What does being an elected official have in common with roller derby? "You know, you're putting yourself in a very uncomfortable position that very few people would choose to be in," says Humboldt County Supervisor Natalie Arroyo. As a supervisor, Coast Guard reservist, educator, and athlete, she wants to model the kind of normalcy that local politics could have more of. "I just really want to be natural and show other people that you can be relatable in all these roles."
In this episode of Talk Humboldt with Keith and Tom, Arroyo talks about the job of supervisor, the 'boring but important' details that shape life in Humboldt, and why she appreciates the Coast Guard.
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Tom Jackson:
Hi, I'm Tom Jackson, president of Cal Poly Humboldt. And I'm here today with my dear colleague, Dr. Keith Flamer, President of the College of Redwoods. Good to see you, Keith.
Keith Flamer:
Tom, it’s good to be seen with you.
Tom Jackson:
Well, thank you. Who would have thought that you and I would be here in the Humboldt County Courthouse not for doing something bad, but for meeting someone for the very first time in their role? [Laughter] And that is Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo. Good to see you.
Natalie Arroyo:
Supervisor Good to see you both. Thank you for coming over here. I know the courthouse isn't always the most delightful place to be. It depends on why you're here, but I think this is a pretty good occasion.
Tom Jackson:
Yeah, so far we’ve had nothing but laughs. And so let's get started. How did you become a supervisor and why would you want to do this?
Natalie Arroyo:
I've just been a supervisor for, at the time of this interview, about nine months. I spent eight years in public service as a city council member before that, which really helped inform my understanding of local politics and really paved the way for me to want to be a supervisor.
Keith Flamer:
Talk to us about who you are, and where you went to school,l and things that people don't normally know about you.
Natalie Arroyo:
Sure. Well, I graduated with my undergrad from University of Florida in Gainesville. I'm a military brat, so I moved quite a bit in my life, all throughout Florida mostly. And when I graduated from college, I decided I don't know what I'm going to do next. ‘I think I'll go to grad school’. So I applied and got into grad school and I moved to New Orleans, planning to go to Tulane.
But the first day of school, Hurricane Katrina hit, that was definitely not in my plans, but I evacuated and then came back and lived in New Orleans for another several months before moving out to Humboldt County. So I came to Humble as a Fisheries AmeriCorps member. So I was doing AmeriCorps national service and moved all the way out to Petrolia.
And then after that, I did 15, to 16 years of natural resource restoration work. And that's the passion that I grew within the nonprofit sector here.
Keith Flamer:
Wow.
Tom Jackson:
What would your typical day be then? So you wake up in the morning and roughly speaking, what fills your day as the supervisor?
Natalie Arroyo:
I would say a lot of meetings, but it's not as dry as it sounds. So, certainly almost every Tuesday we meet in our supervisor's chambers and that day is usually pretty full. But most other days I really get a lot of discretion over what I want to do with my time.
So I set up meetings to work on policy issues with constituents or go and promote things that are really good that are happening in our community. So that's really enjoyable.
Keith Flamer:
What are the long-term things that the supervisors in general that you in particular have to deal with right now?
Natalie Arroyo:
I think some of the issues that are most at the forefront and will continue to be for the rest of my term and well into the future really have to do with affordability of housing.
I also think we as a region really need to be thinking hard about what climate resilience looks like and planning for climate change. A lot of that comes down to land use and planning, which is what I often call the ‘boring but important’ stuff.
People aren't really paying attention to a lot of those decisions and policies, but they're going to affect the way that our community looks and feels for generations to come.
Tom Jackson:
We're sitting in the courthouse with Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo and you were just responding to a question about some of the things that the supervisors must deal with. You have a magic wand. How would you solve some of them?
Natalie Arroyo:
Great question. I used to be a community organizer and we had always asked the magic wand question I was always asking myself. [Laughter]
Keith Flamer:
So now we are asking…
Natalie Arroyo:
We think with housing, what we need to do is really look carefully at zoning. We're simply not going to be able to provide services like police and fire and good road maintenance in all of the places throughout our county. So we need to be really thoughtful about where we do that. So the magic wand solution, I suppose, would be for all of us to get on the same page as a region about what types of zoning and land use changes need to happen to make housing a reality.
Because the government isn't going to build most of the housing. We're working with the private sector to make it more feasible for them to build housing.
Tom Jackson:
I'm wondering, is there something about you that is different than the other supervisors that you want everyone else to know?
Natalie Arroyo:
I think I want people to realize that I'm a whole person, you know, politician irons get sort of smeared these days and, you know, I'm people's neighbor. I live right here. I love this community. You know, I'm out there going to the farmer's market, playing roller derby on the weekends, wearing a lot of different hats. But I really love being here and I want people to see me as a neighbor and someone that they can relate to.
Tom Jackson:
I really need you to say a little more about the roller derby. [Laughter]
Keith Flamer:
As I was about to follow up with that anyway!
Natalie Arroyo:
….Well, so roller derby. I came to roller derby in 2016. My roller derby name is ‘Brawn Luc Picard’. So I'm a big Star Trek fan.
Keith Flamer:
Awesome. Very cool.
Natalie Arroyo:
So I just go out there and, you know, I kind of bring out this alter ego side of myself.
Keith Flamer:
So what's it like being a roller derby person? Like, I've seen you do it. Yeah. So how long did it take you to kind of break into the front line, if you will?
Natalie Arroyo:
It took me a couple of years to feel pretty confident on skates, and I think that was true for politics, too. It took me a couple of years to feel that level of confidence. You know, you're putting yourself in a very uncomfortable position that very few people would choose to be in. You know, the more I get used to this role, the more I want to be more and more of myself and let myself shine through and not try to be some way that people might expect me to be. I just really want to be natural and show other people that you can kind of be relatable in all these roles. So those are some thoughts about roller derby and life.
Another thing that's interesting about, and I'm sure you both can relate to, being at the helm of an organization is… you think about not only the people you serve, in your case, your students, but all of the people who work for you.
So I think that's also something that people don't think about when they consider running for office is how many people are you employing within your organization? And, you know, how are you going to do that as responsibly as you can?
Tom Jackson:
You use the word “helm.” Which brings me back to the Coast Guard. What was it that led you to go into the Coast Guard and what did you do while you were in there?
Natalie Arroyo:
Well, I'm still in. I'm a reservist.
Keith Flamer:
Oh, you still are!
Natalie Arroyo:
I sure am. So I was never on active duty. I've been activated for a couple of periods of time, but I've always been a part-time Coastie, essentially. You too?
Tom Jackson:
Mmhmm.
Natalie Arroyo:
And so now I'm stationed down in Novato with the Pacific Strike Team. But one of the things that drew me to the Coast Guard was actually the Environmental Protection Mission. I really didn't see that showing up in too many of the other services. And I thought, you know, the idea of a domestic service that also has that environmental protection and regulation perspective was really appealing to me because I care a lot about water quality and fisheries.
And so I joined the Coast Guard after I had moved to Humboldt County after seeing some friends who served in that capacity in the Coast Guard. And it really drew me.
Tom Jackson:
We're here with Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo. Thank you very much for your time today.
Natalie Arroyo:
Thank you very much.
