THE GOODTIME WASHBOARD 3 with BING CROSBY. That’s Wayne Pope on the left, then Bing Crosby,Bruce Bratton on washtub bass and Pete Arnott with banjo on the far right. This was on Bing’s nationwide TV show The Hollywood Palace. It happened April 1, 1967 Read more about us below.
THE GOODTIME WASHBOARD 3 WITH BING CROSBY. We performed this on April 1st 1967. That’s Wayne Pope on washboard, Pete Arnott on banjo, Bing Crosby with thimbles and yours truly on washtub bass. We met Bing at The Bohemian Grove and after hearing just a few tunes he asked if we’d like to be on his next Hollywood Palace show. Even more than that, we got to rehearse with Louis Armstrong, Nanette Fabray and Red Buttons. And we never left our day jobs!!!
THE OAKLAND SONG. We wrote this at one rehearsal when KSFO’s Jim Lange said every city has a song except Oakland. The Mayor of Oakland invited us to play it at an official Oakland City Council Meeting…we did of course.
MY COLLEGE FRIEND WAYNE POPE DIED. Wayne Pope was the kindest, most friendly, generous person I’ve ever known. We met in Spanish class at UC Berkeley in 1957. Our trio The Goodtime Washboard 3 needed a new washboard player and I convinced Wayne he would be fantastic…we bought thimbles and a washboard and our lives chamged forever. Our trio The GTW3 went on to play and perform at the Purple Onion, the Hungry i, and on Bing Crosby’s Hollywood Palace. We recorded two albums for Capitol Records (never released) and wrote and recorded the “Oakland Song” for Fantasy Records. (available on iTunes) We opened and closed shows with Milton Berle, Shelley Berman, Ray Bolger, Turk Murphy, Barbara Dane and dozens more. Showbiz was a great hobby for us.
Another UC Berkeley friend Chris Strachwitz who created Arhoolie Records (recently acquired by the Smithsonian Institute) and the Down HomeRecord store needed a graphic artist to design his album covers. I introduced him to Wayne and the two of them remained good friends and worked together for decades. We three did an interview for NPR two years ago. To say that Wayne will be missed, doesn’t come close to reality…
April 3, 2017 IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE
If you enjoy hiking our local trails you probably have an opinion about mountain biking. If you hiked the trails in Santa Cruz prior to the early 1990’s you probably recall the trails were smooth and the only sounds were birds and the crunch of leaves beneath your feet. Then along came mountain biking, an industry which forever changed the ability to enjoy the simple pleasure of a hike.
Since their beginnings, far too many mountain bike riders have viewed limits on their access to public open space as an affront. Armed with this attitude, they have violated every reasonable restriction and the result is an alarming increase in illegal trails, soil erosion, trail damage, habitat disruption and the displacement of passive recreation such as hiking and bird watching.
According to their industry magazines, mountain biking grew out of dirt biking, when restrictions on that high-impact activity forced entrepreneurs to develop a new technology. Along with the technology came the attitude of “if they won’t give us what we want, we’ll take it,” as quoted in a mountain bike publication.
And take it they have. Every state park and open space in Santa Cruz, including the UCSC upper campus has been severely impacted by illegal mountain bike use. Where birds used to sing in the middle of the upper campus forested lands, now loud voices of large groups of mountain bike riders dominate from their internal, illegal trail network. The formerly smooth fire trails are deeply rutted. All this downcutting from thousands of mountain bike tires sends silt pouring into the San Lorenzo river with winter rains. Lest we forget, this is our drinking water.
I partnered with a mountain bike rider as concerned as I about this environmental destruction. We documented the damage and he approached the state parks to solicit their help in reining in the illegal trail creation and usage. The response? None. And here is the crux of the problem. Those whom we pay in taxes to protect our parks and open spaces are not doing their jobs. They are biassed. They favor a powerful, well-funded and influential lobby over the needs of other less powerful users of our public lands. Deputy chief of Police Dan Flippo attends a council meeting to sing the praises of mountain bikers in eradicating Pogonip of heroin users, a job which apparently his department is not able to accomplish. A familiar tale and one we are more used to from conservative politicians. A tale that is poised to take shape in progressive Santa Cruz.
The Parks Master Plan (PMP) is wending its way through the public process. Included in the Plan is a proposal to create new downhill mountain bike only trails in De Laveaga and Pogonip. This is despite the fact that the random poll conducted for the city by paid consultants to assess residents’ usage of the parks and to inform city park priorities found that hiking was the highest favored activity at 34% with mountain biking lower on the list at 9%. Given that evidence, one should expect that staff efforts be directed to enhancing the hiking experience by closing the illegal trails and enforcing the law which is what we pay for. On the contrary, according to the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz group, the city approached them and asked their input on how to increase mountain bike access in Santa Cruz parks and open space. This is bias.
The Parks & Recreation meeting to discuss and vote on the mountain bike trails is on May 1st. Expect a huge turnout from the mountain bikers. The meeting will be in The City Council Chambers at 4 p.m. I hope to see you 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.
#11 April 3, 2017
STRATEGIC PLANNING. Part 2. (Sounds Boring?)
Jim Frawley the Santa Cruz Fire Chief was doing a crossing-guard routine last Saturday morning on Encinal Street over in the Harvey West Park area. Councilmembers, Sandy Brown and David Terrazas were looking just as lost as I was. We were searching for the city council strategic planning session. It was to be an all-day meeting, and supposedly the location was the Santa Cruz County Office of Education at 400 Encinal. “It’s not over there, it’s over here,” Frawley yelled out from the corner of Dubois and Encinal. He pointed in the direction of #399. He directed us away from the main headquarters to this other building across the street.
Inside the meeting room were tables positioned in a horseshoe shape, with other smaller round tables nearby where city department heads would be. It was a sunny, cloudless Saturday and all council members and department heads would be inside investing eight hours in some “strategic planning.” What would the future of Santa Cruz look like after today I wondered? Heady and creative cooperative planning? Or simply another opportunity for the city manager to affirm who runs Surf City?
First, we heard from members of the public. Since this was a “public meeting” in which more than three council members were present it is required by the Brown Act that community members be allowed an oral communication. They were, and they told us about the “illness of climate change,” (Pauline Seales); that it is “strange that our ‘norms and values’ session came before our strategic planning” meeting, and that out of the 73 strategy-related projects on our schedule” only 1 is related to UCSC” (John Aird); and we should be thinking of “giving the other species half of the earth” too (Barbara Riverwoman); and Santa Cruz has an opportunity in taking the lead on the environment by either centralizing environmentally-related issues into “a Department of the Environment, or at least hiring an environmental coordinator “(Jane Mio); and finally, Nancy Park reminded everyone present that it was all about “how we treat people”—homeless people, immigrants, and those who are the most vulnerable in our community.
The city manager and his staff—Martin Bernal (CM), Tina Schull (ACM) and Scott Collins (DCM)—then went to work shepherding the council through some “strategic planning” that they had likely spent days strategically planning. And by the way, Tina Schull handed out a pie graph depicting “city average percentages by effort type” (whew!) as it was also being projected onto a wall. Important stuff! She made the point that the current staff (800 full-time employees) has just 17% of its time left for anything city council members might want them to do because they are already overworked and really busy. We were constantly reminded of this throughout the day-long “retreat.”
The $10,000 Man, Shawn Spanos, professor of communications at San Jose State University
Next, our attention was directed to five pieces of four-foot long sheets of butcher paper attached to another wall. Each had categories atop that included: City of Santa Cruz Programs and Spotlight, which were supposed to be “ongoing efforts” by staff and included the “Beach Flats [Community] Garden” along with “disaster planning”,”sanitation and illegal campsites” and “Youth Programs.” The butcher paper on the Main Stage had a threesome category approach. It had been whittled down from the supposed unwieldy seven-category document we were working off of that had been produced at a 2015 city council retreat (with Don Lane and Micah Posner present and minus Sandy Brown and me), titled: City of Santa Cruz-Two-Year Work Plan FY17-18 through FY18-19. The three categories that were preserved from 2015 were “Safety and Well Being, Housing, and Infrastructure.” Gone were “Environmental Sustainability” and “Economic Vitality,” which by the way later had me voting with Cynthia Mathews to restore, but alas, she voted for them before she voted against them. The CM’s office people argued that environment and economics permeated the document already (without actually saying environment or economy) and those categories didn’t need to be explicitly stated. I respectfully disagreed, but I only had three votes if I wanted to preserve them. We moved on.
The issues I kept coming back to early and often were: How can we get the UCSC admin. to house more of its students? How can the city buy up apartment units and make them affordable for people who live here now? What are the steps we need to take to buy the Beach Flats Community Garden? Can we send the BearCat tank back? And, how are we going to put the Corridors Plan to bed?
The most stunning aspect of all of the chart-making, dot-putting, and color marker-marking was that “ucsc” (sic) was only mentioned once, as if were a passing fad. It was nowhere to be seen in the “Goal/Focus Area” or “Deliverable(s)” categories. Nor was the Seaside Company. (I wondered, how the hell can you “strategically plan” out the next two years without talking about those two Santa Cruz economic Godzillas?!?) The County (gov.) was brought up often, but only in context of helping the city shoulder the costs of the homeless “problem.”
If this is all starting to sound like an entire Saturday swallowed up by heaps of bureaucratic B.S., well, you might be on to something, but the lunch was good (Eric’s Deli tuna sandwich and salad), and I have to say, each councilmember placing colored sticky dots on their faves and least favorite city projects was fun and instructive for this council member. I loved placing my red dots (means: get rid of it!) next to the “corridors plan,” “downtown amendments” (which Devcon desperately needs to develop hundreds of market-rate units between Front and Pacific), and the more “ordinances” category that would add additional rules regulating street behavior.
Okay, Some of the Things I Found Interesting and Strange About this City Decision-making Combine Day
There were many weirdnesses, and they started with council members being asked to support the implementation of “City Council and Homelessness Coordinating Committee recommendations” without us ever seeing a list of what the recommendations were, but we heard offhanded references to them all day. (What?)
Another moderately disturbing event was when the city manager said that a downtown building boom would likely be commencing soon and we should expect 500 new units of housing. But when I asked about affordability, he seemed to agree that there would be no more than 75 affordable units, and that’s only if they are “for-sale units” and if the council majority doesn’t let the developer buy their way out of building those.(I’m becoming convinced more each day of this job that similar to health care, we need to take the greed and profit out of housing. All of us need a place to live and it should not take 50-70% of our salary, nor should it depend on luck or “a really nice landlord.”)
The city has $6 million to spend on affordable housing in the above referenced downtown project area, said Bonnie Lipscomb the SC Economic Development Director. So, we can expect some affordable rentals somewhere in this project, I guess.
Library hours will be expanded at all branches as of June 1st according to Susan Nimitz, the Library Director.
The Rental Inspection ordinance no longer puts units out of commission, but the city assists to “legalize units,” according to acting Planning Director, Alex Khoury.
Oh, by the way, did I mention that the neo-city manager form of government (“Taylorism,” 2017?) has calculated that city staff only has 17% time to work on the issues of the city council? )-:)
The facilitator in the picture that goes along with this column was paid $10,000 to…ready for this? Facilitate our discussion. (?!?)
The “fiber network” system (“Fourth utility” as the Public Works Director called it) is currently estimated to cost the city $45-$50 million. (Given that expense, can we also find the money for a 24/7 homeless shelter, or to place a social worker in every police car, or to expand the sobering center or increase counseling and job services for the homeless? What are our priorities?)
“Corridor Plan” was moved off the Two-Year Work Plan and onto the Tier 2 butcher block paper as a result of two red dots (Sandy and I) and five yellow (lower status) ones. Maybe we are making some progress…eastsiders, you gotta keep pushing though!
“Paddling” on the San Lorenzo River (I think) was taken off the city’s agenda entirely!
“Evaluate Police and Park Ranger Staffing” received a solid seven green (go!) dots. Was the council saying they wanted more oversite of public safety agencies?
READY, SET, GO!
City Council should’ve passed a resolution, “Standing with Standing Rock,” by the time you read this. Last line of the resolution is… RESOLVED that the City of Santa Cruz stands in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the construction and use of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) across the Tribe’s ancestral lands, waters, and sacred sites;
But the heavy lifting begins at the April 25th city council meeting when we should have a resolution divesting the city from Wells Fargo because they continue to finance this absurd pipeline. Hope you can join us.
I went to a most amazing reading this past Sunday of the Martin Luther King speech, “Beyond Vietnam, A Time to Break Silence.” It happened on the steps of the downtown post office, how timely given the chain-link fence surrounding this historic federal structure. MLK gave the speech on April 4, 1967. It is so real, so prescient, and so eerily reflective of the time we are living in now that I was brought to tears. And, so many people wanted to read that it was presented twice! My favorite line in the part I was privileged to read was: “The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality we will find ourselves organizing…for the next generation.” That was fifty years ago.
Bernie tweet of the week: “How insane is it for us to literally discourage bright young people from attending college because of how much money their parents make?” (April 2, 2017)
~Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) and Mayor (2001-2002). He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 12 years. He was elected last November to another 4-year term on the Santa Cruz City Council.
WHO GOT A SEAT AT THE TOWN HALL “ESCHOO & PANETTA” MEETING?
Last Saturday’s (4/01) Townhall Meeting with Congress members Ms. Anna Eshoo and Mr. Jimmy Panetta was overflowing onto the parking lot when I arrived at 10am. Capitola police were guarding the closed doors, not allowing anyone in because the multi-purpose room at New Brighton Middle School was at capacity. The doors opened at 9:30am but those who got in had arrived by 8:30 to line up. The large overflow crowd was directed to the gymnasium to view the session live-stream on a screen, but there was no sound. That was later fixed, but the audio quality was so poor, the 20 or so of us who stayed could not understand what was being said.
Congressional Analysts were outside accepting written questions to take inside. I submitted mine. The lady unceremoniously plopped it in a basket with about 100 others. I hope I receive a response.
Mr. Panetta’s analyst told me it was “a learning experience” and next time, the venue will be larger. He said the Civic Auditorium was booked. He was not familiar with the Henry Mello Center in Watsonville but will look into it.
SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL REJECTED CLAIMS OF PROBLEMS REGARDING POLICE MURDER OF MR. SEAN ARLT FOR BRANDISHING A GARDEN RAKE
Last week, the Council denied there were problems concerning how Santa Cruz City Police quickly killed Mr. Sean Arlt, a mentally-troubled young man who held a garden rake in his hand. Police had encountered him just a few days earlier, and were well aware he had mental illness issues. Mr. Arlt was at the house he had grown up in, and the family friend residing there last October called police in the hopes that they could get professional help for Mr. Arlt.
Instead, the police coaxed him out of the backyard, shot him with tasers, then killed him.
Do you think there is a problem here? I do. Those officers merely did what they are trained to do: shoot to kill. They were military veterans. Santa Cruz City and County law enforcement officers are also trained to shoot at the head and torso of those who do not succumb to tasers or rubber bullets.
Should military veterans who have been trained in active combat be allowed to have street-duty law enforcement assignments? I don’t think so. A growing number of Americans also feel that active-combat veterans need a period of at least five, perhaps eight years, to re-train muscle memory with other techniques to handle law enforcement problems. Martial arts. Active training in recognizing mental illness behaviors and non-violent de-escalation methods.
As usual, other places in the world are way ahead of us on this. Norway. Japan.
A small group of concerned and thoughtful people are working together to meet with local law enforcement officials to ask for changes here. Santa Cruz police recently received a few hours of training to help them recognize mental disturbance behaviors. That is good, but not enough.
Last fall, when I asked State Assemblyman Mark Stone what could be done regarding police training methods to avoid tragic outcomes such as what happened with Mr. Arlt, he told me that all such changes must come from local community action and policy change.
It is up to us to press for those changes. In the meantime, Mr. Arlt’s family will most likely be pressing charges.
FILL OUR PRISONS…WITH IMMIGRANTS??
The Register-Pajaronian published a very interesting article “Empty jails hope to cash in on illegal immigration crackdown” (4/1/17, page B1). In Texas, several county governments went into debt to build jails, hoping to create jobs for local residents with contracts to house inmates from other counties as well as prisoners for the state and federal governments.
However, “a decline in crime and an increase in alternative sentencing reduced the Texas prisoner population and created a glut of jail space.” One would think that could be taken as good news, but apparently not by the County Administrative Officers (CAO) in Texas. These counties are struggling with the debt but are now hopeful, thanks to Trump’s executive order tweets, that there will be federal contracts available “to house some of the immigrants expected to be detained in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Or they can sell the vacant detention centers to private prison companies that aim to do the same.”
“Other counties have entered into agreements with private prison companies to renovate their empty facilites in expectation of reopening if immigrant detention opens opportunities.”
According to the article, ICE would not discuss how many beds the agency might need or it’s timetable for obtaining them. I don’t think that is good news, do you?
“At least one advocacy group is wary of the secretive process and of putting more detainees in privately-run faciliies after complaints and violations of inmate-care standards.”
Maybe we need to begin asking Santa Cruz County and City government officials about this issue. The County Board of Supervisors recently approved closing the County’s Blaine Street Women’s Jail and moving the inmates to Watsonville’s Rountree facility. What are the plans for that empty jail? It is always good to ask questions and to expect honest answers….and know what to do if the answers given do not seem quite clear.
THE SEARCH HAS BEGUN…OUR NEW COUNTY CAO!!!
County Administrative Officer (CAO) Ms. Susan Mauriello is retiring this July. The County is paying $20,000 for consultants Peckham & McKenney in Roseville to search for her replacement. Here is what their website posted April 1, 2017:
County Administrative Officer
County of Santa Cruz, California
With its natural beauty apparent in pristine coastal beaches, lush redwood forests, and rich farmland, Santa Cruz County enjoys an ideal Mediterranean climate with low humidity and 300 days of sunshine a year. The County’s approximately 270,000 residents enjoy an excellent quality of living. Santa Cruz County has a workforce of 2,452 and FY 2016/17 all fund budget of $720.7 million. Appointed by a dynamic five-member Board of Supervisors, the County Administrative Officer is responsible for the administration of all County services and activities and provides direct and indirect administrative direction to department heads and general direction to the CAO’s Office staff. A Bachelor’s degree in public or business administration or a related field required; Master’s degree preferred. The retiring CAO’s annual salary is $290,040; appointment DOQ. Filing deadline is May 8, 2017.
I wonder why the CAO’s advertisement has no other links providing information about desired qualities, available support staff and important local issues, as there are in nearly all of the other jobs advertised on the website? Maybe admitting the County is in a chronic budget deficit would scare too many people away? Maybe Ms. Mauriello has already chosen her successor, so the website search is just cursory? County Department Directors were supposedly consulted for the job description… Hmmm……
It worries me that Santa Cruz County budget is at $8.1 million deficit (down from last year’s $12.8 million deficit), and that according to Ms. Mauriello’s mid-year report to the Supervisors, there may not be any money available from the general fund for infrastructure capital improvements. Think about that as you navigate road closures and culvert failures. Will Valencia Road and Old San Jose Road ever get repaired?
PUBLIC HEARING FOR APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE HISTORIC APPLE BARN
It pays to read over the microscopic-print legal advertisements in the local newspapers. That is where I saw notice in last Friday’s Santa Cruz Sentinel (3/31) of a public hearing on Monday, April 10, for proposed changes to the Aptos Village Project’s Historic Preservation Plan by the County Historic Resources Commission. That will be at 701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, 4th Floor Planning Department Conference Room at 9:30am. The public is being given the opportunity to weigh-in on the Historic Resources Commission “to consider a proposed amendment to the Historic Resource Preservation Plan for the Apple Barn in Aptos Village. The proposed amendment includes the addition of skylights, minor changes to the deck (former loading dock), and reduction in the number of new doors, and requires review and approval by the Commission. The Commission will also review plans for retention of historic single wall construction and floorboards as required. The Project address is 151 Aptos Village Way, (previously 417 Trout Gulch Rd.) in Aptos (Aptos Village). The applicant is Aptos Village LLC. For more information contact Annie Murphy, Santa Cruz County Planning Dept., at 831-454-3111.” The fact is, it is also your opportunity to bring forth newly-discovered significant information that could require further environmental review. Hmmmm…..
The Assessor Parcel Number (APN) is 041-011-03. Take a look at the Planning Dept. Website…you learn interesting things by researching the building permit status by parcel.
Please attend the April 10 Public Hearing at 9:30am if you can, or send your comments to Ms. Annie Murphy
APTOS VILLAGE…MANY DISTURBING THINGS…Regarding the County road work in the Aptos Village, here are some interesting facts:
The project cost is nearly $2 million. The work includes moving a bus stop, adding a traffic light, adding two dedicated turn lanes to serve the shopping center owned by Aptos Village Project developer Mr. Joe Appenrodt, removing and replacing 200′ of railroad track, new railroad crossing arms and cement crossing pad, and sidewalks and bike lanes on Trout Gulch Road. None of this work is urgently needed. All of the work is being done to benefit the Aptos Village Project, with very little money being paid by the developers for the improvements.
There will no longer be bike lanes on Soquel Drive, in order to make room for new dedicated turn lanes for the Starbucks/Bay Fed Center (owned by Mr. Joe Appenrodt). There will be a bike lane added to a brief portion of Trout Gulch Road in the Village area.
The new bus stop location will not allow the buses to get completely out of the lane of westbound traffic when at the new bus bay near Trout Gulch/Soquel Drive. This will create a traffic hazard, as there is poor line-of-sight visibility for motorists and cyclists coming from the underpass nearby. The representative from Santa Cruz Metro was puzzled by his predecessor’s approval of such a questionable design. The new stop will be at a slope that may or may not be ADA-compliant. The County Public Works Department was uncooperative with the Metro manager’s many requests for information on the final design.
The bus stop is being moved to make way for the Aptos Village Project’s new gateway entrance on Soquel Drive via the new Parade Street connector.
The railroad bed and the area adjacent to the tracks to be excavated has not been disturbed since 1882-83 when Southern Pacific Railroad replaced the narrow gauge rail lines with standard gauge track. The area where the bus stop is planned was built by Chinese laborers and the origin of the fill soil is unknown. When trenching was conducted recently nearby as Soquel Creek Water District was installing new water mains in the Aptos Village Project, Native American and archaeological observers found historic and pre-historic artifacts. If the fill soil for the railroad bed work were taken locally (very likely) from the area of the Aptos Village Project construction site, there could very likely be significant artifacts under the railroad bed and where the bus bay excavation is planned. To date, the County has not even mentioned the historic significance of the soils. I have contacted County Supervisor Zach Friend, Public Works Director Mr. John Presleigh, and the construction foreman, Mr. Richard Simmer, of John Madonna Construction Co. from San Luis Obispo.
Also concerning the soils beneath the railroad bed is the very real possibility of contamination. The County has not brought this aspect of the excavation work to public light either, but considering the historic use of the railroad bed, there will be contaminants found. Therefore, it is important that the soils be properly sampled and tested for contamination, and remediated accordingly. It is critical that the soils do not get used as fill in the nearby Aptos Village Project or anywhere else if contamination is found.
Phase II of the County-sponsored Aptos Village road projects will include creating the new railroad crossing on Soquel Drive to make a gateway to the Aptos Village Project via the new Parade Street entrance. In order to receive approval for the new private railroad crossing, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) required two existing private railroad crossings in the County be closed. County Public Works Sr. Traffic Engineer Mr. Jack Sohriakoff chose them: 1) the main ingress/egress for the Bayview Hotel and 2) the Warrenella Road crossing for Davenport’s New Town residents.
Recently, I attended a Davenport Community meeting (it was regarding plans for the Cemex Plant) and learned that the Warrenella Road crossing closure had been taken off the table. That was confirmed by Mr. Felix Ko at the PUC. He said the County is still planning to close the Bayview Hotel ingress/egress but now the main approval will be revisited.
THAT ALLOWS FOR PROTEST FROM THE PUBLIC.
Contact: Public Utilities Commission Senior Utilities Engineer Mr. Felix Ko
Bayview Hotel owner, Ms. Cristina Locke, has protested the taking of her land and ingress/egress all along. To date, no County representative or Aptos Village Project developer has contacted her about compensation or agreements. Now, she is being forced to seek legal action to defend her private property rights which were established in 1876 when Mr. Jose Arano granted the Santa Cruz Railroad an easement over his land.
Regarding the Aptos Village Project:
I recently met with County Assistant Planning Director Ms. Wanda Williams to ask about some odd issues regarding the Aptos Village Project permits. (Planning Director Ms. Kathleen Previsich has had to recuse herself from any work on this Project because her husband has greatly profited by the development.) She could not answer my questions, and brought in County Building Official Mr. Martin Heaney. He was also puzzled. What do you think?
It appears from the Santa Cruz County Planning Department website (http://planningapplicationstatus.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/Pln?n=101027) that the Master Application for the Aptos Village Project has expired, as of last September 25, 2016. It was extended by 24 months once already under the provision of AB116. That bill allows for one extension of 24 months. Therefore, all work being done on the Project appears to be violating the Master Application permit agreement. I brought this to the attention of Assistant Planning Director, Ms. Wanda Williams, over two weeks ago. She could not explain the discrepancy and neither could Mr. Martin Heaney, County Building Official.
There are no permits issued for the foundation work for the planned three-story building that Barry Swenson Builder crews recently began constructing behind the Apple Barn.
The soils in this area were identified by Haro & Kasunich’s geotechnical studies as high risk for liquefaction in a major earthquake. Developer Barry Swenson Builder subsequently presented a second geotechnical report from a different consultant that identifies the area as low risk for liquefaction. Notes in the County Planning Department files ask for an explanation of the discrepancy, but I have not seen any such document in my research. No building permit has been issued for this three-story building to be attached to the historic Hihn Apple Barn, destined to become a New Leaf Market, but extensive foundation work was begun early this month.
THAT FOUNDATION WORK STOPPED LAST WEEK. Hmmmmm……
Similarly, there is no permit issued for improvements to the historic Hihn Apple Barn. There was a permit issued for the relocation of the structure, but not for further work. Crews have been working inside the Barn constantly since the Barn was relocated last autumn.
That work seems to have also stopped or diminished this week.
Other Assessor Parcel Numbers (APN) to check for the Phase I Project are 041-011-33 (a massive retaining wall is under construction, but since the Master Application permit has expired, the development improvements would also seem to require new permit approval), and 041-011-41, 041-011-42. There have been new APN’s assigned to the parcels, but the Planning Department website shows no permits applied for under those new numbers. The numbers I have listed here are mostly the old numbers.
One parcel (APN 041-011-03) has an approved winter grading permit (http://planningapplicationstatus.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/Pln?n=151334) that was issued in December, 2015. That permit is valid for three years, according to Ms. Carolyn Burke, County Environmental Planner. There have been repeated serious stormwater runoff problems with the site. None of the erosion control and storm water retention sediment pond installations, mandated by the approval of the permit, have been followed. I have video recorded multiple instances of the storm water and construction debris flowing from the construction site and directly into the storm drain to Valencia and Trout Creeks (and ultimately to the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary). I have filed requests for action and also complaints with the County Planning Department, but no action was taken.
I took storm water samples and samples of the sediment to the County Environmental Health Department, asking for analysis. That agency refused the samples. I left the samples with Ms. Burke, the County Environmental Planner, asking for analysis. She told me later she did nothing with the samples.
I also at that time took samples to a private lab for stormwater analysis. That lab reported high lead, arsenic, phosphates and nitrates in the sample. I took a second set of samples to the private lab during a subsequent storm water runoff problem from the construction site, and am awaiting the results. I have notified the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and have been notified by Ms. Julie Dyer of that agency that she is conducting an investigation. You may view the video evidence of this and other environmental problems in the video on the right.
Also, there is the unresolved soil contamination problem on the construction site, as a result of Barry Swenson Builder crews illegally removing a 5,000 diesel tank that was buried near Granite Way. The County Environmental Health specialists never saw the tank or the hole where the diesel and other contaminants were located because Barry Swenson Builder crews removed the tank during the night and covered everything up before the County could get there eight days later. The site indicated as the tank site is NOT the true site…there are multiple witnesses who saw the tank being removed and the liquid welling up from the hole. I am one of them. Neither the County nor the Regional Water Quality Control Board ever interviewed any of the witnesses. The case was quickly closed without proper process, such as sampling for groundwater contamination.
WHAT WILL YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD BE LIKE IN THE FUTURE?
Plan to attend one of the workshops being presented by Associated Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) and find out what dense and towering developments are headed your way.
Water? What water?
April 6 Hollister Community Center, 300 West Street (6pm-7:30pm)
April 10 Watsonville Civic Center, 275 Main Street (top level) 6pm-7:30pm
April 13 Steinbeck Center, Vista Room, 1 Main Street, Salinas 6pm-7:30pm
WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
BUT DO SOMETHING TODAY
~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.
A couple of community activists who are working on climate change issues in our local community contacted me, recently. The activists wanted me to comment on whether I thought that a lawsuit along the lines of the “Children’s Trust” lawsuit filed in Oregon could help bring about changes at the local community level.
If you are not aware of this litigation, you can click on this link to find out more about the legal details. It is immensely encouraging that a federal court has now held that young people have a right to sue the federal government, to seek to force the federal government to address global warming, since the failure of our government to act is putting their future lives in peril.
While I truly LOVE that “Children’s Trust” lawsuit, I didn’t advise the local activists to head in that direction. The email I have reproduced below (just slightly modified) gives some alternative advice, and I think it is pretty good advice for activists working on any issue at a local level.
Incidentally, I mention one of my former blog postings in the email below. I continue to think that it is one of my best efforts, and I encourage anyone who wants better to understand how politics relates to law to consider how judicial “discretion” enters into the mix.
I completely agree with your evaluation of the state of our local politics. I am not, actually, very familiar with the details of the City’s Climate Action Plan, except to say that I don’t think of the City’s Plan as having any significant conduct-changing content.
Generally speaking, I recommend “politics,” as opposed to “litigation,” to deal with community issues, since our political/legal system is based on the idea that when we elect our representatives, and give them our power, THEY should make the key policy decisions. The courts consistently DEFER to elected officials, and this is not just a statement of past practice, that might be changed in an appropriate case (for which the “children’s trust” approach could certainly qualify). The courts MUST defer to elected officials, who are granted “plenary” authority to make “police power” decisions.
Obviously, a lawsuit can factor into a political effort, but I think that lawsuits, generally, are not very worthwhile. Politics, on the other hand, is VERY worthwhile.
Threatening a lawsuit that the City Attorney would advise the Council is highly unlikely to be successful would not, in my opinion, be a very good political tactic. However, packing the Council Chambers with well-educated and appealing young people, asking for the Council to save the world so they can continue to live in it, could be pretty powerful, and if that kind of a demand for change could be mobilized, that would likely change the politics of the community. I always describe my legal practice as being focused on the “intersection of law and politics.” As you can see, it is my belief that law is in second place. Politics comes first, if you want to make actual changes.
I am not aware of how your local effort is organized, or what its strategy is, but I always advise focusing on getting the three or four votes you need to have something meaningful done, by the elected bodies to which we have transferred our political power, in our system of representative government. Sustained political efforts require the involvement of large numbers of people, who then get interested in politics, and some of these people, later, become elected officials themselves. In this way, issue battles may ultimately change the entire political character of the community. In short, this is my personal experience, going from helping in the effort to Save Lighthouse Field to being elected to and then serving twenty years on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors.
Considering the issue you are working on, and considering this community, you should be able to make significant changes with a properly thought-through political/legal strategy.
But I wouldn’t lead with this lawsuit.
~(Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
THE GOODTIME WASHBOARD 3 SING “DON’T BLAME PG&E PAL”. We wrote this one at Barbara Dane’s and Fantasy Records request to “re-but” her songs with Lu Watters and Turk Murphy. It is on the flip side of the Oakland 45 rpm.
CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo does a fly-by viewing “selective forest harvesting”. See below a few pages…
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “The Revolutionary Obama Care future” 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.
THE SANTA CRUZ BAROQUE FESTIVAL. The Baltimore Consort is coming to Santa Cruz this Saturday April 8 at 7:30pm to UCSC’s Music Recital Hall. The program is titled “Musick’s Silver Sound”. Their Shakespearian tunes filled the air surrounding the common folk who came to the Globe Theatre; played on street corners, in taverns, and in the theatrex, they were a part of the public subconscious in England and abroad. This Baltimore Consort program will send you dancing from the halls feeling as if you’ve travelled back in time to the world of Shakespeare. Location: UCSC Music Recital Hall .
Tickets….. here! Or maybe at the door, but they have a huge following herabouts, so plan ahead.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa’s up to her eyes in editing and will be back with us/you next week! See her website this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). And find out about her own “Beast book” heading into production at last. Drinks all around!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE. Jessica Chastain and her husband ran the Warsaw Zoo in Poland in 1939 before, during and after the Germans invade. A true story adapted from the book it details how the couple managed to hide 300 Jews from the Nazis inside the zoo during the invasion. You might get to thinking, as I did about half way through the film about the contrast, similarity, duality of watching the animals escape from behind bars and then keeping the Jews in the same place. Or of watching the animals escape to their freedom or posible death…well you see what I’m getting at. Besides that I’m against Zoos, Aquariums, animal parks, and all that cruel stuff. So go se this film, Jessica is very good in the lead role except that her fake Polish accent sounds fake.
GHOST IN THE SHELL. If you can stand watching Scarlett Johansson running, jumping, leaping, shooting and maybe being a robot for 106 minutes while she’s wearing just a skin tight, white, thin, body suit…then go see this movie. It’s a zillion dollar Japanese Studio production and another good thing about it is that Takeshi Kitano has a brief appearance and it’s amazingly powerful. Then again, he always is. The plot is way too complex and unbelievacle to fathom out. It’s copied from a Japanese comic book. Not to insult them, but 12 year olds will love it.
THE LAST WORD. Shirley MacLaine, Amanda Seyfried and (sadly) a minor role for Anne Heche makes up this mildly humourous , not funny, cast of this quirky comedy about an 81 year old woman with lots of money who actually gets her own radio program…if you can believe that!!! MacLaine is a much better actor than this cute, cranky, stereotypical, witchy part allows her to play. Amanda Seyfried’s part is too cute and boring, contrived, predictable, and dull, and is unworthy of her. Amanda is supposed to be writing an obituary for the wealthy, formerly important and dictatorial MacLaine. Never mind the plot just go see any of MacLaine’s other films…they are much better.
LIFE. Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds and a “nice” interacial crew are trapped aboard a space station with an ever-growing giant calamari from space, that almost kills everybody. Yes, it’s the old Alien plot, and it’ll do just fine for 12 years olds. I mean that, it’s tense, exciting only a few fuck words in it and plenty of 2001 scenic memories. To be honest I got to thinking (which you’ll have plenty of time to do) what if that space creature just wants to save it’s own fate and travel to earth with “our guys”? Why not write a movie where somebody from earth wants to escape its dying future and tries to climb aboard an extraterrestial vehicle and the outer space visitors keep fighting him/her away like we treat our extraterrestial visitors? Send the kids, don’t take them.
PERSONAL SHOPPER. An absolutely brilliant film. Eerie, a few subtitles, high fashion, ghosts, and not shocking but mystifying , puzzling, nervous, and Kristen Stewart is rapidly becoming one of my favorite “actors”. Stewart plays the personal Shopper for a famous female celebrity…and maybe it’s her brother’s ghost that is communicating with her…or maybe not.
It’s not “don’t go into the cellar” scary nor is it jump out of the closet scary, one brief corpse scene and just enough of a wonderful plot that will make you remember it and think about it long after you leave the theatre.
GET OUT. Rotten Tomatoes gives this one an amazing 99%. Plus, it’s a huge box office hit !!! That’s surprising to everybody because it’s a low budget semi horror-comedy, black and white theme film. Probably released in February because that’s when they release films that aren’t expected o make much money. Catherine Keener is about the only actor whose name any of us might know. It’s a white girl brings home a black boyfriend topic. Only it goes into zones and situations that will amaze and get you laughing!! Wild, inventive, new, fine acting, twisted…you’ll love it.
LION. A true story of a little 5 year old boy getting lost in India. At last we get to see Dev Patel portray somebody serious and he does an excellent job. It’s a very cornball plot that you can guess every turn and twist, but still just because it’s India you do stay tuned in all the way through. Rooney Mara is his girlfriend for part of the plot and Nicole Kidman is the Australian wife who adopts him. It’s 100% feelgood and there are much better films out and around now, but it does have a certain charm.
KONG:SKULL ISLAND. Kong is back and after waiting for his appearance about 45 minutes into the film I figured why Kong is always mad.Unlike all gorillas, Kong has hair all over his butt and he has no penis! He does have his usual minute or two with a beautiful blonde…that’s Brie Larson (playing Faye Wray). Samuel. L. Jackson is a very bad guy, Tom Hiddleston is the big hero John Goodman gets killed before you expect it and John C. Reilly saves the movie from being just another numb & dumb box office smash. It beat Logan at the ticket office so that proves it. Truthfully though, it isn’t all bad IF you like monster gorilla movies.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Total 100% Disney sights, sounds and drech. You couldn’t possibly tell the songs from this Disney production from any of the last 30 years of Disney product songs. A wasted cast includes Emma Watson, Kevin Kline, Ewan MacGregor, Ian McKellan, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, and Audra McDonald. BUT most of these actors play the roles of animated tea pots and candlesticks. There is or are no reasons to see this re-hash of every commercial triumph the Disney Factory has turned out for more than 50 years. And the kids will probably love it.
SONG TO SONG. A Terence Malick movie… probably it’s about relationships just like Frankenstein, Mary Poppins, Moonlight, Gone With The Wind films are about relationships too. All in all this is a completely unfathomable mess of a plot…like all of Malick’s films. It’s got Cate Blanchett, ping pong, Ryan Gosling, oil rigs, Rooney Mara, , hungry Latina mothers, swimming pools, blonde Natalie Portman, Val Kilmer, and Holly Hunter. If you figure it out let me know.
WILSON. It isn’t a good criticism but,(or and) you’ll never figire out if we are supposed to like, love, hate, or identify with Woody Harrelson’s role as Wilson is this mean-spirited, confused nasty saga. Laura Dern plays the same role she always plays, Judy Greer is about the most logical, natural human in the movie…and Cheryl Hines returns to the screen from her frustrating role in Curb Your Enthusiasm, years ago. Don’t see this movie. You’ll leave angry, confused and as mean-spirited as Woody portrays. And I still don’t know if it’s supposed to be a comedy, drama, or just an adaption of a graphic novel..which it is.
LOGAN. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart lower themselves considerably by playing the lead roles in this last of the Wolverine series. I’ve tried hard and failed to stop thinking that this is exactly the kind of film I’ll bet that Donald Trump likes. Even though the Wolverine (Jackman) is a comic book character and the special effects are just about 90% of the picture, the cruelty, killing, blood, evil, are all so typical of today’s biggest boxoffice hits, it’s too over the top for me. No plot, no emotions, no humanity…just more blood and more killing. Even the ending when Wolverine is in a stone covered grave I kept worrying and watching to see if some of the stones didn’t start shaking, meaning we’ll be tortured by an even worse Wolverine # 10. Yes Jackman has played the part nine times!!! Go if you like Donald Trump type movies.
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 April 4 Linda Burman-Hall returns to talk about The Santa Cruz Baroque Festival’s spring concerts. After Linda, UCSC’s Ben Leeds Carson details the April In Santa Cruz concerts. Carson Kelly tells us about the political force “Indivisible” on April 11. Followed by Brian Spencer talking about the See Theatre play “The Nether” opening April 14. We’ll talk about the Reel Work Labor Film Festival on April 18. On May 2nd UCSC Film Professor emeritus Earl Jackson talks about films and his Asian teaching experiences. 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
NEW UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVE FEATURE. Stuff changes at KZSC a lot. If you missed either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens.
Today I needed some inspiration, having dealt with some really crappy things lately. If this tiny little slip of a thing can do this, then there truly are no limits.
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. “TAXES“ “One in four corporations doesn’t pay any taxes”. Bernie Sanders “The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward”, John Maynard Keynes “What are called ‘public schools’ in many of America’s wealthy communities aren’t really ‘public’ at all. In effect, they’re private schools, whose tuition is hidden away in the purchase price of upscale homes there, and in the corresponding property taxes”, Robert Reich
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Snail Mail: Bratton Online
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