Bratton… Kristen Brown should get your vote … Greensite… on Cowell Water Quality backstory… Steinbruner… bad legislation, water, water, water, County Fair… Hayes… back next month … Patton… A Book I Do Not Plan To Read … Matlock… …empty venues for empty heads…sunsetting red hats…quoth the albatross, meow… Eagan… Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover… Webmistress serves you… James Veitch… Quotes on… “Boomers”
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Dateline: August 21, 2024
KRISTIN BROWN FOR SECOND DISTRICT COUNTY SUPERVISOR. First, Barry Scott connected with me then I heard from Aidan Hosler. Both familiar and very active community members. They both wrote the following report. And I’m repeating their opening paragraph just in case you haven’t become familiar with Kristin.
“Kristen Brown won the endorsements of Santa Cruz for Bernie, PV Dems, and the Democratic Women’s Club as well as Supervisors Cummings and Hernandez. Add to these Kristen’s endorsements by several unions, the Lieutenant Governor, California Transportation Commissioner Carl Guardino, and Rod Diridon, Sr.”
Beware, Greenway has found their pick for Supervisor, District 2, in Kim DeSerpa.
Greenway founder Bud Colligan, Greenway spokesman Jack Brown, and Trail Now director Brian Peoples have all endorsed Kim DeSerpa’s candidacy against progressive Kristen Brown. We can expect Kim to join Manu in efforts to erase our rail transit options and serve the wealthy in other ways if elected.
There’s more going on here than transportation and the Rail Trail. Short-term rental owners and agents have come to her support, much to the chagrin of housing advocates. And Kim seems to support excluding the public from coastal access:
Kim has earned the endorsements and support of key culprits in the infamous Beach Drive Blockade that extinguished public access to a beautiful public right of way at Rio Del Mar Beach.
Two six-foot-high chain-link fences were built last February without the required Coastal and County building permits but the wealthy out-of-county owners don’t feel obliged to follow rules like the rest of us.
Kim DeSerpa’s website lists an endorsement of Gaurav Singh, one of the owners who received the record-setting fine.
Jim Vadaugna held fundraisers in his Beach Drive patio for Manu Koenig and Kim DeSerpa. (see flyers below)
Kim’s campaign contributions list five apparent Vaudagna family members, all living over the hill and each contributing a maximum of $550 to her campaign.
(this Netfile link appears to not work right)
Like Greenway’s Manu Koenig, Kim is endorsed by the Coastal Property Owners Association; Candidates who have committed to supporting “the rights of coastal property owners”, which apparently means shutting out the public from our walkways. CPOA Endorsements
Manu and any new allies like DeSerpa will continue to work against rail and trail. I just witnessed 2 more ugly bike accidents that could have been prevented if Manu had stopped blocking progress on segment 8. DeSerpa will allow him greater opportunity to work against the will of the public and, frankly, public safety.
Please support Kristen Brown for District Two Supervisor, no matter where you live!
The Board of Supervisors directs policy that impacts ALL of us in all five districts, so we need to pay attention and support those who will support us.Kristen won the endorsements of Santa Cruz for Bernie, PV Dems, and the Democratic Women’s Club as well as Supervisors Cummings and Hernandez.
Add to these Kristen’s endorsements by several unions, the Lieutenant Governor, California Transportation Commissioner Carl Guardino, and Rod Diridon, Sr.
Aidan Hosler,
Sustainable transportation advocate and business owner
Santa Cruz
LADY IN THE LAKE. Apple series (5.9IMDB). 
Natalie Portman (who is now 43 years old) plays a Jewish author in the 1960’s Baltimore. There’s some black politics thrown in and the plot gets lost after some extreme editing. The entire plot is reversed and not as well thought out as they figured. Don’t give up anything important to watch this.
EXIT PLAN. (AMAZON PRIME SINGLE). 
An insurance investigator checks in to a very special hotel in Denmark exclusively inhabited for patients who make their own plans on dying. Then he too realizes that he’s dying from a tumor. It’s an excellently told and deep and depressing story about assisted suicide. Full of time and personality shifts you’ll be transported into moments thinking about your own demise. Watch it when you’re in a good mood only.
MIDNIGHT RUN. (1988 RELEASE) (NETFLIX MOVIE) (7.5 IMDB). An absolutely brilliant comedy plus crime plot that will have you rolling on the floor with pathos and delight, see it again even if you remember the best scenes. It stars Robert De Niro as the cop and the ever subtle Charles Grodin as the robber being escorted across country by De Niro. The laughs are both outrageous and subtle and the rest of the cast looks like outcasts from The Sopranos.
VANISHED INTO THE NIGHT. Netflix movie (5.2 IMDB) 
An Italian family’s two children are kidnapped and a huge ransom is demanded. The acting is poor, the plot is questionable and only Santa Cruz small boat owners will stay awake to solve the twists and inadequacies.
LAND OF BAD. Netflix movie (6.6 IMDB) An unexplained battle that happens in South Africa and the Philippines within our own armed services, namely the air forces versus the infantry! It’s high tech adapting to traditional military systems. It’s probably all very true but the presentation is slow and boring.
ROCCO SCHIAVONE: ICE COLD MURDERS. Prime series. (7.8 IMDB) An absolutely engrossing, tightly knit movie about an Italian (Aosta is the city in Italy) detective whose wife is either murdered or maybe was suicidal. He’s quirky, smokes pot, and heads up a great cast in an excellent series. Go for it. I’ve repeated this review because too many folks forgot the title.
GOYO. Netflix series. (6.5 IMDB) Hard to believe and follow this tearful drama from Buenos Aires. It’s about a museum guide who has Asperger’s. We get to look at his sex life, how he loses control, and his new love of the beautiful woman guide that changes everything.
A MAN IN FULL. Netflix series (6.5 IMDB) Jeff Daniels at his very best acting (not so much) costars with Diane Lane in this drama centering on his real estate empire and all the complex issues we find in real estate everywhere. Lucy Liu plays a big part in it too as we watch his partial control over himself and his holdings mostly disappear inside banks, attorneys, and drawn out office scenes.
ROALD DAHL’S ESIO TROT. Prime movie. (6.9 IMDB) 
The top name cast has Dustin Hoffman and his chasing of Judi Dench while Richard Cordery leads us on this boring, predictable, comedy. It’s another back balcony upstairs/ downstairs over used plot. Hoffman is very disappointing when you start thinking back to his classic and serious films, he’s 87 years old now.
THE ASUNTA CASE. Netflix series. (6.9 IMDB) Another Spanish movie based on a true story about a local couple whose adopted Chinese daughter is found murdered. Even the police are suspected of the crime. Mistakes are made, the story stays tight, worth watching.
GANGS OF GALICIA. Netflix series (6.3 IMDB) A Spanish murder adventure about a woman whose father gets murdered, so she goes inside some drug cartels to find out and get revenge on whodunit!! Great seaside- water footage. With boats and police everywhere.
SUNNY. Apple series (7.3 IMDB) A Japanese comedy starring Rashida Jones who loses her husband and has a robot replace him. There’s way too much mugging, drinking, and undirected reactions to make this worth watching…avoid it
DESPERATE LIES. Netflix series. (7.0 IMDB) Juliana Paes takes the lead in this Brazilian re-take after re-take about childbirth. It appears that she got drunk, went to bed with two guys and got pregnant from both of them….and had twins! Complex, barely believable, only a bit humorous, but you will stay focused.
August 19, 2024
THE STORY BEHIND PUBLIC RELATIONS: COWELL BEACH WATER QUALITY
Inspiration for a BrattonOnline topic just didn’t materialize over the weekend. There is no shortage of national and international issues but I’m no expert and some of my views aren’t popular. For example, the Russian attack on Ukraine was anything but unprovoked but the propaganda has been successful and venturing into that topic I’ve found is not productive. Local issues are a different matter.
Chatting on Facetime with my son and grandchild I asked for some suggestions. Calliope, who is seven suggested I write something kind. “It’s not nice to laugh at someone because of who they are”, she volunteered. You can’t argue with that. I asked her if someone is being hurtful or untruthful is it ok to tell them to stop doing that? She agreed that is ok. Since the main purpose in my writing these pieces is to dig up the truth on local issues and sift out the public relations veneer, I offer the following and hope Calliope will approve.
Cowell Beach Off the Beach Bummer List
As many know, for over a decade, Cowell Beach topped the list of the ten most polluted beaches in California. The then Mayor, David Terrazas, formed a sizable working group of city and county staff and non-profits to tackle the problem. I represented the Sierra Club on the group. The task was to find the source or sources of pollution and eradicate them. Water samples are collected weekly at three spots on Cowell Beach, along with many other shoreline testing sites in the county. Cowell’s pollution was unique in that it occurred during the summer months rather than the more typical winter rainy months and is largely confined to a near shore area on the westside of the Wharf. I admit to experiencing frustration as the monthly meetings turned into years and the aim seemed more about changing which testing is done rather than isolating and removing the sources of pollution. As a year-round swimmer at Cowell’s, I was more than a little self-interested. Plus, the area of pollution was mostly populated by children playing in the shallow water.
Shoreline seaweed and marine mammals had been excluded as possible sources due to a prior study from a Stanford researcher. That, and nearby sewer laterals had been fixed, plus the city stated Neary Lagoon wasn’t a source. I hypothesized that one source may be canine, given that there is a beach around the corner, It’s Beach, that has become a de facto dog beach with the currents flowing west to east towards Cowell’s. Plus, as you see from the recent photo above, plenty of people ignore the posted No Dogs sign at Cowell’s, chasing off the migratory shorebirds that come to rest and feed. Canines as a possible contributing factor seemed plausible. DNA source testing of water samples is used in the lab. to pinpoint whether the source of a high indication of bacteria is from human, bird, canine, or marine mammal. Bovine can be sourced but cows did not seem likely.
One group member’s cell phone had a dog barking ringtone which should have been a tip-off that my suggestion for canine source testing would be ignored, as indeed it was, repeatedly. Sometimes accompanied by a snigger. After a couple of years of monthly meetings that to me seemed repetitive and going nowhere, one member showed a photo of a pigeon under the Wharf with a bird poop dropping on the wet sand. So, a plan took off. No source testing was done but expensive stainless-steel meshing was installed under the Wharf for 200 feet at a cost of $50,000, to prevent the pigeons roosting. In 2017, for the first time in a decade, Cowell’s was not top of the Beach Bummer list but was #3. It still received an F grade for the summer months. The following year, 2018, Cowells was #8. Better than #1 but still a long way from acceptable. The bird netting was helping but the other sources remained a mystery.
Then, despite the city’s claim that the outfall from Neary Lagoon, seen in the photo above, was not a contributing factor, major steps were taken by the city to address this drainage. Sliding gates were deployed at Neary Lagoon to control the flow of bacteria-laden water from the storm drain outlet onto Cowell Beach during the summer months. A steel gate was installed at the Neary outfall pipe to divert high-bacteria water to the City’s Wastewater Treatment Facility where it is treated and disinfected before being discharged into the ocean. And subsequently, Cowell Beach disappeared from the Beach Bummer list and success was declared.
Despite these other measures, birds still take the major rap. This year’s City’s press release of 8/1/24 as well as last year’s press release has the following entry near the top:
A major breakthrough came in 2017 when the source of the pollution — primarily birds roosting on and near the Wharf — was identified and managed.
The other measures are lower down near the end of the press release. And all the news outlets dutifully follow the city’s lead in centering the birds as the major cause of the pollution. Maybe not a huge issue but it is not accurate. A lot of public monies can be squandered when spin replaces accuracy. As for the days when the water at Cowell’s still tests high for pollution, although not cumulatively high enough to rate a spot on the Beach Bummer list, I have suggested that two samples be taken during such times, with one sample subject to source testing for human, canine, and bird. So far that suggestion has been ignored. Science is about testing hypotheses. Politics is too often about cherry picking and spinning the results. Improving water quality should be the former, not the latter and that is the kindest thing I can say.
| 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. |
A BAD PIECE OF LEGISLATION
In the wake of Soquel Creek Water District imposing steady rate and fee increases, making water unaffordable for some, the legislature is poised to pass a horrible law, AB 2257, that would take away any ability of ratepayers to legally challenge utility rate increases as invalid. Assemblymember Lori Wilson is the author.
Consider this:
“This bill would prohibit, if a local agency complies with specified procedures, a person or entity from bringing a judicial action or proceeding alleging noncompliance with the constitutional provisions for any new, increased, or extended fee or assessment, as defined, unless that person or entity has timely submitted to the local agency a written objection to that fee or assessment that specifies the grounds for alleging noncompliance, as specified.”
The question is, what is “timely”?
A)That all written objections must be submitted within the written objection period set by the local agency pursuant to paragraph (4) and that a failure to timely object in writing bars any right to challenge that fee or assessment through a legal proceeding.
That means that at a time when most customers have no idea that a rate increase is in the works, they must provide written objection and explain why the proposed rates are to be challenged. If that is not done, all possibility of challenging rate increases is barred.
This amended bill is scheduled for a third reading. Contact local Assemblymembers and ask them to vote NO on AB 2257.
Assemblymember Robert Rivas
Assemblymember Gail Pellerin
Assemblymember Dawn Addis
A GOOD GRASSROOTS MEASURE ON THE BALLOT TO CHALLENGE UNREASONABLE WATER RATES
Consider the current grassroots citizen petition Measure U on this November 5 ballot that was compelled by San Lorenzo Valley Water District customers fed up with unreasonable fixed rate increases that cannot be addressed with conservation.
A Yes on grassroots Measure U is your support for an equitable rate structure. Limiting fixed
charges will help make water affordable for those who use the least and spreads a Fair Share balance across all users.
The sharply rising Service Charge and proliferation of additional fixed charges has unfairly
shifted the primary cost burden onto low water users. Fixed charges have roughly doubled since 2021.
At the same time, the District lowered the price of water for most customers, foolishly
giving up over a million dollars a year while creating a rate structure that is upside-down,
where lower water users now subsidize higher water users. The purpose of Measure U is to
tilt the balance back to being more based on actual water usage and less about fixed
charges you must pay before using a drop of water.
Measure U is a grassroots answer to Unfair rates, and for an equitable rate structure.
Please vote Yes on Measure U.
Visit slvh2o.org
Measure U, argument for
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVES $50 MILLION BOND FOR RENTAL HOUSING IN LIVE OAK
Reliant – Seaside, LP, a California limited partnership (the “Borrower”) a
partnership of which Reliant Group (the “Developer”) or a related person to the Developer is the
general partner, has requested that the California Municipal Finance Authority (the “Authority”)
adopt a plan of financing providing for the issuance of exempt facility bonds for a qualified
residential rental project pursuant to Section 142(a)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the
“Code”) in one or more series issued from time to time, including bonds issued to refund such
exempt facility bonds in one or more series from time to time, and at no time to exceed
$50,000,000 in aggregate principal amount (the “Bonds”), to finance or refinance the acquisition,
rehabilitation, improvement and equipping of a multifamily rental housing project located at 1380
30th Avenue, Santa Cruz, California (the “Project”)
See item #9.
NEW DENSE HOUSING ZONES WILL NO LONGER REQUIRE PUBLIC NOTICE OR ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Board of Supervisors met Tuesday and approved a new ‘Ministerial Combining Zone” that includes ___ parcels in Aptos and Live Oak that would allow developers to build whatever they want without having to hold public hearings or conduct any environmental review, as long as there are 20% of the units deeded as affordable to low-income residents.
See Item # 10.
About half of these would require approval by the Coastal Commission for a development permit because they are in the Coastal Zone (ocean side of highway One.)
A Planning Commission public hearing was held on June 12, 2024. During this meeting
the Commission requested modifications to the Resolution and Ordinance to include the
following:
- Reference to a minimum of 20% affordable housing in the Resolution with a “preference for at least 25% affordable housing”; and
- That the County notify the property owner at time of rezoning; and
- That notification of all property owners and residents be increased from the staff proposal of 100 feet to 300 feet of a parcel when subject to an application for development.
Staff has addressed the Planning Commission’s modifications as follows:
Staff has removed any reference to the percentage of affordable units required. The preference to increase the affordability requirement of ministerial projects from 20% to 25% is a larger project that would take time to study and understand the impacts of. Staff finds that this can be an “encouragement” to developers of future projects, but is infeasible to implement into the Ordinance at this time.
The current County Code requires notification to the property owner when a property is
rezoned. When Staff proposes a property specific rezoning, the property owner will be
noticed.
Staff has modified the Ordinance to include the increase in noticing distance into the
Ordinance. If an application is proposed within the Ministerial Combining District,
property owners and residents within 300 feet will be notified.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
In November 2023, the County certified an addendum to the EIR prepared for the
Sustainability Update to address any environmental impacts of the 2023 Housing
Element and its programs under CEQA. No new significant impacts were identified
beyond those previously addressed in the EIR. Therefore, no additional CEQA analysis
is required for this Ordinance. The Addendum may be reviewed online here
ISN’T THIS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST?
Why would Supervisor McPherson try to push his authority to rezone ag land out of production in order to so obviously streamline direct benefit Central Coast Community Power (3CE)?
County Supervisor Bruce McPherson really pushed to get approval of four large parcels to be rezoned for large battery energy storage sites with a new overlay zoning district and Ordinance to return to the Board on September 24. Planning Staff said they knew nothing of these parcels and requested six months to do environmental analysis inherent to large battery storage. McPherson said NO, and insisted it return to the Board on or before the second meeting in October.
“You really want to get this done before you leave office, don’t you?” I could not help but say the obvious from the audience. There were no images or drawings of what these sites would look like, or analysis of hazards inherent (think about the recent fires at the Moss Landing battery facility).
Supervisor McPherson and CAO Palacio are both Board members of the 3CE Community Power governance board.
[Governing Boards – Central Coast Community Energy]
Isn’t it a conflict of interest for them to be using their authority to shove approval to rezone parcels for battery power storage that will directly benefit 3CE? Watch the video presentation and discussion of Item #11 at the August 13 Board meeting and see what you think. (click on item #11 to go directly to that part of the Board meeting).
YET ANOTHER TAX PREYING ON YOUR CONCERN ABOUT WILDFIRES
This November 5 ballot includes Measure Q, “The Clean Water and Wildfire” measure to forever collect $87/parcel countywide. The County Fire Chiefs Association filed Argument Against this measure for good reason.
Measure Q, Argument Against
Government (and now non-profits) have sold tax increases to the public by promising better fire protection. Measure G in 2018 was so egregious it prompted investigation by the Santa Cruz County Grand Jury. Grand Jury Measure G Report
Measure B promised the same: B – County TOT Favor 622
This was the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) increase approved in June, 2022.
Santa Cruz City Measure E also pounced on concerns for clean beaches and waterways:
Clean River, Beaches and Ocean Fund
How can voters be assured the money raked in by the County of Santa Cruz with Measure Q on the November 5 ballot will do anything close to what proponents claim it will? Who would decide how that anticipated $7.3 million every year forever would get spent? The “citizen oversight” would be the same hand-picked Advisory Committee, appointed by County Supervisors and one from each of the four incorporated cities.
Make no mistake…this is yet another money grab to benefit the County’s coffers while also allowing large non-profits to belly up to the trough.
Read the 16-page documentation carefully, know that the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Sempervirens and Peninsula Open Space paid big money for signature gatherers to get this “citizen’s initiative” Parcel Tax on the ballot and allowed to pass with 50% + 1 rather than 2/3.
Word has it that a former County Supervisor has used influence to shove this along to benefit his former analyst, who now heads up the County Department that stands to win bloated salaries and more staff if Measure Q passes.
Just vote NO on Measure Q.
SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT GETS NEW WELL PAID FOR BY STATE TAXPAYERS
As part of a large State Dept. of Water Resources (DWR) grant, Soquel Creek Water District is constructing a brand new well on Cunnison Lane in Soquel.
The new well will have an estimated depth of 500 to 600 feet. Based on groundwater modeling and analyses, this new well could extract an average of 400 acre-feet per year (afy) and serve to redistribute groundwater pumping away from the coast.
The raw water will be piped to the nearby Tannery Well, which has had many problems with production over the past year.
In reading the August 20, 2024 Soquel Creek Water District Board Operations and Maintenance report, I see that the other well that would be used as the actual treatment facility site for the Cunnison Well raw water will be the Tannery Well.
Consent Item 4.5
Operations staff are collaborating with Engineering and Black & Veatch to provide input during the 30% design phase of the Cunnison Well Construction and Tannery Water Treatment Plant Upgrade
project.
• On 1/13/2023, the Tannery well failed after running for 2.5 hours at an average flow rate of 800
gallons per minute (GPM). Operations staff determined that the motor needed replacement.
Maggiora Bros. Drilling, after evaluating the motor (rebuilt in 2019), recommended a new
replacement. The new motor was installed on 3/2/2023, but initial tests revealed a reduced flow
of 660 GPM. After adjustments, the flow improved to 700 GPM, though the issue remained
unresolved, resulting in a 100 GPM loss from Tannery WTP production.
Following consultation with Montgomery and Associates, the District hired Maggiora Bros. to
pull the well equipment for inspection and video analysis. The inspection revealed no clear cause
for the reduced flow. Subsequently, the District contracted the company PumpMan under an
existing pumping services blanket agreement to inspect the pump and provide a report. The
inspection indicated that while the pump was in adequate condition, the lateral adjustment might
have been too high. The column pipe, though intact, requires replacement, and the video showed
the well itself is in good health but in need of preventative maintenance
(see pages 63-64)
I found the EIR Addendum, approved by the Board last December, to accommodate the Cunnison Well treatment facility changes
There is a good map on page 15 showing where the Tannery Well is located and where the raw water pipeline will go.
Page 23 describes the construction at the Tannery Well:
The Tannery Well site would not include drilling construction activities because there would be no new well installations. The modified project would only expand the existing treatment facility to include treatment capacity originally proposed to occur at the Cunnison Lane site in the WMP, and construct an underground pipeline that would run from the Cunnison Lane site to the Tannery Well site.
There is a discussion of noise impacts, and a map on page 25 of noise monitoring stations during the construction phase.
What is not discussed is the chemical hazard associated with the chlorine treatment facility at the Tannery Well. What form will the chlorine being used for treatment be?
If you are concerned about this, please contact Soquel Creek Water District Board <bod@soquelcreekwater.org> Maybe they will respond.
Below is the construction site with protective noise mitigation.
The well drilling requires large volumes of water for construction and flushing. The District is using a nearby hydrant for that supply. I wonder if there will be “Baker Tanks” set up for dechlorination before the chemically-reactive water is injected into the groundwater? And does Fish and Wildlife know about the impending well flushing that will get dumped into the stormwater drain and creek leading to Noble Creek? Hmmm….
THE GULAG NEXT TO THE MONTESSORI SCHOOL AND WILLOWBROOK PARK IS GONE
Maybe it was because you and others contacted Soquel Creek Water District about how unsightly the chainlink fence with barbed wire enclosure was that they were compelled to make it less offensive. Although the PureWater Soquel Project Willowbrook Injection Well no longer looks like a gulag, the purpose of injecting treated sewage water into the pristine groundwater drinking water supply is still offensive.
Here is how that injection well site looks now….
but below is what the gulag used to look like, next to the Montessori School and Willowbrook Park.
And below is what another injection well at Twin Lakes Baptist Church looks like, still nicer consideration than what the Montessori School was afforded:
APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT MOVES ALONG WITH PLANS TO ELIMINATE PUBLIC PARKING
Last week marked a five-year anniversary of the Hihn Apple Barn conversion opening as New Leaf Market in the Aptos Village. Although some store spaces are still vacant, the next phase of construction to make more is marching along, with plans to eliminate public parking on Aptos Creek Road.
Parking is nearly non-existent for people who want to ride bikes or walk into the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, with the extremely narrow Aptos Village Way closed to public parking and construction crew vehicles gobbling up much of what remains.
A BEAUTIFUL BOX OF ART IN APTOS VILLAGE
Even though the Aptos Village Project is hideous, a recent piece of “Outside the Box” artwork on a utility box near Aptos Creek Road and Soquel Drive is lovely. The artist did not sign their work…maybe you know who they are?
It is beautiful.
APPLY TO SERVE ON THE SANTA CRUZ COUNTY FAIR BOARD
The Santa Cruz County Fair Board has a few vacancies and in fact, has not always been able to gather a quorum recently to conduct business.
The Board needs three people, maybe four, to assure a quorum and conduct the Fair’s business. The seats are appointed by the Governor.
If you want to help keep the Santa Cruz County Fair and Fairgrounds the gem in the Community that it is, both for private events and County emergency evacuation sheltering, please consider applying. Things have calmed down a bit since former CEO Dave Kegebein got fired due to a scathing Performance Audit by the State, but the Board really needs people who care about the Community and are willing to ask questions of the new CEO.
Maybe that is you or someone you know.
By the way, the Santa Cruz County Fair is coming up! September 11-15.
MAKE ONE CALL. WRITE ONE LETTER. READ YOUR BALLOT INFORMATION CAREFULLY AND THINK ABOUT THOSE OF FIXED INCOMES WHO CANNOT AFFORD THE ONSLAUGHT OF PROPOSED TAXES.
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE BY JUST DOING ONE THING THIS WEEK.
Cheers,
Becky
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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. She ran again in 2020 on a slightly bigger shoestring and got 1/3 of the votes.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com |
Grey will be back in September!
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Grey Hayes is a fervent speaker for all things wild, and his occupations have included land stewardship with UC Natural Reserves, large-scale monitoring and strategic planning with The Nature Conservancy, professional education with the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, and teaching undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz. Visit his website at: www.greyhayes.net
Email Grey at coastalprairie@aol.com |
#227 / A Book I Do Not Plan To Read
The image above is taken from the Berkeley Journalism website. It depicts Michelle Goldberg, a columnist for The New York Times. Goldberg’s “What I Cover” statement on The Times‘ website indicates that she focuses her writing on “politics and culture from a left-leaning, feminist point of view.” In early August, Goldberg did a book review in The Times that was titled as follows: “JD Vance Just Blurbed a Book Arguing That Progressives Are Subhuman.”
As someone who identifies as a “progressive,” I was naturally interested, and I read Goldberg’s column.
The book Goldberg reviewed is titled, Unhumans, at least that is the title that Goldberg used in her column. The full title of the book is significantly longer, as follows: Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them). Goldberg is correct that vice presidential candidate JD Vance did recommend the book, although Goldberg charitably suggests in her column that Vance may well have “recommended Unhumans without actually reading it, a practice that’s not unheard-of in book publishing.”
Goldberg’s hypothesis that Vance may have endorsed Unhumans without having read it is charitable, in one sense (stand by to learn more about the book), but it is not very flattering in another. A political candidate who would make an endorsement and recommendation without having any real knowledge of what he is talking about is not someone whom I’d like to put a heartbeat away from the presidency, and as Goldberg quite properly says, “unless and until he credibly distances himself from it, we should take [Vance] at his word that he shares the book’s analysis. After all, some of the language in Unhumans resembles his own rhetoric.”
As far as I know, Vance has taken no action to “distance himself” from Unhumans, or to repudiate his book jacket recommendation. Thus, let us accept the fact that Vance actually agrees with what Unhumans says.
Let me tell you what Unhumans says, as outlined by Goldberg – first noting, before listing the claims made in the book, that the author of the book, Jack Posobiec, is “best known for promoting the conspiracy theory that Democrarts ran a satanic child abuse ring beneath a popular Washington Pizzeria.”
Goldberg identifies the following claims made in Unhumans:
- “Leftists” don’t deserve the status of human beings.
- “Leftists” are “waging a shadow war against all that is good and decent which will end in apocalyptic slaughter if they are not stopped.”
- “Leftists” are “opposed to humanity itself, [and] “place themselves outside of the category completely in an entirely new misery-driven subdivision, the ‘unhuman.'”
- “Progressivism” is “just the latest incarnation of an ancient evil dating back to the late Roman Republic and continuing through the French Revolution and Communism today.”
- “Democracy has never worked to protect innocents from the ‘unhumans.'”
- Francisco Franco, who overthrew the democratic Second Spanish Republic in the country’s 1930s civil war, is a “great man of history,” properly compared to George Washington, and Franco was correct about good governmental policy when he said that “we do not believe in government through the voting booth.”
Thanks to Michelle Goldberg, I can delete Unhumans from my “must read” list. That’s a book I do not plan to read.
And what about the Trump-Vance presidential ticket? Well, Michelle Goldberg certainly gives me another reason to be sure to vote on November 5th, and to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, not the Trump-Vance ticket. I do not want to help elect a vice presidential candidate who has endorsed views like the ones listed above, and I don’t want to vote for a presidential candidate who has done the same – which former president Trump actually has done, though I doubt has read any books about that (or about much else, either)!
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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 |
SWIFTIES TO THE RESCUE? SCRAWLING POLI-SCI 101 IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, VASELINE COVERED CRAZY
Presidential candidate Donald Trump will soon have to drop his popularity indicator of rally crowd size if he starts paying attention…hoping that your are not, of course! He is denying the reports of his audience starting to trickle away at his Wilkes-Barre, PA rally, which took place to begin with in a venue that started off with rows and rows of empty seats with unclaimed ‘Trump-Vance’ campaign signs. In spite of photographic- and video-proof, The Donald shot back, “We had to turn away lots of people yesterday…but Comrade Kamala Harris’ Social Media Operation showed empty seats, long before the Rally started, early in the afternoon when, in actuality, we had to turn away 11,500 people!” Perhaps he meant 11,780 people since that number has such meaning for him, particularly in his effort to overturn the Georgia state election in 2020…and we can be assured that staff was outside with hand-counter clickers to back him up with an accurate count of those sent packing. Ramblin’ on, Trump added, “She should have never been Vice President, and had to stage a COUP of Joe Biden, with her America-hating friends, Barrack Hussein Obama, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, and the rest. Comrade Kamala is a STONE COLD LOSER, and she will FAIL and, if she doesn’t, our Country will cease to exist as we know it, turning into a Communist, Crime Ridden Garbage Dump. November 5th will be the Most Important Date in the History of the U.S.A. It’s as simple as that!”
The bearer of bad tidings, USA Today reporter, Zac Anderson, who was in attendance, writes that as Trump’s ‘speech’ hit the one-hour mark, people were headed for the exits, though the former president directed his critical remarks toward Harris, later posting that his opponent, “…is a LIAR, and shouldn’t even be allowed to run for Office!” Former Republican Jeff Timmer flagged the post about empty seats, writing, “Looks like someone woke up on the gibbering, barking, panicked side of the bed today.” Ron Filipkowski, a former prosecutor, commenting on the high number of posts the subject spawned, said, “Panicked Trump completely melts down. He’s coming apart.” Republicans Against Trump highlighted his desperation, after discovering he had posted ‘Swifties for Trump’ using AI-generated photos of supposed Taylor Swift fans displaying the slogan on t-shirts…below which Trump wrote, “I accept.” Conservative Army Iraq War Veteran Peter Heinlein laughingly posted, “LOL…I mean…this is uniquely pathetic, even for Trump.” Another Trump post features another AI-generated photo of Kamala Harris posing before a communism-themed rally, prompting former Republican lawmaker Chris Vance to post, “I guarantee you this moron couldn’t write a coherent PoliSci 101 answer to the question, ‘What is communism?'”
The Palmer Report’s Robert Harrington writes that he is gratified by the current political polls, acknowledging that polls can be erroneous, so he derives greater comfort from crowd size, coupled with its enthusiasm…for him, a metric that is more telling than the theoretical. Harrington admits that Trump would agree with him…in theory. He is buoyed by the fact that Harris and Walz filled the 20,000 seat arena in Phoenix, while Trump on the same day, only filled half of the 7,000 seats in a Montana arena. Trump’s Phoenix rally the previous week, same venue, was much smaller…with photo evidence for proof. Desperate MAGA posters claim, it’s ‘reported’ the Harris-Walz rally was attended by vetted, paid actors, the majority being flown in to the closed-to-the-public venue. Harrington counters with his charge that, “It is being reported by the voices in your head…an obvious lie…have to be loony to believe it…you would have to be a Republican, but I repeat myself.” “Besides,” he maintains, “…bribing 20,000 people to a rally is something a sane person would never consider. It would immediately leak. How do we know this? Trump has tried it many times…and it always leaked.” Bocha Blue writes on Palmer, “Something is happening. He has matriculated at the University of Psychotic Criminals. Witness the anger, the wild lies, the FUTILITY in every letter he writes. Something is different. Here’s what is it…the madness has claimed him…from dawn to dusk…no longer confined to a few mad scrawls in the dead of night.”
Recent comments reported by Jack Dunn of Variety, from the ‘Variety, Rolling Stone Truth Seekers Summit’ as seen on Paramount+, a panel discussion with Yamiche Alcindor of NBC News, Katy Tur of MSNBC, CNN anchor Abby Phillip, PBS News Hour co-anchor Geoff Bennett, CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil for the Politics in the Zeitgeist, and moderator Ramin Setoodeh of Variety, emphasized that transparency in the journalistic process is more important than it’s ever been. Alcindor remarked that “truth is fact,” a simple definition to which not everyone subscribes. She recalled, as a PBS reporter, she was hit with tear gas outside St. John’s Episcopal Church as protesters were cleared to allow then-President Trump to pose in front of the church directory sign holding up a Bible. Her report of the incident on PBS was promptly labelled a lie by the government, then a couple of days later it was admitted that people were gassed…“not exactly tear gas.” Bennett responded, “People often assume bias on the part of us as journalists because they don’t fully understand how we do the work we do, and to the degree that we are able to be more transparent about how we do that news gathering and how we pull it together, is good. It’s good for the work we do and it’s good for our democracy.”
Tur says Trump has remained the biggest story in political reporting since he ran in 2016, and although he is unpredictable, he is “self-aware” and operates on “gut reaction” regarding how he communicates with his supporters. “He has an instinct of how to behave in front of a camera and in front of a crowd. That’s why you saw him raise his fist after he was almost assassinated. I was one of the first people that covered him, so it was often just me and him at rallies. I was the only reporter he knew. So he would come up to me, and call me a lot. He is very magnetic, he’s very charming. And when he doesn’t think he can charm you any longer, he’ll get very angry, and that’s when he starts to attack,” Tur notes. She continued, “My discomfort here is, we interview him and we don’t get a lot out of it. It’s not as if we are covering all the crazy things he says. The headline is, ‘Donald Trump Gives Long, Meandering Speech, Agrees to Debate Kamala Harris.’ That puts Vaseline over the crazy of what he’s saying. This is a guy who tried to stay in office because he wanted to…he tried to do it in 2016 when he thought he was going to lose, and he is starting to do it again.”
Dace Potas of USA Today writes that Trump “erred greatly in selecting JD Vance as his running mate,” displaying his overconfidence in facing Joe Biden and leading him toward prioritizing the MAGA legacy. Everything shifted when Biden dropped out, endorsing Harris, making the Vance misstep painfully clear. The election changed, leaving The Donald with his Ohio Albatross, blowing up his confidence and that of his Republican base and their willingness to follow along. Trump has jeopardized the election and his own legacy, handing the Democrats the momentum on a silver platter, yet in his cockiness he remains his own worst enemy. Potas says as of July 15, Trump had an implied 66.2% chance of winning in November, but since that time his chances have dropped by over 20 percentage points, with his opponent having to do almost nothing…the biggest factor benefitting Democrats is that Trump is electoral poison. His narcissism may cost the GOP once again, in his choice of Vance, and by taking over the RNC as a family organization, assigning the party platform to himself…further sowing divisions rather than building bridges of cooperation. Potas concludes, “In reality, the best thing for Democrats is GOP incompetence and Trump’s own ego. This has been true the whole time.”
From digital media company, The Dispatch: “Kamala Harris is hardly even bothering to campaign in the conventional way against Donald Trump. And why should she? Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020 without running a real campaign against him, either. Trump’s three big problems as a candidate are precisely the same qualities that mitigated the worst of what might have been a much worse Trump presidency the last time around: He is lazy, he is stupid, and he is childish.” Terming this description as analysis, rather than name-calling, and being the most relevant traits of The Donald, we should be accept this on its face value! The Dispatch believes “…laziness is most hurtful for Trump, unable to get his mouth and his brain in gear, as he speaks in half-understood generalities…dishonest ones at that! His stupidity is wrapped up in his laziness. Anyone who has heard Trump speak or read his unedited writing knows he is not an especially intelligent man. But his native stupidity is compounded by his ignorance, which is to say, by the fact that he is too lazy to do his homework and acquire the kind of grasp of the issues that would make him a more effective candidate. But he won’t do his homework, and he may not have the raw brainpower to simply file away enough mental notecards to get the job done. There is a reason he wanders all over the place in his speeches…it isn’t only arrogance and self-centeredness…he’s dumber than nine chickens. That’s why he was an incompetent real estate investor even though he was a successful reality-television grotesque. He isn’t the first dumb person to find success in the celebrity business, where stupidity seems to be an asset. All of this is made worse by his childishness when he goes into rooms full of possible donors and supporters and bores them to death with tales of how the 2020 election was stolen, or his blubbering about the unfairness of Biden and Harris trading places to make him suffer. His penchant for using demeaning nicknames as a substitute for political argument might be thought of as an aspect of his laziness or his stupidity, but it is, at heart, part of his childishness…he doesn’t need to run a conventional campaign because he is a very special little boy. I am not quite sure that I believe the maxim that ‘character is destiny.’ Stupidity, on the other hand…”
JD Vance continues to get his derogatory comments about Trump’s 2016 candidacy thrown at him, but as The Lincoln Project says, “Trump’s found his anti-Pence who will do or say anything to be next in line…there’s no zealot like a convert.” And, ClimatePower.us reminds us the Ohio senator has pulled in $340K in donations from Big Oil since 2019 for his vote to dismantle EPA protections…member in good standing of Club Grift! People for the American Way describes Vance as a former never-Trumper who fully embraces the most extreme MAGA policies, as an election denier, a supporter of Project 2025 – Trump’s lapdog for this proposal, and an advocate of the white nationalist’s racist ‘great replacement theory.’ Vance joins the chorus in describing immigration as an ‘invasion’ that will replace ‘real’ – make that read, ‘white Christian’ – Americans. Steve Schmidt blames the ‘stupidity’ of Chuck Schumer in not funding the $5M needed for Democrat Tim Ryan’s Senate campaign, allowing Mitch McConnell to put the GOP’s $40M to get Vance his ticket to the Senate seat. He says it’s only history now and we can point a finger at Donald Trump, Jr. for his pushing JD into the VP candidate slot for his daddy. Both Don Jr. and brother, Eric, must have glossed over a 2021 Vance quote that hits squarely upon dear ol’ dad; Vance said, “One of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, was convincing people in ‘unhappy,’ or ‘even violent’ marriages that getting divorced would ‘make people happier in the long term.'” He also criticized people who “shift spouses like they change their underwear.” Oopsie!
Anti-woman Vance’s spiel about “miserable, childless cat ladies with no direct stake in America’s future,” has gained him few fans, yet he continues to double down with this attack, against Democrats in particular. His stance is not enhancing his favorability ratings which range from -5 points overall, to -16 points in his stomping grounds of Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana…the region that knows him best like him even less than the remainder of the country. Where’s Sarah Palin, or Dan Quayle, when you need them!? Satirist Andy Borowitz writes, “In a move that infuriated her Republican opponents, Kamala Harris announced that her economic plan would include a $10,000 tax credit for households with cats. “For too long, Americans with cats have shouldered an unfair burden,” said Harris, who revealed that a household with multiple cats would receive $10,000 per cat. Shortly after her announcement, Sen. JD Vance alleged, “Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and their far-left cronies are plotting to turn America into a giant litter box.” “Mark my words,” Vance said. “If the Democrats are elected, millions of cats will come swarming over the border to give birth to anchor kittens.”
Vance seems unwilling to face reality when pressed about the GOP’s sluggish poll numbers. “Consistently, what you’ve seen in 2016 and 2020 is that the media uses fake polls to drive down Republican turnout and to create dissension and conflict with Republican voters,” he claims. Sounds reasonable and valid, huh? Forward!
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Dale Matlock, a Santa Cruz County resident since 1968, is the former owner of The Print Gallery, a screenprinting establishment. He is an adherent of The George Vermosky school of journalism, and a follower of too many news shows, newspapers, and political publications, and a some-time resident of Moloka’i, Hawaii, U.S.A., serving on the Board of Directors of Kepuhi Beach Resort. Email: cornerspot14@yahoo.com. |
EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. View classic inner-view ideas and thoughts with Subconscious Comics a few flips down.
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Deep Cover” 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.
Boomers
“Boomers are idiots. We went from Sex, Drugs, & Rock ‘n Roll to Fox News.”
~Mark Cuban
“The baby boomers are getting older, and will stay older for longer. And they will run right into the dementia firing range. How will a society cope? Especially a society that can’t so readily rely on those stable family relationships that traditionally provided the backbone of care?”
~Terry Pratchett
“Every generation trash-talks younger generations. Baby boomers labeled Generation X a group of tattooed slackers and materialists; Generation Xers have branded millennials as iPhone-addicted brats.”
~Neil Blumenthal
“We have been so successful in the past century at the art of living longer and staying alive that we have forgotten how to die. Too often we learn the hard way. As soon as the baby boomers pass pensionable age, their lesson will be harsher still.”
~Terry Pratchett
“Baby boomers don’t go out as much, they aren’t interacting with each other and they would rather stay home and watch TV. That’s the audience for a guy like me, unless I’m doing ‘Bad Santa.'”
~Billy Bob Thornton
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James Veitch is one of my favorite British comedians. This short clip should show you why. |
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