Greensite… on Traffic Study for the Downtown Extension Project… Steinbruner… Never Again Moss Landing, Supervisors loath to take action on Battery Energy Storage problems; bacteria eats PFAS… Hayes… Living by Principles… Patton… Executive Disorder… Matlock… time’s up?..a minor incident…an apology… Eagan… Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover… Webmistress serves you… FireAid… Quotes on… “Rebuilding”

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Dateline: January 29, 2025
REBUILDING. I made the quotes this week about rebuilding after watching the very inspiring FireAid concert on YouTube. I believe there’s a second concert tonight (Friday), and I would be very surprised if these shows can’t be found on YouTube after the fact. It brought me back to the old days of LiveAid, and I don’t only say that because some of the artists were the same… Seriously though, go check them out, they’re worth watching. You can listen/watch on every streaming service possible, and of course, you can donate. Go to FireAidLA.org.
Enough blather from me. With my apologies for being late, let’s launch into this week’s column:

NOSFERATU (2024). Prime. Movie (7.4 IMDb) A darkly delightful remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 original “Nosferatu” (itself, an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”). The story points match, down to the use of shadows as characters. The performances by Depp, Hoult, and Skarsgård breathe new life into the story, as do the visual textures of the cinematography and costume design (even the choice of using Dacian – a long dead language from central Europe – for Orlok’s dialogue). Slowly menacing in its pacing, this film builds its mood in a way that most modern horror films fail to. ~Sarge
ERASERHEAD. Max. Movie (7.3 IMDb) In honor of the passing of one of the most individual visions in the film industry, David Lynch, I went back and revisited “Eraserhead” for the first time in 40 years. It would become a cult hit during the late 70’s-80’s. There was nothing like it at the time, with a Buñuel level of slow-paced uncomfortable surrealism, and a story that can’t easily be described. As such, it tends to be shoehorned into the genre of horror, which, on a certain level, is fair, but it is so much more. It will be a slog for the short attention-span set, but worth every unsettling moment. Starring Jack Nance, one of Lynch’s personal ensemble favorites. ~Sarge
FLOW. Apple TV, PrimeTV. Movie (7.9 IMDb) “Flow” is a an amazing journey – animated with a small crew on open-source software, it is a personal exploration by animals in the wake of a global flood. A cat is joined by a capybara, a bird, a lemur, and a dog, as they explore the flooded world together on a boat. No dialogue, but actual animal voices in the soundtrack. A refreshing new animaed film, without the glossy signature stylings of Pixar or Dreamworks. We need more of this. Latvian, but it translates well. ~Sarge
STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW. Disney+ series (7.2 IMDb) It’s refreshing when a big franchise realizes they’ve created a universe big enough to tell other stories (look at Star Trek Lower Decks – a successful animated comedy entrenched deeply in the Star Trek Universe), and that’s what Skeleton Crew does for Star Wars. A quartet of children, chafing at the bureaucratic cloister of their homeworld, stumble on a crashed spaceship and find themselves launched into the rough and tumble Star Wars Universe. Using a rough “Treasure Island” plotline, there’s space piracy aplenty: Jude Law’s character is referred to as Cap’n Silvo (nod to Long John Silver from Treasure Island) and the ship’s yarr-voiced droid is SM-33 (Smee was Captain Hook’s first mate in Peter Pan). Good for adults and children (though not TOO young – plenty of life-taking and intense scenes). ~Sarge
NIGHTBITCH. Hulu movie (5.6 IMDb) This film is ideal for husbands and fathers, capturing the mix of profound and bullshit (and profound again) moments in a woman’s journey from being a successful artist to new motherhood. What begins as a seemingly supernatural plot evolves into a raw, magical realist exploration of the chaos and sacrifice of motherhood and identity. It’s a subjective, visceral experience, navigating the emotional and (literal) physical mess of this transformative stage. ~Sarge
SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE. PrimeTV. (6.9 IMDb) A quietly ponderous Christmas tale set in a small town in Ireland in 1985 (swear to god it feels more like the 1940s…). Cillian Murphy plays a loving father and quietly likable coal delivery man, who comes into conflict with the steely “kind” Mother Superior (Emily Watson) of the local school and “Magdelene Laundry” for fallen girls. A bit of a slow walk, and as heartening as it could be, given the Laundries wouldn’t be eliminated till the mid 1990s. Excellent performances all around, particularlly given how little dialogue there was. ~Sarge
EMILIA PÉREZ. Netflix. (6.8 IMDb) A musical for those who don’t like musicals. Emilia Pérez is a spectacular film with a compelling story. A ruthless drug cartel leader, Juan “Manitas” Del Monte (played by Karla Sofía Gascón), seeks the help of attorney Rita Mora Castro (played by Zoe Saldaña, who just won a golden globe) to undergo gender affirmation surgery and begin a new life as Emilia Pérez. However, things go awry when she invites her unsuspecting former wife Jessi (played by Selena Gomez) and her children to live with her. The musical numbers are strong and short. ~Jennifer
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN. In theaters. (7.8 IMDb) I don’t know what I can say about this movie that you haven’t heard from your friends or read about in social media or reviews. It’s one of best movies I’ve seen in a long, long time – and I’m not a fan of biopics, especially musical biopics, but this one is so well done! Although the director, James Mangold, did ‘Walk the Line’, the Johnny Cash movie with Joaquin Phoenix, and that was great too. Timothée Chalamet captures our vision of a young Dylan to a T. He’s an incredibly soulful actor, and Ed Norton as Pete Seeger is uncanny. They edited the songs down from their original versions, but they did in such a way that they never feel like they’re being yanked out from under you; it just makes you want to go and listen to the originals. My 25 year old son loved it too. Run, don’t walk, and believe all the hype because it’s true. ~Hillary
THE LAST NIGHT AT TREMORE BEACH. Netflix series. (7.0 IMDB). An extra dramatic and moody plus scary drama about a composer/ pianist. It centers on his composing plus memories of his deceased wife. It’s all in Ireland at a beach house/cabin. It deals with fate, his predictions coming true. You’ll be mesmerized, don’t miss it.

January 27, 2025

In a recent piece for BrattonOnline I critiqued the Transportation section of the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the city’s Downtown Extension Project. My main criticism was that the EIR studied only Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) and neglected inclusion of congestion, referred to in the trade as Level of Service or LOS. Anyone who lives in the city knows that congestion is the main traffic issue in this area south of Laurel, with tourist beach traffic often gridlocked on summer weekends as in the photo from a Saturday in July. However, a recent legislative change to CEQA means that only VMT, not congestion is required to be studied for environmental review. While congestion can be studied, it cannot be used to demonstrate a significant impact, the measure by which mitigations can be required-or projects rejected.
I was correct that the draft EIR did not study congestion, however a traffic study of LOS was done by the city, just not included in the draft EIR. Until a colleague pointed it out, I was unaware of the study which is hard to find on the city’s website. Having read it, I would like to share a few highlights so you can judge whether you agree that we are being taken as fools by the city and their consultants, at considerable taxpayers’ expense.
The study was done because the City’s General Plan under its Transportation section requires review of congestion at intersections for new projects. Increased congestion can be addressed in minor ways such as fiddling with traffic lights or requiring developers to pay Traffic Impact Fees (TIF’s). Such “improvements” are not as robust as Mitigations under CEQA and have no standing when EIR’s are being evaluated.
The 564-page study, titled “Santa Cruz Downtown Expansion Plan, Local Transportation Analysis” was prepared for the City of Santa Cruz by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. The document is dense with tables and charts. The flaw is not hard to spot. It is in the quote of the study analysis below.
Typical weekday peak hours were chosen because they represent the majority (70%) of peak travel conditions on the city roadways. The peak hour of summer Saturday traffic was not analyzed because those dates are not representative of typical travel patterns consistent with the proposed project. Kimley-Horn Inc.
So, even if the 3,500 new residents have guests, deliveries, and outings on the weekends, it is not worthy of study because it is not “typical travel patterns” of the new residents. That seems a big assumption. The proposed project, including prior General Plan anticipated growth in the same area, is estimated to generate 6,307 new daily automobile trips. It doesn’t mention that residents will be staying home or only walking and biking on weekends.
The consultants seem unfamiliar with this part of town. They studied AM 8-9 and PM 5-6 peak hours, “typical of weekday commutes.” The roads in the project area are largely not commute routes, unlike Mission or Bay. The study’s other automated traffic counts were done in February, March, and October: anything it seems, to avoid peak summer weekend traffic analysis.
According to the study, for some intersections, even without including peak summer weekends, “the project exceeds the City’s level of service standards of deficiency, causing the level of service to go from acceptable to substandard with the addition of the project trips.” But none of this will be on the table for council when the draft EIR is considered and voted on.
Thanks Sacramento. Besides your required density bonus mandating overbuilding in Santa Cruz, making even affordable housing less affordable, you have removed an important area of environmental review. Both VMT and LOS should be studied under CEQA, not just the one.
The consultants’ summary suggests the study bias. They write:
The project can support the Santa Cruz vision for a vibrant and sustainable downtown area while remaining consistent with the City’s Transportation Study Guidelines.
Don’t forget the deadline for comments on the draft EIR is February 21.
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. |

IS SANTA CRUZ COUNTY MONITORING METALS WHILE FAILING TO ISSUE SAFETY CLEANUP ADVISORIES?
Last Tuesday, the County Board of Supervisors heard an oral report from Monterey County staff as an update on the Moss Landing Vistra Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) fire. Mr. David Reid, Director of the Santa Cruz County Office of Response, Recovery and Resilience (OR3), who in effect is the office of emergency services, stated that since the fire occurred in Monterey County ,it is their jurisdiction to make such reports and respond.
There has been no survey or sampling of surfaces in Santa Cruz County for heavy metals associated with the Moss Landing Battery Facility fire.
As of this writing, the Santa Cruz County staff may possibly be providing soil and water sampling, but the extent and results are unknown. Meanwhile, no public safety advisories or other precautionary information is being provided. With the exception of Supervisor Manu Koenig, the Supervisors were mostly worried about who would pay for the testing.
I wonder if they would be so reticent if they were the farmworkers who are working with bare hands in the fields with unknown levels of contamination??????
Monterey County issued the precautionary safety cleaning information: Protecting Public Health During Fire Residual Clean-up
Why are our County officials lagging on this potentially critical public health and safety issue?
Here is a link to the Special Meeting of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors on January 21 to provide information to the people: Board of Supervisors on 2025-01-21 10:00 AM – Special Meeting
Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz County Supervisors are largely sitting on their hands. Please contact your Supervisor and the new Chair of the Board, Supervisor Felipe Hernandez.
Phone: 831-454-2200
Felipe Hernandez <felipe.hernandez@santacruzcountyca.gov>
Pro-tip: All Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and staff have the e-mail template of <Firstname.Lastname@santacruzcountyca.gov>
MARSH SOILS WITHIN TWO-MILE RADIUS OF VISTRA BATTERY FIRE CONTAIN STAGGERING INCREASE IN METALS
Thanks to the baseline information collected over the past decade by the Moss Landing Marine Lab scientists, we now know that recent samples of the Elkhorn Slough Estuary show extremely elevated levels of metals. Furthermore, the metals found in marsh soil samples taken since the Vistra Battery Facility fire that began on January 16 and burned for days are associated with nanoparticles, and are indicative of association with the smoke plumes issued during the fire.
Having the baseline levels is critical. Thank goodness for this crucial work. Will it mirror the Vistra and EPA statements to area residents that everything was fine, and Monterey and Santa Cruz County officials recommending people just shelter in place with doors and windows closed?
Hmmm…. stay tuned, but keep asking those critical questions of the officials.
Meanwhile, here is where you can take action….
LOCAL RESIDENTS NEED TO UNITE AND PRESS FOR ACTION AND ANSWERS
Please join your neighbors in taking action as a grassroots effort to press officials for action and demand answers. This group quickly mobilized for a community meeting and soon after issued.a call to action that helped residents in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties properly collect surface residue samples from over 125 locations to determine a survey of lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese levels potentially indicative of the Moss Landing Battery fire plume.
Can you help in any way? Taking action is a great way to counter the feeling that you are powerless in this terrible event. Sign up and do what you can…
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY’S BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS (BESS) PROJECT APPLICATION IN WATSONVILLE MOVES AHEAD
Last Tuesday, the Board of Supervisor chambers at 701 Ocean Street was full and overflowing…so was the parking lot outside, with people demanding answers and information about the Moss Landing Battery facility fire and also protesting the proposed Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) at 90 Minto Road in Watsonville.
Supervisor Koenig attempted to get a moratorium on lithium battery energy storage projects in Santa Cruz County until Vistra and the Governor’s office release final investigation reports and after-action analysis of the Moss Landing incident, to send letters to the California Public Utilities Commission and California Energy Commission to request formal evaluation of other BESS facilities that are similar to the Vistra plant that burned, and finally, to direct staff to evaluate soil and produce in Santa Cruz County for possible metal contamination levels for public safety. He also motioned that the April 25 date currently scheduled for the Board to hear the rezoning of the three BESS sites and likely the Seahawk BESS project application. He and Superviosr Hernandez both favored stronger regulations for BESS projects to ward off the end=run of local jurisdiction control available when an applicant could instead run to the California Energy Commission to get immediate approval.
All of those good proactive and responsive suggestions were shot down by other Supervisors who worried about who would pay the cost of soil and produce sampling, Even though County Counsel advised that the Board could take these actions as associated response to the Moss Landing Battery fire report information, the other Supervisors were not willing to do so. While Supervisor Cummings was in favor of bringing the matter to the next Board agenda, Supervisor DeSerpa was not in favor of moving the presentation to be associated with the Watsonville BESS report any sooner than April 25 because she was sure there would be plenty of information available on the recent disaster by then.
Please listen to all this discussion on the Board of Supervisor meeting recording for January 28. for Item #8, especially the Board discussion at around minute 3:00 to completion.
I visited the proposed Watsonville BESS project at 90 Minto Road. The area is beautiful, with apple orchards and is known as Interlaken, with College Lake and Pinto Lake adjacent. Residents in the dense neighborhood adjacent said there is a wide variety of lovely migratory birds that visit.
Residents knew nothing of the proposed BESS project application currently on the fast track for approval to help Central Coast Community Energy (3CE) to meet their business plan. Don’t forget that County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios and former County Supervisor Bruce McPherson shoved this all through and sit on the Board of 3CE.
That means that the December 12 public meeting that New Leaf Energy held (they are required to hold only one) was not sent to the dense neighborhoods around the proposed BESS site. I wonder if the administrators of nearby Salsipuedes Elementary School received notification, and why the meeting was held at Amesti School instead…with NO time included for when the meeting would begin.
I wonder if the nearby residents on Minto Road, which includes the Shapiro Knolls dense affordable housing complex, received any notification?????
I wonder how there could ever be a rapid evacuation for the Minto Road neighborhood, with such a narrow road that is seemingly blocked by high storm water levels in the creek nearby. Would there be secondary access for fire engines if there were to be a fire at the BESS facility?
I wonder why Supervisor Hernandez seems fine with all this?
Take a look at the photos below and contact him with your thoughts: Felipe Hernandez <felipe.hernandez@santacruzcountyca.gov>
Also, consider sending a thank you letter to Supervisor Manu Koenig, for being well-prepared and ready to take action to protect the health and safety of the people and environment in Santa Cruz County. Manu Koenig <manu.koenig@santacruzcountyca.gov>
Here is a tour of the area where a BESS facility is proposed at 90 Minto Road. Below is Minto Road near where it intersects Green Valley Road. What would a large-scale emergency response look like on this road at the same time residents there would be evacuating?
Below is the orchard adjacent to the existing PG&E transmission yard. A significant portion of the orchard would be taken out of production, violating the County’s Measure J approved by voters to preserve agricultural land.
Below is the view from Agate Drive, a neighborhood immediately adjacent to the proposed BESS facility and that would be downwind of any smoke plume in the event of a fire. This neighborhood did not receive notification of the December 12, 2024 “public meeting” that New Leaf Energy held at Amesti School. The post card New Leaf Energy mailed had NO time included for the meeting.
Do you think any of the people living in the Shapiro Knolls dense affordable housing complex shown below on Miinto Road and immediately adjacent to the proposed Seahawk BESS at 90 Minto Road received any notification of the December 12 “public meeting” or are even aware of the project?
Do you think any of the residents in the small cabin-like housing that likely is farmworker housing even know about the proposed BESS? Will their homes be demolished?
What about an evacuation plan for the Salsipuedes School nearby and downwind of the proposed BESS project? Do you think those families know about this proposed project and the problems associated with a lithium battery energy storage system fire???
Do you think the apple orchards below should be preserved, as is required by Measure J?
The Interlaken area of Watsonville where the proposed Seahawk BESS is a riparian area, and resembles the same aquatic habitat of the Elkhorn Slough Estuary. How would a toxic smoke plume affect the College Lake and Pinto Lake environments?
If you are concerned by any of this, please write or call your Supervisor. Demand a noticed public hearing during an evening and invite residents Countywide.
Board of Supervisors: 831-454-2200.
CPUC WILL INTRODUCE NEW SAFETY STANDARDS FOR BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS (BESS) IN MARCH
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will consider new safety regulations for Energy Storage Systems (ESS) at it’s March 13, 2025 meeting because:
“There is currently no provision in General Order167 that requires ESS Operators to report safety incidents
such as injuries, fatalities, thermal runaways, fires, or other system failures to the
CPUC. Regulatory oversight of ESS facilities is necessary because of the safety and reliability risks that can occur if ESS facilities are not properly operated and maintained.”
Incidents at lithium-ion ESS facilities have caused fires, evacuation orders, and shelter-
in-place orders for nearby residents; therefore, warranting an investigation by Electric Safety and Reliability Branch
(ESRB.)
There have been a number of safety incidents at ESS facilities since 2021, including:
- Vistra; Battery Energy Storage Facility, September 4, 2021
- Vistra; Battery Energy Storage Facility, February 13, 2022
- Terra-Gen; Valley Center Energy Storage Center, April 5, 2022
- PG&E; Elkhorn Battery Energy Storage Facility, September 20, 2022
- Terra-Gen; Valley Center Energy Storage Center, September 18, 2023
- SDG&E; Kearny South Energy Storage, April 29, 2024
- Convergent; Orange County Energy Storage 2, July 17, 2024
- REV Renewables; Gateway Energy Storage Facility, May 15, 2024
- SDG&E; Northeast Operations Center, Escondido, September 5, 2024
- Vistra; Battery Energy Storage Facility, January 16, 2025.
Proposal to Enhance Safety of Battery Energy Storage Facilities
COULD BACTERIA RID FOREVER CHEMICAL CARCINOGENS?
Here is some good news!! A study has shown that bacteria could effectively clean up PFAS in the soil and water. This could help with areas such as the Rountree Detention Facility and Migrant Worker Complex wells, both of which have shown elevated levels of PFAS, a persistent chemical that is pervasive and very carcinogenic.
Rare Aerobic Bacterium Found to Break Down ‘Forever Chemicals’ | Sci.News
AB 205 CERTIFICATION BY CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION IS BAD NEWS!
At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor meeting, Supervisor Manu Koenig attempted to convince the Board to be proactive and consider more restrictive regulation than the State;s for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) facilities. Here is what is so worrisome and that merits rapid action by the Board.
AB 205 gives CEC exclusive siting authority over these eligible projects if a developer submits an application to CEC under this certification process instead of an application for entitlements from the jurisdiction in which the project is located. CEC’s siting certification is in lieu of any permit, certificate, or similar document required by any state, local, or regional agency, or federal agency to the extent permitted by federal law. It also supersedes any applicable statute, ordinance, or regulation of any state, local, or regional agency, or federal agency to the extent permitted by federal law, with limited exceptions. AB 205 specifically provides that the certification does not supersede the authority of an exclusive list of agencies: the California State Lands Commission, the California Coastal Commission (CCC), the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) or the applicable regional water quality control boards, local air quality management districts, or the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
Expedited Environmental Review of Eligible Projects
AB 205 requires CEC to serve as the lead agency for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when developers file an application for certification with the CEC before July 1, 2029. Within 30 days of the submission of the application, CEC must review the application and make a determination of completeness. Environmental review must be completed within 270 days after the application is deemed complete, subject to certain limited extensions. CEC must also develop plans for timely consultations with relevant state and local agencies. A certificate issued pursuant to this streamlined process shall be valid for a period not to exceed five years from the date of issuance.
CEC cannot approve a qualifying project without first finding that the facility will have an overall net positive economic benefit to the local government that would have had permitting authority for the site and related facility. Such economic benefits include but are not limited to employment growth, housing development, infrastructure and environmental improvements, and property taxes and sales and use tax revenues.
Other Application Requirements
To qualify, developers must meet certain prevailing wage and skilled and trained workforce requirements in construction contracts. Developers must also secure contracts with community-based organizations—such as workforce development and training organizations, labor unions, social justice advocates, local government entities, and California Native American tribes—where there is mutual benefit to the parties to the agreement.
An application for certification must be accompanied by a fee of $250,000 plus $500 per MW of gross generating capacity or per MW of gross energy storage capacity, as applicable, or $0.70 per square foot for a thermal generation plant not powered by fossil fuels, subject to a total cap of $750,000.
Projects that receive certification are subject to an annual fee of $25,000, with payments due by July 1 of each year in which the facility retains its certification. Petitions to amend an existing project that previously received certification shall be accompanied by a fee of $5,000.
Don’t you think the California Energy Commission would be more than happy to issue this type of certificate for new BESS facilities and have their wallets fattened annually? How objective would their environmental analysis actually be?????
Please write your County Supervisors and insist on very restrictive requirements for any BESS facility.
How about a technical advisory committee to assist development of the requirements, and not allow it to be in the hands of County Planning staff or New Leaf Energy or Vistra???
AB 303 WOULD HELP FIX THIS
In response to Vistra attempting to use the AB 205 tactic to do an end-run for a BESS in Morro Bay, Assemblymember Dawn Addis has proposed AB 303 to claw back the power for the jurisdictions that would be affected by such a project.
Please support this legislation by writing Assemblymember Addis, and other legislators.
Addis Introduces Legislation to Bolster Community Choice & Environmental Protections in Battery Projects | Official Website – Assemblymember Dawn Addis Representing the 30th California Assembly District
MORE ABOUT THAT BIG WHITE BALL ON TOP OF THE SHERIFF BUILDING
The County OR3 has some interesting information on the sidebar, including the radar readings from the x-band radar equipment on top of the Sheriff Building in Live Oak. Take a look at this when the rain returns:
Experience
The OR3 website also includes the “PurpleAir” monitoring data system that many people referred to during the recent Moss Landing Battery Energy Storage Site (BESS) Fire.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVE SPENDING BIG BUCKS TO REMODEL CHAMBERS?
The Board approved Consent Agenda Item #26, spending $2,310,500 to remodel the Board Chambers with new layout and furnishings. Does this make fiscal sense when the County had to borrow $96million to stay financially afloat?
I just don’t think so!
Government Broadcasting Revitalization Project Design Concept
Why does CAO Carlos Palacios and General Services Director Michael Beaton want to push this wasteful spending? To improve visual experience for meeting recordings..
Really? This all comes after the huge remodel project of the General Services Dept.
The County has changed its website. In order to view the map of the proposed new layout of the Board Chambers, one must sign in. The system kept rejecting my attempts to log in. The other new item is that one has to “just know” to click in the empty space between agenda items to see the links for documents appear. Some require registering to access them.
What a setback for transparency. Don’t worry though, there is now an “AI Statement” at the end of the documents that I was able to access, letting me know that the report was partially generated with AI.
Please write your Supervisor with your thoughts on the $2.3 MILLION remodel of the Board Chambers and the problematic access to Board documents.
WILL MT. MADONNA INN EVER COME TO LIFE AGAIN?
Maybe you remember the lovely views of the Pajaro Valley and Monterey Bay while having dinner decades ago when the Mt. Madonna Inn was open for business. According to a sign posted there now that give hope to a reopening of this magnificent location at the summit of Hecker Pass Road (Highway 152)
According to County staff:
The application is nearing completeness. Once complete, we will prepare a staff report and schedule a public hearing before the Zoning A.dministrator.
Stay tuned….
WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. SIGN UP TO HELP THE MOSS LANDING GRASSROOTS EFFORT. MAKE ANOTHER ONE TO YOUR SUPERVISOR ABOUT FACILITIES IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY. DEMAND TOWN HALL MEETINGS.
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE THIS WEEK BY JUST DOING ONE THING…MAYBE TWO!
Cheers,
Becky
Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes. She ran again in 2020 on a slightly bigger shoestring and got 1/3 of the votes.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com |

What comes to mind when you hear someone say something like, “She is a principled person?” If you trust the source of the statement, perhaps you will think more highly of the person being referenced, which is curious because you don’t have any idea of the nature of her principles. Perhaps merely having principles and acting upon them makes you more predictable, and that predictability is an asset. It seems that this might be a good time to reflect on principle-based living.
Social Principles
I posit that most religions are based on social principles of great value. Kindness, fairness, gratitude, generosity, and attentiveness are some such principles, stated positively. Some principles are stated in the negative such as “evil” including murder, greed, vengeance, gluttony, etc. It is a mystery to me that discussion of such principles is not the primary driver of political discourse. Perhaps we get confused when juxtaposing wealth redistribution as both generous (to the poor) and greedy (against the rich)? Or, maybe we wonder if it might or might not be kind to murder someone for heinous crimes? These are heady questions.
On a national level, we might feel ready to label presidents, members of the house and senate, or even Supreme Court officials as ‘principled’ or ‘unprincipled,’ but how would we take such labels to more definition? What precise principles would you suggest your favorite national politician has had or has lacked? So much media hype focuses on either fallabilities or exhilarating roaring successes of our so-called ‘leaders,’ and yet that question may be difficult to answer. I challenge you to try.
I suggest that everyone has some familiarity with social principles and that most people, if asked, would be able to speak to their personal framework. However, beyond that, I wonder how much people are guided by principles for their work, their homes, or their relationship with the environment.
While I challenge everyone to think about what principles they operate on at the workplace or in their homes, I am more interested here in elaborating on some environmental principles that you might consider.
Ecological Principles
There are principles that could guide humans in better forming their relationship with the environment, creating increased benefit for future generations. The root of all evil is said to be greed, and what better test of an environmental principle than just that – greed?
One of the key attributes of greed is to seek only to take, without giving. For thousands of years, indigenous peoples understood that humans should be very mindful about what they took from nature, and also they should give back. Frugality is a central principle for humans’ relationship with the environment. The less stuff we buy, the more pro-environmental we are. Last I checked, it cost a liter of crude oil every time a dollar was exchanged.
Giving Back to Nature
What is ‘giving back’ to nature? An indigenous person asked our community once why we were burning our prairies without seeding after the fire. Perhaps that is one way of giving back. We still aren’t doing that. Another way to give back would be to control the invasive plants and animals that are so terribly affecting nature. Please write to me if you can think of any other ways that Monterey Bay residents might give back to nature.
Energy Expenditure Principle
The way we create energy makes a difference and serves as a ripe area for environmental principle formation. Is the principle to create the most energy from the least impactful source? If so, how are we getting reports on how we might help?
The havoc being wrought by climate change has convinced many to be more mindful about what we take from nature, but most people have a very shallow understanding about that. Burning fewer fossil fuels is a Big Problem for life on Earth, but I hear very little about the impacts of alternate energy solutions on nature. Nuclear energy has a great environmental impact not normally described, same with solar panel production and concrete/steel installations for the bases of wind turbines. We might all benefit from getting more information about trade offs for various types of energy production. That way, we can shape our political or consumer voices to help create the best solutions. Plus, what are we hearing about using less energy, altogether? Long gone are the energy saving public service announcements of the now-lauded Jimmy Carter years.
Species Conservation Principle
Fossil-fuel burning-caused climate change is the number one threat to the environment, but there are other threats, and the core concern I believe we should have is about species conservation. I suggest that we should weigh human decisions on how well we can guarantee that all species continue to thrive. I have yet to speak with anyone that discounts this principle’s importance, but I have also seen many decisions made with too little information to adequately assess this principle. How is a regular person to evaluate whether or not a decision favorably affects species conservation? Luckily, we have public disclosure laws and people considering impacting the environment are required to analyze and disclose impacts on species. So, one would expect things like disclosure of species that might be impacted and how the impacts would affect their future chances of survival under the varied alternatives project proponents are required to analyze. If you don’t see such analysis, you should be careful about supporting such proposals.
For further thought on this, consider author Gregory David Roberts’ assertion in the novel Shantaram of the principle of complexity conservation. He would say that we should weigh the good of an action on whether it creates more or less complexity in the future…more complexity is the goal.
Go ahead- try using these pro-environmental principles or come up with your own! Let me know how it goes.
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 |

Thursday, January 23, 2025


Most of us have been reading about those “Executive Orders” issued by our newly-inaugurated president on “Day One.” In an article dated January 21, 2025, Time Magazine has complained about them, outlining a number of problems, and though I think Time is correct in its observations about the drawbacks of trying to govern by “Executive Order,” it has missed what I think is the most important point.
Here’s the issue I want to raise: When the president issues an “Executive Order,” what gives the president the right to do so? Where does the president get the power to tell people what to do? After all, if we quickly check out our Constitution, Article II tells us that the president’s basic duty is to “take care that the laws are faithfully executed.” In other words, the president’s power to tell other people what to do with respect to one thing or another does not come from holding the office of the presidency. It comes from a law, enacted by Congress, specifically granting such a power to the president.
So, and let’s think about it, have all the president’s recent “Executive Orders” been based on a law enacted by Congress, specifically granting the president the power to issue the various orders he has been issuing?
The answer, clearly, is “No.” Issuing an “Executive Order” that claims to take away the citizenship of people whom the Constitution specifically says are citizens is the most egregious example of the overreach that our president is demonstrating. I am betting, though, that an extremely large percentage of the other “Executive Orders” recently issued by our president, on his very first day in office, are not actually valid “Executive Orders,” at all, in the sense that anyone is legally required to do what the president says.
In an editorial in the Wednesday, January 22, 2025, edition of The Wall Street Journal, that newspaper decried Trump’s action in purporting to give TikTok what the paper called an “Illegal Amnesty.” Whatever your position on TikTok, Congress passed a law; the president has now asserted the right to countermand that law, simply by executing a so-called “Executive Order.” This was NOT legal. The Wall Street Journal is right about that!
And how about the president’s “Executive Order” unilaterally withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization? I am betting that Congress has not told the president that he gets to make that choice. WE get to make that choice, and “we” act by laws passed by Congress, if those laws are then signed by the president. Is there some law that says that the president is granted the power to declare national health policy, based on the president’s personal preferences?
Day One of this new presidency has now come and gone, and the president is acting like his election, in and of itself, gives him the right to order everyone else around. This is emphatically not what our system of self-government contemplates, and so emergency sirens ought to be wailing! But…. now is not the time to seek shelter underground. Now is the time to fill up the streets, and to object, in no uncertain terms, to the improper claims by the president that he has some kind of right to “rule,” based on having been elected president. We need to demand that our Members of Congress, each one of them, insist that THEY decide, as our elected “representatives, what the laws and policies will be that guide our national actions, and our national life.
As for the so-called “Executive Orders” that have been issued by the president, let’s recognize them for what they are, the diseased evidences of “Executive Disorder.”
What we’re seeing is a sickness, and our current president has a very bad case! Let’s not allow him to infect the rest of us, and the entirety of our government.
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 |

ZORRO IMPERSONATOR, WHOPPER OVERLOAD, BEYONCÉ VICTORY
Has it been four years yet? That’s a question raised by a poster on X at the end of an exhausting week of Trump and his antics following his inauguration. It’s certainly a worthy query as many of us will agree. The Crazy Eight website evaluated it with, “In his inaugural speech Donald Trump called for a ‘Revolution of Common Sense,’ where apparently truth is stranger than fiction, and reality is more alarming than satire…His first priorities? Helping everyday Americans struggling to pay their bills by renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America AND profiting billions from his new cryptocurrency! Ain’t that swell?”
Buzzfeed selected a few of its favorite Tweets of the Week: “I don’t care who’s trans, bro — I want doctor’s appointments for $5”; “There’s not going to be lower grocery prices, you stupid slut”; “Being a person with a brain and someone who can read during this period of history is really, really difficult”; “Nobody is telling men they’re losers, and that’s the problem”; “I’d rather get a pap smear from Edward Scissorhands than watch any second of the inauguration”; “Melania’s looking like a smooth criminal”; Referring to the announcement that Trump’s inauguration would be moved indoors, one poster asks, “And, ya’ll want to invade Canada?”; “My BF keeps muttering to himself, ‘We had to get through Hoover to get to FDR,’ like it’s a prayer.” Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update anchor, Michael Che, showing a Tesla Cybertruck picture, said, “Musk can’t be a Nazi, because the Nazis made nice cars.”
The TV ratings are available for the inauguration, and Trump has to be disappointed that no Sean Spicer has stepped up to convince the world that records were broken. According to The Wrap, combined cable and network news totals amount to 24.59M, with Fox News unsurprisingly accounting for 10.3M, nearly half of the viewership, between 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Morgan Stephens of Daily Kos observes “that more people watched Beyoncé’s Christmas halftime show than the 47th president’s inauguration.” Trump’s viewer ratings are well below his own 2017 inauguration (and Joe Biden’s in 2021), garnering only 7.2% of the US population to see that he didn’t place his hand on the Bible and air-kissing Melania in her Zorro hat. Stephens attributes the dip in viewership to general apathy, despondency, Trump fatigue or his polarizing presence, combined with loss of appetite for his theatrics.
Trump made it clear that his second term will be more of the same, as he added to his collection of false and misleading claims, estimated by the Washington Post that during his first Oval Office occupancy he spewed 30,573 whoppers. One critic dubbed him “America’s Liar-In-Chief,” as he launched into his inaugural address about immigration, the economy, electric vehicles, the Panama Canal, his 2020 stolen election, and the January 6 insurrection. His brazen mendacity is not only habitual, but strategic as we see within the MAGA mob’s tactics. A former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, says, “It’s a continuation of Donald Trump’s brand. He knows that sunlight is the best disinfectant, so he’s going to continue to lie to mask what he’s doing. If you can undermine institutions and credible sources of information, you can get away with lying and deceiving people. We’re watching that mass delusion happen right before our eyes in the Trump administration 2.0.” During the following week with reporters, Trump continued to spew misleading assertions, wild exaggerations and blatant lies, culminating on Fox News with his explanation for the blanket pardon of the January 6 rioters and their attacks on police as “very minor incidents.”
CNN reports that Trump, in his attempt to rewrite history detailing the attack on the US Capitol, had a database detailing the array of criminal charges and successful convictions of the January 6 rioters removed from the Department of Justice’s website. That searchable database served as an easily accessible repository of all cases prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia — which declined to comment! Removal of the site coincides with Trump’s decision to pardon all convicted defendants, plus early release of 14 members of far-right extremist groups, including 10 convicted of seditious conspiracy, and a request to dismiss more than 300 unresolved cases. This ‘whitewashing’ of the mob attack wipes out cases against some of the most violent rioters who injured police, and was celebrated in particular by the pardoned Brandon Straka for his role on J6. Straka proclaimed it a “huge victory,” saying that the site was a “weapon of harassment” used by the government to make life impossible for its “targets from J6.”
Acting US attorney, Ed Martin, known for his organizing the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement and being involved in financing the 2021 Trump rally on the Ellipse, is given credit for removing the DOJ website. Straka had campaigned for the site’s removal because the information was available to potential employers, landlords, and social or business contacts, complicating the lives of the J6 participants. Details of the J6 cases are still accessible on the DOJ’s website in the form of press releases about charges and convictions, and are available through court records and services such as Pacer.
David Smith in the Guardian reports that even the White House website has been compromised, with a Trump biography claim that a 2024 “landslide victory defines the American success story.” Omitting the ‘big lie’ regarding the 2020 election, his victory came “a second time despite several assassination attempts and the unprecedented weaponization of law fare against him.” While fact-checkers attempt to hold Trump to account, Republicans are less willing than ever to correct his falsehoods in this now fragmented media environment, with MAGA influencers only too eager to amplify them. Kurt Bardella, Democratic strategist and media relations consultant, says, “If there’s any lasting impact from Donald Trump’s time on the political stage, it’s that we live in a world now where you can just make up your own facts, and truth is however you decide to bend it. There are content creators and content machines that exist solely for the purpose of laundering anything that Donald Trump says and making it true to a certain degree. It’s a play off the Richard Nixon quote: ‘If the president does it, it is legal; well, if the president says it, it’s true. That’s the world that we live in now.'”
Sara Boboltz of B writes, “as President Donald Trump settles into his second term and world leaders ponder what the next four years have in store, some British officials who have dealt with him in the past are sharing words of advice: ‘Expect chaos, but also laughs.’ Workers in the British prime minister’s office during Trump’s first term told Politico EU that small crowds of civil servants and advisers would gather to listen in on phone calls with Trump. ‘The calls were extraordinary — brilliant. Everyone was in there with tears of laughter because they were hilarious.’ Two listeners said that whatever agenda had been planned ‘would quite quickly fall by the wayside’ and the calls ‘were never what you wanted them to be about, broadly.’ Americans are already well-versed in Trump’s meandering style of speech, surprising gaffes and penchant for jumping between topics at whim, which he calls ‘the weave’ with his claims that he always ends up hitting his intended points in the end. One person contributed, ‘Yes, he will say some mad or unpredictable things, but there’s almost always an underlying argument or basis for a negotiation, and if the conversation goes south, Trump is always happy to discuss his UK golf courses.'”
British satirical magazine, ‘Private Eye,’ printed its latest cover with an apology to Donald Trump, headlined ‘Donald Trump: An Apology.’ The document reads: “In common with all other media organisations, we may in the past have given the impression that we thought Mr. Trump was a sleazy, deranged, orange-faced man-baby who was a threat to democracy and who should be in jail rather than the White House. We now realise, in the light of his return to supreme power, that he is in fact a political colossus, the voice of sanity, a champion of liberty, a model of probity and the saviour of the Western world. He is also slim, handsome and young. We would like to apologize unreservedly for any confusion caused by our previous statements and thank President Trump for his kind invitation to give him 94 million pounds to attend his inauguration event.” In smaller print at the bottom of the page, it reads: “This statement has not been fact-checked.”
James Austin Johnson, portraying Trump on Saturday Night Live said, “Just like my founding fathers, I am creating a new country as well. And just like them, we’re doing it very white-ly. Workplaces must go back to looking like the TV show ‘The Office.’ Mostly white people but with one funny Black guy who’s having a really bad time.” Johnson/Trump called his inauguration “a tremendous success,” being held inside “due to cold and fear. We got a lot of surprise guests, like Melania!” He pointed out the presence of his billionaire buddies, “Zuck, Bezos, and of course, Elon. We love Elon, but to quote some of his own children, ‘I do not want him in my life.” Johnson/Trump shared his views about only two genders, “one to work, and one to cook. We’re going back to common sense in regard to gender. No more makeup on men, unless you need it to be president.” On his cabinet appointees, he boasted, “We’re filling my cabinet with some of the best people. They’re all very good except for most of them. How great is Pete Hegseth? He said he’s going to stop drinking if he gets the job, and that’s all I needed to hear.” And, “Who would’ve thought it easier to get a cease-fire in Gaza than lower the price of eggs?” Satirist Andy Borowitz writes that Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman is asking Trump for a pardon out of ‘professional courtesy,’ claiming that he was a DC riot participant. Ready to turn over a new leaf, Borowitz says Guzman promises to stop selling drugs and focus on crypto, while acknowledging he is a controversial figure but, “I’m not some total maniac like Hegseth.”
Stephen Colbert of the ‘Late Show’ ripped into Republicans who showed absolutely no outrage with Trump’s pardoning of 1,500 January 6 rioters who attacked the US Capitol, some of whom assaulted several police officers. Colbert quoted House Speaker Mike Johnson with saying it was not his “place” to question Trump’s decision. “Not your place? They attacked the House of Representatives! That is literally YOUR place!” The Tonight Show host, Jimmy Fallon, says Trump’s granting of clemency took his allies by surprise, with one adviser revealing the president simply said, “Release them all.” Must have been too much trouble to read all those pages of names which would keep him away from his grifting. Fallon noted, “At this point the only prisoner Trump hasn’t released is Melania.”
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.
Rebuilding
“When we rebuild a house, we are rebuilding a home. When we recover from disaster, we are rebuilding lives and livelihoods.”
~Sri Mulyani Indrawati
“If we wish to rebuild our cities, we must first rebuild our neighborhoods. And to do that, we must understand that the quality of life is more important than the standard of living.”
~Harvey Milk
“Governments must give to all those who have hit life’s hurdles the chance to rebuild and have a future.”
~Pauline Hanson
“It cannot take decades to resurrect, we must act immediately with purpose and enthusiasm to rebuild.”
~Alan Autry
“The city of New Orleans showed America what it takes to rebuild a great place. We’re all going together, and we’re not leaving anybody behind.”
~Mitch Landrieu

You didn’t think I’d miss this opportunity, did you? 🙂 Here’s FireAid 🙂 |
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