve been a strong advocate for universal healthcare [and] in Humboldt County. We don’t have any place for young people to go if they need overnight treatment or a place to stay for mental health services, which has been highly stressful for many families and young people. And so we’re working right now on a place [locally] where young people in mental health crises have a place to go.”
—Mike Wilson
“Using my influence as a board of supervisor [member] to get more funding from the state government for our healthcare system because it is broken. It is very important that we have healthcare in place for a growing community, [and] I think there needs to be more emphasis on mental health shelters and programs and money allocated to supporting every demographic of people that have mental health issues.”
—Roy Gomez
What needs to be done to address climate change in our community?
“How we live and work and how we transport ourselves around has a big impact on our carbon footprint. And you have to design communities in certain ways [to accommodate that].”
—Mike Wilson
“I think that the main thing I would advocate for is hav[ing] individual households being incentivized to lower their carbon footprint.”
—Roy Gomez
What are your thoughts on the local offshore wind project?
“[When developing new energy resources] my job will be to maximize all of the opportunities and benefits that we can possibly derive for our community, and everybody in it and be equitable in that, whether it’s working people and tribes or folks that [are] more directly impacted.”
—Mike Wilson
“It’s a big project and of course the money is great [but] anything that is experimental needs to be done with caution. This project has potential to impact our environment in the ocean, and I would like time to test things before going full board.”
—Roy Gomez
What are your thoughts on the expansion of Cal Poly Humboldt?
“There’s a lot of opportunities for students to help the community, and it’s important we have that life [that students bring]. The new ideas and the new enthusiasm of younger people moving here [to] this community [are valuable].”
—Mike Wilson
What are your thoughts on community development?
“I think it’s always important to work with our natural beauty and it’s important to build based on that [and] not put the cart before the horse, and [instead] develop as we have needs to be met.”
— Roy Gomez
