WEST CLIFF DRIVE CIRCA 1960. That’s Bay Street on the far right heading on to West Cliff Drive and Cowell Street way off to the left. This is of course the site of the Dream Inn and The Sea and Sand Inn now. It’s generally regarded as the awakening environmental loss that led to some serious organizing starting in the late 60’s.
A VERY DATED SANTA CRUZ VIDEO. It only has 644 views so far…looks very commercial. If anyone can give us a date on this ‘twould be fun.
SANTA CRUZ TOURING AGAIN. This time it’s more about the redwoods.
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD. David Attenborough narrates this…..Grey Hayes found it.
DATELINE May 15, 2105
THE CAMPAIGN FOR SENSIBLE TRANSPORTATION AND CORRIDOR REZONING. The Campaign and Rick Longinotti sent this. There’ll be a
“Discussion with City of SC planners” on Saturday, May 20th, 10:30 am at the Tannery Lofts, 1040 River St. [ Google Maps link ]
There will be an in-house meeting of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation for a presentation by planners from the City of Santa Cruz on the City’s proposed rezoning along its main transportation corridors, Soquel Ave, Water St., Mission St. and Ocean St. The rezoning is intended to allow higher density buildings in exchange for community benefits such as affordable housing. The Campaign for Sensible Transportation considers affordable housing an important element to reduce the length of commute trips. Below are some questions that we have submitted to the City staff. Here’s a link to the City’s webpage on the corridor rezoning.
Should the City require new residential development to unbundle the cost of parking from the cost of renting or purchasing a new apartment?
Should the City require that the tenant’s cost of a parking space be no less than the actual cost of providing that space?
Should the City require new residential development to offer free bus passes to residents, such as was required in the approval of Pacific Shores Apartments on Shaeffer Road?
Should the City adopt a plan for privileging transit on transportation corridors before allowing increased density on those corridors? examples: queue jumping; signal preference; raised boarding platforms; off-bus ticketing; bus-only lanes?
Can this plan involve a funding mechanism for the improvements?
What is the potential for additional affordable housing (of various tiers) from corridor rezoning compared to existing zoning?
Can the City issue neighborhood parking permits within geographic boundaries that exclude buildings on the corridor? (This is to protect neighborhoods from spillover parking.)
That meeting again is… Saturday, May 20th, 10:30 am at the Tannery Lofts, 1040 River St.
OUR SANTA CRUZ LIBRARY. The League of Women Voters sent this… Santa Cruz Public Libraries Director to Speak at LWV Annual Meeting. Susan Nemitz, Santa Cruz Public Libraries Director, will be the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the League of Women Voters of Santa Cruz County on Saturday, June 10, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Seascape Golf Club, 610 Clubhouse Dr., Aptos. Open to the public. Nemitz will give an update on plans for a $63 million investment in library system improvements funded by the library bond passed last June. Hot breakfast buffet: $20 per person. Paid reservations required by May 31. Send check payable to LWVSCC, P.O. Box 1745, Capitola, CA 95010. More information at www.lwvscc.org or call 831-325-4140.
That’s a lot of money just to tell Nemitz what you think about those plans for the parking garage. But it could prove valuable just to hear her tell how solid and locked in the City is in building that 5 story structure.
SALUTING LOU HARRISON’S 100TH YEAR. In addition to Phil Collins’ New Music Works creating three grand and well-attended concerts last weekend we need a statue or some sort of permanent public memorial to this highly respected world renowned composer who lived in Aptos. Maybe some developer could name a street or square after Lou?
One little thing though, in a recent mention in our daily paper it said Lou helped start the Cabrillo Music Festival. He didn’t… matter of fact he was against it and was very involved with the Sticky Wicket music productions instead. But he thought it over and ended up supporting all the work that Ted Toews and others had been doing and the rest is Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music history. The Festival just now emailed this…
For the Love of Lou. Our 2017 Festival season includes the commission of a tribute to Lou by one of this generation’s most talented composers, David T. Little. Read more about the work, titled The Conjured Life, on our website. In addition, to honor Lou’s legacy with the Festival, we have gathered a collection of wonderful images and audio from our archives, enjoy!
SPEAKING OF WHICH. The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music sent out the 2017 concert schedule last week. Go to their website… www.Cabrillomusic.org and check out all the stellar events. Local and worldwide favorite Evelyn Glennie is returning and the big news is that Cristian Macelaru the new music director and conductor will make his debut. About 75 families each year host and house the visiting musicians and guest artists. It’s a great and ongoing way to become part of the Festival family. If you have a possible room and live near the Civic Auditorium, get in touch with the Festival. There’s all sorts of benefits from sharing. Just email valerie@cabrillomusic.org The Festival dates are July 30- August 12.
May 15, 2015
UCSC: COLLUSION WITH CORRUPTION
A state audit of the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), uncovered a cache of undisclosed reserves of $175 million (at the same time a raise in tuition was approved by the Regents) and revealed collusion between UCOP and three of the UC campuses to change state audit survey responses after the fact to reflect UCOP in a better light. Our own UCSC was one of those three.
Under the signature and direction of Chancellor Blumenthal, UCSC changed the original audit survey entries in key areas from criticisms to praise at the request of UCOP, ignoring the state auditor’s direction that all campuses keep the surveys confidential, not to be shared outside of the campus. Ironically, one of the whitewashes was for the UCOP Division of Ethics, Compliance and Audit Services, for which UCSC heads replaced the internal criticism and rating of “poor” to one of “high quality services” and praise as “a critical partner for the campus.”
Kudos to the San Francisco Chronicle and reporter, Nanette Asimov, for uncovering this violation of ethics in her article of May 10th, 2017. And where was the Sentinel? While our local daily newspaper did cover the main thrust of the statewide news, it has made no attempt to report on the actions of the leaders of UCSC in this cover-up. Surely, this is local news of significance.
On May 23rd. UCSC Chancellor Blumenthal will address both the Board of Supervisors and the Santa Cruz City Council on the upcoming Long Range Development Plan process for future UCSC growth. We can expect presentations on how critical UCSC is to the economy of Santa Cruz and the obligation of UC to educate students especially those from unrepresented groups from which UCSC has done a laudable job of recruiting. Without detracting from such legitimate claims, the time is ripe to address a fundamental truth: that UCSC and Santa Cruz are at carrying capacity and we cannot accommodate more UCSC growth either on or off campus. It is heartening that both the county Board of Supervisors under the leadership of Supervisor Coonerty and the Santa Cruz City Council under the leadership of Mayor Chase have expressed concerns about this community’s incapacity to absorb more UCSC growth.
The ball is now in Chancellor Blumenthal’s court. Either he can convey this message to UCOP (University of California Office of the President) and advocate for alternative solutions such as directing student growth demand to UC Merced, which was built to accommodate such demand, or he can continue to serve the interests of UCOP without regard for the realities on the ground. His recent actions with respect to the state audit do not auger well for the former. His basic integrity should guide him towards the latter.
~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).
May 15, 2017 SANTA CRUZ CITY BUDGET BLUES.
The Budget is Coming Hurrah, Hurrah!?!
I would like to be brief this week…
The Santa Cruz City budget was released last Saturday morning (5/13) at 1:37am by finance director, Marcus Pimenthal.
Besides wondering what Marcus is doing up in the wee hours it is interesting to note that city councilmembers have from May 13th to May 22nd to study a document totaling 525 pages. Remember, being on the council is theoretically “a half-time job.” The city council has nine days to digest, deliberate, and again theoretically, hold numerous meetings with staff members to get questions answered before the line item voting begins on May 23rd. And in this budget process the votes will be numerous and I will try and report them out to you here in the coming weeks, but my point is there is not a lot of prep time for councilmembers to get up to speed.
No matter how much Santa Cruz city councilmembers stand up for Standing Rock (?) and against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) (?), and support the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band (?) and pass a resolution in favorSingle-Payer Healthcare (SB 562) (?), and no matter how many people come out to support a resolution that says NO to Trump’s Wall (?), and also want to boot the Homeland Security investigator from the SC Police Department (?)…it all makes little difference in terms of political power in the city of Santa Cruz because real political power is linked with economic power.
Unless the city council hears from the voters about how the $261,365,609 million “proposed” budget of this city might be spent and should be spent, the above goodwill issues are all just window dressing.
I can bring forward for approval a sanctuary city ordinance (?) on the heels of a 7-0 vote in favor of a sanctuary city resolution(?), but unless “we the people” follow this up with lots of voices in the room and emailing and calling demanding $ $ MONEY $ $ for lawyers to help defend immigrants from being deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, by tripling the number of drug and alcohol treatment counselors, by building a 24/7 emergency shelter, or by allocating funds to expand teen programs, then we might as well be running a city of symbology and good intentions.
Where the rubber meets the road is how the above $261,365,609 (p. 438) proposed budget expenditures is “projected” to be parceled out in salaries, programs, potholes, and fee, fine and ticketing relief for locals. And the big secret that few councilmembers really ever talk about is just how few people are busting down the doors during budget hearing time. Don’t forget, these are decisions humans make, not ones written on tablets that descend from on high and are handed over to the city manager by Moses or Abraham, Mohammed or Jesus. This budget is the work of flesh and bones humans, and it can be changed, amended, or thrown out and started over by just any four-vote council majority.
Budget hearing time is coming… May 23rd beginning at 7pm, and also May 24th from 9am to 4pm, and if needed, May 25th. The final city budget document will be approved at a council meeting in June (13th or 27th).
Make no mistake, any power that the city council has is measured by bringing FOUR (4) votes to the table. If somebody wants to change the seating order on the city council dais, they would likely need four votes. And if you want to cut some positions to build a homeless shelter, or put that homeless shelter at the top of the capital improvements list, four votes does that. More than “show me the money,” it’s show the city manager four votes and you can change the nature of city budgeting. Want more community service officers on Pacific Avenue, or money channeled toward building affordable housing units…learn how to count to four.
But how does one councilmember count to four when she or he is restricted by the Ralph M. Brown Act from talking to more than two other council people? Well, as a councilmember you just need to do the public’s business in public…meaning councilmembers have to have conversations over the issues of the day at council meetings. Is funding childcare more important than building a new eastside fire station? Is increasing the budget for the teen center going to offer Santa Cruzans more bang for their buck than say, refurbishing the lifeguard locker room on the wharf? Is buying new laptops for all police cars this year more valuable than reroofing the Homeless Services Center building? Can laptops wait until next year, or are a few leaks during an AA meeting tolerable? These are choices the city council makes during its budget sessions. They are many and they can be infuriating, difficult, complex and sometimes just seem to be nasty choices, and sometimes they are nasty choices. And how many will show up to present their case and urge the city council to hold back on buying the new “centrifuge rotodiff hydraulic drive assembly” for $80,000 or the golf course “driving range building improvements” for $800,000, and actually not two or three, but twelve public bathrooms in and around downtown? Politics is about making choices.
My question too is, how can a city council seriously make decisions over, for example, the city attorney’s office—$1,054,000 requested budget amount—when the only information in the budget shows scant detail on how money was spent last year and how it will be spent in the coming year (page 55-56), or the number of cases handled, or the number of attorneys employed in the office, or anything of much relevance. Is this what our half-time councilmember is expected to do, scrutinize and delve into the details of how tax payer money is spent on legal services with less than two pages of detail? Or, are we to simply rubber stamp what the city manager places in front of us at council meetings?
For some reason, the budget summaries are in the back, beginning on page 429, instead of the front. These are where the projected revenues and expenditures pages begin.
That 10,000 Pound Gorilla Is Now on Display
Okay, this column will not be as brief as I wanted. I just remembered UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal will be presenting his yearly report this week at the city council, and hopefully hearing from the public too. The city council passed a resolution asking Mayor Chase to send a letter to the chancellor with questions councilmembers have about our ten-thousand-pound academic gorilla continuing to grow and sprout more arms and legs and pushing hard on Surf City locals. Here are the questions I passed on to the Mayor to be included in the letter:
How many of these new students will be housed on campus in the Fall of 2017?
The Comprehensive Settlement Agreement focuses on undergraduate student growth numbers, while the graduate student population is growing too. Will there be any changes in graduate student housing in the near future on campus?
Have you made any assessment about off-campus housing options for students?
When will the 19,500 LRDP figure be reached?
Is it your plan to house all students above 19,500 on campus?
The 3000-bed project currently slated for the Porter Meadow, which the Chancellor recently wrote about in an email to the campus community. When will the first beds come on line, in the Fall of 2020?
How many beds are contained in “Phase I” of this project?
When will the total of 3000 be in use?
Will there be any temporary housing proposed before the completion of Phase I? What is the planned net new number of beds? That is, will there be an increased percentage of students housed on campus? What will that percentage be?
It is clear that the fees charged on campus for student housing are quite high and drive the rental market prices in town. At $1,468 per student per month to share a room—this includes a five-day meal plan (http://housing.ucsc.edu/rates/index.html)this cost seems unreasonably high and not consistent with the typical Santa Cruz household budget. It is clear that this figure is lower if similar housing is obtained in town. This becomes a built-in pressure for many students, especially those receiving little or no financial aid to move off campus in search of this community’s scarce housing. Does the University administration plan on building additional off-campus housing?
What is the current plan for “upper campus,” or West Campus development? Has that been taken off the table for the foreseeable future, or are you planning on bringing it back in the updated LRDP?
Transportation
Is the campus shuttle system maxed out? If so, do you foresee adding additional shuttle buses for the coming academic year?
Metro Santa Cruz buses are often (how often?) filled to capacity and frequently pass by groups of students waiting at bus stops. Does the university a) monitor how many buses pass up waiting students, or b) have an idea of how many students end up late for class because of this overcrowded situation?
Would the university administration be willing to contribute additional funding to maintain the Metro bus system, and also add additional shuttle buses during critical times?
Water
Will the campus require additional water service if upper campus is developed? How much is anticipated?
Will future growth of the current campus footprint (not upper campus) require more water service? How much is anticipated?
Traffic
Can the university administration restrict all undergrads from bringing cars to campus, while at the same time committing to significantly increasing Zip Car service, increasing campus shuttles, and possibly partnering with the city in instituting its new”bike share” program?
Does the university administration have any plans to pursue what has become known as “eastern access,” which would be an access road to the university through the Pogonip?
What is to be done about the morning and afternoon traffic crawling along High, Storey and King Streets? Might you have any ideas on how to work with the city, if not by decreasing traffic, then by at least not allowing car counts to increase in the coming years?
Recent City Housing Element Annual Progress Report proposes that the Corridor Development be a focus of student housing. Corridors are predominantly in East Santa Cruz and would further drive cross-town traffic as otherwise students face multiple-bus rides and transfers each day to campus. Has the University administration participated in any discussions about student housing concentrations that could be built downtown to discourage cars near the Metro hub, or the Westside where alternative transportation options are possibly closer to campus?
~ Bernie Quote of the Week:
“To the class of 2017 I say: If there was ever a time in history for a generation to be bold and to think big, to stand up and to fight back, now is that time.”
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.
WHO IS WATCHING AS APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS DESTROY AN ANCIENT OHLONE VILLAGE SITE?
Nobody.
That is the huge problem that residents tried to get the County Historic Resources Commission to address last Friday during the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) public hearing for the Aptos Village Project. The Commissioners seemed unconcerned about the fact that no Native American observers have been on the site during the recent massive amounts of earth disturbance going on.
See the YouTube of that public hearing on the right.
The large, significant archaeologic site, CA-SCR-222. mapped in 1979, is an ancient Ohlone Village site. There have been burials found previously in the area. This information was glossed-over by Albion, the company that Barry Swenson Builder, Joe Appenrodt, Pete Testorff and other Aptos Village developers hired to assess the impacts of the proposed development on cultural and historic resources. Consequently, the mitigations for the Project focus on the structures: rehabilitating the Apple Barn, and demolishing the Aptos Fire House, but not on the large pre-historic Ohlone village site.
Here is my YouTube video of finding artifacts during the excavation.
The mitigations CUL-2 reads: “All ground disturbing activity in the project area shall be monitored by a qualified archaeologist in the event a substantial intact deposit is found within the property. Pursuant to Section 16.40.040 of the Santa Cruz County Code, if archaeological resources are uncovered during construction, the responsible persons shall immediately cease and desist from all further site excavation and comply with the notification procedures given in SCC 16.40.040. WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ABOVE MITIGATION, IMPACTS TO ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES WOULD BE LESS THAN SIGNIFICANT.” (Caps added for emphasis.) Really? So, who is watching to determine whether a substantial intact deposit is found? Nobody, quite honestly.
The “qualified archaeologist”, a young fellow with an anthropology (not the same as archaeology) degree, has been assigned by Mr. Robert Cartier, an archaeologic consultant with a widely-known reputation as “the developer’s archaeologist”. The young man, if at all present, spends most of his time checking his cell phone, and stands at a great distance from the excavation action. I have observed this many times….and filmed it.
So, when members of the public asked the Historic Resource Commissioners about the artifacts that have been found and reported during construction so far, Commissioners looked blankly to Planner Ms. Annie Murphy. She nervously shuffled papers and said she would check. The Commissioners decided not to address the issue of there being NO NATIVE AMERICAN OBSERVER at the construction site; because they are confident Ms. Murphy is taking care of things with a “watchful eye”.
Watchful? NOBODY is watching. Native American observer Ms. Ann Marie Sayers, who was present at the site during Soquel Creek Water District’s new water main trenching last year, visited the Aptos Village Project site last weekend and is upset. No one contacted her that such massive amounts of earth disturbance were occurring on the archaeological site.
Commissioner Carolyn Swift admitted that she knew all along about the significant pre-history site but seemed at the hearing to just begin caring. When multiple citizens asked for Native American observers to be added as a mitigation to the Historic Preservation Plan for the Project, she refused. Indeed, the Commissioners would not take any action to protect the artifacts of this significant Ohlone site.
What about the Chinese cultural and historic deposits that are also in the area? That does not even enter into their discussion. That amazes me, since the historic Lam-Mattison Apple Dryer and Vinegar Works was there, along with a small Chinese settlement. Mr. Lam was the grandfather of Santa Cruz businessman and benefactor Mr. George Ow. None of the interpretive panels within the Project will apparently feature information about this aspect of Aptos Village history.
Something is really wrong here.
JOIN THE CITIZEN PROTEST AT TROUT GULCH ROAD AND SOQUEL DRIVE THIS WEEK…every morning 7:00am-9:30am. A group of Aptos citizens will be appealing the Historic Resources Commission decisions. Stay tuned.
“CAN WE JUST REMAIN SILENT ON THIS?”
Those were the words in an e-mail from County Assistant Planning Director Ms. Wanda Williams, to Mr. David Nefouse, County Counsel, regarding the issue I raised via pre-hearing written communication about the Aptos Village Project Historic Preservation Plan being EXPIRED as of January, 2014. By accident, I was included in that e-mail recipient list.
When I again raised the issue during the public hearing, the Commissioners again looked blankly to Ms. Murphy. Again, she nervously shuffled papers and said that the Historic Preservation Plan is good for two years and as long as there is activity on the permit applications, everything is okay. When one Commissioner, at the behest of a member of the audience, asked if there had been activity, Ms. Murphy said “I do not have that information.” Wow.
Well, there was no activity on the Project until after Barry Swenson Builder bulldozed the world-famous Post Office Bike Jumps on February 17, 2015…a full year after the Historic Preservation Plan had expired. The Plan approval is valid for two years and can only be extended by the County Historic Resources Commission during a public meeting. I have checked all agendas for the Commission since the Plan was modified and approved in January 19, 2012, and the issue was never on the public agenda.
Santa Cruz County Code 16.42.060, which outlines development procedures for designated historic resources, states “When an Historic Resource Preservation Plan is required by this section, NO FINAL APPOVAL SHALL BE GIVEN to a land division, development permit, building permit, demolition permit, land clearing permit or grading permit for a project affecting an historical structure, object, propery, site or district, UNLESS AN HISTORIC RESOURCE PRESERVATION PLAN FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE HISTORIC RESOURCE HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE HISTORIC RESOURCES COMMISSION…” (Caps added for emphasis.)
So, that means that since the Historic Resources Preservation Plan expired on January 19, 2014, NONE, I repeat, NONE of the approvals or permits that the County Planning Department has issued is valid. What’s more, that means that the Phase I Final Map approved by the County Board of Supervisors on December 8, 2015 IS NOT VALID.
At last Friday’s CEQA public hearing, I explained all this to the Historic Resources Commissioners at least three times. They sure were not going to hear it from Ms. Murphy.
When Commissioner Swift asked Planners Ms. Annie Murphy and Ms. Paia Levine why the Commission had not been notified earlier about this and could the Commission make any approvals today?” Ms. Levine replied “Well, you can just go ahead and approve all this and we can talk about the rest later.” Well, that certainly is transparent and accountable government working for you, isn’t it?…. Take a moment and think about this.
I wonder why Mr. Bill Parkin, the attorney from Wittwer & Parkin who represented the citizen group We Are Aptos in a Petition for Writ of Mandate last year, (basically a demand that County government officials follow County laws and requirements of the Aptos Village Project developers), did not point out the above information to Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick? I tried to do just that in an Ex Parte document, but Mr. Parkin tried to block my action, and Judge Burdick denied my request that he consider my information. Again, something is really wrong here.
Further, not only is the Aptos Village Project Historic Preservation Plan expired, but the Project Subdivision Master Appliction 101027 IS ALSO EXPIRED, as of September 25, 2016.
Well, the County Historic Resources Commission refused to acknowledge that last Friday’s public hearing was a discretionary approval action and, under CEQA law 15162(c) and 15088.5, that action provided a legal opportunity for new information and/or issues regarding substantial changes in circumstances to trigger a Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to be done, with possible new mitigations required.
Those would be New mitigations, such as Native American observers on site at all times of earth disturbance in the CA-SCR-222 archaeological site. New mitigations, such as a new traffic study conducted to update the 2004 study because that study did not consider any traffic analysis of intersections south (Rio del Mar and Freedom Blvd.) of the development (it did consider State Park Drive and Aptos Rancho Road however). It did not consider the impacts on Trout Gulch Road relative to the County Department of Public Works phasing the local road improvements and dumping most of the Nisene Marks State Park traffic onto Trout Gulch via the new Aptos Village Way connector road. There are no plans to widen Trout Gulch Road to safely handle this burden. New mitigations, such as valid civil engineer inspections of the 1928 Aptos Creek Bridge to make sure it will be able to safely handle the increased truck traffic.
Oddly, during the CEQA public hearing last Friday, Planner Ms. Annie Murphy kept advising the Commissioners that they could only address issues restricted to the addition of a skylight, adding a modern commercial steel roll-up door and modern steel employee entrance door, and removing a ramp to expand usable deck seating space. New Leaf Market pushed this all through because “it is too challenging to adapt a modern use into an historic building.” Besides, the New Leaf Market architect said at the April 10 public hearing “nobody will notice because the doors will be hidden from public view by a 15′ high retaining wall.”
Through Public Records Act requests, I have copies of communication from 2011 between then-County Supervisor Ellen Pirie and current Assistant Planning Department Director Ms. Wanda Williams. Ms. Pirie stated that “The Swenson team has stated that an EIR requirement would break the deal.” Gee, I wonder what she meant by that? Hmmmm……..
Sadly, this all means that in order to force the County and the Aptos Village Project developers to follow the law, a group of citizens who truly care about the Aptos community (not just the future tax income to County coffers), will be forced to again take legal action. But this time, it won’t be Bill Parkin representing us.
NISSAN CAR DEALERSHIP ISSUE REMOVED FROM COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA LAST WEDNESDAY (5/10)
The proposal to change the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan to allow a car dealership at Soquel Drive and 41st Avenue instead of mixed-use housing was removed from the County Planning Commission’s agenda last week. This may have been due in part to the high volume of public communication regarding the issue, but most likely it was due to the developer purchasing the adjacent corner parcel (King’s Paint & Paper) which would offer a different possible traffic circulation scenario…. Stay tuned on this issue…it will be back before you know about it.
COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION WILL CONSIDER APPEAL OF APPROVAL FOR A LARGE COMMERCIAL EVENT CENTER ON RURAL PLEASANT VALLEY ROAD
Why would the County Zoning Administrator, Ms. Wanda Williams, think that it is acceptable to approve a large commercial event center for a rural Aptos /Corralitos Pleasant Valley Road area when that use is against current County Code? Why would the Project Planner, Ms. Sheila McDaniel, report the associated traffic volumes at roughly HALF of what the traffic study reported they would be during events? One does wonder about what is going on at the County government when approvals like this come flying out in the face of County Code. That is why I filed an appeal.
The appeal hearing before the County Planning Commission is scheduled for June 14. Stay tuned.
WILL THE REDWOOD TREE BE SAVED?
Stay tuned for an update next week on the Rancho del Mar Center remodel. Mr. Bruce Walton, TRC Retail representative, mentioned several people had contacted him about the remodel proposal….good work!
APTOS /LA SELVA FIRE CHIEF JON JONES MOVES FORWARD TO GET A TWO-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION
I was unable to attend the May 11 Aptos / La Selva Fire District Board meeting, but was told by reputable sources that once again, the public showed up in masses to testify in support of the Firefighter Local 3535 and ask the Board to NOT extend Chief Jones’ contract.
Articles in the local newspapers quoted past co-workers of Chief Jones in his support. Meanwhile, the fire chiefs within the District unanimously issued a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE regarding Chief Jones.
Is the Board listening to the public and the firefighters?
Meanwhile, on May 16, the County Board of Supervisors will vote to “Approve the appointment of Chief Jon Jones to continue as the alternate member representing Special Districts on the Treasury Oversight Commission for a term expiring March 31, 2021, as recommended by the Auditor-Controller-Tax Collector.” (Consent Item #12)
The Board had removed Chief Jones’ name from that job last month when I pointed out the problems occurring within the District and that Local 3535 voted unanimously “NO CONFIDENCE” against Chief Jones. The Board subsequently approved Supervisor Caput to take the job of alternate member on the Treasury Oversight Commission instead. I wonder what is going on in that great concrete monolith at 701 Ocean Street?
APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR THE NEW COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER CLOSED LAST MONDAY…..
May 8 was the deadline for applicants interested in the job of CAO for Santa Cruz County government to toss their name in the hat for consideration. I wonder how many people did that?
I wrote to Peckham and McKenney, the consultants that we are paying $20,000 to conduct the search, to find out. The firm responded that I must contact Mr. Michael McDougal, Director of County Personnel.
I wrote him, asking about the number of applicants. He responded that I must make the request to County Counsel. Well, I did that…stay tuned for the answer next week. Do you think anybody wanted the job after they learned that the County Budget is $8.1 million in deficit?Well, the County Board of Supervisors is discussing the CAO appointment process in Closed Session during their May 16 meeting.
COUNTY BUDGET HEARINGS TO BEGIN JUNE 19
Also on the May 16 Consent Agenda is Item #15: “Accept the 2017-18 Proposed Budget and appendices as those that constitute the 2017-18 County Proposed Budget, order publication of the required notices, and set June 19, 2017 as the date for public hearings on the 2017-18 Proposed Budget to begin, as recommended by the County Administrative Officer.”
The hefty binder that holds the 2017-18 Proposed County Budget is already available to the public at the Clerk of the Board’s office (5th Floor). It is a very expensive-looking document, with glossy, full-color graphics and thick cardstock paper. Maybe some unanticipated revenue appeared to fund that? Hmmmm…
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS WANTS TO ACCEPT UNANTICIPATED $7.9 MILLION DOLLAR REVENUE.
Also on the May 16 County Board of Supervisor Consent Agenda is Item #48, “Accept unanticipated revenue of $7.9 million to pay emergency contracts for storm damage, approve emergency contract with Joseph J. Albanese for storm related damages on Valencia Road for $3.1 million, and take related actions, as recommended by the Director of Public Works.”
Well, I am glad the repair finally got started last week to fix the failed culvert under Valencia Road that lead to closing Valencia Elementary School due to unsafe access. According to Supervisor Zach Friend, there is no plan to get a temporary bridge in place before the end of the school year, even though he earlier told parents of students and residents of adjacent Rolling Green Estates that the temporary bridge would go in as soon as repairs started.
I think the project process has hardly followed an “Emergency” schedule. Remember the Fish & Game official who stated that the County’s request for approval seemed to take a long time to get submitted to their agency, but was granted right away in early March? But I suppose that continuing to call the process and “Emergency Repair” allows the County to waive the requirement for putting the project out to bid. Hmmmm…… It’s too bad the work is being handed to a company from San Jose, and not providing jobs for local people.
Meanwhile, the County’s road construction project to benefit Aptos Village Project developers is moving along without having to deal with the pesky school traffic. I am glad the Department of Public Works finally moved the traffic obstruction on Soquel Drive in front of Rancho del Mar Center…that was quite a hazard. John Madonna Construction, the company doing the Aptos Village work, is from San Luis Obispo. Once again, not employing local people. Hmmm……
WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.
~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.
THINKING ABOUT THOREAU.
There was an article about America’s beloved “first environmentalist,” Henry David Thoreau.
in the October 9, 2015, edition of The New Yorker. That article, by Kathryn Schulz, is well worth reading. It is titled, “Pond Scum,” and is subtitled, “Henry David Thoreau’s moral myopia.” The picture itself, as it appears in the magazine, is graced with the following legend: “Why, given his hypocrisy, sanctimony, and misanthropy, has Thoreau been so cherished?”
Based on what Schulz says in her article – and she makes a good case – I may have been hasty in characterizing Thoreau as our “beloved” first environmentalist. Maybe that “beloved” part should be discarded. Schulz pretty much concedes that Thoreau is “beloved,” and “cherished;” her point is that he shouldn’t be! However hypocritical, sanctimonious, and misanthropic Thoreau may have been, however, Thoreau is still our “first environmentalist.”
A book review in the Saturday/Sunday, April 29-30, 2017, edition of The Wall Street Journal (not Schulz’s New Yorker article), is what has stimulated this blog posting. That review, which appeared in the print edition of The Journal as “America’s First Environmentalist,” was written by John Kaag. Kaag’s review does give Thoreau some positive press, although it omits any reference to him as “beloved.” In the online version, which is what you will find if you click the link, Kaag’s review is headlined, “How to Live Like Thoreau.” Just a warning: read Schulz to see how Thoreau actually lived, before deciding how much you want to follow in his footsteps.
The books that Kaag reviews are The Boatman, by Robert M. Thorson, and Thoreau and the Language of Trees, by Richard Higgins. I was mainly interested in Kaag’s review because of some references to how Thoreau came to understand the relationship between the World of Nature and the human world that we create:
For Thoreau, New England watersheds of the 19th century represented the abiding challenges of the Anthropocene epoch, an age in which the Earth’s ecosystems and geology have been dramatically altered by the forces of human civilization …
A dam and canal had been constructed and later expanded, decimating populations of salmon, shad and alewives. Fish weren’t the only ones affected by the dam; the meadowland surrounding Concord was now routinely flooded. Thoreau’s neighbors, whose farms relied on haymaking, risked losing their livelihood. This tension between meadowland farm and factory, between nature and human progress, would become what is termed the “flowage controversy,” and Henry would be in the middle of it …
Thoreau longed for a time when, in his words, “the ‘grass-ground’ river will run clear again,” and he turned with fury on the industrialists whose damming and blasting threatened to obliterate the rivers [he] once loved … This warring spirit on behalf of the natural world is well documented by Thoreau scholars. What has not been documented, to this point, is the exact way that Thoreau’s rage gave way to lament and, more important, ultimately to a more constructive acceptance of a world both natural and human-made [emphasis added].
At the end of the flowage controversy, the industrialists won, but, according to Mr. Thorson, so did Henry David Thoreau. He reached a deeper, more complex understanding of the delicate relation between humans and the natural world. “His pioneering river science of 1859-1860 did not position humans as masters and commanders of their watersheds,” Mr. Thorson explains, “as did the engineers of his day. Instead he saw human actions as hopelessly entangled with natural ones.”
It would seem, from what Kaag writes about Thorson’s book, that Thoreau did understand, after a lifetime of experience, that humans were not supposed to act as “masters and commanders” in their relationship to the World of Nature. Instead, Thoreau apparently came to believe that human actions and the Natural World were “entangled,” and that there was some sort of “constructive” way to accept the fact that the world is both “natural and human-made.”
Kaag’s review does not reveal exactly how Thoreau conceptualized his thought that we live in a world both natural and human-made. Kaag doesn’t tell us exactly how Thoreau thought we could understand this fact in some “constructive” way.
We do learn that Thoreau’s initial “rage” against the modification of the rivers he both loved and knew so well was transformed into something different, but what was that? What was the exact nature of that “constructive” relationship he is supposed to have ultimately accepted?
The emphasized portion of the quotation above talks about “a” world that is, at the same time, both natural and human-made. My “Two World Hypothesis” suggests that we should not see the world in such a “unitary” manner. When we “the world” as unitary, being “both natural and human-made” at the same time, the entirety of that unitary world is the theatre in which human action is appropriate, and there is no reason to think that the ultimate human idea about the world should be anything different from the idea that we are the “masters and commanders” of all that is.
In fact, this is how almost everyone sees the world. There is only “one,” and humans are, ultimately, in charge.
I like to try to force myself to see our “human world” as something different from, and subordinate to, the World of Nature, upon which everything we do depends. While we “can” ignore the limitations of the Natural World, if we recognize we are doing that, we will at least retain an opportunity to “abstain,” to decline to “engineer” the world to our specifications, recognizing that we are creatures, like all others in the Natural World, and that we absolutely and utterly depend upon the Natural World to sustain our lives and all our efforts.
If we destroy the rivers (and the fields) one by one, as Thoreau watched happening in his time, then our human world will, ultimately, perish as well. When we see how cavalierly humans dismiss the limits of the World of Nature, acting as though we were its “masters and commanders,” it is easier to see why Thoreau might have moved towards misanthropy.
~Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for indivuduals 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 asks the “Wholesome” question about Whole Foods scroll below just a bit.
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Moldy Bread Trump”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 wher he mentions that he doesn’t own a clarion.
THE KILLER DILLER KITCHEN SISTERS!!! Sunday’s S.F. Chronicle (5/14) Ben Fong –Torres Radio Waves column had a photo (with Martha Stewart) and super mention of the Kitchen Sisters winning (for the second time) the James Beard Foundation Media Award. The Kitchen Sisters are of course Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson. We hear their documentaries on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and NPR.org They also won a Webby Award for their “Stories from the B-side of history“. It all began at little old KUSP. You’ve probably forgotten that the Kitchen Brothers, Kenneth and Raymond built that “Court Of Mysteries” out on Fair Avenue. Nikki and Davia also have won three Audie awards, two Peabody Awards and the DuPont – Columbia Award.
MUNCHING WITH MOZART. Every third Thursday there’s a free classical music concert in the upstairs meeting room at the main library. This Thursday, May 18 Carol Panofsky, plays oboe and Lynn Kidder, pianist perform music by Britten, Piston, and Telemann in a concert titled “The Sprightly Hautboy”. I looked up “hautboy” it means oboe !!!
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “You may not realize you qualify to receive a sack of fresh produce every week from the stalwart folks at Grey Bears. Find out how to participate in the program — and why you should — this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). Also, feast your orbs on my Beast of the Month for May, to celebrate the fact that my own Beast book is now available for pre-order on Amazon!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
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.
THE WALL. John Cena is the almost last survivor in an Iraq battle. He and an invisible sniper almost have a Beckett like ongoing conversation/relationship….except that there’s murder and killing at the base of the entire film. You’ll feel illogical flaws and wonder “why’d he do that” more than once. It begins as a masterpiece of tension and meaning but looses its way about half way through…but it’s a good film.
A QUIET PASSION. This one got a 94 from Rotten Tomatoes,,,not from me. It’s part of poet Emily Dickinson’s life story. Emily is played by Cynthia Nixon and she’s wonderful. He’s hard to recognize but Keith Carradine plays her dad. (remember when his real dad John Carradine played at Cabrillo College’s Summer Theatre?). The entire film and everybody in it is stiff, cold, unemotional, and it feels like only a string of quotes strung together, with not a genuine human reaction to be seen…or felt.
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.
THEIR FINEST. Bill Nighy and Gemma Arterton lead off in this British semi-comedy set during WWII as England is being bombed while they are making a film trying to encourage the USA to enter the war. Jeremy Irons is in it for about 8 seconds. The film waves back and forth between drama and comedy. You won’t remember much of it afterwards, but it’s one of the best out and around at the moment.
LOST CITY OF Z. A pointless and true plot based on a book about a Brit who keeps trying to find what he thinks is a lost civilization deep in the Amazon jungle. Its 2 hours and 20 minutes long, but you’ll think it’s longer. It has everything jungles always have except Tarzan…and suspense. The hero leaves his wife and kids at home for years on end and you’ll wish you had stayed there too. The true name of the hero only adds to the boring trek… Percy Fawcett.
BORN IN CHINA. In 1952 my photography teacher in Pasadena Norm Wakeman shot hours of footage for Walt Disneys’ Water Birds. Coincidentally, he shot the water Ouezel footage up here on Swanton Road at The Big Creek falls!! He told me at the time just how severe Disney Nature films are anthropomorphized and edited/faked/dubbed to make them into the glossy, sweetened versions we still see in Born In China”. The photography is only stunning, amazing, and beautiful. Pandas, Snow leopards and cutesy monkeys are the main feature…if you can make it through all the added verbal poop.
THE CIRCLE. This weak plotted pointless mess earned a 17 on Rotten Tomatoes… I would have given it maybe 18 because it was fun to see the making fun or evil of the Apple empire in Cupertino where I’ve visited a number of times. Tom Hanks does his usual job or being the perfect Steve Jobs – Mark Zuckerberg type guy. Emma Watson proves again that she can act…most of the time. Friends tell me that in the book Emma does not turn out to be a nice girl as she does in this flick but joins Hanks in trying to rule the world by controlling all personal data on everybody in the world.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Total 100% Disney sights, sounds and drech. You couldn’t possibly tell the songs from this Disney production from any of the last 30 years of Disney product songs. A wasted cast includes Emma Watson, Kevin Kline, Ewan MacGregor, Ian McKellan, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, and Audra McDonald. BUT most of these actors play the roles of animated tea pots and candlesticks. There is or are no reasons to see this re-hash of every commercial triumph the Disney Factory has turned out for more than 50 years. And the kids will probably love it.
THE DINNER. Richard Gere, Laura Linney and Steve Coogan do their very best (and that’s quite good) with a script and direction that is beyond comprehension. Two brothers and their wives jab, slice, cut and torture each other and the audience while they eat dinner at a fancy-beyond words restaurant. Their teen age sons have murdered a homeless black woman and their parents have their own severe problems in dealing with that fact and life itself. A confusing, angry, hostile film that will upset you almost as much as the schitzy parents….do not see this movie!!! (ends Thursday 5/13)
FATE OF THE FURIOUS. Just about everybody who watches or reads the news knows that the Fate of The Furious (better title “Fart of the Furious” as in exhaust) movie topped almost every box office record ever set. Vin Diesel (real name Mark Sinclair) was born in Alameda in 1967 and has been the lead in all eight exact copies of one of the dumbest plots ever filmed. To see such stars as Helen Mirren sink to a three-minute role, Charlize Theron half act some part as a Russian killer is just sad. There’s a street race in Havana and somehow it ends with cars taking on the Russians in some sort of war. The USA reaction and most of the world’s reaction to such a crap of a film is an embarrassing statement of our collective taste. Dwayne Johnson is in it too but he is always in these sorts of things.
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. Cruzio co- founder Chris Neklason tells us about Net Neutrality and the Cruzio position on May 16. Then Phil Collins from The New Music Works talks about their wild new Avant Garden fun raiser. May 23 features UCSC Prof. Maria Herrera’s students talking about recent new events happening on campus….then Jim Coffis brings us up to date on all the county cannabis news. Vinnie Hansen talks about her new mystery novel “Lostart Street” on June 6. She’s followed by Justin Stack from Listening Stack talking about ear health, hearing aids, and surfer plugs. Bookshop Santa Cruz features its top Short Story Winners on June 20. 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
This is a wonderful little film about the last issue of the New York Times that was printed with hot type back in 1978. Fascinating and well worth a half hour!
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. “IMMIGRANTS”
“The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people”, Noam Chomsky “Immigrants are more fertile”, Jeb Bush “The truth is, immigrants tend to be more American than people born here”. Chuck Palahniuk “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country”. Theodore Roosevelt “I take issue with many people’s description of people being “Illegal” Immigrants. There aren’t any illegal Human Beings as far as I’m concerned”. Dennis Kucinich
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
