Bruce Bratton hosts University Grapevine, linking local and campus issues, every Tuesday 7:30-8:30 p.m. on KZSC 88.1 fm.
|
CAPITOLA CITY RUINING THEIR BEACH...ON PURPOSE!!! Bill Aebersold and Karen Schamberg care a lot about the beach in Capitola. They've written each member of The Capitola City Council, they've talked to the guy who actually runs the tractor, (he admitted that plowing/dragging the beach is illegal) they emailed the Department of Fish and Game, and sent two letters to The Santa Cruz Sentinel and....nothing. Not one response, not even from present City Council members Stephanie Harlan, Bruce Arthur, and Dennis Norton who say they care about the environment. Maybe Capitola City Council candidates like Begun, Storey, Graves, O'malley-Moore, Seibert or Passino could stop this illegal beach plowing, or at least make it part of their platform since the incumbents are do-nothings. Here's the letter that Bill and Karen sent.
Dear Friends of Capitola Beach,
We are not advocates; we do not make it a habit to write political letters; we do not attend rallies. But, we are forced to continue commenting to the City of Capitola about their daily use of the John Deere tractor on the Capitola Public Beach. Every morning, this City-run monster destroys every living thing from the high tide line, to the low tide line; it kills all the microorganisms, the fish, the shellfish, the bird food, and the entire bird habitat. What I don't understand is WHY they are plowing... and why no one else has objected to it!!
The City of Capitola advocates no-smoking and no-drinking policies on the beach, and at the same time, near dawn, every morning since the beginning of the summer season, it lets loose this Diesel-spewing, Gas-guzzling, environment-destroying Deere to literally destroy the beach, all the name of tourism.
Daily, the Deere takes all the kelp which is naturally supposed to dry on the beach, and it returns it to the bay in a wet decaying form, only to have it return again the next day and begin the polluting cycle all over once again in the same way. Natures' way is for kelp to dry and biodegrade upon a beach. Returning it to make foul, wet compost only destroys things in the water, and makes the water polluted.
I have been told by state and federal agencies and by City employees, that what the City is doing is illegal. Why are these laws not being enforced? Will it take some agency fining the City, or taking away their rights to have this beach before they stop destroying it physically and environmentally?
I love Capitola Village; it has been my home over a period of 38 years. It just makes me sick to see this Deere run loose each day, destroying yards and yards of biodegradable beachfront again, all in the name of Tourism.
If the truth were known, the tourists do not want to sit on a plowed field. They want to sit on natural sand. They want to smell the things the ocean brings forth, and they want a natural feel, in a natural place. Manicuring the beach is like manicuring the forest. When one does either... it no longer is a Beach, or a Forest. It might as well be a plowed, environmentally unfriendly field in some Midwest town, far from our beloved Monterey Bay.
To the right, you can see pictures of the Deere plowing to low tide mark on the beach. These pictures were taken last week.
I am hoping that someone will act in the interest of Capitola Beach. I cannot believe that the City Council members are more interested in whether they should construct another Band Stand or in whether they should ban smoking in the village than they are in preserving the most valuable asset Capitola has. What is going on??????
Very sincerely, William Walden Aebersold and Karen Schamberg.
SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL ELECTION DEADLINE. August 11th is it, that's the last day to file if you want to do your part in helping the City of Santa Cruz. We're in trouble folks, the attitude about our present council has become as negative as it is with getting Bush out of office. We need to find some dedicated, principled, intelligent, folks who can give us hope again. There must be citizens who care enough to change things so that the City Council listens to, and is responsible to the voters.
DREAM INN DESIGNER. Paul Hostetter wed Robin Petrie, and Will Spires of all people officiated in Pondok Gajah, Bali on June 1st of this year. Not only that, but Paul emailed to remind us that; "Remember that the Dream Inn was designed by Kermit Darrow, the same guy who graced us with the original Long's Drugs Plaza and the festive County Building. So "lifting the face" of that item could only be an improvement, following the precedent of the trees enveloping (finally) the Country Building and the recent spiff-up at Front and Soquel". That's in direct contradiction to many people who think that no one designed the Dream Inn/Coast Inn...or the County Building. Thanks for that Paul.
"SHAME ON ISRAEL" DEMONSTRATION FRIDAY AUGUST 4. David Espinosa also emailed to say, that groups such as SAW (Students Against War) ISO (International Socialist Organization) and ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) want everyone who desires peace and justice to gather across the street from the clock tower in downtown Santa Cruz (Front/Pacific) to denounce Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Palestine. That's from 5 to 6 p.m.
After weeks of bombing Lebanese cities and Palestinian refugee camps, the results are hundreds of dead civilians, thousands of refugees, and the destruction of the cultured, democratic Lebanese nation. Despite international outcry, Israel, in cahoots with the United States, continues to massacre civilians through the use of banned chemical weapons such as white phosphorous and conventional weapons such as cluster bombs.
The disproportionate use of violence by the Israeli government against the civilian populations of Palestine and Lebanon in light of 3 Israeli soldiers being captured cannot be justified in any moral or military terms. Indeed, as reported on Democracy Now, the invasion of Lebanon was planned months ago in order to destroy Hezbollah's military capabilities. And while the corporate media has portrayed the capture of 3 Israeli soldiers as the catalyst for the bombing, it must be remembered that Israel is holding many thousands (estimates are 5,000-10,000) of Palestinians and Lebanese without charge and has repeatedly attacked Arab civilians. We call on everyone who believes in peace to come out and demand an immediate cease fire and Israel's immediate withdrawal from Lebanon and Palestine. WAR IS TERRORISM. STOP THE BOMBING!
A CONVENIENT BICYCLE. Sistah Monica saw Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and went out and got a bicycle. If you see her zooming around town give her a big thanks, and what have you done to help lately??
HILDY BERNSTEIN MEETS FELIX CULPA. Do notice Hildy's portrait of Condoleezza Rice. Hildy Bernstein and Dave Gardner are having a joint show at Felix Culpa Gallery (behind Streetlight Records on 107 Elm Street). It opens Friday August 4 and goes until August 27. Wed-Sundays 2-7p.m. Hildy's showing her political portraits and other figures on paper. If you haven't heard Hildy talk about her political opinions see the show, the portraits are worth more than a million words. Dave is showing his 3D paintings on found objects such as file cabinets.
GRAPEVINE. This week on University Grapevine (every Thursday 4-5 pm KZSC 88.1 fm) we'll try again to talk with Pat Matejcek about Arana Gulch. We had a technical problem last week. After that we'll talk about this year's Pastors For Peace Caravan to Cuba and Bush's takeover plan for what he calls a Free Cuba.
EAGAN. Tim Eagan sent me his weekly cartoon cache of creativity in MIME format or doubleapple or some diddly internet muck, I won't see it until you do, but I'm sure it's worth several awards. Scroll in a downwards direction.
PATTON on POINT. Read Gary's KUSP reports here. He talks about Protecting our coast. What and how LAFCO works. He discusses Monterey Counties General Plan and what's happened to it - they weakened it!! And a big deal about AB30 that the state assembly will work on. It's Global Warming's biggest good news bill, so far.
MIAMI VICE. First of all this film is 2 1/2 hours long. No matter what it's about, it isn't worth that much of anybody's time. Much of it is not understandable due to extreme accents. It's about smuggling drugs. Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell as the predictable cop buddies do acceptable jobs with overused scripts. But wait until some friend rents it and try to see it for free.
CLERKS II. This is supposed to be cool, hip and witty because all the characters use really vulgar swear words. If really vulgar swear words are your thing go see this caca. It's even more pretentious than the original Clerks. Steve Palopoli probably liked it.
MRS.PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT. Joan Plowright (formerly Mrs. Laurence Olivier) plays a 77 year old British Grande dame for obvious reasons. She moves into a senior hotel and finds a friend (just a friend) who's about 26. It's not as funny or quirky as Harold and Maude, but it is a fine film. Go see it.
SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ'S AS YOU LIKE IT. Kate Eastwood Norris as Rosalind owns the stage when she's on it in this historic and still funny comedy. It's an excellent production; most of the acting is near professional and if there are any tickets left take your friends and go. For the first time I can remember there is no set. Just an empty stage. Which is alright but at night we see every car's headlights going by on the road right behind center stage and it's annoying.
CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC. Opening night was the world premiere of the Frans Lanting/Philip Glass collaboration titled LIFE: A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME. The sold out audience at the Santa Cruz Civic loved it. Standing ovations, shouts of "Bravo!" and "Brava!", etc. Be sure to check out the Time Machine concert on Saturday starring Evelyn Glennie, and west coast premieres by Michael Daugherty and Laura Karpmann. Then there's the Sunday night Evelyn Glennie solo concert. These artists are winning international awards and the musical world is watching and listening to these folks who are in Santa Cruz these next two weeks...you should go and hear what "classical music" is like nowadays. Call 420-5260 (press 5) for tickets.
QUOTES. Jennifer Boulanger of Mar Vista, California sends in "Guns don't kill people, drivers using cell phones do!"
Deep Cover
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
 |
© 2003-2005 Bruce Bratton • info@brattononline.com • HOME |  |