June 22 

BLACK LIVES MATTER IN POLITICAL OFFICE TOO.
Drew Glover was a spirited and spirit-filled Santa Cruzan whose recall from office should not have happened. He was elected with a plurality of votes in 2018, 10,972. But he needed a majority of votes in this past March 3rd recall election. Even though Glover received more votes in the recall–11,796–he was still cast out of office. So, let’s see if I have this right, Glover received more votes and a significantly higher percentage of total votes in 2020 than in 2018. In over two years in office Drew actually grew his voter base by over 800! That is a positive testament to his time in office given that his politics are about inclusivity and representing the underrepresented–students, renters, houseless–and that is not necessarily shared in all quarters of Surf City.

His Name is Drew Glover, Presente!
Glover grew up in Santa Cruz. He graduated from Harbor High and was president of his senior class. He studied feminist studies at Cabrillo College and was a member of the United Nations Association board. His Mom was a UCSC graduate and until her untimely death in 2016 was probably his closest friend. He worked alongside a plethora of UCSC students too. In only two years and 5 months on the city council Glover was able to bring in over two dozen interns and expose them to the process of local policy making. One of Drew’s passions was police reform. When he was finally appointed to the city council’s Public Safety Committee earlier this year he brought with him a relentless agenda. At the time of his ouster from office he was pushing for a Surveillance ordinance that would protect locals from overzealous police spying; he was organizing with others to put into place a Human Rights Commission; and Glover fought mightily for a managed camp ground, which now has been put in place by the city and county as a result of the tragedy of Covid-19. But Glover had a plan to create a real “managed” campground, one that drew from the experiences and wisdom of houseless people, past and present. He was also instrumental in advocating for the city’s CACH, the Community Advisory Council on Homelessness. The CACH has now been thrown onto the ash heap of the work of two past other homeless committees. Great work, but no thanks say callus city administrators. The current CACH made sound and timely endorsements of sensible programs only to be undermined by the now Czar-like authority of city manager, Martin Bernal, who unceremoniously dissolved it this past month. In addition, Glover was a yes vote on the city’s purchase of a homeless navigation center on Coral Street, but alas this too has been undermined by anti-houseless and anti-Glover forces. The deal was called off last week. The city will NOT be buying the Seaborg property after eight months of intense negotiation. It is clear, for the price of half a luxury condominium moneyed interests were able to drive a Santa Cruz true homie from office. 

SAVE TREES AND THE FARMER’S MARKET! Here is just one of at least eleven heritage trees that will likely be cut down to make way for parking garage. We cannot let this happen. My 19-year old daughter is in the tree and has been climbing it since she was 8.

What Has Santa Cruz Lost?
Over two-hundred thousand dollars was spent to tar, feather, smite, defame and dislodge a true fighter for social justice and friend of the working class too. His absence has not gone unnoticed over these past months. In recent weeks, there has been a fervent effort to turn back what the previous progressive council was doing, after all, Glover was the fourth vote and developers, real estate interests, and a few racists wanted him out of office. The library-in-a-garage project, a Glover NO vote, is on the cusp of becoming a reality despite the overwhelming lack of community support. This is a project Glover was vocal about because approving it will likely ax at least 11 heritage trees and displace the community’s beloved Farmer’s Market. A wall of market-rate condos is also poised to be built along Front Street. Its six to seven stories will tower over the San Lorenzo River ecosystem from Soquel Avenue to Laurel Street. There will be scant, if any; affordable units built in these intensely profit-driven developments. Glover was an obstacle for developers in their path to making Silicon Beach a reality. He wanted housing for Santa Cruzans who lived here now, not second home buyers from over the hill. He understood this. In addition, he was an environmentalist who spent several years on a project acknowledging the importance of bees, their demise, and how we could bring them back. His Project Pollinate worked with young people to study the importance of bees on our eco-system. Another reason he opposed the towering 6-story parking garage on Cedar Street was the detrimental effects it will bring to our city while sending the wrong message to young people that a car-centric town is somehow okay.If Drew was still on the council he would also be supporting, and likely help lead, many of the Black Lives Matter protests that have taken place over the last two weeks in Santa Cruz. He was an African-American voice on the city council for the underrepresented. 

History Lesson from Berkeley in the 1970’s
Clearly, we have lost an important civic champion in Drew Glover. He, along with the current mayor, were the very first two Black men ever elected to the Santa Cruz city council. The following article was penned by Judge D’Army Bailey. He was only the second African-American ever elected to the Berkeley city council. Bailey was also recalled after a couple years in office by similar forces that came after Drew Glover. I bring this to your attention because so much in this life repeats itself. Rodney King in 1992 and George Floyd in 2020. D’Army Bailey in 1973 and Drew Glover in 2020. This community has much to learn.

Tuesday September 23, 2003

Reprinted from the Berkeley Daily Planet

Californians appear condemned to repeat history because they refuse to learn from it. I shake my head as the Berkeley recall of 30 years ago repeats itself on a statewide level.  

I became the only person ever recalled from the City Council in Berkeley, and one of the few—if not only—black ever recalled in California history on Aug. 21, 1973. No one learned from the Berkeley experience that recalls start with those who lost the election and always play on the fears of a nervous populace. Moreover, recalls allow 25 percent or less of the voters in the last election to force an elected official to get a majority of the votes in his/her defense. This means that even though as many as 49 percent of those voting may favor the targeted officeholder, without a majority he or she loses-—and the minority which started the fight wins. The Berkeley recall began with the partnership of the liberal left and the Berkeley Black Caucus. A native of Memphis, I had finished my law degree at Yale University, moved to California to work for Legal Services and joined the Caucus. Flush with success of electing black Congressman Ron Dellums, the Caucus ran a coalition slate of blacks, whites and women in the April 1971 city elections. I was tapped as part of the coalition.  

Our campaign platform included the creation of jobs with top priorities to minorities and women, expanded housing and child care programs, extended recreational facilities, and liberal juvenile justice policies. I promised quite clearly that I would serve the interests of the black community. Berkeley’s business and conservative and moderate leaders were far from unified in the Council elections. But on the day after the election, the defeated conservatives and moderates announced a recall against our coalition. The strategies later became to recall Bailey and effectively neutralize the other black council member. 

As a Councilman, I challenged the city’s racial fairness in Berkeley City government. In my two and a half years the city hired its first black city manager and city attorney, passed an affirmative action program, increased blacks in police and fire, and gave the all-black garbage workers an accelerated wage increase to help them achieve parity. We opposed the Vietnam War and blocked a shopping mall development at the Berkeley Marina. 

Conservatives and the business community mobilized their recall petition drive. The recall petition charged that I refused to compromise at council meetings; filibustered; and staged outbursts that caused the council to break up in disarray. They charged I disparaged the image of established black leaders, and introduced race into the politics of Berkeley. With financial support from businesses and relentless backing from the Berkeley Daily Gazette, Bailey recall went on the ballot. My financial backers became a subject of great interest-even reporter Mike Wallace pressed me on Sixty Minutes to reveal my financial sources. I was funded primarily by a discreet, progressive family who did not wish to be identified and not, as charged, by the CIA or Communists. 

I had many supporters: Congressman Dellums, who was heavily reliant on the white left, made some statements against the recall; Legendary Longshoreman leader Harry Bridges who understood the divisive implication of recall. My main support came from those who elected me in the first place —the black community and white activists who supported black political self-determination. 

Others came. Medgar Ever’s widow, Myrlie Evers and Jesse Jackson took to the streets of Berkeley for me. My fellow lawyers in National Bar Association took an unprecedented Convention vote denouncing the recall as “violating of Councilman Bailey’s constitutional right of free speech.” Black activist Angela Davis wrote that the recall’s “motivation is fundamentally racist and anti-democratic….D’Army’s seat was won by a coalition of voters who demanded representation, not for big business, but for the people.” The recallers’ main strategy was to make it appear that the 25 percent black population wanted me out. That strategy failed. I won every black precinct. But the conservatives weren’t really interested in what the blacks thought. I was beaten in the almost all-white, upper income Berkeley Hills where turnout was substantial. 

The recall group manipulated the timing of the recall election to occur in the summer when most of the Berkeley college students were away. Though that may not have affected the ultimate outcome, it reflected the recallers’ cynical attempt to disenfranchise a large segment of the city’s voters. Later Berkeley banned special elections in the summer. Californians failed to grasp the lessons from this Berkeley slice of history and now they are doomed to repeat them.  

For the past thirteen years D’Army Bailey has served as an elected State Circuit Judge in Memphis, Tenn. He is Tennessee’s designated founder of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.(Note: Judge Bailey died on July 12, 2015. NY Times Obituary)

“A few days ago, temperatures within the Arctic Circle topped 100 degrees, shattering records. With so many unprecedented crises facing this nation and the world, we must never lose sight of the biggest existential threat facing the planet: climate change.” (June 22)