The Collector
August 29, 2025
Eureka vs. Trump
The City of Eureka and six other local government agencies in California are suing the Trump administration over attempts to “claw back” federal funding that was previously awarded to them. In Eureka’s case, the funding at risk reportedly includes $5 million in Safe Streets and Roads for All funding, as well as millions more in emergency response, housing, and social services funding.
We fail to see how designing safer streets for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists is “woke” or otherwise offensive to the president and his followers, and we join with city officials in rejecting these chaotic and vindictive funding rescissions. We are grateful that a federal judge this week issued a temporary restraining order keeping the funding in place while the case proceeds in court.
In the meantime, elsewhere in the nation, the administration continues its aggressive push to control and militarize transportation infrastructure, taking Washington’s Union Station away from Amtrak as the president threatens to deploy more troops in the streets of cities across the country.
One More Time…
We reported last week that the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee (MMAC) was expected to hold its final meeting this week on the Town Center ordinance, including a vote on the design of Central Avenue. But in one more unexpected twist in the winding six-year process of developing this ordinance, the MMAC did not even discuss the Town Center at the meeting as previously advertised. Instead, they voted to have their discussion and take their votes at a special meeting on September 10th. CRTP remains dedicated to ensuring a walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented Town Center, and will keep our supporters informed as this process continues.
Bike Valet at Friday Night Markets!
The final Eureka Friday Night Market of the season is tonight (August 29th). But this year, for the first time, there will also be three Arcata Friday Night Markets on September 5th, 12th, and 26th. We’re pleased to announce that CRTP will be providing bike valet services at all four of these events, and we encourage everyone who can to bike to the markets.
We still need volunteers for these events! If you’d like to help out with bike valet, please email CRTP Bike Valet Coordinator Jerry Von Dohlen at jvondohlen@humboldt.edu.
Help Shape the Future of Arcata
The City of Arcata is hiring a new Senior Planner to work in the city’s Community Development Department. This person will play a key role in shaping city initiatives on topics ranging from parking reform to infill housing development to sea level rise. If that sounds like a good fit for you or someone you know, you can find all the details here.
News from Beyond the North Coast
We Can’t Keep Funding Like It’s 1956
To paraphrase Albert Einstein, you can’t solve a problem with the same funding you used to created it. Yet in the face of a catastrophic death toll on our streets and highways and the existential threat of climate change supercharged by auto exhaust, most of our leaders from all over the political spectrum continue to support pumping huge amounts of money into maintaining and expanding the same damaging transportation system that created all of those problems, while throwing pennies at real solutions like pedestrian and bike infrastructure and public transit operations.
More Evidence That People Walk in Walkable Communities
A new study finds that when people move to a more walkable community, they start walking more. And when they move to a less walkable community, they start walking less. We are unsurprised, but grateful to have yet more evidence of the benefits of walkability!
Cars Are Heating Up Your Town
The “urban heat island effect” refers to the well-documented phenomenon of cities typically being several degrees hotter than surrounding rural areas. This has traditionally been thought to be largely the result of asphalt, concrete, and other materials absorbing and re-releasing heat. But a new study finds that parked cars – particularly dark-colored cars – increase urban heat substantially more than asphalt alone. The authors suggest that cities of the future may even need to create selective parking rules in different neighborhoods based on car paint color to manage the problem.
The Collector is CRTP’s weekly transportation news roundup, published every Friday. We focus on North Coast news, but we also include relevant state, national and international transportation news – plus other items that we just find kind of interesting! To submit items for consideration, email colin@transportationpriorities.org.