Greensite… on losing our heritage and a campaign haiku… Steinbruner… on the mess that is BESS… Hayes… Rivers and Streams… Patton… What “Created Equal” Means In America… Matlock… Birthday cake with special baby frosting… Eagan… Subconscious Comics and Deep Cover … Webmistress serves you… transitioning chromosomes… Quotes on… “Summer”
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FIREWORKS. Yeah, I bet you’re not surprised that I’m talking about fireworks just a few days after the 4th of July… 🙂 I must say that I am somewhat gobsmacked that I can truthfully utter the sentence: “I was on one of the barges in San Francisco, firing the show that celebrated the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States.“! As Lin-Manuel Miranda states it so eloquently in Hamilton: “Immigrants. We get the job done!”
And a job it is… We spent 4 days setting up. On the 3rd, I was at it from 9am till 1am, and on the 4th from 11am until 5am… There’s a reason we have the saying: “It’s called fireWORKS, not fireFUN…” I wouldn’t trade it for the world though!
As expected, there was a news crew out, and they did a pretty good job on the piece they broadcast. I’m putting the video on the right so you can watch it. If you’re sharp-eyed, you can spot me in the background in a couple of shots. I’m the one with the black hardhat with a big purple flower, obviously! 🙂
BRATTON ON THE RADIO Before I go I’m pulling out a piece from Grey Hayes, and putting it up here, front and center, as an announcement in addition to his regular contribution this week.
Bratton on KSCOIf you haven’t heard already, some of us Brattonites have taken to the AM talk show airwaves, and I want to urge you to tune in for many reasons. This plea comes from something you may see as one of my discussion trends: how to build and maintain community…for the environment!
Shout Out to Community Radio
The Central Coast of California is lucky to have access to some amazing community-supported radio stations. Some of them are ‘public’ radio stations, non-profits with boards and such. At least one operates on a different model, a ‘commercial’ radio station on AM, with advertisers and with some quite right-wing programming as well as some less so. KSCO is run by Michael Zwerling, who taught me for years about local agriculture on that station. Over decades, his shows have featured perspectives from locals who you probably won’t hear from elsewhere. And, KSCO has often been open to taking listeners’ calls, so that one can hear from others in our community, directly. Their show hosts are skilled at negotiating the phone lines and listening will give you a better sense of our greater community. I urge readers to take the time to listen to KSCO as well as the other community radio stations featuring local voices.Echo Chambers
One of the critiques of USA culture is that people are becoming increasingly isolated in ‘social clubs’ that interact within ‘echo chambers,’ bolstering their own beliefs by only interacting with people with whom they agree. If you share this concern, then perhaps it is time to become part of the solution by reaching outside of your own echo chamber, by interacting with people that don’t share your beliefs. Another way is to listen more critically within your echo chamber. Whatever we listen to should bring up questions and seeking answers to those questions is key.Radical Center Radio
I’m calling my show on Bratton on KSCO ‘Radical Center Radio.’ It has become radical to find the center where we all agree, but environmental issues are the easiest place to do so. Protecting nature for future generations is nonpartisan, a goal of the vast majority of people. Wildlife conservation has historically been as much a Republican issue as it has been a Democrat issue. Ulysses Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon, Republican USA presidents spearheaded critical wildlife conservation initiatives as did Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Jimmy Carter, Democrat Party presidents.If we as a nation agree on wildlife conservation, elevating dialogues on that goal is critical to success. Otherwise, politicians who need campaign funding will be swayed by Big Business to avoid addressing wildlife conservation which is rumored to slow economic development. We are a creative nation, and citizens coming together for constructive dialogues has great promise for finding common ground, in the Radical Center, for wildlife conservation.
Thus far
At the moment of this publication, I have done my first 2 shows. You can listen to prior Bratton on KSCO radio shows at this web link. My shows were May 29 and June 19; my next show is July 17 (I think). During prior shows, we discussed the endangered species of the Central Coast and what nature was showing us in the weeks around the programs. Callers added insight into local natural history, including changes (tide pools, wildflowers) from many years of observation. There was some discussion of water quality issues with Elkhorn Slough, which spurred a caller to rail against efforts to control blue gum Eucalyptus near there. Callers also asked about wild turkeys and other things. It has been good to start these conversations, which I hope will grow.How Do You?
How do you interact across social boundaries to help grow our Radical Center, from which Peace will grow? Drop me a line and let me know (coastalprairie@aol.com). If you have ideas about topics that I should cover or guests I should interview, please let me know. But, more than anything, I hope you will tune into this Bratton on KSCO radio show and participate – 6 to 7 pm on Friday evenings.
Now enjoy the rest of this week’s column! See you again soon!
~Webmistress
SUPERGIRL. In theatres. Movie. (6.1 IMDb) 
Supergirl is 67 years old.
In that time, she’s been through a LOT of attempts to give her her OWN story instead of just being Jr. Girl Superman. She suffers here from 1) the Manosphere complaining that she’s not cute or “feminine” enough, and 2) people stuck on an older version of her, like comparing Super Friends Aquaman to Jason Momoa.
Loosely based on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King, and honestly drawing from True Grit too, Supergirl stars Milly Alcock (House of the Dragon) as Kara Zor El, who leaves Earth to escape the shadow of her cousin, Superman, and the expectations piled on her while still dealing with PTSD from the destruction of Krypton. She ends up caught in a child’s vendetta and a race against time to get medical help for Krypto (played by Krypto, from Superman).
The pacing isn’t the sharpest, but the soundtrack is a banger, the effects are great, and Jason Momoa as Lobo is a role he was born to play. Despite haters and Rotten Tomatoes, well worth a watch.
~Sarge
GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER. Netflix. Series. (6.8 IMDb)
Think Nancy Drew meets True Detective. Five years after the apparent murder of a popular high school student, aspiring journalist Pip Fitz-Amobi decides the case doesn’t add up. What begins as a school project quickly turns into a deeper investigation, uncovering secrets, lies, and long-buried resentments in a town convinced the mystery was solved years ago.
The show’s biggest strength is Pip herself (Emma Myers – Jenna Ortega’s bouncy rainbow werewolf roommate on “Wednesday”): smart, determined, and believable as an amateur sleuth. While it never gets as dark as True Detective, it avoids feeling like a watered-down teen mystery, delivering genuine suspense, credible twists, and enough suspects to keep you guessing. Based on the novel by Holly Jackson, it’s a fast, engaging binge that captures the appeal of a classic detective story while giving it a modern true-crime sensibility.
~Sarge
GOOD OMENS 3. PrimeTV. Movie. (8 IMDb)
In 1990, fantasy legend Terry Pratchett and young comic fantasy mavin Neil Gaiman collaborated on a novel built around the question, “What if the Antichrist got switched at birth?” and Good Omens was born.
In 2024, the third season of Amazon’s adaptation of the late Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens was put on hold after multiple allegations of sexual assault against Gaiman surfaced in the news.
The Amazon version of Good Omens thrived on the brilliant chemistry between David Tennant and Michael Sheen as Crowley, a demon, and Aziraphale, an angel, who have spent millennia on Earth in what increasingly resembles a Cold War marriage. Faced with the impending Apocalypse, both come to the conclusion that maybe it might be altogether better … NOT doing that.
Featuring a host of charming side stories that all somehow linked together, plus a simmering relationship between the two leads, the first season felt like a delightful Douglas Adams pastiche. Since season one adapted the novel itself, the second season came as a complete surprise. Crafted entirely by Gaiman, it leaned harder into the Crowley/Aziraphale relationship, along with a gloriously naked and amnesiac Jon Hamm as the angel Gabriel. A great deal happens, and it all ends on a heartbreaking cliffhanger.
Then came season 3 … NOT!
As allegations against Gaiman mounted, stretching from the mid-80s into relatively recent years, comics, films, and television projects tied to him began getting canceled or shelved, including Good Omens 3. Fortunately, Gaiman stepped away from the production, allowing fans to get a third season … sort of. Cut down to a single feature-length finale, it still manages to wrap up a surprising number of story threads, and may even produce a few sniffles.
Gaiman’s problematic history aside, worth a watch.
~Sarge
PANTHEON. Netflix. Series. (8.5 IMDb) 
What if the threat isn’t AI? What if it’s UI: uploaded intelligence. Human brains destructively scanned, living only in the cloud. “Pantheon” explores this idea as exquisite, real science fiction. Not cheesy animated sci-fi melodrama, but a genuine exploration of love, grief, immortality, endless simulations, conspiracies, global politics, and so much more.
The animation is restrained, there to serve the story rather than distract from it. The characters are rich, not cardboard cutouts, whether good or bad. No supervillains. No Mary Sues.
It’s a dense story, so if science fiction concepts tend to lose you, this may not be for you. But if they don’t, this absolutely deserves a watch.
~Sarge
STRANGER THINGS – TALES FROM ’85. Netflix. Series. (5 IMDb) 
Stranger Things exits stage left…then pops back out for one more bow.
Set between seasons 2 and 3, this animated take brings back the core crew without sanding things down for kids. It’s not anime or cheap knockoff – dipping their pens in the Spiderverse/Arcane inkwell, with a creative, stylized look. It’s also more focused than the later live-action seasons, trimming most of the adults and zeroing in on the kids. Best of all, Will Byers actually gets to be a character instead of a punching bag, helped by the addition of Niki, an Amazonian punk rocker who connects with him over their shared outsider status. The recast voices are a little jarring at first, but you should settle in. Rough reviews aside, it’s worth a watch.
~Sarge
STRANGER THINGS (final season). Netflix. Series. (9.3 IMDb)
Final season, and once again Will Byers gets absolutely brain-fracked. For the uninitiated: Stranger Things is steeped in the early ’80s, following a quartet of young teens (I was all of 20 when it’s set) doing the usual – playing D&D, blasting a killer soundtrack, biking everywhere unsupervised… and occasionally getting snatched by nightmare creatures from the Upside Down, a vine-choked mirror of their hometown.
They cross paths with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), a runaway lab experiment with psychic powers and a deep love of Eggos. From there: more Upside Down lore, bigger and nastier villains, government conspiracies, a mall food court leveled, peak ’80s fashion, coming out, and a truly unfair amount of trauma for poor Will. Season 5 breaks up the cast in teams who each have their own stories – this season Linda “Sarah Conner” Hamilton pops up to give Vecna a run for his money as a “big bad”. Mike’s little sister gets dragged into things, and his mom finally gets to shine as a badass. It neatly cleans up all the loose threads. It’s both satisfying and a little sad to see it end – but no worries, the Duffer Brothers already have more Strangerverse on the way. Worth a watch.
~Sarge
PROJECT HAIL MARY. In theatres. Movie. (8.4 IMDb)
This is hard-science sci-fi that blends in laughs without undercutting the tension. Ryan Gosling – somehow I’d never really noticed him before, sort of Arthur Davrill – plays Ryland Grace, a middle-school science teacher turned astronaut, who wakes up alone on a spaceship light-years from home with zero memory of why he’s there. Slowly, he pieces together that Earth’s survival literally hangs on him – and then he meets an alien whose planet is in just as much trouble. Cue the odd-couple science team: two species, zero common language, and enough physics to make your head spin. Gosling is charmingly competent, the alien is nicely alien (not just a guy in a weird forehead prosthetic), and while the story feels a lot like The Martian, it’s a solid high-stakes ride. I enjoyed it, even with the odd shortcomings. Running 2:36, it didn’t really lag. Definitely worth a watch.
~Sarge
THE PITT. Hulu, Max. Series. (8.97 IMDb)
Noah Wyle is back in the ER… can George Clooney be far behind?
Set in a brutally busy Pittsburgh ER, a grizzled Wyle leads a rotating pack of residents, interns, and students through near–real-time shifts (one episode = one hour, one season = one day). The writing is sharp, the characters click, and the show pulls no punches on nudity or bodily damage—approach with caution, but it’s worth it. Season two is still rolling out weekly. Now with more ICE!
~Sarge
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Sarge, aka Jeffery Sargent, cut his teeth on the Golden Age of Hollywoood on TV and with regular trips to the Sash Mill. Film classes then, at Cabrillo with Morton Marcus, broadened his scope – he found he preferred Keaton over Chaplin, and Akira Kurosawa was his Yoda. Sarge spent 15 years working in Special Effects, on everything from Starship Troopers to Battlestar Galactica. He is a staunch geek who has a weak spot for Cozy Mysteries and loathes “Reality” shows. While he doesn’t care for the unrelenting banal horror of “True Crime”, he licks his lips over a twist like the end of Chinatown. Email Sarge at JeffLSargent@gmail.com |
January 24, 2026
Whether heritage trees or heritage buildings, we are losing both.
In the photo, you are looking up Laurel St. from Pacific Avenue. The building on the right, with its lovely curves, was originally a Chevrolet showroom. A few decades and businesses later, and now it is Ace Hardware. After today’s council decision (6/23/26) the building will soon be bulldozed to make way for an eight-story housing/retail building. For scale, the blue building on the left is five stories. This new eight-story building will occupy the whole block stretching across Laurel, Front, Spruce and Pacific. A loss of history, loss of sense of place and loss of human scale. And loss of trees.
Last year, at the required project community zoom meeting some attendees referenced the building’s history as a Chevy showroom and urged the developer to try to accommodate it in some way into the new structure. He didn’t. So much for project community zooms listening to the community. Unfortunately, it is not a designated historic structure.
The trees will also go. The two in the foreground along Laurel St. are Chinese Flame trees. Both heritage trees, both public trees. Around the corner along Pacific Avenue is a row of magnolias, also public trees. All these trees will be ripped out for the project even though they are not in the footprint of the building, are healthy and grow at the edge of wide sidewalks, especially along Pacific.
When it was my turn to speak, I begged council to save the trees described above. I pointed out the other straggly trees on Front and Spruce streets could go, but these others are healthy, beautiful, public trees, on wide sidewalks. The developer can do what he needs to do on his private land, but he should leave the public assets alone.
Council member Susie O’Hara went to bat for the trees. From her questions to staff, we learned that the trees had to go anyway because of new bike and pedestrian lanes planned in the Downtown Extension Plan for Pacific and Laurel. If the trees are saved, they said, they will be in the middle of the bike lane. A motion to approve the project was made and seconded. Council member O’Hara wanted to separate out the Heritage Tree Removal Permit from the motion and asked the city attorney if she could do that. The city attorney said no (incorrectly, in my opinion) since it was part of the staff Resolution that the motion was made to approve. I’m sitting there aching to call out, “have you heard of amendments to motions?” but didn’t. The mayor echoed the attorneys “no” and said a substitute motion could be made but it wasn’t. The motion to approve the project including a Heritage Tree Removal Permit to cut down all 16 trees passed unanimously.
During the campaign for mayor, I rarely mentioned trees, or my long history of trying to save the city’s big trees for current and future generations. There were many other issues that I knew people cared about. However, a rare opportunity to reference trees occurred at the Arts Council forum, one of thirteen campaign forums. Although the Arts Council wouldn’t give candidates a preview of the questions they were going to ask, they did share what they wanted as a concluding statement; to write and share a haiku.
Mine came to me a few days before the forum as I was trying to get to sleep.
Playing with the wind
The tree hears the chain saw howl
The birds fall silent
| 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. |
WATSONVILLE PUBLIC EVENT RE: BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE PROJECT
Last Sunday, nearly 100 people attended the public informational gathering at Watsonville City’s Pinto Lake Park to hear about the status of the battery energy storage system (BESS) Seahawk Project proposed for 90 Minto Road, next to College Lake.
Mr. Patrick Orozco, local Native American Tribal leader and certified project reviewer, described the many Tribal sites known in the immediate area.
He said he had been contacted last year by some consultant wanting to know about the 90 Minto Road area. He said he had provided a great amount of information about the many known sites in the Seahawk Project area, documented by Cabrillo College Archaeologist Rob Edwards.
Patrick Orozco
So, why isn’t any of that included in the Seahawk Project application to the California Energy Commission (CEC)? Only a cursory pedestrian survey by the applicant’s paid consultant is referenced.
Mr. Tony Nunez, Supervisor-elect for the 4th District, also spoke last Sunday, thanking those who voted for him, and assuring everyone he will work hard to earn trust and public service accountability. He said that during his campaign walks, he heard over and over again that people just did not feel local government was listening to the concerns of the people. Because of that, he won the primary election, unseating incumbent Felipe Hernandez.
Supervisor-elect Nunez’s actions speak even louder than his words…he has already met twice with the California Energy Commission leaders now reviewing the large Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project proposed for an apple orchard at 90 Minto Road, Watsonville. He has vowed to track the Project, and hold meetings with his Constituents.
Quite amazingly, two representatives of the California Energy Commission, Executive Director Drew Bohan, and Public Advisor Ms. Fabi Lao, traveled from Sacramento to tour the 90 Minto Road BESS site and speak at the event, answering questions from the audience. They assured people that our voices matter, and will be taken into consideration with respect and concern.
Drew Bohan and Fabi Lao
Take a look at the California Energy Commission’s webpage for the Seahawk BESS Project, where you can review the application materials filed June 8 by New Leaf Energy / Sequoia Energy LLC.
You can also review comments already submitted by the members of the Public and the City of Watsonville.
Take a look at the “Stop Lithium BESS in Santa Cruz County” website.
Make your voice known by submitting your comment now.
WHAT A DISGUSTING ACTION
Last Tuesday, the Board of Supervisor agenda included action to be taken on the County’s Draft BESS Ordinance…on the Consent Agenda! That would mean that little or no discussion would happen on this very controversial issue, unless a Supervisor were to pull the item for Regular agenda presentation and discussion.
Thankfully, with many people having written and called all members of the Board to take such action, Supervisor DeSerpa did pull the item.
She said “it would have been nice” to have a presentation, but did not press to continue the matter until there could be a presentation provided. Instead, Planning Director Stephanie Hansen gave a brief overview of the recommended action…to shove the Draft Ordinance forward “as is” and not finish the work that would allow the County Planning Commission or County Agricultural Policy Advisory Commission to review the Ordinance and make recommendations.
Supervisor DeSerpa repeated that she is “against this project” (referring to the Seahawk BESS Project, NOT the Ordinance at hand) because she was told by the developers that there is a big need for more power to the Westside Santa Cruz area, and that she feels it is not fair to burden Watsonville residents with the project that would assist that need.
Supervisor Cummings then asked about his request made at the January 13, 2026 review of the Draft Ordinance to require 3:1 conservation for ag land taken out of production for the BESS project on Minto Road. CEO Coburn informed him that “we just agreed to study it”, but now that the Ordinance would not go forward to be codified, the issue is moot.
Supervisor Cummings tried to require the language be amended in the Draft Ordinance, which CEO Coburn was pushing to send to the California Energy Commission (CEC). Ms. Coburn then said that since the item had been originally on the Consent Agenda, the Board could not amend the Ordinance without bringing it back as a Regular Item at their meeting in August. No Board member asked for that to happen. She informed the Board it would be better to simply add the request that the CEC consider a 3:1 conservation ratio for ag farmland converted to the industrial-use BESS project in the letter from Chair Martinez that would accompany the Draft Ordinance.
It became very confusing for everyone whether or not Supervisor Cummings’ amendments he proposed at the January 13, 2026 meeting, and that were approved by the Board, would actually be included in the Ordinance OR the letter from Chair Martinez.
Supervisor Hernandez, who had been absent for much of the morning, wanted to know about the Community Benefits Agreement included in the Staff recommendation. CEO Coburn replied she had none, but hopes to by this fall.
Supervisor Koenig was silent.
Chair Martinez seemed unfamiliar with the content of the letter attached to the document, bearing her name. She wondered how the fire department might be involved? CEO Coburn said it would be up to the local fire jurisdiction, but not the County.
Members of the public testified that there was no reason to rush the Ordinance because the CEC Executive Director, Mr. Drew Bohan, had informed the group on Sunday that the CEC has 30 days to issue a statement whether or not the Seahawk BESS Project application materials were complete. “Usually, we need more information,” he had said, “and it can take 9-10 months to complete that, then once complete, we have 270 days to conduct local public meetings, an EIR, and issue a decision.”
People also stressed that it is imperative that Santa Cruz County preserve and protect the farmland, which is mandated by Measure J and codified in County Codes and Policy. That issue was to have been reviewed by the County’s Agricultural Policy Advisory Commission, which was formed as a result of Measure J. No response.
I testified that the CEC would reimburse the County for all staff time needed to thoroughly respond to the Seahawk BESS application materials. Did they know that? Blank stares.
I also testified that the Ordinance itself is NOT subject to CEQA, per the Senior Planner Mr. Albert Enault, at the City of Vacaville. Their BESS Ordinance prohibits flammable battery technology in grid-scale BESS facilities.
I urged the Board to take strong leadership and follow the actions of the City of Vacaville’s Ordinance, and to complete the work with the review of County Planning Commission and Agricultural Policy Advisory Commission recommendations. Battery Energy Storage Systems | Vacaville, CA
Here is what Mr. Enault wrote, in response to my question to him about the CEQA issue and how the City of Vacaville had handled it when approving their Draft BESS Ordinance:
“The draft ordinance is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 15061 (b)(3) since there is no possibility that the addition of regulations for BESS Facilities will have a significant effect on the environment. Proposed future BESS facilities will be reviewed in compliance with the provisions of CEQA at the time of application to determine appropriate environmental review.”
Albert Enault
Senior Planner
(707) 449-5364
So, WHY did CEO Coburn push the Board so hard to just send this inadequate, incomplete and questionable document that fails to protect the public’s safety off to the CEC, asking that they consider it “good” and that it is the best that Santa Cruz leaders can do?
In my opinion, the CEO and Board’s action was simply disgusting.
Many in the audience were very disappointed that Supervisor Cummings caved to the pressure when he has been such a strong leader on this issue.
All the more reason for you to write Letters to the Editor,
Santa Cruz Sentinel:
Submit Letters
Pajaronian:
Letter to the Editor or Article Idea | The Pajaronian | Watsonville, CA
Good Times:
Letter to the Editor or Article Idea | Good Times
Submit your comments to the CEC.
Seahawk Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)
As Ms. Lauren Howsmon, author of a Letter to the Editor in last week’s Good Times (Out, Out, Data Center), wrote regarding the importance of local jurisdiction leaders passing ordinances to ban or regulate data centers and BESS facilities in our Community:
“Do not give up! Attend meetings until they agree to vote on this ordinance! Public servants serve the people, not corporate interests.
Get involved, speak up and fight for your community. Our kids deserve to live in a beautiful, healthy community. We the people matter just as much as the billionaires. The federal government is not regulating this booming industry. We must fight back to protect our land.”
In a nutshell, here is what the CEO got shoved through (Consent Item #69 moved to Item 6.1)::
Formal Title: Accept and file report on the status of the Energy Storage Systems Combining District Ordinance and the proposed 90 Minto Road Energy Storage System project, and take related actions
Recommended Actions
- Accept and file report on the status of the Energy Storage Systems (ESS) Combining District Ordinance and the proposed 90 Minto Road ESS project;
- Direct the Board Chair to send a letter to the California Energy Commission (CEC) asking the Commission to consider the County’s Draft ESS Combining District Ordinance in the review and approval of the proposed 90 Minto Road ESS project;
- Direct the County Executive Officer to pursue and negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement with the developer of the proposed project;
- Direct staff to participate in the CEC’s environmental review and approval process for the proposed project; and
- Direct staff to suspend continued processing of the County’s Draft ESS Ordinance given that there are no pending applications before the County for projects that would be regulated by the Draft Ordinance
Here is a link to the June 30, 2026 Board agenda (See Consent Item #69):
Meeting
You can watch the video here (scroll down to Item 69 under Scheduled Actions and click to get to that section of the recording:
Jun 30, 2026 Board of Supervisors – Regular Meeting (trimmed) – Santa Cruz County, CA
WHAT DID SHE HAVE TO SAY?
Along with about 15 people, I attended Second District Supervisor Kim DeSerpa’s Constituent meeting on June 22 at the Aptos Library, hoping to learn more about the proposed large development near State Park Drive. It was disappointing.
There was a handoout available for the “Village on the Green” (former Aptos Par 3 Golf site) but neither the Supervisor nor her staff seemed to have any answers for the myriad of questions about placing two 6-story apartment buildings and 200 mostly three-story town homes on the site. What about power grid reliability tier status, the nearby mobile home residents wanted to know? What about traffic, water and sewer infrastructure and burden on the local Community? What about evacuation and emergency response?
“We really don’t know” was the recurring answer. Will there be public hearings? Likely not, because the Board of Supervisors approved a ministerial overlay for the parcel, and others with similar plans for some affordable housing to be included.
The handout advised following the status here: Major Project Applications
“It would be nice” if Supervisor DeSerpa were to hold regular Constituent Meetings to help keep us updated on this and other important issues, wouldn’t it? According to her webpage, nothing is scheduled until October 14.
Write and ask for regular meetings with those she serves: Kimberly DeSerpa <kimberly.deserpa@santacruzcountyca.gov>
Her staff: Maureen McCarty <maureen.mccarty@santacruzcountyca.gov>
Regina Kelbert <regina.kelbert@santacruzcountyca.gov>
You can find information about when other Supervisors have office hours here: (click on their picture to access their page, and scroll to the bottom:
Board of Supervisors
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY REPORTS
This year’s County Civil Grand Jury Reports were released last week. Take time to read through these reports that are the result of great hard work by people who care about improving local government.
- Walking in the County of Santa Cruz is Not for the Faint of Heart
Can Vision Zero Help? - Problematic Parking at the County Building
Free means Free - Election Integrity
An Indispensable System Working Well - Santa Cruz County’s Housing Crisis
Closing the Gap Between Planning and Production - County Behavioral Health
Challenges Require More Urgency, Demonstration of Value, and Collaboration with the Justice System - The Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line
Competing Visions, Emerging Realities - Foreperson Letter to Judge and Detention Facilities Statement
I read the excellent report about the parking problem at the 701 Ocean Street County Government Building and learned that PARKING IS FREE THERE ON BOARD OF SUPERVISOR MEETING DATES! Who would know?
I hope to read the Report about the Rail Trail next.
WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. ATTEND A PUBLIC HEARING AND ASK QUESTIONS…AND DEMAND ANSWERS.
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE THIS WEEK BY DOING JUST ONE THING.
Cheers,
Becky
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Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes. She ran again in 2020 on a slightly bigger shoestring and got 1/3 of the votes.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com |
Of all of California’s, and especially the Central Coast’s, habitats, rivers and streams are the most important, the most abused, the most wildlife-rich, and the most valued. That’s a whole lot of ‘mosts.’ Only through a shared understanding and valuing of these ecosystems will we be able to reverse the ongoing degradation and rise up appreciation so that it never occurs again. Will you help?
Water
Rivers and streams provide so much for humans that it is difficult to understand how society accepts the ongoing abuse of these systems. I use the term ‘riparian’ to indicate rivers, streams, brooks, ephemeral flashy drainages, and the floodplains that they ‘talk’ to, that are also naturally a part of those waterways. Riparian areas transport water. Water is life. Humans need water and have dammed rivers to create reservoirs. Humans also drill water wells to withdraw water from aquifers that are often replenished by rivers and streams. For riparian areas to do their best job of providing humans water, they need room to ebb and flow with the changing seasons. In the winter, they expand into floodplains, spreading out the water, slowing down the flow, and allowing the plentiful winter water to seep into the ground. During those big winter flows, rivers and streams can also carry boulders, rocks, sand, and mud.
Mud
Sediment transportation and storage are other services provided by riparian areas. Rivers carry sediment (‘mud’) and move it around, and store it, on floodplains. This is what has created the most fertile farmlands in the world, including along the Pajaro and Salinas rivers on the Central Coast. Imagine a stream swelling with rainwater, overtopping its banks and flowing much more widely, and shallowly, across grasses and sedges, bumping into cattails and willows: this ‘roughness’ slows the flow and captures the mud, cleaning the stream. Healthy rivers flow with clean, clear water most of the time because there is little erosion in the headwaters and because they have stored mud on their floodplains.
Fish
Coho salmon, steelhead, lamprey, and a host of other fish are riparian species. Many humans like to eat the tasty ones, as do other mammals. Fish love intact riparian systems and suffer greatly when the habitat is messed up. Coho, steelhead, and lamprey must use various parts of riparian areas as well as the ocean to survive. Coho and steelhead eggs hatch in ‘reds’ – nests dug into just the right current, in just the right gravel…free of mud. The minnows need shelter from high flow in the winter, places to hide and not get swept downstream…off stream pools, behind root wads, or in boulder fields. As minnows get bigger, they eat more and more bugs and get fat behind beaver ponds or in coastal lagoons. The bugs need food, too, and that comes from leaf fall – lots of trees dropping bug-edible leaves is a key contributor to fish health. At the other end of the lifecycle, when adult salmon and steelhead come back from the ocean to spawn in rivers and streams, they want places to rest on their way upstream – deep pools and places where the high flow is blocked. Through the fish’s eyes, hopefully you can see all the different parts of a riparian area that it takes to create healthy habitat.
Degradation
Any way you look at it – for fish, for mud, and for water – humans are really messing up riparian areas. I put that in present tense because we are. True, there have been a lot of legacy problems that need restoration and some of that restoration is a long way away. But, there are ongoing major problems, as well, and these aren’t getting better.
Californians have built 14,000 miles of levees that wall in rivers and streams. These were meant to maximize the area for development and agriculture and now both are right on the other side of the levee, and much depends on the levees to remain working. Miles and miles of those levees are old and compromised, perhaps waiting for the next El Niño stresses to blow out, flood people, wash away farmland soil. With rivers hemmed in by levees, they dig and dig, scouring up sediment with nowhere to store it. Either we have to pay lots of dollars to ‘maintain’ the rivers and move the sediment somewhere for them or the river overtops and erodes the levees. The real estate on the other side of the levee gets someone rich and the river and levee maintenance makes society poorer: once again, taxpayers are footing the bill for the few to get richer at great expense to the environment.
Sometimes, society decides to put the poorest of people near the levees: such is the case for the poor town of Pajaro, which keeps getting flooded along with many people’s houses and their belongings.
When human-created levees isolate riparian areas from their floodplains, humans lose access to water and wildlife is decimated. Isolated floodplains no longer recharge groundwater. All that ‘process space’ where rivers filtered floodwaters and stored sediment is lost and the river becomes muddy. If one needs river water for drinking, now one needs to clean it more, which is more expensive – another cost born by the ratepayer not the upstream farmer that benefited from more land to farm where the river was channelized. If one needs an aquifer for their water, the lost floodplain means that the aquifer doesn’t recharge as well. And the fish that need the clean gravel, the side channels and deep pools…well, they also suffer immensely as do the people who used to like to eat them and the fisherpeople who provided them.
Help!
There are various things you can do to help. For instance, support politicians that support riparian restoration and protection. In Santa Cruz County, there has long been a policy of the government allowing riparian destruction despite there being laws against it. One person told me that the County prefers to ‘use the carrot, not the stick.’ Recently, I have been told that the County is informing developers that they need not have set backs from streams that only flow in the winter. Those policies are a result of people not asking their elected officials to stand up for rivers and streams. Riparian protection ordinances, along with the 100 foot setback from every stream and watercourse, is something we need and something that should be enforced.
Land managers, renters, and landowners can do their part, too. As Brock Dolman from Occidental Arts & Ecology Center says: “slow it, spread it, sink it!” Wherever you can, help slow down the water, spread out the flows where you can, and capture and allow water to sink into the ground. If you know people who ‘drain’ water with ditches, destroy wet areas with ‘fill,’ or who are generally antagonistic to wet ground, there’s a chance to look at their situation and help convert them to the ‘slow it, spread it, sink it’ movement.
Get ready for a wet winter! Plan a raingarden today.
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Grey Hayes is a fervent speaker for all things wild, and his occupations have included land stewardship with UC Natural Reserves, large-scale monitoring and strategic planning with The Nature Conservancy, professional education with the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, and teaching undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz. Visit his website at: www.greyhayes.net
Email Grey at coastalprairie@aol.com |
Monday, July 6, 2026
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….
The statement above, from the Declaration of Independence, is surely known to almost every American. Probably, most Americans would also agree that the following redrafting of the language better conveys, to our contemporary ears, what our Declaration means to say:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men persons are created equal….
As a preliminary comment, it is worth noting that the statement does not claim that all American persons are created equal. My gosh, as written out in our Declaration of Independence, this statement would seem to apply to immigrants, too. Even “illegal” immigrants!
While we are all thinking about that, let me refer anyone reading this blog posting to a column in The Wall Street Journal, published on June 17, 2026. The column, by William A. Galston, is titled, “What ‘Created Equal’ Means in America.”
To cut to the chase, the main thing to understand is that “equal” is not equivalent to “the same.” That is the key to understanding what our Declaration of Independence is all about. We – persons in the world – are all “different.” That is pretty much “self-evident.” Given that we accept this self-evident truth, then what in the world is our Declaration trying to get at? How can that “all persons are created equal” assertion be justified or understood?
Check out Galston’s exploration of this topic (and I note that clicking the link I provided above is supposed to let even non-subscribers read Galston’s column). Galston is saying that we are all of “equal worth.” I agree with that – but let me go just a bit further.
The Declaration of Independence was a statement, made more than 250 years ago, and its claims were made in the context of a political revolution. I read the Declaration as asserting that the only legitimate government is a government that must treat everyone “the same” when it comes to their participation in the task of self-government.
The Declaration obviously states a revulsion against any form of political discrimination – discrimination based on race, or gender, or wealth (or any other difference). We are not “equal” in the sense of “the same.” Quite the contrary. We are all “different.” But our Declaration of Independence says that the Americans who were separating themselves from the government of Great Britain, and from the English King who claimed a right to “rule,” felt it appropriate to “declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Our Declaration outlines what was wrong with the King’s government in England, and more than anything else, the problem the Declaration made clear in a general statement, before listing specifics – was that the King’s government did not allow everyone to participate, equally, in the government that so profoundly impacted their daily lives and their future existence.
My own reading of The Declaration of Independence sees it as a statement about the kind of government to which the American Revolution aspired – and that those who pledged themselves to the revolution understood to be their objective.
“Self-government,” was their objective. And self-government means (as Lincoln summed it up at Gettysburg) a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
The Declaration was “our” claim (our claim both collectively and individually) that the government that determines how our collective lives will be arranged must be a government that assigns an equal role to everyone in the decisions that will shape our future, and that determine our present.
I read The Declaration as a pledge of our individual and personal participation in making that happen, too.
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Gary Patton is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net
Email Gary at gapatton@mac.com |
Thom Hartmann gives permission to copy and pass this graphic along.
Have you decided which bit of news — from the Freaky Freedom 250 Flag Day Ultimate Fighting Fiasco on the White House grounds or, at last, word of a ‘settlement‘ in the Iran War-Not-War-Excursion best floats your boat? The disgusting, grifting, pay-to-play manosphere fascists debasing the People’s House with the bloody cage matches is deeply troubling, even beyond the millions spent from the taxpayer’s treasury. And the Memorandum of Understanding with Iran still puts the nation 60 days away from any settlement in the Trump/Netanyahu conflict, particularly if Bibi is not on board with pausing his aggression. The “fully transparent Trump administration” refuses to release any details of the MOU, but from leaks it appears we are on the hook to pay billions of dollars to Iran to rebuild their infrastructure — on top of the billions we’ve already spent in destroying it. What a deal!?
The Ultimate Fighting extravaganza was portrayed as part of the country’s 250th birthday celebration, but we all saw it for what it really was — we just paid an exorbitant sum to recognize Donald Trump’s 80th year — at Donald’s behest. Praising the president, GOP Representative Troy Nehls of Texas, crowed, “Donald Trump is the very best thing to happen in this country in 100 years. He was born a very special baby. I bet you the doctors said, ‘I can tell this is a very special baby.‘” Michigan Senate candidate, Mallory McMorrow, called the UFC spectacle “wildly tone-deaf” on MS NOW, saying, “It’s not like the economy is roaring or everybody is doing well…he’s throwing himself a birthday party in the middle of it. It just rings ‘let them eat cake.‘” Wow! Birthday cake with Special Baby Frosting? Did you get yours?
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Dale Matlock, a Santa Cruz County resident since 1968, is the former owner of The Print Gallery, a screenprinting establishment. He is an adherent of The George Vermosky school of journalism, and a follower of too many news shows, newspapers, and political publications, and a some-time resident of Moloka’i, Hawaii, U.S.A., serving on the Board of Directors of Kepuhi Beach Resort. Email: cornerspot14@yahoo.com. |
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Thomas Leavitt is the husbandy thing to our illustrious webmistress. A resident of Santa Cruz (now part time) since 1993, his interests include history, technology, and community organizing. He started the world’s first self-service web hosting company, WebCom, located at 903 Pacific in May of 1994. He’s been part of too many community organizations to mention, and ran for City Council in the early aughts. Email Thomas at ThomLeavitt@gmail.com |
“Summer”
“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”
~Sam Keen
“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.”
~Anton Chekhov
“When I figured out how to work my grill, it was quite a moment. I discovered that summer is a completely different experience when you know how to grill.”
~Taylor Swift
“I love summertime more than anything else in the world. That is the only thing that gets me through the winter, knowing that summer is going to be there.”
~Jack McBrayer
“It will not always be summer; build barns.”
~Hesiod
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Biology is simply fascinating! |
Direct questions and comments to webmistress@BrattonOnline.com
(Gunilla Leavitt)
