June 18 – 24, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…The Dreaded Dream Inn Project, Highway 1 projects and city budget, Simon Kelly died, Ugly Building contest. GREENSITE…still in Wales. KROHN…Big visitor weekend, city two year plan, police review board.STEINBRUNER…Mid County Groundwater, County budget balanced!, Community colleges and student housing, Soquel Creek Water District and KSCO. PATTON…Civil Disobedience. EAGAN…The Underlying Crime. JENSEN…The Dead Don’t Die. BRATTON…I critique All Is True, Late Night, The Dead Don’t Die and Tomorrow Man. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”Debates”


                                 

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CHICKEN VILLA. April 4, 1950. My feeble research only hints that this might be Doc’s and Monica’s Chicken Villa drive in.. Located at Front and Laurel, which would probably be where Walgreens is located today. I believe I still have the waitresses’ names someone sent me years ago…any help on this puzzle?                                                       

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

MUSICAL SAW FESTIVAL. Thomas Spearance our most active Santa Cruz Saw Player posted this clip.

SANTA MONICA PIER COLLAPSE IN 1983. Couldn’t ever happen here…could it?

John Lithgow is in two new movies this week (see below). I played musical saw, jug, washboard and slide whistle on an album he sang on. That’s us with me seated because I was a bit taller than he was.

DATELINE June 17

DREAM INN PROJECT. The Dream Inn developers are gearing up with their supposed “community” meetings and quickly before we know it their plots and plans will be floated before the city council. The Save Santa Cruz Westside organization has kept on top of this threat to our city and sent out many important notices. I’m re-“printing” most of their latest one here…stay tuned, it’ll affect all of us for generations.

“It is imperative we express our concerns about this project: the massive size, the height (56′ including stairwells and decks), the increased traffic (cars, pedestrians and bicycles) to an already congested intersection, slower response time for emergency vehicles, excavation for a 2 story underground parking garage that might cause destabilization of cliffs, the addition of commercial/retail to an area currently zoned motel/residential, only 10 affordable condos out of 89, loss of viewshed and heritage trees, as well as increased noise and air pollution

Every one should be informed about 3 very important meetings that have been scheduled for the Dream Inn project (aka 190 West Cliff).

There is a Community Meeting (by the Dream Inn Developer) tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, July 10 at the Cruzio Building located at 877 Cedar St.. It is important to attend this meeting to see what changes the developers have made to the project and express our concerns with this massive development

The project is expected to go before the City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission on Thursday, August 15.  It could go forward to the Santa Cruz City Council 2-3 weeks later (possibly in early September).  

It is important to get as many people as possible to these meetings to show our opposition and express our concerns! Please help get the word out to the community! We will post updates on these critical meetings on our website:  savesantacruzwestside.org

For more information on the developers plans, google 190 West Cliff, City of Santa Cruz.

Thank you for your continuing efforts!

And especially, we must insist on a full EIR!  

There are many objections to holding this “community” meeting so far away from the community affected – it will pose great difficulty for our CVC elderly population to attend. If it’s in the same room at Cruzio as the 6-story project was held last year, it is far too small a room, and parking during the summer downtown will be a challenge – I’m sure part of the strategy.. 

We will be sending in a request – and hope others do too – to hold the meeting IN the neighborhood of the project (St Joseph’s church room, SCPD Community Room or Louden Nelson option, or Circles church room for example – assuming their Dream Inn conference rooms are not available) and that there be a Q&A format! We hope hundreds of Santa Cruzans and others can attend! Spread the word.

REMOVE HIGHWAY ONE PROJECTS FROM CITY BUDGET. Rick Longinotti from the Campaign for Sustainable transportation has some, not just good, but necessary city financial and environmental concepts. Read the campaign’s latest newsletter.

Reducing Traffic Injuries Begins with Santa Cruz City Council budget Tuesday, June 25th  
Action: Sign an email to City Council .
The City of Santa Cruz budget contains two big projects that would increase auto capacity and take us farther from our goal to reduce fossil fuel consumption:

  • Replacing the four-lane Hwy 1 bridge over the San Lorenzo River with a seven-lane bridge.
  • Expanding the intersection at Hwy 1 and River St.

The City Council can remove these projects from the budget at its next meeting on June 25.

There’s another important reason to remove these projects. The projects would undermine the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists on our streets in two ways:

  1. Expanding intersections almost always results in making them more intimidating for bicyclists and pedestrians. The plans for Hwy 1/River St. call for unprotected bike lanes on River St. of the minimum legal width of four feet. A bicyclist in that lane will be vulnerable to speeding traffic in the additional sweeping right turn lane from Hwy 1.
  2. The opportunity cost of these “improvements” is a human cost. Santa Cruz is consistently at or near the top of the list of injuries to bicyclists and pedestrians of 103 California cities of similar size. Spending limited local funds on making our streets safe should be our priority. Instead we’re targeting $15.5 million for bridge replacement and $8.5 million for Hwy 1/River St. intersection expansion, with over $5 million in City funds to be spent in the next fiscal year.

Vision Zero, the international movement to reduce traffic injuries, urges us to stop thinking about traffic collisions as “accidents”. Would you agree with me that our City’s high rate of injuries to bicyclists and pedestrians is not accidental?  If so, please Sign an email to City Council

SIMON KELLY DIED. Simon died last Friday. His sons were with him. Among many, many achievements Simon was a staunch member of UCSC’s Dickens Players, and played many roles in productions here and in the Bay Area. He and I go back to our student years at U.C. Berkeley. We hung out during jazz, lsd, folk music, weed, opera, and the Monterey Jazz Festival’s earliest years. We’ll all miss him.

UGLY BUILDING CONTEST. Peter Scott UCSC Physics professor emeritus, and co founder of The Campaign for Sustainable Transportation has a great idea. He asks..

“How about a viewer poll: What’s the ugliest building now under construction in Santa Cruz? He says, “I would vote for at least two: (a) Swenson’s condo block (1547 Pacific Ave?) (b) The Hilton Hotel at Mission & King (west end of King)”.

Let’s go for it. Send any all entries to the usual  bratton@cruzio.com

June 17

“Apologies for my absence from this column…I’ll be back soon”. ( July 1)

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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June 17

HOME SWEET HOME.
I love this town. This past weekend was arguably the busiest of the year: 14 UCSC graduation ceremonies over three days and the usual Boardwalk madness, including the free Friday night beach concert. The traffic…fuhget-about-it! Locals know to stay far from High and Bay, and Beach Street and Pacific, but Mission and Ocean also functioned as alternative Seaside parking lots at various times during the weekend. Downtown was a pretty safe bet to try and get away from the bumper to bumper traffic elsewhere. Walking was the best mode of transit. And with all those graduations we should be proud to show off Santa Cruz. It’s a special place, one that it is pretty nice to show to all the parents, relatives, family and friends who visited.

ENVS Graduation
In my other life, many of you know that I believe deep into my soul that theory without practice misses a lot of life. Our 650-plus ENVS interns every year not only put out an enormous number of labor-of-love hours in this community, they also get a helluva an education on local farms, in an assembly member’s office, learning to teach kids at Life Lab or the Marine Sanctuary Center or at Natural Bridges State Park. It’s a great program that I am lucky to be a part of because it is the inquiring mind of undergraduates that can light a fire under the older generation’s trend toward cynicism and discomfort. So, back to the graduating culture…our Environmental Studies graduation brought close to seven hundred friends, family, and graduates to this year’s ceremony last Friday morning. Vice-mayor Justin Cummings was one of two keynote speakers and he hit it out of the park with undergrads when he said he never expected to get a PhD and be vice-mayor 15 years ago when he was sitting where the class of 2019 sat that day.  It was an improbable and wonderfully overcast morning at the remodeled UCSC Hay Barn near the base of campus. The other keynote, retiring Sociology Professor, Andy Szasz connected with students most when he described looking for the ideal job as they might look for the ideal relationship: it takes time and many false starts, which might even include one or two divorces along the way too.

Strategic Planning
I love this town too because there are more dedicated activists, volunteers, and politically involved denizens than in most other towns our size in all of America. This past Saturday morning dozens of Surf City’s finest activists gathered at a local union hall to discuss what could be contained in the next city of Santa Cruz Strategic Two-Year Plan. But this year’s biennial strategic plan is only going to be a “six-month” one, and nobody can figure out why. (You can access the past two city strategic plans here.) The last one, crafted in 2017 by a 5-2 council in which Councilmember Sandy Brown and me were in the minority on most big issues, focused on three over-arching themes: “housing, public safety and well-being, and infrastructure.” Pretty broad themes, right? So broad that it was difficult to parse city councilmember hopes and desires from staff’s penchant to keep on keepin’ on with the practices of the past. In the past, housing seemed to mean ‘all housing is good housing,’ instead of ONLY build housing if it is affordable for “low and very low” incomes and if it is focused toward the people who live here now, not second homes or tech housing for those living over the hill. And public safety and well-being basically aimed to hire as many sworn officers as possible without a plan, and without adequate police review in place or even planned. Infrastructure meant paving streets and moving cars as quickly as possible in a town famous for overbearing traffic and intersections at LOS–level of service–ratings at or near the “F” mark. But there was an election, as there often is in western democracies, and new people came into power.

A Progressive Strategic Plan
What about this as the beginning of a strategic plan? One that might more accurately reflect the progressive values and aspirations of our town.

Dr. James Hansen, 1988: “The greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now.”

Hansen, 2017: “The simple thing is, I’m sorry we’re leaving such a fucking mess,” he said.(New Yorker interview) 

NOTE: 1988 turned out to be the hottest year since modern instrumental records began in the 19th century. That mark has since been broken, in 1990, 1998, 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016.)

  1. Climate
    • over-arching theme-message for today, of Santa Cruz, is the Climate and climate change is the central issue that every other strategic goal and action ought to flow through, i.e. the climate lens.
    • Actions:
      • Reinstate 2015 climate goal as outlined in Strategic Plan
      • set greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” by 2025
  2. Infrastructure, Traffic, and Housing
    • All new construction must be carbon neutral
    • Actions:
      • Remodel the library on the site of the current library with the bond money that has been approved by voters
      • No purchases of non-emergency diesel and gasoline vehicles, e-vehicles only
      • Expedite installation plan for electric plug-in stations across Santa Cruz
      • Pursue backlog of $19 million in accumulated grant funds for bicycle and pedestrian projects as supported by the Public Works and Transportation Commission
      • Make 25% the inclusionary of low and very low as specified by HUD     as the requirement for developers to undertake housing projects in the city
      • Grandfather in unpermitted ADU units that do not affect health and safety of occupant

      • Support housing that favors our workers with Santa Cruz salaries  ver over commuter housing
      • Reform and restructure the “rental inspection ordinance” program and make it a tenant protection and tenant rights safety net program.
      • Identify bike and pedestrian projects that can be substituted for the $8.5 million going to the intersection widening project at Hwy. 1 and 9 (“traffic impact fees.”)

      • The golf course in DeLaveaga must pay for itself through course fees
  3. Homelessness, Social Justice, Quality of Life, and Public Safety
    • Actions:
      • Create a police review board

      • Commit to using Quimby funds to provide the requisite amount of park space for every new housing development
      • Bring forward a wireless cell ordinance that contemplates the seismic shift(s) on the horizon with the coming of 5G technology and protects the health, safety of consumers and complies with ADA requirements
      • Build a 24/7 homeless shelter and navigation center now. It is needed, it’s necessary; we cannot wait another two years.
      • Create a plan to convert existing temporary workers to permanent worker positions.
      • Revamp and enforce the “local hire ordinance.”
  4. Public Process and Council Process
    • Recommit ourselves to working with and serving the residents of this city by expanding our outreach efforts
    • Actions:
      • We will solve the age-old question of “how to get something on the agenda?” Support the concept that any councilmember can place an item on the agenda and it must appear within a reasonable, council agreed upon, time period.

      • Revisit the General Plan in order to address the conflicts that exist pertaining to land use protection vs. development (especially with respect to Golf Club Dr. coming development, Front Street development, Hwy. 1 and 9 intersection widening, and the Corridors Plan.

      • Full Disclosure ordinance. Develop a policy in which city councilmembers have to disclose all meetings they’ve attended wi       with interested individuals before deciding an item in which the council sits a          as a quasi-judicial body.
      • Change to threshold for staff bringing items to the council from the current $100,000 to $50,000

“Mr. President, you’re from Queens.
You may fool the rest of the country, but I’ll call your bluff any day of the week.
Opening an impeachment inquiry is exactly what we must do when the President obstructs justice, advises witnesses to ignore legal subpoenas, & more.
Bye” (June 17)
  

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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June 17

ADVISORY COMMITTEE WILL VOTE THIS THURSDAY (6/20) ON DRAFT WATER PLAN FOR MIDCOUNTY’S FUTURE
This Thursday, June 20, will be the final time the MidCounty Groundwater Advisory Committee will meet.  Their final action will be to vote on the Draft MidCounty Groundwater Sustainability Plan that will then be sent to that agency’s Board for consideration on July 18.  The Advisory Committee was hand-picked by members of the Board to represent the interests of various stakeholders in the MidCounty Groundwater Basin, but with the exception of Central Water District’s May 30 well-attended outreach event, there has been no effort to actively involve members of the public in the process of creating this Plan that will dictate, once approved by the State, how much water might be used by whom and how much respective jurisdictions will have to pay to monitor the implementation and monitoring of the Plan.

Attend this Thursday’s MidCounty Groundwater Agency Advisory Committee meeting if you are able.  It is at the Simpkins Swim Center in Live Oak, and begins at 5pm.  Here is the link  

ABRACADABRA….A BALANCED COUNTY BUDGET!
This week, the County Board of Supervisors are meeting daily to examine the County Budget that has been promised by County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios to be a balanced one, and, for the first time in the County history,  will stretch ahead for the next two years. Take a look at the proposed budget and see what you think  

It is a massive document, but I wonder how the CAO can support  claims that the CAO Office needs a 7.6% increase in their budget of $4.3 Million for next year.  The County Debt Service Budget will increase $7.2 Million, up 3.7% from last year.  The Board of Supervisors will have to tighten their belts  next year with only a  1.2% increase (well, they got a raise of 8% last year, after all) but will get a budget increase of 4/7% in 2020/2021.  Whew.  The piece that has me worried is the proposed Dept. of Public Works budget decrease (to be considered on Wednesday morning as Item #36): a 5.5% DECREASE  in expenditures next year, and a 20.4% decrease in expenditures the following year.  Hmmmm…that does not seem supportive of the infrastructure needs of the County.  For the next two years, there will be countywide traffic counts conducted, just to see what the numbers are for prioritizing the crumbs.  

Meanwhile, as a consent agenda item #42, the Live Oak Library Annex near the Simpkins Swim Center will get $7 Million and break ground in the fall of 2021.  This space, which promises to have “a small collection of books”, is brought to you by Measure S tax funds meant to support the library system. Attend any of these meetings that you can.  You can also watch them live stream.

SHOULD COMMUNITY COLLEGES START BUILDING STUDENT HOUSING?
That is an interesting question recently addressed in the news.  Santa Cruz County Planning Dept. is currently looking at changing zoning ordinances to allow such housing projects as well as at public schools and hospitals.  Here is the link to the article.   

WE CHERISH PUBLIC COMMENT
That is what Soquel Creek Water District General Manager Ron Duncan and Board President Tom LaHue said Saturday afternoon on KSCO “Think Local”.  I nearly lost my lunch, because they sure do not treat people who come to their meetings well. Listen to that podcast for June 15 here. It was nothing more than an advertisement for the Soquel Creek Water District’s plan to inject millions of gallons daily of treated sewage water into the drinking water supply for the MidCounty residents.

URGE THE SANTA CITY COUNCIL TO JUST SAY “WAIT”
The City Council will consider an agreement on June 25 to approve an agreement with Soquel Creek Water District that will not have been vetted by the City Water Commission.  Do you think that is good governance?  The City Water Commission did not like the agreement that Soquel Creek Water District tried to shove through, but bowed to the District’s insistence that it be on the final Council agenda in June.  The real driver for the urgency is that the District has to spend all money by February 29, 2020 that might get reimbursed by possible grant money they desperately want to get from state and federal agencies.  Why such a rush?  What if the people rise up, just as what happened in 2013 with the DeSal Alternatives, and submit petitions to put the issue on the ballot???  Does Soquel Creek Water District listen or care?  NO.   Is the Council mindful of that?  You had better write them with your thoughts….  City Council citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com

BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN OVERCROSSING COMING SOON IN LIVE OAK AREA….AND SOMEDAY IN APTOS
I enjoyed attending the Regional Transportation Commission Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting last week.  There was considerable discussion about the proposed Chanticleer Avenue Bike/Pedestrian overcrossing that will link the Live Oak area to the Dominican Hospital area.  I was more interested in finding out when the same sort of crossing that has been promised to the Aptos area might actually happen. Here is the link to that project, which might happen in the next five years

The location of this overcrossing completely disregards the public input that clearly stated the access would be better if located on the edge of the Cabrillo College athletic fields.  That would be better for the Mar Vista Elementary School kids, and would better serve Cabrillo College.  Instead, it looks like the crossing is planned for Mar Vista Drive, which is closer to State Park Drive, and is a narrow road with no room for bike lanes. The Chanticleer Avenue overcrossing is closer to happening, being built in conjunction with the Highway One widening work that has already begun….here is the link.  

Contact Ms. Sarah Christensen at the RTC with your thoughts:  Sarah Christensen schristensen@sccrtc.org

WRITE ONE LETTER.  MAKE ONE CALL.  ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.    BUT GET SCRAPPY AND JUST DO SOMETHING!  Cheers,

Becky

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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June 13, 2019
#164 / One More Sunbeam (That’s Our Problem)

The latest edition of The Sun magazine showed up in my mailbox recently. You can, by the way, get a free trial issue, if you’d like, by just clicking this link and going from there. 

I often turn to the “Sunbeams” section of the magazine first. That section comes right at the end and has various quotations that both energize and inspire. 

This time around, readers heard from Howard Zinn (among other persons). What Zinn had to say is worth passing along: 

“Civil disobedience . . . is not our problem. . . . Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government. . . . Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem”. 

Howard Zinn

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Just a peek will do it for our wild and wooly deeper thoughts. Scroll below…just a bit.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” The Underlying Crime” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

MUNCHING WITH MOZART. Every third Thursday of almost every month there is a free concert held in the upstairs meeting room of the threatened Santa Cruz Public Library. This month the musicoians areThe Fourtes and it happens June 20, 12:10-1 p.m. The program contains… Miles Crawford • Alexander Lee • Olivia Kang • Hannah Kuo on VIOLINS.

They’ll be playing works by Telemann, Lachner, Mozart, Hiller, Bacewacz and Piazzolla.

Remember…it’s free and at the Santa Cruz Library, April 18, 2019 12:10-1:00

Central Branch Meeting Room upstairs.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “In some circles, the words “Jim Jarmusch zombie comedy” would be all the PR you’d need to sell a movie titled “The Dead Don’t Die” Especially when you factor in a cast that includes Bill Murray, Steve Buscemi, and Tilda Swinton (among many others). Find out why it never quite comes to life this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/).” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

ALL IS TRUE. Who better to bring William Shakespeare’s life after his leaving the theatre than Kenneth Branagh , Ian McKellen ,and  Judi Dench ? Scholars know a lot about Shakespeare and this is maybe how he dealt with the death of his son Hamnet after the Globe theatre burned down. Sticking in as many quotes as possible which keeps reminding us how monumental and important his plays were and are to the world today. Yet, it’s boring in spots or as he said, “Speak on, but be not over-tedious.”  CLOSES THURSDAY, JUNE 20

LATE NIGHT. Don’t believe the “dramatic comedy” label the distributers put on this no laugh drama with Emma Thompson as a failing late night tv host, and the always dependable John Lithgow as her husband and protector. Predictable, unrewarding, lack of direction. Emma is a favorite of mine but she just mugs her way through this one.

THE DEAD DON’T DIE. Jim Jarmusch has always been talked about as some sort of great director…but not by me. Somebody could make a hilarious zombie comedy…the world needs one, and this isn’t it. Too much killing going on, violence too present? I’m not sure, but even when you add a cast like Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, and Tom Waits you have barely a few snickers.

TOMORROW MAN. John Lithgow is paired up with Blythe Danner as two old geezers (he’s really 74 and Blythe is 76) Blythe Danner is also Gwyneth Paltrow’s momma! I added these facts because they are more absorbing than the movie. The boring plot involves how these oldsters plan on the future. The ending is seriously beyond belief and should be outlawed from Hollywood movies. CLOSES THURSDAY, JUNE 20

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS. Many, many evil monsters in this version. The meanest is a three headed monster named CynDonnaMar who lives only to kill humans.

Godzilla freaks will tell you that more than 35 Godzilla movies have been made so far and the ending of this newest one hints that Godzilla will not be so pro humanity in the next one. That next one is probably the King Kong Godzilla production they promise in 2020. This one’s absolutely zero fun from any perspective. It’s serious, ¾ of it takes place on desktops, inside offices on computer screens…very few wide screen anything. It’s moralistic, and then too it contains Vera Farmiga and a little Sally Hawkins and they are always good but wasted here.

BOOKSMART. A surprising 98 on RT. This comedy about two smart high school girlfriends on their last night before graduation escaped me completely. I’m so removed from high schoolers today that I couldn’t relate or follow any part of their adventures. It’s feminist, brave, clever, even sexual and rapid moving.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Over 2 billion dollars at the opening weekend box office!!! A world record-shattering Marvel-Disney experience. It’s too much for me to critique. Even were I to accept all the other world characters that inhabit this Marvel–Disney franchise, Rocket the wise talking raccoon would be a step too far. The rest of the cast could be — and are — contained in Wagner’s Ring operas, Greek and Roman legends and dozens of comic books throughout the last 60 years. Like most successful movies today, this one is full of violence, hatred, bloodshed. I’m sorry I saw it, and you know if you’ll like it, so there you are!!! I should add that there are cameos by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Natalie Portman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford, Tom Hiddleston and probably more but it doesn’t matter. Oh yes, it got a 95 on RT.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. On June 18 Phillippe Habib from Coastal Haven Families and Common Roots Farm talks about the issues and plans the groups are dealing with. Then Kara Meyberg Guzman and Stephen Baxter from “Santa Cruz Local” news organization reveal their ideas about local news and today’s politics. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

Some really neat ideas here!

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES.   “DEBATES”

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum….” Noam Chomsky, The Common Good
“If you’ve got the truth you can demonstrate it. Talking doesn’t prove it.” Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
“Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.” Desmond Tutu
“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100/Methuselah’s Children


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com


Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

June 11 – 17, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…About Nina Simon and MAH, UCSC’s new chancellor, East Meadow Update, Re-call reflections. GREENSITE…leaves for Caernarfon in Wales. KROHN…will be back next week. STEINBRUNER…Sustainable Santa Cruz EIR, Traffic lights cause accidents, County budget problems, new voting machines, Soquel Creek Water District issues. PATTON…about Pelosi and attitude. EAGAN…and looming logos. JENSEN…Reviews All Is True. BRATTON…I critique Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Souvenir.  UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “Elections”.


                                 

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CALIFORNIA ADMISSION DAY PARADE September 9, 1888 at 11:27 am. In case you forgot, California achieved statehood in 1850 without becoming a territory first. This is now Church and Walnut streets, where we now find Verizon, Hotel Palomar, The Hat Company and Artisans.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

MUSICAL SAW DUET. Just a reminder that our very own Santa Cruz Musical Saw weekend is coming soon!

RICHARD PRYOR…37 MINUTES. Pryor has been pronounced the greatest stand-up comic of all time. Here’s proof of that greatness, from 1977.

DATELINE June 10

NINA SIMON COMMUNITY CENTER. With all the big ceremonies and tributes to Nina Simon’s leaving Santa Cruz, I think there’s an idea no-one’s brought up yet: change the name from MAH Museum of Art and History to the NINA SIMON COMMUNITY CENTER. It’s the least we could do. She made it an amazingly successful community center, and it is no more an Art and History Museum than it is an Aquarium or Zoo. Back in the day, artists who needed to see and display art would be inspired, moved and motivated. Historians who cared about preserving our local history had a focus. That’s gone now. So many of those artists and historians would tell me their stories and concerns, and wanted to save MAH the way it had grown… but it was not to be. Nina took the reins and created a very active, ongoing Community Center instead. Let’s name it after her.

NEW CHANCELLOR PHOTO. Quite a surprise to see Cynthia Larive‘s photo last week, as the new UCSC Chancellor. I think we sort of expected an Elizabeth Warren lookalike or maybe a Pete Buttigieg. It’s hard to picture Cynthia hugging a tree, or raising her fists to stop the destruction of the East Meadow. Doesn’t she look more like Janet Napolitano’s best friend? Eleven chancellors can’t be all wrong.

EAST MEADOW UPDATE. June 10. James Clifford, and the UCSC stalwarts who are devoting every minute to defending UCSC’s East Meadow, sent this update. “It’s been six weeks since the last update that announced our lawsuit to prevent the University from building prefab housing in the iconic East Meadow. The legal process is moving forward, slowly.  

Meanwhile, the meadow remains untouched, except for a row of wooden markers along the northern boundary of the intended building site. The stakes are now submerged in tall grass — the sweeping horizon line unbroken. From green to brown, the transition has been accomplished, as it is every April and May. 

We are fairly confident that litigation can keep the University from digging up the meadow this summer. A new Chancellor and Interim Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor will assume their duties on July 1st. This is a time of transition, bringing fresh visions and strategies to UCSC’s administration. As they settle in, we urge as many people as possible to contact our new leaders, urging them to reconsider the plan that sacrifices our campus gateway and long-standing design traditions for so little new housing.

Cynthia Larive, Chancellor. chancellor@ucsc.edu
Lori Kletzer, Interim Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor. cpevc@ucsc.edu

Financial contributions from many people are making our litigation possible. Details on how to help can be found at our website: eastmeadowaction.org

RE-CALL, REFLECTIONS ON. Since the late 60’s Santa Cruz has been an unusual town. Consider the fact, for example, that the two biggest attractions here are (a) an amusement park, and (b) a university. Our city grew from a quiet Republican zone to one where politics rears its sometimes ugly reactionary head, and sometimes a beautiful progressive head, and the latest RE-CALL effort against Krohn and Glover certainly highlights that ugly divide. It’s the money-focused home owners against the renters. The newcomers vs the homeless. Silicon centered gentry vs. the weekly Food Bank….it’s sad to see all this division in print. The re-call will cost big bucks, take time, and probably come out being close to the next 2020 election. As I keep reminding folks, we did have 22,438 Trump voters in the county. We don’t need more trouble. Krohn and Glover are impetuous, lack decorum, and are non-traditional — but they are both caring, kind hearted, generous and protectors of the needy. We need them in office. We need to adjust, and so do they.

June 10

UP UP AND AWAY!
For the next two weeks I will be in Caernarfon in Wales. With no reliable computer access nor much quiet time to write, my next column for BrattonOnline won’t be until the first week of July.

Why Wales? I have been invited by the Royal Air Force to attend a ceremony in Caernarfon in northern Wales where an RAF plane will be dedicated to a long ago cousin, Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees who was a pilot in World War 1, as was my father. Lionel was awarded the Victoria Cross (the highest military honor in Britain) and his life story recorded in a book by Welsh historian Alister Williams. During a late night bored Google search, on a whim, I looked up Lionel’s name and discovered that a book had been written of his life. One copy left on Amazon and a few days later, having purchased and read the book I learned that after the war Lionel had sailed solo in a 24 foot boat from Wales to The Bahamas and that he died there in 1955 with his gravesite in the RAF cemetery in Nassau. After much searching I found the author who confirmed my relationship to Lionel. He and my father were first cousins. My birth name is Gillian Rees.

On another whim, I suggested to my son, who is also a pilot, that on my next visit to central Florida where he lives, that we fly to the Bahamas to find the gravesite and pay our respects. He suggested we fly in his two-seater Cessna 152.  Up for the adventure I agreed. As we flew on the first leg over the Everglades with the Atlantic Ocean up next, I did manage a small voice saying that I admitted to being nervous. My son retorted that unlike Lionel, we had GPS and no German planes firing at us, which did help a bit.

After many wrong turns by local buses we did find his gravesite, paid our respects and watching the weather, a few days later (it was July and hurricane season) flew back in two legs to central Florida. (One photo is the two of us on our way to The Bahamas. The other is on landing back in Florida and happy to be on firm ground again)

That was a decade ago. A few weeks ago I received an email from an RAF officer telling me about the ceremony and as relatives of Lionel’s, inviting me and my son to attend. Also attending will be Lionel’s grown up children whom I have never met. They are cousins and as someone whose family had emigrated to Australia from Britain in 1948, completely separated from any extended family, this will be a special occasion. What makes it even more special is that Lionel married a local Bahamanian woman and given the racism of the time, was probably excommunicated from the rest of the Rees family in England. His name was never mentioned in my household growing up in Australia. When I bought the book and was leafing through the photos, the last one was a picture of his wife, who was of course black. I exclaimed, “so that explains why we never talked about Lionel Rees!” So this will be a meaningful journey on many levels.

My great great grandfather, James Rees was Mayor of Caernarfon and the current Mayor will be attending the ceremonies. The old family home is still within the 11th century Caernarfon Castle walls and the RAF is going to give the whole family a private tour of the War Museum in London. I have never been to Wales so lots of stories to share upon return.

Apologies for my absence from this column…I’ll be back soon.

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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Chris Krohn is away this week. He will be back next week.

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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June 10

SUSTAINABLE SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PLAN WILL FINALLY GET AN ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The County Board of Supervisors will most likely approve Consent Agenda Items #64 and #65 (that means the issues will not be publicly discussed or questioned, and are by definition, “non-controversial”) to award Dudek consultants nearly $400,000 to do the required Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan, approved in concept in 2014.  Since then, the Planning Department has piece-mealed it, approving certain zoning changes to support whatever project came through waving a dollar under their nose….such as the Nissan Dealership at 41st Avenue in Soquel.  Every year at County Budget Hearings, the Board of Supervisors would ask Planning Director Kathy Molloy when the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan might have the required environmental review completed???  She had lots of reasons, but mostly, just that there wasn’t staff or money to do it. 

Well, taxpayers will now have to pay yet another outside consultant, Dudek, to get the work actually done.  Dudek will do this required work for a mere $399,385 and get the show on the road for creating dense mixed-use development throughout the County, regardless of whether we have the infrastructure to support it or not. Here is the link to the item; see what you think.

The Planning Dept. staff will have to report to the Board on or before September 24, 2019, according to the staff report for Item #65.  The associated issue, Consent Agenda item #64, will approve application for a SB 2 Planning Grant from the state Department of Housing and Community Development to get funding for paying Dudek. Here is the link for that item.

Just in case you have forgotten what the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan means for your neighborhood (it has, after all, been many years ago that there were public meetings to gather your ideas), here is the link to that document.

In Seacliff, for example, the wonderful Manuel’s Restaurant area would be essentially bulldozed and replaced with two-story mixed-use dense development.

DOES A TRAFFIC LIGHT MAKE AN INTERSECTION SAFER?
I asked that question regarding the Trout Gulch and Soquel Drive intersection traffic light that replaced the four-way stop signs.  The County is preparing to put a second traffic light at Aptos Creek Road and Soquel Drive this summer.  I filed a Public Records Act request with CHP for the reports of all accidents at the intersection.  Before the light went in, there were two or three accidents, but sometimes none.  Since the light has been installed, there have been eight….maybe more by now.  I see people speeding through, trying to “make the light” when before, the stop signs caused people to pause and acknowledge pedestrians and other motorists at the intersection. 

What will a second traffic light at Aptos Creek Road and Soquel Drive do for the flow of congested traffic in the Aptos Village area???

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

WRITE ONE LETTER.  MAKE ONE CALL.  ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. BUT GET SCRAPPY AND JUST DO SOMETHING!

Cheers, Becky

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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June 10 #161 / Crossing The Line

The San Francisco Chronicle is Nancy Pelosi’s hometown paper. Generally speaking, the Chronicle strongly supports her positions. Not on Saturday, June 8, 2019, however. 

On that date, the paper ran a short editorial statement with this headline: “Pelosi crosses the line with ‘prison’ comment.” I am reprinting the entire statement, below, because I think it provides a warning to all of us. We are facing a politics that seems to be spinning out of control, and keeping “steady as she goes” is a political virtue not to be underestimated. Those who would like to return some basic decency to our national politics properly deplore calls to “Lock Her Up” (meaning Hillary Clinton). These are part of the standard agenda at rallies promoted by our current president, Donald Trump. The Chronicle suggests that those who feel this way should not be imitating him:

Pelosi crosses the line with ‘prison’ comment 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been steadfastly strategic in her restraint amid a growing clamor within the Democratic ranks to begin impeachment proceedings. Pelosi has insisted “nothing is off the table,” but House committees should first proceed with their investigations and gather the evidence that could produce a “very compelling case to the American people.” 

So it was disturbing to learn from Politico, citing “multiple sources,” that Pelosi told a group of senior Democrats, “I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison.” There may or may not be a case for criminal prosecution after President Trump leaves office, but for the speaker to advocate for it out loud, even behind closed doors, undermines her efforts to keep the impeachment talk at bay. It’s hard to argue that a president who belongs in prison should stay in office for another minute. 

Even worse is the notion — so cavalierly practiced under tin-pot dictatorships or expressed by the 45th president of the United States — that locking up one’s political opponents is an acceptable exercise of power. Let the congressional investigations proceed with vigor, fearlessness — and toned-down rhetoric.

What Diaz is saying, the way I read him, is that Trump is not a good role model, and that there is another way to get rid of that guy. It’s called an election. Of course, not everyone agrees with Diaz, as a letter to the editor from Eleanor Fischbein, printed in today’s Chronicle, makes clear.

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. See Eagan’s  hree dimensional inside look at our realist selves!!! Scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Loving Logos” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Celebrate the start of Shakespeare Season in Santa Cruz with Kenneth Branagh’s witty, tender cinematic ode to the Bard, All Is True, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). And some thoughts on dismantling an archive, now that my Art Boy has been gone for over a year. (Can you believe it?)” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

NEW FEATURE — NEXT WEEK.

Watch this space. Folks have been asking for it…I’m more than excited about bringing “IT” to you.

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS. Many, many evil monsters in this version. The meanest is a three-headed monster named CynDonnaMar, who lives only to kill humans.

Godzilla freaks will tell you that more than 35 Godzilla movies have already been made, and the ending of this one hints that Godzilla will not be so pro-humanity in the next. That next one is probably the King Kong Godzilla production, promised in 2020. This one’s absolutely zero fun from any perspective. It’s serious, moralistic, three quarters of it takes place on desktops, inside offices on computer screens…very few widescreen anything. It contains Vera Farmiga and a little Sally Hawkins — and they are always good — but wasted here.

THE SOUVENIR. Tilda Swinton’s daughter Honor Swinton Byrne, and Tilda, both star in this cinematic enigma. It’s mostly about a young woman falling in love. It’s told in flash backs and future foretelling and is really hard to follow. There’ll be 10 to 20 minutes stretches where you won’t know what’s happening or why. They claim it’s new wave movie scripting, but do be very aware. CLOSES THURSDAY, JUNE 13

WHITE CROW. Rudolf Nureyev has got to be the most famous male ballet dancer (danseur noble, ballerina) of all time. Well, there’s also Baryshnikov (still alive) and Nijinsky of course. But Nureyev appears to be a nasty jerk in this movie from a book. The big deal is/was he defected from Russia (1961) where he lived and trained all his life and moving to fame and fortune in England and the USA. That defection took more than courage. The movie lacks the intensity to bring you into it, and to give the care and curiosity Nureyev deserves. I can’t find any info on the Nureyev documentary that Landmark had shown us for a few weeks. They must have pulled it when this one became available first. It’s gotta be better than White Crow. CLOSES THURSDAY, JUNE 13

BOOKSMART. A surprising 98 on RT. This comedy about two smart high school girlfriends on their last night before graduation escaped me completely. I’m so removed from high schoolers today that I couldn’t relate or follow any part of their adventures. It’s feminist, brave, clever, even sexual and rapid moving.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Over 2 billion dollars at the opening weekend box office!!! A world record-shattering Marvel-Disney experience. It’s too much for me to critique. Even were I to accept all the other world characters that inhabit this Marvel–Disney franchise, Rocket the wise talking raccoon would be a step too far. The rest of the cast could be — and are — contained in Wagner’s Ring operas, Greek and Roman legends and dozens of comic books throughout the last 60 years. Like most successful movies today, this one is full of violence, hatred, bloodshed. I’m sorry I saw it, and you know if you’ll like it, so there you are!!! I should add that there are cameos by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Natalie Portman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford, Tom Hiddleston and probably more but it doesn’t matter. Oh yes, it got a 95 on RT.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. . Julie Phillips will be telling us about threats to the Tule Elk and how we need educating re their challenges. Then flag waver Becky Steinbruner talks about area issues mostly water . On June 11. Kara Meyberg Guzman and Stephen Baxter from “Santa Cruz Local” news organization are guests on June 18. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

This is interesting…

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES“Elections”

“It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything”.  Joseph Stalin
“Winning the election is a good-news, bad-news kind of thing. Okay, now you’re the mayor. The bad news is, now you’re the mayor.” Clint Eastwood
Democracy is not something that happens, you know, just at election time, and it’s not something that happens just with one event. It’s an ongoing building process. But it also ought to be a part of our culture, a part of our lives”.   Jim Hightower


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com


Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

May 29 – June 4, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…About UCSC Student issues, Dream Inn Development. GREENSITE… on UCSC Stadium lights’ impact on the community. KROHN…Kitchen cabinet support, cannabis tax, $60k federal dollars, City Budget, City Council help. STEINBRUNER…Retiring the American flag, Central Water district, treated sewage water. PATTON…Experts about Trump winning. EAGAN…First step for women. JENSEN…The White Crow. BRATTON…I critique Photograph, The White Crow, Booksmart. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “June”


                                 

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CAPITOLA’S “GAY 90’S” CELEBRATION. This was July 2, 1950. Remember when communities had so many parades, celebrations, festivals? Those were better times. Now it’s too dangerous to bring us together!                                             

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Trip to Santa Cruz 1938. A repeat but well worth it!

A walk down Pacific Avenue in 2011. Michael Schmidt shot this one.

DATELINE May 27

UCSC’S REAL PROBLEMS. There is a terrible gulf between UCSC and the Santa Cruz community — and I’m pointing at both students and faculty. It’s the same at most of the other campuses. Last week (May 23) CITY ON A HILL PRESS created a special issue titled BASIC NEEDS. These needs, seven in all, were headed by State of Student Mental Health. #2. Waiting for Water. #3. Managing your money. #4. Increased Demand, decreased quality #5. Houselessness and hygiene #6. Self-care tips, and #7. Party like a slug. Here’s a link to the special issue. It’s not easy to find all the topics… and you’ll learn a lot about our current student’s issues as they face “higher education”. Here’s the general link to all the other campus coverings…

What it’s really talking about are today’s students facing very overcrowded classrooms, poor connections with their teachers, lousy food conditions, miserable transportation problems, jammed up study areas, and then there’s facing an almost lifelong tuition debt. A major point to think about is NOT to project our student lives and times onto today’s student scene…they’ve got it much more difficult.

DREAM INN DEVELOPMENT. The Save Santa Cruz Westside Organization is up in arms about whether or not an EIR be required for the Dream Inn project (at West Cliff and Bay)? They say this is critical, and are very concerned that the City is NOT requiring an EIR on such a massive project. The project has still not moved forward to the Planning Commission but could soon….no-one seems to know much on it, or what the delay is. Their Facebook page says: Did you know that the owners of the Dream Inn, Ensemble, a Southern California developer, are proposing a 2 story underground garage as a part of their project at West Cliff and Bay Streets? We are concerned about disrupting the ground that close to the cliffs, as well as the high water table at that location! According to their reports, the water table starts at 12 feet below the surface there and they are planning on excavating over 25 feet! Go here to catch up and keep up with the Dream Inn disaster in the making.

May 27

FIAT LUX

Members of the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA (International Dark-sky Association) recently met with the UCSC director of OPERS (Office of Physical Education, Recreation and Sports) regarding the severe, negative, impact of the new stadium floodlights lit up at night until 9pm on the lower East Field, projecting massive beams of light throughout the community for a relative handful of students.

I was one of the two IDA representatives to meet with the director. We came away with the distinct feeling that we had not been heard; that the impact of the lights on the community was of little concern; that the impact of the lights on nocturnal owls and other forest creatures was noted but not persuasive. Not too different from the administration’s reaction to the massive outpouring of opposition to the proposal to build on the pristine East Meadow for a total of 140 housing units plus daycare.

These portable stadium lights, powered by diesel fuel (8.5 gallons per hour) were donated in 2017 by an alumnus. This past year they were used for approximately 13 hours a week in the fall, serving a total of 526 students and 6 hours a week in winter, serving 78 students, all members of either the rugby club or two intramural sports.

Although the lights have been in operation only since 2017 and photos of the far-reaching impact of their glare made available to the director, her parting words and written statement were, “We must be able to offer programs and accommodate clubs after dark especially during the winter months.”  This, despite the fact that students have had no such stadium lights since the campus opened over 50 years ago ( and none wanted) and have managed until now to arrange their schedules to practice and play club sports during daylight hours. This, despite the director’s own observation that OPERS’ east fields are deserted in the morning hours, since students tend to be late risers unless they have early classes. Perhaps the lights make it more convenient but at what cost to the wildlife and the broader Santa Cruz community that lies at the feet of the campus?

As is evident in the photographs, the lights impact the whole community from the westside of Santa Cruz to Capitola, to Highway One coming from Watsonville. Their glare from 3 miles away is similar to a car’s headlights at 20 feet away. Were this only aesthetic that would be bad enough. But light pollution in the form of glare and sky-glow affects more than losing our ability to see stars and planets. Evidence is growing that such light pollution affects our health, our ability to sleep, disrupts the hormones across a spectrum of fauna and affects the growth of vegetation and trees. Despite knowing this science and professing to love the natural environment, the director is planning to increase the usage of the lights for a future kickball league on Friday nights.  She was upfront that our concerns and photos are being used to make the case for permanent high stadium lights on the lower East field. Since stadium lights are exempt from Title 24 that mandates state compliance with set lighting standards, and IDA recommendations are only that, if the money can be raised, stadium lights will join fraternities and building on an iconic meadow as the new UCSC, abandoning its original philosophy of providing a world class education while caring for the land and the creatures that live there.

These stadium lights contradict the goals of the campus Sustainability Plan, which aims for carbon neutrality by 2025. It includes a quote from the Chancellor: Sustainability is in our DNA here at UC Santa Cruz. It is integral to our research, teaching and public service mission, and essential to our future.” So much for that.

Fiat Lux takes on a whole new meaning. Take a look at bigger versions of these photos on our Facebook page.

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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May 27

Community Support Group
I don’t know what I would do without a “kitchen cabinet.” They are the eyes, ears, and hands that assist me in most aspects of my city council life. This steering committee is comprised of 33 local residents from a variety of backgrounds including teaching, law, journalism, healthcare, accounting, business, and former councilmembers. Collectively they probably have close to 400 years of experience in Santa Cruz politics. About half that number–various groupings of the 33–usually attend our Saturday afternoon pre-Tuesday city council meeting review of the council agenda. Interests in this group vary widely, but usually reflect the overall agenda thrust of Councilmembers Sandy Brown and myself. That is, our views and votes on the environment, traffic problems, advocacy for affordable housing, and support for labor do not simply come out of recent dream therapy treatments, or the latest Sentinel editorial. These issues–eco bus passes for all downtown employees, separating the library from the garage, increasing pay to those at the bottom, making UCSC contribute significantly for the city-wide effects it’s growth machine has on our residents before accepting more students–all do not emanate from our own interior thoughts. They come through a continual process of checking-in with the community, making sure that when you’re barreling up a difficult hill and look behind you there are actually friends, neighbors and political comrades providing rearguard support. Without a kitchen cabinet, there is a tendency for an elected official to become unmoored to the principles and ethics of serving, and that might just lead to becoming unhinged as well.

What Happened Around the Real Kitchen Table?
This past Saturday’s “sensational seventeen” showed up around a real kitchen table on the Westside, and went to work. Did the “Bay and King streetlights project” conform to International Dark-sky Association guidelines? Did we even need a left-turn signal at that intersection? With respect to the “Emergency Sewer Repair at Chestnut and Laurel,” is the city using “climate clean” building materials? There’s a new state bill being put forward listing these products and recommending (mandating?) their use by cities. Why was the “Sole Source Vendor and Power Purchase Agreement for Corporation Yard Solar Upgrade Project” sole source? Seems like our current solar projects are a boon to the city’s electric power purchases, but what if purchasing is better than leasing, or vice versa? What to do with the extra CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) $60k Fed dollars that were added to the half million grant the city already possesses? Why not lower the Cannabis tax even more than the currently recommended rate of 8% to 5%…perhaps we could go to 3% and that would be more in line with helping the local business owners of this nascent industry? These are just some of the city issues our kitchen cabinet helped us wrestle with in preparing for the May 28th city council meeting, but in all seriousness, city councilmembers also need even more analytical assistance.

Budgets
The City of Santa Cruz proposed budget this year is $262.6 million (2019 proposed) and funds more than 800 employees. The proposed budget for the County of Santa Cruz is $777 million (2018) (http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/Visiting/AboutSantaCruzCounty.aspx ) and it supports almost 2500 employees. Then, the overall budget of UC Santa Cruz is $722 million(2015-16, most recent on-line version, likely more now) with the total number of academic and non-academic employees at 8,832.  In addition, each Supervisor has a budget for two assistants and along with their own salaries, including benefits, it costs about $400,000 according to figures for 2017 at the Transparent California web site. Now, I won’t even get started on the budgets of the UCSC Chancellor, and the one dozen vice chancellors and their staffs. They are enormous. But my point here is that paying people to do research, field phone calls and answer emails, look into constituent issues, and generally make the elected official more visible and available to the public is usually a wise investment in shaping effective public policy. Currently, each city councilmember is without such help. Therefore, in comparing my time on the city council from 1998-2002 up until now, I can safely say that the workload for councilmembers has changed. The number of issues has grown and the expectations of residents have also grown, not to mention the total number of people living in Surf City has also grown during that time.

Real City Council Assistance
Currently, the city’s “Principle Management Analyst” position is vacant. The person who occupied that position was paid $152,000 in salary and benefits in 2017. When it was filled, this person, with the best intentions, sought to do public policy analysis for six councilmembers and the mayor, an impossible job on the face of it, right? What I am calling for in the current budget is to not re-hire this position and use the savings to fund assistance to each councilmember. That is, put this money into a fund and have councilmembers draw on it and hire both professional policy and clerical help. Currently, councilmembers are trying hard to keep their heads above the incoming emails, new bills coming out of Sacramento weekly, attending community meetings they are asked to be present at, and also participating and being in attendance at the various committees and subcommittees we are assigned to. Providing actual council assistance in this form would be a real game-changer as one of my Kitchen Cabineteers remarked recently. It surely would not make that group of volunteer advisors any less valuable. In fact, it would strengthen every aspect of the councilmember’s task list and help achieve a more manageable workload.

“5 Principles in the Green New Deal: 1. Go Big 2. Be Specific 3. Set Deadlines 4. Let Them Sue (aka, “Don’t Flinch”) 5. Make Floors, Not Ceilings.” (May 27)

  

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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May 27

HOW DOES ONE RESPECTFULLY RETIRE THE AMERICAN FLAG? THE MEANING OF DECORATION DAY

I spent some time over the Memorial Day Weekend cleaning up the World War I Veteran Memorial marker on Freedom Boulevard in Aptos.  I respect the courage of those who have given their lives defending this great country, and all the freedoms afforded by the Constitution.  In this society of lifestyles based on disposable items, I wondered how I should respectfully dispose of the faded and torn American flags that I removed from the Memorial Garden?

I found it interesting that the recommended method is to respectfully cut the flag into four pieces, preserving the star-filled blue field that signifies the importance of union of all 50 states, and burn the pieces in a private and dignified way.

Memorial Day, formerly called Decoration Day, began after the Civil War, to pay tribute to all those military personnel who perished.   It was first observed on May 5, 1866, then moved to May 30 in 1868 by proclamation of General John Logan, leader of the Northern Civil War Veterans, to strew flowers upon the graves of those who died in military service during the battles and “whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”  The first Decoration Day (termed such as it did not mark the anniversary of any particular battle) at Arlington National Cemetery brought forth 5,000 people who decorated the 20,000 graves of Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.    The Civil War claimed more lives than any conflict in US history.

In 1968, Congress declared Memorial Day to be observed on the last Monday of May in order to create a federal three-day holiday for federal workers.  It became an official federal holiday in 1971.  

Don’t forget to also thank those veterans who are still here with us…many of them homeless and on the streets.

GOOD PUBLIC OUTREACH BY CENTRAL WATER DISTRICT THIS WEEK 
Thanks to the Central Water District General Manager, Ralph Bracamonte, and the Board of Directors, all residents of the MidCounty area can learn more this Thursday about the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) that will soon be rolled out as a “done deal” to the public.  Mark your calendar for Thursday, May 30, 5pm-7pm at the Central Water District Office (400 Cox Road in Aptos).  This event is open to everyone, and will provide an opportunity for you to provide your input on the GSP that will dictate how much water gets used, and who will pay.  While the GSP is supposed to be unbiased, modeling for the Plan has been strongly biased to support the Soquel Creek Water District’s project to pump millions of gallons of treated sewage water into the aquifer (aka Pure Water Soquel Project). 

Learn more about the MidCounty Groundwater Agency here. Note that the final chance for residents to weigh-in on the GSP is at the June 19 meeting for the Advisory Committee….aside from Central Water District efforts, there will be no other outreach before the Plan is voted upon!

ANOTHER ATTEMPT BY SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT TO PUSH TREATED SEWAGE WATER 
Also on May 30, 6:30pm-8:30pm, at the Live Oak Grange on 17th Avenue, the District will attempt to make up for lack of public outreach to the residents of Live Oak when the Pure Water Soquel Project EIR was underway.  Now the Project is approved, the EIR certified, AND THE DISTRICT IS BEING SUED.

Attend if you can, and protest! Cheers, Becky

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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May 25, 2019 #145 / The Experts Say 60%

According to Joe Garofoli, who hosts a podcast and writes the “It’s All Political” column in The San Francisco Chronicle, one “expert” political observer says that “President Trump could easily win re-election.” The “expert” cited by Garofoli is Matt Morrison. Because The Chronicle has a formidable paywall, it’s not certain that a reader of this blog posting will be able to see Garofoli’s May 24th column by clicking this link, but that link is where Garofoli’s column can be found. Here is a brief excerpt:

Matt Morrison has spent a lot of time over the past two years talking to working-class voters in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and he’s got a message for those who don’t get out of the West Coast blue bubble much: President Trump could easily win re-election. 

“If nothing were to change from today, I would give him a better-than-likely probability of being re-elected and winning pretty clear majorities in places like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin,” said Morrison. He leads the labor-funded Working America, a group that advocates for and has done deep research on working-class voters, including interviewing 5,000 people in focus groups in those states and elsewhere. 

Morrison believes that despite Trump’s tough-talking rhetoric, he hasn’t been good for working-class voters. While the stock market gains have benefited wealthier Americans, wage growth for most workers hasn’t kept pace with the rise in the economy. Yet Trump remains popular among white voters in Rust Belt states.

Garofoli also quotes Massachusetts Democratic Representative Seth Moulton to the same effect. Moulton puts Trump’s current chances at 60%.

Why do I mention these “experts?” I mention them because I believe that amost everyone who is hoping that President Trump will not be reelected next year has vastly underrated him, and it’s irritating. I truly believe that it is critically important to beat Donald Trump when he runs for reelection in 2020. But to do that, I believe a candidate (and that candidate’s party) has to express some admiration for our current president. Just as a “concession” in an argumentative essay almost always strengthens the argument of the person who makes the concession, so conceding that Trump is doing some things that the people want is an important part of running a campaign against him.

The “political class” is out of favor with the American people (and for good reason). To capture the presidency, a successful candidate will have to be “against” the political class (not of it). That’s my view. Trump’s strength is that he is on the side of those who “deplore” the political class. That’s his main appeal to the voters.

Running against the personal and political failings of our current president will not be enough.

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Hidden Surprises galore, check out the classic Subconscious Comics just below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” One large step for women” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

HIDDEN VALLEY STRING ORCHESTRA. This magnificent 16 piece orchestra gets up our way from Carmel Valley about twice per year. Don’t miss them.  The program is as follows: Air and Dance by Delius, Romance by Finzi, Nocturne by Dvorak, Adagietto by Mahler, Slow movement from quartet by Zimbalist and Serenade by Karlowicz. They’ll be playing June 1st at 2:30 at Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel Valley and locally June 2nd at 2pm at Peace United Church 900 High Street in Santa Cruz. Please buy tickets in advance at hiddenvalleymusic.org

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Suffering post-partum angst after Game of Thrones? Enter the less brutal, but no less epic fantasy books of Robin Hobb, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). On the movie front, Ukranian dancer Oleg Ivenko doesn’t quite have the same fire, but he captures the questing artistic spirit of the legendary Rudolf Nureyev, the role he plays in The White Crow, reviewed in this week’s Good Times!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

WHITE CROW. Rudolf Nureyev has got to be the most famous male ballet dancer (danseur noble, ballerina) of all time (well, there’s also Baryshnikov (still alive) and Nijinsky of course). Nureyev appears to be a jerk in this movie from a book, but the big deal is/was that in 1961 he defected from Russia, where he lived and trained all his life, and moved to fame and fortune in England and the USA. That took more than courage. The movie lacks the intensity to bring you into it, however, or to inspire the care and curiosity that the story deserves. I can’t find any info on the Nureyev documentary that Landmark had shown us for a few weeks, and I guess they must have pulled it when this one became available. It’s gotta be better than White Crow.

PHOTOGRAPH. An intense inter-family drama set in the street lives of Mumbai. A photograph leads the plot through religious family problems and the challenges of existing in today’s world. Slow moving but you’ll stay with it.

BOOKSMART. A surprising 98 on RT. This comedy about two smart high school girlfriends on their last night before graduation escaped me completely. I’m so removed from high schoolers today that I couldn’t relate or follow any part of their adventures. It is, however, feminist, brave, clever, even sexual and rapid-moving.

TRIAL BY FIRE. Once again Laura Dern turns in an excellent performance as one of the few who believe the innocence of a young stud who was accused of setting the fire that killed his children in their beds. It’ll be near impossible to not know the outcome of this sad but true story but plan on seeing it and NOT reading the reviews. (additional note) I could drive you nearly nuts but try watching the Netflix documentary “Ted Bundy Tapes” the same day you watch Trial by Fire. Let me know what your reaction was.

TOLKIEN. On major disappointment watching this film is that we still don’t know how to pronounce “TOLKIEN”. Is it Toll-keen, Toll-kine or Toll-kin? The various actors all seem to pronounce it in at least those 3 ways. Probably it’s Toll-kin because that’s the way Nicholas Hoult (who plays TOLL-kin) says it. More than that, we do learn — as some of us suspected — that Tolkien was strongly influenced to create the Hobbit or Lord Of The Ring world by watching Wagner’s Ring Cycle as a young man. Do go warned…the film contains absolutely none of his Hobbit creations. It’s all about his life before he’s famous. Also note that the all English cast speaks British much of the time and is hard to understand

RED JOAN. Dame Judi Dench (now a very active 85 years old) plays the real life Joan Stanley. Joan decided back in WWII days to give the atomic bomb secrets to the Russians. She thought that it would stop every country from actually using the bomb. Obviously she was wrong, and we (the USA) used it to kill millions. Dench is of course great in this small part, but the film drags on and on, with many, many flashbacks and time jumps — which get boring.  

LONG SHOT. Pairing Charlize Theron with Seth Rogen is as improbable as having Rogen play the part of a presidential advisor/speech writer in the first place. This movie is full of “fuck you’s”, masturbation topics, and just gross filth. Theron plays the role of a presidential candidate and the movie is merely gross, not clever…or funny.

MUSTANG. It’s a simple minded movie about some Nevada State prisoners who turn wild mustangs into saddle broken riding horses to sell at an auction every year. It’s apparently factual. It stars Bruce Dern at his cranky, snarly best teaching the boys/men how to handle themselves and their steeds. Predictable, corny, and will remind you of My Friend Flicka or any other old horse movie.

AMAZING GRACE. Sometime in the mid 50’s three friends and I went to a church in the darkest part of Los Angeles to hear Mahalia Jackson, an amazing experience I’ve never forgotten. Watching Aretha Franklin sing gospel songs in this 1971 documentary doesn’t come close. Gospel is it’d own art form and Aretha is and was one of our greatest singers but there’s something lacking in this film.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Over 2 billion dollars at the opening weekend box office!!! A world record-shattering Marvel-Disney experience. It’s too much for me to critique. Even were I to accept all the other world characters that inhabit this Marvel–Disney franchise, Rocket the wise talking raccoon would be a step too far. The rest of the cast could be — and are — contained in Wagner’s Ring operas, Greek and Roman legends and dozens of comic books throughout the last 60 years. Like most successful movies today, this one is full of violence, hatred, bloodshed. I’m sorry I saw it, and you know if you’ll like it, so there you are!!! I should add that there are cameos by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Natalie Portman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford, Tom Hiddleston and probably more but it doesn’t matter. Oh yes, it got a 95 on RT.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. The three top winners from Bookshop Santa Cruz’s annual Short Story Contest read their works on May 28. No BrattonOnline issued the week of June 3…my birthday and a trip to Mar Vista instead. Julie Phillips will be telling us about threats to the Tule Elk on June 11. Kara Meyberg Guzman and Stephen Baxter from “Santa Cruz Local” news organization are guests on June 14. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES.   “JUNE”

“In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them”. Aldo Leopold
Top of Form
And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days”.  James Russell Lowell
“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”  Dr. Seuss


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com


Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

May 20 – 26, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Group therapy for the City Council,Trader Joes and Aldi secrets, Cab Fest O’music housing. GREENSITE… on Rail Trail Segment 7 Phase 2 Appeal. KROHN…Climate issues, library/garage, City Attorney’s gone, Council budget, Public Safety Committee, Community Council Network, Progressives & progress, ICE status and Green New Deal. STEINBRUNER…Soquel Creek’s sewage water, Chanticleer Avenue purchase and the meetings, Water For Santa Cruz, Zach Friends new 3200 square feet office opens in Aptos Village, SB50 now on hold, visiting Davenport Jail. PATTON…Leonardo Da Vinci. EAGAN…and who’s Trade War? JENSEN…reviews “Photograph”. BRATTON…I critique Trial by Fire. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”Measles”.


                                 

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CAPITOLA May 15, 1956.   The big building next to the water is the Saba Club. Owned by the Brad McDonald family. It was built on the site of the Hotel Capitola, and burned down. Snuggled back behind the parking lot is the grand Theater Capitola. Do note that this is May and note all the parking spaces!                                       

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

DORIS DAY, 1975

TIM CONWAY TAKES A CLASSIC FALL. Peggy Snider not only sent this gem but she’s taken some classic falls herself back in her circus days!!

CAROL BURNETT & TIM CONWAY.

DATELINE May 20

GROUP THERAPY FOR OUR CITY COUNCIL! Almost since the very first week our new 4-3 city council has exhibited some painful actions…and votes. We’ve watched and heard some of the most nasty, personal moves any of us can remember from our elected group. We watch their smiling, polite faces as they plan and plot and again react to their fellow councilmembers. It’s got to be extra painful to each of them every meeting, every week, every decision. Their personal lives must be paying a terrific price for this forced civility. Given the wide diversity of their personal politics it’s only near-natural that they have to deal with such pressure.

I think, and I’m serious, I wish we could help our City council by getting them into some group therapy!! They’d probably have to have a judge in the room (Brown Act) and commit to just being alone with a well trained, credentialed, (probably from out of town) Group therapist.  Put yourself into any of the council’s seats and imagine how you’d be reacting to the internal and huge external battles-divisions each meeting. I know this is an unusual and impossible idea but once in awhile it occurs to me that it wouldn’t be just their lives that would change for the better but the lives of our city too. These are some very tough times…think about it.

TRADER JOE’S (ALDI’s) BEATING AMAZON AND WALMART!! I happened across a newsy, surprising article about ALDI the German food chain that is beating all competition around the world. You probably remember that ALDI bought out Trader Joe’s back in 1979. The link here will take you to some reading that will revise much of what you think you know about buying groceries. You’ll read that Aldi/TJoe’s stocks only about 1400 items while traditional stores go for 40,000 items or more. Aldi’s Facebook page has 50,000. TJoe’s/Aldi prices run anywhere from 50 to 15 % less than the other grocery outlets. Trader Joe’s now has 484 stores in the USA. Also hidden in the article is the news that Trader Joe’s/ALDI customers make more money and have more education than other grocery stores!!

CYNTHIA MATHEWS TERMED OUT! Two weeks ago (May 6) I wrote…” BEAT ME TO IT! I had intended to predict that our local political, habitual, driven, predictable, candidates would be starting to do their campaigning about now. Cynthia Mathews is the champ of this group. We see her photos at dozens of community functions just a short time before she actually announces. But Mike Rotkin jumped the gun and got his photo in today’s (Sunday, May 5) Sentinel. Watch for the Santa Cruz Business Council’s Robert Singleton’s name and photo soon. Most poll predictors are betting that unsuccessful City Council candidate Greg Larson’s name will pop up. New surprises await both Larson’s and Singleton’s campaigns!  Big thanks to all the folks who wrote telling us that Cynthia Mathews is termed out and won’t be running for mayor this next time. It certainly helps to remember these “little” things. Never mind that I knew that and mis-syped but I wanted to get across that she is the champ at joining each and every photo op just before any time that she does run…just not this time. So NOW watch and keep a lookout for Greg Larson and Robert Singleton’s names creeping into Sentinel articles. Por ejemplo… Singleton’s name has been in about three times recently.

CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC. This world –wide famous Festival runs July 28-August 11 this year. One of the many extra grand experiences of the festival has always been when locals make room for a musician or two in their homes. The Festival website says…

“An essential part of the Festival’s existence is the generosity of 80 local families who volunteer housing for our orchestra members, composers, guest artists, and technical staff. While most of our hosts stay in the program for many years, there are the inevitable shifts that make finding new host families a constant need! If you have a spare bedroom, guest house, or granny unit that you can offer for one to two weeks during the Festival, please use the interest form provided on this page or phone us at 831.426.6966. Our Housing Coordinator Valerie Hayes will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Housing an orchestra musician is truly one of the most rewarding aspects of the Cabrillo Festival experience!

May 20

THE TIES THAT BIND.
There are issues that deeply divide the residents of Santa Cruz County and the Rail Trail Corridor is no exception. With both sides claiming environmental superiority, passions run high and communication runs low.

Within the city of Santa Cruz, a small segment of the corridor, .79ths of a mile to be exact, labeled Segment 7 Phase 2, starting at Bay and California Streets on the Westside, running down past the Wastewater Treatment Plant along the old railway tracks and ending at the wharf roundabout is a harbinger of the environmental struggles ahead.

The trail-only supporters advocate the removal of the railway tracks and the construction of a trail for bikers and walkers and perhaps in the long run light electric transport. The rail trail supporters advocate keeping the railway tracks and building a trail next to them so both rail and trail can function as transport. At first glance this may not appear a big deal difference except as usual, the devil’s in the details.

In order to keep the tracks and build an adjacent trail, the cost for this less than a mile section is estimated to be $10 million. It involves the removal of 42 trees, half of which are heritage trees, plus all the bushes and undergrowth on the west side of the trail. It requires a fence between the rail and trail for safety purposes and a retaining wall built (between 3 and 19 feet high) to shore up the steep bank after cuts are made to accommodate the trail and thousands of cubic yards of soil are removed. Include lights, security cameras and maintenance and the dollars start to add up.

I like trains. I’d like to keep both and when this was just theory I was an uncritical supporter. Then the environmental documents were circulated; I walked the line and saw which trees were to be removed; noticed the wetland species of plants that would be paved over, the birds that would lose their nesting and roosting sites; imagined this small wetland sacrificed for human use with pavement and high retaining walls and wondered if there were less environmentally impactful alternatives? I became concerned when rail trail supporters who labeled themselves environmentalists saw no problem with these impacts and pointed to carbon savings as environmental success even though there is no proof that the rail trail will get people out of their cars nor that the train, a tourist train to Davenport won’t add carbon emissions since visitors drive to Santa Cruz and more visitors means more cars.  

Into this arena stepped the city of Santa Cruz charged with preparing the environmental documents to assess the environmental impact of the rail trail project for segments that are within the city’s boundaries. The city’s role as well as its consultants should be as referee, favoring neither side and objectively evaluating the environmental impacts, assessing if they are significant and if so, whether they can be mitigated. Oh if only this were so! Unfortunately as usual, the city’s environmental documents are at the lowest level possible save not doing any. They fail to accurately assess the environment or the impact of the project on the environment. They appear to assume a desired outcome and then distort the facts to favor that outcome, in this case the rail trail. Even if council direction is in favor of the rail trail, the environmental assessments should be objective not pre-determined. What is one to make of the fact that in the first environmental document the monarch butterfly site next to the trestle bridge was not even included; that the area in question is not acknowledged as a wetland with diverse and sensitive species but instead is described as a narrow, low quality degraded habitat with invasive plants? It is no wonder that the conclusion is less than significant impacts. Alternatives were given short shrift and quickly dismissed.  

This is not new for the city. A similarly inadequate environmental review was done for the Wharf Master Plan and with a lot of community pushback and legal opinion, was sent back, to be done correctly. The same for the Parks Master Plan, which has been sent back for an Environmental Impact Report to replace the inadequate, lower level review. The city lost an expensive lawsuit when they tried to weaken the heritage Tree Ordinance with no environmental review at all!

While undoubtedly an unpopular move, I, and a colleague who happens to be a biologist have appealed the environmental review of this segment of the rail trail to the city council. The public hearing is set for Tuesday June 11th. We are asking for an Environmental Impact Report to accurately document the environment and accurately assess the impacts of the project on this wetland and forest environment while also examining alternatives to the project.  

No matter how strongly one supports a project, that support should not compromise a valid, objective environmental review. Nor should calling for a proper environmental review be viewed as “obstructionist” or “undermining the project.” In the long run, it is in all of our interests, flora and fauna included, to get it right.

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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May 20

NEWS FLASHES
Only Twenty-Four hours in a Day and Approximately 10-12 years to do Right by Our Climate
The pace of city council life is hectic right now. Too many meetings…? Just this past week the city council cut the cord on the downtown library-5-story parking garage.  (Hip, hip, hurray!) Meaning, it’s starting to look like they are no longer umbilically linked, i.e. cars and books. A subcommittee will meet with the library director, community members, architects, and hopefully, all other concerned parties interested in putting together the best project possible. The subcommittee–Sandy Brown, Justin Cummings, Donna Meyers–is to report back to the city council no later than the October 8th city council meeting, as I understood the motion. But first, they are also to come back to the council on May 28th with a game plan on how to get to a community-infused yes.

Then, seemingly all of a sudden, the Deputy City attorney was let go for indiscreet remarks (questioning of a witness) in a San Jose Federal court room where he unknowingly (?) maligned a current councilmember’s past. This came on the heels of the city council receiving word that this same Deputy City Attorney had been involved in a drug case of his own back in 2012, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. I have not seen the document referred to in the newspaper article that was “hand-delivered to the city council.” It was apparently sent to the council anonymously. Continuing with the pace of events, the Water Department will spend many millions of dollars upgrading our community’s water delivery system and rate-payer bills are already reflecting the cost of these infrastructure improvements; Public Works announced that the sewer rates are set to jump dramatically over the next few years; and the 5G cell ordinance that was on last week’s council agenda was “continued” so that the council could get additional information about what has been done in Sebastopol and Portland to combat the onslaught of electromagnetic and radiation exposure.

Budget Opportunities

Don’t you just love these headlines juxtaposed on this version of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Somewhere there is a subversive headline writer who enjoys making social commentary.

I am told by the city manager that the council will hold at least two more budget sessions, one on May 28th and the other on June 11th. This will be to finalize the city manager’s $262.6 million proposed budget. The question is, at the end of the day will it be a “city manager budget” or a “city council budget?” Stay tuned! I met with a dozen community members to talk about the budget and I came away with a list of requests that include: 1) the age-old question of how will the golf course balance its budget? (another $5-$6 water charge per round might do it…who knew their H2O budget for the next fiscal year would come in at $750k!), 2) How do we express the community desire to reign in UCSC growth in the city budget? We are hiring an analyst to turn up the heat in Oakland (Regents) and Sacramento (lawmakers). And, what to do about plans for an overbuilt round-about at the base of campus, which is in the 2019-2020 capital improvement project (CIP) budget? 3) How do we not fund the widening of the bridge over the river San Lorenzo between Hwy. 17 and River Street? 4) How do we inject, infuse, and enshrine climate disruption and our changing climate into every program, land-use decision, and purchased product the city undertakes? How do we get to the “carbon neutral” budget that people are pleading for? 5) Can we place a moratorium on the purchase of non-emergency gasoline and diesel vehicles in favor of acquiring more electric and hybrid ones? 6) What about that River Coordinator position that the council approved back in 2017? Isn’t it time to fill this hire? And, 7) What should be the right dollar amount for a placeholder to fund the future Housing Task Force that is to take up the extreme costs of housing and all of its collateral damages?

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

Et cetera…Extinction is Forever
So many issues we are all talking about, and still they remain on the drawing board, or the cutting room floor. This list might be a bit like the $300 million city CIP–capital improvement plan–list at the back of the city budget. The only difference is, many of those projects, although put on the list in earnest, should be taken off, mostly because of global warming and climate change concerns. But here is a list I’ve gathered from community meetings, which I think are worthy of continued interest and thought. They are: public banking; building a community land trust for affordable housing; continuing to step up protection for immigrants vs. ICE-HSI attacks (Sherriff Jim Hart stated emphatically at a People’s Democratic Club meeting, “They’re (ICE and HSI) not allowed in any Santa Cruz County facility anymore.”); allowing the public to speak without fear of being cut off at the city hall podium; a 24/7 emergency homeless shelter with an active day center; supporting “Co-op Santa Cruz” and the flourishing of worker-owned businesses (meeting May 30th, 7pm at the RCNV); bringing the Green New Deal to the city council for approval, and because of the acknowledged “collapse of the recycling market,” let’s ban single-use plastic bottles while we’re at it…

“I was proud to stand with those marching in Birmingham today against the outrageous and unconstitutional abortion ban passed in Alabama. We will fight back and protect a woman’s right to control her own body.” (May 19)
(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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May 20

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT OUTREACH EVENT AND THE MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY SUPPORT?
It is odd that the MidCounty Groundwater Agency (MGA), a group of representatives of Soquel Creek Water District, the City of Santa Cruz, Central Water District, and the County of Santa Cruz, would all apparently lend support to the District’s expensive plan to inject millions of gallons of treated sewage water into the Mid County’s drinking water supply, especially when that group has not yet approved any plan for sustaining the area’s groundwater basin.  Yet, that is exactly what Soquel Creek Water District would have the public believe, supported by the announcement on their website below:

Community Informational Meetings

You’re invited to attend one of the District’s two (2) upcoming community information meetings! Both sessions (identical content) will provide updated information about the Pure Water Soquel Project and protecting mid-county groundwater from seawater contamination. The meetings will include information about the site selected for the District’s new advanced water purification facility and the pedestrian/bike overpass that would be co-located at the corner of Chanticleer Avenue and Soquel Avenue.

Saturday, May 18, 3–5pm
Thursday, May 30, 6:30–8:30pm
Location: Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th Ave., Santa Cruz

Hosted by Soquel Creek Water District with guests from the Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Agency and Regional Transportation Commission. 

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I attended the May 18 Outreach Event at the Live Oak Grange.  THE ONLY MEMBER OF THE MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY THERE WAS DISTRICT MANAGER RON DUNCAN.  Do you think the District ought to be making public claims that could lead the public to understand that the MGA supports their Pure Water Soquel Project to inject expensive treated sewage water with unknown long-term health risks into the area’s drinking water, but not officially have that support?  Is Ron Duncan the only official of MGA who supports the Project?  Was he there Saturday to represent the MGA?  Who knows?  More importantly, what do other members of the MGA Board think of this apparent unsupported advertisement for the District’s Project?

Write the MGA Board and ask: Santa Cruz-Mid County Groundwater Agency Board c/o Darcy Pruitt <dpruitt@cfscc.org>    She is the Senior Planner for the MGA, works for the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, but has an office at Soquel Creek Water District headquarters. 

WHAT WERE THE TERMS OF THE CHANTICLEER AVENUE PURCHASE OPTION AGREEMENT?

That was all kept secret at the May 7 Soquel Creek Water District Board meeting until the moment the meeting began.  Now the ratepayers and general public can view the agreement in the Minutes as shown on the District website for the May 21 meeting, beginning on page 13, through page 50.  Oddly, I do not recall seeing all of that documentation made available on the table at the back of the room on May 7.  Note on page 10 of the Board’s discussion of that item 6.5 that “six public comments were heard.” 

You can hear what those people had to say by listening to the video of the meeting.  The public comment on item 6.5 begins at 1:02.  You can hear why Director Lather voted NO at 1:17.  Note that Director Bruce Jaffe was ABSENT.

Also, note that the public comment that was issued before the Board discussed the Purchase Option Agreement in Closed Session WAS NOT RECORDED, and the draft minutes for the meeting only note that:

“Two public comments were heard regarding Item 0.2, prior to the start of the closed session”  

How transparent is that???????

Here is the link to the May 21 Board meeting….note that it begins at 5pm, for a SPECIAL BUDGET MEETING.  Those are NOT video recorded at all.

GREAT ARTICLE ON THE ALTERNATIVES!
In case you missed, be sure to read the excellent Guest Editorial “SqCWD Should Reexamine Water Needs” in the May 13 Santa Cruz Sentinel by Scott McGilvray and Water for Santa Cruz County.  He clearly points to the facts taken from Santa Cruz City Water documents, and discusses the real possibility of a regional water management solution that would use existing water supply infrastructure.  Why does Soquel Creek Water District insist on shoving the expensive treated sewage water into the drinking water supply for the region???

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

MORE GOOD NEWS! SB 50 PUT ON HOLD UNTIL NEXT YEAR
Senator Scott Wiener, with SB50, has wanted to push through legislation that would strip local jurisdictions of their control over land use policy and impose denser, taller structures near transportation routes.   There was no language to address whether the jurisdiction had the infrastructure to support such dense developments, only that if a developer submitted plans for such density, the jurisdiction could not deny the application. Happily, the Appropriations Committee voted last Thursday to hold SB 50 until next year.  That is good news, but watch out for next year….

I SPENT SATURDAY AFTERNOON BEHIND BARS!
I volunteered to help Ms. Alverda Orlando, County Historic Resources Commissioner, last Saturday at the Santa Cruz County History Celebration, held at Jade Street Community Center.  She is an amazing wealth of local knowledge, and was responsible for the exhibit about the Davenport Jail Museum.  The Jail was built in 1914, restored in 2014 by the E Clampus Vitus Chapter 1797,  and is located behind the Cash Store on Center Street in Davenport.  It is open to the public on the first Sunday of the month, 11am-4pm, weather permitting.  Ms. Orlando had the original window bars to display…and I sat behind them, answering questions of those kind souls who came to visit me.  It was a fun and well-attended event. Watch for Ms. Orlando’s book about the history of Davenport….in the works now and due to be published this summer!

Take a look at the Davenport Jail Museum here

MAKE ONE CALL.  WRITE ONE LETTER.  ATTEND ONE PUBLIC MEETING.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.    BUT GET SCRAPPY AND JUST DO SOMETHING!Cheers,Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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May 16 #136 / What Leonardo Said

An article in The Conversation, commenting on the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, cited this passage:

By the ancients man has been called the world in miniature; and certainly this name is well bestowed, because, inasmuch as man is composed of earth, water, air, and fire, his body resembles that of the earth; and as man has in him bones — the supports and framework of his flesh —, the world has its rocks — the supports of the earth; as man has in him a pool of blood in which the lungs rise and fall in breathing, so the body of the earth has its ocean tide which likewise rises and falls …

Arielle Saiber, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Bowdoin College, and the author of the article, characterized this observation as follows: “Unlike many thinkers of his time who anthropomorphized the Earth, Leonardo terramorphized man (emphasis added).”


Because humans have the power to create a world, based on their visions and actions, our tendency is to think that “man,” indeed, is “the measure of all things.” That phrase comes from Protagoras. If we don’t pay attention, we start believing that the World of Nature is not the ultimate reality, but that the ultimate reality is a human-created world that is, actually, dependent on the World of Nature.

We anthropomorphize the Earth, instead of terramorphizing the human.

It looks to me like Leonardo got it right!


Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Journey into our sublime and substitute world at Eagan’s Subsconscious Comics…just a drop below!!

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Trade War ” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “George R. R. Martin hasn’t even finished writing his last book in the series begun with Game of Thrones, but the writers on the TV show have already wrapped up the whole story. Does he wonder: Who’s writing this thing anyway? Some thoughts, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). Also, for an antidote to sweeping, epic drama, read my review of the small-scale romance Photograph in this week’s Good Times!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

TRIAL BY FIRE. Once again Laura Dern turns in an excellent performance as one of the few who believe the innocence of a young stud who was accused of setting the fire that killed his children in their beds. It’ll be near impossible to not know the outcome of this sad but true story but plan on seeing it and NOT reading the reviews. (additional note) I could drive you nearly nuts but try watching the Netflix documentary “Ted Bundy Tapes” the same day you watch Trial by Fire. Let me know what your reaction was.

HAIL SATAN! (FULL DISCLOSURE) I’ve been looking for at least three weeks for my Anton La Vey signed membership card to his Satanic Church in San Francisco. I’ll post it when I find it. I knew Anton for years through my producer/director days at KCBS (CBS) and at KGO (ABC) . My Goodtime Washboard 3 Trio even played at one of his Black Masses. Anton was a very funny guy, full of fun and with a super sense of humor! It’s not too widely-known but one of his jobs was playing the organ at the Long Beach Pike (Boardwalk/amusement park). He’s only given a few seconds in this documentary about some activists who use Satan to help break the religious stranglehold that Christianity has on our government. These Satanists mostly want equal time or equal display of symbols beside the Christian one. GO SEE THIS FILM…you’ll think about the message for at least days on end! Yes. There’s a Santa Cruz Satanic Chapter that also gets brief screen time. CLOSES MAY 23

TOLKIEN. On major disappointment watching this film is that we still don’t know how to pronounce “TOLKIEN”. Is it Toll-keen, Toll-kine or Toll-kin? The various actors all seem to pronounce it in at least those 3 ways. Probably it’s Toll-kin because that’s the way Nicholas Hoult (who plays TOLL-kin) says it. More than that, we do learn — as some of us suspected — that Tolkien was strongly influenced to create the Hobbit or Lord Of The Ring world by watching Wagner’s Ring Cycle as a young man. Do go warned…the film contains absolutely none of his Hobbit creations. It’s all about his life before he’s famous. Also note that the all English cast speaks British much of the time and is hard to understand

RED JOAN. Dame Judi Dench (now a very active 85 years old) plays the real life Joan Stanley. Joan decided back in WWII days to give the atomic bomb secrets to the Russians. She thought that it would stop every country from actually using the bomb. Obviously she was wrong, and we (the USA) used it to kill millions. Dench is of course great in this small part, but the film drags on and on, with many, many flashbacks and time jumps — which get boring.  

LONG SHOT. Pairing Charlize Theron with Seth Rogen is as improbable as having Rogen play the part of a presidential advisor/speech writer in the first place. This movie is full of “fuck you’s”, masturbation topics, and just gross filth. Theron plays the role of a presidential candidate and the movie is merely gross, not clever…or funny.

MUSTANG. It’s a simple minded movie about some Nevada State prisoners who turn wild mustangs into saddle broken riding horses to sell at an auction every year. It’s apparently factual. It stars Bruce Dern at his cranky, snarly best teaching the boys/men how to handle themselves and their steeds. Predictable, corny, and will remind you of My Friend Flicka or any other old horse movie.

AMAZING GRACE. Sometime in the mid 50’s three friends and I went to a church in the darkest part of Los Angeles to hear Mahalia Jackson, an amazing experience I’ve never forgotten. Watching Aretha Franklin sing gospel songs in this 1971 documentary doesn’t come close. Gospel is it’d own art form and Aretha is and was one of our greatest singers but there’s something lacking in this film.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Over 2 billion dollars at the opening weekend box office!!! A world record-shattering Marvel-Disney experience. It’s too much for me to critique. Even were I to accept all the other world characters that inhabit this Marvel–Disney franchise, Rocket the wise talking raccoon would be a step too far. The rest of the cast could be — and are — contained in Wagner’s Ring operas, Greek and Roman legends and dozens of comic books throughout the last 60 years. Like most successful movies today, this one is full of violence, hatred, bloodshed. I’m sorry I saw it, and you know if you’ll like it, so there you are!!! I should add that there are cameos by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Natalie Portman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford, Tom Hiddleston and probably more but it doesn’t matter. Oh yes, it got a 95 on RT.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG.  May 21st has concertmaster Roy Malan discussing the Hidden Valley String Orchestra concert occurring on June 2nd. Then Scott McGilvray from Water For Santa Cruz talks about our water issues and solutions. Winners from Bookshop Santa Cruz’s annual Short Story Contest read their works on May 28. No BrattonOnline issued the week of June 3…my birthday and a trip to Mar Vista instead. Julie Phillips will be telling us about threats to the Tule Elk on June 11. Kara Meyberg Guzman and Stephen Baxter from “Santa Cruz Local” news organization are guests on June 14. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

More of this.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES.  “Measles”
“Like the measles, love is most dangerous when it comes late in life”. Lord Byron
“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind”. Albert Einstein
“I just want people to know the facts and science and the information… measles is preventable”. Barack Obama


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com


Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

May 13 – 19, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Hail Satan!, KZSC Pledge drive. GREENSITE…on support your neighbors! The proposed development at 916 Seabright Ave…KROHN…City Budget, Parks master plan, 800 cars for Public Works, Skypark Sale, Library Garage. STEINBRUNER…Soquel Creek Water District secrets and awards, Twin Lakes Church killing trees, 916 Seabright avenue approaching ugliness of 9 units & 2400 sq.ft. each! PATTON…tribute to Pat Mcormick and LAFCO. EAGAN…mustard on the species. JENSEN…reviews Tolkien. BRATTON…critiques Red Joan, Tolkien and Hail Satan? UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “MONKEYS”


                                 

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1111 PACIFIC AVENUE. Built in 1908, converted in 1989.  Once upon a time it was this Hotel Metropole, then later it was Hal Morris’ Plaza Books — and then Logos Books. Now it’s been empty for months, waiting for that non-profit brewery to open.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

PETE SEEGER SINGS AND TALKS ABOUT MALVINA REYNOLDS AND WOMEN.

How to Play The Bones. I still have the set of bones my grandfather played on the vaudeville stage. Yes, I can play them!!!

DATELINE May 13, 2019

HAIL SATAN? The movie (FULL DISCLOSURE) I’ll admit that it’s rare (if ever) that I open with a movie review but Hail Satan! really got to me. I’ve been looking for at least three weeks for my own Anton La Vey personally-signed membership card to his Satanic Church in San Francisco. I’ll post it when I find it. I knew Anton for years through my producer/director days at KCBS (CBS) and at KGO (ABC). My Goodtime Washboard 3 Trio even played at one of his Black Masses. Anton was a very funny guy, full of fun and with a super sense of humor! It’s not too widely-known but one of his jobs was playing the organ at the Long Beach Pike (Boardwalk/amusement park). He’s only given a few seconds in this documentary about some activists who use Satan to help break the religious stranglehold that Christianity has on our government. These Satanists mostly want equal time or equal display of symbols beside the Christian one. GO SEE THIS FILM… you’ll think about the message for at least days on end! Yes. There’s a Santa Cruz Satanic Chapter that gets brief screen time. It has a 96 on RT!!! It’s also an excellent example of the power of the people when they organize!!!

  • KZSC PLEDGE DRIVE. Next Tuesday May 21st is the KZSC Pledge Drive. One way or the other it’s the way they judge popularity of the programs. Please, if I’ve ever interviewed you or friends of yours, consider donating some cash to the drive. It is of course my “Universal Grapevine” program at 7-8 p.m. on Tuesday nights. Call 459-2811 to talk to somebody and be sure to give my program UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE name…otherwise the pledge goes to general funds. You also can go online, but I’m not sure how to direct the pledge to Universal Grapevine. I wouldn’t be asking if it didn’t matter, and thank you so very much. There’s a message on their website… KZSC is a student-run, community-based, non-commercial, educational public radio station teaches media making and non-profit management.
  • The University of California does not fund KZSC; KZSC receives 32% of our support from student donations; another 32% comes from renting out space on our broadcast tower to other radio stations and cell phone companies; the rest comes from our semiannual on-air fundraiser, local businesses underwriting, and, of course, You! (the listener).
  • KZSC airs alternative viewpoints to those found on commercial/mainstream stations. Honesty, balance, and sensitivity fuels our creative and educational endeavors.
  • KZSC strives for completeness in news coverage, conscientiously providing unbiased and fair reporting on all events and topics. We have a newsroom covering the Monterey Bay–made by locals for locals!
  • KZSC provides access in a non-discriminatory, progressive fashion to those traditionally underrepresented in the media, including but not limited to women, cultural, ethnic, and racial minorities, people of various sexual orientations, seniors, youth, children, and the disabled.
  • KZSC is dedicated to serving the public interest, serving as a mouthpiece on air for the community it serves and represents.
  • KZSC does not sell promotional advertising spots or accept payola of any kind. Anything you hear on-air is curated content by our lovely disc-jockeys and fiercely independent, local news editors.
  • KZSC was first known as KRUZ.  Forty-nine years later, KZSC broadcasts at 20,000 watts, reaching 3 million people in Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey counties!

#Give2KZSC today – or you can call 831-459 2811to make your donation by phone!  

MAY 13

FILL ‘ER UP


It’s no secret that Santa Cruz is a lucrative market for housing speculators. Despite rising building and material costs, current artificially high land values are a developers’ dream.  Shedding crocodile tears over the “housing crisis, “self-interested stakeholders urge approval of all manner of new large developments that are rapidly changing the character of Santa Cruz while paradoxically worsening the housing cost crisis.

It is not too late to weigh in on the latest of these out of scale developments. Thursday, May 16th, the city Planning Commission will discuss and vote on a proposed 9-unit development at 916 Seabright Avenue. A duplex and one single family home currently on the site are proposed to be demolished to make way for 9 three story townhouses with an average height of 30 feet (mid-way roofline, actual height 36 feet). This row of nine 2000 square foot units stretches almost the length of a football field. Nearby neighbors are rightfully disturbed at the scale of the development that will loom over nearby small cottages, taking away privacy and the small- scale character of the Seabright area. Their flyer summarizes the impact and concerns.

For those who profess to a belief that we need “lots more housing” which includes the Sentinel editorial board, the YIMBY group, Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, local Chamber of Commerce and SC County Business Council, there’s no downside to such developments. If we had a map of where they all live its likely none is impacted by this or the many other large-scale recent housing developments already approved or in the works. It’s also likely they are positioned to make money from an influx of well-off newcomers, either directly or indirectly.

Let’s put to rest once and for all the notion that “lots more housing” will lead to lower rents and/or housing costs. That model may work in some contexts but not in 2019 Santa Cruz.  We are in a housing vice-grip between the wealth of Silicon Valley and an expanding UCSC. Both represent essentially unlimited demand. Were there a moratorium on UCSC growth with a scale back to ten thousand students plus a downturn in the economy impacting the high tech Bay area industry then maybe supply and demand might become a relevant model but that is not in the foreseeable future. Unless we don’t care if our established neighborhoods are morphed into rows of expensive high-rise apartment buildings (the YIMBY goal), our only option is to organize and demand that the General Plan goal of protecting the character of established neighborhoods be followed.  Such efforts will be decried by the stakeholders and mischaracterized as catering to NIMBY types, usually described as old, white, elitists standing in the way of progress and affordable housing. That description does not match the demographics of our long-time neighborhoods. Well, maybe old and white is descriptive but not pejorative. Apart from higher income areas such as the upper westside, most of the lower westside and eastside neighborhoods are still comprised of lower and moderate- income families. While gentrification is rapidly changing these demographics with small cottages torn down and replaced with large expensive houses marketed as second homes for the wealthy, these newcomers are not the neighbors getting organized. The folks getting organized are long-term residents, mostly working or middle-class, or now retired who refuse to let their neighborhoods be lost to such out of scale developments that do nothing to alleviate the housing cost crisis and in fact tend to make it worse.

One of the nine units proposed for 916 Seabright will be “affordable” under the city’s Inclusionary Ordinance. The rest will be market rate. “Affordable” here is defined as 80% of the area medium income, which for a family of four is $98,000. I don’t profess to know all current income scales but that still seems unaffordable for the city’s janitors, cooks, cleaners and perhaps even teachers. The rents for the other eight units are likely to be comparable to other units recently built on Seabright, which rent for $4,600 a month.

Worse than simply being expensive, such new dense developments have been shown to displace lower income rental families by raising the value of nearby properties, putting pressure on the owners to sell, bulldoze and capitalize on the high income demand for infill housing in Santa Cruz. So the very people we pay lip service to wanting to protect are the first to be sacrificed. Make no mistake, such density and scale will soon be coming to your neighborhood should Senator Scott Wiener’s bills pass the state legislature.  In the meantime, show some solidarity by supporting the neighbors’ efforts to keep the scale, character and whatever’s left of the affordability of the Seabright neighborhood. When it’s your turn, they will be there.

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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May 13

THE CITY BUDGET, PART ii

OMG, We’re Going Back to the City Budget

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to speak about the budget. You were terrific! There will be a couple more days to come out and advocate too, possibly May 28 and June 11. I will let you know. The bureaucrats with their large bureaucrat bats sought to lure, then herd, the city council cats into a kind of budgetary compliance. Fire and brimstone PERS payment schedules surround Surf City like fun-loving bands of wanna-be surfers camped on the outskirts of town. They’re just waiting to invade Steamer Lane once locals let down their guard. These retirement benefit payments represent a deep abyss where the city shovels in millions each year, and nothing grows but the budget hole. With this in mind the current council is keenly aware of city staff concerns and priorities. I wondered if there was any room for the council to offer alternatives to staff’s budget, which as filled with more code enforcers, images of widened bridges over the San Lorenzo, more low-paid First Alarm guards, and hardly a word about climate mitigations, or even climate change. (BTW, the Parks Master Plan, which appears to be a blue print for damn the climate change pabulum, full steam ahead with more mountain bike paths and $750k worth of water for the golf course (I kid you not) was sent back to look at the environmental effects of the plan’s actions, i.e. carry out an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), or be sued. (This was a win for the environment and at least one positive outcome that occurred this past week. In politics you have to celebrate the wins!)

Progressive City Budget
Yes, you heard that right, the city council pushed back on the staff budget and made some suggestions of their own.  Councilmember Sandy Brown passed around a list of funding priorities to be included: Women’s Self-Defense classes: $20k; Tenant legal services: $60k; Project Homeless Connect: $5k; Janus: $5,400; Foster Grandparents program: $5k; Meals on Wheels: $12k; funding for aUCSC-LRDP advocate position to help enforce the results of voter-approved Measure U: $60k; opening the Harvey West Pool year-round: $400k; and a long-awaited item, budgeting for City Council Assistants: $175k. Now that’s starting to look like a progressive city budget! I would like to say all of these items were embraced unanimously by a progressive council, andflew through on a 7-0 vote. But instead I will say, it sailed through on a 4-3 vote. (Surprise!) Another thorny issue discussed was the future of the brutish, nasty, mean, and short Rental Inspection Ordinance (RIO), which did result in a 7-0 vote. Similar to the now discredited Library-Garage fiasco, el RIO was also never fully vetted by the community and it has left a trail of disaffected and disempowered renters as well as irate landlords along the now long Santa Cruz housing trail of tears.(Apologies here to our Native American brothers and sisters.) The council voted unanimously to have the Planning Director, Lee Butler, bring back information on what a revamped and reformed ordinance might look like, one that puts the needs of tenants first.


Now You see it….now you don’t. Ross Camp Before and after…is it really better this way?

In Other Budget Issues…questions were raised with Police, Parks and Rec., and Public Works over their vehicle purchases and gasoline/diesel budgets. You could hear a pin drop shortly after a Public Works spokesperson lauded the department’s efforts at buying Nissan Leafs (6) and Toyota Priuses (12). Why? He was asked, how many vehicles does the Santa Cruz Public Works Department operate? Oh, around 800, he said. (pin drop time) EIGHT HUNDRED vehicles?!? That means around 2.5% of Public Work’s entire city fleet is electric or hybrid. Almost 11% of all vehicles purchased in California last year were EVs. Wow. Upon further inquiry, the council found that the police department has zero electric cars, and Parks and Rec. possesses far too many monster F-150 pickup trucks. Where does the climate change buck stop I wonder? The recent UN report that was issued last week on potential species loss was being chilled by the whirring new air conditioning system down at city hall council chambers. A wake-up call that the ice caps are melting and the ocean is knocking at the Santa Cruz door has already been issued, and it is certainly within our means to do more mitigating now with respect to the impending future effects of climate disruption. And vehicle purchases are just the tip of this melting iceberg. Where in the city budget is the city council owning up to the awesome responsibility of confronting climate change? There is still time for this council to look at its budget and perform a climate analysis and audit…i.e. identify the low hanging fruit like vehicle purchases, not installing any more air conditioning in city buildings, putting a hold on building more parking garages, and we could plant 2019 trees in 2019. Putting solar on the roof of every new home and every city-owned building, installing electric charging stations throughout the city, and revamping building codes so that all new construction is Leeds certified might take a bit longer, but we desperately need a plan, now. Kyoto, Paris, last week’s UN report, the time to act it now. How is Santa Cruz doing?

Wait, There’s Time
During the course of this Wednesday’s 10am-6:30pm budget deliberations, if I have this right, the deficit went from $1.9 million to $3.2 million then back down to $1.6 million even with the council ad-ons. But, as Yogi Berra might’ve put it, the budget “ain’t over ’til it’s over.” The extremely narrow window to pass the budget that the Finance Director and City Manager built appeared to grow wider throughout the day. At first, some councilmembers thought Wednesday’s meeting would be the only forum to intensely parse the budget, but it turns out May 14th, May 28th, and June 11th could all be additional sessions to discuss city finances. We have more breathing space to receive public input, have councilmember conversations, and put forward additional motions to discuss and debate. There’s time.

What’s on the City Council Meeting Agenda This Week

Four significant issues are of note on this week’s city council agenda:

  1. From the city council’s closed session agenda, it appears that a discussion will take place under “Real Property Negotiations.” Under negotiation: Skypark sale.” This property, located inside the city of Scotts Valley, was once the Santa Cruz Airport.
  2. Climate Action Plan Annual Report” will be issued by Climate Action Task Force Coordinator, Dr. Tiffany Wise-West. This couldn’t come to the council too soon given the UN report referred to above and our torpid budget considerations in the area of climate mitigation. Tiffany, help us, guide us, tell us what to do.
  3. Proposal by the Transportation and Public Works Commission to extend their yearly meeting schedule from six meetings per year to ten. Wow, am I impressed that a group of commissioners voted on a measure to have more meetings. How commendable is that! This is an especially important resolution since this group was once two commissions and each commission had 10-12 meetings each year. So, for the commission to go to 10 meetings, it’s still only half the amount from pre-recession days, a time when the city had to cut back because of less resources. I applaud these commissioners. Unfortunately, our city staff recommendation is to not have more meetings and stay with the current six meetings per year. I look forward to a robust council discussion on this one.
  4. Surprise! Library-Garage is back on the agenda. The item suggests that three councilmembers form a subcommittee and come up with a recommendation that might jump start this project, or shelve the garage, or create a permanent home for the Farmer’s Market where it is, and/or remodel the current library using both the Measure S voter-approved funds of around $28 million and supplementing that money with another $10 million from the city’s Parking Fund. Now that would be progress.
“Nearly half a million-people sitting in jail haven’t been convicted of any crime—simply because many accused of a crime can’t afford bail. We must end cash bail as part of reforming our entire criminal justice system.” (May 13)
(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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May 13

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT KEPT IT SECRET…BUT WHY?
As predicted, the Board of Directors of Soquel Creek Water District voted to lock ratepayers into spending an exorbitant amount of money to acquire the property at 2505 Chanticleer Avenue to shove forward the plan to inject treated sewage water into the MidCounty drinking water supply.  The terms of the deal were not made public until the moment the meeting began last Tuesday.  I think that violated the Brown Act, even though the District’s lawyer, who flew in from Riverside to fight my court action that morning in an effort to block the secret agreement, disagreed.  Unfortunately, Judge Burdick, who ruled on the ex parte action, agreed with the District’s high-powered lawyer.

My question, however, is why did the District feel they had to keep the terms of the agreement SECRET from the public, and take such unprecedented action to approve it instantly and with Director Bruce Jaffe missing to question the matter?  Only Director Rachel Lather voted against approving the Purchase Option Agreement that locks the ratepayers into spending $3.2 Million for the roughly one-acre parcel when the Lam Estate appraised inventory price  (District ratepayers paid for that appraisal, by the way) is $2,347,000, and will legally bind them to pay $5,000/month for seven of the 12 months of the term, in addition to all costs of surveying, archaeologic assessments, soil contaminant testing and remediation, abandonment of existing wells and septic tanks,  and other critical issues that were never considered in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) evaluations.   

Something just smells really bad here.   Read on for action you can take…..

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT AWARDED TWO TRANSPARENCY EXCELLENCE AWARDS???!!!!!!!!
That’s right, folks, a man from the California Special Districts Association, Mr. Steven Nascimento, drove all the way from Sacramento last Tuesday to formally present two awards of Excellence in Transparency to the Soquel Creek Water District.  However, because the Board’s Closed Session to discuss the shady goings-on regarding the Chanticleer Avenue property was held at the beginning of the meeting, I had the rich opportunity to talk with Mr. Nascimento about what this District is REALLY like.

You can contact him, too, and tell him what you think of the District: Steven Nascimento stevenn@csda.net209-681-4466

I asked him first about the criteria for the awards he was going to be presenting.  It turns out that it all depends on the website, holding a certain number of outreach events, and making sure the staff and Directors are versed in the Brown Act (imagine that!).  General Manager Ron Duncan got an award because he had completed a certain online course.  

I suggested that the face of the District on paper is quite different from the way in which they actually treat the public and conduct business.  I used the example of the evening agenda’s secret Purchase Option Agreement and the fact that there were several Live Oak residents in the audience who were very much against the Pure Water Soquel Project being put in their backyard when they had no input at all in the Project’s environmental review process.   I suggested to Mr. Nascimento that he watch some of the District’s Board meetings….the ones on YouTube from Community Television, not the ones on Vimeo that show up once in awhile that the videographer for Community TV says are from the District itself and are puzzling.

He could maybe watch Director Bruce Daniels tell a ratepayer who had asked a question but not received any response from the Board or staff that “You can ask all the questions you want, but you cannot demand any answers!”   

WOW.  Some excellence in transparency, don’t you think?  Please contact Mr. Nascimento with YOUR thoughts.

TWIN LAKES CHURCH WANTS TO CUT DOWN MORE TREES TO BUILD LARGE TWO-STORY COFFEE HOUSE
This plan would cut down a total of 34 oaks and Liquid amber trees on the corner to make room for a new structure that is very curious. According to very-difficult-to-access-and-read signs at the site, Planner Randall Adams will decide whether to approve this plan on or about May 27.  Send comments to him at Randall Adams or call 454-3218.   Here is the link for the plans for Application 181300 (APN 037-251-19)

Trees in this area are known to be habitat for endangered solitary roosting bats.

Soquel Creek Water District cut down 19 oak trees nearby last January on the Twin Lakes Church property on Cabrillo College Drive and is paying $800/month rent for three years for the new well space.  After that, the Church gets 3.5 Acre Feet/Year FREE WATER FOR 50 YEARS, and a WAIVER of Water Demand Offset requirements (value of $55,000/AF) for a new 1600SF residence.   I suppose the lucrative deals with Soquel Creek Water District have provided the Twin Lakes Church the revenue to move forward with plans for this large 6,292SF two-story coffee house on the corner of Cabrillo College Drive.

I think it is odd, however, that the main entrance to the coffee house includes two metal roll-up doors, and that the intended use for the large area on the second floor is not labeled.  I also wonder why the southern side of the proposed building facing the ocean (and the freeway) is completely void of windows or doors?

Make sure you send comments to Mr. Adams…..the trees and endangered bats will be very grateful. 

DOES THIS REALLY BLEND WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTER???  BIG PLANS FOR 916 SEABRIGHT AVENUE
Planners call it “infill”, but it really means cramming in dense development and changing the character of neighborhoods, usually not for the better, and with little regard for concerns of the people who live in the area.  It is happening all over the County at a dizzying rate, with one of the recent projects now on the table for 916 Seabright Avenue.   Nine 2,400 SF units, 36′ tall, crammed into a space in a quiet neighborhood which would have reduced setbacks and little landscaping.  What about parking? What about water and traffic?  What about the loss of privacy the existing residents would suffer due to a solid three-story structure, nearly the length of a football field, sitting pretty much on the property boundary?

UGH!

Attend the Thursday, May 16, 7pm Planning Commission hearing and voice your thoughts on this project.  The Commission meets in the Santa Cruz City Council Chambers and will consider the proposed 914/916 Seabright Avenue Project in a public hearing as Item #5.  Here is the link to the agenda materials

Send written comments to Santa Cruz City Planning Commission cityplan@cityofsantacruz.com

LIBRARY NEWS…DOWNTOWN, GARFIELD AND BRANCIFORTE BRANCHES WILL SEE BIG CHANGES 
It seems that all branches of the libraries have big projects in the works.  Make note of these public workshops:

DOWNTOWN LIBRARY PLAN AGAIN BEFORE CITY COUNCIL THIS TUESDAY, MAY 14, 5pm (see alert at the end of this post).

Garfield Park Library: May 15, 7pm-8:15pm at Circle Church Gymnasium (111 Errett Circle)

 Branciforte  Library: May 22, 6:30pm-7:45pm

Here is the latest alert bulletin from “Don’t Bury the Library!”  founder… Jean Brocklebank:

Dear Friends,
We have just read the official agenda report prepared by Justin Cummings and submitted by Donna Meyers and Cynthia Matthews.

It is waaaaaaay different than what was in the email from Donna Meyers this morning. We need to change our letter writing campaign to be in support of the recommended motion, which the council will vote on.

What to do:  

  1. Read the report that is attached to this letter or go online to the City Council Meetings Page and click on the agenda icon, then read the agenda report that way.
  2. Then, send an email (citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com) in support of the recommended motion, which is:

RECOMMENDATION: Motion to put on hold the decision to proceed with a Downtown Library project and to convene a Council Subcommittee composed of Councilmembers Cummings, Meyers, and Brown to investigate alternatives, in collaboration with Library staff and the interested community, and return with a recommendation no later than October 2019.

Be positive in your emails … please!!! We want them to include DBTL (Don’t Bury The Library) (stakeholder) in the collaboration work of the committee they will form.

Jean
P.S. The agenda item is 28. Downtown Library Project and will occur about 5:00 pm. 

 Here is the link to the Council agenda; the Library issue is Item #28 

WRITE ONE LETTER.  MAKE ONE CALL.  ATTEND ONE PUBLIC MEETING.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.  BUT JUST DO SOMETHING!

Cheers, Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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BLUES SONG AROUND THE WORLD by KEB MO..

SEND ME NEAT AND FUNNY THINGS FROM AROUND THE WEB. Ralph Davila sent this beautiful creation You can too, email me at bratton@cruzio.com


May 11 #131 / A Pat On The Back

Pat McCormick (pictured), has recently retired as the Executive Officer of the Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission, commonly called LAFCO. An exceptionally nice celebration of Pat’s thirty-eight years of service was held during the regular LAFCO meeting on May 1, 2019

You can check the Santa Cruz County LAFCO website next month, to see what the Minutes say about that May 1st meeting. Those Minutes may be a bit longer than usual! The Board of Supervisors Chambers in the Santa Cruz County Governmental Center were packed, with people having come from all over California to voice their appreciation for the contributions that Pat McCormick has made to good land use planning and good government. Pat has had an impact not only locally but literally throughout the entire state – and he got nothing but well-deserved rave reviews from everyone who showed up to salute his contributions. 

Most of the folks in the room, of course, were from Santa Cruz County, and they hailed from deep in the Fifth Supervisorial District to the precincts of the Pajaro Valley, down south in the Fourth Supervisorial District. Former Second District Supervisor Robley Levy was there, and made exceptionally heartfelt remarks about how Pat and LAFCO had helped save South County agriculture. Current Second District County Supervisor Zach Friend commended Pat for his professionalism. First District Supervisor John Leopold joined in the chorus of those celebrating Pat’s contributions, and though I no longer have a formal role representing the Third Supervisorial District, I also testified to the incredibly important work that Pat has done to preserve and protect all that is best in Santa Cruz County. All districts covered, in other words!

LAFCO is a little-known and little-understood agency established by state law, one major purpose of which is to “stop sprawl.” As expressed more formally in the Cortese–Knox–Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, which is the most recent edition of this incredibly important state law, which was initially enacted in the 1960’s, the purpose of LAFCO is to “encourage orderly growth and development which are essential to the social, fiscal, and economic well-being of the state.”

I have seen the power of LAFCO up close and personal, having served on our local LAFCO for many years, representing the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, and having served, also, as a Member of the CALAFCO Board of Directors. Without a doubt, LAFCO has prevented the kind of urban sprawl in Santa Cruz County that turned Santa Clara County from orchards and farms, the “Valley of Heart’s Delight,” into the Silicon Valley we know today. Santa Cruz County made a different choice, which I think was the right one, and it wouldn’t have been possible without LAFCO and Pat McCormick.

The tributes to Pat documented his encyclopedic knowledge of LAFCO law, and of all other laws relating to California local government. He was thanked for his personal generosity, and celebrated for his ability effortlessly to marshal knowledge of arcane provisions of state law. In this, Pat typically relied not only on his personal memory, always at the ready, but also on the multiple pieces of paper, or digital files, that Pat was always able to produce at almost a moment’s notice. Pat’s ability to work with everyone, right in the midst of extremely flammable political controversies, was emphasized by almost everyone who testified. 

As earlier indicated, I joined in the long line of those who thanked Pat McCormick for his work, and I thought I should document, here, my deep appreciation for Pat’s service to both Santa Cruz County and to the State of California. As I was leaving the podium, Pat jokingly asked me why I hadn’t made any reference to the most recently-named Nobel Laureate in Literature (a certain Mr. Bob Dylan, for those not quite up to speed on the actions of the Swedish Academy). Pat was obviously aware of my appreciation of Bob Dylan’s insightful lyrics and moving music, and the thought came to me that I really should end this blog-based tribute with some sort of Dylan reference.

Since one of the persons appearing at the May 1st meeting quoted some song lyrics that Pat had written himself, it strikes me that a few lyrical licks, right here, using some Dylan-inspired music for the tune, is probably in order. Thus, I invite you to sing along with this single-verse song, to get some idea of Pat McCormick’s contributions to Santa Cruz County. (The lyrics are intended to be sung to the tune of “Up To Me“): 

“Up To LAFCO

Everything was going from bad to worse 
Developers were making the call. 
The future of the county was up for grabs 
And it was looking like a lot of sprawl. 
Somebody said, they said it with a laugh, 
There had to be a different way. 
This LAFCO guy, his name was Pat, 
He was going to save the day….  
(Continue… for thirty-eight years)

Many thanks to Pat McCormick. And there is another Dylan song that also comes to mind:I’ll Remember You!

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Note the invasion & revelation of your inner self at Tim’s Subconscious Comics.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Our species with mustard” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

Munching With Mozart presents Pirates of Penzance at the Santa Cruz Library, May 16, 2019 12:10-1:00 in the Central Branch threatened Downtown Library’s upstairs `Meeting Room. Students in the UCSC music department will perform excerpts from UCSC Opera’s spring production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.  They’ll be accompanied by Michael Blackburn, the assistant music director. 

THE MIRIAM ELLIS INTERNATIONAL PLAYHOUSE (MEIP).
The 19th season of the Miriam Ellis International Playhouse (MEIP) will feature short, fully-staged theater pieces in 4 languages, with English super-titles, on May 17, 18, 19, at 8:00 PM at the Stevenson Event Center, UCSC. In Japanese, Tales of the Service Industry will be directed by Sakae Fujita; Spanish will offer El delental blanco (The White Apron), Carolina Castillo-Trelles directing. Chinese will present Butterfly Lovers, directed by Ting-Ting Wu, while French students will perform On fait le marché avec Papa (Shopping with Papa), directed by Miriam Ellis and Renée Cailloux. Free admission; parking is $5.00. The public is cordially invited to attend. More at language.ucsc.edu.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “It’s not a portrait of the artist writing in a fever of inspiration. Instead, the beloved fantasy author is depicted as a man of very methodical, intersecting obsessions in Tolkien, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ).” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

HAIL SATAN ! (FULL DISCLOSURE) I’ve been looking for at least three weeks for my Anton La Vey signed membership card to his Satanic Church in San Francisco. I’ll post it when I find it. I knew Anton for years through my producer/director days at KCBS (CBS) and at KGO (ABC) . My Goodtime Washboard 3 Trio even played at one of his Black Masses. Anton was a very funny guy, full of fun and with a super sense of humor! It’s not too widely-known but one of his jobs was playing the organ at the Long Beach Pike (Boardwalk/amusement park). He’s only given a few seconds in this documentary about some activists who use Satan to help break the religious stranglehold that Christianity has on our government. These Satanists mostly want equal time or equal display of symbols beside the Christian one. GO SEE THIS FILM…you’ll think about the message for at least days on end! Yes. There’s a Santa Cruz Satanic Chapter that also gets brief screen time.

TOLKIEN. On major disappointment watching this film is that we still don’t know how to pronounce “TOLKIEN”. Is it Toll-keen, Toll-kine or Toll-kin? The various actors all seem to pronounce it in at least those 3 ways. Probably it’s Tol-kin because that’s the way Nicholas Hoult (who plays TOL-kin) says it. More than that, we do learn — as some of us suspected — that Tolkien was strongly influenced to create the Hobbit or Lord Of The Ring world by watching Wagner’s Ring Cycle as a young man. Do go warned…the film contains absolutely none of his Hobbit creations. It’s all about his life before he’s famous. Also note that the all English cast speaks British much of the time and is hard to understand

RED JOAN. Dame Judi Dench (now a very active 85 years old) plays the real life Joan Stanley. Joan decided back in WWII days to give the atomic bomb secrets to the Russians. She thought that it would stop every country from actually using the bomb. Obviously she was wrong, and we (the USA) used it to kill millions. Dench is of course great in this small part, but the film drags on and on, with many, many flashbacks and time jumps — which get boring.  

LONG SHOT. Pairing Charlize Theron with Seth Rogen is as improbable as having Rogen play the part of a presidential advisor/speech writer in the first place. This movie is full of “fuck you’s”, masturbation topics, and just gross filth. Theron plays the role of a presidential candidate and the movie is merely gross, not clever…or funny.

MUSTANG. It’s a simple minded movie about some Nevada State prisoners who turn wild mustangs into saddle broken riding horses to sell at an auction every year. It’s apparently factual. It stars Bruce Dern at his cranky, snarly best teaching the boys/men how to handle themselves and their steeds. Predictable, corny, and will remind you of My Friend Flicka or any other old horse movie.

CHAPERONE. A dull, Hollywood story about one of the most exciting, beautiful, talented actresses ever….Louise Brooks. Elizabeth McGovern plays a straight, up tight, dull chaperone. Haley Lu Richardson who plays Louise Brooks looks and acts absolutely nothing like her. This is a movie from a novel that was “based on facts”.  But based on facts….you should stay home and try Mindfulness, if you haven’t already.   CLOSES THURSDAY, MAY 16

AMAZING GRACE. Sometime in the mid 50’s three friends and I went to a church in the darkest part of Los Angeles to hear Mahalia Jackson, an amazing  experience I’ve never forgotten. Watching Aretha Franklin sing gospel songs in this 1971 documentary doesn’t come close. Gospel is it’d own art form and Aretha is and was one of our greatest singers but there’s something lacking in this film.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Over 2 billion dollars at the opening weekend box office!!! A world record-shattering Marvel-Disney experience. It’s too much for me to critique. Even were I to accept all the other world characters that inhabit this Marvel–Disney franchise, Rocket the wise talking raccoonwouldeb a step too far. The rest of the cast could be — and are — contained in Wagner’s Ring operas, Greek and Roman legends and dozens of comic books throughout the last 60 years. Like most successful movies today, this one is full of violence, hatred, bloodshed. I’m sorry I saw it, andyou know if you’ll like it, so there you are!!! I should add that there are cameos by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Natalie Portman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford, Tom Hiddleston and probably more but it doesn’t matter. Oh yes, it got a 95 on RT.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Dr. Shawna Riddle (PAMF) returns to discuss vaccinations plus many current health issues in our community on May 14 and she’s followed by Sarah Leonard from MHCAN Mental Health Client Action Network center..  May 21st has concertmaster Roy Malan discussing the Hidden Valley String Orchestra concert occurring on June 2nd. Then Scott McGilvray from Water For Santa Cruz talks about our water issues and solutions.Winners from Bookshop Santa Cruz’s annual Short Story Contest read their works on May 28. Kara Meyberg Guzman and Stephen Baxter from “Santa Cruz Local” are guests on June 14. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

Atlas Obscura puts out some really interesting videos.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. “MONKEYS”

“If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys“. James Goldsmith
“When you’re dealing with monkeys, you’ve got to expect some wrenches”. Alvah Bessie
“There’s a statistical theory that if you gave a million monkeys typewriters and set them to work, they’d eventually come up with the complete works of Shakespeare. Thanks to the Internet, we now know this isn’t true” Ian Hart


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com


Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

May 6 – 12, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Non-candid council candidates, project Juristic, UCSC Student busfare, goodbye “Stevenson” college?, Save the Circle Church. GREENSITE…on nature tourism. KROHN…city budget, general fund, water department, police cars, DeLaveaga golf course. STEINBRUNER…Pure Water Soquel, Soquel Creek Water District, bicycle overpass at Chanticleer, New Leaf opens at Aptos Village. PATTON…UCSC’s “In the Ecotone” book. EAGAN…Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover. BRATTON…I critique Bolden, Avengers: Endgame, Long Shot. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “BOMBS”


                                 

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OUR TOWN 1957. Santa Cruz, of course. Do note the four piers, or wharves. Then notice too the lack of a lighthouse, the island in the San Lorenzo, and all the available real estate on the Westside of town!!!                                                       

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

CAPITOLA MOVIES BRAD McDONALD and CAROLYN SWIFT..

ANOTHER CAPITOLA MOVIE.

DATELINE May 6,2019

BEAT ME TO IT! I had intended to predict that our local political, habitual, driven,  predictable, candidates would be starting to do their campaigning about now. Cynthia Mathews is the champ of this group. We see her photos at dozens of community functions just a short time before she actually announces. But Mike Rotkin jumped the gun and got his photo in today’s (Sunday, May 5) Sentinel. Watch for the Santa Cruz Business Council’s Robert Singleton’s name and photo soon. Most poll predictors are betting that unsuccessful City Council candidate Greg Larson’s name will pop up. New surprises await both Larson’s and Singleton’s campaigns!

PROTECT JURISTAC.  (Huris-tak) Greg Sea Lion Cotton will be talking about protecting Juristic lands on my Universal Grapevine program Tuesday night May 7 from 7-7:30 p.m. If you miss it, it’ll be archived for two weeks at Radio Free America. The cultural landscape encompassing Juristac is known today as the Sargent Ranch. It’s just a few feet from highway 101. The proposed Quarry measures 320 acres of the 6200 acre Sargent Ranch. An investor group based in San Diego purchased the land at a bankruptcy auction, and is seeking to develop a 320-acre open pit sand and gravel mining operation on the property.

These lands are sacred to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, and are also vital both to maintaining the genetic diversity of wildlife in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and to acting as a linkage passage for animals in our Santa Cruz mountains. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band vehemently opposes the proposed mining project, and are asking the public to join them in standing for the protection of their sacred grounds. The website for donations, information and participation is here.

The Amah Mutsun say: “Our Tribe is comprised of the descendants of the indigenous peoples that were taken to missions San Juan Bautista and Mission Santa Cruz on the central coast of California. These are our ancestral lands of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band near Gilroy, California. For thousands of years, our Mutsun ancestors lived and held sacred ceremonies at this location in the southern foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, above the confluence of the Pajaro and San Benito rivers.

UCSC STUDENT BUS FARE HIKE. The transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) at UCSC wants to increase the student bus fees in increments, from the present $111.66 per year to $191.00 by 2029. It’s the contract with our Metro Bus system, plus their own fleet of buses is getting old and plans are underway to change to electric buses. Go here for details… https://taps.ucsc.edu/pdf/student-transportation-fee-2019.pdf  Student voting takes place from May 13 to May 22. Also on their ballot are Career Center Platforms, an amendment to College Student Government Fees, and something titled Student Success Hub Facility Fee.

GOODBYE UCSC’S ADLAI STEVENSON COLLEGE. A group of students proposed last week that Stevenson College be re-named after UCSC professor emeriti Angela Davis. Angela taught at UCSC from 1991. If I remember correctly, they named it Stevenson because UCSC powers believed the Stevenson family was going to become big UCSC $$$ supporters. Adlai Stevenson was the two-time unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Presidency (against Dwight D. Eisenhower). The City on a Hill Press also notes that Stevenson was in favor of the Vietnam War and had “lukewarm positions” on civil rights.

SAVE THE CHURCH PROGRESSES!!! John Sears, Sue Powell and a very dedicated bunch of Circle Church Errett Circle supporters are doing an amazing job of uniting their community to save the Circle Church. As most westsiders know, the church is now — and has been for decades — a genuine community center. Dozens of groups and congregations of hundreds use the church every single day. The historic building, and the unique circle grounds around it, are being threatened by a group of seven “Circle of Friends” who are trying to develop the property and make thousands of dollars for their own selfish aims. Here’s a couple of re-written emails and Facebook messages I received, just to keep us all informed.

John Sears says, “610 signed supporters…and the next batch of door hangers are going out! It is really gratifying to know that so many others share our vision. If you haven’t seen Mark Lakeman’s inspiring Ted Talk, here it is again.

After watching Mark’s Ted Talk sign the petition here!

John continues..It is now possible to look at some of the plans for the proposed development if the Circle Church is demolished. Until May 1st only a plot plan for the second option (townhouses at the end of California Avenue) was available, so now it is possible to consider the visual impacts in more detail and imagine traffic impacts at that intersection.

If you follow the link below and scroll down you will find links to elevations, plot, and landscape plans.

These are just plan pages and do not include other documentation like the DPR 523 Historical report, letter of deficiencies, traffic analysis, water and sewer impacts etc. that constitute a full public record.

I hope all of you will take some time to look at these plans and visualize how this project will impact our neighborhood life. Then it seems appropriate to come together and share our thoughts. Those of you who can help plan that party,… please contact us. All ideas about how, when, and where will be gladly entertained. friendsofthecircles@gmail.com

SANTA CRUZ DEVELOPMENTS. Go here to check up on some (NOT ALL) present huge developments now happening in our city.

WHAT FARTS, WHAT DOESN’T? In another small way to improve the health, language and our state of being in our small non-sceptered isle, here’s the entirety of what Ralph Davila sent last week…

“Does It Fart?” a book by Dani Rabaiotti of the Zoological Society of London and Virginia Tech conservationist Nick Caruso, answers the question it poses about dozens of species.

Millipedes fart, no doubt discreetly.

Several species of herring communicate with each other that way. If you startle a zebra, says the book, it will fart with each stride as it runs away. Flatulence signals a baboon is ready to mate.

For the Bolson pupfish, found in Mexico, it’s fart or die. They feed on algae that make them buoyant, easy prey near the surface. Farts sink them to safety. Similarly, manatees may let loose when it’s time to dive deeply.

Whale farts are, of course, epic. Birds and most sea creatures don’t. Clams clam up, though they’ve been known to throw up.

The jury is out on spiders: More research is needed.

From London, Rabaiotti said methane emissions from cattle are belch-focused because the gas is produced near the start of their digestive system and comes up when they regurgitate their food to chew the cud.

One answer, she says: “Just cut down beef to, say, once a week or once a month and replace it with chicken or pork or options without meat. Emissions from dairy are lower per food serving than emissions from beef so cutting down dairy will reduce your carbon footprint less but it’s another area where people can easily lower their emissions, particularly for people that are already vegetarian.”

And for the record, says this authority on the animal kingdom’s ruder moments, “Yes, cows do fart.”

May 6

NATURE TOURISM V. NATURE
The phrase, “think globally, act locally” came into sharp focus today (5/6/19) with an op-ed by local naturalist, Grey Hayes in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and the same day release of a United Nations report concluding that up to 1 million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction due to human impacts, with alarming implications for human survival.

Dr. Hayes’ editorial examines the impact of nature tourism in Santa Cruz County. While this industry brings jobs and tax revenue to the community, the more than 8 million tourists that visit Santa Cruz County are straining resources and threatening the survivability of the natural world that attracted them in the first place. He writes,  “Ecologically, our area is rich with globally-significant treasures all threatened by increased use.”  He cites the degradation of park facilities as “natural areas around us are quickly changing with jammed parking areas, increased traffic, conflicting trail uses, and trash, graffiti, emergency response and noise issues becoming more and more intense.”  A simplistic response is a shrug that it’s “too many people” or “overpopulation.” While numbers matter, this ignores the success of intense global marketing by the tourist industry and the expansion of high tech toys such as full suspension and electric mountain bikes, drones and wake foils that increase the human impact exponentially.  The wealth flowing into the area from tourist dollars is apparently not flowing to the park and open space managers who cite staff shortages and lack of resources whenever neglect, damage and unlawful activity are brought to their attention.

Last week I joined a Sierra Club hike near Pigeon Point and the nearby shoreline of Bean Hollow State Park Beach. This area is the essence of a natural treasure. The offshore rocks with myriad shorebirds and seals; the native wild-flowers on both sides of the accessible trail hugging the edge of the low bluff; the smooth, tiny gems of pebbles comprising the beach at the northern end, deposited after millions of years of polishing deep under the sea…it is breathtaking in natural riches. Yet also noticeable was the trail collapse with the tell-tale erosion from mountain bike tires that made it almost impassable for one of our group with impaired mobility; the remnants of an abandoned hard plastic boat on the nearby rock platform, slowly disintegrating into the ocean with each large wave; the dogs running off leash on the beach despite clearly posted signs describing the impact to wild-life of such prohibited activity; the row of porta potties in place of a public bathroom: a tiny microcosm contributing to the big picture documented by the UN Report. As is my way, I mentally composed letters to the State Parks until I realized my mind had left the beauty of the area and was getting frustrated at their anticipated response.

In Santa Cruz County we are at a tipping point with respect to our natural environment. Dr. Hayes is sounding an alarm, which we must take seriously. He advocates for “scientific rigor and public accountability” (if we don’t know what’s there and don’t know what impact we are having how can we make wise decisions?) with a “comprehensive natural areas visitation plan across the landscape.”  He adds, “There are 15 different entities that govern natural areas and each operates in isolation.” Therein lies one source of the problem. The others include a catering to special interests over the public interest by city, county and state agencies, strapped for funds and selling their soul. Few of the agencies are looking out for the natural world interests which are, as is pointed out in the UN Report, ultimately our own.

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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May 6

BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET
Follow the Money

The city’s 500-page draft 2019-2020 budget appeared this week. Finally. After two or three false alarms (…this Thursday, I mean Friday, I mean next Monday…) it came out May 2nd. The city’s ONE DAY budget hearing is set for Wed., May 8th. This budget document contains nice pictures of city employees helping, and that is good. It also contains columns and charts and graphs that paint a picture of what looks to be a financially healthy city until you begin reading between the lines…and the lines are plenty, so I grabbed a better pair of reading glasses.

The Budget Numbers
The proposed city budget is $262.6 million according to our city manager. The city council is directly responsible for the General Fund. It comes in at $106.4 million. This includes the big three: Police 35%, Fire (16.6%), and Parks and Recreation (13.6%) Since the Public Works department has other revenue generators–Enterprise Funds–such as the “refuse fund” and “storm water fund” in which residents pay direct fees to Public Works, this department makes up only 6.7% of the general fund. It is still interesting to note that Public Works has the largest work force (252) and essentially largest budget of any department, around $54 million, right before the Water Department’s $47 million budget. (Eyes glazing over yet?!?)

If you want to take a look at the budget numbers and read brief narratives about how each department seems to be doing, go here.

Rounding out the budget, other top spenders are the city manager’s office at $5.7 million, Planning Department spending $7.1 million, but recouping $3.8 million in fees, and Economic Development (Gotta spend money to make money!?) at $4.1 million. Yep, this is a lot to take in I know, and like any inquisitive reader you would want to make comparisons of what other cities are doing. There is not always time to do this prudent and useful footwork, but the city finance office has made some comparisons with Berkeley, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Watsonville. So, if you contact Finance Director Marcus Pimenthal’s office at 831-420-5029, they can direct you to that comparisons document. By the way, some may be surprised to know that the City Council itself costs a whopping 0.3% of the budget; that’s equal to only $222,000 in general fund money, and $428,000 overall. I will be calling for more clerical and analyst assistance and support for councilmembers, so that might bring our share of city budget up to 0.5%.

Questions?
Drew Glover is fond of quoting MLK. “Budgets are moral documents,” Glover often intones. So how are Santa Cruz morals reflected in the 2019-2020 city budget? The police still maintain, and use, Homeland Security’s gift of a BearCat Tank from 2015. Where in the budget is the line item for maintenance and usage fees? I could not find it. Also, the super-size-me SUVs that have now come to double as police cars in Santa Cruz and much of the state (Are they Ford Explorers?).As these gas-guzzlers ply their way across our city streets somebody has to be asking, ‘How much does the gas cost?’ I could not find it in the budget. Where is the line item in the budget for gasoline purchases (especially now that petrol is way north of $4 bucks a gallon), not just in the police budget but for the entire city? Maybe by purchasing more electric cars (we have some Nissan Leaf electrics and Prius hybrids) we could lower fossil fuel costs and save money on vehicle purchases overall. Also, how do fuel costs this year compare with last year? What about purchasing an electric police car? LA did. Basel, Switzerland now only uses Tesla cars. You can see it here

Other questions would be about the high cost of police and fire department overtime. Can you show the city council the numbers of overtime vs. hiring an additional officer, or for example, investing more in the Community Service Officer Program (CSO) where PERS pension rates would not be such a deal-killer…And what about the Planning Department? Why are we spending so much money on code enforcement when it is leading to the closing down of safe housing units? City council frequently hears from tenants and landlords about how the original UCSC-backed code enforcement program has put dozens of units across the city out of commission. Back a decade ago, UCSC officials made a deal with the city to go after so-called “illegal” units, many where tenants have been living happily for years, in order for the university to maintain higher dormitory occupancy rates. Well, the chicken coming home to roost now is the estimated 300-plus students living in their vehicles in Santa Cruz County. This situation is shameful by any social justice yardstick. Check out City on a Hill’s story about the new “Snail Movement.”

Because so many affordable units have vanished under the “Rental Inspection Ordinance,” students live 5 and 6 to a two-bedroom apartment, or in their vehicle to save money for books and food. The university only has loans to offer, ones that students will be saddled with paying off for many years long after their slug days have ended. There is currently a backlog according to city planners of some 400-500 units operating illegally in the city. Some have been “abated,” while many landlords once informed that they have a permit issue simplystop renting the unit. (The craziest story concerning overzealous code enforcement is this one )

The current mantra I hear from both renters and landlords is that the city should act only on renter complaints and not send their people out looking for code violations if health and safety concerns are not a threat. Protecting renters at all costs should be our number one priority. Make it so that renters can complain without experiencing retaliation in the form of rent increases or eviction for simply reporting plumbing and electrical problems. If renters have to leave the unit while it is being fixed then the landlord should provide a suitable place. If the landlord reneges on fixing a real health and safety issue then the city ought to help the tenant(s) find housing and then go after the landlord for the expenses. Because of $2k, $3k, and $4k rents in this town, the vulnerable are a lot more vulnerable here than they might be at other communities, including ones that host a UC campus.

And What About the Golf Course
The city-owned golf course in DeLaveaga Park runs over a $300,000 deficit. This is money that could go to teen programs, Meals-on-Wheels for seniors, legal aid to help tenants fight unscrupulous landlords, or into the various childcare programs the city supports. All of these programs need more money. Therefore, it is incumbent on the council to figure out how to balance the golf course’s budget. Raising fees a few dollars on the 40-50,000 rounds of golf played annually is likely not going to discourage golfers from playing. Since this falls under the Parks and Recreation department it is imperative that the golf course at least balance this part of the budget (some people even think the golf course should be underwriting other Parks and Rec. programs…) this year and not wait until next year. The city budget should reflect our community’s morals and values there are several places where this city council can have a real impact on putting community values first, the golf course is one place and Rental Inspection ordinance is another.

“Our extractive, wasteful, fossil fuel economy is posing a direct threat to our own lives. There is a better way: one that’s conscious, just + prosperous. We will not be able to save our planet without first changing ourselves. That is the task before us.” (May 6)

  

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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May 6

FRIENDLY CONDEMNATION???
That is the term the Soquel Creek Water District is using as they continue to move fast-forward to acquire the property at 2505 Chanticleer Avenue for the project to inject millions of gallons of treated sewage water into the drinking water supply of the MidCounty area.  In order for the Pure Water Soquel Project to proceed, the District must own the property for the proposed treatment plant.  I happened to spot a notice on the wall at the County Building recently regarding the Estate of Mr. Arthur F. Lam, the owner of the Chanticleer Avenue property  (Case No. 17PR00354) and researched the proceedings.

That’s where I saw that “For more than a year, through its representatives, has been in on-going negotiations with the Soquel Creek Water District for the process of a “friendly” condemnation of the estate’s vacant parcel on Chanticleer Avenue, Santa Cruz (INVENTORY VALUE $2,347,000).”   Mr. Erik Barbic, of Sherman & Boone, stated he feels the contract should be executed by all parties within the next 45 days. Supposedly, this would offer a tax advantage to Mr. Lam’s heirs, but what would it mean for the Soquel Creek Water District ratepayers???

Read on……

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT BOARD MAY VOTE ON A CONTRACT NOT MADE PUBLIC UNDER THE BROWN ACT
The May 7, 2019 Soquel Creek Water District Board agenda shows a Closed Session agenda (to be at 6pm, before the main meeting) wherein as Item 0.2, the District would negotiate with Mr. Barbic regarding “Purchase Option and Acquisition” of the property at 2505 Chanticleer Avenue.  At the very end of the regular meeting is Item 6.5: “Consideration of Agreement for Option to Purchase Real Property at 2505 Chanticleer Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA and the Wording and Terms Regarding the Purchase Sale Agreement.”

So, the public will not have the 72-hour notice, as required by the Brown Act, of the terms of the agreement that the Board may adopt?  Hmmmm….

Here is what the public will NOT know because proper public noticing for the terms of negotiation of the Option to Purchase Agreement:

  1. Is the Option Agreement a Call Option or Put Option?  A Call Option allows the buyer to name the price and the pre-determined time period that they will have exclusive rights for purchase.  A Put Option allows the seller to compel the buyer to purchase the property at a specific price in the future.
  2. How much will the ratepayers be paying for the Option Agreement Premium as consideration that is legally required for this contract to be enforceable?  The District would have to pay to secure this agreement….how much?
  3. How much would the Option Fee cost ratepayers if the Petition for Writ of Mandate action (Case No. 19CV00181) is successful and the Pure Water Soquel Project does not happen or is delayed? That court action is currently set for June 20.
  4. What is the agreed-upon purchase price that ratepayers will be expected to pay for the property?  The April 23, 2019 Lam Estate document declares the Inventory Price is $2,347,000.  No one would know what the District negotiates in Closed Session until it would (maybe) be verbally announced during the Board discussion of Item 6.5 at the very end of the meeting. 
  5. What is the condition of the property under purchase consideration?  At the December 18, 2018 Board meeting, Director Lather publicly expressed great hesitation about possible contamination of the site due to historic use and her professional knowledge of the area.  The ratepayers may be accepting a liability if the District has not performed thorough due diligence in all matters, including abandoned wells and septic tanks, soil contamination, unknown underground utilities, and archaeologic evaluations that were not performed during the EIR  CEQA process.

Does this seem like transparent and accountable process to you?  I just don’t think so, yet at the May 7, 2019 Board meeting, Item 6.2 boasts “Presentation by Special District Leadership Foundation for Transparency Certificate of Excellence and Special District Administrator Certification”.  UGH!!!

Write the Board of Directors and let them know what you think of their transparency: Board of Directors bod@soquelcreekwater.org  and copy Emma Olin emmao@soquelcreekwater.org  to make sure your comments are made publicly available.

Board Meetings & Standing Committees  

PEDESTRIAN/BICYCLE OVERPASS AT CHANTICLEER AVENUE….WITH THE PROPOSED VIEW OF A SEWAGE WATER TREATMENT PLANT

Soquel Creek Water District and the RTC are hosting two community meetings this month to show you what the plan is for the long-awaited pedestrian/bicycle overpass at Chanticleer Avenue that would provide a bird’s eye view of the proposed sewage water treatment plant at 2505 Chanticleer Avenue. Here are the dates, both at the Live Oak Grange on 17th Avenue:

Saturday, May 18  3 pm-5 pm. and Thursday, May 30  6:30 pm-8:30 pm

I suppose this will count as Outreach to the Live Oak residents regarding the Pure Water Soquel Project….NONE of that was done at the time the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and environmental review process was taking place.  The law does not allow the public to comment in any meaningful way now….that is why the Soquel Creek Water District MUST be mandated to follow the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) law and remand the Project’s EIR for full and proper public review.  That’s just one of the eight causes of action in Case No. 19CV00181 that I am bringing against the District, but will not be considered until June 20 at this point.

https://www.soquelcreekwater.org/events/community-information-meetings  

IT’S PRETTY CROWDED IN APTOS VILLAGE

Last week’s opening of the New Leaf Market in the Aptos Village sure brought a lot of traffic to the Village.  The new connector street through the Project was quite congested, spilling onto Aptos Creek Road.  I wonder what that area will be like when the other tenants arrive?  I still hold hope for a bike jump park next to Aptos Creek Road, instead of the proposed Phase 2 three-story dense mixed-use.  Contact me if you would prefer to see the land’s higher use include a bike jump park for the youth….I will always remember the world-famous Aptos Post Office Bike Jumps, and its incredible value to the kids.

WRITE ONE LETTER.  MAKE ONE CALL.  ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE    JUST DO SOMETHING! Cheers, Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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May 6 #126 / In The Ecotone

James Clifford, Emeritus Professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has written a beautiful book, In The Ecotone, available from the Bay Tree Bookstore at UCSC, and from Bookshop Santa Cruz, and probably from elsewhere, too. 

Clifford’s book is an impassioned song of love to the UCSC campus, and particularly to its both stunning and subtle physical beauty. The book celebrates everything that makes the campus such a special place. Clifford’s book has been published as the campus teeters on the brink of a repudiation of one of the central commitments made by the University in the very early 1960s, when the Cowell Ranch was initially selected and then developed as the site of the University’s then-new campus. 

As Clifford explains in the book, “the earliest plans for the university placed it in the meadow. Construction there would probably have been simpler and less expensive … Initial sketches show a rather conventional campus …” A picture of the meadow appears above. Renowned landscape architect “Thomas Church argued against building in the meadow, a perspective quickly accepted by the planning team, and after some debate, by the Regents. The whole operation was moved uphill, into the ecotone and the forest.”

As Robert Frost might have said, “and that has made all the difference.”

A little over fifty years after the decision to reject filling the meadow with buildings, retiring Chancellor George Blumenthal has done everything he can to reverse the commitment insisted upon by the founders. Instead of celebrating the splendor of the campus, which the preservation of the open meadow as its entryway accomplishes automatically, Blumenthal has decided that a rather conventional and undistinguished residential development should be the first view that most visitors will have of the campus as they come through the Main Gate.

Those who use the West Gate entry will see, perhaps even worse, high-rise apartment buildings that conjure up a vision of a dense, urban downtown. 

The “Blumenthal blunder,” as it will surely always be remembered, if construction moves ahead, is being challenged in court. You can get more information by clicking this link for a news story about the lawsuits. 

If you would like to join in the fight to protect and preserve the meadow (and to maintain the vision that has defined the physical development of the UCSC campus from its very beginnings), you can click the link for a connection to the East Meadow Action Committee. More stunning pictures are available from the EMAC website. 

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Learn the secret deep inside moves to keep us going at Subconscious Comics…skip below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Barr None” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

MIRIAM ELLIS INTERNATIONAL PLAYHOUSE (MEIP).
The 19th season of the Miriam Ellis International Playhouse (MEIP) will feature short, fully-staged theater pieces in 4 languages, with English super-titles, on May 17, 18, 19, at 8:00 PM at the Stevenson Event Center, UCSC. In Japanese, Tales of the Service Industry will be directed by Sakae Fujita; Spanish will offer El delental blanco (The White Apron), Carolina Castillo-Trelles directing. Chinese will present Butterfly Lovers, directed by Ting-Ting Wu, while French students will perform On fait le marché avec Papa (Shopping with Papa), directed by Miriam Ellis and Renée Cailloux. Free admission; parking is $5.00. The public is cordially invited to attend. More at language.ucsc.edu.

BOLDEN. Supposedly this is a bio of an early New Orleans cornet player who “invented” jazz. So little is known about Buddy Bolden that this movie is just a typical story of any New Orleans band member of the time. There’s no heart, soul, or any other factor shown in the film that would give credence to the importance of this art form. CLOSES MAY 9

AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Over 2 billion dollars at the opening weekend box office!!! A world record-shattering Marvel-Disney experience. It’s too much for me to critique. Even were I to accept all the other world characters that inhabit this Marvel–Disney franchise, Rocket the wise talking raccoon would eb a step too far. The rest of the cast could be — and are — contained in Wagner’s Ring operas, Greek and Roman legends and dozens of comic books throughout the last 60 years. Like most successful movies today, this one is full of violence, hatred, bloodshed. I’m sorry I saw it, and you know if you’ll like it, so there you are!!! I should add that there are cameos by Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Natalie Portman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford, Tom Hiddleston and probably more but it doesn’t matter. Oh yes, it got a 95 on RT.

LONG SHOT. Pairing Charlize Theron with Seth Rogen is as improbable as having Rogen play the part of a presidential advisor/speech writer in the first place. This movie is full of “fuck you’s”, masturbation topics, and just gross filth. Theron plays the role of a presidential candidate and the movie is merely gross, not clever… or funny.

MUSTANG. It’s a simple minded movie about some Nevada State prisoners who turn wild mustangs into saddle broken riding horses to sell at an auction every year. It’s apparently factual. It stars Bruce Dern at his cranky, snarly best teaching the boys/men how to handle themselves and their steeds. Predictable, corny, and will remind you of My Friend Flicka or any other old horse movie.

US.So much of this movie was shot at our Boardwalk and has hundreds of nearly unrecognizable locals in it…you simply have to see it. It’s a socially-aware horror movie with a very complex plot, and truly scary. Jordan Peele— who also directed Get Out— made sure it also contains a serious critique of racial inequality and our attitudes to living “the good life”. It’s disturbing, puzzling, well-acted, and a little better than Lost Boys… but not as good as Harold and Maude. A 94 on Rotten Tomatoes.

CHAPERONE. A dull, Hollywood story about one of the most exciting, beautiful, talented actresses ever….Louise Brooks. Elizabeth McGovern plays a straight, up tight, dull chaperone. Haley Lu Richardson who plays Louise Brooks looks and acts absolutely nothing like her. This is a movie from a novel that was “based on facts”.  But based on facts….you should stay home and try Mindfulness, if you haven’t already.

AMAZING GRACE. Sometime in the mid 50’s three friends and I went to a church in the darkest part of Los Angeles to hear Mahalia Jackson, an amazing  experience I’ve never forgotten. Watching Aretha Franklin sing gospel songs in this 1971 documentary doesn’t come close. Gospel is it’d own art form and Aretha is and was one of our greatest singers but there’s something lacking in this film.

PET SEMATARY. A remake that shouldn’t have been remade. John Lithgow is frankly boring as the nervous farmer neighbor. Stephen King’s book was fantastic…as I remember from way back when. The original movie version (1989) had some scary scenes, but avoid this sad copy.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Greg Sea Lion Cotton from Protect Juristac, a group fighting to save tribal lands from oil and other development talks on May 7th. Juristac will be followed by Keith McHenry discussing Food Not Bombs and the Camp Ross closing. Dr. Shawna Riddle returns to discuss many current health issues in our community on May 14 and she’s followed by Sarah Leonard from MHCAN Mental Health Client Action center..  May 21st has concertmaster Roy Malan discussing the Hidden Valley String Orchestra concert occurring on June 2nd. Winners from Bookshop Santa Cruz’s annual Short Story Contest read their works on May 28. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

Stephen Colbert interviews Graham Norton

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. “BOMBS”

“Terrorists are not following Islam. Killing people and blowing up people and dropping bombs in places and all this is not the way to spread the word of Islam. So people realize now that all Muslims are not terrorists”. Muhammad Ali

“How do we prevent Iran developing an atomic bomb, when, on the American side, dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not recognised as a war crime?”  Gunter Grass

“The guns and the bombs, the rockets and the warships, are all symbols of human failure”. Lyndon B. Johnson


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com


Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

April 29 – May 5, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…TWO-2-“TWO” LAWSUITS TO STOP ucsc GROWTH.GREENSITE… on Cowell bluff failure: a short history of seven trees. KROHN…Ross Camp indecisions, UCSC and community advisory group, City Block Grant and $$. STEINBRUNER… Water in mid-county meeting and plots, Sewage into drinking water, County Strategic Plan PATTON…Partisan Squabbles. EAGAN…Self Discipline JENSEN…Looks at Chaperone and relives last year. BRATTON…I critique Peterloo, Sunset and Chaperone. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”May”


                                 

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COWELL RANCH and BLACKSMITH SHOP AND QUARRY WORK. This was 1855. The oxen team was hauling rock from the quarry.  Now it’s UCSC and Sarah Cowell (ranch owner Henry Cowell’s daughter) haunts the entire area after her mysterious death in 1903.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

21 QUESTIONS ABOUT UCSC. Mostly positive campus plugs.
TOUR OF UCSC DINING HALLS.

DATELINE April 29, 2019

Here is last week’s complete press release from the East Meadow Action Committee. There is no need to change a word. On Last Tuesday’s Universal Grapevine EMAC’s lead organizer Jim Clifford talked about this. We also talked about his sensitive, surprising and unique book. “In The Ecotone”. He wrote it in 2015 and it’s around and at Amazon too. The book relates some of the many unique natural havens on the UCSC Campus, and more about the”hidden” reasons why the campus should be preserved.

UCSC’S EAST MEADOW ACTION COMMITTEE SUES THE UNIVERSITY TO PROTECT THE EAST MEADOW.
The East Meadow Action Committee (EMAC) filed suit against the University of California on Thursday April 25.  The lawsuit challenges the University administration’s decision to put prefab sprawl development in the East Meadow, the iconic gateway to the University.

In making that decision, the University violated its own long-standing design principles that protected the Meadow.  In its proposed 3000-plus bed student housing project, the University would develop the East Meadow for only 140 beds, less than 5% of the total project.  EMAC has argued for more than a year that while there is an unmet need for additional on-campus student housing, there are alternative sites on campus for those 140 beds.

The lawsuit alleges that the University violated the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to objectively and fairly evaluate those alternative sites.  Even Hadi Makarechian, the UC Regent most knowledgeable about building projects (and a developer himself), expressed strong skepticism concerning the administration’s rationale for rejecting all the alternative sites. However, the administration would not budge from its decision to back a plan originally proposed by their chosen Alabama-based for-profit developer.

EMAC today made the following statement: “We are gratified and encouraged by all the support we have had from the University’s own Design Advisory Board, faculty, alumni, Trustees of the UCSC Foundation, former Trustees, former Regents, the Student Union Assembly, past Campus Architects, the community, and over 80,000 petition signers.  We look forward to getting this needed housing built in a way that is consistent with the long-standing values of UCSC. We are taking this stand now, and forcefully, not only to protect the East Meadow, but to serve notice to the University administration, as it contemplates further development, that it must do so in an environmentally sound, socially responsible way.”

For further information, go to www.eastmeadowaction.org   

UCSC NAMED AGAIN IN LAWSUIT FILED THE NEXT DAY. A group named Habitat and Watershed Caretakers also sued UCSC and the regents over the proposal to develop the East Meadow into a bedsite for 3000 new students. It was filed Friday, April 26.

MARY KELLY KONTRIBUTIONS. Mary has a rare condition…she not only sees funny stuff everywhere she looks….she also sends it to her friends. Por ejemplo…

The meaning of opaque is unclear.
I wasn’t going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind.
Have you ever tried to eat a clock?  It’s very time consuming.
A man tried to assault me with milk, cream and butter.  How dairy!
I’m reading a book about anti-gravity.  I can’t put it down.
If there was someone selling marijuana in our neighbourhood, weed know about it.
It’s a lengthy article about ancient Japanese sword fighters, but I can Sumurais it for you.
It’s not that the man couldn’t juggle, he just didn’t have the balls to do it.
So, what if I don’t know the meaning of the word ‘apocalypse’?  It’s not the end of the world.
Police were called to the daycare centre.  A 3-year old was resisting a rest.
The other day I held the door open for a clown.  I thought it was a nice jester.

If you see Mary be sure to smile!!!

April 29

A TALE OF SEVEN TREES

It gives me small comfort to see the bluff top failure at Cowell Beach. Of course there’s the “I told you so” satisfaction.  But nothing can compensate for the loss of the grand old trees that gave beauty to the area and most importantly, stability to the bluff, which supports the Sea and Sand Inn owned by the Seaside Company.  It’s a tale of money, power and influence with a compliant city, compliant “experts” and a cold disregard for science and the truth.

There were originally 7 trees on the bluff and they were planted some time before 1928, which is when they first appear in photographs. I had long admired them. They lifted my spirits whenever I passed by on West Cliff or swam at Cowell’s, watching the birds flying in and out of their branches. Sure they had been topped, as was the standard pruning custom at the time to reduce the height of tall trees. Today we know better.  Despite that, they had grown back with sturdy trunks and handsome canopies. In 2003, when I wasn’t paying attention, two of the trees were cut down with permit at the request of the Seaside Company. It spoiled the form of the full grove but the other 5 trees still retained a beauty and gave Cowell’s a fine backdrop. At night, soft lighting uplit their sculpted branches.

In 2010 the Seaside Company sought a permit to cut down the rest of the grove, probably to open up views from their new second story addition. The city saw no problem with that request and was poised to grant a permit for removal, which I intended to appeal. As fate would have it, before the permit was granted, a large portion of the bluff top collapsed onto the beach, directly under the area where the two trees had been removed 7 years earlier. Anyone without an agenda would have concluded the obvious….that the removal of the two trees and the resulting decay of their roots caused the bluff to fail. It is widely accepted that roots stabilize steep cliffs, especially in the deposits that lie on top of the Purisima formation and which comprise the bluffs at Cowell’s and elsewhere along West Cliff Drive. It is also widely accepted that erosion from waves at this site is minimal due to the wide beach, which protects the bluff from erosion at the toe. Rather than seeing the need to protect the remaining 5 trees, the city used the cliff failure to justify giving the Seaside Company an emergency permit to remove all remaining 5 trees. Never mind that “emergency” is defined in the code as a “sudden, unexpected occurrence” creating an “imminent danger” that “requires immediate action,” a month went by between granting the emergency permit and the felling of the trees. The advantage/disadvantage of an “emergency” permit is that it cannot be appealed. Not knowing that such a permit had been granted, I just happened upon the chainsaw massacre with the largest, most western tree in the process of being cut down, lying in massive pieces on the sidewalk. The rest were felled during the next two days. Due to the location, between the road and the ocean, such work required a Coastal Permit, which the city applied for after the fact. Although the trees were gone, the spin and fabrication in the geologist’s and city staff’s reports was such that I decided to appeal the Coastal Permit to the CA Coastal Commission (CCC) to document that by removing the trees, a dangerous situation for future bluff failure had been created. As I wrote in my appeal of December 2011:  “It is likely that the rest of the bluff was not at all in “imminent danger” of collapsing but on the contrary, was stabilized by the remaining trees.  If this is accurate, then removal of the remaining trees was a serious mistake and will lead to ongoing serious erosion problems.”  At that time I estimated 7 years for the roots to decay and further bluff failure to occur. April 2019 is just over 7 years so I was close.  You can see the dead tree roots jutting out where the bluff top material collapsed, directly under where the tree was cut down. There are 4 more sites of potential collapse where the other 4 trees once grew. It’s only a matter of time. I predict the biggest collapse will occur under the dead stump of the largest western tree. I wonder what the city, the Seaside Company and the CCC will do now? Oh what a tangled web we weave…

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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April 24, 2019

HOUSELESS HOLD-ONS AND HOLDOVERS.
Wow, it was another historic Santa Cruz city council meeting last Tuesday night (April 22)! As the “closing” of the Ross Camp discussion ambled along, suddenly, a bomb shell meeting-stopper occurred. It slowly seeped into council chambers that a San Jose judge had just issued a TRO–Temporary Restraining Order–that would effectively keep the city from moving Ross campers out until last Friday’s 9am court hearing. Then, as the news was registering in the minds of councilmembers there was a 4-3 city vote to keep the camp open. Take a deep breath…Next, Justin Cummings made a motion for the council to recess and go into closed session, immediately.

Dynamic Camping Situation
Coming out of the closed session meeting Cummings reversed himself and voted to proceed to order the closing of the camp, albeit after the camper’s court case is resolved in San Jose. (How easily will it be resolved?) Earlier in the city council meeting, Susie O’Hara who works in the Santa Cruz city manager’s office, informed the council that at least 88 current Ross Camp residents had already accepted a voucher to move over to the San Lorenzo Park Bench lands where city workers and Salvation Army personnel were preparing tent platforms, setting up bathrooms and hand-washing stations, all inside a secure (?) chain-link fence at the base of county building at 701 Ocean Street. The city had previously contracted with the Salvation Army to run this proposed 5-day encampment before the TRO threw caution to the wind. Upon hearing the news that the Ross Camp would stay open longer perhaps Bench lands voucher-holders might have a change of heart and decide to stay at the Ross Camp. They were scheduled to begin moving their possessions out of The Gateway-Ross Camp last Wednesday morning. Talk about a fluid situation.

Back and Forth and Back
Through much back and forth conversation on the dais, before the final 4-3 vote, Justin seemed to indicate he would consider the Ross Camp location as a backup to 1220 River Street if after it was cleaned, a census of homeless individuals conducted, and there was no more room at any other shelters then yes, a move back to Ross site would be appropriate. He went ahead and voted with Mathews, Meyers, and Watkins (MMW) on this most crucial of votes to close the camp. Perhaps he is trying to finesse it? Buy time? Has alternative master plan? But given what I will report below, I don’t believe he’s gone over to any “other side.” He has though, positioned himself to become the Anthony Kennedy of the Santa Cruz City Council.

Ninth Circuit Ruling
When the parties met in San Jose, Michael Sweat, et. al. v. the City of Santa Cruz represented by the Police Chief, Fire Chief, City Manager, Mayor, and three lawyers (how much does this cost $?), it was a hearing to determine the rights of the Ross Campers to occupy the current space at Highway 1 and River Street, a property owned in part by the City of Santa Cruz and another part by Caltrans, in the face of a US Federal court ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a now famous case, Martin v. Boise. The court essentially directed municipalities not to levy fines on people camping on public property when not enough shelter beds exist in a given community. The ruling does not appear to order cities to provide a bed, just not to criminalize the act of sleeping. When the parties arrived to court in San Jose, US District Court Judge Edward Davila worked out an arrangement with US Magistrate Judge Nathan Cousins to work to mediate a solution, a future or a dissolving, of the now 5-month-long encampment. As of 5pm last Friday no settlement between the parties had been reached and apparently, the result was at least three more days of camping for Ross denizens. All parties were scheduled to be back in court today, Monday, the same day as the BrattonOnLine deadline, so stay tuned for a result.

Camping Addendum
By the way, yesterday, a partly-cloudy and partly-sunny weather-tranquil day in Santa Cruz, Councilmember Drew Glover and I met with Ross Camp liaisons. We also walked the one-half mile-long river levy path separating Ross from the recently revived Bench lands Camp. The Ross Camp spokespeople reiterated their original deal to the city: relocate campers to the Bench lands, clean the Ross Camp area, work with campers and the city Fire Chief to safely set up a revised camp structure to be managed by both campers and an outside non-profit, while also relocating anyone who wanted to go to the 1220 River Street camp site. This process would also permit time for a houseless census, the weeding out of drug dealers, and the separation of campers into the basic needs categories (addiction program, job training, abuse counseling) while lending integrity to the process by involving campers and restoring some of their trust in local government. Councilmember Glover and I were informed by the six Bench lands Salvation Army employees (two were First Alarm guards) that at first several of the 88-voucher holders arrived and were offered tent spaces, but after the TRO was issued, many returned to the looser structure of Ross. Currently, they said 28 campers remain at the Bench lands, but they will all be required to move to 1220 River Street come Tuesday (April 30) when the temporary camp is set to close.

City v. UCSC
Earlier in the meeting, councilmembers were asked to report on what has been happening on the committees we were appointed to in representing the city of Santa Cruz. I reported on the remarkable results of a CAG–Community Advisory Group–meeting that took place last Monday. This is a group that is advising the University administration on how to best move forward vis -a-vis the Santa Cruz community on formulating the next Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). In a unanimous vote of those present concerning a 7-point statement of principles the group committed to, and challenged UCSC also to “commit consistently to advocate with Legislators, the Regents, and the Office of the President to secure resources needed to provide the infrastructure required to support any new growth, ideally prior to that growth occurring, and the local campus will not support additional enrollment growth when the needed infrastructure is not provided,” and to “[F]ully mitigating adverse off-campus impacts of University growth authorized by the LRDP and recognizing the profound effects of this growth on the almost fully built out Santa Cruz community, is a critical outcome of the LRDP process.”This group is made up of Ryan Coonerty, Cynthia Mathews, Chris Krohn, Lee Butler, Ceil Cirillo, Don Lane, Ted Benhari, John Aird, Bill Tysseling, Robert Orrizzi, Gary Patton, and Andrew Schiffrin (Schiffrin and Butler did not vote, but participated in the discussion). This is a clear sign of the city and county moving forward to confront future university growth as asked for by voters in the 2016 Measure U vote. Almost 80% voted to stop any more UCSC growth.

Wait, There’s More
The Four (Brown, Glover, Krohn, Cummings) seemed to prevail in a big-time battle with the MMW Three (Mathews, Meyers, Watkins) on how to best spend almost half a million dollars in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. The Four voted to double the amount suggested by the Community Programs Committee(CPC)–Watkins, Mathews, Glover–for the Nueva Vista and Beach Flats Community Center, as well as for the Homeless Garden Project (HGP), which is set to move to the Pogonip this summer. Both Nueva Vista and HGP’s total went from $50,000 to $100,000, a sea virtual change considering last year’s council majority did not wish to fund either request. The most consequential news here is where some of the funding was transferred from counter to the CPC majority’s wishes. Some of it came out of the Planning Department’s Rental Inspection-Code Enforcement bureaucratic fiefdom. The CPC’s recommendation was $95,000 for code enforcement, but the council shaved that back to $40k. If folks remember, the rental inspection ordinance and arbitrary code enforcement has pitted neighbor against neighbor and basically has eliminated many safe but unpermitted units throughout the city in recent years. So, in keeping with a campaign promise to scale back this city “service” and focus on tenants, the council made a powerful statement. The city council also funded the California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) request of $20k. CRLA assists low-income people and tenants with legal advice and representation, another council-majority focus.

Climate change is here + we’ve got a deadline: 12 years left to cut emissions in half. A #GreenNewDeal is our plan for a world and a future worth fighting for. How did we get here? What is at stake? And where are we going?(April 17) Watch the video, wow! https://twitter.com/RepAOC?lang=en  

  

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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April 29

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT INTERPRETS INFORMATION TO SUIT THEIR PROJECT
The League of Women Voters sponsored a great event last Saturday at the Capitola City Council Chambers to educate the public about water issues in the the MidCounty area.  Unfortunately, it was sparsely attended, but was recorded and  will soon be available on the League website.

The panel of speakers included Darcy Pruitt (MidCounty Groundwater Agency), Heidi Luckenbach (City of Santa Cruz), and Melanie Mow-Schumacher (Soquel Creek Water District).  What bothered me was the incomplete and deceiving information presented by Ms. Mow-Schumacher regarding the alternatives to the current District’s plan to rush forward on a nearly $200 million project to inject treated sewage water into the drinking water supply of the MidCounty area.  When asked, she would not divulge the cost of the project (Pure Water Soquel) when debt financing is included.  When asked why the District is rushing forward to act independently with this costly and risky project, rather than waiting until Santa Cruz City makes decisions on future supplemental water supply and storage projects that could be mutually supportive and beneficial to both agencies if they were to share costs for necessary system upgrades, she said the groundwater overdraft problem is just too urgent.  Consider that the groundwater levels are at historically-high levels due to customer conservation and rain.

The most irritating reaction however was when she displayed a slide of information claiming the City of Santa Cruz cannot supply water to the District to meet its needs for conjunctive use.  In reality, the table shows that, under a number of different possible climate change scenarios, the City could not guarantee 1500 acre feet/year to the District 100% of the time to meet what the District has determined is the amount needed to replenish the MidCounty Basin due to their over pumping (with Junior Water Rights, and thereby illegal).  The table shown, which you can see by looking on page 37-38 of the April 2, 2019 Soquel Creek Water District Board agenda packet does NOT accurately display the forecasts as presented to the City Water Advisory Commission on April 1, 2019, which reduced the amount the City needs to 2.5 billion gallons/year.

Acknowledge and mitigate for the risks to revenue stability associated with moving to a more volume based rate using two strategies:

1. Maintaining the conservative assumption at 2.5 billion gallons per year;
2. Beginning with the planned July 1, 2018 rate increase, apply a $1.00 surcharge per unit of water consumption (a hundred cubic feet or CCF) to increase the amount of the Rate Stabilization Reserve from the current minimum level of $2.3 million to a total of $10 million. In any normal water year where 2.5 billion gallons of water is not sold, the revenue shortfall associated with this situation would be covered by resources from this fund.7

http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub_watercom/cache/2/qpev3wq00uhbzh0hik5ubj44/482023204292019020017287.PDF

(taken from the agenda packet)

Just as the question/answer period was becoming interesting, with Ms. Mow-Schmacher dodging one pointed question after another regarding the District’s actions, the event was abruptly closed, even though there were still several questions submitted on cards from the audience to be addressed.  Time was up.

I urge you to take a look at Water for Santa Cruz County website and really see what is possible.

CITIZEN SCIENCE OR A FREE COMMERCIAL FOR INJECTING TREATED SEWAGE WATER INTO YOUR DRINKING WATER?
This Thursday, May 2, you can have the chance to hear how Soquel Creek Water District will once again spin the facts to support the District’s expensive and risky project to inject millions of gallons of treated sewage water into the MidCounty area’s drinking water supply.  The Downtown Library is hosting District General Manager, Ron Duncan, and District Board member Bruce Daniels to present a Citizen Science lecture “The Science Behind Water”, 6:30pm-8pm. 
Here is information

Expect a glowing report and free advertisement of the Pure Water Soquel Project, bar none. 

MAY 4 IS NATIONAL WILDFIRE COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS DAY…..NEED A CHIPPER?
As the weather warms, the grasses made lush by this winter’s lovely rains soon will be dry.  If you live in the rural areas, or near them, you know all about wildfire danger.  The neighborhoods in Prospect Heights and Paradise Park are working to organize neighborhood clean-ups during the week ahead to recognize the May 4 National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day, established by the FireWise and National Fire Prevention  Administration.

If your community wants to organize your efforts, contact the Fire Safe Santa Cruz to submit your project request.  Grant money will be available for chipping programs this fall. 

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ALL THOSE BEAUTIFUL WORDS?
Last week, I attended one of the County Strategic Plan Community Meetings.  It was in Watsonville, but there were a couple others that had been held in Santa Cruz previously.  I saw many County staff there, and a couple of Watsonville City Council members, but no members of the general public.  I was given three strips of stickers showing green smiley faces, yellow puzzled faces, and red frowning faces, and was instructed to visit the different stations in the room with Strategic Plan Goals outlined.  I was to cast my vote with my stickers.

Here are the categories identified, and each had two or more goals to achieve:

  • Reliable Transportation
  • Dynamic Economy
  • County Operational Excellence
  • Sustainable Environment
  • Attainable Housing
  • Comprehensive Health & Safety

I asked for an explanation of what the Strategic Plan will actually accomplish for the average citizen:  “How will this Plan change how the County operates, and makes policies?  What will be the boots-on-the-ground changes that citizens can expect?”  I wanted to know.  I was shown several glossy full-color brochures, and even a 2018 County Annual Report that detailed the Strategic Plan and boasted (without any real concrete figures) what the County had accomplished. 

“How will you use the information you gather here today?”  I asked.  Staff informed me that it will all be compiled into a report for the Board of Supervisors at the June, 2019 Budget Hearings. 

I spent over an hour reading through the beautiful words on the walls and in the glossy full-color brochures and reports, but still wondered what changes can and will come from all this seemingly very expensive process???

Hmmmmm…..  Take a look at the beautiful words here and decide where you would put your smiley faces

THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE APTOS QUILT AND HOW THE SHORTEST PARADE IN THE WORLD GOT STARTED.
Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 11 (10:30am-noon) to attend a great opportunity to hear first-hand from Anne and Albert Isaacs about how the Aptos July 4th Parade really began, and hear the story about the amazing Aptos Quilt displayed in the Aptos Library Community Room.  The event is free and open to the public, and naturally, will be held at the Aptos Library.  Light refreshments included, and a great chance to meet the people who worked alongside legendary Lucille Aldrich to really shape the Aptos Community.

WRITE ONE LETTER.  MAKE ONE CALL.  ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING.  FILE A PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REQUEST.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. BUT GET SCRAPPY, AND JUST DO SOMETHING!!

Cheers, Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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April 27, 2019 #117 / Partisan Squabbles


The picture collage comes from a January 25, 2019, opinion column by Shamila N. Chaudhary, published in The Hill. The title of Chaudhary’s column was “Partisan Squabbles Degrade Public Servants – At America’s Risk.

I came upon the collage above after I started searching for images associated with the phrase “partisan squabbles.” I did that after reading an opinion column published in The New York Times on April 13, 2019. That column, by Samara Klar, Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan, was titled, “Polarized Or Sick of Politics?” Here’s the photo that was used in the online version of The Times’ column, illustrating a group of people who are “sick of politics”:

The political science professors who wrote for The Times reported on a series of experiments and surveys that they contend demonstrate that Americans are not, really, as “polarized” as we sometimes think. Rather, Americans just hate “politics.” The “pull quote” that attracted my attention to the column proclaimed: “Most Americans just really don’t like partisan squabbles.” Again, according to the authors, that’s not because Americans are so “partisan.” It’s because they just don’t like the “squabbles” that seem to define what “politics” is all about. I am not sure how convincing that set of surveys and experiments actually is. Read The Times’ column for yourself and make up your own mind. 

What I do think, though, is that the large number of Americans who make clear that they really don’t like “politics” are voicing their complaints and concerns about something that is not what we really ought to call “politics,” at all. 

When “politics” is seen as a set of squabbles and maneuverings between various elites who are  fighting about who gets to run the country, ordinary men and women have little reason to like it. “Politics” does become an arena in which “everything is possible and nothing is true.” If politics is just deciding to whom one should show allegiance, among the various “leaders” on offer, there really isn’t much to like. It’s no wonder that the “squabbles” between the candidates and the various ideologies being discussed are rejected as unworthy and distasteful. 

But what if “politics” were actually understood to be what it actually is, the mechanism by which we decide for ourselves, as self-governing citizens, what we should do, collectively, to meet the challenges we face and to accomplish the hopes and aspirations we cherish?

The key to a right relationship to “politics,” for me, is citizen engagement in the political process. We need to see ourselves (because it is true) as the actors who will determine the political choices and outcomes that will govern our present and future. If we see ourselves as mere “observers,” as opposed to “actors,” then the “partisan squabbles” of those who present themselves as the persons who are entitled to “act,” will become very tiresome and distressing indeed. This is what politics has become, an entertainment, a spectator sport, and it is a hugely ignoble spectacle. Take our current president, as an example!

The idea that we (each of us) are part of a self-governing society is slipping away. If all we can do it to watch while others “squabble,” it’s no wonder that we hate politics. 

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS.Look in at Eagan’s Self-Discipline lesson to see if the shoe fits!!!

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” A game for the whole nation” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

SANTA CRUZ BAROQUE FESTIVAL. Their concert number 5. “Bach’s Coffeehouse”

Will be performed Saturday, May 4, 2019 at  7:30pm at UCSC Recital Hall. They’re playing Bach’s hilarious Coffee-Cantata. Featuring…Sheila Willey, Soprano as Lieschen, a young coffee-addict, Jonathan Schmucker, Tenor as the Narrator, Ben Brady, Bass-Baritone as Herr Schlendrian, the vengeful father, and Lars Johannesson, Baroque Flute, with The Festival Baroque Strings with Linda Burman-Hall, Director and Harpsichord. Also on the Baroque Festival docket for May 12 is.. Flamenco presented by aficionado vocalist Carlitos de Santa Cruz and guitarist Erik Jarmie. This will be a day to delight all the senses, in the company of fellow musicians and music lovers. Santa Cruz Baroque Festival presents Music In The Garden. May 12, 2019, 1-5pm. $45 presale, $50 at the door Tickets available at scbaroque.org

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Some random thoughts after the first year without my Art Boy, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express ( http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). When is it all right for those left behind to survive? Also, we knew the clothes would be fabulous, but read my review of the rest of The Chaperone — the first feature film from the folks at PBS Masterpiece — in this week’s Good Times.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

SUNSET. Set in Budapest in 1913 just before WW1, this is a difficult film to both watch and even follow the plot. It’s directed by the same guy who did the Oscar Award winning “Son Of Saul”. A young woman goes through Budapest looking for any traces of her family. She encounters thugs, rapists, and mean people everywhere. Go prepared for a real challenge. CLOSES THURSDAY MAY 2.

PETERLOO. It’s almost like a future view of Santa Cruz City politics and police meeting a crowd of pacifists. It’s a sad and true story of what happened in Manchester, England in 1819. The crowd of 80,000 peaceful protesters who are fighting for the right to vote meets police force. Real film followers know by now that this is a Mike Leigh film. That means he forces his message /script on the audience – no matter how long and how complex the film must be. The title is from St. Peters Field where the event happened, and of course it entered the history books after Waterloo. Go warned, and its 152 minutes extra long, and 15 protesters died. CLOSES THURSDAY MAY 2

CHAPERONE. A dull, Hollywood story about one of the most exciting, beautiful, talented actresses ever….Louise Brooks. Elizabeth McGovern plays a straight, up tight, dull chaperone. Haley Lu Richardson who plays Louise Brooks looks and acts absolutely nothing like her. This is a movie from a novel that was “based on facts”.  But based on facts….you should stay home and try Mindfulness, if you haven’t already.

HIGH LIFE. Deep, very deep space and a bunch of criminals including Robert Pattinson  and Juliette Binoche are sentenced to ride in a space ship to the Black Hole for years. This is the long, very long, movie about the crimes they committed before the space ship. Pattinson has become an excellent actor….even with just a few words in his script. What’s sort of cool is that their spaceship isn’t the usual immaculate vessel but is dirty, dusty and old. It’ll keep you interested just trying to figure out what the plot really is.

AMAZING GRACE. Sometime in the mid 50’s three friends and I went to a church in the darkest part of Los Angeles to hear Mahalia Jackson, an amazing  experience I’ve never forgotten. Watching Aretha Franklin sing gospel songs in this 1971 documentary doesn’t come close. Gospel is it’d own art form and Aretha is and was one of our greatest singers but there’s something lacking in this film.

MUSTANG. It’s a simple minded movie about some Nevada State prisoners who turn wild mustangs into saddle broken riding horses to sell at an auction every year. It’s apparently factual. It stars Bruce Dern at his cranky, snarly best teaching the boys/men how to handle themselves and their steeds. Predictable, corny, and will remind you of My Friend Flicka or any other old horse movie.

US.So much of this movie was shot at our Boardwalk and has hundreds of nearly unrecognizable locals in it…you simply have to see it. It’s a socially-aware horror movie with a very complex plot, and truly scary. Jordan Peele— who also directed Get Out— made sure it also contains a serious critique of racial inequality and our attitudes to living “the good life”. It’s disturbing, puzzling, well-acted, and a little better than Lost Boys… but not as good as Harold and Maude. A 94 on Rotten Tomatoes.

PET SEMATARY. A remake that shouldn’t have been remade. John Lithgow is frankly boring as the nervous farmer neighbor. Stephen King’s book was fantastic…as I remember from way back when. The original movie version (1989) had some scary scenes, but avoid this sad copy.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. . April 30 has land use attorney and former S.Cruz county Supervisor Gary Patton discussing the “Save Santa Cruz” organization. Then Rachel Kippen the new ex.dir of the O’Neill Sea Odyssey talks about her job and the Monterey Bay. Greg Cotton from Protect Juristac, a group fighting to save tribal lands from oil and other development talks on May 7th. Juristac will be followed by Jean Marie Scott UCSC’s associate vice chancellor speaking about an increase in UCSC student’s bus fares. Dr. Shawna Riddle returns to discuss many current health issues in our community on May 14.  May 21st has concertmaster Roy Malan discussing the Hidden Valley String Orchestra concert occurring on June 2nd. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

Trevor Noah is one of my favorite comedians 🙂

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES.   “MAY”

In the deepening spring of May, I had no choice but to recognize the trembling of my heart. It usually happened as the sun was going down. In the pale evening gloom, when the soft fragrance of magnolias hung in the air, my heart would swell without warning, and tremble, and lurch with a stab of pain. I would try clamping my eyes shut and gritting my teeth, and wait for it to pass. And it would pass –but slowly, taking its own time, and leaving a dull ache behind.” Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

Spring is nature‘s way of saying, “Let’s party!” Robin Williams

“As full of spirit as the month of May, and as gorgeous as the sun in Midsummer.”                              William Shakespeare


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
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Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

April 22 – 28, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Our Circle Community Church, KZSC and PSA’s. GREENSITE…Greensite on the illusion of affordable housing. KROHN…is away this week and will return next week. STEINBRUNER…got delayed working on her lawsuit at the law library and missed our deadline. She too will return next week. PATTON…Is Global Warming our doomsday prediction? EAGAN…flying immigrants. JENSEN…about old Easters and chocolate bunnies. BRATTON…I critique High Life, Amazing Grace and Teen Spirit. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “Black Holes”


                                 

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41st and CAPITOLA ROAD 1967. This was before all of us got here and developed everything. That was the Ow family’s King’s Plaza Shopping Center. Then it was Orchard Supply Hardware. Now it’s empty.                                                         

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

JUDY COLLINS & LEONARD COHEN – “Hey, Thats No Way To Say Goodbye” 1976
GEORGE CARLIN ON HOUSELESSNESS. Chris Krohn found this one.

DATELINE April 22, 2019

SAVING OUR CIRCLE CHURCH. John Sears, one of the organizing activists working to Save the Errett Circle Community Church, added a newsletter to their members. You can and should go to their Facebook group. John states, “The Santa Cruz City Planning Department website still shows only a plot plan and they only report on project status at the end of the month so the application process and progress remain opaque. It might be interesting if we organized a field trip to Planning to exercise our rights to view the documents and be informed. If you are interested, let me know.

Our online petition is approaching 250 signatures. Be sure to consider signing it . Search “Change.org Circle Church Santa Cruz CA.” Over the weekend we distributed 500 door hangers in and around the Circles.

Something each of us can do is to talk about Saving the Circle Church property with other folks, comment online, write to the newspapers, release your creative talents towards our goal in poems? songs? paintings?..I posted a comment when asked for our thoughts about this on Nextdoor that read:

“For most of my 42+ years in the Circles 111 Errett Circle has quietly done its job at the heart of the neighborhood. Most of us do not give our own pulsing hearts much thought when she is quietly doing her job but do when she is in trouble. Few people stop to think about, much less articulate what pleasantness and sense of well-being is contributed to our lives in the Circles by having a place that serves as open space, as a Commons, a community center, a place of worship, a place grounding us in history and identity, a monument at the end of our beckoning streets.  In a dense neighborhood of small lots these are not trivial functions.


Until recently it was owned outright by a Church and though ministers came and went exhibiting their stewardship according to their strengths or limitations, the place itself help her steady purpose for the most part, dogs chased balls, kids ran and shouted, once upon a time a bell called, voices raised in song were heard, and freely passing through one might stand a moment gazing from the center down the boulevard to the sea and sky beyond. Much of this location’s nurturing effect is subliminal, like the valuable human thing that draws people to see a sunset from West Cliff. 

Now the property has been, commodified, monetized, sold for a relatively few pieces of silver, and its fate is uncertain. After the awful “outreach” meeting in November in order to deal with my feelings I began to write. I started with a title, “Requiem for a Neighborhood.” It started with a Joni Mitchell lyric…” Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” I hope I never have to finish it.  I do recommend this Ted talk by Mark Lakeman of City Repair in Portland, Oregon to better understand the importance of community sites  such as this one.

Sue Powell, another chief organizer of the Friends of the church, adds “PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION – by clicking on the link below. Neighbors and friends are organizing to preserve the property at 111 Errett Circle as a community center, a spiritual space, and neighborhood commons. Instead of demolition, our vision is to beautify, enliven, and foster this historic space at the heart of our Circles Neighborhood so that it continues to be used for a variety of activities for all generations.

KZSC AND PUBLIC SERVICE SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS. KZSC hasn’t been getting very many PSA’s — i.e. Public Service Announcements. Tell every well-intentioned nonprofit group you know to go to the KZSC website, read the easy PSA rules, and send them in. They are free, and are read many, many times.

RALPH DAVILA’S OWN PRIVATE OXFORD DICTIONARY.

Purloin – an amorous cat
Haiku – doves singing in treetops
Hydrangea – the act of concealing a parks employee
Algorithm – the pulse of he who almost became president.
Harlequin – one of 5 siblings of the same age riding an American motor-cycle. 

April 22, 2019

GRASPING AT STRAWS
Without rent control or government subsidies, truly affordable housing in Santa Cruz is a chimera. That doesn’t stop people from trying to fit this round peg into a square hole. While the attempt is laudable, the assumptions should be subject to careful analysis with evidence that the result will achieve the goal before eliminating zoning, height/density restrictions and parking requirements. Otherwise, not only will the character of Santa Cruz be lost but also the added market rate housing, which raises nearby property values will only further displace lower income workers and families. That much has been demonstrated in studies across the state of the impact of new dense housing on established neighborhoods.

The latest, much-touted solution to fail the test of affordability is ADU’s (Accessory Dwelling Units). This element rose to the top of the list of the city-sponsored, yearlong discussions on solutions to the “housing crisis.” ADU’s, many argued are “affordable by design”, since they are smaller than the main house on a single-family lot and the land is already available. Sounds reasonable unless you consider that housing is a commodity with profit the bottom line. With bottomless demand by those wanting to move to Santa Cruz plus an ever-expanding UCSC, supply can expand until our neighborhoods are defined by 7 story apartment blocks, yet rents and housing costs will continue in an upward trajectory without price and rent control.

While the state forced cities to relax their restrictions on parking and setbacks for ADU’s, our city went even further down this road. It’s hard to argue against encouraging more ADU’s if one accepts that they will add to the supply of affordable housing. Nevertheless, this re-zoning of single-family areas of the city has not achieved the assumed goal. According to the findings presented at the Planning Commission meeting on 4/18/19, rents for ADU’s currently on the market, range from $2000 to $3500 a month. This is considered an “above moderate” rent level. The biggest unmet need for housing in our community is for low and very low rent levels. So ADU’s do nothing for the most impacted by high housing costs. Yes, they add housing but we don’t need more, we need far lower rents and ADU’s do not contribute to that need.

The city should be applauded for doing research to assess whether assumptions are real or merely claimed. Other suggestions for “affordability” need similar scrutiny.

When 1010 Pacific Avenue was approved by council in 2004 with more than the required affordable units, it was touted as being much needed housing for our teachers, firefighters and police: “workforce housing” in today’s vernacular. With this as the carrot, a variance for increased building height was readily approved by council. But has this housing achieved its professed goal? The nine-month leases suggest student tenants but I could be wrong. Their promotional blurb claims “easy access to CA-17, gets you over the hill to the tech firms of Silicon Valley and other Bay Area destinations” suggesting that local teachers, police and firefighters are not the anticipated tenants. A survey of residents and rents could and should be done.

The most recent proposal that is claimed will lead to more affordable housing is to “unbundle” parking costs from rents, meaning, not require developers to include parking in their buildings or to charge extra for parking if they do include it. A commentary in the Sentinel of 4/22/19 by transportation planner Patrick Siegman asserts that affordability will be the desired result. He cites, interestingly, a tenant at 1010 Pacific who does not own a car and therefore saves $125 a month, which is what 1010 Pacific charges for parking. She is a student and rides the bus to UCSC and walks to downtown shops. What works for a student may not work so well for the “workforce.” Siegman views parking requirements as being outdated from the Eisenhower era rather than a response to a car owning populace. His solution for avoiding the impact on neighborhoods with prices and/or residential parking permits (far fewer than the anticipated cars) is an assumption that needs evidence before eagerly accepted by city planners and council. My commonsense says that a claim of no impact is unlikely as it is unlikely that developers will pass on to their tenants the savings in cost from not having to provide parking or greatly reduced parking.

Recent city recommendations for reduced parking requirements for large developments as well as eliminating parking requirements for all new ADU’S allow for an assessment of the impacts if the city is willing to do the research. Unless new tenants sign a contract that they will not own a car, impacts from unbundling parking are more likely than not to further deteriorate our rapidly impacted neighborhoods while the goal of truly affordable housing remains out of reach.  

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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CHRIS KROHN. Is journeying this week and will return next week.

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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STEINBRUNER STATES. Becky is working on perfecting her lawsuit at the Law Library and couldn’t finish her weekly contribution…she too will return next week.

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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April 22, 2019 #112 / What A Guy!

Last Saturday (4/20), Guy McPherson (pictured) came to my home town, Santa Cruz, California. He spoke at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, and his topic was advertised as “Abrupt Climate Change.” Dr. McPherson’s message was not a hopeful one. In fact, I think it is fair to say that McPherson is against any expression of “hope” when we consider global warming and climate change. It is McPherson’s view that there is no hope for us, and that there is nothing we can do, at this point, to prevent the complete extinction of the human race.

McPherson says that it would be wrong for a doctor to tell a patient with a terminal disease that there may be “hope.” That would be a lie. It isn’t going to help. Similarly, it would be wrong for anyone who has studied the issue of climate change to tell people that there is any “hope” that we can do anything that will prevent the total extinction of all life on this planet, including, specifically, the extinction of human life. McPherson sees his job as trying to establish a “Planetary Hospice,” to bring comfort to all of us during these last few years of our lives, which may well be over by 2030. If you click this link you will be able to read an article that makes the argument.

There was some reluctance in the audience to hear this message of absolute hopelessness. For instance, consternation was expressed when Dr. McPherson said that reducing the use of fossil fuels, which are putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, will not actually help us at all. It turns out, he says, that the particulates released by the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels (he called them aerosols) actually help reflect sunlight, and thus reduce global warming. Reducing hydrocarbon emissions will reduce the creation of those aerosols and thus actually speed up global warming, even though the emission of greenhouse gases may be reduced. As Dr. McPherson put it, where the burning of fossil fuels is concerned, “we are damned if we do; we are damned if we don’t.”

The part of Dr. McPherson’s presentation that I liked best was a brief video illustrating the power of the exponential function. From 1975 to 1995, as I worked on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors to fight the unconstrained growth then occurring in Santa Cruz County (and considered to be inevitable, by the way), I talked a lot about exponential growth. I referred to a great presentation by UCSC Emeritus Professor Peter Scott, “the bug in the bottle.” Click on the link to read a blog posting of mine from 2010, summarizing Dr. Scott’s illuminating discussion of the exponential function. My blog post mentions greenhouse gas emissions, incidentally.

The video that Dr. McPherson played takes a somewhat different tack, and is well worth watching. It makes the point very well. Once we put processes in motion that are governed by an exponential function, things can quickly get out of hand. The following video makes the point: 

So, are things out of hand where global warming and climate change are concerned? I think so! I am not sold on the idea, however, that the best thing we can all do right now is to drop any effort to reduce our human contributions to global warming, and to turn the entire world into a “Planetary Hospice,” so we can all take our time to give a proper goodbye to all those persons, places, and things we love. That is what Dr. McPherson is prescribing. 

I prefer the prescription suggested by the School Strike 4 Climate and the Extinction Rebellion (both mentioned in my blog post yesterday). Whatever the future may be – and we should remember that “the future’s not ours to see” (que sera, sera) – human activity aimed at revolutionary change will be a lot more satisfying than McPherson’s admonition to get into “hospice mode,” and to forget about preventing human extinction. 

I do agree with Dr. McPherson that we should face the facts. I like what that Extinction Rebellion “Pink Boat” says: “Tell the Truth.”

I we do tell ourselves the truth, we will not indulge in any false hopes that there isn’t a deadly exponential process underway. We should acknowledge that the extincton of human life (and all life) is a real possibility. All that is true. However, without any false hopes whatsoever, it might actually be possible for us to change what we are doing in a way that could end up helping to reduce the coming age of climate change difficulties and disasters. 

I am not ready, personally, to go into a planetary version of “hospice care.” I prefer the idea that we ought to give revolutionary, nonviolent change a chance. 

Let’s see what “Extinction Rebellion” can accomplish.

It’s worth a try! 

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Eagan’s weekly visit behind our scenes….scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Sanctuary City Transit” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

SANTA CRUZ CHAMBER PLAYERS. Santa Cruz Chamber Players presents “Madness and Music: from Concert to Cabaret” at Christ Lutheran Church in Aptos. That’s Saturday April 27 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday April 28 at 3 p.m. Music by Bach, Schumann, St. Saens, Maconchy and more. Ivan Rosenblum, director and piano. For cost and other information, go to http://www.scchamberplayers.org/

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Nurturing fond memories this holiday week of all the Easter Sundays I spent with Art Boy prepping walls for the kids to paint during the 10 years he created murals with 4th and 5th-graders at elementary schools across the county. Read all about it this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). No baskets full of chocolate bunnies for us — but, boy was it worth it!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

HIGH LIFE. Deep, very deep space, and a bunch of criminals — including Robert Pattinson  and Juliette Binoche — are sentenced to ride in a space ship to the Black Hole for years. This is the long (very long) movie about the crimes they committed before the space ship. Pattinson has become an excellent actor….even with just a few words in his script. What’s sort of cool is that their spaceship isn’t the usual immaculate vessel but is dirty, dusty and old. It’ll keep you interested just trying to figure out what the plot really is.

AMAZING GRACE. Sometime in the mid 50’s three friends and I went to a church in the darkest part of Los Angeles to hear Mahalia Jackson — an amazing experience I’ve never forgotten. Watching Aretha Franklin sing gospel songs in this 1971 documentary doesn’t come close. Gospel is its own art form, and Aretha is and was one of our greatest singers — but there’s something lacking in this film.

TEEN SPIRIT. There is/was a Nirvana song titled “Smells like Teen Spirit”, and this movie does smell like Teen Spirit. It’s almost a Doris Day-style movie about a pretty young farm girl who wants to make it big as a band singer. Elle Fanning does her own singing, which doesn’t matter much. Teen Spirit was — or is — a deodorant, by the way, and Elle Fanning is now 21 years old. CLOSES THURSDAY APRIL 25

TRANSIT. A well deserved 96 on Rotten Tomatoes!!! It’s a complex story of oncoming war with Nazis, Paris, fake documents and questionable time shifts. It’s also a tangled love story but with psychological turn-abouts.  Completely absorbing and intelligent, beautifully acted,and just a little boring in spots…go see it. CLOSES THURSDAY APRIL 25

GLORIA BELL. Julianne Moore and John Turturro are the struggling twosome trying to be a couple in this semi-serious drama set in Los Angeles. Julianne is great as the insecure, horny, pot-smoking single working mother who’s trying hard to find a mate. Turturro is even more confused in his search for a woman to replace his ex-wife, and to help him forget her and the drain she places on him. Good film, very engrossing: Julianne Moore has never been better — and that’s saying a lot. 93 on RT.  CLOSES THURSDAY APRIL 25

MUSTANG. It’s a simple-minded movie about some Nevada State prisoners who turn wild mustangs into saddle broken riding horses to sell at an auction every year. It’s apparently factual. It stars Bruce Dern at his cranky, snarly best teaching the boys/men how to handle themselves and their steeds. Predictable, corny, and will remind you of My Friend Flicka or any other old horse movie.

US.So much of this movie was shot at our Boardwalk and has hundreds of nearly unrecognizable locals in it…you simply have to see it. It’s a socially-aware horror movie with a very complex plot, and truly scary. Jordan Peele— who also directed Get Out— made sure it also contains a serious critique of racial inequality and our attitudes to living “the good life”. It’s disturbing, puzzling, well-acted, and a little better than Lost Boys… but not as good as Harold and Maude. A 94 on Rotten Tomatoes.

PET SEMATARY. A remake that shouldn’t have been remade. John Lithgow is frankly boring as the nervous farmer neighbor. Stephen King’s book was fantastic…as I remember from way back when. The original movie version (1989) had some scary scenes, but avoid this sad copy.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Jane Mio from City Parks & Rec., Sierra Club, Valley Women’s Club talks about the San Lorenzo River issues and survival on April 23. She’s followed by James Clifford organizer & member of the East Meadow Action Committee at UCSC. April 30 has land use attorney Gary Patton discussing the “Save Santa Cruz” organization. Then Rachel Kippen the new ex.dir of the O’Neill Sea Odyssey talks about her job and the Monterey Bay. May 21st has concertmaster Roy Malan discussing the Hidden Valley String Orchestra concert occurring on June 2nd. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

This guy’s great! 😀

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. “BLACK HOLES”

“Do you realize that if you fall into a black hole, you will see the entire future of the Universe unfold in front of you in a matter of moments and you will emerge into another space-time created by the singularity of the black hole you just fell into?” Neil deGrasse Tyson

“The internet to me is kind of like a black hole, and I never really go on it”. Jennifer Lawrence

“Look at the universe! What do you see? An order? Tranquillity? A divine peace? You fool! You ignorant! Over there, galaxies are colliding, suns are exploding, black holes swallowing stars! Now look at the universe again! What do you see? A disorder? Chaos? Anything savage? You see a hell? Now, you see the truth!” . Mehmet Murat ildan


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com


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April 17 – 23, 2019

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Historical photo update, Regal 9 history, Nick and Del Mar history, movies at Wikipedia. GREENSITE… on local anthropocentrism or “it’s all about us.” KROHN…first 100 days,transportation, housing, houslessness, city commissions, city wages. STEINBRUNER…Cemex plant future, Sustainable Soquel and Nissan, water meeting events. PATTON…DMZ zone surprises. EAGAN…”Market Forces”. JENSEN…Game of Thrones, Ash is the Purest White. BRATTON…I critique Transit and Ash is the Purest White. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”Bridges”.


                                 

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SEA BEACH HOTEL (behind the 2 story house in front). Sea Beach opened in 1888.  Freight car lower right is a narrow gauge South Pacific Coast rail car which was sold in 1887 to Southern Pacific.                                                    

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN BLOOPERS.
DOWNTOWN SANTA CRUZ 2017. Just a bit commercial..but still fun to watch.

DATELINE APRIL 15, 2019

HISTORICAL PHOTO NEWS. If you scroll down to last week’s BrattonOnline, you’ll see I asked for help on identifying the other two guys in the 1950 photo of Richard Nixon in Santa Cruz . Ever alert and well informed author and historian  Stan Stevens provided me with a photo of the Sentinel’s front page of October 4, 1950. It says that it’s F.H. Lakey on the left he was from Huntington Park. Then there’s Nixon who was the main speaker at this gathering of the California Real Estate Association. He talked about Korea and Alger Hiss to the 1500 delegates. On the right is California Assemblyman Glenn E. Coolidge the official host of the convention. UCSC’s Coolidge Drive and the bridge by Murray Street are named after him. Thanks too for more info from another reader on this… and I lost his name.

REGAL 9 THEATRE HISTORY. Whether you go there or not, the Regal Cinema 9 movie theatre is a big part of our community. Because folks ask about it, here’s a bit of history and facts about Regal Santa Cruz 9. The Regal 9 opened as a Theatre owned by the Signature chain on May 19, 1995. It was designed by Uesugi & Associates from San Francisco.  Regal bought it and re-opened it September of 2004. It has 704 seats. Their largest theatres, #3 and #4, have 115 seats and 147 seats respectively. The now defunct Riverfront theater opened in July 1970 and Regal shut it down in July 2018. It had two theaters with a total of 750 seats.

NICKELODEON & DEL MAR THEATRE HISTORY. Bill Raney and his wife JoAnne Walker Raney opened the Nick in 1969. He owned and operated it with his second wife, Nancy, until selling it to Jim Schwenterley in 1992. Jim and then partner Chuck Volwiler undertook the huge operation of restoring and reopening the historic Del Mar (opened in 1936). Chris Krohn was our mayor at the time of the Del Mar’s re-opening and presided over the festivities. The Del Mar’s three theaters have 288 seats, 138 seats and 138 seats, The Nick has four theaters  Nick 1- 177seats, Nick 2-110 seats, Nick 3-68 seats, and Nick 4 with 39 seats. That’s 564 seats for the Del Mar and 394 for the Nick. Jim and partner Paul Gottlober added the Aptos Cinema, now torn down to the dismay of Aptosians. In 2015 Landmark bought the Del Mar and the Nick and are trying to sell them right now.

MOVIES ON WIKIPEDIA.  I had no idea that we could and should look up movies on Wikipedia…even the newest of films. It seems to me that there are more plot holes or unclear plot twists than ever. Checking them out on Rotten Tomatoes or the movies own website is rarely much help. And in addition Wikipedia gives you/us the genuine “reception” the film received. In addition to all of above I learned this when I looked up Rotten Tomatoes:

FROM Wikipedia.. Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang.[4][5][6][7] The name “Rotten Tomatoes” derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a poor stage performance.  Since January 2010, Rotten Tomatoes has been owned by Flixster, which was in turn acquired by Warner Bros. in 2011. In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcast‘s Fandango.[8] Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, including Fandango.[2] It just proves that college students should go to movies more.

April 15, 2019

WE ARE NOT ALONE
We act as though we are the only species on earth. Or at least the only species worth considering. This anthropocentric worldview is not characteristic of all cultures nor for all of human history but is alive and well in current day Santa Cruz.

Three different issues brought this home this past week. The first was UCSC’s Sixth Annual Climate Conference held at the Rio. The theme was Climate Justice. Global warming disproportionally disadvantages the most vulnerable and focusing on this impact is long overdue. The speakers were knowledgeable, engaging and motivating. We need to “bake in equity” in our policies as we prepare to reduce carbon emissions and adjust to a warming world was a major theme. One speaker noted that the planet will survive climate change but humans may not. I found myself thinking, “nor may many other species survive this man-made cataclysm.” To be fair, this was a conversation about social justice, which implies humans. But shouldn’t we “bake in” to our consciousness a concern for the fate of all species of life including plants and trees? Isn’t it a combination of anthropocentrism and capitalism that has stripped the forests bare, polluted the rivers and oceans, fouled the air, sent species into extinction and depleted the earth? We are not in this alone.

The second was contained in an article in City on a Hill newspaper. The topic was the Regents recent approval for building on the East Meadow despite massive opposition including from significant, influential people. The Vice President of Internal Affairs of the Student Union Assembly was quoted as saying, “With over 100 houseless students in the city, it is absurd for there to be so much open space on campus-like the East Meadow- and leave it unused.”  The word “unused” reveals an ignorance that is hard to shift. How do you get someone to look out onto a meadow and “see” the myriad species of life that inhabit it? It is not empty, unused space. It is teeming with life that cannot survive our jackbooted takeover with buildings, transport, pets and activities. This view of open space as “unused” is the same mind-set that rips out mature trees to widen a road and labels it “improvements.” Take a look at the “improvements” opposite Outdoor World on River Street. When the city approved the low income housing abutting the levee next to Outdoor World they also approved the removal of a row of mature, handsome trees that were probably 60 years old, labeling their removal, “improvements.” They were replaced with two straggling juvenile crepe myrtle trees, which are dying from neglect.

The third was the city’s assessment of the environmental impacts of Segment 7 Phase 2 of the Rail Trail, the .79ths of a mile stretch from Bay/California down past the Water Treatment Plant and ending at the wharf roundabout. The Planning Commission will discuss and vote on this item at its meeting on Thursday April 18th at 7pm. This less than a mile stretch, with many trees and lots of brush will be cleared and “improved” with the trees removed, a retaining wall of between 4 and 19 feet high running the length along with lights and security cameras. The cost is around $10 million. It appears that for many, the urge to get the rail trail with a Class 1 trail trumps concern for the impact on other species including the 21 heritage trees to be removed. The city describes this area of open space as “low quality habitat” to justify a conclusion of “less than significant impact” to the biological species in this area, including a monarch butterfly habitat. Vague statements pass for analysis, such as, “if birds are present they are likely choosing Neary Lagoon over the low quality habitat.” Well birds are present if you care to notice them and this is not a “low quality” habitat but rather contains a plethora of plants including wetland species. In a 30- minute walk through, a seasoned birder identified 11 different bird species, mostly foraging in the canopies of large healthy trees that will be cut down to make way for one species…us.

There are in fact 8.7 million species in the world and 1-2 million are animals. Our survival is linked to the diversity of life. If we continue to privilege one species, ourselves, and ignore the rest we indeed have a short future, irrespective of climate change.

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

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April 15, 2019

FIRST HUNDRED DAYS.

Much is made, by pundits mostly, of a government’s First Hundred Days in office, usually after a tempestuous election. April 20th marks the 100th day of the current Brand-New Council. What has been done by this Santa Cruz City Council since the installation of Justin Cummings and Drew Glover this past December 11th? The story is on-going, filled with fits and starts, but lots of productive legislation too.

Transportation
In the areas of transportation and parking big things have happened. First, the new city council has been able to get a “stop all work” order on the library-garage project that was passed on a 5-2 council vote in the waning months of the old council. Councilmembers Sandy Brown and I thought there was a better way to spend money. Instead of concrete housing for cars how about amenities for pedestrians, bicycles, and alternatives to the “rusted automobile? (Good morning Santa Cruz how-are-ya…”apologies to Arlo Guthrie). Instead, we’re hoping to see an environmental victory come forth out of a revamped and remodeled Church Street library! Secondly, the new council voted to fund bus passes and Jump Bike time for every Santa Cruz downtown employee. (We’re just not sure now why it takes a few months to implement the plan?) In addition, there’s a group organized, Downtown Commons Group, looking at making the Farmer’s Market permanent at Lincoln and Cedar and creating the entire space into our community’s central park. To top it off, a council study session was held on the night of March 19th–approved by a 4-3 council vote–to look at downtown parking and the “need” or not, of another 5-story parking garage. It was successful and can be seen on the city’s web site. Shawn Orgel-Olson also was voted onto the city’s Transportation and Public Works Commission. Go Shawn!

Housing
Concerning tenant protection, this council is overseeing the formation of a Housing Task Force to revisit rent stabilization, just cause eviction, real affordable housing choices, and tenant-landlord mediation. The rent is too damned high and this council wants to do something to keep people in their homes now. The new council also set aside $30,000 for lawyers’ fees in advising renters of their rights.

Houselessness
There is much to take on this area. The new council only nibbled away around the edges, approving an old, new version of a campground at 1220 River Street. But perhaps the greatest victory is wresting $1.4 million from the state apportioned Hap-Heap county funding for homeless services. This money is intended to be spent on a 24/7 emergency shelter. Hopefully, more to come on this one soon. Also, over $100,000 has been spent on shoring up the Ross-Gateway camp at River Street and Highway 1. The city has provided washing stations, port-a-potties, garbage pickup, and wood chips at that site.

City Commission Picks
There is a buzz around the Parks and Recreation, Planning, Transportation and Public Works, Arts, and Downtown Commissions after the new city council injected some fresh blood into these ranks. The council really needs the expert advice of these commissioners, especially in the area of affordable housing and transportation. And when I write “affordable housing” I mean we need more low income units (50%-80% of our area’s median income ($32,710 to $52,336 in city of Santa Cruz using 2017 statistics from the US Census Bureau and HUD–Housing and Urban Development. ) Big things will be given to our commissions and big things will be expected. Stay tuned!

City Wages
Perhaps a day of reckoning is at hand concerning paid staff in the City of Santa Cruz. The council passed a better than expected pay and benefits package for members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) recently. Of course, it was not enough, but it was a beginning. It covered around 470 workers at the lower end of the city’s pay spectrum. In order to pay for it, the council must grapple with holding the line on executive pay and also make some tough decisions on managers and middle managers. A friend recently mentioned to me, since the median income in the city is about $65,000, why not simply hold the line on anyone making over $100,000 and use the money to boost those at the lower pay grades. What do people think of that idea? Let your councilmembers know what you think.

Ilhan Omar Tweet of the Week


“This country was founded on the ideas of justice, of liberty, of the pursuit of happiness. But these core beliefs are under threat. Each and every day. We are under threat by an administration that would rather cage children than pass comprehensive immigration reform.” (April 13)

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.

Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

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April 15, 2019

CAN DAVENPORT HANDLE A HUGE RESORT? WHY ISN’T CEMEX PAYING FOR THE EIR?
At the Tuesday, April 16 meeting, the County Board of Supervisors will consider a recommended plan to essentially double the size of Davenport by re-purposing the CEMEX-owned 172+ acres at the now-shuttered Davenport Cement Plant.  The odd thing is that this is all coming before the Board for land that is privately-owned, and no action will go forward because the County does not have the money to conduct the required Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for whatever development the Board might approve.  Why doesn’t CEMEX pay for that???

Here is what the County Administrative Office (CAO) wants to see happen in Davenport:

  • An Eco-Lodge with 75 rooms (average price of $347/night)
  • 55 Cabins
  • 25 Tent Cabins
  • 39 Campsites with amenities (bathrooms with running water, showers, and a camp store)
  • A restaurant serving the Eco-Lodge
  • A spa
  • 3,500 SF event space/retreat space/small market
  • 225,000 SF Flex Space (clean tech, light industrial, artist-maker space, retail or live-work space)
  • 60 units for employee housing (some may be affordable family housing)
  • 20 market rate homes
  • A restaurant/wine tasting venue (perhaps in the historic Crocker Hospital on the coastal side of the highway)
  • A visitor Center with public restrooms and public parking
  • An emergency medical service storage facility
  • Public trails.

Got all that?  That is the gist of Alternative #5 that was supposedly developed via community meetings to gather input on what the people of Davenport would like to see there.  I attended a couple of those meetings, with an interest in the future of the private at-grade railroad crossing from Highway 1 to Davenport’s New Town and the Warrenella Road farming communities, and really head that the people of Davenport are worried about the TRAFFIC impacts of a large development in their community.  They wanted a local grocery store, and some affordable housing, please.

Instead, it seems the County has calculated the land use values of the different Alternatives, based on what might be built there, and determined that Alternative #5, at $6 Million/Acre would be acceptable.  BUT FOR WHOM???

Here is the link to the Board Agenda Packet…take a look (beginning on Page 95)

Contact the Board: 831-454-2200, write your County Supervisor:

YOU MIGHT ALSO ASK THEM ABOUT THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE CLOSED SESSION DISCUSSION OF THE SUSTAINABLE SOQUEL CEQA WRIT OF MANDATE AND THE NISSAN DEALERSHIP

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

MAKE ONE CALL.  WRITE ONE LETTER.  ATTEND ONE PUBLIC MEETING.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE! BUT JUST GET SCRAPPY AND DO SOMETHING!

Cheers,

Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

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April 13, 2019#103 / Lessons From The DMZ

A play I saw at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival a couple of years ago, Hannah and the Dread Gazebo, came to mind as I was writing my blog post yesterday. The play itself was excellent (you can watch a brief excerpt by clicking this link); however, what struck me most about the play, and what I most remember, is a fact mentioned during the performance. 

It turns out that the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea is now a wonderland of biodiversity. All that was required for biodiversity to return to this area was for human beings to get off the land. The DMZ is 160 miles long, and about 2.5 miles wide. If you venture into the DMZ, as you probably know, you will likely be killed by machine guns trained on you from both North and South Korea. Hence, human intrusions are rare. The result, as documented by an article in The Guardian, is that “the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, is home to thousands of species that are extinct or endangered elsewhere on the peninsula. It is the last haven for many of these plants and animals and the centre of attention for those intent on preserving Korea’s rich ecological heritage.”

If we would like to head in the “right direction,” and start giving back territory to Nature, so that we can survive as a species (and this is what E.O. Wilson says we need to do), it looks like the DMZ provides a pretty good test case and proof of concept. We can, in fact, help restore the biodiversity we have put in peril by simply getting off the land, and leaving it alone. Machine guns might not actually be necessary! There are surely other ways to ensure that we can restore land to its natural state (by simply leaving it alone). 

A recent story published on the EcoWatch website, indicates that we can start restoring our marine environments in the same fashion, by establishing marine sanctuaries. The article cites “a Greenpeace report [that] lays out a plan for how world leaders can protect more than 30 percent of the world’s oceans in the next decade — as world governments meet at United Nations to create a historic Global Oceans Treaty aimed at strictly regulating activities which have damaged marine life.”

There are lots of places where it would make sense for human beings to step back, and remove themselves and their activities. The results, in terms of biodiversity, could be astounding. 

Hey, what about repurposing some of the thousands of military installations that the United States has established all over the world?

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net

Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com

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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Eagan takes us strolling through that unknown , funny and forbidden territory…scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Market Forces ” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

MUNCHING WITH MOZART. Every third Thursday of almost every month there is a free concert held in the upstairs meeting room of the threatened Santa Cruz Public Library. This month the theme is “Celebrating Russian Music” and it happens April 18 12:10-1 p.m. The program contains…

Russian Folk Songs Michael Glinka (1804-1857) , Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)  Alexander Skryabin (1871-1915) Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)   Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Sofia Gubaidulina (b.1931) and good old Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). Remember…it’s free and at the Santa Cruz Library, April 18, 2019 12:10-1:00

Central Branch Meeting Room upstairs.

FIRST ANNUAL VETERANS CHILI COOK-OFF!!!  More than 17 Santa Cruz county Veterans organizations are gathering together Saturday, April 20 at 1960 Freedom Boulevard for this monumental celebration. Experts, award winners, chefs, and a huge amount of friends will enjoy this great fun event. It starts at 11:30 am and will run at least to 4 p.m. It’s hosted by VFW 1716. Tickets and info at (Santa Cruz County Veterans Advocate) Dean Kaufman 831-420-7348 or at the Santa Cruz County Veterans Office 842 Front Street (by the post office).

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Fasten your seatbelt and snuggle up to your favorite direwolf for the launch of the long-awaited eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express http://ljo-express.blogspot.com . What can we expect from the most notorious perpetrator of fan abuse in the history of entertainment?  No doubt, there will be blood. Also, prepare to be surprised as the Chinese gangster epic, Ash Is the Purest White, evolves into something entirely else. Catch up with my review in this week’s Good Times!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

ASH IS THE PUREST WHITE. This one earned a 98 on Rotten Tomatoes. Set in 2001 China, it’s a long (2 hours plus) saga of a woman’s love and devotion of a gross thug. It’s also sad and a document of how the world famous 3 Gorges Dam ruins the community and surrounding country. The film is blocked in three chapters that painfully take us through her stage of love and survival. Brilliant, courageous and worth it!!  CLOSES APRIL 18 !! Hurry!!!

TRANSIT. A well deserved 96 on Rotten Tomatoes!!! It’s a complex story of oncoming war with Nazis, Paris, fake documents and questionable time shifts. It’s also a tangled love story but with psychological turn-abouts.  Completely absorbing and intelligent, beautifully acted,and just a little boring in spots…go see it.

BEST OF ENEMIES. This is actually a feel good movie disguised as a statement on racial bigotry in 1971. It’s about a Ku Klux Klan chief (Sam Rockwell) becoming friends with a black woman activist, brilliantly played by Taraji Henson. Santa Cruzans should be reminded of our KKK connection when we learned that Roger Grigsby— owner of the local OMEI restaurant —was a supporter of David Duke the head of the KKK. Then too, the film’s opening scenes of the City Council meeting in Durham North Carolina will remind active locals of our current council charade. CLOSES APRIL 18

GLORIA BELL. Julianne Moore and John Turturro are the struggling twosome trying to be a couple in this semi-serious drama set in Los Angeles. Julianne is great as the insecure, horny, pot-smoking single working mother who’s trying hard to find a mate. Turturro is even more confused in his search for a woman to replace his ex-wife, and to help him forget her and the drain she places on him. Good film, very engrossing: Julianne Moore has never been better — and that’s saying a lot. 93 on RT. CLOSES APRIL 18

MUSTANG. It’s a simple minded movie about some Nevada State prisoners who turn wild mustangs into saddle broken riding horses to sell at an auction every year. It’s apparently factual. It stars Bruce Dern at his cranky, snarly best teaching the boys/men how to handle themselves and their steeds. Predictable, corny, and will remind you of My Friend Flicka or any other old horse movie.

US.So much of this movie was shot at our Boardwalk and has hundreds of nearly unrecognizable locals in it…you simply have to see it. It’s a socially-aware horror movie with a very complex plot, and truly scary. Jordan Peele— who also directed Get Out— made sure it also contains a serious critique of racial inequality and our attitudes to living “the good life”. It’s disturbing, puzzling, well-acted, and a little better than Lost Boys… but not as good as Harold and Maude. A 94 on Rotten Tomatoes.

PET SEMATARY. A remake that shouldn’t have been remade. John Lithgow is franklyboring as the nervous farmer neighbor. Stephen King’s book was fantastic…as I remember from way back when. The original movie version (1989) had some scary scenes, but avoid this sad copy.

HOTEL MUMBAI. This is NOT the documentary showing the 2008 attack by 10 Pakistani terrorists of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. It is the ruthless, uncaring re-staging of the savage killing of 166 victims over 3 days with no police or soldiers to protect them. Why anyone would want to produce such a film that has no plot, no message, hackneyed acting is a serious question. Why anyone would want to see such a depressing film is another serious question. If this brutal movie makes box office profits should we be expecting acting versions of Parkland or the recent mosque tragedies? CLOSES APRIL 18… AND GOOD RIDDANCE!!

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Kristin Brownstone and Jerry Lloyd discuss the Santa Cruz Actors Theater  “Looking For Normal” play on April 16th. They’re followed by Jeffery Smedberg and Franco Picarella from the Reel Work Film Festival listing the screenings around the county and Bay. May 21st has concertmaster Roy Malan discussing the Hidden Valley String Orchestra concert occurring on June 2nd. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttps://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

This kid is Precocious with a capital P 🙂

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES.”BRIDGES”

“We build too many walls and not enough bridges”. Isaac Newton
“If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he’s dead, then maybe he was a great man”. James Dean
“Never burn bridges. If it’s a faulty bridge then close it off and let it fall on its own”. Gregor Collins
“A bridge can still be built, while the bitter waters are flowing beneath”. Anthony Liccione  


COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com


Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

April 8-14, 2019

Highlights this week:BRATTON…UCSC’s Book-burning revisited. GREENSITE…on Wiener event. KROHN…Highway 1 & 9 and eminent domain, cell towers, Depot Park, Camp Ross, evaluating Jump Bikes. STEINBRUNER…City Water Supply, Soquel Creek Water rates rising, Environmental law suit support, drinking sewage water, Wieners Yimby event.PATTON…Drones and Death. EAGAN… “Brexit…briefly”. JENSEN…Hamilton happening and Mustang movie. BRATTON…Critiques Best Of Enemies and Pet Sematary. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “Boardwalks”

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TRICKY DICK NIXON, COCOANUT GROVE, SANTA CRUZ October 3, 1950. This was the year Nixon got elected to the U.S. Senate, and went on to handle the Alger Hiss debacle.

Anyone have clues to the other two guys in the photo?

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

BOATS BEACHING ON SAND. Let’s hope this doesn’t catch on here!!!
YOUNG SAMMY DAVIS JR. Better than Michael Jackson?

DATELINE April 8

BURNING OF 86,000 BOOKS AT UCSC. Yes it’s old news that the Science and Engineering library at UCSC — under the direction of its librarian Elizabeth Cowell — burned, destroyed, or got rid of 86,000 books (that’s eighty six thousand books). It was the summer of 2016 and somehow, even though the San Jose Mercury reported it, little note or reactions were made in public.. Go here to read the Mercury. The books were destroyed to make room for more study space. That is for more tables and chair footage. The value of those books was between two and six million dollars. In hindsight it was a symbol of “who needs books when we have the internet?” More than that, it’s still being argued that it was done in secret with no faculty or staff being notified. The Santa Cruz Sentinel stated on September 11, 2018, in a letter from Michael Nauemberg … “In his Sentinel commentary on drafting a blueprint for UCSC’s future, Chancellor Blumenthal enthused about its importance as a planning tool for the development of our campus. But at the time that we are celebrating the value of science, Blumenthal’s administration demolished our Science and Engineering Library collection, withdrawing about 80,000 volumes without any consultation whatsoever with our faculty and students. And in spite of a formal request by the faculty to stop further withdrawals of the remaining volumes, his administration is blatantly ignoring it, announcing instead plans for the future withdrawal of most of the remaining volumes from our library”.Michael Nauenberg, Santa Cruz.

More than that,  City on a Hill stated…

“Research professor Michael Nauenberg said the administration failed to adequately communicate the drastic changes to the library collection. While the administration did inform faculty the collection would be consolidated, Nauenberg said there was miscommunication and that the faculty did not understand the project’s gravity”.

But in spite of this resolution, on Feb 10, 2017, Chancellor Blumenthal signed a Science and Engineering Library Renovation, Business Case Analysis (BCA), without consulting any faculty or department chairs. Moreover, the author of this BCA, University Librarian Elizabeth Cowel, refused to release it to the faculty. For example, the Academic Senate Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication (COLASC) was not allowed to see the secret plan. The Chair of Physics requested a copy from Dean Koch, but was refused. Finally Professor Emeritus Michael Nauenberg made a California Public Records Act request to obtain a copy.

For his actions Michael Nauenberg had every one of his campus and teaching privileges and rights taken away. Campus parking, use of any UC facilities other than what the public is entitled to, his UC email address, everything.

To bring this up to date, the Chancellor has restored Mike’s emeritus status, pending the results of an academic senate Privilege and Tenure committee hearing. There are pages of facts, opinions, notes and details I could have linked. Let me know if you want more on this. As one of the ten chancellors who have run UCSC, we can only guess how Chancellor Blumenthal will be remembered.

April 8,YOU SAY YIMBY, I SAY NIMBY: LET’S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF.
It was a who’s who of housing developers at the Why Say Yes To Housing event with State Senator Scott Wiener as keynote to promote his Senate Bill 50, the one that wrests zoning from local control and punts it to the state.

The event, moderated by Robert Singleton, Executive Director of the County Business Council and a city Planning commissioner, was tightly scripted. It allowed no questions from the floor and only 3 selected written questions.

The evening was kicked off with a slide presentation from YIMBY member and founder of Santa Cruz Workbench, Jamileh Cannon. It was all generic pro-development rationale until a comment caught my attention. According to Jamileh, “our housing stock is old, tired and dilapidated” and we need to, “re-imagine the type of city we want Santa Cruz to become.” Somewhat presumptuous for a newbie, I thought.

Wiener’s presentation was compelling if you accept his assumptions and premises which I don’t. He blamed the housing shortage on local control of zoning, which since the 1960’s has favored down zoning and single family homes. According to Wiener, such zoning has created a housing shortage since the state’s population has tripled and housing has not kept pace. There are 80,000 housing units built in CA each year, a far smaller number than in earlier decades. Much was said about density reducing carbon emissions but nothing about density displacing low- income workers and high tech workers’ lifestyles producing carbon gentrification.

City Plans for Urban Density Should Address Affordable Housing

The scale was weighted on the supply side as the source of the problem. Nothing about speculation or the demographic impact of building expensive high-rise units for hundreds of newly arrived single, high paid tech workers who in ten years may want one of those single family homes for their growing single family. Nor was water or traffic a problem according to Wiener since, “building housing does not increase the population.” This, despite the central question he posed: “Do we have enough housing for the people who live here now and who are coming here?” I may be overly logical but if people are here now they have some form of a house, unless they are houseless and let’s be real…all this development is not for them. No-where is it written that a town has to provide housing for people who are coming. I love that image: “we’re coming! start building!”

John Laird was in the audience and Wiener paid tribute to John, referring to him as a “friend.” It might be worthwhile asking John where he stands on SB50. The SF Board of Supervisors has voted against SB50 as currently written, citing the displacement of low- income workers among other concerns.

The evening ended with a panel of three, including the aforementioned Jamileh Cannon of YIMBY, Sibley Simon of Homeless Services and Kate Roberts, head of Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP).  Of the three, Simon seemed the only one aware of the contradictions involved. The well-endowed, well-connected, powerful MBEP is going to be a familiar presence at all upcoming hearings on development projects in Santa Cruz, as is the motivated local YIMBY chapter upon which Wiener heaped praise. This is a new ball game with well-funded outside backers heavily involved. We have our work cut out for us if we want to save what’s left of small-scale working class Santa Cruz.

“Awesome!” was the word used by the YIMBY representative to describe the proposed expensive Front Street/Riverfront apartments plus retail pictured here.  She added, “it’s going to be a fun five years.”

Rendition of the proposed Front Street/Riverfront mixed-use retail plus apartments.

Up to seventy feet tall.

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
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April 8.LAST WEEK ON THE COUNCIL THIS WEEK

“A Taking?”
I missed last week’s city council meeting, but I am including the Cliff Notes version summary here. In “closed” then “open” session the city council voted to acquire by eminent domain part of the property where Central Home Supply now has its business. The idea is to widen the Highway 1 and 9 intersection, which is arguably one of the most chaotic in Santa Cruz. City Council adopted a resolution that made the finding “that public necessity requires the acquisition by eminent domain of the real property…” owned by the Santee family at 744 River Street and 708 River Street. I am not sure I would’ve voted to acquire by eminent domain this property, for two reasons: 1) I do not believe we need more asphalt at that intersection, and 2) it is a very significant action on the part of government, any government, to force a property owner to sell against their will. There must be a clear “public benefit.” Perhaps legally, the case for a “public benefit” can be made, but for me Central Home Supply is business Santa Cruz needs and benefits from and this forced property sale may very well cause them to leave town. They have another similar business in Scotts Valley, but…it’s in Scotts Valley.

Damn Cell Towers, Boxes, Small Devices, Conduits, and Polls
Verizon Wireless finally got their encroachment permit “for the installation and maintenance of underground conduits, vaults, at grade cabinets and wireless canister antennas mounted on utility pole at 117 Morrissey Blvd. within the City’s right-of-way.” This permit was turned down twice before by the city council, but a letter was recently received by the council from a Verizon suit threatening legal action. And, like most city councils around the state, we rolled over with the threat of costly litigation being the dagger hanging perilously over the head of our local government. At least Councilmember Sandy Brown stuck in a “friendly amendment” “regarding efforts by cities to modify regulations to make it difficult for Verizon and other telecom companies to install cell towers. ” Go Sandy!

Health-in-All?
Just the facts ‘mam…From the minutes of March 26th meeting: “Councilmember Mathews moved, seconded by Mayor Watkins, to approve the Health in All Policies Work Plan and $20,000 budget for consultants and materials.” Just sayin’! As Deep Throat advised Bob Woodward back in the summer of 1974: follow the money.

Lot 24
The evening meeting saw many dozens of neighbors fill council chambers to say NO to the use of the staff inspired Lot 24 for a homeless transitional camp. It is a parking lot near the end of Chestnut Street adjacent to Depot Park. I believe the council heard neighbors loud and clear. Personally, I am not sure I would’ve voted for it (and certainly NOT the other staff suggestion of putting an encampment in the Jessie Street Marsh!?! Not sure what the thought was there.) How about this as a tentative plan: 1) clean up Ross Camp using state money (part of the $10 million that came to Santa Cruz to address homelessness), 2) have a non-profit group come in and manage the camp, 3) hire social workers to perform a needs census, 4) open 1220 River Street campsite and find out who would move over to that camp, and at the same time keep a managed Ross Camp open with a reduced number of tent sites. What if we disbanded the Ross Camp immediately as some of my council colleagues wish to do (it’s also on the April 9th agenda)? Campers will move back to the site alongside Holy Cross, to the Pogonip, to DeLaveaga Park, and to other neighborhoods that have since seen their campers move to the Ross site. This item segue-ways into this week’s agenda…

This Week on the City Council
Item #7 SB 1 Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account, FY 2019-20. Senate Bill 1 was the 12-cents per gallon gas tax that passed in 2016 and had to be re-passed in 2018. Santa Cruz receives between $1-2 million per year from this tax. The council was sent a list of Public Works projects. It was their list and not the city council’s list. I have been asking for a while for a comprehensive list of what SB 1 funds can be used for. I have not yet received that list. I will ask again.

Item #10 (UBER) Jump Bike Contract Amendment #2.
These bright red bikes seem to be everywhere. People are using them. Is this program the unmitigated grand slam hit and sexy alternative to the gasoline engine vehicle that some are saying? We would like to think so; myself included, but like a certain policy pop culture buzzy-fuzzy word suggests, are these Jump Bikes feelings data driven? What are the numbers…of users, injuries, bikes left in the right-of-way, satisfied customers, where people are leaving bikes, i.e. most popular places to ride to…we want to see all of it? City Council needs to look at the data before approving any more contract amendments, electric outlets, or dedications of more SC public real estate to this endeavor. Many questions concerning this program need answers. Please, show the city council and the community the numbers.

Item #14 City of Santa Cruz Commitment for Civility Proclamation.
Sure, as long as it does not interfere with people’s First Amendment rights. I urge everyone to listen to this NPR piece “Charlottesville Debates Civility.

It’s about the Charlottesville, Va. city council. Seems that two African Americans were elected after a white supremacist killed activist Heather Hyer with his car in 2017 in a tragic political (madman) act. The radio piece concerns establishment politicians railing against the “incivility” of the new councilmembers.

Item # 15 Homelessness and the Gateway Encampment.
(see “Lot 24” above.)

P.S. I believe this item will allow members of the community who brought forward issues about possible location of homeless-houseless transitional encampments to see that their voices were heard by the city council. They perhaps changed the course of history in their neighborhood(s). It is a good feeling when as a member of the public you try and fight city hall and you end up feeling like someone in local government listened.

Item #1 City Council Work Plan and Strategic Planning.
As I mentioned last week, this council is coming up on five months being in office and still no “strategic” plan for the next couple of years. So, council will have the opportunity to plan to have a planning meeting. This agenda item is only to schedule a “strategic” planning session. Contact city councilmembers and let them know what they should be planning for…Affordable housing? An emergency homeless shelter and day-use facility? Enacting mitigations to climate change? A permanent home for the Farmer’s Market? A new downtown library which might crown a real civic plaza at Church and Center Streets? A city-wide composting program? A Human Rights Commission? Buying the Beach Flats Community Garden? Let the city council know what you would like to see…this is your government.

“The DCCC’s new rule to blacklist + boycott anyone who does business w/ primary challengers is extremely divisive & harmful to the party. My recommendation, if you’re a small-dollar donor: pause your donations to DCCC & give directly to swing candidates instead.”(March 30). (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee =DCCC)
(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com
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April 8SANTA CRUZ CITY WATER RECOMMENDATIONS
Members of the City Water Supply Advisory Committee (WSAC) studied the City’s water storage problems and ultimately released a report in 2015 with recommendations for solving the problem.  Conjunctive water use with Soquel Creek Water District was top priority.  The City Council approved the report and recommendations, and current Water Dept. Director Ms. Rosemary Menard has aligned work and investigations to support the WSAC report.  Last week, the current City Water Advisory Commission met jointly with the WSAC members, and reviewed the progress.

Several changes have occurred since the recommendations were approved, the greatest being that water consumption by City customers has stayed minimal since the mandatory restrictions that were imposed during the 2014-2015 drought were lifted.  This could be related to rate increases, but the demand forecast is flat for the next 20 years, and the new water supply total for planning has been reduced from 3.2 billion gallons/year to 2.6 billion gallons/year.  The model for the City to store water in the Purisima Aquifer assumes 3 billion gallons could be stored, with a 20% loss due to leakage into local streams due to increased groundwater levels.  The model did not analyze the recharge ability of the area for more than the City’s needs.

Other factors that have changed since the WSAC report is that the City has made, or is in the process of making, such as the Pasatiempo Golf Course now being irrigated with recycled water from Scotts Valley Water District, improvements to the Graham Hill Water Treatment Plant, and real progress on the Environmental Impact Report work regarding Water Rights Amendment for the San Lorenzo River (the City will be able to send more water to Soquel Creek Water District for conjunctive use and thereby allow the groundwater levels to rise naturally), and a Habitat Conservation Plan updated to clearly specify how much water must be left in the River for healthy fish and other aquatic populations.

The final factor that has altered possible water sharing agreements between the City and Soquel Creek Water District is the Climate Change Modeling for the area.  There are many different such models in use, but the one the WSAC report used is one of the more drier, hotter predictors for this area.  The MidCounty Groundwater Agency, where Soquel Creek Water District territory is, uses a different model.  Using that model, it does not appear that there would be enough water to supply both the City demand and Soquel Creek Water District demand 100% of the time, however, there would be enough

Water Supply Advisory Committee Recommendations | City of Santa Cruz
Here is a link to the Staff Summary of Recommendations
You can find a lot more information about what was presented here

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT WILL DECIDE HOW MUCH EXTRA TO CHARGE CUSTOMERS
At their next Board meeting on April 16, Soquel Creek Water District customers will have a public hearing regarding which Stage of Water Shortage will be imposed this year, allowing the District to charge higher prices for water to reflect reduced revenue when customers conserve water.  The District has imposed Stage 3 Emergency Rates every year since 2015, even though groundwater levels are historically high in most areas of the Purisima Aquifer service areas.  Plan to attend this public hearing at 6pm in the Capitola City Council Chambers.

When I asked about the criteria of the Stages of Water Shortage and that the November 6, 2018 rate increase recommendations were to drop Stage 3 conditions if the new rate increases were adopted, the Conservation Manager commented, “Our water stage shortage keeps evolving.”  but noted that it looks like conditions are “close to Stage 0”.    Hmmmm…..

“WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE AQUIFER OR THE RIVER”
Those were the words of Soquel Creek Water District Vice-Chairman Bruce Daniels when the Board was discussing the outcome of the information presented at the City’s Water Supply Advisory Committee (WSAC) and City Water Advisory Commission meeting on April 1.  Clearly, he is right.  Until Santa Cruz City’s Water Rights Amendment is finalized to allow water volumes reflective of the amounts taken from the San Lorenzo River to be sent to the Soquel Creek Water District and even Central Water District, only the amount needed by the City may be extracted.  However, that is in the process of changing, and may be approved within a year.

Interestingly, Soquel Creek Water District has no water rights to Soquel Creek surface water, which has been adjudicated, but could apply to obtain rights to take water during high-flow periods.  No one is talking about that option.

The issue of control over the aquifer is an interesting one, because Soquel Creek Water District has only “Junior Water Rights” to the Purisima Aquifer, and is allowed, BY LAW, only to extract and sell water that is in surplus of what the “Senior Water Rights” holders need.  When the aquifer reaches overdraft status, California Water Law specifies that Prescriptive Water Rights begin, and those with Junior Water Rights must stop pumping.

Here is the explanation from this website: https://aic.ucdavis.edu/events/outlook05/Sawyer_primer.pdf

Prescriptive rights do not begin to accrue until a condition of overdraft begins. Therefore, it is first necessary to determine when a condition of surplus ends and overdraft begins. The definition of overdraft was articulated by the California Supreme Court in 1975. There, the court held that overdraft begins when extractions exceed the safe yield of a basin plus any temporary surplus. Safe yield is defined as the maximum quantity of water which can be withdrawn annually from a groundwater supply under a given set of conditions without causing a gradual lowering of the groundwater levels resulting, in turn, in the eventual depletion of the supply. “Temporary surplus” is the amount of water which can be pumped from a basin to provide storage space for surface water which would be wasted during wet years if it could not be stored in the basin.

Once a groundwater basin reaches a condition of overdraft, no new appropriative uses may be lawfully made. If overlying users (who, as discussed below, have priority over appropriative users) begin to consume a greater share of the safe yield, the existing appropriators must cease pumping in reverse order of their priority as against other appropriators. Typically, however, appropriators continue extraction activities unless and until demand is made and/or suit is brought. If an appropriator continues pumping from an over drafted basin for the prescriptive period (which, as in other contexts, is five years) after the other users from the basin have notice of the over draft condition (through decline of groundwater levels or otherwise), then that appropriator may obtain a prescriptive right good as against any other private (i.e., overlying) user.

So, tell me, is Soquel Creek Water District illegally overpumping the Purisima Aquifer?    The Board just keeps accepting $55,000/Acre Foot of water required for new developments (like the 19-unit hotel in Seaclif on North Street) and claiming that Smart Meters will save 86 AcreFeet of water a year to justify the money grab.       Hmmmmm…..

PLEASE HELP FUND MY ENVIRONMENTAL LAW SUIT AGAINST SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT’S PLAN TO INJECT TREATED SEWAGE WATER INTO THE AREA DRINKING WATER SUPPLY

I am troubled by the District’s arrogance to inject treated sewage water into the aquifer that supplies drinking water to the MidCounty area, including private well owners and small water company customers.  The Board has repeatedly denied the requests to allow all Basin users to vote on whether this project, known as Pure Water Soquel Project, happens.  The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Project was deficient in many ways, and General Manager Ron Duncan refused to extend public comment periods for voluminous and complex documents when he had the ability to do so.

I have filed the Petition for Writ of Mandate against the District, not to extract money, but rather to insist that the District correct the violations I allege.  I have filed this with beneficial public standing, on behalf of the greater community and environmental good.  I am doing the legal research myself, because I cannot afford the $100,000 an attorney would require to do the job.

Can you help fund the nearly $3000 that the District is requiring that I pay them to obtain the internal communication history for the Project?  Also, I will have to supply written transcripts of the eight Special Board meetings that were held last year at unorthodox times and locations and were not recorded for the public not in attendance, but at which the Board and staff made critical decisions about proceeding quickly on the Pure Water Soquel Project, and how to fund it.

I have set up an account at Bay Federal Credit Union specifically for this law suit and would appreciate any amount that you or others you know might be able to contribute.  Here is the account #33799357.

You can also send me checks directly, with a notation “CEQA Legal Action”:

Becky Steinbruner
3441 Redwood Drive
Aptos, CA 95003

The first court hearing will be sometime this summer.  Thanks!

YIMBY SANTA CRUZ EVENT

I attended the event last Friday, where Senator Scott Wiener was the keynote speaker.  He explained why it is so important to wrestle away significant local control over land use issues.  Essentially, local people are not qualified to figure out how to fix housing problems, and in many cases, it has only made the problem worse to allow for discretionary permit process and accommodate the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) laws.  He feels that state mandates, such as his SB 50 and a host of others now coming down the pike, would “streamline” the permitting process.

When questions perhaps taken from the audience brought up infrastructure problems, he and people on the panel later expressed the sentiment that we just have to take care of the people here now, and not worry so much about the projected numbers of the future.  As panelist Sybley Simon stated, “We just have to enforce the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) requirements.”  Jamileh Canon, another panelist stated “Tasking local authorities with this burden is unfair.” with reference to the problem-solving aspect of housing and land use.

Many people left after Senator Wiener’s presentation. 

I have learned about a State requirement that all new development be able to verify water supply sufficient for 20 years in order to be approved.  Any amendments to a City or County General Plan must include such information  in detail before the amendments are approved, according to SB 610 and SB 221, both passed in 2001 to heal the disconnect between land use and water supply.  Hmmmm……

Santa Cruz County is in the process of updating its 1994 General Plan.   Please contact your County Supervisor to request that there is a Water Supply Assessment report approved before any changes in the General Plan get finalized.

MAKE ONE CALL.  WRITE ONE LETTER.  ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING / HEARING.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
BUT JUST GET SCRAPPY AND DO SOMETHING!

Cheers, Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com
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April 5 #95 / Combat Without Risk

On Sunday, March 31, 2019, The New York Times ran an editorial titled, “The Secret Death Toll of America’s Drones.” So far, the United States has an “exclusive” on the use of military drones. It is unlikely that this death-dealing monopoly will continue forever. In the meantime, however, drones operated by the United States are killing lots of people, including people classified as “civilians,” and the United States government is suppressing the evidence. That was the main point of the editorial:A lack of transparency and accountability for civilian deaths helps enemies spin false narratives, makes it harder for allies to defend American actions and sets a bad example for other countries that are rapidly adding drones to their arsenals. It could also result in war crimes, as some critics have claimed.

I was struck by a sentence right at the end of The Times‘ editorial:

“There is no such thing as combat without risk”.

I found this sentence singularly inappropriate with respect to the phenomenon being discussed; namely, the military use of drones by the United States.

“Combat,” it seems to me, is properly defined as a “fight.” This is the definition supplied by Merriam-Webster. In a fight, the “combatants” put each other at risk. The word “combat” shouldn’t be used if that isn’t the case.

The military use of drones is not a “fight,” or a “combat,” because the so-called “combatants” do not each have an equal ability to damage each other – or actually any ability to damage each other, to be more accurate. A sentence talking about an “unequal combat,” could be a valid use of the word “combat.” Take the example of how the U.S. Cavalry, with guns, matched off against Indian tribes equipped with bows and arrows. This is an example of an unequal combat. Still, in that kind of case, there is at least some chance that an Indian warrior could do damage to a soldier. Indeed, we know that the Indians won, sometimes, as in the case of Custer’s last battle at the Little Bighorn.

The military use of drones is not a “combat.” A drone operator, located just outside Las Vegas, Nevada, perhaps, steers a drone airplane over Afghanistan, with the plane operating three miles above the ground. Using modern technology, the drone operator pushes the button to kill people whom someone has told the operator are people who ought to be killed. Others in the vicinity are killed, too. Those are the “civilian” casualties The Times is talking about.

Think about it, though. What sort of “combat” is this? There is no risk whatsoever to the drone operator. There is no “combat.” Let’s call it what it is. The military use of drones by the United States government is murder, albeit murder that is sanctioned by military or intelligence authorities. There isn’t any “combat” involved. These are “executions,” and nothing else – and executions that often wind up killing other people, who weren’t specifically designated to die.

A nation that thinks it can sail around the world executing people whom it has decided ought to die is inviting people around the world to try to figure out some way to even the odds, and to turn these executions into a genuine “combat.”

We do know some ways that those who take the side of those being executed are trying to turn the military use of drones into an actual “combat,” where there is, indeed, “risk” on both sides.

Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.netEmail Gary at gapatton@mac.com
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EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Check below for those inimitable interior peeks.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Brexit briefly” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

SANTA CRUZ BAROQUE FESTIVAL. Their concert number IV: ‘Bach & the Virtuoso Violin’. Featuring Edwin Huizinga, Baroque violin, Lynn Tetenbaum, Viola da Gamba and

Linda Burman-Hall, Harpsichord. Join us for a walk through the dark and secret heart of the Baroque. Keep your mind balanced on that daring knife-edge of unaccompanied violin tone ~ Heinrich von Biber in his Passacaglia in the 1670s and half a century later J. S Bach in his Chaconne take innumerable risks in building thrilling chords and counter-melodies for a single brave player to deliver. After all the solo miracles, we’ll conclude the evening with buoyantly optimistic mid-Baroque trios for violin, harpsichord and obbligato viol by Bach’s Danish-German hero, Dietrich Buxtehude. presented by the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival Sunday April 14, 2019 –  3:00 pm at the UCSC Recital Hall.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “I was in the room where it happened! When the national touring company brought the blockbuster musical Hamilton to the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, that is! Read all about it this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, catch up with my review of the thoughtfully profound tone poem, The Mustang, in this week’s Good Times!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

PET SEMATARY. A remake that shouldn’t have been remade. John Lithgow is frankly boring as the nervous farmer neighbor. Stephen King’s book was fantastic…as I remember from way back when. The original movie version (1989) had some scary scenes, but avoid this sad copy.

BEST OF ENEMIES. This is actually a feelgood movie disguised as a statement on racial bigotry in 1971. It’s about a Ku Klux Klan chief (Sam Rockwell) becoming friends with a black woman activist, brilliantly played by Taraji Henson. Santa Cruzans should be reminded of our KKK connection when we learned that Roger Grigsby — owner of the local OMEI restaurant — was a supporter of David Duke the head of the KKK. Then too, the film’s opening scenes of the City Council meeting in Durham North Carolina will remind active locals of our current council charade.

APOLLO 11. Surprising, important, relevant, heart rending, tense …Apollo 11 is all of these and more. Assembled from much never seen NASA footage this documentary got a 100 Rotten Tomatoes score. The flight was 50 years ago and yet this film is so deftly handled that you’ll be on the seat’s edge hoping they make it. Numb nuts who noted that there are no stars in the background when you walk on the moon will be shut up finally. If you liked the tension and identification of Free Solo you’ll definitely like Apollo 11. CLOSES APRIL 11

MUSTANG. It’s a simple minded movie about some Nevada State prisoners who turn wild mustangs into saddle broken riding horses to sell at an auction every year. It’s apparently factual. It stars Bruce Dern at his cranky, snarly best teaching the boys/men how to handle themselves and their steeds. Predictable, corny, and will remind you of My Friend Flicka or any other old horse movie.

GLORIA BELL. Julianne Moore and John Turturro are the struggling twosome trying to be a couple in this semi-serious drama set in Los Angeles. Julianne is great as the insecure, horny, pot-smoking single working mother who’s trying hard to find a mate. Turturro is even more confused in his search for a woman to replace his ex-wife, and to help him forget her and the drain she places on him. Good film, very engrossing: Julianne Moore has never been better — and that’s saying a lot. 93 on RT.

USSo much of this movie was shot at our Boardwalk and has hundreds of nearly unrecognizable locals in it…you simply have to see it. It’s a socially-aware horror movie with a very complex plot, and truly scary. Jordan Peele— who also directed Get Out— made sure it also contains a serious critique of racial inequality and our attitudes to living “the good life”. It’s disturbing, puzzling, well-acted, and a little better than Lost Boys… but not as good as Harold and Maude. A 94 on Rotten Tomatoes.

HOTEL MUMBAI. This is NOT the documentary showing the 2008 attack by 10 Pakistani terrorists of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. It is the ruthless, uncaring re-staging of the savage killing of 166 victims over 3 days with no police or soldiers to protect them. Why anyone would want to produce such a film that has no plot, no message, hackneyed acting is a serious question. Why anyone would want to see such a depressing film is another serious question. If this brutal movie makes box office profits should we be expecting acting versions of Parkland or the recent mosque tragedies?

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. . April 9 has Lisa Sheridan and Robert Morgan discussing the Nissan Dealership in Soquel and Sustainable Soquel plans. Then Julie Phillips and Stu Phillips talk about the proposed Bay and Cliff development across from the Dream Inn. Kristin Brownstone and Jerry Lloyd discuss the Actors Theater  “Looking For Normal” play on April 16th. They’re followed by Jeffery Smedberg  and Franco Picarella  from the Reel Work Film Festival listing the screenings around the county and Bay. May 21st has concertmaster Roy Malan discussing the Hidden Valley String Orchestra concert occurring on June 2nd. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc   You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

Here is more than you ever thought you’d know about parmesan cheese!

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. “Boardwalks”
I love an arcade. I love a boardwalk game. But I also love a rollercoaster. Though I think the rollercoaster love comes from the fact that it took a really long time for me to reach the height requirement, so I promised myself very early on that when I reach that, I will not take it for granted”.  Melissa Rauch
“I remember riding my bike down the boardwalk with nowhere to go and looking at the girls. It was really innocent”.  Mark Ruffalo
“We must take down the carnies. I think we need to start a campaign to defeat their scamming ways. I never win the boardwalk basketball game”. Melissa Rauch

 

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Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
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