PACIFIC AND WATER STREETS 1949. This is the present site of the Town Clock. The gas station was owned by a Spike Jones (no relation). Please note things you don't see anymore such as the Regal Pale beer billboard and when was the last time you could see Mount Umunhum shown in the background here? photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection, click for bigger version. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

CHRISTOPHER COBB FOR SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL.

CHRISTOPHER COBB running for Santa Cruz City Council (photo by Bruce Bratton)

A while back I said Santa Cruz needs some City Council candidates who are "dedicated, principled, intelligent folk who can give us hope again". Christopher Cobb emailed me last week to tell me that he meets those qualifications. I'd never met or heard of him before he filed for the campaign and we met last week for the first time. He's 36, has a wife who's a personal law attorney with the Ninth District Court of Appeals. Two kids.. 4 ½ and 2 ½. They've lived in Santa Cruz since 1996. He likes Bruce Van Allen's politics and hasn't met him yet. Rather than editing or editorializing here's what Cobb said in an email:

"I stand behind my principles on the issues we addressed at our meeting:

• No on Hwy 1 widening.
• No on University expansion (although I do like what the University brings to our town)
• Yes on minimum wage increase, although I would rather it come from the state
• Yes on the measure on the ballot to hold the University accountable for infrastructure if it adds students
• No on paving Arana Gulch (I have an alternate bike path plan to offer as well)
• Yes on workers right to form a Union
• Yes on building a R&D business park on the West Side
• Yes on mixed-use dog friendly areas like DeLaveaga and Lighthouse field
• Yes on a Coast Hotel remodel done the right way (environmentally focused) Would have voted No on it happening the way it was laid out before.
• One item I wanted to stress: my position on bringing businesses into Santa Cruz is very different from bringing "stores" into Santa Cruz".

(End of Cobb's email)

What Cobb explained to me about "business" is much like the suggestions that Fred Keeley made at the close of the Economic Summit. That is, environmentally friendly sustaining research and development business, not the Home Depot type of thing.

Christopher Cobb has always voted. He's gone from Republican to Democrat being disappointed with both, and both Libertarian and Green. He like most of what the Green Party stands for. He's a very confident and likable fellow. His over-the-hill job is working for a $4 billion specialized staffing firm to find proper employees for specific positions. He's been working with big businesses and venture capitalists a lot and is convinced he can bring new R&D business here...to Santa Cruz. He hasn't held elected political office before; he wants to reduce classroom size, is pro union...and is very emphatic about protecting our Green Belt 100%. His website will be up by this weekend; in the meantime you can reach him at 831-535-2013.

IRAQ VETS AGAINST THE WAR. Ricky Clousing is a 24 year old Army sergeant and an Iraq veteran against the war. Read his news report here http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/14/18297184.php but what is even more meaningful, look at the faces of the Iraq veterans standing behind him in this photograph from Indy News. There are no words to say about or to those kids.

BRUCE VAN ALLEN NEWS. Bruce has been working hard to get all the pieces in place. First things first, here's the additions to the growing list of endorsements that I reported last week. Emily Reilly, Celia Scott, Dan Haifley, Kathy Bisbee, David Sweet, Elaine Kihara, Sandy Brown, Merrie Schaller, Reed Searle, Jon Govsky, Fred McPherson, Tex & Claire Hintze (Seabreeze cafe), and Lisa Hochstein. Bruce also adds: "My Campaign Kickoff Party is set for Sunday, September 10, 4-6 PM at Fred Keeley's house & garden, 121 Market Street. Fun, food, & special guests, including Third District County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt. He's added more updates & material regularly added to his campaign Web site, http://www.vanallenforcitycouncil.org Check it out to see the full list of present endorsers, and Van Allen's position on most of the issues.

COONERTY CREATES CABINET. This word just in ....Neal Coonerty hired Rachel Dann as his full time assistant, Andy Schiffrin will go to 1/2 time and so will Linda Wilshusen. Read his complete press release here. All comments will be entertained, or confidential if you wish.

ELERICK'S INPUT. Reactions to Paul Elerick's first article here in BrattonOnline were simply great, and thank you very much. Here's Paul's weekly input, this time on the Wingspread land use battle and what effect it didn't have on the County. Read here too for Paul's take on why all County residents should care about Santa Cruz City issues and elections. Then read what he says about SCAN and the new life it's taking on. It's all here.

PRIDE AND PROBLEMS WITH WOMEN'S VOTING an ANNIVERSARY. Read the League of Women Voter's press release.

GARY PATTON REPORTS. Read Patton's KUSP reports where he talks about such items as being more aware of Monterey County or our South County. See where he says cliff dwelling can be dangerous and costly. Read about LAFCO which doesn't mean Lounging Around For Cash Outflow. Read more about desalination plants BUT NOT the kind Bob Curry talks about. See how Patton tells about making it big time when you leave Santa Cruz, like John and Patty Brissenden and Aaron Peskin did.

TIM EAGANS STATEMENT!! Take a scroll downward, if you haven't already.

PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC CLUB OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY. This will be an endorsement meeting. The Capitola City Council, Soquel Creek Water District, and Santa Cruz City Ballot measures on City Tax, minimum wage and marijuana will be voted on for possible endorsement. If you go online www.cruzdemocrats.org you will see the schedule on meetings and endorsements. Remember no absentee ballots you must have been a member of the PDC for at least the last 30 days. The meeting will be at London Nelson Center Thursday August 24 7-9p.m.

SNAKES ON A PLANE. A bizarre film no matter how, or even if, you look at it. Heavily hyped on the internet, it didn't do anywhere near what the film company wanted to do - money wise. Samuel Jackson and a bunch of snakes are in this over the top horror comedy. The teenagers at the showing I went to laughed all the way through and at the end a couple told me the whole film was a joke that didn't work. I agree IT IS NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY.

YOU TUBE SPECIALS. Paul Rogers of the San Jose Mercury checks in with... "I'm with you on www.YouTube.com. It is one of the more hypnotic websites, and a real bottomless chest of video treasures. You mentioned in your column this week a few performances you've been watching on the YouTube site. Here's a classic I thought you might appreciate, in case you haven't run across it already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FAKRpUCYY PS - They're even posting musical saw videos now. Somebody call the cops. It's gone too far! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5flhMjEm7o" Best, Paul Rogers.

Saw aficionados know that this would be the Asylum Street Spankers and the woman sawyer plays in a minor key on purpose. Go to www.YouTube.com and also check out Ryan Sheckler, then look at "Drunken Bush" (it's weird), look at "Do you speak English" or the high tech magician Marco Tempest. Then Roland Schambeck tells us to watch http://"Is Bush An Idiot?"

WARNING: YOUTUBE IS ADDICTING, ALLOW AT LEAST 15 MINUTES TO WATCH...PER VISIT.

JUG BAND EXTRAVAGANZA. Bruce Engelhardt of the Dirty Butter band fame sent in this press release for jug lovers:

Subject: Nine Hours of Jug-A-Mania! The California Jug Band Association presents the first San Francisco Jug Band Festival on Sunday, August 27th, from 10:00 a.m. 'til 7:00 p.m. at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, 43 Shelley Dr., in San Francisco's McLaren Park. Go to www.jugfest.org for band list and links, directions and more information.

This event is FREE! The San Francisco Jug Band Festival features eleven bands from as far away as Portland, Ore. and Los Angeles, CA. performing nine hours of constant good time, foot stomping, hand clapping jug band music. Along with the more familiar guitars, harmonicas, mandolins, fiddles, banjos and sometimes horns, jug bands stomp up the beat with washboard rhythms, the punch of the washtub bass and the tuba-like blast of the namesake jug. Even kazoos are legitimate jug band instruments and wail like Louis Armstrong's trumpet in the hands (and mouths) of real artists.

Contact: Bruce Engelhardt 831-429-8823 Contact/media contact: Bebo White 415-806-0159 or bebo@slac.stanford.edu
Visit the festival website for band lists and links, directions, contacts and more information: www.jugfest.org

KU KLUX KLAN KLASS. Yes, the KKK came to Santa Cruz, so did racial prejudice. Sandy Lydon is going to give a class on this relevant topic. He calls it Snakes In the Garden. It'll give background to what remain in our county today, such as graffiti on our churches, immigration attitudes, things like that. You can enroll online, I just did. Go to http://www.sandylydon.com/html/lec.html . I'll save you a seat.

UNIVERSITY GRAPEVINE. This Thursday and every Thursday 4-5p.m. I host University Grapevine on radio station KZSC 88.1. This week I'll be talking with Terrence Welch about state proposition 89. That's the CALIFORNIA CLEAN MONEY CAMPAIGN, go to http://www.caclean.org/ and see how it works. We need to do something about our terrible and dirty campaigns. And I think this has great potential...tune in. maybe I'll have some representative of S.A.W. (Students Against War) on too, but you never know. They are getting ready for the military recruiters to return to the UCSC campus in a week or too. Look at those Iraq veterans in that photo again http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/14/18297184.php and tell Bush what you think of his war.

QUOTES. "Women are an alien race of pagans set down among us. Very seduction is a conversion." -John Updike. "I blame my father for telling me about the birds and bees. I went steady with a woodpecker for two years." -Bob Hope. "Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is 100 percent." -R.D.Laing. "A woman is like a tea bag. You can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." -Nancy Reagan.

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Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.