Bratton Online

DOWNTOWN SANTA CRUZ, Pacific and Cooper Streets April 14, 1894. A huge fire broke out on Pacific and because we had so many wooden buildings it was a catastrophe. Smart City officials started a fire department that same year and built a firehouse on Church street.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

VIETNAMESE FIRE FIGHTERS. Ralph Davila found this gem and adds, ” I wonder how would they do do against a Trump wall?”

COWELL LIME WORKS HISTORIC DISTRICT.
Tour part of UCSC and environs. I can’t tell who narrated or made this clip.

HITLER FINDS UCSC!!! Another wildly silly take-off of that Hitler clip….and it works!!!

FLOWER DUET. Delibes LAKME with Anna Netrebko & Elina Garanca . There may well be equally great harmonies …but none better. Listen to all of this.

DATELINE June 12, 2017

UCSC…WHAT’S UP? For generations now our University of California and all the campuses have had a reputation that was actually better and more pure and even sacred than the Roman Catholic Church…and I mean exactly that. We went there we hoped our kids would go there, it was a perfect future. No one ever questioned or needed to question our pure and perfect official State University. Maybe the 1960’s Berkeley sit ins started the exposure of an imperfect system. UC authority decisions became odd and not perfect. Now there isn’t hardly any part of the UC system that doesn’t seem flawed or worse. Back in the Day we always heard it’s the Regents!! The regents who decide… it’s the Regents who have the power…take that problem to the Regents…it has always been the mythical Board of Regents who turned the wheels, the Regents sat on Mt. Olympus…then we learned about the regents and their grossly misspent dinner funds, their wasting of valuable monies on ego based affairs.

The San Francisco Chronicle in their June 10th issue revealed some very disheartening facts about our UC Board of Regents. Nanette Asimov was the reporter.

In the article she wrote such things as…

“Most of the 26 regents who run the University of California are chosen in a process involving a ghostly, unnamed committee of 12 people who never meet, produce no public record of their actions, and publish no list of members. Some don’t even know who the other members are. That’s how it’s been for more than four decades. And that’s how it was this month when Gov. Jerry Brown appointed four new regents, including Lark Park, his own policy adviser, and Peter Guber, co-owner of the Golden State Warriors.

Of the 18 appointed regents, including the four just named, half are financiers, corporate executives, investors, real-estate developers or corporate attorneys. Three are former politicians. One is Brown’s senior policy adviser, and another — a former finance expert at UC — is chief financial officer at a company that supplies technology to a private college in San Francisco. The others are an eye doctor, a Sacramento lobbyist, a nonprofit policy director, and the chancellor of the California Community College system.

But the regents aren’t diverse enough, says a group of professors who represent UC faculty. The Council of UC Faculty Associations has complained to the governor and the regents for at least six years about back-room selection of regents they say creates a board top-heavy with financiers, corporate lawyers and other wealthy people.

As evidence of the problem, the group points to revelations by The Chronicle that the regents charge the university thousands of dollars a year for pricey parties and dinners. The day the story appeared last month, regents Chairwoman Monica Lozano and UC President Janet Napolitano announced that the regents will begin paying their own dinner bills.

“When they (the governor and Senate) appoint millionaires to the regents, they shouldn’t be surprised that their appointees think like millionaires and approve high administrator salaries or $300 dinners. After all, that’s their world,” Stanton Glantz, a UCSF professor and president of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, told The Chronicle.

“The same Constitution that granted UC autonomy created a process to find regents who look like the people of California the university serves,” he said. “The politicians need to follow it.”

Those are random sentences from the “Chron” article. I love our UC system and especially UC Berkeley where I spent so many growing years and of course UCSC where I have also spent many more growing years…let’s hope we see some more white light come out of these dark times.

UCSC HOUSING TO EXPAND USING PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP. The latest issue of City On A Hill (6/8) talked about the big plans to increase on campus housing. It said…

“UC Santa Cruz College, Housing and Educational Services (CHES) has over $1 billion worth of problems and only $300 million with which to solve them. From Kresge College’s $170 million renovation, Crown College residence hall renovations and many others across campus — the problems aren’t going away anytime soon. “We found ourselves in a bit of a pickle because we didn’t have enough capacity to do what we needed to do,” said Sue Matthews, CHES associate vice chancellor. With this in mind, the public-private partnership (P3) model was introduced to help mitigate the debt constraints. UC Irvine and UC Merced have already implemented this model, yet UCSC is the first college to utilize it for residences.

The new model will give rights of a new on-campus residential facility to third-party owners. The facility, called Student Housing West (SHW), will be located on the west side of campus. It will not be affiliated with any of the 10 colleges and will bring up to 3,000 new bed spaces to campus, mainly for upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.

Then there was a Survey of students it stated “Here’s What We Hear:

Almost 50% of students haven’t even HEARD about the (Public-Private Partnership (P3)).
63% of students don’t believe that they have been involved in the (decision-making process around critical campus issues).
59% of students feel concern regarding the new housing project, “Student Housing West.”

Top Concerns include:

Housing Accessibility.
Environmental Impacts
Who owns and manages campus housing (non-university) entity?

I’m telling all of this to say that there’s an unfair gap that needs to be closed. The sense of trust and community seem to have vanished. More later…

BARRY SWENSON REPORT. A couple of columns ago I said I’d received some reports that major Santa Cruz and San Jose developer C. Barron “Barry” Swenson 1. Had Alzheimer’s 2. Was in his 80’s 3. His son Alex…etc. Well that was all incorrect news. I saw Barry’s brother Rob downtown Saturday and he corrected all of it. Barry did have a stroke, he did go to a care facility, but over in San Jose area (where he lives) Barry is 78 years old. He was a little affected on his right hand side and is quite coherent. He has no son named Alex, it is his son Case who is the company president and is running Barry Swenson Builders. You can check out more details at www.swensonbuilders.com

But I still wonder about the Silicon Valley Business Journal April 14, 2017 report that stated “Two major high-rise apartment development sites in downtown San Jose have been sold to the same Chinese real estate giant that purchased San Jose’s Silvery Towers project in 2014”. Now we have to wonder if Swenson will sell the 94 units they are building on Pacific Avenue?

HOPE FOR HOMELESS ELSEWHERE? I’ve certainly tried my damndest for decades to blame, berate and condemn our Santa Cruz City Council for their miserable treatment of the homeless. Their meaningless 40 page study achieved absolutely nothing…and on they go. BUT I have to ask where in the USA has a city, town or metropolis found any solution? Maybe a little assistance program here or there, but can the homeless problem ever be eliminated? Isn’t the entire world faced with the same issue? Am I missing something?

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT PHOTO CREDIT. Covello & Covello photographers provided the classic photo of Eleanor Roosevelt visiting Santa Cruz. (scroll down) It was mistakenly credited to a private collection (it has since been fixed). Covello & Covello have provided probably 98.5 % of all the historic photos I’ve ever used in BrattonOnline. They gave me hundreds decades ago and I’ve been using and re-using them ever since. I’ve asked for some “new” ones, for a few years and you’ll see them as I get them.

LESSONS FROM MOLOKAI June 12

Catching a travel program about Molokai, Hawaii I was struck by the words of the local native Hawaiians and could not help but draw comparisons and contrasts with Santa Cruz. What the locals on Molokai have managed to preserve we are on the brink of losing.

Both Molokai and Santa Cruz share beautiful natural resources. Both are under intense pressures to develop and exploit their natural beauty for economic gain via tourism. Molokai fought back and restricted such development so that today no building can be higher than 3 stories and the island retains much of what has been sacrificed for tourist dollars on the other Hawaiian Islands. As a cautionary tale for Santa Cruz, Molokai ranked 10th as a desirable destination for sustainable tourism out of 111 island destinations while Hawaii was 50th; Kauai was 61st; Maui was 81st and Oahu was 104th. In the words of a local from Molokai, “what we love, we protect.”

While Santa Cruz has long been a place to visit, nothing approaches the scale of the current drive towards economic and tourist development with little concern for protecting the natural and human resources from the ravages of overuse. Some examples:

The city sponsored Wharf Master Plan, with the stated aim of economic development, if implemented will draw millions of tourists; crowd the bay with watercraft; replace the old family restaurants with generics and gentrified eating places; attract tourist ships up to 200 feet, all crammed into an extra 40 parking places over the current allocation.
Cowell Beach, which has long been regarded as a spot for locals contrasted to tourist Main Beach, every other summer weekend is reserved via the city for an event, often corporate sponsored, with the parking lot closed for all but event participants.
The Seaside Company encroaches on more and more of Main Beach with new city-approved thrill rides squeezed into tight Boardwalk space.
Public open space such as Pogonip and De Laveaga, eyed as key spots for steep downhill mountain bike trails, promoted by the city Parks and Recreation department, ignoring its own consultants’ random sampling that showed walking and hiking as the most popular activity (34%) with mountain biking far down on the list (9%). There’s big money to be made from the lucrative mountain biking industry and protection takes a back seat when money clouds wise stewardship.

It is hard not to conclude that the city is in the hands of people who don’t really love Santa Cruz. They pay lip service to “our wonderful natural environment” and then promote developments and uses that will clearly overwhelm it. Most of the architects of this blue-print for the future of Santa Cruz live in quiet more pristine areas of the county so the impact of their decisions has little effect personally. They certainly don’t live on or near the corridors of Mission, Water, Ocean and Soquel, all slated for future dense high-rise developments. Meanwhile, UCSC sits on the hill, casting a long growth-induced cloud over the city.

We are at a tipping point. A forceful public opposition to the current development direction could make the difference, as it did in Molokai. But each day, old timers die and their modest cottages are bought up by the well off who tear down and rebuild to the maximum. Or developers buy up and the city rezones for multiple units that forever alter the rural feel that still exists on the margins such as Ocean Street Extension where 40 units on what is now a meadow are headed for council approval.

As always, it’s ordinary people coming together and getting organized that can tip the scales towards preservation and away from money and greed. A new organization named Save Santa Cruz aims to be such a force. If you want to be involved in this struggle for the soul of Santa Cruz or at least be kept updated send a request to: stopoverbuildingsantacruz@gmail.com

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.

Meetings, Meetings and More Meetings
Meet, Pray, Vote

So, since last week what has this city councilmember been doing? Glad you asked. A big part of the job, besides preparing for and attending city council meetings, is meeting with people on issues affecting their lives. These include meetings with other elected officials, community members, interest groups–students, renters, business owners—as well as city staff and members of quasi-political bodies like the Coastal Commission, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), and the University of California administration. The meeting flow is constant and can fill up each individual councilmember’s time. The question always comes up: Is this a full-time job or a part-time job? It ends up being what the councilmember makes it…some work 50-60 hours per week and some a lot less, but meeting people is a big part of the job and why they pay us the big bucks, but “half-time” big bucks. In my case, city council take-home pay was $1788.47 last month.

I thought it might be helpful to go through some of these meetings and who approaches this city councilmember and why. Of course, it is basically a self-selective group as most people living in Santa Cruz are not all that familiar with what a city councilmember might be able to do for them…let alone what our state Assemblymember, Mark Stone, or State Senator, Bill Monning can do. But another part of this job is spreading the word on how local government works and affects the lives of everyone who lives here.

Leaf Blowers
One group I met with is concerned about the dire effects of those noisy, socially invasive, and irritating detriments to health, leaf blowers. Sound familiar to anyone? Just about everyone I meet, if I ask, they have a leaf blower story, and they ain’t pretty stories either. And here was a group gathered in someone’s dining room on the Westside of Santa Cruz recounting how so many people now work at home and how leaf blowers are negatively impacting that work. Another group member has asthma, and the dust generated by even the most “quiet” (electric?) leaf blower has deleterious results. Getting rid of leaf blowers would also be fulfilling our community’s climate action plan somebody else argued. There is no doubt that these mean machines impact our quality of life in Surf City, but who else might they impact?

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Day Worker Center
I sought out Mireya Garcia-Contreras of the Santa Cruz Day Worker Center to investigate how leafblowers might affect local workforce customs and practices. She says that the Day Worker Center serves an average 275-300 individuals per month, but May’s total was fast approaching 450. We had a conversation that covered more than just leafblowers, but included healthcare, housing, and issues of democratic participation, all issues important to Garcia-Conteras’ work. The meeting ended in resolving to bring together day workers with some of the anti-leafblower/pro-health crowd in a roundtable discussion to see if there was some common ground. (I will report on this meeting in a future column.)

Community Activist
We met at The Bagelry on the eastside. He is bearded with thinning hair and the conversation moves around quickly and involves how to salvage the city budget and designate significant money for counseling services and a year-round shelter. “Look, what amount did the city manager cite, wasn’t it over $20 million in city resources going to ‘react’ to homelessness?” I nod my head. That figure was stated a couple of weeks ago at a presentation to the city council with quite a few councilmember heads shaking in awe. Over $15.4 million of the police budget was a figure given as part of the $20 million. “What if,” this activist went on, “would it not make sense to ask for 10% of that, say, $2 million in proactive money, which could certainly cover the down-payment and set-up costs for a $5 million-dollar shelter? But where would it come from?” I said it was ultimately staff’s job to figure that out, but it could come from a part of the $2 million park rangers budget, in addition to raising green fees by $10 to cover the current golf course deficit of $547,000, and maybe hold off on filling the six open police officer spots, especially to see if the “60% of the calls for police service” recently cited that involves homelessness goes down after a shelter is up and running. There, you have the $2 million I told him. I recently found out that there is another fee collected from downtown businesses too, $218k. That money is to be put toward ranger services too, but why not hire a couple of social workers to cover the downtown business district?

The Mayor Cynthia Chase.
She’s going to be a speaker at the UCSC Environmental Studies graduation (my other day job) this Friday at 10am at the UCSC Farm, so we talked about what she might say. I was impressed by her ability to size up the moment—graduation weekend, happy parents, exhausted yet somewhat worried graduates—and how to offer a welcome, an empathetic message, and a blessing on the graduating class’s future all in six or seven minutes. She got it, she’ll be great. The other issues we discussed were concerns over the budget, specifically marshalling resources for a homeless shelter and at the same time partnering with the county and sharing costs and staff time. I brought up the fact money was not in the budget yet to televise Planning Commission meetings, or purchase the Beach Flats Community Garden. Without making any firm commitments she said she would mention them to the city manager. We also spoke briefly about the upcoming council agenda (June 13) that it would include resolutions asking for support of the Paris (climate) Agreement and another against reopening the sanctuary status of our Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary along with three others in California that the Trump Administration wants to “drill baby drill” off-shore. And, the mayor has a date for a long-awaited “city council housing study session,” JUNE 27th, 7p.m.

Santa Cruz Indivisible
This organization has taken Santa Cruz, and perhaps the nation, by organizing storm. The local Indivisible is divided up into several interest groups and the one I met with is focused on impeaching Donald Trump. Their reasoning is solely based on the President breaking the law, the constitution—obstruction of justice—and we also discussed Trump’s continuing to manage his vast business ventures while holding office. The constitution’s been breached and this is a non-partisan issue they said several times throughout the meeting. I urged them to get a couple more councilmembers on board and perhaps we can get it on the June 27thafternoon city council agenda (stay tuned!). I said I fully support the effort, not as a way to bring Mike Pence into office (remember they got Spiro Agnew before Nixon resigned), but to help build a case for 2018 after the Dems get the House of Reps back and can proceed with impeachment, which will take well over a year leading us into the 2020 election. A record will have been established because already ten cities have passed “Impeach Trump” resolutions. Let the group know how you feel about their “Impeach Trump” resolution at: http://santacruzindivisible.org/politics-federal/

The City Manager
In my weekly meeting with Martin Bernal we covered a lot of ground. I’ve been bugging him that the city needs an “Office on Sustainability and the Environment.” We could place the difficult environmental issues all under one roof, matters like the San Lorenzo River corridor, heritage tree ordinance, street tree planting program, Fruit Tree Project, managing the greenbelt lands and marsh habitat, and an office that pays close attention every day on how to implement the Climate Action Plan. That’s probably enough. This office could also coordinate between sometimes contentious environmental groups like the Sierra Club, Save Our Shores, Friends of Jesse Street Marsh, Friends of the Pogonip, and the Coastal Watershed Council. Martin and I also talked about how the new Library Advisory Committee will not start from a mandate of getting the library built inside of a parking garage on the current site of the Farmer’s Market. They might discuss it though. We talked about department head recruitment…First, the good news, we have a new police chief, Andy Mills lately from Eureka.The bad news is we still do not have a permanent planning director. The Wharf Master Plan was next, and there is a $45k line item in our current budget to do (finish?) the environmental impact report (EIR). We also touched on the doubling the capacity of the Sunset Inn at 2424 Mission Street, it’s going from something like 30 rooms to 60, I believe. (Seems to me this project needs a real roof, more trees, greater setbacks and more pedestrian amenities…after all, Mission Street and Swift Street is one of our COMMUNITY GATEWAYS, not to mention a fabulous opportunity to add to a cool neighborhood of wineries, breweries, restaurants, cafes and fitness clubs. Let’s get it right. It also comes to the council on June 13.)

look closely…that’s the parking meter guy stacking PLASTIC bags from his parking meter collections.

The Assemblymember
Mark Stone is obviously a busy guy. His assistant had to pull him out of another meeting that had run over in another part of the Santa Cruz County cement catacombs at 701 Ocean Street, but as he was approaching his own office for our scheduled meeting two others moved toward him with presumed urgent questions. Sitting down with Stone is a comfortable and thinking experience. Councilmember Sandy Brown and I were bringing him softball questions like: How do we work with Chancellor Blumenthal to house more students on campus? And, could he please solve the Santa Cruz housing crisis? And is the state assembly going to pass SB 562, the single-payer healthcare bill that has California going it alone to finally guarantee healthcare, for ALL? And how’d the legislature get the twelve-cent gas tax passed? Come on Mark, easy preguntas, no? He was forthcoming, did not pretend to have all the answers, but like an educated person, directed us where we could go and who we could talk to in order to get some policy questions addressed like how we might structure a “Santa Cruz ‘Quality of Life” bond, communicating with the UC Regents, and who in the legislature is moving bills forward in addressing our affordable housing crisis. Nice chat, great check-in. Santa Cruz depends a lot on their Sacramento legislators to bring home the bacon, and the tofu.

The Students
Students United with Renters (SUR), wow, what a group of thoughtful and thought-filled undergrads just chomping at the bit to confront their university on all that ails students who can’t find housing, and those that do generally can’t afford to pay for it. Rent control, just-cause eviction, demanding developers build the “inclusionary” (affordable) units and not be allowed to simply pay into a housing fund, and interviewing locals this summer on how they are making ends meet in the second least affordable place in America, these were all part of the conversation. Students are on top of it. Every time I find myself struggling for answers, scratching my head and about to fall into a depression, along comes our young men and women to save my a** from myself and help me rethink a problem and ultimately provide further proof of why I love living in La Republica Popular de Santa Cruz. Go Slugs!

Bernie Tweet of the Week:

“The Democratic Party must decide which side it is on. It cannot be the side of Wall Street, fossil fuels and the pharmaceutical industry.” (June 10, 2017)

~Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) and Mayor (2001-2002). He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 12 years. He was elected last November to another 4-year term on the Santa Cruz City Council).

FILL THE ROOM ON TUESDAY, JUNE 27 TO DEMAND FURTHER ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW FOR THE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT

Last Tuesday, Supervisor Zach Friend asked to expedite the Aptos Village Project issues that will come before the Board of Supervisors from August 8 to June 27. Who knows why, but it is likely for the benefit of Barry Swenson Builder somehow.

If you are at all able to attend the County Board of Supervisor meeting on Tuesday morning, June 27, please do so. The Board will supposedly consider whether they want to take jurisdiction and hear at a later date the appeal of the Historic Resources Commission’s decisions regarding adding modern architectural features (skylight & steel roll-up door) to the 125-year-old Hihn Apple Barn. These changes have been requested by the New Leaf Market architects and were approved May 12 by the County Historic Resources Commission (in a re-do hearing to cure and correct the multiple Brown Act violations of the April 10 debacle).

The greater issue, in my opinion, is the opportunity, under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) law, to consider new information and changes in circumstances that are significant enough to warrant further environmental review. That is sorely needed for this disgusting Project that the County government leaders and developers Barry Swenson, Joe Appenrodt, and Pete Testorff, etal have shoved through.

Here is where to send your written comments if you cannot attend:

c/o Clerk of the Board, Susan Galloway Susan.Galloway@santacruzcounty.us

I do not know the agenda item yet, but note on your communication that it is intended for the Aptos Village Project issue before the Board on June 27 agenda, and for the public record.

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New CEQA information:

Significant traffic increases that could not have been known since the original 2004 traffic study was conducted, or any of the 2006 or 2009 peak afternoon study updates (all conducted mid-week in late October). You can see the values that TJKM submitted to the Planning Commission in the documents available online at the Planning Department website for the Aptos Village Project. You can also see the Regional Transportation Commission 2016 counts for Spreckles Drive and Soquel Creek (higher than the TJKM number projection of traffic AFTER the development). You can also see the number that County Traffic engineer submitted to the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) for a grant to fund the Aptos Village road improvements that will benefit the developers.
Traffic Studies did not evaluate traffic at Rio Del Mar Boulevard or Freedom Boulevard intersections with Soquel Drive. (When I asked County traffic engineer Mr. Sohriakoff why those areas were omitted, his reply was “Well, what’s at the Aptos Village Project that they would want?”) Wow.
Traffic Studies did not evaluate the effect of phasing the taxpayer-funded road improvements in the area that will benefit the developers. When the current Phase I traffic light at Trout Gulch Road gets done, and Barry Swenson Builder finishes the Aptos Village Way connector between Trout Gulch Road and Aptos Creek Road, NO LEFT TURNS WILL BE ALLOWED FROM APTOS CREEK ROAD ONTO SOQUEL DRIVE. Instead, all those folks will have to go through the Project and turn right onto Trout Gulch Road. (Can you say “congestion”?)
At some undetermined time, all through traffic on Granite Way from Cathedral Drive to Aptos Creek Road, is planned to be cut off, so that will add traffic of the existing 20 or so households onto Cathedral and Trout Gulch, as well as the added 18 new townhouses currently under construction along Granite Way (most of those are 2700-3000 Square Feet, so each will probably be rented to multiple people.) It is illegal, under Santa Cruz County Fire Code, to create new deadend roads. Gee, I wonder why Aptos / La Selva Fire Chief Jones did not think this was serious or worth investigating?
Water? What water? Since the Project was approved in 2012, California has been in drought. In 2016, the State Waterboard declared our area in CRITICAL OVERDRAFT, and the result is an impending threat of sea water moving inland and irreversibly damaging the area’s drinking water supply. Aptos Village Project will require 38.2 Acrefeet of water each year…all at a time when Soquel Creek Water District is only allowing a total of about 4 Acrefeet/year new hook-ups.
Unremediated soil contamination, as a result of the illegal actions Barry Swenson Builder and SCUP crews took to excavate, transport and destroy a 5,000 buried diesel tank. The Aptos Village Project site has still not REALLY been remediated (that means not cleaned up completely). The County Environmental Health Department closed the case prematurely without conducting groundwater “punch tests” to make sure the contaminants that were found 75′ away from the real tank location did not get into the relatively shallow groundwater in the area. By the way, the groundwater flows toward the new Soquel Creek Water District’s Granite Way well. Some of the contaminants were gasoline-related, diesel, toluene and other nasty things that disperse freely in water….one would think that Soquel Creek Water District would be testing for those things in their new well, right? I’m not sure the District has tested the groundwater near the well for this panel of contaminants, either. They have focused their tests on contaminants related to the former dry cleaining business nearby.
Since the Project was approved in 2012, Native American observers have been on site to observe the earth disturbance during Soquel Creek Water District’s installation of the new water main within the Project. While the observers did not find human remains, they did find significant items. This is significant new information because the Aptos Village Project environmental reviews hardly mentioned the CA-SCR-222 archaeologic site that is within the construction site. Because Barry Swenson Builder and other Aptos Village LLC developers are not ensuring an archaeologic observer is watching the massive amount of earth disturbance for significant artifact deposits, there must be a new mitigation to have a Native American observer at the construction digging. Contrary to this month’s Aptos Life article, there is NOT always an observer watching. Take a look at the June 5, 2017 video on the right.
Even less was mentioned regarding the significant Japanese encampments and the Lam-Mattison Apple Dryer and Vinegar Works. That may explain the “surprise” diesel tank location. Barry Swenson Builder demolished the Apple Dryer foundation (without permit) in May , 2016, raising concern from Native American observer Ms. Ann Marie Sayers, who was working for Soquel Creek Water District at the time in a nearby location within the Project (thanks, California Public Records Act!) Maybe it raised some concern with local benefactor and developer Mr. George Ow, Jr as well, because his grandfather was Lam Pon, co-owner of the Apple Dryer and Vinegar Works with Mr. George Mattison.
The Aptos Creek Bridge is realy beginning to crack and be invaded by destructive ivy. It has not been inspected by a qualified civil engineer for structural integrity since September, 2015 . The 2013 inspections (CalTrans drops by every two years to do these routine inspections) noted that undetermined levels of scouring at the bridge supports warranted special bridge inspections during major storm events, and that the bridge should be closed, if necessary.

A Public Records Act request from the County Counsel stated no special civil engineer inspection has been made, but did forward photos of severe erosion at the bridge abutments.

Last Friday, there were concrete trucks rumbling across that 1928 Historic Bridge every 10-15 minutes all day, on their way to the foundations of the Aptos Village Project townhouses along Granite Way. While CalTrans staff has said that they cannot prohibit such heavy construction traffic because no notatation was made about weight limits on the bridge during the 2015 inspection report, they will definately be looking into the issue this year when their engineers conduct their routine inspection.

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ATTEND THE JUNE 27 BOARD OF SUPERVISOR MEETING AND/OR WRITE YOUR REQUESTS TO SUSAN GALLOWAY SUSAN.GALLOWAY@SANTACRUZCOUNTY.US

Most of the people of Aptos affected by the daily traffic jams feel the two traffic lights will only make things worse. This morning, a young man who grew up in Aptos told me he is moving his family to Watsonville because the development going on in Aptos Village will ruin the community they know and love. I am stopped daily by various Aptos locals who are so upset with what they now see happening at the Aptos Village Project. “This was NEVER what we said we wanted in those meetings with Supervisor Pirie,” they say. I agree. What is interesting is one comment that a local business owner made regarding Supervisor Pirie’s statement early-on: “We have to build SOMETHING there because we took the money from the state.” Well, well…what could that mean? Stay tuned…

COUNTY RELEASES REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ) FOR 8.3 ACRE SITE NEAR HARBOR AT 7TH & BROMMER

Wait a minute, here it comes again….lots of public input workshops to ask what people want to see happen in their community, people get divided into little groups so no one really knows the greater group sentiments and information, people go away thinking they made a difference, then the County and developers steamroll ahead with a plan that does NOT resemble or reflect what the people said they wanted. This is happening over and over again in Santa Cruz County and simply must stop.

The latest example is the RFQ for 7th & Brommer. The people DID NOT WANT A LARGE MULTI-STORY HOTEL ABOVE THE HARBOR, but what is the County presenting for developers to bid on doing there? A multi-story hotel that encompasses 50% of the 8.3 acres! If you were unable to attend the public workshop held to take input, search for the Santa Cruz County RFQ for 7th and Brommer. Take a look at the meeting’s photo’s of each group’s listed concerns and wants….you’ll see frequent “NO HOTEL” written on the pages of most groups.

At last Tuesday’s County Board of Supervisor meeting, there were a number of people who testified against the recommended approval by County Administrative Officer (CAO) to accept the RFQ and put it out to the developers for contract. One woman eloquently pointed out the dates and succession of public documents that gradually eliminated the original open space preferred use from the parcel and substituted visitor accommodation as the preferred use. County Supervisors Ryan Coonerty and John Leopold assured the public that this is just the beginning of a long CEQA process, and the public will have plenty of opportunity to voice their concerns and wants. But really, if the pattern is consistent, why would the public have any reason to trust the County government to pay attention to what we have to say during that CEQA process?

Indeed, the system is broken, with the CAO, the Department of Economic Development and the greedy developers really making all the decisions, granting lucrative concessions, and making the taxpayers fund the bulk of the infrastructure to support it all. The only action that seems to make any difference at all is expensive lawsuits that most people cannot afford nor have the expertise and energy to fight themselves.

But wait a minute…I believe in the power of the people to join together and remind the Supervisors and Councilmembers very loudly that they are elected by us. Write your County Supervisor to protest the stupid, ineffective process that people are being expected to trust….let them know you are watching how they vote, and how they respond (or not) to your letters and calls.

Greg Caput greg.caput@santacruzcounty.us
Ryan Coonerty ryan.coonerty@santacruzcounty.us
Zach Friend zach.friend@santacruzcounty.us
John Leopold john.leopold@santacruzcounty.us
Bruce McPherson bruce.mcpherson@santacruzcounty.us

We still do live in a democracy, right?

WHY WOULD THE COUNTY PLANNING DEPARTMENT APPROVE SOMETHING THAT IS ILLEGAL BY ITS OWN CODE?
One really does wonder what is going on at the Planning Department. Attend the Planning Commission meeting this Wednesday, June 14, 9am in the 5th Floor Board Chambers of the County Monolith (701 Ocean Street, S.C.) and find out how the astute members of that citizen’s group will handle the issue of why the Zoning Administrator approved a large commercial event center in rural Pleasant Valley. The Commercial Use Permit would allow the owner to eventually hold up to 10 large events with 200 guests adn 16 small events of 50 guests on weekends between May and October, with outdoor amplified music until 9pm. I wonder why the Planner reported a traffic study stated the large events would only cause 62 additional vehicle trips when the traffic study really said there would be 208? Hmmm….. The Planner, Ms. Sheila McDaniel, also said that it will be up to local residents to call the sheriff with any noise complaints about the amplified music echoing throughtout the peaceful Pleasant Valley. Doesn’t the sheriff have better things to do than to enforce the Planning Department’s ridiculous noise conditions of approval for large commercial event centers in the rural residential agricultural areas? Neighborhood tension? Yes, but the Planning Department could care less. ALL OF THIS WILL BE LEGAL IF THE CODE MODERNIZATION ZONING CHANGES GET APPROVED, ONCE PAST THAT PESKY ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PROCESS CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS. Planning Director Previsich stated publicly that “unfortuantely, environmental review slows things down.” I think we all heard Donald Trump say something similar recently, didn’t we? Hmm…..

AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE ABOUT AN EXCELLENT IDEA FOR AFFORDABLE WATER FOR THE FUTURE
There was a good article in the Saturday, June 10 Santa Cruz Sentinel (page A3) about Mr. Jerry Paul’s idea for finding a secondary supplemental water supply for our area, using rainwater collected in Loch Lomond. This plan would cost much less than the PureWater Soquel plan currently favored by Soquel Creek Water District to pump treated sewage water into the drinking water supply for the entire MidCounty area. You can find excellent information about other supplemental supply approaches at: www.WaterforSantaCruz.com These are brilliant people with knowledge, expertise and sincere concern for finding a solution that will provide safe, affordable water sooner rather than later.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP DEVELOP THE SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER PLAN FOR THE MIDCOUNTY AREA?
The MidCounty Groundwater Agency is now accepting applications for volunteers to help develop the State-mandated plan for healing an aquifer that is currently in BIG trouble. Attend the June 29 stakeholder meeting at the First Congregational Church in Soquel (4951 Soquel Drive), 7pm-9pm to learn more about what the job entails and maybe even what the Committee who will decide who gets chosen is looking for in a candidate. You can find more information and an application at www.MidCountyGroundwater.org Applications are due by July 20, 2017.

LEARN MORE ABOUT A SECONDARY SUPPLY FOR SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT
The Supplemental Supply Standing Committee (nice alliteration, huh?) meets monthly and will convene on June 14 at the District Headquarters (5180 Soquel Drive), 4pm-5pm. That group often receives wave-breaking news about pilot studies for river water transfer chemistry, contaminant study models for the expensive recycled sewage water treatment project, and maybe even results of the recent helicopter fly-overs of a Danish company to determine just where the salt water /fresh water interface is in the overdrafted Purisima Aquifer. It’s always good, you know, to keep on top of this information….it is, afterall, the drinking water source for the entire Mid-County area.

If you still have questions, attend the MidCounty Groundwater Agency Drop-In hours the next day, June 15, 10am-noon, at the Community Foundation Building in Aptos (7807 Soquel Drive). This is a good way to ask questions and really have a meaningful discussion about issues that last longer than the standard 3-minute public comment time allowed at public meetings. If there is someone there from Soquel Creek Water District, I hope to ask why Barry Swenson Builder is paying the District $600,000 this year, and why the District anticipates 2018-19 service rates will INCREASE 17%. I asked the Board about those issues last week, but they did not respond.

JUST LET THAT SOAK IN…..
Capturing stormwater and letting it percolate back into the ground instead of rushing out to sea is a good idea that can make a big difference in aquifer recharge and overdraft problems. I was happy to hear the Soquel Creek Water District Board discussing different potential sites to try this out. I was, however, puzzled that NONE of those favored would be in the Purisima Aquifer. Instead, the committee that chose potential recharge areas decided to focus recharge efforts on the Aromas Aquifer. That is odd, since very little of the Soquel Creek Water District’s pumping service area lies within the boundaries of the Aromas Aquifer. Staff explained they thought the Deistrict could “get more bang for the buck” with recharge efforts in the Aromas Aquifer, and also added that injection wells in the Purisima Aquifer for this effort would have to be very deep, due to the multiple layers that slope down into the Monterey Bay. Chairman Tom LaHue stated he was not in favor of supporting such projects that would not directly benefit the District’s wells….that makes fiscal sense. So, might the District staff have in mind a plan to ask the MidCounty Groundwater Agency to support the project in order to allow the District to continue to hand out new service connections within it’s boundaries (sort of like a carbon trade arrangement)? We shall see….

COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION WILL CONSIDER PUBLIC WORKS CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
Last Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved sending the Proposed 5-Year Public Works’ Capital Improvement Program to the Planning Commission for a Study Session this Wednesday, June 14, and returning it to the Board for another Study Session on June 20 during budget hearings. You can look at the document on the June 6 Board Consent Agenda Item #63 “The document is an outgrowth of complementary planning, programming, and financing efforts by land use oriented departments in County government, including the County Administrative Office, Planning, Public Works, and Parks.” Gee, that sounds good, doesn’t it? I wonder if there will be General Fund money available for any of these projects? The Mid-Year Budget Report stated there might not be any.

“There are currently 230 Disaster Recovery Projects from the 2016-17 storms, with an esttimated total cost of $103 million. Of this total cost, $18 million is designated for the 2017-18 disaster related projects.” The report rolls in other disaster projects from 2009 and 2011 as well for $20,529,060 total.

Programmed (planned) Projects include bridges (not Aptos Creek Bridge), drainage improvements, guardrail projects, pedestrian safety improvements, County road improvements (that includes State Park Drive…probably to handle the Aptos Village Project mess for Barry Swenson Builder), and other projects….which includes the Aptos Village Improvements.

Well, well….Phase I and II have a final cost estimate of $5,800,000 and a recommended funding level of $685,000 (CIP Number R0052) for Construction in 2018-19. Phase I is already underway, largely thanks to about $1.3 million in grants from the Regional Transsportation Commission (RTC) and taxpayers. Phase II includes “Construct road and roadside improvements on Soquel Drive from Trout Gulch Road to Aptos Creek Bridge to include: new traffic signal at Soquel Drive/Aptos Creek Road, new railroad crossing over Aptos Creek Road, sidewalk and bike lanes on Soquel Drive, new railroad crossing at new Parade Street.” Funding Sources include “Aptos Road Improvement Fund, Aptos Transportation Improvement, Highway safety & Lighting CSA 9, and Regional Surface Transportation Program” (that’s the RTC again). Notice how much public money is being used to pay for these improvements to support the Aptos Village Project developers?

I think it is in sharp contrast to what the developer of the proposed Nissan auto dealership in Soquel told the public at the community meeting recently….that he has to pay for 100% of the street improvements to accommodate traffic effects associated with what he wants to build there. Why is it so different for Barry Swenson Builder, Joe Appenrodt, Pete Testorff, and the other faceless developers of the Aptos Village Project mess? Hmmmmm……….

Contact your Supervisor and ask, and let them know you would rather your tax dollars support something other than the developers who are already getting BIG concessions from the County, such as a waiver of the $1000/bedroom developer park fee. Aptos Village Park could sure use some play equipment again for the kids, but Park staff says there is just not money for that. Hmmmm……

YOU HAD TO ASK TO MAKE YOUR COMMENTS TO APTOS/LA SELVA FIRE DISTRICT “PUBLIC“
A member of the public illuminated the fact that the comments people have been sending to Board members have NOT been being published in agenda packets and made part of the public record. This was news to me and several others who stayed late into the evening for this item to come up for discussion. The Administrative Assistant, Ms. New, pledged to get that problem worked out soon by creating a more transparent process for the public. I asked that the Board e-mail address be included on the Agendas for the public to see. People just did not know that you had to ask that comments be made public…

I was encouraged to see that Chairman Spisak brought up the creation of a standing committee to improve communication between the Board, Firefighter Local 3535, and the public. I agree with him that it is unfortuante that now communication has broken down and legal action abounds. Why would Chief Jones ask to stay for another two years when the Local 3535 and Chiefs have issued a UNANIMOUS VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE REGARDING CHIEF JONES? One member of the audience pointedly asked Chief Jones if he intends to ask for a two-year contract extension before it expires this October? “I don’t know”, he answered. The lady then read the Sentinel interview from April, 2017 when the reporter asked Chief Jones about requesting an extension. “Yes,” he said, ” Why would I not?”

KERCHIIINGGGG, KERCHIIIIIINGGGG….
Heads up and quarters ready….parking meters are coming to sleepy little Soquel Village soon. The Public Works Department will generously provide $100,000 to get the meters rolling. Gee, that would fill some nice potholes, wouldn’t it? Well, no more leisurely conversations over coffee at the Ugly Mug..the meter warden will be watching closely and ready to spring into action to issue expensive violation tickets should you tarry and allow the meter to run out of time. Is this really progress?

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.

JUST DO SOMETHING.

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

#158 / People’s Assemblies

Pictured right is Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who just won his campaign for Mayor in Jackson, Mississippi. You can read all about him, and his political campaign, by clicking this link, or this link. The links will will take you to two different articles from In These Times.

Among other things, Lumumba built his campaign around “people’s assemblies,” instituted by Lumumba’s father, Jackson Council Member Chokwe Lumumba, who was elected mayor in 2013, only to pass away months later. The son, who ran once for Mayor and lost, is now hoping to turn his recent victory into an opportunity to continue the work his father began. Here’s what he has to say about people’s assemblies:

The people’s assembly grew out of an idea my father had as a city council person for Ward 2 in Jackson. At that time, the assembly moved between community centers and churches within the ward. When he became mayor, it expanded to citywide. We’ve dealt with issues ranging from school board appointments to racial profiling. What is happening in the city dictates the turnout. Sometimes we have one to two hundred people, sometimes more.

The beauty of the people’s assembly is that, though it’s government related, it is meant as a way to apply outside pressure to those in government. Assemblies are strategically placed throughout the city, so we can give information to the community and get information back from the community about what issues are facing them.

The only real “secret” to establishing and maintaining democratic control over our government is to make sure that ordinary people are actually engaged in the process of governing, and that they understand what their elected representatives are doing, and are effectively able to mobilize in numbers sufficient to make certain that what they are doing is what the community wants.

Democracy does work! It works in Jackson, Mississippi, and it works elsewhere, too, even in some of those Republican Districts in which the angry “constituent meetings” we have been hearing about are making members of Congress face up to their responsibility to serve the people who elected them, not the corporate interests in Washington, D.C., to whom so many elected representatives have pledged their allegiance.

Gary 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 his blog at www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo probes outer space…and reveals….(see below)

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

LISA JENSEN LINKS: Lisa writes: “Improbably, Captain Hook surfaces in landlocked Phoenix (well, my book about him, anyway) this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). The countdown continues to the publication of my next book with my Beast of the Month for June, and I invite you to contemplate the mystery at the heart of My Cousin Rachel in this week’s Good Times.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

MY COUSIN RACHEL. Daphne Du Maurier who was born in London (1907 -1989) wrote this intricate, wonderful, 19th century, threatening, gothic, perverted story of a trusting rich 25 year old who falls in love with his cousin who is out to take both his brothers and his family fortune. Du Maurier wrote Rebecca and also The Birds which Alfred Hitchcock used as a starting point for that film. Rachel Weisz plays Rachel!! And you couldn’t ask for anyone better…she is magnificent. A British costume saga, and if you’re a follower see this film ASAP.

MEGAN LEAVEY. This is true story about a woman in The Marine Corps K9 Corps. (Canine corps). Full disclosure …I was in the US Army K9 corps. (Canine corps). She and her dog were trained to sniff and locate explosives. Me and my dog were trained to sniff and point to enemies hiding in fields and buildings in front of our advancing troops. The movie is sincere, well acted, and not as exciting as it could have been considering the action they were placed in. My dog platoon didn’t see any “action” we were stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington. You really don’t have to see this movie.

THE MUMMY. Well it has a 16 on Rotten Tomatoes, and I couldn’t agree more. I’ll bet Tom Cruise snuck a whole bunch of Scientologists into this insane, completely confusing, screwy monster movie. It’s by far the worst Mummy movie I’ve ever seen. (probably about 4). Poor Russell Crowe who must need the $$$ to actually take on a role like the evil Dr. Henry Jekyll. Yes, Jekyll…because Universal is putting a Jekyll monster in one of their theme parks.!! It’s obvious you shouldn’t go, no one else is…it’s a huge bomb.

NORMAN. It has an 88 on Rotten Tomatoes, and for a quiet, serious, dramatic film that’s a very big deal. The full title is “Norman: The Moderate rise and tragic fall of a New York Fixer”. As the ads and reviews state, Richard Gere has never had a greater part and he’s never been better than he is in this saga of New York and money and Israel. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Steve Buscemi and Michael Sheen are equally wonderful. Gere plays a lonely, manipulative, well meaning guy who can’t help from making deals. He means well and will ultimately break your heart with empathy. See this film. Ends Thurs. June 15

WAKEFIELD. Brian Cranston plays an unhappy, neurotic guy who decides to hide from his wife and children for months by sneaking up stairs in their garage and disappearing. He spys on his mystified wife (Jennifer Garner) and kids and talks to himself through the entire film, It’s from a book by E.L. Doctorow (Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, and could have been made into a real contender. Cranston plays it too almost silly and instead of a deep profound character study we just watch a jerk. But it an involving story and worth seeing.

THE WEDDING PLAN. A young woman of 30 living in Jerusalem plans on getting married, but her guy leaves her a few weeks before the arranged and planned wedding. . It’s a curious study and comedy about culture, faith, dreams, religion and you’ll watch her go through hell. Whether she carries it off, or not, or how… is fascinating. A few dull spots but there are many other rewards…go for it quickly. Ends Thursday June 15.

THE LOVERS. Debra Winger is still great as she plays the cheating wife of a husband who is cheating too. Beyond that, the two people they are cheating with are also cheating. It gets a bit confusing and the slow times gives you a chance to think about all the lies you (or your “best friends forever” have told) told when they were cheating. Not for a first date evening but excellent for long time relationship people to see. Ends Thurs. June 15th

WONDER WOMAN. IF you like comic book heroes or heroines (hope its ok to use that term) Wonder woman is several cuts about the usual no brainer/ violent/monster filled box office smashes we keep seeing. Gal Gadot is a former Miss Israel and we keep hearing about that. She plays W. Woman. Robin Wright, is in it too and she is a long time favorite of mine. She is Sean Penn’s ex. Chris Pine just jumps around looking like the usual Hollywood cutey pie. If you remember that she’s a comic book star and is supposed to battle, fight and pose in tight pants all the time you could enjoy this more than most of that ilk.

CHURCHILL. Brian Cox makes a halfway accurate impression of Winston Churchill in this saga of a failing old man trying to stop Britain from being involved in D-Day WWII. Many Churchill scholars and many other historians say the entire script is wrong, distorted, and should never have been made into a movie. But no matter, the movie..true or false, isn’t very good or exciting anyways. And Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower played by John Slattery comes off like a goof ball. Ends Thursday, June 15.

PARIS CAN WAIT. This piece of fluff tries to be a sophisticated travel –romance-comedy and it is terrible. It’s not even as honest a film as Baywatch…which makes no such pretensions. Diane Lane plays a still beautiful woman who completely subjects herself to a Frenchman as they take a car trip to Paris. Lane’s husband Alec Baldwin isn’t in the film very much and he would have been an even worse match. DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE.

BAYWATCH. It didn’t seem possible to make a movie that was worse than the original Baywatch tv show but they did. And as you’ve probably heard it’s one of the worst of the year so far. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the only person you’ll even stay awake to watch…if that gives you any clue. Don’t ask what it’s about…its not about anything, trust me.

KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD. Jude Law is about the only good thing in this mess of a movie. It flopped miserably at the boxoffice…and it deserved it. Some tiny part of the Knights of the Round Table are in it, a little bit about Excalibur, one shot of the Lady In The Lake…and just about the dumbest, most convoluted plot you’ve ever not wanted to sit through. Huge FX transformer monsters race around stomping on things and people, and never mind the rest, just avoid this one like the plague.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES. The absolute bottom of the barrel in sequels. Even the dopey mugging by Johnny Depp (whose brother owned a bookstore in Santa Cruz) Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom doesn’t save the lack of a story or plot. The effects are built for 3D but add to the confused and twisted story. Avoid this one like the plague.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. June 13 brings historian/author Sandy Lydon back to surprise us with NEW Santa Cruz County history. Then Don Stump the C.E.O. of Christian Church Homes fills us in on the background and future of CCH. Bookshop Santa Cruz features its top Short Story Winners for the full hour on June 20. Doctor James Beckett, PAMF Dermatologist talks skin care on June 27 followed by activist, BrattonOnline columnist Gillian Greensite reporting on area issues. July 4th has environmentalist Grey Hayes talking about the magnificent meadow mouse. Then environmental attorney and former Santa Cruz County Supervisor Gary Patton talks about growth and changes in our County. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

Watch this. It’s hysterical.

NEW UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVE FEATURE. Stuff changes at KZSC a lot. If you missed either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens.

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

QUOTES. “TOURISTS”

“The tourist transports his own values and demands to his destinations and implants them like an infectious disease, decimating whatever values existed before”, Arthur Erickson

“The average tourist wants to go to places where there are no tourists”, Sam Ewing

“The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist”, Russell Baker

“TO BE A TOURIST is to escape accountability. Errors and failings don’t cling to you the way they do back home. You’re able to drift across continents and languages, suspending the operation of sound thought. Tourism is the march of stupidity. You’re expected to be stupid. The entire mechanism of the host country is geared to travelers acting stupidly. You walked around dazed, squinting into fold-out maps. You don’t know how to talk to people, how to get anywhere, what the money means, what time it is, what to eat or how to eat it. Being stupid is the pattern, the level and the norm. You can exist on this level for weeks and months without reprimand or dire consequence. Together with thousands, you are granted immunities and broad freedoms. You are an army of fools, wearing bright polyesters, riding camels, taking pictures of each other, haggard, dysentric, thirsty. There is nothing to think about but the next shapeless event.” Don DeLillo, The Names

COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Click and enter the box in the upper right hand corner of each Column. You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!) Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

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

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

June 13 – 19, 2017

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.