NEW HIGHWAY 9 RIVER STREET INTERSECTION IN 1956. An amazing photo showing the new highway, The Tannery in lower right, CPDES hall center right, and the baseball field, the Sashmill far left, new San Lorenzo bridge in lower center. No Harvey West Park, and UCSC’s future site way up at the right.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection, click for bigger version.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

OCCUPY & FREE SPEECH. Spending just a few hours at the Occupy Santa Cruz site in the last weeks I was completely impressed with the method of group decisions. I spent more hours at the Berkeley Free Speech movement (Mario Savio, Bettina Aptheker etc.) in 1964. The significant difference is that at Berkeley the “steering committee” would meet in private (sometimes all night) to make decisions for the Protesters and announce their decisions to the group the next morning. “Occupiers” make their decisions at the totally open General Assembly meetings. A much better, efficient principle and I’m betting on “Occupy” all the way.

UC DAVIS CHANCELLOR LEARNS AN OCCUPY LESSON. We’ve read and seen the spraying but watch this beautiful display of what Occupy can be about, and how effective it is. As one commenter stated, if you look closely you can see Gandhi and Martin Luther King standing in the crowd with their arms folded.

GETTING ACROSS ARANA GULCH. #1. Last week I printed Kit Birskovich’s plea to “Save Arana Gulch”. You can read it by scrolling down to last week’s BrattonOnline.

#2. Then on 11/15 @5:07 p.m. Chris Schneiter of Santa Cruz Public Works Dept. wrote, “Someone forwarded the piece about Arana Gulch from your blog. The description is all wrong. How about giving people an opportunity to judge the Arana Gulch Master Plan and Trails on their own?
The link to the correct information is here. I hope you take the opportunity to read it!

# 3. Then on 11/18 @4:14 p.m. Andy Schiffrin of wrote as an individual who works for Neal Coonerty to say, ” I read the piece in this week’s Bratton Online from Kit Birskovich regarding Arana Gulch and thought it presented a very misleading view of the proposed project”.

ARANA GULCH MASTER PLAN– A POSITIVE VIEW.The report on the Arana Gulch Master Plan in last week’s column misstated a great deal about the City’s proposal for this beautiful gem of a place.It says the proposal is to build “a wide paved road” across Arana Gulch. While there once was a proposal to construct a six lane roadway (the Broadway Brommer Expressway), it was defeated in the 1970’s. The current plan is to build an 8 foot wide pedestrian and bike path to provide public access to the special environmental resources on the site.

The report also describes a project that would be very disruptive to the landscape. That was also true of the road widening project, but the current plan is for a very different path that conforms to the contours of the landscape and has very minimal impact. As for impact on the Santa Cruz tarplant, the City’s plan is the best chance for its survival at Arana Gulch. The proposed path does not harm any existing tarplant and existing paths that go through the historic tarplant area will be removed and the area restored. The City will receive state and federal funding that, in part, will be used for tarplant restoration. Without the path the City will be unable to get that funding. While the City has been conducting tarplant habitat restoration each year since they’ve owned the property, a more robust program is needed in order to bring the tarplant and other coastal terrace species back.

The tarplant now is in severe decline, hanging on the edge of extinction at Arana Gulch. The Coastal Commission’s Chief Ecologist has described the City’s plan for tarplant restoration as “the last best option” for the tarplant. And any suggestion that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has drawn a negative conclusion about the City’s Plan and its effect on tarplant is simply wrong – they hold the opposite view and have given their required approvals for the plan. As for the assertion that the City’s proposal is contrary to the Coastal Act, the staff of the Coastal Commission, which includes the leading legal and environmental experts on the Coastal Act, hold the opposite view.

Before signing a petition that will deny safe access to Arana Gulch for eastside Santa Cruz residents and eliminate funding for tarplant restoration, I urge people to read the Coastal Commission staff report on the project prepared for the upcoming hearing in December , Thursdays item #22.a).

In my view, the project will provide significant net benefits to the community by giving the tarplant its best chance of surviving and providing access to this spectacular environmental resource to a much wider public.Thanks for letting me present a more positive view of this important project – Andy Schiffrin

# 4. So I sent Chris Schneiter’s critique to Jean Brocklebank of Friends of Arana Gulch.

Her reply is here. [expanding link, click again to collapse]

to BRATTON ONLINE

Kit got it right. Chris cannot refute anything she said with a straight face. And he knows it.

The City has resubmitted the same project to the California Coastal Commission as has been submitted in the past. The “project” is called the Arana Gulch Master Plan” but is nothing more than a vehicle for the Broadway Brommer (BB) East West Bicycle Connection route that has been a Public Works project since the early 1990s. When the City Council agreed not to build a road for cars through Arana Gulch, they were lobbied successfully to build a bicycle connection instead. Seemed like a good idea, huh?! CalTrans got involved with Public Works and then the City started getting funds from Federal and State transportation grants allocated through the Regional Transportation Commission. The project was controversial from the beginning and opposition was strong. Arana Gulch, after all, is a greenbelt. An EIR for the BB project was produced and eventually certified by the same City Council that voted to stop the BB project. They certified the EIR to get their $40,000 reimbursed with RTC funds. Then a new City Council resurrected BB. Along the way, in 2002, the Arana Gulch greenbelt was designated “critical habit” for Holocarpha macredenia (Santa Cruz Tarplant) by the US Fish & Wildlife Service. That designation should have changed everything. But the City kept on in the quest to build the bike connection between two streets. Over 11 years ago, California Coastal Commission staff wrote to the City and said “As directed by the City’s Local Coastal Program, the preferred approach” (in planning for Arana Gulch) “would be to prepare a specific management plan for the greenbelt prior to consideration of a Broadway-Brommer Bicycle Pedestrian Path project.” The recommendation was for a separate Master Plan first, followed by an application for Broadway Brommer (BB) second. The City ignored this advice and four years later the City Council instead directed the Department of Parks & Recreation to include the BB project in the Master Plan document, thus assuring that BB became the Master Plan and vice versa. There has been nothing but confusion and controversy ever since, especially since more than half of the BB project is not even in the greenbelt.

One of the biggest obfuscations the City tells is that they have reduced the scale of the project by removing one of the two originally planned bridges (Hagemann Creek and Arana Creek). In the Master Plan draft EIR, the bridge over Arana Creek is called a “steel bridge span.” In the final EIR (p. 6), they changed it to “steel span,” removing the word “bridge.” Clever, huh? In point of fact, the BB route across the 100′ riparian setback on Port District property must rise from 10 feet above sea level to 43 feet to get over Arana Creek. True, the current non-engineered and not even design-doodled goal is to go over Arana Creek basically over the culverts (“not open water” as it says in the EIR), so their removal of the word “bridge” was self-serving. But it has to be a bridge because it has to provide through flow of flood water. Thus, the steel span is a bridge.

The City also hates when we describe the actual width of BB (euphemistically now called “an interpretive trail”). By CalTrans standards, it is 8 feet of pavement with 2 feet of gravel shoulder on each side, for a total of 12 feet minimum. Several of the architectural drawings show it even wider in places (13′ – 15′). Not only that, the City has added another 1500′ of the same kind of paving from the Agnes Street entrance, to meet the BB route (whatever it is called) on the top of the meadow at 73′ above sea level, thence to drop to the 10′ above sea level elevation, where it will have to rise again to 43′ to get over the steel-not-brdge-span, eventually to 73′ at 7th Avenue. Skateboard park anyone?

The link that Mr. Schneiter sent you will lead your readers to City materials geared to make Broadway Brommer appear to be just a wee “interpretive trail” for educational purposes. They have added the word “balance” to their introduction, all very polished with “protecting sensitive habitat” (which they will pave for BBrommer) and “prudent level of public use.” Read my lips: BBrommer is a Public Works project; it is a transportation project funded by transportation money (all documented in the record for the last 17 years) and no amount of window dressing will change that fact.

I urge your readers to go to the online petition and read what Friends of Arana Gulch says before they sign the petition to save our greenbelt from an industrial sized bike route project. FOAG fully supports the Master Plan as long as Broadway Brommer is removed. Without BB, the AG Master Plan really is a terrific document for resource management that will allow reconfiguration of the two entrances and pathway improvements to make them safer for all users, restore native species, save the Santa Cruz Traplant from extinction, be a real educational experience for all ages, and remain as natural open space surrounded by urban development ~ exactly why citizens voted in 1979 and again in 1994 to preserve its uniqueness.

Jean Brocklebank, on behalf of Friends of Arana Gulch

She said among other things, “Kit Birskovich got it right. Chris cannot refute anything she said with a straight face. And he knows it”. She also says, “Read my lips: Broadway Brommer is a Public Works project; it is a transportation project funded by transportation money (all documented in the record for the last 17 years) and no amount of window dressing will change that fact”.

# 5. Lastly I sent Andy Schiffrin’s reaction to Pat Matejcek of The Sierra Club and Friends of Arana Gulch. Her reply, and vivid dissection (diverse vivisection?)

is here. [expanding link, click again to collapse]

ARANA GULCH MASTER PLAN– A POSITIVE VIEW. (Matecjek’ points are in bold)

The report on the Arana Gulch Master Plan in last week’s column misstated a great deal about the City’s proposal for this beautiful gem of a place.

It says the proposal is to build “a wide paved road” across Arana Gulch. While there once was a proposal to construct a six lane roadway (the Broadway Brommer Expressway), it was defeated in the 1970’s. The current plan is to build an 8 foot wide pedestrian and bike path to provide public access to the special environmental resources on the site.

********It’s actually a network of paved trails, one E-W, the other N-S and intersection.

The report also describes a project that would be very disruptive to the landscape. That was also true of the road widening project, but the current plan is for a very different path that conforms to the contours of the landscape and has very minimal impact.

So not true. Hundreds of feet of concrete retaining walls with numerous “pull-outs” to address the height differential between the Arana grassland 73′ and the junction point where the trail up from the harbor meets those from the Greenbelt (+/- 10′) = a giant skateboard ramp. There’s already 1 roller-coaster in this area – no one needs 2.

Thousands of cu. yds. of earth would be required to build the proposed “ramp” (desperately trying to own up to needing 2 bridges) that would run from this junction point to the “Welcome to the Upper Santa Cruz Harbor” sign. There isn’t the 15′ the city claims between the dry storage yard fence and the top of the 4-pipe structure carrying water between Arana Creek and the upper harbor, so the connection would be narrow. High tide and heavy rains would eat at the bottom of the “ramp”, as they currently do at the narrow bank that remains unless the “ramp” becomes a concrete dam.

Users traveling east and exiting the “ramp” area would be dumped onto the roadway against downhill traffic (pickups towing boats on trailers) as there is no sidewalk, no bikelane and no room for one.

As for impact on the Santa Cruz tarplant, the City’s plan is the best chance for its survival at Arana Gulch. The proposed path does not harm any existing tarplant and existing paths that go through the historic tarplant area will be removed and the area restored.

The proposed “trail network” divides what USFW has defined as “actual and potential tarplant habitat” into small, unmanageable sections – the parts it doesn’t directly pave over.

The City will receive state and federal funding that, in part, will be used for tarplant restoration.

IF the bikeroad is built, there will be some $ for “mitigation”.

Without the path the City will be unable to get that funding.

Who cares?. The city is on record as “selling excess real estate” to provide a tarplant restoration trust fund.

While the City has been conducting tarplant habitat restoration each year since they’ve owned the property, a more robust program is needed in order to bring the tarplant and other coastal terrace species back.

Not every year – lots of public nudging has been required. The city even cancelled an MOU they had w/ CA F&G that gave them $5K/year.

The tarplant now is in severe decline, hanging on the edge of extinction at Arana Gulch.

Thanks to the city’s policy of “benign neglect”. It’s time to move beyond the “Interim Management Plan” to the real and permanent one but the “canker” of a transportation project must be excised first. After the tarplant’s seed bank has been restored to healthy numbers for a few years, the city is free to bring back a transportation proposal to the CCC.

The Coastal Commission’s Chief Ecologist has described the City’s plan for tarplant restoration as “the last best option” for the tarplant. And any suggestion that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has drawn a negative conclusion about the City’s Plan and its effect on tarplant is simply wrong – they hold the opposite view and have given their required approvals for the plan.

The Center for Biological Diversity doesn’t agree.

As for the assertion that the City’s proposal is contrary to the Coastal Act, the staff of the Coastal Commission, which includes the leading legal and environmental experts on the Coastal Act, hold the opposite view.

Political pressure. Coastal Commission Staff was also supporting replacing La Bahia….

Before signing a petition that will deny safe access to Arana Gulch for eastside Santa Cruz residents and eliminate funding for tarplant restoration, I urge people to read the Coastal Commission staff report on the project prepared for the upcoming hearing in December (http://www.coastal.ca.gov/mtgcurr.html, Thursdays item #22.a).

What the city is proposing is extremely unsafe and doesn’t meet DOT requirements for a Class 1 bikeway.

Thinking citizens have every good reason to oppose the bikeway and to sign the petition:

1) it’s unsafe;

2) it’s unnecessary – the real E-W corridor will happen soon just 1/4 mile south along the rail corridor;

3) it’s a waste of $5+ million dollars that could be redirected to the rail trail or any number of more important transit needs;

4) disabled access can easily be accomplished from both/either of the existing entrances;

5) approval by the CCC would set a destructive precedent state-wide and weaken the Coastal Act.

Kit B. closed her Save Arana Gulch piece with a chance to sign a petition…

“We ask that California Coastal Commissioners vote to approve the Arana Gulch Master Plan ONLY if the proposed paved City-County connector bicycle project (called Broadway Brommer) through ESHA and “critical habitat” of an endangered species is REMOVED from the AG Master Plan. “Will you sign this petition? Click here

TRIP TO SANTA CRUZ, 1937, 1938. Carolyn Swift and others sent this rare and wonderful clip of Hwy. 17 and Hwy 1 travels that was filmed just about 74 years ago.

QUARNSTROM QUERIES. Lee Quarnstrom, longtime Santa Cruzan and reporter/columnist, writes to say, “Today’s column ( Nov. 15)brings at least two things to mind that I want to share with you: First, by referring to their northern acreage as the “upper campus,” UC officials have always made it clear that the land is ripe for future development. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a campus as “the grounds and buildings of a university or college” or “the grounds of a school, hospital, or other institution.” To me the phrase “upper campus” has always implied not a redwood forest with grassy meadows; it has strongly suggested the “grounds and buildings” planned for those grounds.

Also, you might recall, we lived on a Santa Cruz corner with Broadway on one side of our house. I closely followed the endless Broadway-Brommer proposals that seemed to pop up immediately after some previous proposal had been shot down by the city’s environmentally sensitive residents and their elected officials. Developers and their allies on city councils and boards of supervisors have never felt defeated just because some proposal or other to put a road through Arana Gulch had died; never, they knew, had a stake been pounded through Broadway-Brommer’s heart.

I can understand why residents living east of Arana Gulch might want another commuter route to Santa Cruz. But I’ve never been able to understand why anyone in Santa Cruz, including the business community, would favor opening a road — or even a bikeway — that would make it easier for Santa Cruz shoppers to speed out to 41 Avenue and the Capitola Mall”. Lee Q.

HUBBLE TELESCOPE AND 100 BILLION GALAXIES.

SIERRA CLUB SANTA CRUZ GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CANDIDATE’S FORUM

Last year’s election showed an unprecedented interest in positions on the Executive Committee of the Santa Cruz Group of the Sierra Club. Vying for the 3 open seats this year will be the incumbents: current Group Chair Kevin Collins, Secretary / Treasurer Mark Sullivan, and Forestry Committee Chair Dennis Davie and the challengers: Tawn Kennedy, Greg McPheeters, Jim Danaher, Mary Odegaard. The proceedings will be moderated by Nancy Abbey of WILPF.

WHAT: Sierra Club, Santa Cruz Group Candidates’ Forum

WHEN: Tuesday, November 29 @ 7 pm

WHERE: Room 3, London Nelson Center, 301 Center Street, Santa Cruz

This promises to be a lively and important discussion of the future of the Santa Cruz Group and the natural resources of Santa Cruz County.

ELERICK’S INPUT: WIDENING HWY.#1…OR NOT!!!

Next Regional Transportation Commission is December 1^st. Please plan to attend!

On Thursday, at 9:00 A.M on December 1^st a major decision will be made by the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) regarding funding the next segment of widening Highway 1. Why is this so important? The results of these twelve commissioners vote will determine how State Transportation Improvement funds (STIP) that are planned for Santa Cruz County will be used. The commissioners will be asked to either dedicate 100% of these funds for the NEXT 25 years to widening Highway 1, or to say no to this folly and steer that funding to major road and street repair and other needed transportation projects. It gets even more ludicrous! Even if the majority of 12 commissioners vote to take all the STIP funds to widen the highway, there still won’t be enough money available, even to partially complete the project. That would require the passage of a ½ cent sales tax or some kind of vehicle license fee increase ($10 has been discussed), or even both, plus all the STIP funds for the next 25 years. And even that may not be enough to complete the widening all the way to San Andreas Road.

What can you do? Attend the next RTC meeting on Thursday, December 1^st. It’s at 9:00 A.M. at the County Board of Supervisors meeting room in the County Building. There will be an agenda published online 5-7 days prior to December 1^st. E-mail or call members of the RTC to let them know that repairing local streets and roads needs to be a higher priority than widening the highway.

(Paul Elerick is the chair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).

MAGIC…ALMOST

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about the Santa Cruz City Council proposing the spending over $480,000 on a contract for a “Permitting Advisor” for the proposed desalination plant. He details a proposal to facilitate the development of the UCSC North Campus Area. He praises the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors in rejecting a proposal from the County Planning Director to weaken the County’s land use policies in the Coastal Zone. He explains that community involvement in land use issues tends to be “oppositional” in character, but that’s ok. And he closes by saying, “What sometimes appears to be “late-breaking” opposition to proposed development projects can be frustrating to landowners and developers.

(Gary Patton is “Of Counsel” to the Santa Cruz law firm of Wittwer & Parkin, which specializes in land use and environmental law. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, “Two Worlds / 365” – www.gapatton.net)

Not that the coming week needs any more excitement. We expect a visit on Thursday from one of the National Geographic Explorer (NGE), a cruise ship with an ecological and historical focus. More than one hundred passengers will come ashore in sets of twelve for a brief walk around station led by charming, good-looking tour guides like myself. All non-essential work stops so enough people are free to accommodate the crowd and we do not get very much done. However, tours do add variety to our lives and help get the message out to the public. Worth the hassle, no doubt.

We celebrate Thanksgiving the very next day with brunch and an early dinner, despite the fact that we still work. Holidays never meant much to me until I spent them on ice, honestly. Dressing up for dinner means more in a place where everyone wears issued clothing day after day. We hope to have one pie per person, thirty-four of each, and I’m making vegan pumpkin “cheesecake.” Will we make our quota? Stay tuned!

And then Saturday the Laurence M. Gould (LMG) returns from a research cruise further south down the peninsula. The weather prevented us from unloading all the cargo when she was at port two weeks ago… we can’t operate the crane in high winds. They had rough seas much of their research cruise too, unfortunately. The scientist’s net samples off the main deck as well as using other equipment to collect information about microscopic ocean life but large swells will force them to stop their work.

As for me next week will be a wet one. Any moment not spent attending to vessels or making my mother’s creamed onions will go to a water leak I discovered under the central building four days ago. Just a drain line (not sewer or a gushing supply line) but I had to crawl under there and slide along the ice in my waterproof suit with my flashlight and a hard hat. Living the dream, as they say”.

(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.

LOOKING AROUND…THE HARD WAY!!!

VINTAGE DE CINZO. Crosby, Stills and geezers…scroll downwards

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim reveals the truth behind Supercommittee. Scroll below.

VALENCIA, SPAIN 1900.Clever, excellent way to show off old photos. Good music and cool animation. Only 1:31 long.

LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul’s article this week is “Libya” He states, “I walked Tripoli’s streets. At a coffee shop near the hotel, a group of young men stopped playing with their worry beads, brought their jumping knees into upright positions and followed me. Like most of the young men I saw, my followers were well-dressed and looked healthy, maybe a bit overdosed on caffeine. I tried to ignore them as I wandered into the Suq – the old market – in downtown Tripoli. It was mostly boarded up. President Qaddafi had built new five-story department stores”. Read the rest here

Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD from roundworldproductions@gmail.com

THE OTHER BEAUTIFUL SANTA CRUZ. Note their town clock!!!

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express, I preview a movie and a book to be thankful for, and explain why you have to go see the delightful SSC production of A Year With Frog & Toad right this minute. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.

WATERS WONDERLAND. “This week Christina Waters takes on holiday wines, vegetable drinks, fruitcake and the continuing saga of museum cafes. All at http://christinawaters.com.

REDWOOD ESTATES 1927. Up along Hwy 17 near Holy City

HOLIDAY GIFT. Peggy Snider sent this link. If you like historic things and places check it out.

MAGIC…LOOKS LIKE REAL BLOOD!!!

HBO’S ENLIGHTENED. I wrote about how much I liked this weekly semi-sweet saga starring Laura Dern. Carole De Palma says, “On the subject of this new T.V show did you know there is a Santa Cruz Connection?? Mike White’s mom and Dad grew up in Santa Cruz. I was in Gault School with Melvin White, when his father was a fundamentalist type preacher across the Street where the Pacific Cultural Center is now. His wife Lila Lohr grew up on the Westside and was a cousin. I guess they met in high school, married and had kids one of which is Mike White. Later Mel White became known for coming out of the closet and writing a book about it after being a preacher. One year he served as the Gay Parade leader here in S.C. Mike White is very gifted and funny and I think Enlightened is a riot. I believe he was raised in Southern Ca. Thanks for the petition on Arana Bike path and keep on doing what you do.

MELANCHOLIA. Lars Von Trier…that just about says it all about this film. Either you like his films…or not. I must confess that I didn’t understand Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa, or hardly any of the masters when I first saw them. However I had Pauline Kael as a Berkeley neighbor and she sure helped. I liked Melancholia. What’s it about? It’s about what you think when you stare off into the void wondering what’s happening today.

LIKE CRAZY. Deserves at least 3 or more Academy Awards, young lovers held apart by bureaucracy and fear. An absolutely sincere, touching, perfectly acted masterpiece.

MY 1/50 SECOND WITH MARILYN. I haven’t seen My Week with Marilyn Monroe yet, and this is a great excuse to mention that Marilyn Monroe actually posed for me back in October of 1952. I’ll copy and paste the color photo next week. No joke!!

MORTEN’S GALLERY OPEN STUDIO. A fantastic T’gvng Weekend thing to do is to take advantage of an almost last chance to see both Jenny and the late Geoff Morten’s Paintings, Prints and Ceramics. It’s a perfect thing to do with your weekend guests, the home and studios are great, well worth the drive and the art and craft is absolutely wonderful. Their works will be on show at their home and studios at 168 Mar Monte Avenue, La Selva Beach 95076 call 688-5173.

COCKING’S CRITIQUE & CRABBINESS. Paul Cocking of Gabriella’s Café sends this…” 1. events…besides the snow ball fight…like the dance deal…santa barbara has an art fair EVERY weekend…san rafael’s sidewalk coloring event is a HUGE event…we have a lot of artists…wine tasting…we have a lot of wineries…los gatos wine fair a very big deal…san luis obispo has music and food and main street closed every week…taste of santa Cruz. huge deal in santa monica…we have a lot of restaurants…organize halloween instead of trying to contain it…costume contests…music
2. close pacific avenue…santa monica’s huge success has nothing to do with their closing and reopening mall at one end…it’s an attraction in itself…see san luis, san francisco’s safe streets, san rafael, new york.
3. get the DTA to put an ad in the mercy news with all the thousands of dollars i have given them…where in the world does all that money i am legally bound to give them go? (we know)
4. make the ads in the convention and tourist bureau magazine affordable…hundreds of dollars for a listing?…don’t they get subsidies?…where in the world does all that money go? (we know)
5. condemn the empty hole at the end of pacific avenue…make it a park, plaza, attract events
6.put in a public market in one of our huge empty buildings (agent for one i spoke to had NEVER been to ferry plaza)
7. make it more difficult to open MORE bars and junky stores.

(Ed. note Need I say that was unedited???) Thanks Paul. While you’re at Gabriella’s you and your friends should check out Charles Prentiss’ latest paintings…he’s one of the very best.

HISTORICAL CORRECTIOM. Carey Casey corrects my historical photo guess about Zocolli’s from last week (scroll down to see the Pacific Avenue photo) Carey states in no uncertain terms… According to Chase’s Sidewalk Companion…, Plaza Grocery opened in that building in 1929. Robert O. Zoccoli bought the business in 1948. The building itself was constructed for Hugo Hühn (brother of F. I. Hihn) sometime in the period from 1866-77. Since the demolition of the 1860 Flatiron Building following the 1989 earthquake, the Zoccoli’s building and the 1866 Lulu Carpenter’s are the oldest remaining commercial structures in the downtown area. Thanks Carey, I should always consult my Chase S.C. Architecture book. (Which would make a great Holiday present for any friends).

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 sometimes old programs are archived…(see next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. UCSC’s Ralph Abraham will talk about 2 of his new books on November 22 followed by Gary Patton and UCSC Environmental Studies Interns. November 29 has Attorney Bob Taren returning to opinionate on matters and issues. After Bob, Jim Mosher talks about his teens and alcohol program. December 6^th has Youth Symphony conductor Nathaniel Berman followed by UCSC’s Leta Miller author of “Music and Politics in San Francisco”. Judge Paul Burdick returns to talk about justice on December 13^th. Next year Claudia Sternbach guests on January 3 to talk about her new book, “Reading Lips”. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, 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 Conpany. Plus 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. Hear them all!!!

QUOTES. The first two are from Ted Burke, “Witnessing the Republicans and the Democrats bicker over the U.S. debt is like watching two drunks argue over a bar bill on the Titanic.” And “The trouble with quotes on the internet is that it’s difficult to determine whether or not they are genuine“, Abraham Lincoln.

Blog Archives

November 21 – 27, 2011

BEST OF VINTAGE DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by tim eagan.