March 4 – 10, 2020

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

BRATTON… says hello… GREENSITE…on “Why I Quit the local Sierra Club Leadership.” KROHN… on voting and recalls. STEINBRUNER… will be back PATTON…also on election EAGAN…Sub Cons and Deep Cover JENSEN…on artist James Aschbacher. BRATTON… UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”ELECTION DAYS”

THE ORIGINAL SANTA CRUZ FISHERMAN’S WHARF circa 1910. You can see the Sea Beach Hotel in the upper right hand corner. The fish were for local consumption and according to Sheila O’Hare and Irene Berry most of the fish were packed and shipped to San Francisco. That’s Louis Perez on the left and the boy facing the camera is Stephen Ghio, who died two years after this photo was taken.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Duke Ellington in Sweden, 1963. The female singer in this TV broadcast is Alice Babs, well loved and very talented.

Bill Evans Trio in Sweden, 1966. Singing here is Monica Zetterlund, and amazing singer and fabulous comedienne.

DATELINE March 3, 2020

BRUCE SAYS HELLO. “What a day! Today is our chance at voting for some of the biggest changes in our history. From ‘no on recall’ to Bernie Sanders, the choice is incredibly wide.

I am still in Acute Care, where I’ve been for the past 3 weeks and somewhat out of the loop. Hope to see you soon!”

March 2nd. 2020

The Ends Do Not Justify The Means

In the shadow of the council recall election, another election has taken place with a similar aim of overturning the politics of the majority and similar tactics of misinformation and false accusations targeted to sway voters. I’m referring to the recent Sierra Club Santa Cruz Group election for 3 members of its 9 member Executive Committee (ExCom). Disagreeing with leadership and working to get a change in leadership is part of the democratic process. Spreading lies and misinformation to achieve that goal is not. A rotten foundation will not support a new house for long. With two more years to serve on the Executive Committee and its elected chair for the past two years, I resigned at the February meeting in protest at the use of smear tactics to get candidates elected.

The Santa Cruz Group of the Sierra Club is part of a large national organization with one million members and over two million supporters. The Club is the oldest grassroots environmental organization in the United States, founded in 1892 by John Muir. It is an effective advocate for the environment and is worth supporting. Nationally, it is being moved into the modern era by a leadership dedicated to inclusionary politics with social justice issues infusing environmental work. It has a clear Code of Conduct stressing respect, openness and fairness.

I was largely unaware of the local Sierra Club Group’s existence, despite being a member for 15 years, until about 6 years ago when I approached it for support in challenging the city’s plan to weaken its Heritage Tree Ordinance. My presentation caught the attention of the then chair who encouraged me to run for ExCom. I did, was elected by the membership and three years later was elected chair. My stated aim was to make the organization more visible, more inclusive and keep the membership better informed.

Around 200 members typically vote for ExCom candidates, out of a voting membership ten times that size, unless there’s a big issue at stake. A big issue in the past was whether to cut a bike path through Arana Gulch. The local ExCom at the time was against the bike path, supported by the CA Sierra Club. The well-organized bike lobby, with the support of local big wigs, funded a glossy mailer for members calling for a change in leadership and promoting a new slate of candidates, who won and ousted the old guard. Depending on whom you talk to, it was either a hostile take-over or a new era for democracy.

The big issue manipulated for the 2020 election was the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail (MBSST) and its use as a rail/ trail corridor. ExCom is on record in support of the rail/trail and all 9 members, including myself have expressed that support. As the various sections of the 32-mile rail/ trail came under environmental review, the majority of ExCom, myself included, having reviewed the documents and noting inadequacies, while still supporting the rail/trail, voted for more robust attention to the environmental impacts involved. For example, the city’s review of the less than a mile segment from Bay/California Streets to the wharf roundabout, (Segment 7/Phase 2) omitted inclusion of the monarch butterfly site until challenged, then dismissed its importance and declared a wetland a drainage ditch, with inadequate mitigations for both. Typical city environmental review shortcomings that found willing supporters in the rail/trail lobby both inside and outside ExCom. Despite the internal vote on ExCom calling for better environmental review, as chair, speaking at public meetings, I experienced ExCom members attacking and undermining that position. The by-laws specifically rule against taking a public stance in the name of the Sierra Club against a voted-on position. Or require a clear statement that it is a personal opinion and if any room for doubt, to clarify the official Sierra Club position. This requirement of One Club: One Voice was ignored at meeting after public meeting.

The two female ExCom incumbents seeking reelection have impeccable environmental qualifications. They were among the hardest working members of ExCom, forging new city and statewide Sierra Club policies to protect birds with Bird Safe Design Standards for buildings and making connections with outside environmental groups as well as furthering other important local environmental work. Their re-election was opposed by a slate of 3 males, supported and funded by a cadre of rail/trail advocates. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, false statements about the incumbents were widely circulated by an anonymous group self-described as Climate.Concerned.Action and promoted by a member of ExCom, citing her position to emphasize the claim that the two (named) incumbents, “have openly opposed the MBSST.” Not the rail/trail but the trail itself. That is not only false, it is as damaging as circulating a lie that the slate of 3 male candidates, “have openly supported fracking.” It had the intended result. The two female incumbents lost heavily to the slate: so much for openness, fairness and respect. I and another environmental activist resigned from ExCom in protest. The remaining ExCom is all male save the one female who circulated the false attacks on the incumbents. The chair, vice chair and all committee chairs are male. Whether you view that as a problem depends on how you view gender equity.

I continue to support the National and State Sierra Club as well as the Ventana Chapter from Monterey County, of which the Santa Cruz Group is a part. What I don’t support are the unethical methods rail/trail activists used to gain power in the local Sierra Club. To view an issue as so important that it justifies deceitful tactics is in the end, a losing strategy. The same people who are outraged at the tactics of Trump or outraged at the tactics of the pro-recall faction might do well to reflect on the tactics they used in the Sierra Club election. There’s no daylight visible.

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.

Election Day

VOTE

Vote NO on the Recalls
Vote for the Brand New County Dems, all 16, where ever you live, but if you live in the 3rd District in the city of Santa Cruz where I live, vote Dawson, Strawn, Orgel-Olson, and Falls for the Democratic Central Committee
Vote Adam Bolaños Scow for US Representative (congress)
Vote Annrae Angel for Judge
And of course, Vote for Bernie Sanders for President as I believe he has the best chance of beating Trump.

What is this Recall Really About?

Gary Patton posted the following on his blog on February 3rd. I am reprinting it here because it is the best history of how the recall came about and why voters should reject it.

Reject the Recalls Recall elections have been qualified against two members of the Santa Cruz City Council. The recall elections are scheduled for March 3rd, but absentee voting has already begun. In my opinion, voters should vote “NO,” and reject the recalls. Despite the claims of recall proponents, I do not actually see this recall as a response to the personal failings of the two members of the Council now facing a recall election. This recall is not about malfeasance in office. No claims of dishonesty or illegal behavior have ever been advanced as a reason for the recalls. The recalls are not about a city version of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The charges of misconduct made against the two Council Members now facing recall were found to be without significant substance, after an outside (and very costly) investigation.

The way I see it, this recall is about political power, and nothing else. After the last city election, in November 2018, there was an unexpected result. A so-called “progressive” cohort of Council Members could sometimes muster four votes on the seven-member Council. This was a big change. The City Council hasn’t been progressive for years. The two City Council Members now facing recall have voted, with two others, to reverse pro-development policies that the previous Council endorsed and advanced. That is the real reason for the recall, and that is why such enormous amounts of money have been contributed by development and business interests to fund the recall effort.

Here are three examples of how the last election changed the direction of the City, elevating community values over developer profits:

Affordable Housing The previous City Council had REDUCED requirements that developers provide dedicated affordable housing when new housing developments are built. That was, of course, good for the developers, but not good for our community. Thanks to the votes of the two Council Members now facing a recall, the current City Council has reversed this policy, and has restored and increased affordable housing requirements for all now developments.

Stopping Market-Rate Only High Density The previous City Council was trying to put high-density development along all of the City’s main transportation corridors – with particular impacts on the City’s East Side. This plan would have had very significant adverse impacts on local neighborhoods and on local small businesses. It was, for that reason, hugely unpopular. Thanks to the votes of the two Council Members now facing a recall, the Council has reversed the earlier policy and has directed its staff to develop a plan that will “preserve and protect residential neighborhood areas and existing City businesses, as the City’s highest-level policy priority.”

A Library Not a Parking Garage The previous City Council was planning to build a massive parking garage on the parking lot where the Farmers’ Market is held. Such a garage, if constructed, would essentially be a subsidy to downtown developers, who would then not have to provide their own parking as they build new developments. Thanks to the votes of the two Council Members facing a recall, the Council is now exploring different options. If the recall is successful, you can count on that garage/library project coming right back.

RECALL ELECTIONS ARE DIVISIVE Recalls invariably lead to the kind of bitter community divisions that can endure for years, and that make even routine governmental actions difficult. Regular elections produce results that we all accept – even if we don’t like them. Recall elections don’t. There is a lot at stake with respect to the proposed recall in the City of Santa Cruz: a consistent commitment to the production of affordable housing, for instance. Other examples include the future of the downtown library, and the continuing impacts of overdevelopment on traffic, water, local neighborhoods, and our local small businesses. Labor issues, tax and financial issues, and questions about how our city can provide compassionate and effective help to those in desperate need, are all challenges we need to work on together. There will be another regular election in the City of Santa Cruz in November 2020. If the voters want change, that’s the time to make changes. In the meantime, let’s reject the current recall proposals. That’s my view.

“I am proud to have stood with working people to stop efforts to cut and privatize Social Security over the years. Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history. Our job is to protect it and expand it.” (Feb 29)

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

WHO WILL LEAD DISTRICT TWO?
As I write this, the March 3 election is hours away. In my campaign for District Two County Supervisor, I have worked hard to meet with and listen to hundreds of constituents in the District and beyond. I have met amazing people who also care deeply about the community, and are hopeful that I am elected, in order to bring a breath of fresh air to local government with respectful consideration, transparency, and trust. I am humbled and honored.

Regardless of the results, I am determined to work hard to help find solutions to the many problems and concerns that people have expressed over the past few weeks as I have been on the campaign trail and before. Working shoulder to shoulder, I want to make the County of Santa Cruz a better place, and will do my very best to do so in whatever capacity I can.

I am hopeful, and very grateful to the legions of people who have worked hard with me and supported my campaign. Thank you so much.

WRITE TO THE COASTAL COMMISSION THIS WEEK ABOUT SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT’S PLAN TO INJECT TREATED SEWAGE WATER IN YOUR DRINKING WATER
Write by this Friday, March 6, if you want the Coastal Commission to know how you feel about Soquel Creek Water District’s expensive, risky and energy-hogging plan to inject treated sewage water into the drinking water supply for the entire MidCounty area.

Send comment by this Friday, March 6, to:
Ryan Moroney <ryan.moroney@coastal.ca.gov> This is Item W22b

Please plan to attend the March 11 public hearing before the Coastal Commission at the Scotts Valley Hilton (6001 La Madrona, very close to Highway 17 and Mr. Hermon Drive).

Here is a link to the staff report

It is important to note that the permit application is for a streamlined process to have the Coastal Commission consider a consolidated permit process on behalf of the County of Santa Cruz, and the cities of Santa Cruz and Capitola, as well as the Coastal Commission’s development permit jurisdiction. This is a time-and-money-saving tactic for Soquel Creek Water District.

The Commission staff report states this about the treated wastewater injection project:
“This type of project thus helps to make water supply more sustainable, thereby helping to enhance community water supply security, while also putting scarce water resources to their highest and best use and avoiding ocean discharge.”

Here is a link to the exhibits

Note that Exhibit 12 is the District’s response to my opposition. In my opinion, that absurd document is most important to read, and begs your comment.

Why does Soquel Creek Water District feel that the water transfer alternative to the PureWater Soquel Project would cause equally serious environmental degradation? The pipes and inter-tie connection are already built, and operational.

The District completely sidesteps the real possibility of their own pursuit of water rights to the San Lorenzo River under recently-streamlined state law that would allow them to take water from the river under “temporary urgent use” needs for five years, and have the City of Santa Cruz treat the water to be used to sell to District customers. That would allow the District’s wells to rest, and the groundwater levels to rise naturally while requiring a fraction of the energy that the PureWater Soquel Project would demand.

Well, just read what you can, think about what you know, and write the Coastal Commission with what you care about and want to see happen (or NOT). Send comment by this Friday, March 6, to:
Ryan Moroney <ryan.moroney@coastal.ca.gov> This is Item W22b

Please plan to attend the March 11 public hearing before the Coastal Commission at the Scotts Valley Hilton (6001 La Madrona, very close to Highway 17 and Mr. Hermon Drive).

Does the Commission assure that the District has met the burden of proof that it is sustainable to increase the area’s energy demand dramatically and hold the community hostage by becoming technology-dependent for operational processes reliant on imported equipment and treatment supplies? How can the Commission ignore that the District’s project would degrade water quality by removing 3.8 million gallons of treated sewage effluent from going into the Bay and thereby concentrating the contaminants extracted and adding new carcinogenic disinfection contaminants inherent with the process? The Commission staff seems content to accept a vague DRAFT (not to be relied upon or quoted) Anti-Degradation Evaluation Analysis, not insisting on a FINAL analytic report. Why?

In the staff report and recommendation for permit approval, Special Condition #4 requires the District to submit a Recycled Water Management Plan (RWMP) that:
“…shall ensure that the sites designated for injection of treated wastewater are designed to maximize the long-term health and sustainability of groundwater and surface water and related resources (including wetlands, streams, creeks, lakes, riparian corridors, marshes, etc.) as much as possible, including with respect to potential sea level rise and increased aquifer seawater intrusion.”

How can the District meet this burden of proof when the expert hydrologist from Haley & Aldrich (independently hired by Cabrillo College to analyze impacts of the nearby Project injection wells) call the placement of the injection wells “curious”, call into question the efficacy of the locations to achieve prevention of seawater intrusion and also pointing out the danger to nearby private well owners?

Page 16 of the staff report states:

“To secure 1,500 AFY of purified water, the RO and UV-AOP systems will be designed for approximately 1.6 mgd production capacity and continuous operation at the design flow rate.”

Here is a link again to the exhibits

Take a look at the proposed pipeline route on page 2. Now, take a look at the proposed pipeline route that was indicated in the Project Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on page 5

Notice that the Plan submitted to the Coastal Commission has the names omitted of the busiest thoroughfares through which this trenching work would occur. Remember that this permit application is a consolidated process, to replace permitting procedures with all the jurisdictions affected. Why have names of street locations been omitted when that information will help the Commission and members of the public better examine possible construction and environmental impacts and influence possible Commission scrutiny?

Look at Exhibit 6 that shows Soquel Creek Water District would trench under the San Lorenzo River near the Laurel Street bridge. Well, well…what could possibly go wrong there? Why would the Coastal Commission allow that disaster-waiting-to-happen, instead of requiring the pipe be secured above-ground to the bridge? Doing so would permit visual inspection for leaks that could easily monitor potential contamination of the River habitat. Remember, the District’s Project would add significant amounts of carcinogenic disinfection by-products and hazardous cleaning chemicals (supposedly neutralized?).

In order to use the trenchless drilling technology to drill under the San Lorenzo River, the Soquel Creek Water District will virtually demolish the Mimi de Marta Dog Park in order to build the drilling pit:

“The pits will each extend to maximum depths of 50 feet below ground surface. Each pit will measure approximately 20 feet wide by 35 feet long. The trenchless construction sites under consideration are shown in Exhibit 6”

(as reported in the Coastal Commission staff report on page 19)

The size of the Tertiary Treatment Plant at the Santa Cruz City Waste Water Treatment Plant is inconsistent. (In the Project EIR, the footprint was reported as 15,000 SF on page 9) but reported as 6,000 SF on page 7 of the same document, but I could not find any dimensions of the proposed tertiary treatment plant provided in the Coastal Commission documents (Exhibit 3 is a vague conceptual diagram without any scale of reference). The artist’s conception of the facility in exhibit 5 of the Coastal Commission report gives no dimensions.

Equally confusing is the volume of treated sewage water proposed for processing. The Coastal Commission staff report states 1.6 million gallons/day or mgd (page 16) but then later on the page states 1.3mgd. Page 15 states that 2.8 mgd are needed to achieve 1500AcreFeet/Year Project replenishment goal, but states the Chanticleer Treatment facility will operate at 2.3mgd.

Please plan to attend the March 11 public hearing before the Coastal Commission at the Scotts Valley Hilton (6001 La Madrona, very close to Highway 17 and Mr. Hermon Drive).

TEAR DOWN A CHURCH IN SOQUEL AND BUILD A THREE-STORY APARTMENT
The County Planning Commission will consider a proposal to tear down the Inner Light Church in Soquel (5630 Soquel Drive, across from the Quik Stop):

“Proposal to demolish and existing church (Inner Light Ministries) and associated structures and construct a new 85,447 square foot three-story assisted living facility with 82 units (89 beds) and transfer approximately 20,000 square feet of land from APN 037-191-15 to 037-191-14. Project requires a Commercial Development Permit, Master Site Plan, Lot Line Adjustment, Riparian Exception, and adoption of a mitigated negative declaration per the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).”

This could be a good thing for the elderly, but bears watching for the staff report

I wondered what a Riparian Exception involves?
Here is what I found out on the County Planning Dept. website:

Development activities (such as grading, land clearing, building and tree or shrub removal) other than those allowed through exemptions and exceptions are not allowed in and adjacent to riparian corridors.

A riparian exception is required for development activities that fall within the protected areas. In order for a riparian exception to be approved, all of the following findings must be made:

That there are special circumstances or conditions affecting the property;
That the exception is necessary for the proper design and function of some permitted or existing activity on the property;
That the granting of the exception will not be detrimental to the public welfare or injurious to other property downstream or in the area in which the project is located;
That the granting of the exception, in the Coastal Zone, will not reduce or adversely impact the riparian corridor, and there is no feasible less environmentally damaging alternative; and
That the granting of the exception is in accordance with the purpose of this chapter, and with the objectives of the General Plan and elements thereof, and the Local Coastal Program Land Use Plan.

Certain activities are exempt from the ordinance, including:

Continuance of a pre-existing use (both agricultural and non-agricultural).
Work done in accordance with a valid State Timber Harvesting Permit.
Activities listed in the California Food and Agricultural Code for pest control.
Drainage, erosion control, or habitat restoration required as a condition of County approval of a project.

MEETING THE COUNTY’S ACLU PIONEERS
I attended the gathering last Saturday to honor the life of Mrs. Pat Miller. I have known Pat for a very long time, but had no idea that she and her late husband Dan Miller were instrumental in forming the Santa Cruz County American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). A few of those who were part of that effort that began in Aptos in the 1960’s were there and spoke about the courageous deeds of the Millers.

Pat was a social activist for decades, and influenced me greatly with her kindness, respect and appreciation of nature. She was the essence of pragmatism for bringing positive change and standing up for what she believed in. I will miss her, but appreciate the good work that she and the handful of others in Aptos did to plant the seed of justice and equal rights here.

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. ATTEND THE COASTAL COMMISSION HEARING MARCH 11. BUT JUST DO SOMETHING.

Cheers,
Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes. She’s running again right now!!!
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020

#63 / Mechanisms Of Wealth Inequality

Today is Election Day in California, and if you stick with me, you will find that this blog posting does have something to do with the choices we are facing today at the ballot box.

But first…. Let’s start with a seeminly unrelated subject.

On December 16, 2019, Digital Music News reported that the federal government was contemplating taking antitrust action against Live Nation Entertainment. On January 10, 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported that such a proceeding had, in fact, been initiated:

Justice Department antitrust enforcers submitted a court filing that detailed instances in which they said Live Nation Entertainment Inc. strong-armed venues into using Ticketmaster, in what would amount to violations of an agreement that allowed the concert giant to merge with the ticketing service 10 years ago.

Originally set to expire this year, the agreement, known as a consent decree, barred Live Nation from forcing venues that wanted to book its tours to use Ticketmaster for those shows, and it also barred Live Nation from retaliating when venues used a ticketing competitor instead. Live Nation is the world’s largest concert promoter, and Ticketmaster is the dominant ticketing service. The potential for abuse of their combined market power led the Justice Department to impose restrictions on how the two divisions could coordinate.

Last month, Live Nation reached a new agreement with the department to resolve government concerns the company violated that settlement, extending those conditions through 2025.

“Live Nation settled this matter to make clear that it has no interest in threatening or retaliating against venues that consider or choose other ticketing companies,” the concert promoter said Thursday in a written statement. “We strongly disagree with the DOJ’s allegations in the filing and the conclusions they seek to draw from six isolated episodes among some 5,000 ticketing deals negotiated during the life of the consent decree.”

The new government filing, submitted late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, chronicles instances in which six unnamed venues said they were told that retaining the services of a Ticketmaster competitor would lead the concert-promotion giant to stop booking acts at those venues. Some of the venues said Live Nation retaliated against them for opting to use a competing ticketing service.

“They have failed to live up to their end of the bargain,” the antitrust enforcers said in the filing, which lays out what it calls anticompetitive behavior on Live Nation’s part.

That article in The Wall Street Journal made me think about the mechanisms by which wealth and income inequality are created – and the mechanisms by which this destructive, continuing aggregation of wealth by those who are already supremely wealthy might be counteracted.

As indicated in The Wall Street Journal article quoted above, one mechanism by which the rich get richer is simply by being “bullies,” by “strong-arming” people to give them economic advantages. If you own the rights to determine where the most popular entertainers in America will perform, you can tell promoters that they will use the ticketing service you also happen to own, or they won’t be able to book the acts at all. The same kind of “bullying” tactics occur in all sorts of different contexts. The basic principle is described by a well-known formula that is expressed colloquially as follows:

Them That Has, Gets

Let’s not forget that the five hundred wealthiest people in the world increased their net worth by twenty-five percent in 2019. If you think about what that means in real life, it is actually a pretty staggering statistic. The wealthiest person in the world, by most accounts, is Jeff Bezos, of Amazon. His wealth, in 2019, was $113 billion. Apparently, his wealth increased by approximately $28 billion last year, and I am betting he is “on track” for similar gains in 2020. Maybe even more! Just to make the comparison clearer for those who are paid by the hour, that $28 billion yearly increase in Bezos’ wealth translates to an hourly wealth gain of about $3,196,000.

One way Bezos bullies others to obtain more for himself is to pay workers low wages for backbreaking, physically demanding work. Meanwhile, back on the streets, here is how an increasing number of Americans are being forced to live:

Income and wealth inequality is a big political issue this year, thanks, mainly, to presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, with backup and harmony being provided by . One way to deal with wealth and income inequality is simply to “tax the rich,” and to use the money for expenditures that have broad, positive impacts on people’s lives. But there is also another way, as illustrated by the Live Nation enforcement action.

Our government is supposed to represent us – ALL of us – though our government, too, has been largely captured by those with extreme wealth. That applies, let’s not forget, to what is happening in both political parties. Reasserting genuinely democratic control over the mechanisms of government will not be easy (that’s the political issue raised by the Sanders and Warren candidacies), but we know that it is more than theoretically possible. It may be difficult (REALLY difficult), but it is not impossible.

IF our government were truly operating on behalf of ordinary people (and it’s up to all of us to insist that it do so), then we could do a lot more than merely “tax the rich.” We could radically reduce or even eliminate entirely the kind of amalgamated economic power that allows Amazon, Live Nation, Boeing, and all the other giant corporations to ignore the public interest, and to “bully” others, large and small, so as to increase their own wealth and income.

I, personally, think that the wealth inequality issue is THE issue in our upcoming elections. If you agree, cast your votes accordingly, and get directly engaged in the campaigns that can change America!

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. More inside views of our little movers and shakers….scroll downwards.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s take on the future, 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 with his thoughts on Whatever!!!

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes, “James Aschbacher is remembered for his fanciful art and creative imagination, but he’s almost equally famed for his pizzas! How did the Legend of Monday Night Pizza get started? (Hint: blame it on the Good Times!) Find out this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). ” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

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. . Michel Singher conductor and artistic director of the Espressivo Orchestra talks about their concerts on Jan. 21 followed by Barry Scott from Coastal Rail Santa Cruz and the Rail Plus Trail benefits. Linda Berman Hall reveals secrets about The Santa Crux Baroque Festival’s new season on Jan.28. Peter Klotz- Chamberlin from the Resource Center for Non Violence guests on February 4. After which Nancy Macy w Environmental Committee Chair of the Valley Womens Club talks about PG&E and other problems. Jean Brocklebank talks about our Santa Cruz Public library issues on Feb 11.

OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

Victor Borge is an old favorite…

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.

“ELECTION DAY”

It is a paradox that far too few Americans participate in the wonderful ritual of democracy that we call Election Day. Brad Henry

It’s heartbreaking that so many hundreds of millions of people around the world are desperate for the right to vote, but here in America people stay home on election day. Moby

The polls tell us something, but they don’t tell us everything. They don’t tell us how people are going to show up on Election Day. Andrew Gillum

COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Subscribe to the Bulletin! 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!), and the occasional scoop. Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

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February 26 – March 3, 2020

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

BRATTON… gives us the scoop… GREENSITE…Greensite on a recent op-ed & the recall. KROHN… on the student strike. STEINBRUNER… videos from last week, in case you missed them. PATTON… Measure R… EAGAN… Deep Cover JENSEN… on a trilogy of Fools… UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”BATTERIES”

UCSC STUDENT VIGIL AGAINST TUITION May 18, 1967. Now it’s 53 years later, and campus activism seems alive and well, unfortunate as it is that it’s still needed.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

BRATTON MYSTERIOUS VACATION REVEALED.
I’m sorry for not sharing. I was at Dominican, Palo Alto Med. and mostly at Santa Cruz Post Acute for at least 3 weeks (and still am ) Tests and treatment for lungs, lower back, and heart stuff. During all of that time I managed to add days of search, plus merriment, to all my medical staff’s humor by actually swallowing two hearing aid batteries!! I’m waiting for one more to appear. I’ll be back ASAP. In the meantime, thank the Omni present Gunilla Leavitt for the weekly assemblage of digits…and fidgets.

February 24, 2020

Grossed Out

If you read the February 21st. Sentinel op-ed by Kevin Grossman, who quit as chair of the city’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women over what he labeled as harassment during and after the meeting of October 9th 2019, you might have concluded as I did that it must have been a raucous meeting, out of control, needing 5 cops to help the commissioners “feel safe” as the “evening escalated.” I started by believing and then checked the facts: in this case an audiotape of the October 9th 2019 meeting, available online under Commission agendas. I spent a couple of hours listening to the tape. I kept waiting for speakers at the podium to start yelling and making threats, requiring police presence as described by chair Grossman. I’m still waiting. None of what he describes is an accurate summary of the meeting.

At the meeting, some of the city’s long time feminist leaders spoke, as well as others I did not know. In his op-ed Grossman describes them as, “one angry person after another approached the podium and berated us over and over again. They also threatened to ‘come after us’ if we continued to support the women and the public censure the city council voted against the night before.” I kept checking to make sure I had the correct tape since the speakers were calm, respectful, articulate and reasoned. Only one, a regular at city council meetings could have been described in the background as disruptive. She is easily calmed down and is often spot on. She is and was not threatening. Grossman’s description is hyperbole.

His contempt for the public comes through clearly on the tape. He rivals past Mayor Watkins with his bored, dismissive “time’s up” abrupt cut-off for speakers. For the last item on the agenda, public comment was limited to 1 minute despite the topic’s importance and a two-month wait for the next Commission meeting.

In his op-ed Grossman berates the public for being at the meeting. He complains that they weren’t there to “hear about the second annual Transforming Together conference or the county-wide needs assessment we just completed” when it was he and the commission that voted to remove those items from the meeting’s agenda despite Ann Simonton objecting.

This hijacking of the Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women from within for political purposes is unprecedented in my experience and I’ve had a lot of experience with this commission including as co-founder. Sure, politicians have used the commission as a feather in their campaign hat but never has the commission been exploited to eradicate political rivals. That the commission’s staff, (who is now on tape extolling the excellent recent working relations with Drew Glover) could influence commissioners to demand the censure of two council members for charges that an independent investigation did not substantiate, suggests some commission members had an a priori interest in the recall campaign, despite their protestations to the contrary. If a laugh and a curt remark (the only substantiated charges against Krohn and Glover) can be elevated to the seriousness of rape and domestic violence, the commission’s mandate, then we have taken a giant leap backwards. Co-optation is ugly.

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.

Feb. 25, 2020

Grad Student Strike, Week 3
Some negotiation is happening. The strikers are back on the line. I wanted to share this beautifully crafted letter sent by military veterans to the brain-trust of UCSC sent on February 23rd. It points out the ridiculous force that was used last week against unarmed, peaceful graduate students, undergraduates, faculty, and staff. Seventeen students were arrested.

Subject: A message from UCSC military veterans regarding police presence during the wildcat strike

Dear Chancellor Larive, EVC Kletzer, AVC Scott, and Chief Oweis,

As military veteran members of the UCSC community (students and faculty) we are morally and ethically compelled to voice our condemnation of the employment of militarized police in our academic setting. As veterans, the position we occupy is not easy, having been part of an organization that has been ordered to subjugate people of color for decades, with no end in sight; it is therefore our duty to speak up against perpetual war and metaphysical catastrophe, whether it be abroad or in the US.

Especially on Mon-Wed (2/10-2/12), the similarities of tactics, techniques, and procedures, regularly called TTPs by those “in the know,” were alarming and disappointing. The intimidation tactics utilized those days, such as batons, body armor, and paddy wagons in plain sight, were distressing. To us, who can receive or have received COLA via the GI Bill, we recognize these tactics as tools to ramp up fear and intimidate those already in precarious situations. The penultimate example of how inappropriate the response was exists in the rifles presented on Wednesday, 2/12. We, as veterans, are intimately familiar with them as tools to inflict death from near and far. The rifles from Wednesday were, of course, to our military trained observation, non-lethal. Yet, imagine being a 20ish-year-old civilian, where rifles are tools of domestic murder, oppression, mass shootings, and fear; this is especially the case for people of color in our community, whose neighborhoods are over-policed and who are more likely to experience police intimidation, violence, and murder.

Many of us have been present since day one of this struggle. We have witnessed the progression of events. Students have shown passion, frustration, joy, anger, and love as they have engaged in nonviolent political protest, yet they have been labeled as dangerous. This is a farce, especially when the structural violence perpetrated by a system that pays staff, lecturers, and graduate students too little to live on is not held accountable. In the military, there is a process in terms of who calls for escalation and subsequent accountability. We demand transparency and accountability in the UC, in terms of our leaders, and institutionally. Our criticism is therefore directed toward administrators who readily employed personnel, funding, and equipment disproportionately and, as a result, escalated this situation and implied brutality against those with little institutionally recognized power: those trying to make it on poverty wages, which is more likely to be first generation students and people of color, but especially students who are undocumented and Black. We call on administrators to show constraint and de-escalation as this wildcat strike advances and as tensions rise with this continuing strike, as was mostly shown from 2/13 to 2/21, which we recognize and appreciate. We also call for a drawing down of resources spent on police presence.

Respectfully submitted,

Regina Day Langhout, PhD, USNR, Operation Desert Shield/Storm, HM2/E-5
Matthew Enders, Undergraduate Student, USMC, Operation New Dawn, Sergeant/E-5
Francisco Munoz, Undergraduate Student, USMCR, Operation Enduring Freedom, Corporal/E-4
Sara Al-Hawi, Undergraduate Student, USN, Operation Tomodachi, AE3/E-4
Tommi D. Hayes, PhD Candidate, US Army, Operation Iraqi Freedom II, Specialist/E-4

Wow! What a letter, what a rebuke, what a statement from former soldiers who were there and here and know the difference.

Don’t Forget to VOTE!
Voting in California began on February 3rd and will continue up until the March 3rd primary. Tell your family, friends, and anyone on the bus who will listen: You can register and vote up until March 3rd. Use your franchise and cast a ballot.

Bernie Tweet to UC Grad Students on the Picket Line:

“UCSC grad students are fighting to have their labor rights acknowledged. I strongly urge the president of the UC system to stop threatening them, especially immigrant students, for organizing. I stand with @payusmoreucsc” (Feb. 19)

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

[Here is a holdover from last week, I had some technical difficulties and will update content as it comes in. -Gunilla]

IT’S TIME FOR A BREATH OF FRESH AIR IN THE SECOND DISTRICT!
That’s the consensus as I travel around the Second District, meeting with constituents. People are fed up with being ignored and their concerns diminished, they are tired of traveling on congested roads that are falling apart, and just really want a new outlook on the solutions possible to get something done.

The League of Women Voters has reconsidered the unfortunate decision to cancel a forum that would have allowed voters to learn more about District 1 and District 2 County Supervisor candidates, as well as Measure R and the local school bonds. Oddly, when Supervisor Friend told the leader of the League that he may have a conflict, she cancelled the entire forum! Luckily, two women who are determined to uphold the goals of the League (to educate voters) convinced them to organize another forum opportunity in Capitola, hopefully some time next week. Stay tuned for the date.
www.becky4countysupervisor.com

TWO GOOD INTERVIEWS TO WATCH!
I really want to thank Community Television for respectfully granting me interview time when I recently requested equal time commensurate with what the station had given Supervisor Zach Friend in late December, 2019.

Take a look at two recent interviews on Community Television:

Voices of the Village with Host Steve Pleich

and Community Cafe with host Datta Khalsa

When you are done, go back and watch the beginning interview with Rick Longinotti – No on Recall.

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING OR CANDIDATE FORUM. MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE THIS WEEK BY JUST DOING SOMETHING.

Cheers,
Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

By request, here is Gary Patton’s blog post about Measure R

#47 / R We Ready To Vote (YES) on Measure R?

A friend who saw my blog posting about the recall elections currently underway in the City of Santa Cruz sent me a follow-up inquiry: What do you think about Measure R? Well, I do have “view” on Measure R, too. I am strongly in favor of Measure R. In fact, being one of those early voter types, I have already cast my ballot, and I voted YES on R.

As far as I am concerned, Cabrillo College is one of the local institutions that has helped make Santa Cruz County into a very special place, indeed. I speak from personal experience. My entire family has benefitted from the education that Cabrillo College provides. Lots of other families can say the exact same thing! Cabrillo is, as the name states, a true “community” college, and it makes education available to all of us, to every one of us – and at every stage of our lives.

Cabrillo is where I learned Spanish, when I was almost fifty years old, and Cabrillo is where my son took courses he needed to advance his career. My daughter got a very good start in life in Cabrillo’s outstanding Early Childhood Education preschool. Her son, my grandson, will soon be in high school, and he is already planning to take some courses at Cabrillo, to get him beyond high school, and ready for a four-year university. I am now teaching in the Legal Studies Program at UCSC, and I am very much impressed by the diverse and motivated students that Cabrillo College is sending up to that City on a Hill!

Here is the problem that some find with Measure R: it will cost us money! If you think you can get everything for free on the Internet (even a bogus education at PragerU), maybe the fact that it will cost us money will seem like a real strike against Measure R. The amount of money being requested will mean less than 2% of the average total of our property tax bills, but Measure R will cost us money. This is not a deal killer for me!

I come from parents who taught me that “you get what you pay for,” and that has, in fact, been my personal experience. If we want to continue and build upon the wonderful work that Cabrillo College has done, and is doing in this community, we need to continue to invest. In the case of Measure R, I think we get a lot for our investment. The fact sheets I have seen indicate that the funds produced by Measure R will not only rennovate and upgrade many aging campus facilities, specifically including the Library, but that these funds will also let Cabrillo build a new science building on the main campus and a new public service training center in Watsonville.

Deciding to borrow money (and that’s what a bond act is) always requires some thought. If you borrow money and don’t invest it wisely, you are worse off than before. You don’t have much of value to show for your money, and you’re deeper in debt. I think that investing in our premier institution of community education is an investment worth making, and that is why I voted “YES” on Measure R.

YES on “R.” That’s my view about that one!

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. New (old) subconscious goodness next week.

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

Lisa reviews a trilogy of books by Robin Hobbs. She says “Reviewing one book at a time would be like writing a film review after only seeing one third of the movie”, so you can find reviews of all three — this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (ljo-express.blogspot.com). ” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

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 and archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Peter Klotz-Chamberlin from the Resource Center for Non Violence guests on February 4. After which Nancy Macy who is Environmental Committee Chair of the Valley Womens Club talks about PG&E and other problems. Jean Brocklebank and Michael Lewis will talk about our Santa Cruz Public library issues on Feb 11. Distinguished Artists Series founder John Orlando and pianist Lembit Beecher guest on March 3. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

Medieval finger loop braiding! This looks like a lot of fun 🙂

Batteries

“Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery.”
~Erma Bombeck

“I feel that sin and evil are the negative part of you, and I think it’s like a battery: you’ve got to have the negative and the positive in order to be a complete person.”
~Dolly Parton

“Without vision, even the most focused passion is a battery without a device.”
~Ken Auletta

“I think of the sun as my battery, my charger.”
~Alexis Ren

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

February 19 – 25, 2020

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

Bruce is unavailable this week, but we still have GREENSITE… with thoughts on the Recall… KROHN… Bernie and the recall… STEINBRUNER… continues campaigning – watch 2 videos! PATTON… on the the Corona virus… EAGAN… entertains and provokes as always… JENSEN… on Santa Cruz Shakespeare this season… UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… on being clever

BOARDWALK TRAIN AND BUS ACCIDENT. August 16, 1954. No explanations for this one. Either the bus driver parked wrong or took off at exactly the wrong moment. Do note how neat and clean the lawn at the Cocoanut Grove was “back in the day”.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

LATTE BREAKING NEWS

Bruce is gone for a little while longer, but our other intrepid contributors are still contributing, so here is this week’s column.

February 17th 2020

The Recall

If slick mailers with manipulated information have any effect, then the campaign to recall city council members Drew Glover and Christopher Krohn has gained a lead. The latest expensive mailer from the pro-recall camp is expertly crafted. Its layout is a graphic designer’s dream. Its playing fast and loose with the truth is worthy of a Trump medal of honor.

To realize you are being manipulated you have to have read the source material and few have done that. Had they read the Rose Report they would know that only 2 complaints against the council members were substantiated and neither rose to the level of gender harassment. You’d never know that from the mailer. Seriously, a (inaudible on the tape of the meeting) laugh or smirk from Krohn directed at a senior staffer warrants a formal complaint and a recall? Harsh words from Glover directed at a councilmember who overstayed her time in a conference room warrant a formal complaint and a recall? To add context, the senior staffer is married to the lawyer who lost his contract with the city over his inappropriate (some might say racist) remarks about Glover during the court hearing over the Ross camp. That connection could be seen as a conflict of interest if the campaign against the two men were not already steeped in special interests. The harsh words by Glover were never weighed against the aggrieved council member leaping up and pounding the table at a subsequent council meeting, yelling that no-one should call her a racist since she has been an out lesbian for 30 years. Then there was the past Mayor’s speech in public at a council meeting accusing the two men of harassment, bullying and sexism…or that is what she was told by her friends…with no right of response from Glover or Krohn. Add to the mix the totally inappropriate entrance of the chair and some members of the city Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women calling for censure of the two men, which morphed into gossip that the two men were guilty of sexual assault (how could that not be an assumption coming from that commission) and you have all the markings of a kangaroo court.

That there is big money behind the recall from outside real estate and developer interests is well documented. There is also a groundswell of pro-recall support from residents with no ties to outside interests. The anti-recall activists focus understandably on the former. I think it also important to acknowledge the latter. The larger picture that gives energy to the recall is the challenge to vested interests that the new council majority poses. For the first time in decades, developers are facing push back at city hall. Some writers such as Stephen Kessler and others claim that all current, recent and past city council members are environmentalists and progressives and this is but a far-left issue. From my experience that shows a lack of observation. All developments, including the out of scale and just plain ugly, have received council majority support…until now. Not even a noble Redwood tree, nor a beautiful Sequoia, supported by the city arborist, could be saved under prior city councils. I’ve been to council with tree appeals and never had a majority vote to save a heritage tree…until now. The new majority has upped the number of below market rate units required in new developments and committed to protecting small businesses and neighborhoods from over development. If neighbors understood their self-interests, as distinct from landlord or developer interests, they would be less swayed by pro-recall passions.

What has captured the passion for the recall by non-developer interests and should not simply be rejected as lies and manipulation is the houseless issue. With the court ruling on Boise that a city cannot criminalize those sleeping outside if there are insufficient beds for inside sleeping and with our SCPD allowing such outdoor camping, it was a perfect storm for the two council members who campaigned on helping the houseless to become scapegoats for the growing number of outdoor camps. The attempt by the progressive majority to locate suitable sites was hamstrung by the city staff’s limited selection presented. Glover then became a focal point of hostility for choosing one of the sites that staff selected, the site near Depot Park. That the city has made no progress in 20 years on finding an adequate site for overnight sleeping for the houseless yet in a few months found a site for a Warriors Stadium says a lot about priorities.

Neighbors are outraged over the daily spectacle of tents, bike parts, garbage and discarded needles on sidewalks, parks and beaches. Whether they should be is a matter of opinion. It is this outrage that is fuelling the recall campaign and the developers are laughing all the way to the bank.

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.

February 18, 2020

Bernie and the Recall
Could we really be experiencing a series of “Bernie Moments” right here in Santa Cruz? The mainstream establishment Democratic party and members of the media who routinely support those that have get more and those that don’t have should shut up values are lashing out at Bernie Sanders after he won the popular vote in Iowa and New Hampshire. For progressive Santa Cruz, what’s not to like in Bernie: free tuition at state schools, Medicare for All, $15 bucks an hour minimum wage, an end to cash bail system, implementing the Green New Deal, and perhaps his number one issue will be to focus on working with the world community to mitigate climate change. Of course, taxing the wealthy to pay for it all is really what scares the bejesus out of the comfortable main stream and upper class, a distinct U.S. minority, when talk of a Sanders Presidency turns toward reality. The more conservative pundits on the editorial page of the New York Times are awash in fear and their current writing yields a series of scare tactics to try and tamp down the notion of Bernie getting into the white house. He and his volunteer army are fighting back on digital, print, neighborhood-by-neighborhood fronts as he heads into Nevada, South Carolina, and then “Super Tuesday” and California’s large delegate treasure trove. Paul Krugman’s take, “Bernie Sanders Isn’t a Socialist,” he’s a Danish-style “social democrat,” but if he continues calling himself a Socialist he will give Trump every piece of political cold war ammunition he needs to defeat the Democrats in November. Ross Douthat, an almost real conservative, puts forward “The Bloomberg Temptation,” although somewhat critical of Michael Bloomberg this piece is yet more free ad space for someone pretty adept at paying for advertisements. Thomas Friedman also chimed in supportively in, “Paging Michael Bloomberg.” Even liberal opinion writer, Timothy Egan was pretty blunt. “Bernie Can’t Win,” because he’s about “class loathing…” Egan writes “It feels good…but is ultimately self-defeating.” Most of these columnists say they will support Bernie if he wins the nomination, but we will see how vigorous that support is when he needs it. The other rightwing-ish Times’ contributor, Bret Stephens seems to loath Bernie’s values, but writes that Sanders can win because people just might believe he’s fighting a “rigged” system. Is Stephens goading Bernie supporters?

Enter the Santa Cruz Recall
I’ve been mentioning to everyone from the beginning, please follow the money in this recall process. And the money has been flowing in since the 2018 election to recall members of the Brand New Council majority. It’s flowed from real estate interests as far away as Chicago, from builders in Arizona, from the California Apartment Association, and many realtors and market rate housing developers right here on the Central Coast. Some folks say it is about personality clashes, but it is and always has been about $THE MONEY$. Of course, there are personality differences and that will happen on a 7-member city council, but it is the policy differences that really matter. With respect to the current make-up of the Santa Cruz City Council there are three African Americans, four women, and one out-lesbian. I believe it is an amazing and special city council and one that might make our community proud. BUT, there are many, many policy divergences and negotiating through those contrasting views and finally voting is what makes democracy unique. The attacks, misinformation, and non-media reporting that is happening to the policy issues Bernie Sanders is putting forward is not unlike what the current council is wading through. May I take the liberty of substituting a list of the local naysayers of the current council because it is not unlike Bernie’s detractors in the national media. I refer to local tabloid Msgrs. Primack, Coonerty, Rotkin, Kessler, and Pierce. The attacks have been unrelenting and the storylines follow a pattern that looks like nothing this council is doing could possibly be serving the needs of Santa Cruzans. Collectively, their narratives support the Recall storyline and come in the guise of the personal he said-she, but they are really attacks on our political views, which in this town always come back to developer schemes, rent burden, UCSC growth, and the plight of the houseless. Let’s talk about those issues.

What’s Been Done
This council majority passed 1) a 20% inclusionary ordinance, which means that 20% of all housing construction must be affordable; 2) a resolution making all downtown employees eligible for free bus passes won the day; and 3) space was found for Kaiser-Permanente to have a new home on two floors of the Cooper House at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Cooper Street. These were all 4-3 votes on what became some pretty hot political issues, which together include pages out of the national political narrative of housing, transportation, and medical care. In addition, the council majority brought forward resolutions supporting the Amah Mutsun Band reacquiring land that was stolen; making cultivation and possession of psilocybin the lowest priority of law enforcement; support for a UCSC graduate student Teaching Assistant COLA; and getting the city to work with unions on a Community/Project Labor Agreements, PLAs. None of these last four issues would likely have seen the light of day on a Santa Cruz City Council agenda if we did not have a Brand New Council majority. I urge folks to consider this: voters may not necessarily want seven Drew Glovers or seven Chris Krohn’s on the city council, but one of each might just be the ingredient in achieving real people power and real local democracy. Just as Bernie is constantly fighting for political daylight, transparency, and truth, we will continue that struggle as well, on or off the council.

Final Note
It comes from an email Lee Brokaw sent out to both soothe the activist soul and fire up the NO RECALL troops.

Let’s count the ways we are different:

Erica’s poster contest [a great success at the Palomar]
several [music] concerts
[Community-Council and No Recall] plenary meetings
No Recall steering committee meetings
City Councilmember kitchen cabinet meetings
town hall meetings [held on the eastside and westside]
community TV programs with Steve Pleich
canvassing [neighborhoods all over Santa Cruz]
peacefully, respectfully standing at Whole Foods with the No Recall banner
Weekly farmer’s market tabling
tabling at MLK event
working on campus
lawn sign campaign!!!!!
mailing party get-togethers
letters to the editor
op/ed pieces [Patton, Simonton, Gratz, Urban, and Mayor Cummings all at NoRecall.org]
speaking [truth to power consistently] at City Council meetings.

What we’ve done are all positive actions; truthful promotions as opposed to lies.

I haven’t heard that the other side has done anything like what we do. They appear to prefer to dance with the devil (NextDoor)…rock on devil worshipers! We’ve run an honorable campaign and have every reason to hold our heads high, shoulders back, standing erect, knowing that ‘the truth will set you free’, AND we ARE! Our hands are clean and we have no reason to feel less than honorable, as time will prove, the other side will be contaminated by their vitriol.

If there is a God, I trust that She will balance the table.

Thanks Erica for the summary!

AOC Tweet of the Week

I carry the above discussion over to my Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweet from July but rings ever truer if you link the debate in Washington with the debate in Santa Cruz. My comments are in italics. (from July 14, 2019)

“You know what we’re going to do tomorrow? Same thing we do every week. Fight for:

Living wages & unions

The current council majority worked to raise the salaries of the city’s lowest paid workers and not with major pushback from some entrenched mainstream Dems. In addition, we put forward a community benefits labor agreement which promotes union membership in our community.

A humane border

We have a sanctuary city ordinance that actually has some teeth!

Healthcare + edu as rights

We supported Kaiser expansion downtown and graduate students receiving a cost of living adjustment (cola4all campaign).

Loosening the grip of corp lobbyists on our democracy

Support for campaign finance reform, fighting corporate real estate interests while promoting rent control and just-cause eviction, and support for tenant free-speech rights are all progressive issues this city council majority fights for.

They can stay busy defending racism. We’ve got things to do.”

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

The League of Women Voters has reconsidered the unfortunate decision to cancel a forum last week that would have allowed voters to learn more about District 1 and District 2 County Supervisor candidates, as well as Measure R and the local school bonds. Oddly, when Supervisor Friend told the leader of the League that he may have a conflict, she cancelled the entire forum! Luckily, two women who are determined to uphold the goals of the League (to educate voters) convinced them to organize another forum opportunity in Capitola, hopefully some time next week. Stay tuned for the date.
www.becky4countysupervisor.com

Take a look at two recent interviews on Community Television:

Voices of the Village with Host Steve Pleich

and Community Cafe with host Datta Khalsa – Broker/Owner Main Street Realtors

When you are done, go back and watch the beginning interview with Rick Longinotti – No on Recall.

MONTEREY BAY COMMUNITY POWER TO EXPAND SOUTH TO SANTA BARBARA AND POSSIBLY RAISE RATES
I had the opportunity to attend Monterey Bay Community Power Board meetings via teleconference last week, and learned that this Community-based power company will expand soon to incorporate areas all the way south to Santa Barbara, and will change it’s name as a result. Soon, the name will be changed to Central Coast Community Energy, and will include 32 jurisdictions.

The current multi-jurisdictional board met February 12 via teleconference for the first time, and included a contingent in Monterey at the main office, as well as a small group from Santa Barbara, along with those checking in from the Sequoia Conference room at 701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz. I observed and participated in the Governance Committee and Executive Committee meetings, both chaired by Santa Cruz County Supervisor Bruce McPherson, and then the Operations Board of Directors meeting, chaired by Mr. Rene Mendez, City Manager of Gonzales. Mr. Mendez cautioned the group about becoming so large as to considered a “utility”, and that legislators are beginning to watch more closely the actions of community-based power groups as a result.

I learned that Monterey Bay Community Power, while having a goal of 100% renewable energy supply, is currently only at 40%, because of heavy reliance on hydro-power, which is not considered renewable. I learned that the source of the solar power component is in Kern County and New Mexico. I learned that that company is purchasing a huge battery storage facility that will enable solar-generated power to be stored for night hour supply.

Here is a link to the Monterey Bay Community Power website. Take a look at the agendas. Meeting Search Results – OnBase Agenda Online

It seems that the future meetings will be again held via teleconference in the County Building. If you are interested in the power grid, and renewable energy supply organization, I encourage you to attend the next meeting. The CEO, Mr. Habashi, is paid over $27,000/month. Wow.

ANOTHER $1 MILLION STUDY FOR THE RAIL CORRIDOR
I attended both of the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) public open houses to gather input on the Rail Alternatives Study. The first was at the Live Oak Grange, and was so well-attended, I could not hear much of anything. Before it got too crowded, I did have the pleasure of meeting the fellow who is responsible for bringing the hydrogen fuel cell passenger train to the County in October. It will be free to ride for a little over a week, during business hours, and will go from about Jade Street Park in Capitola to the Boardwalk.

The second meeting was in the Watsonville Library meeting room, and was more sparsely attended. I had the ability to talk with one of the transportation engineers the RTC had brought from Berkeley about various options. He was not aware of the May, 2015 Rail Feasibility Study. Wow.

In many ways, it seemed like another perfunctory meeting, with multi-colored dots people could affix to their favorite or least-favorite idea (presenters said the color of the dot did not matter…huh?) and people could affix post-it notes on maps with ideas for station locations. Will any of those dots and post-its actually matter? Or will there need to be yet another study?

Honestly, it is just time to get a crushed roadbase trail in so SOMEONE can start using this gem in any fashion at all. Contact the RTC with your thoughts. The next meeting is March 5.

SIXTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS ACCEPTED CASE AGAINST SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT
Last week, the Sixth District Court of Appeal formally agreed to accept the transfer of my appeal against Soquel Creek Water District for many alleged violations and inadequate environmental analysis regarding their proposed project to inject millions of gallons of treated sewage water into the drinking water supply of the Midcounty. This is good news. The District’s counsel from Riverside asked for and was granted calendar preference. Now comes the arduous task of designating the record of materials for appeal review. Stay tuned. Appeals Case H047733 in Court of Appeal.

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT CUSTOMERS WILL PAY OVER $3.2 MILLION FOR NEW PROPERTY NOT EVEN WITHIN DISTRICT BOUNDARIES
The Board will most likely approve the $3.2 million price tag for the land at 2505 Chanticleer at Soquel Avenue for a place to build the advanced sewage effluent treatment plant in Live Oak. (see page 107 for Item #7.3)

This would be the location of the treatment plant housing a number of hazardous chemicals needed for the disinfection and system maintenance processes. The District failed to notify in writing 30 days in advance the schools within one-quarter mile that the Project was going to be approved and the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was final and to be certified by the Board. That is why the Live Oak Community did not know about this project proposed for their neighborhood by a water company that does not serve them. This is part of my legal case before the Court of Appeal.

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT CUSTOMERS WILL PAY NEARLY $5.1 MILLION FOR TREATMENT PLANT PIPE LINE CONVEYANCE DESIGN IN AREAS OUTSIDE OF DISTRICT BOUNDARIES
The Board will most likely approve $5,058,583 contract with Garney/Kennedy Jenks to design the pipeline conveyance system that would take treated sewage effluent from the Santa Cruz City Sewage Treatment Facility all the way to the 2505 Chanticleer Avenue treatment plant, and send the contaminant brine back via a separate pipeline to be dumped into the Monterey Bay. This is in Item 7.4 that begins on page 134 of the 2/18/20 Board agenda.

It would also include another nearly equal amount of pipe and pumping stations to the three proposed injection wells, one of which has already been built at Twin Lakes Baptist Church and was approved and put out to bid before the PureWater Soquel Project EIR was certified.

There is little discussion about the environmental mitigations required for all those 18 stream crossings, and potential damage to multiple historic structures adjacent to vibratory horizontal drilling areas (nothing at all until page 164). I see no mention of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, or the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The pipelines are estimated to be 23,650LF each for conveyance of tertiary treated water to the advance treatment facility, and the same for the brine return. The pipeline is estimated to be 23,800LF from the advanced treatment facility to the three injection wells. The EIR states that the cleaning effluent from the injection wells would go either into the creeks or the sanitary sewer. That is not discussed in this conveyance design description.

Garney Pacific (dba Garney) is at 324 E. 11th Street, Suite E2, Tracy, CA 95876; phone (925) 800-1848.

Perhaps we should contact them and ask about these critical issues. Rest assured, the Soquel Creek Water District Board, which just took action to reduce the public comment time on agenda items, will not be inclined to answer any questions from the public.

COASTAL COMMISSION WILL CONSIDER PERMIT APPLICATION FOR SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT’S PROJECT PROPOSAL
The Coastal Commission will consider a permit application by Soquel Creek Water District for a consolidated permit for the proposed Project to inject treated sewage water into the aquifer. The Coastal Commission will review the application during the March 11-13 meeting scheduled to occur in Scotts Valley. Here are the rules for sending comment and public testimony.

This was discussed at the recent Soquel Creek Water District Public Outreach Committee meeting: (page 59 of Board 2/28/20 agenda)

Ms. Mow Schumacher discussed outreach efforts for the Pure Water Soquel Project, specifically outreach needed for the Coastal Commission hearing, conveyance pipeline and treatment designbuild.

Also at the recent Infrastructure Committee meeting (page 61 of the 2/18/20 Board agenda):

Ms. Mow Schumacher and Mr. Dufour provided an update on the Pure Water Soquel (PWS) Project, discussing the Coastal Commission hearing, conveyance pipeline, treatment designbuild and grant funding.

CALIFORNIA SENATE FELLOWS PROGRAM
Here is a great opportunity for students of any age interested in government to intern and receive monthly stipend of $2,698 and health, dental and vision benefits, paid university enrollment and student fees for units in the Political Science Dept., Graduate Certificate in Applied Policy and Government, and student loan deferment.
You can find more information here.

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING OR CANDIDATE FORUM. MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE THIS WEEK BY JUST DOING SOMETHING.

Cheers,
Becky Steinbruner

Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

Pictured here is a new and novel coronavirus. This new virus first appeared in Wuhan, China, and is now being found in other locations around the world. The illness caused by the virus can be life threatening. A couple of the first United States cases of the illness caused by the virus were located in San Jose, California.

It is fair to say that there is great concern about the deadly nature of this new virus. The photo below, showing the streets of Wuhan, China on February 3, 2020, indicates just how much those at the epicenter of this new viral outbreak have been trying to avoid exposure. The picture is from The Atlantic, and if you click this link you can see even more photographs that demonstrate just how afraid of human contact people in Wuhan, China have become.

On February 8, 2020, The New York Times ran a story that discussed how this new coronavirus might spread, and outlined six different factors that will be important with respect to our ability to prevent a worldwide epidemic. The upshot is that human contact, one on one, can lead to the very rapid dissemination of new pathogens, like this new coronavirus. The process is commonly described by the phrase “going viral,” but that phrase is now also used in non-medical contexts, for instance, to talk about how fast a “meme,” like one showing our president having a bad hair day, will sweep through the Internet.

I teach a class at the University of California, Santa Cruz called “Privacy, Technology, And Freedom,” and we definitely discuss the “going viral” phenomenon in the non-medical context. Class discussion focuses often how social media can make various kinds of information (and misinformation) “go viral,” and what the social, economic, and political conseequences of that phenomenon can be. Any reader of this blog who is not familiar with the phenomenon, or with Zeynep Tufekci, might enjoy watching Tufekci’s TED Talk called, “How the internet has made social change easy to organize, hard to win.”

Tufekci is an associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina, and is a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University; she is a monthly contributor to The New York Times op-ed page on topics related to technology’s social impact. She was present at a number of the demonstrations that initiated the “Arab Spring,” in 2011, and she identifies these demonstrations as prime examples of how the Internet has made it possible for political protests to “go viral” very quickly.

While Tufekci celebrates how the Internet and social media have made it possible quickly to organize demonstrations and protests – by making it easy for news to “go viral” and create almost immediate responses – she also observes that this “going viral” process, when based on the Internet, may not lead to any enduring social, political, or economic change. Listening to her talk about this is very much recommended for anyone who hopes to be part of a movement for social and political change in the United States. In fact, says Tufekci, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, kicking off one of the great battles of the Civil Rights Movement, is a pre-internet model of how more durable and effective protests can lead to change. The Internet, as she puts it, makes it “easy to organize” social protest, but makes it hard actually to accomplish substantive change.

As I have been reading about the coronavirus, and how it is spreading, I have also been remembering Tufekci’s admonitions not to rely too heavily on the Internet and social media to make enduring social, political, or economic change. We do need to make it possible for protests and demonstrations to “go viral,” but as the person-to-person nature of the current health crisis demonstrates, it is not necessary to rely solely on the Internet and social media to achieve that objective.

Person-to-person contacts are what causes diseases, like the coronavirus, to “go viral.”

Same thing is true for making political change. Person-to-person contacts are what will do it!

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Classic peeks inside our secret places…maybe?

Lisa writes: “Heads up, Shakespeare fans! Our own Santa Cruz Shakespeare has announced its lineup for this year’s summer festival season — and since it revolves around two of my favorite Shakespeare plays, I could not be more excited! To find out which two, check out — this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (ljo-express.blogspot.com). ” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

[From the webmistress: Bruce is not back yet, so I’m leaving you his opinions on the movies from last week. Mea culpa if anything is no longer playing! Take the list as guidance for what to rent ;)]

THE TWO POPES. Anthony Hopkins plays Pope Benedict XVI, and Jonathan Pryce is Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Based on a terribly troubled time in the Catholic Church — namely 2005 — these two leaders argue and discuss personal and public issues that become completely absorbing. Yes, child abuse is in there too. Just to watch these two master actors is a reminder of what and where good acting can take audiences. Go see it, but do hurry.

UNCUT GEMS. 92 RT. Adam Sandler is amazingly perfect in this role of a New York City jeweler/gambler who risks his family and his own life to make a quick (two days) bundle of money on a gem sale. You will never forget Sandler in this film. Exciting, tense, and believable. Don’t miss it. Sandler’s acting talent is surprising, especially when we have become so used to his comedy roles.

1917Do not see this film if you expect to watch much of Benedict Cumberbatch. IF he’s in it more than 2 minutes I’ll eat my helmet!!! I also wouldn’t give this movie ANY ” best of” awards, and am surprised at what it’s won so far. It’s the story of two foot soldiers slogging through, under and around enemy lines to deliver an important life saving message. It’s an impressive hunk of movie making, and yet it won’t really draw you into the story. 89RT

JUST MERCY. A fine film starring Jamie Foxx, Michael Jordan, and an excellent role for Tim Blake Nelson. A true story about a guy (Foxx) being sentenced to the chair for a crime he didn’t do. This sounds like a dozen films we seen before BUT it’s better, go see it. 99RT.

MARRIAGE STORY. A fine and well acted film about a show biz couple, their children , divorce, and some odd choices by Scarlett Johansson the wife to Adam Driver’s husband. Laura Dern does her best role in decades. Alan Alda and Ray Liotta have some small scenes. You are guaranteed to relive some of your own poor choices in your marriage too! 84 audience score on RT.A Netflix production.

JOJO RABBIT. Centered on Nazi Germany, this is very rare political comedy with funny scenes. A little boy has Adolf Hitler as an invisible buddy. Scarlett Johansson plays the little boy’s mom, and does one of very finest acting jobs, ever. Hitler and the screwed up political/ military scene will make you think of Trump and our own screwed up political/ military scene. A wonderful and rare film, do not miss it!!

PARASITE. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho outdid his other international screen successes with Parasite. Wikipedia calls it a dark comedy thriller and so do I. It’s winning awards everywhere and deserves them all. There’s brain surgery, murder, basement dwellers, numerous surprises, even some shocks and well worth your seeing it ASAP.

AERONAUTS. Felicity Jones plays a very cute and Disney like character matching Eddie Redmayne’s equally sweet and nerdy partner in this supposedly true story of an early hot air balloon ascension in Britain’s Victorian age in 1862. It’s cute, some funny parts a bit scary due to heights of the balloon. Being such a cute movie… they actually changed the sex of the person accompanying Redmayne , it was really a male friend of his. It’s on Amazon.

STAR WARS. THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. 54 RT. George Lucas’ Star Wars empire started 42 years ago with wildly clever and intelligent twists and an absolutely brilliant story line. We watched politely while some sad sequels stained our screens, now thanks to Disney buying and producing this concluding finale we have an ending to the saga that isn’t worth your time or expectations. Trite, predictable, and sad to see our old heroes and heroines suffer with a plot as dull and unrewarding as this one. You have to go if you’ve seen more than one of the series…just don’t expect to be satisfied with the conclusion.

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 and archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Peter Klotz- Chamberlin from the Resource Center for Non Violence guests on February 4. After which Nancy Macy who is Environmental Committee Chair of the Valley Womens Club talks about PG&E and other problems. Jean Brocklebank and Michael Lewis will talk about our Santa Cruz Public library issues on Feb 11. Distinguished Artists Series founder John Orlando and pianist Lembit Beecher guest on March 3. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

I spent last weekend in Nevada, making fireworks. Yes, you read that right! I hope to have some video of my own for next week, but for now I give you an amazing tribute that went up at Winter Blast last year. This guy is the reason there’s a golden willow in the animated Disney logo.

Being clever

“I’m different,” said the Kid. “My gran always said I was half clever, half stupid, and half crazy.”
~Charlie Higson, The Enemy

“Plenty of clever children have to pretend to be not clever or else they get bullied by the thick.”
~Tom Baker, The Boy Who Kicked Pigs

“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.”
~Theodore Roosevelt

“When did you get so clever?”
“When I realized I wasn’t as clever as I thought.”
~John Connolly, The Infernals

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

February 12 – 18, 2020

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

Bruce is unavailable this week, but we still have GREENSITE… on Costa Rica… KROHN… UCSC protest, and the March 3rd election STEINBRUNER… continues campaigning – dates where you can see her PATTON… on the Iowa caucus EAGAN… entertains and provokes as alwaus JENSEN… on Oscars UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… on fireworks

THE WORLD FAMED “JUPITER” LOCOMOTIVE. This engine was owned by the Santa Cruz Railroad Company and ran both board feet of lumber and bored tourists around our county circa 1878. It has been prominently displayed in the Smithsonian Institute since 1976.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

Color Movie of 1955 Santa Cruz, San Lorenzo Valley, Watsonville, a Ton of old businesses

LATTE BREAKING NEWS

ERRETT CIRCLE CHURCH. Joe Michalak, Chair, Historic Preservation Commission:
I read Sue Powell’s letter in Bratton Online (February 7th) and want to comment on it. The substance of her letter implies that the HPC was in cahoots with the developers. There was no conspiracy at work here.

As Chair of the Commission, I felt no pressure from either the developers, the Planning Department staff, or any commissioner to vote for or against finding the structure eligible for listing on the Historic Building Survey or as a landmark. I based my decision solely on a thorough analysis of the criteria for designating historic properties developed by the Secretary of the Interior, the State of California, Office of Historic Preservation, and the local criteria as stated in the municipal code. This criteria was applied to the Garfield Park Christian Church building.

The Commission did not consider the church building as a contributing structure within the context of a historic district. By ordinance, a historic district requires the approval of sixty percent of the property owners and an evaluation of each structure within the boundaries of the district. Socioeconomic values could be a consideration in this context. In addition to the HPC, the Planning Commission and City Council must approve historic district designation. Also, to correct Sue Powell’s statement, Jessica Kusz was not recused. She had an excused absence because of illness.

The future of historic preservation in the City of Santa Cruz will be even more difficult as housing demands and visitor accommodations compete. The battles to save McHugh–Bianchi and La Bahia are not forgotten. The HPC continues to seek more involvement at the earliest stage of the proposed demolition of historic structures.

Joe Michalak

February 10th 2020

Costa Rica: A Trip of a Lifetime

It was a luxury to be sure to escape local politics for ten days on a trip to Costa Rica. Coordinated by local expert birder and teacher, Nanci Adams and arranged through Roads Scholar, it was for me a trip of a lifetime. Apart from following the politics of Central America in the 1980’s I had little awareness and no first hand knowledge of this part of the world. Who knew that such a beautiful, peaceful country with the highest density bio-diversity in the world lay so close? Well apparently many people do know that but I didn’t. What I absorbed during my brief stay is only a tiny glimpse of the complex whole but it whetted my appetite for more.

A young, 20 year old sacred kapok tree
in the heart of San Jose, Costa Rica

There is no doubt that the natural beauty and wildlife of Costa Rica are its main attractions with its 850 species of birds, 1250 of butterflies, 8000 of moths plus iguanas, monkeys, insects, snakes and sloths. What is exemplary is the Costa Rican effort and determination to protect this natural world. Despite decades of deforestation, a hallmark of commercial agriculture and grazing, largely to fill the post war US demand for beef, reforestation is robust and making a difference. There are laws against changing the use of the land. If it is forest, it can’t be converted to grazing for example. Of course there are variances and some who ignore the law but reversing the environmental damage from the past is a top priority shared by most as a necessary good. Large tracts of land previously under coffee are being reclaimed with sustainable small- scale organic farming and much tree planting.

In addition to reveling in the beauty and interrelatedness of nature, I am curious about gender relations in different cultures. A lifetime of trying to figure out the causes and prevention of male violence towards women makes that enquiry second nature. In Malawi, where I went to give workshops on rape prevention education for teachers’ college students, upon learning that there are both matrilineal and patriarchal tribes in Malawi I was keen to find out if the former had less male violence than the latter and the answer is yes. Upon learning that Costa Rica abolished its armed forces in 1948 under the leadership of Jose Figueres Ferrer (who also nationalized its banking sector and granted women and Afro-Costa Ricans the right to vote) I was keen to observe if having no military was connected to a less aggressive male presence. The answer is yes. While connection is not causation, Bob Connell’s book, Masculinity, Violence and War makes a good case for their interrelationship.

Obviously I didn’t interview nor observe all men and sexual harassment is an issue on college campuses, as a large poster at the University of Costa Rica makes clear. However if you are observant, it is easy to spot cultural differences in expressions of masculinity. Driving behavior is one indication. With heavy traffic in the capitol, San Jose, the aggressive sound of horns and pushing in to get ahead was notable in its absence. The norm is to give way to let someone merge. A quick beep on the horn says gracias and an even shorter beep in reply says me gusta. This was the practice everywhere we drove. I havn’t dug into the details but it seems the rate of rape in Costa Rica is significantly lower than the US. I asked about male/female relations and the issue of equality. The tico good-humored response was that when it comes to men and women, the man always has the final word: yes.

When the armed forces were abolished, and they still are (although Costa Rica does allow the US to practice in its waters) the money spent on the military went into education. The largest class is the middle class with few extremes at either end. I saw no houseless people. San Jose is not predominantly a skyscraper, glass and steel city. There are mazes of narrow streets with bustling small businesses. I saw no garbage anywhere. There’s a conscious effort to avoid plastics. Water is safe to drink from any tap anywhere in Costa Rica, one of only two countries to be able to make that claim. The other is Chile.

While a local lefty activist may groan at this visitor’s idealized view of Costa Rica, I think it obvious that when national priorities are education and protection of the natural environment, rather than military aggression and extraction of resources, then the people will reflect and reinforce such values. Such is the case with Costa Rica. Pura Vida!

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.

February 11, 2020

Grads and Undergrad Students Shut Down UCSC
It took about a thousand students to shut down the West and East gates at UCSC this past Monday afternoon. Marching behind a “Faculty For COLA” banner around 70 staff and faculty marched down from the Quarry Plaza Bookstore area to the base of campus. They joined the graduate student group of about 500 who had been occupying the area around the “UC Santa Cruz” sign at the corner of High and Bay since early morning. The grad union has called for a Wildcat Strike, meaning it is unsanctioned by their union, the UAW, and graduate students have declared the housing situation a genuine crisis. For many, they are desperate and are striking to bring an immediate economic adjustment in an unforgiving rental market. Then, around 1pm a contingent of mostly undergraduates marched toward the same intersection from the Westside of campus. Total number of protesters swelled to around 1000. It was then collectively decided to launch into a spontaneous speaker’s corner. A bullhorn was passed around and an assortment of student, staff, faculty, and community speakers bore testimony about why they joined the Cola4All movement.

This March 3rd Election
Many reading the Majority Report this week have already received their March 3rd primary ballot. Over 60% of Santa Cruz voters are VBM-ers, Vote by Mail. The political fight is on full blast at the federal and local level and the stakes are high as we head towards the election. With Bernie Sanders at the top of the ticket fighting for Medicare for All, tuition-free state colleges, criminal justice reform, and a call for revolutionary change, Adam Bolaños Scow is running for a seat in the House of Representatives on essentially the same issues. No on Recalls is also turning into a movement and members are walking neighborhood by neighborhood with SC4Bernie, Bolaños Scow, Cola4All, and Democratic Socialist contingents. It is the formation of one big union working to get turnout in one big election, March 3rd. People are meeting at the Tabby Cat Cafe this Sat. and Sun. at 10a and 12noon to walk neighborhoods and get the word out about Bernie, Adam, No on the Recalls, and the Cola4All campaign. Please join us.

Comparing Ballot Statements, 2016 to 2020
I was reading my 2016 ballot statement recently. I was curious to see if I was adhering to it, or was I straying from what I said I would do once elected? Given the recall out there, I will let you the voter decide. This is what appeared in the Santa Cruz County 2016 voter guide: What really matters to Santa Cruz? Preserving the beauty of our town, while keeping it accessible.

I’m running for council to nurture the life and environment that Santa Cruz values most: protecting our green spaces, sustaining our water supply, supporting community gardens, strengthening public transit, and creating good-paying jobs and affordable housing to protect our most vulnerable residents. We can do this while maintaining the integrity of all neighborhoods, west and east of the river. To achieve these goals, we must bring openness back into the city council chambers. The public’s business must be done in public, not behind closed doors.

As an internship coordinator, I’ve helped thousands of students connect with environmental service. They reflect the energy and expertise available in our community. As a Santa Cruz councilmember and mayor over a decade ago, I witnessed commissions and committees meeting regularly and engaging in open decision-making. Together, we restored our urban river, with local business we rebuilt the Del Mar Theater, and we included truly affordable housing at the Tannery Arts Center. We can do more. Working together, great things are possible. Si se puede.

And, this year, 2020, after a lot of outside real estate and developer money bought a recall here is what I stand for: The City of Santa Cruz is swept up in a well-funded, multi-city, developer-backed campaign to remove elected leaders with records of standing up for tenants and neighborhoods. These interests are targeting me because I ask for expansive neighborhood input on development proposals, I fight for low-income housing, and I defend preservation of neighborhoods – including our urban tree canopy.

Resisting entrenched interests, the council majority elected in 2018 passed an ordinance that requires developers to provide 20% affordable units in new construction. We increased access to medical services for downtown residents. We passed a climate emergency declaration and secured support for tenant legal services. Our council majority created emergency shelter funding to support people seeking housing and employment, and I led the effort to increase the wages of the lowest-paid city workers.

What will the recall do to Santa Cruz? If voters do not take a stand, the pay-off for real estate and developer interests will be green-lighting high-density luxury development with few affordable units for working families, and our main library will be moved into a new, unwanted six-story garage, displacing our popular Farmer’s Market. My bottom line: Santa Cruz is not for sale! Please vote NO on both recalls.

stopsantacruzrecalls.org

This is the richest country on Earth. Everyone should have health care. Everyone should live in dignity. No exceptions. (Feb. 10)

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

CAMPAIGN FOR COUNTY SUPERVISOR IS GOING VERY WELL!
It is humbling to have such broad community support for my candidacy for Second District County Supervisor. It is clear that people are tired of the dismissive attitude toward the public that local elected official in general seem to display, especially in the Second District. It is definitely time for a fresh change, and I will work hard for the people.

This is a true grassroots campaign. Thanks to a friend, I have a working website: Join our movement now!

I will be at:

FRIDAY, FEB 14

Peet’s Coffee in the Rancho del Mar Center in Aptos this Friday, February 14, 6pm-8pm,

SATURDAY, FEB. 15:

Cabrillo Farmer’s Market, 8am-noon, on the driveway edge of the Market nearest Porter Gulch Road side.
Pacific Coffee Roasting in Aptos,(7554 Soquel Dr., Aptos Center) 1pm-3pm, outside on the patio.
El Patio Grocery in La Selva Beach (312 Playa Boulevard), 4pm-6pm

SUNDAY, FEB. 16:

Peet’s Coffee in Capitola, near Nob Hill Market, 11am-1pm
Blossom’s Farmstore and Coffee Shop (intersection of Corralitos Rd. and Freedom Blvd.), 2pm-4pm

COUNTY FIRE ELECTION PROCESS IS WORRISOME
On January 28, the County Board of Supervisors approved a new tax on all rural properties that may drive some on fixed income out of their homes. For some, this new fire protection tax means thousands of dollars on top of what they are already paying.

How irresponsible, when the County receives over $18 million every year from State Prop. 172 Public Safety sales tax monies, yet this Board refuses to give one penny of it to fund County Fire protection.

I spent much of last week reviewing the ballots. It is troubling. Did the Paradise Park ballots get counted twice? Why did the ballots received on January 14 that were postmarked January 9 not even get opened because they arrived too late, after the close of public hearing (first on the agenda)? The Election Dept. marked the mail “Received” that day at 12:40pm, when ballots received in the mail for the following four days were marked “Received” at 10am or earlier?

Here is what the Secretary of State website has to say about acceptance of mailed ballots:

State law requires that vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by county elections officials no later than 3 days after Election Day must be processed.

Why is the Director of General Services now tasked with the title of “Custodian of the Ballots”, keeping the ballots in his office, rather than the Election Department’s secure location?

It is all very troubling, and yet there appears to be no relief for the public who questions the veracity of this process other than to take legal action. The General Services and County Counsel refuse to answer my question about any appeal process, other than to advise I hire a lawyer. I asked the Clerk of the Board, who in the past has sent me information about the referendum process to reverse Board actions, but here is what she replied:

“Since the Board of Supervisors certified the vote and approved the assessment on January 28th, there will be no further hearings on this matter in front of the Board, as far as I am aware, and I believe that any appeal of the Board’s actions would have to be pursued through the courts.”

Well, here we go again. The lack of responsive and transparent government will cause further legal action because once again, the public is left with no other choice but to be reactive.

COUNTY’S HYDROGEN FUEL CELL PASSENGER TRAIN PILOT PROJECT POSTPONED
The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) plans to bring a pilot hydrogen fuel cell passenger train to the County to see if people would accept it, and then most likely approve a special tax to support it. That train was to have arrived here this month, but has been postponed to October.

Here is information about the City of Redlands and the project to use hydrogen fuel cell passenger rail in 2024

THE ROAD TO NISENE MARKS STATE PARK WILL IMPROVE
For those who travel to Nisene Marks State Park, and worry about damaging your bikes and autos, take heart! Relief is on the way! Recently, I received the following good news from Parks Director Mr. Chris Spohrer:

“We have an upcoming paving contract that specifies 3,000 square feet of critical asphalt overlay work on the entrance road. This work, along with pot hole repairs will occur as drying occurs and the contract is finalized. This is by no means a comprehensive asphalt overlay project but will help with the worst of the deferred maintenance.”

He also reported that staff is working on improving the problematic parking situation soon.

WATER TRANSFERS PAUSED DUE TO SEASONAL DRY SPELL
The Santa Cruz City Water Commission heard a report last week from Director Rosemary Menard that the Surface Water Transfer Pilot Project with Soquel Creek Water District, in it’s second year, will be postponed until the area receives rainfall. We have often had dry spells in the winter months, and then receive copious rain later in the spring. The Pilot Project agreement is in effect until May 1, so stay hopeful.

Take a look at the good information at the Water for Santa Cruz website, showing historic water abundance:

Water For Santa Cruz County

At the same Water Commission meeting, there was much discussion about the Water Shortage Contingency Plan for the City. This Plan is another mandate of the State.
Take a look at the good report on that by Sentinel reporter, Ms. Jessica York

MEASURE R WILL BRING YOU 32 YEARS OF DEBT
While I support Cabrillo College and education in general, I cannot support the Cabrillo College Measure R bond request that would burden property owners in Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties for 32 years when it cannot be proven that the money would actually be spent on what the vague descriptions state would be accomplished.

The College has declining enrollment, and administrators want to do something to boost the numbers. While a plan to remodel chemistry, biology and anatomy labs is laudable, since those sorts of classes can’t be taken on-line, why not just do that, and add in some on-campus student housing to help bring up student numbers? Spending $23 Million to build a new fire and law enforcement training center in Watsonville makes no sense, since there is already a certified program for this at Monterey Peninsula College, as well as San Jose, and a training center on Empire Grade Road in Ben Lomond that is currently being renovated with taxpayer dollars?

Other school districts in the Bay Area are facing similar bond measure beatings, but at least some are for a shorter duration, and therefore less debt burden. Take a look

What about Santa Cruz County’s Measure S that would impose the maximum amount of debt on properties to fund the San Lorenzo Valley School District? Ouch.

Too many people are already moving out of the area because they cannot afford to live here….continuing to hike up property tax debt burden will only make that worse.

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING. MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE THIS WEEK!
Cheers,
Becky Steinbruner
ki6tkb@yahoo.com
Vote4BeckySteinbruner@gmail.com

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.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

#36 / Real Life: Isn’t There An App For That?

The news stories following the Iowa caucuses have frequently used the words “disaster,” and “disastrous,” to describe the inability of the Iowa Democratic Party to provide prompt and accurate voting results to the public. The following headlines are examples:

Business Insider:
Trump is using the ‘unmitigated disaster’ of the Iowa caucuses to troll Democrats and say the only person who can claim victory is him.

The Gray Zone:
Billionaire pro-Israel Buttigieg backer Seth Klarman funds group behind Iowa’s disastrous voting app.

As I canvassed the news about what happened in Iowa (with a total vote count still not available), I paid particular attention to a discussion found in a bulletin published by The Atlantic. While The Atlantic did not use the word “disaster,” or “disastrous,” one of the headlines in the article did highlight a pertinent question:

There was an app for that. Did there need to be?

Counting votes at a political caucus doesn’t actually require any kind of internet connectivity. At a time when everyone is aware that the Internet is now an arena for political “hacking,” deciding to base the vote count on an unnecessary “app,” instead of using an ordinary sheet of paper, would seem to be contraindicated. Conspiracy theories have abounded, and frankly, there seems to be some justification for thinking that the particular “app” utilized in Iowa did originate with those who had a particular political agenda to pursue.

That question aside, I would like to propose that we think about the Atlantic’s question in a more general way. I want to suggest, in fact, that the question highlighted above has some applicability far beyond the question of whether we need “apps” as we take part in politics. More and more, we are being invited to participate in life by way of one “app” or another, as though we need an “app” to be able to interface with real life. Banking, shopping, meeting the partner of your dreams. Don’t you worry, “there’s an app for that.”

Almost always, as The Atlantic is suggesting, there actually “doesn’t need to be!” All these “apps” don’t really empower us, so much; they empower those who design and run the “apps,” which track and catalogue our every move, our every thought.

I am thinking that it is probably time for a new organizing effort:

People For An App-Free Future

When I find out where to sign up, I’ll let you know!

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Classic peeks inside our secret places…maybe?

THE OTHER PLACE. The Jewell Theatre’s production of “The Other Place” (now though Feb. 16 –Colligan Theatre- Tannery) is a haven for anyone involved or immersed in Dementia, Alzheimer’s, or the so called prescription “cures“. Julie James plays the nearly charismatic business woman who goes through dementia episodes she can’t identify or deal with. The Other Place name most likely could refer to her going to the crazed, unexplained place of her demented seizures. It’s a very serious, one act play (1 ½ hours) and you’ll play it over and over again during your own questions of reality. Go see it.

Lisa writes: “It’s all over but the shouting (and the shrieks of gobsmacked delight) at the Oscars. But it really couldn’t be the Oscars without The Return of the (Dreaded) Oscar Barbies — oh no! Oh yes! — this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (ljo-express.blogspot.com). ” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

[From the webmistress: Bruce is unavailable this week, so I’m leaving you his opinions on the movies from last week. Mea culpa if anything is no longer playing!]

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 and archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Peter Klotz- Chamberlin from the Resource Center for Non Violence guests on February 4. After which Nancy Macy who is Environmental Committee Chair of the Valley Womens Club talks about PG&E and other problems. Jean Brocklebank and Michael Lewis will talk about our Santa Cruz Public library issues on Feb 11. Distinguished Artists Series founder John Orlando and pianist Lembit Beecher guest on March 3. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

If you missed it, here’s that amazing halftime show again.

Fireworks

“When you meet someone so different from yourself, in a good way, you don’t even have to kiss to have fireworks go off.”
~Lisa Schroeder, I Heart You, You Haunt Me

“And she learned that you couldn’t stockpile anything that mattered, really. Feelings, people, songs, sex, fireworks: they existed only in time, and when it was over, so were they.”
~Garth Risk Hallberg, City on Fire

“Spring is not a season; it is a mysterious illusionist who sets off fireworks in the depths of our soul!”
~Mehmet Murat ildan

“I ignite the wick, and the firework takes flight. In that moment, I wish my existence were as simple as being set on fire and exploding in the sky.”
~Adam Silvera, More Happy Than Not

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

February 5 – 11, 2020

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Errett Circle Church denied Historic preservation, plus response. GREENSITE…still in Guatemala. KROHN…Recall Candidates meeting notes, student rent rates, 555 Pacific Avenue. STEINBRUNER…County Supervisors forum, County Fire tax passes? Soquel Creek Water Bill, Voice of Voting exhibit. PATTON…about our City Recall EAGAN…classic cartoons. Jewell Theatre’s “The Other Place” review JENSEN…on the Oscars. BRATTON…critiques holdovers. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “CORONAVIRUS”

AERIAL VIEW CABRILLO COMMUNITY COLLEGE 1967. Anyone know why, and how, Cabrillo opened so close to the same time as UCSC? Was there a state pattern?

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

HOW TO SERVE A BANANA!!!

NICOLAS BROTHERS DOING “Lucky Number” 1936.

DATELINE FEBRUARY 3, 2020

SANTA CRUZ’S HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION VOTED AGAINST SAVING ERRETT CIRCLE CHURCH AND PROPERTY.
It’s hard to believe that, after all these years, Santa Cruz City’s Historic Preservation Commission voted against historic designation for the Circle Church and property on Thursday night, January 30th. Because I’ve devoted so many inches of “print” here, and minutes on Universal Grapevine, I’m concerned that the rest of us get a more complete view of what happened. The church issue will come before the City Council, probably on February 25. I wrote to both Sue Powell, director of the Friends of the Circle Church community, and to Joe Michalak of the Historic Preservation Commission. Here’s her answer…

Two Commissioners – Ross Gibson and Jessica Kusz – were required to recuse themselves. Their absence was a big loss in terms of their potential influence in the public discussion among Commissioners and the resulting vote. Ross is a local historian and strong supporter of protecting the Circle Church. He wrote “Garfield Park Circles – A Neighborhood Context Statement”. This document fills 60 pages with fascinating historical information about the Circles Neighborhood and the Circle Church. Jessica Kusz is a historic preservation professional.

The Commissioners that oversaw the meeting were Chair Joe Michalak, Vice Chair Don Lauritson, Traci Bliss, Albert Narath, and Dennis Diego. Of these, three had been very interested in the Circle Church issue over the past year.

Joe Michalak, with Jessica Kusz, wrote an 11-page critique of the first developer-paid historic report for the 111 Errett Circle property. Albert Narath said at a few meetings that one very important criteria in historic preservation is the meaning that a site holds for neighbors and the community. Traci Bliss had been asking staff for over a year for the Commission to be able to review historic reports for unlisted structures over 50 years old that were threatened for demolition.

We expected a 3-2 vote in favor of preservation.

During public comments, one speaker requested a show of hands for those supporting protection and those supporting the developers. At least two-thirds of the hands raised came from supporters of historic designation. Developers claimed that of the letters sent to the Commission, 75 were supportive of the developers and 15 supported protection. However, neighbors and friends of the Circle Church submitted 1252 petition signatures. The Commission ignored our petitions.

Supporters of the development presented speeches that were full of misrepresentations, attacks on our community efforts to save the Church, and threats of lawsuits.

At the break after public comments, Commissioners chatted with pro-development attendees and ignored pro-preservation folks. When the meeting reconvened, Commissionersquestioned the historic consultants but did not delve into the many problems with the second historic report and did not challenge the socioeconomic bias in the report.

My analysis of the second historic report is that it was superficial and based on affluent values. Our group wanted to hire an independent consultant to analyze the site, but we did not have the $5000 that it would have required. A recent New Yorker article “The Fight to Preserve African-American History” discusses preservation trends that apply to the Circle Church and states, “In less affluent areas, designations are rare, and the same forces that are caustic for residents also corrode their history.”

Before the vote was taken, Commissioners stated that although they did not want to see historic structures demolished, they were unwilling to stand in the way of the development proposal because it is so far along. They said that they did not want to establish a precedent for blocking development.

The vote against preservation was unanimous, 5-0″. from Sue Powell Friends of the Circles.

Bratton opinion…In closing (for now). Just as a follow-up measure, the city council should appoint a community member to check on the new developers moving into The Errett Circle Church property every two years or so. They claim they are just folks who want nice homes for themselves in a nice neighborhood.

HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION OPINION. To be nearly fair, I asked Joe Michalak, chair of the Historic Preservation Commission for his words on the Church topic. Joe wrote…

Thank you for asking for my comments on the Circles Church. Sometimes history progresses in circles rather than straight lines. The historic preservation movement began in 1974 with the demolition of the McHugh & Bianchi Building, the venerable grocery at the head of Pacific Avenue. The grassroots movement to preserve the building ended in the courts. The loss of the building, however, led to the establishment later that year of the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance and Commission. The first Historic Building Survey issued in 1976 included structures built prior to 1930. The second survey in 1989 included buildings up to 1950. Some historic buildings were lost in the 1989 earthquake, including the iconic Cooper House. No other demolitions were approved for a listed building until La Bahia in 2014. Despite opposition from the public, the Historic Preservation Commission approved demolition on a 4 to 2 vote, followed by a unanimous City Council vote.

Circles neighborhood opposition began to grow by 2018 when plans were presented for a housing development requiring demolition of the Garfield Park Christian Church located in the Errett circle. The sanctuary portion of the church completed in 1959 became eligible for review (based on the fifty-year rule) for listing on the Historic Building Survey in 2009. The two wings, however, would not have been eligible for evaluation until 2013, the same year v.III of the survey was approved by the Council. The Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) approved the staff recommendation that the church was not eligible for listing as a landmark, which requires listing on the Historic Building Survey. The HPC recommended to the City Council that the space retain a focal point, create storyboards, interpreting significant historical elements of the Garfield Park neighborhood, and that the existing circular street pattern remain unchanged. The full audio recording of the public hearing citing the reasons why the building does not meet the standards for listing is available on the City’s website.

The Circle neighbors deserve recognition for the time, energy, and passion they exhibited in seeking to preserve the church. The packed auditorium for the hearing was extraordinary for the Commission. The Commission would hope that more citizens would become engaged in the City’s historic preservation program”. Joe Michalak Chair, Historic Preservation Commission February 3, 2020

GREENSITE’S INSIGHT. Gillian is in Guatemala for another week.

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.

February 3

IN DUBIOUS BATTLE. (no apologies to Steinbeck!)
In Dubious Battle? It was a chilly Friday evening outside the Santa Cruz Vets Hall on Front Street. Inside it was not much warmer as candidates, and would-be candidates for the Santa Cruz City Council milled around folding tables. On one side of the room, stage right, was filled with Peet’s takeout coffee and sourdough sandwiches. The fluorescent light made the room seem dank and uninviting. I am used to being here earlier when daylight streams through large rectangular windows and lends charm to this historic structure. On the other side, stage left, were tables awaiting a candidate literature drop. They were embellished with candidate names plates, but little in the way of brochures or candidate statements appeared. Don Lane sat behind his table while other candidates–Tim Fitzmaurice, Renee Golder, and me–mingled. Soon it was time to take to the stage. Arriving at the top step I suddenly remembered my high school auditorium and the smell of wood that had captured bits of moisture over time. That smell. The quiet in the room became louder.The Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) city council forum on housing was about to begin. I was invited as one being recalled to discuss my housing ideas. (I instead, wished to offer a picture of how we arrived not at a “housing crisis,” but at an “affordable housing crisis.” Councilmember Drew Glover and candidate Katherine Beiers were absent, but their spirit was there in the words of Tim Fitzmaurice. Each “candidate” turned in a slide earlier in the week to Matt Huerta of MBEP. Most presented a bulleted power point one-slide presentation with information concerning what each would do about the state of housing in Santa Cruz. I presented the one below, Park Pacific,1547 Pacific Avenue, 79 condos and not a single affordable rental unit in the bunch. What looked to be about 30 people sitting in rows of chairs set up for 70, I glanced first to my Left and saw Laurie Brooks, Sandy Brown, and Sylvia Caras. I was heartened. On my Right, well, Robert Singleton, Mark Mesiti-Miller, and Mark Primack were all present. Here are my remarks:

I’m Chris Krohn, Santa Cruz City Council. Thank you for the invitation to present tonight.

Given 3 minutes I will offer an ever so brief past, present, and future and hopefully a picture of our affordable housing crisis. My slide of 1547 Pacific Ave, Swenson’s 79-condo Park Pacific Project will perhaps make more sense as I speak.

How did we get here?

By being a beautiful place next to a beautiful Ocean near a beautiful university that has not stopped growing. All of Santa Cruz’s housing growth pains stem from the now 19,500 students on the hill, and all they have housing space for is half that many. But that’s not the only thing. Rent on campus is $1200 to $1400 per student and a triple dorm room ends up at $3600 to $4200 per month, likely the highest square footage rental rates in town, and dorm rooms are not really the greatest accommodations either. We all are aware that on-campus rents are driving in-town rents. (Can I get an Amen?!)

The present rental housing situation off The Hill finds 2-bedroom apartments renting for $3200 to $3500, slightly below the university’s price. BUT, when five students cram into a typical 2-bedroom at Cypress Point at the end of Felix Street, 200 Button Street, or Schaffer Road. or the Hilltop Apartments on Western Drive, guess what? Each student saves beaucoup dollars by ONLY paying between $750 to $800 each, about 10-30% less than campus. The “poor” person living on the couch generally pays around $500 I am told.

Then, along comes 555 Pacific with NO permanently affordable rental units, some Housing Authority rentals yes, but none “in-perpetuity” that I am aware….After 555 is built along comes Park Pacific (see picture) on the sight of the old Bookshop Santa Cruz.A “typical 2-bedroom” will rent for $3900 according to the web site, Apartment.com, AND it contains NO affordable rental units! This building could be looked at as the housing poster child by the “Give me rent control or give me death” movement. This building was followed by the yet to be built, but fully-permitted 100 Laurel Street, a 205-unit complex expected soon along Laurel Street between Pacific and Front. And if you were betting on the inclusion of affordable units in this one, you would have lost big. NO affordable rental units at 100 Laurel either. In total, that’s at least 370 units with no permanently affordable rental units included, (despite the fact that SC has had a 15% inclusionary ordinance since 1979!)We also find ourselves with three renters on the Santa Cruz City Council.(That is news!)

The future…given the 3-minute time limit I will just say that we know affordable housing is not just an issue in Santa Cruz where people are demanding more from their elected leaders. Yesterday, on the other side of the country in Washington, D.C. the People’s Housing Platform was being unveiled by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. The People’s Housing Platform says government’s role is to protect people from those who profit from displacement, and also to end the criminalization of those experiencing homelessness. I urge you to Google the “The People’s Housing Platform.” It is based on the simple truth that housing is a human right. It is a human right in Detroit, in Minneapolis, in Queens, and it is a human right here in Santa Cruz.

Conclusions,

But I ran out of Time

I also urge you to get on the housing justice train. With Bernie Sanders at 30% in California and “The Squad” supporting the Green New Deal, which is rooted in affordable housing, ending homelessness, and creating good green jobs, and with the developer-friendly SB 50 now on its way back to the drawing board, the people supporting deep affordable housing in Santa Cruz are on a progressive wave sweeping the country. It ain’t going away. If Glover and Krohn are recalled there’s a lot of folks in this town who are ready to step up and take our places and continue the political revolution Bernie Sanders began in 2016!

The folks writing checks for a new Space Force are the same ones asking “how are you going to pay for” public college or healthcare. This is the richest country in the world. Our problem isn’t a lack of money. It’s a lack of good priorities. And that is something we can change. (Feb 2)

(Are 6-story parking structure people listening?!)

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

STEINBRUNER STATES.

February 3

COUNTY SUPERVISOR FORUM AT CABRILLO COLLEGE WAS STANDING ROOM ONLY
Sentinel moderator, Mr. Steve Bennett, seemed surprised to have a full-house audience at the “Supervising Santa Cruz County” candidate forum last Wednesday, January 29. The Fire Marshall would not have been pleased, but I was, because so many people of all ages took time to attend.

The race is really going well with many supporters pledging to vote for me as Second District County Supervisor. I will be at the Cabrillo Farmer’s Market next Saturday morning, February 9. until noon. You can find me outside the white limit line as you enter the Market from the Porter Gulch Road side and near the parking garage.

Here is my website address: Becky4CountySupervisor.com

Here is my campaign e-mail: Vote4BeckySteinbruner@gmail.com

If you would like to host a neighborhood coffee, please let me know. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and your neighbors and have good discussion of what you feel matters most in the County and Second District.

Attached is a photo of the Candidate Forum 2nd District Candidate contingent, as other participants were speaking; note the body language!

COUNTY FIRE PROTECTION TAX PASSES?
Last Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved the County Clerk’s report on how rural property owners voted on a new County Service Area (CSA) 48 tax in addition to what they are already paying. The Board scheduled this matter to be heard after a report on another matter that took 90 minutes. Then, after a break, and holding the District 7 Flood Control District meeting, finally heard the CSA 48 new tax issue. By then, all the people who had been there earlier to speak had given up and left.

Shame on the Board of Supervisors for such disrespect of peoples’ efforts to attend the Fire Tax matter. I raised several questions. The Board answered none. In fact, they held no discussion at all. It was disgusting.

In the hallway afterward, General Services Dept. Director Michael Beaton refused to tell me what appeal process is available to the public regarding the action. He told me to talk with County Counsel.

I tried to do so, but was told he was not available. I sent an e-mail to Counsel Justin Graham, asking that he outline the appeal process and statutory limits. Mr. Graham refused to answer, only advising me to hire a lawyer.

The County is second-largest weighted voter in this CSA 48 Assessment vote. The Board of Supervisors voted December 10, 2019 as a consent agenda item buried in 2000 pages of agenda documentation. Read Item #39, whereby the Board approved voting in the affirmative for the new tax IN ADDITION TO WHAT ALL PROPERTY OWNERS ARE ALREADY PAYING in CSA 48 taxes (that little detail was not made clear)

The cost of the Special Benefit Assessment to the County will be $37,537.59 for FY 2020/21 and will be financed with various County funds.

Read the full staff report for Item #39 here

Here is a link to the Sentinel’s piece:

Tax raising funds for Santa Cruz County Fire adopted after rural property owners vote in support

Tax raising funds for Santa Cruz County Fire adopted after rural propert…
SANTA CRUZ — A new fire-protection tax is set to be levied on property owners in much of rural Santa Cruz County…This is a nasty move by reporter Nick Ibarra to feature this file photo of the Bonny Doon unit in the online version of the article (the hard copy newspaper did not feature any photo at all.) Bonny Doon residents spoke out loud and clear against the proposed new tax from the very beginning. Why didn’t the Sentinel find a nice photo of the Loma Prieta unit where support was awash with one-sided information handed out to voters?

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT WANTS ME TO PAY THEM $2,845.86!

CORRECTION AND RETRACTION: I reported in error last week that Best, Best & Krieger had erroneously classified the Writ of Mandate case 19CV00181 as a “Limited” case, but they had in fact classified it as “Unlimited” in their Case Management Conference statement last June. I had entered the classification of “Limited” on my cover sheet because of the legal definition that I was seeking less than $25,000. I am not seeking any money at all from the District.

Judge John Gallagher was supposed to have determined the case classification in June at the Case Management Conference, but did not. Judge Timothy Schmal, who took over the case after Judge Gallgher recused himself, also did not notice the problem. The Santa Cruz County Superior Court Appellate Division tribunal of three judges likewise did not take note of the error of Judge Gallagher.

My apologies to BBK for stating otherwise. However, they did select a filing fee amount to come after me for that is the amount for filing “Limited” Civil Cases in their legal action to be considered in Court whereby they seek to make me pay over $2845.86 for various fees that they feel they are entitled to recover. By law, the District cannot recover their legal fees. They want to make me pay over $250 for two Trial Boards that were never even used, and their attorney admitted in Court that she does not understand the science behind the topic for which she had the Trial Boards made to support.

By the time their Best, Best & Krieger attorney is finished fighting this, having no doubt flown up from Riverside for the day at the cost of $325/hour, the amount the District might recover would be next to nothing.

Soquel Creek Water District is taking this action merely to punish me, and hopes to impose a chilling impact on any further questioning of their omnipotent behavior.

THE VOICE OF VOTING
Go visit the wonderful exhibit on the third floor of the County Government Building (701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz). Entitled “Vote! Your Vote is Your Voice/ Vote! Su Voto es Su Voz”, it is a well-done and informative collection of ballot paraphernalia and voting rights timeline that is really worth a special trip to see.

The exhibit is dedicated to the late Bob Fitch of Watsonville, and features his amazing photographs. It is sponsored by the Pajaro Valley Arts, the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission, and the Santa Cruz County Elections Department and will be up through April 3. A reception, free to the public, will be held along with the First Friday Art Tour this Friday, February 7, 5pm-8pm.

Here’s a link to a good report from the Pajaronian: The voice of voting | Art | The Pajaronian | Watsonville, CA

MAKE ONE CALL. WRITE ONE LETTER. GO TO A PUBLIC MEETING AND SPEAK UP!

JUST DO SOMETHING THIS WEEK, AND MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.

Cheers, Becky Steinbruner

831-685-2915

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.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

Monday, February 3, 2020
#34 / Reject The Recalls: My View

Recall elections have been qualified against two members of the Santa Cruz City Council. The recall elections are scheduled for March 3rd, but absentee voting will begin soon.

In my opinion, voters should vote “NO,” and reject the recalls. Despite the claims of recall proponents, I do not actually see this recall as a response to the personal failings of the two members of the Council now facing a recall election. Personal failings there may be, of course, but this recall is not about malfeasance in office. No claims of dishonesty or illegal behavior have ever been advanced as a reason for the recalls. The recalls are not about a city version of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The charges of misconduct made against the two Council Members now facing recall were found to be without significant substance, after an outside (and very costly) investigation.

The way I see it, this recall is about political power, and nothing else. After the last city election, in November 2018, there was an unexpected result. A so-called “progressive” cohort of Council Members could sometimes muster four votes on the seven-member Council. This was a big change. The City Council hasn’t been progressive for years. The two City Council Members now facing recall have voted, with two others, to reverse pro-development policies that the previous Council endorsed and advanced. That, in my opinion, is the real reason for the recall, and that is why such enormous amounts of money have been contributed by development and business interests to fund the recall effort.

Here are three examples of how the last election changed the direction of the City, elevating community values over developer profits:

PROVIDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING
The previous City Council had REDUCED requirements that developers provide dedicated affordable housing when new housing developments are built. That was, of course, good for the developers, but not good for our community. Thanks to the votes of the two Council Members now facing a recall, the current City Council has reversed this policy, and has RESTORED and INCREASED AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL NEW DEVELOPMENTS. The people funding the recall effort (and they have funded it with a LOT of money) appear to care more about developers making a profit than they do about providing more affordable housing for working families in our city. If the recall is successful, these positive changes can be reversed.

STOPPING HIGH DENSITY EVERYWHERE
The previous City Council was trying to put high-density development along all of the City’s main transportation corridors – with particular impacts on the City’s East Side. This plan would have had very significant adverse impacts on local neighborhoods and on local small businesses. It was, for that reason, hugely unpopular. Prior to the last election, the Council then in power put that proposal on “the back burner,” planning to put it right back on the front burner when another pro-development Council was elected. The actual election results were a big surprise. Thanks to the votes of the two Council Members now facing a recall, the Council has reversed the earlier policy and has directed its staff to develop a plan that will “preserve and protect residential neighborhood areas and existing City businesses, as the City’s highest-level policy priority.” The Council has also demanded that the new plan “encourage appropriate new residential mixed-use development, specifically including enhanced affordable housing opportunities, at appropriate locations along the City’s main transportation corridors.” Once again, the two Council Members facing recall have voted for the community, not for the developers. If the recall is successful, that priority will be reversed.

A LIBRARY, NOT A PARKING GARAGE
The previous City Council was planning to build a massive parking garage on the parking lot where the Farmers’ Market is held. Such a garage, if constructed, would essentially be a subsidy to downtown developers, who would then not have to provide their own parking as they build new developments. The previous Council wanted to use bond funding approved to restore and rebuild our downtown library to help make that massive garage project economically possible. Thanks to the votes of the two Council Members facing a recall, the Council is now exploring different options. If the recall is successful, you can count on that garage/library project coming right back.

I KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT RECALL ELECTIONS
What is happening in the City of Santa Cruz today is exactly the same thing that happened in 1978, as pro-development interests with lots of money sought to reverse a 1976 election that was very surprising to those who had been in power, and that put County Government on a new and more “progressive” course.

Santa Cruz County was then the fastest growing county in the state, and the fifth-fastest growing county in the United States. Development interests had undue influence. What the community wanted was to manage and control growth, and to protect and preserve our agricultural and natural lands, and to require developers to build affordable housing. Two other Board Members and I started making progress in that direction. That is when big money from development interests qualified a recall against the two Members of the Board who were voting with me to make those changes in land use policy. Various alleged personal failings on the part of the two supervisors were presented in the recall petitions, but the actual “political” reason that the recall effort was launched was hidden.

In 1978, the big money campaign that qualified and drove the recall elections was successful, and the two supervisors who faced recall were, in fact, recalled. One of the most pro-development Board of Supervisors in Santa Cruz County history was the result – not actually what the public wanted! I hope voters in the City of Santa Cruz won’t make a similar mistake!

RECALL ELECTIONS ARE DIVISIVE
Recalls invariably lead to the kind of bitter community divisions that can endure for years, and that make even routine governmental actions difficult. Regular elections produce results that we all accept – even if we don’t like them. Recall elections don’t.

There is a lot at stake with respect to the proposed recall in the City of Santa Cruz: a consistent commitment to the production of affordable housing, for instance. Other examples include the future of the downtown library, and the continuing impacts of overdevelopment on traffic, water, local neighborhoods, and our local small businesses. Labor issues, tax and financial issues, and questions about how our city can provide compassionate and effective help to those in desperate need, are all challenges we need to work on together.

There will be another regular election in the City of Santa Cruz in November 2020. If the voters want change, that’s the time to make changes. In the meantime, let’s reject the current recall proposals. If they are successful, that will mean years of bad blood and an impaired and less effective government – plus the reversal of policies that benefit the community and our desire to protect and preserve local neighborhoods, and to provide affordable housing.

Voters in the City of Santa Cruz should vote “NO” on the two recalls that will be on the March 2020 ballot.

That’s my view.

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Classic peeks inside our secret places…maybe?

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

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Start popping the corn! The Oscars are coming, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). Read my fearless (possibly clueless) predictions, peruse the posters for the Best Picture nominees, and consider what they say about the current state of the art. (Hint: Will #OscarsSoWhiteMale be the next trending thing?)” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

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 and archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Peter Klotz- Chamberlin from the Resource Center for Non Violence guests on February 4. After which Nancy Macy who is Environmental Committee Chair of the Valley Womens Club talks about PG&E and other problems. Jean Brocklebank and Michael Lewis will talk about our Santa Cruz Public library issues on Feb 11. Distinguished Artists Series founder John Orlando and pianist Lembit Beecher guest on March 3. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

Let’s do some standup, we totally need it after this crazy week…

QUOTES. “Coronavirus”

“When the president of the United States says we’re ready for these coronaviruses, that answer is absolutely not true. We have such crowded emergency rooms today. We have hospitals where people have to wait hours in hallways to get seen. That’s exactly how outbreaks of coronaviruses get amplified. Mpls St. Paul magazine, Jan 24, 2020

“Wuhan is the transportation capital of China, which connects basically Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Every company that has any manufacturing capacity in China right now better be looking very carefully at its supply chains.” CNBC, Jan 24, 2020, regarding 2019-nCoV

“There’s been no real information about what the likely source of the virus in the [Wuhan] market is….Until we understand which animal the coronavirus came from, we won’t understand if this outbreak is likely to continue. We need to shut off the source of the outbreak.” The Telegraph (London), Jan 14, 2020

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

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January 29 – February 5, 2020

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Santa Cruz United and Santa Cruz Together financed the recall campaign, Brand New County Democrats, 908 Ocean development getting bigger, Roberta Bristol dances away. GREENSITE…is in Costa Rica. KROHN…Mayor Cummings uniting letter, No on Recall News, No on M campaign, Development in Santa Cruz and VOTE ON MARCH 3. STEINBRUNER…2nd District Campaign news, Becky on Pleich’s Community TV Voices show Feb.2 @ 7 p.m. Traffic relief? RTC progress (where ?) Rural Fire Tax. PATTON…Wealthy people and income inequality. EAGAN…Sub Cons and Deep Covers. JENSEN…reviews The Song Of Names. BRATTON…I critique Clemency UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”Owls”

FRONT STREET AND SOQUEL. January 9, 1957. This is now the CVS store facing us, the Soquel Bridge going off to the upper center. I can’t see any gasoline prices on the Shell Station, It’s just as well, we’d just feel bad!.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

TOM NODDY ON JOHNNY CARSON SHOW (1983)

STUPID HUMAN TRICKS. ( 2004)

DATELINE January 27

SANTA CRUZ UNITED AND SANTA CRUZ TOGETHER FINANCED THE RECALL ELECTION.
We’ll be reading all the necessary details in a few days but read these notes and realize just how important the money and influence behind these two groups have become in our community. Here is a preview of some of the facts showing the connection between the two money laden groups and how it was spent.

Santa Cruz Together was initially formed to oppose Measure M (a rent control initiative) in the 2018 election. In 2019, the City Council became more progressive with the election of Justin Cummings and Drew Glover. Then SCT –dominated by contributions from real estate, large property owners, and developer interests –largely underwrote payments per signature to individuals to circulate petitions calling for a recall election. The finances amount to a real shell game, but it is now possible to understand how the scheme worked

Santa Cruz Together directly or indirectly paid recall signature gatherers $104,561,which would be more than $4 for every petition signature turned in, whether by a professional or a volunteer signature gatherer. A portion of these Santa Cruz Together expenditures on behalf of Santa Cruz United, $29,000 went for “Campaign consultant and petition circulation” to the consulting company Dynami Athens Corporation, incorporated on July 18, 2019 and run by Robert Singleton as the CEO, Secretary, and CFO. The rest of the SCT expenditures funneled to the benefit of SCU went directly to petition gatherers”. More to follow.

BRAND NEW COUNTY DEMOCRATS. Check out their website. Look at their candidates for the Democratic Central Committee. Better yet, join these folks in getting our county and country back on track. Check out who’s running from your County district and support them. brandnewcountydems.org

COMMOTION ON OCEAN, Number 908 OCEAN. This is from BrattonOnline March 12 2019. There was much anti-action to this development, now the developers have added even more apartments, plus changes to this mess. “This is one of those many developments being shoved through our system. 333 small Silicon Valley or student apartments being promoted as having three 3 three levels of “affordability”. This “housing” is proposed for the block across Ocean Street from Santa Cruz Diner. It includes Togo’s and Doc Auto…which are not necessarily great architectural monuments that need preserving…but it’s the community that will suffer. One reader wrote.. “It’s the same message from developers and the city; it will all just magically work out wonderfully. What is the summer daily car count for Ocean Street that we’re not supposed to worry about adding to with all these projects? The thousands of cars idling on Ocean and all the way to the beach creates ever MORE Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, not less GHG, so this is working against what the General Plan specifies should occur, a reduction in GHG emissions.” Now (1/27/20) the developers have increased the number of units to 405 units.

The Single Occupancy Units Ordinance (SOU) is flawed for multiple reasons as we are discovering with the proposed 908 Ocean Street project:

The Density of 90 units per acre is more than allowed in the General Plan for the zoning in that area now or even if it was zoned (40 units if 1-bedroom) with the Corridor Plan (55 units per acre)….and yet how is that possible?
It only allows 1 bedroom units of 400-650 feet. It does not allow for any other option such as 2 or 3-bedroom units for families. Of course with 908 Ocean Project they could split the project parcels on May and provide that type of housing but they would rather not as they can have more units this way.
When you have 333 units vs. 166 2-bedroom you can have more people by State law — 1-bedroom allows 2+1 and 2-bedroom allows 2×2+1 so if you roll the numbers you get 999 for 333 SOUs and 830 for 166 2-bedroom units…
The parking allowed is only 1 space per unit and no guest parking. However, the Architect for 908 Ocean realizing that flaw did allow for some guest parking (and sharing of the commercial parking for guests too). But again, the code does not allow for guest parking while only allowing one parking space per unit.
We don’t yet know if there is on-site property management for this massive proposed project at 908 Ocean — consolidation of 19 parcels at Ocean, Hubbard May and onto Water..
Breaking parking models is the gateway to higher density. The City Council just did it on a one-year pilot basis for detached ADUs. And now they are doing it with 908 Ocean Street with multi-car parking racks by a company called Klaus – German company with US office in LaFayette, CA, http://www.klausparking.com/. Can parking racks be considering parking spaces–seems like a grey area?
This is meant to be the City classic “affordable by design” ideal because they are small units. However, if you have 2-bedroom units instead, you would have 166 less kitchens and 166 less bathrooms and that would make the units overall more affordable. The logic doesn’t hold but they persist in making this argument because the price per unit is less. However, 555 Pacific is 94 SOUs and touted as “luxury urban living”….So that idea of “affordable by design” has not played out that way in practice by the developer/owner Swenson. Bush shouldn’t get quoted, but this comes to mind, “fool me once, shame on–shame on you. Fool me–you can’t get fooled again”.
The 908 Ocean project units may also possibly be half rental and half for sale. If that is the case, then the loan options for those that may need to get a loan is constrained to possibly a 7-year loan at 6.5% rather than 4%. When 555 Pacific was researched this was the case in 2016 and this 908 issue needs checking. We were alerted to this by an article by Jim Chubb of Pacific Inland in 2015.

The Architect, Salvatore Caruso, of the Salvatore Caruso Design Corporation in Santa Clara is very smooth, and we can be sure he was brought in as much because of his ability to “sell” the project. Check out Caruso multi family structures here https://www.caruso-designs.com . They’ve changed the 908 designs once but what will this add to our sense of Santa Cruz Community…or just plain “Looks” and appeal? If you know any member of the Santa Cruz City Council get to them quickly. Even if you don’t know them , you should tell them what you believe anyways’ end of March item.

The developers have increased their numbers to 405 units they have also added another parcel on Ocean. They also added Ground floor retail plans. This of course will be decided by the City Council. It’ll be decided BY us too when we vote on March 3rd to keep common sense on the Council.

ROBERTA BRISTOL DANCES ONWARD. Word spread fast among the music-dance community. Roberta had such a huge influence on everyone who cared about dancing. She was generous, patient to a fault and loved by everybody.

January 27.

Gillian Greensite is in Costa Rica for two weeks with little/no internet.

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.

CHRIS KROHN. MAJORITY REPORT.

January 27

“To succeed, we need to work together. Unfortunately, the recall seriously undermines this effort and our democracy. For the good of our community, the recall should be defeated.” —Santa Cruz Mayor Justin Cummings

Never a Dull Moment
The barnstorming campaign to Vote No on the Recalls continues in a big way this weekend. Meet at the Tabby Cat Cafe at the corner of Cedar and Union streets on Saturday. and Sunday at 10 am. We will be walking neighborhoods. There are two kinds of walkers needed, 1) knock and talk to people about No Recall campaign, and 2) just dropping literature off that has been prepared and waiting to be delivered. If walking is not your thing, we can set you up with a phone list to remind people when the election is–March 3rd–and when the vote-by-mail ballots go out–Feb. 3rd. If you would like to table at the Farmer’s Market Westside or Downtown we can set you up. Go to sign up https://stopsantacruzrecalls.org/events

Mayor Justin Cummings Says No on the Recalls
Here is a thoughtful and detailed letter that Mayor Justin Cummings put out this past week to let people know where he stands on the recall. It is on-point and informative. Have a read:

“In a democracy, candidates are elected to represent the broad range of beliefs and opinions of those who live in the community. As Mayor, I work with all members of the City Council to try to find common ground on many of the complex issues our community faces. Disagreements and different perspectives are not only to be expected, but provide an opportunity for us to work towards consensus on policies that reflect the broad interests of the entire community. While our elected officials may have very different perspectives and policy beliefs, these differences are not grounds for a recall.

On March 3rd, voters in the City of Santa Cruz will be asked whether or not to recall and remove from office two members of the City Council. Recalls are intended to remove elected officials who commit crimes or who abuse their powers in office. Regular elections, not recall elections, are the way that members of the public are supposed to make clear their various policy priorities. What is happening in this recall is an attempt to preempt and undermine the normal electoral process, and the voters should reject it. The following highlights what is really happening.

Who’s Behind the Recall
On December 4, 2018, after the results of the last City Council election were certified, although the rent control ballot measure (Measure M) did not pass, two candidates who supported rent control were elected. This created a majority on the City Council in favor of protecting tenants, providing affordable housing, and preserving neighborhoods. While there were provisions in Measure M that made it less appealing to many voters, the success of the “No on M” campaign can also be attributed to the enormous amount of funding that came largely from outside real estate investors.

Here are just some of the contributions to the No on M campaign:

National Association of Realtors (Chicago, IL) – $287,500

California Apartment Association (Sacramento, CA) – $68,000

Pacific Shores (Belmont, CA) – $18,450

1010 Pacific Investment (Belmont, CA) – $10,350

To see all donations, go to this dropbox

Many of these outside investors viewed the new majority on the city council as a threat to their investments, especially with Santa Cruz as a site for speculative housing investment, which has resulted in exorbitant housing costs. Given the discussion of recalling two progressives on sites like Next Door immediately after the new council was seated, it was only a matter of time before two members of the pro-tenant and affordable housing City Council majority were singled out for recall. We now see the same group and outside funds being used towards this recall effort.

Factors to consider
It is important that we take into consideration the voices of working-class people in our community, not the big money interests that are trying to buy our community and our government. The City Council majority, made up of predominantly renters, recently put a stop to the so-called Corridors Plan, which supported very high-density housing development on the east side of the city, putting local neighborhoods in jeopardy. The Council majority has also increased the amount of affordable housing that developers must provide, in order to assure that new housing doesn’t serve only those with high incomes. Additionally, the new council has been working on policies that protect tenants, the environment and novel approaches to addressing homelessness in our community. The Council majority has made the protection of our neighborhoods, local businesses, and tenants one of the highest priorities as additional market rate, luxury housing development is proposed.

Conclusion
The recall election scheduled for March 3rd is extremely divisive and makes it very difficult for City Council Members to cooperate and collaborate successfully. After the adversarial Measure M election, the community needs to heal, not fracture further. While Council Members sometimes disagree on issues, we all share a love of Santa Cruz and the desire to make it the best that it can be for everyone. To succeed, we need to work together. Unfortunately, the recall seriously undermines this effort and our democracy. For the good of our community, the recall should be defeated.

“Our campaign is about doing something different. It’s about lifting up the voices, struggles and power of working people. When we are in the White House, we will double union membership. We’ll do it for workers like Alex, fighting for unions like @SEIU.” (Jan. 27)

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

January 27

CAMPAIGN FOR SECOND DISTRICT COUNTY SUPERVISOR IS GOING WELL!
I am running against the incumbent for County Supervisor in the Second District, and am meeting many people far and wide who support a change of elected leadership in local government. I have the support of hundreds, but no organizations are willing to endorse me because of the real possibility of retribution. Isn’t that sad? It does not deter me, but rather only compels me to work harder to be a voice for all people.

INTERVIEW ON COMMUNITY TV ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2 ON ‘VOICES OF THE VILLAGE’
Because Community TV interviewed the incumbent in late December, 2019 to discuss his candidacy, I am entitled to the same time upon my request. Community TV has been really wonderful in providing quick response and a great live interview opportunity this Sunday, February 2, at 7pm. The host, Steve Pleich, let me know that he ran against County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty in 2018 because he also feels that an important elected position should not run unopposed.

It also appears that Steve Pleich intends to run again in 2022.

All elections need people to step up and run, not to be discouraged by what ‘experts’ claim the financial cost has to be, or whether or not you think you can win. If you run for an office, we all win.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ANOTHER YEAR AND ANOTHER $1 MILLION STUDY WITH NO TRAFFIC RELIEF ACTION?
The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) voted to spend another $1 Million in public money to do another year-long study of the Transit Corridor Alternatives. The Commission wants your input on this and is offering two Open House gatherings for the public to tell them what they think about this.

February 11, 6-7:30pm, at the Live Oak Grange ( 1900 17th Avenue)
February 12, 6-7:30pm, at the Watsonville Library Community Room (275 Main Street, on the 2nd Floor)

“OWLS”

“Like some winter animal the moon licks the salt of your hand,
Yet still your hair foams violet as a lilac tree
From which a small wood-owl calls.” Johannes Bobrowski

“Owl,” said Rabbit shortly, “you and I have brains. The others have fluff. If there is any thinking to be done in this Forest–and when I say thinking I mean thinking–you and I must do it.” A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

“Sometimes an owl is just an owl.” Mark Frost, The Secret History of Twin Peaks

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

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January 22 – 29, 2020

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

BRATTON… abortions services now at UCSC, $5000,000 kickback to city rom Dream Inn Developers, big L.A. money developer buying into Circle Church. Church would be developers and landscape issues, Billionaires amongst us. GREENSITE…on rape. KROHN… MLK Weekend, Vietnam War memories, No Recall Report, Krohn Ballot Statement. STEINBRUNER…2 County candidates forums, Soquel Creek rates rising, no EIR with Soquel Creek, Rancho Del Mar and invading chain stores, Aptos Village plans and no feedback. PATTON…Trump- cause or effect? EAGAN…Sub Cons and Deep Cover JENSEN…Take Away Art To Go show. BRATTON…no new movies but many greats still showing. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”DRONES”

KNIGHT’S OPERA HOUSE. Union and Center Streets. This 800-seat venue cost $4,200 to build in 1877, and opened with a performance of “Bohemian Girl”. It lasted 44 years, until 1971, when it was hauled to Capitola on June 7,1961. The posters show John. L. Sullivan as an attraction.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

DATELINE January 20

ABORTION SERVICES AT UCSC. I was really surprised, moved, curious — but mostly surprised — to read Julian Barragan’s article in last week’s City on A Hill, titled “ABORTION SERVICES TO COME TO UC and CSU CAMPUSES”. It said: California is the first state in the nation to REQUIRE on-campus abortion medication services. On Jan 1, Governor Newsome signed a bill that says all California State University and UC campuses must provide students with access to abortion services. Before this, no public universities had student abortion services. The article goes on to state that abortion services are a constitutional right. Read all the details here. Was it just me or did everyone miss that powerful news?

$500,000 KICKBACK TO CITY FROM DREAM INN DEVELOPERS. Last Tuesday night on my Universal Grapevine radio program, Julie and Stu Phillips talked about the $500,000 “donation” to the city from the Ensemble developers IF their Dream Inn expansion was passed. Little note was made of this, and the question does nag…Is this any way for a city council to stay honest? What accounting will be made of the money? Who decides this? Will we see, or have we overlooked, other such donations from other developers…under other titles? Who’s looking into this?

CIRCLE CHURCH AND GOOD TIMES OPINION LAST WEEK. Sue Powell, one of the very energetic and driven leaders of the Circle Neighborhood, wrote this powerful letter to Good Times last week. “The current owners have abandoned landscape maintenance and have let the buildings fall into disrepair. This formerly vibrant and lively property has become neglected and underutilized. Neighbors and friends of the Circle Church want to protect the Church from demolition and support revitalization. We want to see the Circle Church return to its full glory as a thriving spiritual and community Center, the heart of the Circles Neighborhood, and a hub for classes, gatherings, and events. We have been active for over a year and have more than 1050 petition signatures and a large email list.

We were especially concerned about the developers’ first historic report for the property. Guild’s article has incorrect information about the historic report. The developers’ historic report uses the California State document number of DPR523. The State did not prepare this report—the developers paid a consultant to prepare it. This first historic report was critiqued by members of the Santa Cruz City’s Historic Preservation Commission and found to be inadequate, incomplete, and full of errors. The developers were required to submit a second historic report.

The Santa Cruz City Council voted on December 10th to ask the HPC to review the second historic report at a Public Hearing on Thursday, January 30, 7pm, at the City Council Chambers (note re-scheduled date). The City Council has also asked the HPC to provide a recommendation as to whether the property merits designation as a Local Historic Landmark. We are convinced that the property will receive historic designation and will be spared from demolition.

Sue Powell | Circles Neighborhood

MORE ON GOOD TIMES & CIRCLE CHURCH. In that very same issue, Jennifer Smith wrote…Re: Circle Church. As a member of the Circle Women’s Coalition, a group that has come together to preserve and develop this property as a community center, I am aware that a very purchasing offer was made to the Circle of Friends. And they refused. Also of significance is the fact that a huge L.A. developer, Alex Hakakian is the major shareholder of this development. And that’s being buried in the greenwashing of this project. We all agree housing is an issue. But hitting a community for the financial benefit of a few very privileged people isn’t folksy. And neither is this project. There’ll be a Public Hearing – Historic Preservation Commission. Thursday, January 30th, 7 pm. City Council Chambers. The Circle neighborhood needs your support…don’t miss this meeting .

162 BILLIONAIRES HAVE THE WEALTH OF HALF OF HUMANITY In a stark reminder of gaping global inequality; a new report says 162 billionaires, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, have as much wealth as the poorest half of the world. There are 2,153 billionaires globally, and, in 2019, they held more wealth combined than 4.6 billion people, according to the report. I found this on [HuffPost]

January 20

RAPE: THE UPHILL BATTLE FOR JUSTICE.
Photos of Harvey Weinstein, grey, rumpled and hunched over his walker are pathetic. As in designed to evoke pathos. They are similar to images of Bill Cosby during his trial, blind with white cane, barely able to walk, supported by family and friends. Poor accused men!

To bring any powerful man to justice is an uphill battle. Scores of women have to risk reputation, privacy and overt hostility to create a critical mass of credibility. The reporters bringing the stories forward have to be meticulous in their documentation. And still, the scales of justice are weighted towards the powerful men, often through the patriarchal institutions that have to be navigated.

The recent story of sexual assault shared by Evelyn Yang, wife of Presidential candidate Andrew Yang is one example. She was pregnant with their first son in 2012 and under the care of OB/GYN Dr. Robert Hadden of Columbia University’s New York Presbyterian Hospital. Now there’s a few patriarchal institutions for you: ivy league university, church, medical establishment.

During her appointments, Dr. Hadden made inappropriate sexual innuendos, escalating with each visit and finally sexual assaulting her when she was 7 months pregnant. She, like so many victims of rape told no one, not even her husband. In all there were 32 women who accused Hadden. He had been arrested in his office in 2012 on a woman’s charge that he sexually assaulted her but the arrest was voided. He went back to his job, examining women with no required aide in the room, which as Evelyn Yang shared, would have prevented him from sexually assaulting other patients including her. Eventually multiple victims came forward and the case was taken up by Manhatten DA Cyrus Vance, the same DA who gave Jeffrey Epstein a light sentence. Despite the charges, which included a felony, the DA opted for a plea agreement allowing the good doctor to serve no prison time although he did have his license revoked. Take a moment to reflect on how much prison time a poor black man would serve for a fraction of similar crimes. Seems the Scales of Justice has taken her blindfold off.

I am not unsympathetic to the difficulty of achieving a conviction in a rape trial. Many times a DA opts for a lesser charge to get any conviction at all, especially if the accused is well off, white and professional or any one of such status symbols. If this were 1950 or even 1980 such miscarriage of justice would be the norm. However this is a new millennium and norms are changing as we saw in the Brock Turner/ Stanford case. Despite the fact the victim was severely intoxicated, a condition that in earlier decades would have earned her derision and instant sympathy for the male, comparatively little victim blaming ensued. Not that justice was done but public sympathy was in her court. I’m also aware of false reports, (which are not the norm) and how lives can be ruined by such accusations. There are black men who have served decades in prison on the false charge of rape or through the heavy hand of racist law enforcement professionals. This discrepancy only highlights the difficulty of bringing powerful men to justice for sexual assault when the institutions give them cover.

Then there’s the President with multiple accusations of sexual harassment, sexual battery and sexual assault against him with his own corroboration for some of the charges on tape. While Weinstein and Cosby were on the way down when the charges were finally taken seriously, it seems the President is riding high, and so far, beyond the reach of justice.

Perhaps the kernel of this story is the 6 years of silence within which Evelyn Yang endured the knowledge and bodily memory of what the doctor did to her. It takes thousands of women’s voices to break the code of silence. Even in bucolic Santa Cruz rape is silenced. Last year there were 29 rapes reported to SCPD. Did you ever read about a single one in the local press? Neither did I. Did you know that SCPD has changed its reporting methods on its website so that no information is available save quarterly total numbers of rape and percentage changes? Prior to that, there were monthly tallies, with numbers of arrests and disposition of cases. Just a small step backwards but all regressive journeys start with a single step.

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.

January 20
“Tonight, however, I wish not to speak to Hanoi and the National Liberation Front, but rather to my fellow Americans. There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Martin Luther King Weekend in Santa Cruz
We tried our best to be our best this past Saturday. Hundreds marched down Pacific Avenue with the intended purpose of reaching the London Nelson Community Center where an array of talent was on display. Singer Tammi Brown brought the house down–twice–with her music, the last one being a Marvin Gaye song, What’s Going On?, which she sang acapella, oohh…With her on the stage were local luminaries, Pastor Deborah Johnson, Prof. David Anthony, SC Warriors coach Chris Weems, Mayor Justin Cummings, and NAACP president, Brenda Griffin. The packed auditorium ate it up as we were all trying to practice community, support diverse voices, and come together.

The unjust immoral war taking place in Vietnam,
“…my conscience leaves me no other choice…”

Part of how I celebrate the life of King is to listen to my favorite speech, Why I Am Opposed to War in Vietnam. He gave this 40-minute address at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and again under the 1st Ave and 47th Street signs in NYC to a crowd of over 100,000. It was truly his break from any of the safe liberals who may have been on the fence in supporting him. He said, I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. What he did best in this speech was to draw parallels between that war and the poverty and turbulence in many U.S. cities at the time. The Pentagon’s “vital interest” should not have been in Hanoi, but in Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. While I listened this time, I realized how long it takes to get to a place of peace. King offered us these words in April of 1967. The war did not end until January 27, 1973. Here is a recording of that speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyE4eo_leX8

I also urge everyone to go and visit the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Your life will not be the same.

The No Recall Report
I have lived in Santa Cruz since the fall of 1983. In all that time, I have never had so many well-wishing residents approach me with condolences about being on the recall ballot, and then they muse out-loud words about being baffled as to why and how it got to the ballot, and lastly, the conversation usually ends with kind words of cheer to keep on fighting, that’s why we elected you, many say. I cherish these encounters and realize how blessed I am to live in this community where people think so deeply, and sincerely, about their political, spiritual, and social lives. I’ve written a ballot statement that will go out on February 3rd to all Santa Cruz registered voters. I truly believe this recall is about raising uncomfortable issues, perhaps not always in the most politic of ways, I can learn, concerning who gets to live in Santa Cruz. The last two elections have yielded new voices with potent views around how difficult it is to make it here in Surf City. The rents are too damn high and the salaries too damn low. I have always felt a responsibility to speak out, especially in support (council votes) of affordable housing because I like many in this community actually bought a three-bedroom house on Barson Street back in the day, 1991 in my case, and had a mortgage payment, under $2000 that was reasonable. It is my pursuit as a member of the city council in supporting affordable housing, services for the houseless, support for neighborhood preservation, and taking a firm stand against any UCSC growth that has led to this political recall. It is not about any abuses or illegal activities that I am aware. The recall is over political disagreements, and political disagreements are usually settled by the next election, not a $150,000 tax-payer funded recall vote.

My Ballot Statement
The City of Santa Cruz is swept up in a well-funded, multi-city, developer-backed campaign to remove elected leaders with records of standing up for tenants and neighborhoods. These interests are targeting me because I ask for expansive neighborhood input on development proposals, I fight for low-income housing, and I defend preservation of neighborhoods – including our urban tree canopy.

Please vote NO on both recalls.

stopsantacruzrecalls.org

“What Dr. King understood is that the only way you make real change—whether it is racial justice, social justice or economic justice—is when millions of people come together, stand up and fight back”.

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

January 20

TWO CANDIDATE FORUMS NEXT WEEK
With ballots arriving in mailboxes in two weeks, the forums and discussions around many candidates and issues is steaming. I am running for County Supervisor in the Second District against incumbent Zach Friend. I hope that he is available for the two excellent candidate forums next week…reliable inside information is that he is flying all over the country. Hmmm…. It would be nice if he stayed around and took care of local problems, don’t you think?

Mark your calendars for these great opportunities to learn more about candidates and issues:

1) Monday, January 27 at 6 pm, Corralitos Women’s Club (33 Browns Valley Road, Corralitos) hosted by the Corralitos Women’s Club, and includes several candidate offices

2) Wednesday, January 29 at 6:30 pm, Cabrillo College lecture hall 454 “Supervising Santa Cruz County” hosted by the Santa Cruz Sentinel

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT RAISED RATES AGAIN!
If you are a Soquel Creek Water District customer, watch out for an even HIGHER water bill next month! That’s because the rates went up another 9% on January 1, in order to pay for the expensive and potentially very risky plan to inject millions of gallons of treated sewage water into the aquifer that supplies drinking water for most of the MidCounty area. The Board is considering a resolution on January 21 to agree to pay back a $36 million loan from the State for this Project, adding more debt burden for the ratepayers.

Write the Board and let them know what you think: Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors bod@soquelcreekwater.org

They rarely answer, and the new policy shoves correspondence into a separate place on the website so that it is not included in agenda packets. Nevertheless, they need to hear from you.

APPEAL OF PUREWATER SOQUEL PROJECT EIR IS UNDERWAY AND RECLASSIFIED
The Board of Soquel Creek Water District will also consider authorizing another $175,000 to pay Best, Best & Krieger attorneys to fight my request that the District just do a decent Environmental Impact Report (EIR). My primary request is that there be full analysis of the Project Alternative of conjunctive use and cooperation with Santa Cruz City instead of dismissing it. There are eight other violations alleged as causes of action named in the Petition for Writ of Mandate. I am not asking for money…just a better level of environmental review that would probably show this expensive Project is unnecessary.

I have appealed the Order to Deny the Writ of Mandate. I learned last week that the attorney from Best, Best & Krieger had incorrectly classified the case as “Limited” when it should have been classified as “Unlimited” by definition of being an environmental case, and therefore the appeal action is being transferred to the Sixth District Court of Appeals in San Jose.

I really have to wonder about all that. The District hired Best, Best & Krieger because of their expertise in environmental law and has paid the firm hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend the matter.

On January 21, the Board will consider an additional $175,000 to fight the appeal. All I want is for the District to do better environmental analysis and address the allegations of multiple violations of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) law, such as a Final Analysis of how injecting treated sewage water into the aquifer would affect the aquifer and the quality of water should something go wrong, and to also go back and provide proper notification to the local schools within 1/4 mile radius of the project to let know of the hazardous chemicals that would be stored on site. The later was required to have been done in writing 30 days before the Board certified the EIR, but was not. To a large extent, that is why the residents of Live Oak, where the District wants to build the Advanced Water Treatment Facility, knew nothing about the plan until the Board had already approved it.

You can read the report to the District Board on the cCae #19CV00181 and Appeal #19AP00031, and the Best, Best & Krieger plea for $175,000 in Agenda Item #6.4 (page 221) here

WHY DOESN’T SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT APPLY FOR WATER RIGHTS?
I attended a State Water Board Workshop in Paso Robles on January 8 and learned that the laws regarding issuance of Water Rights changed in September, 2019, streamlining the process and reducing fees to apply. Why isn’t Soquel Creek Water District pursuing this available water source that would not require such enormous energy demand and degrade the environment (causing their approval of a Statement of Overriding Consideration)?

I was able to do some research on the State website and found the information

Apparently, changes were approved in September, 2019 and include fee reductions of 25% and 75% for filing and processing for temporary water rights for surface water diversions and groundwater recharge. The greatest change is that the Temporary Emergency Water Right Permits have been extended to last from 180 days to FIVE YEARS!

Also, the way that the State allows there to be a determination if there is enough water has changed and is based on taking stream flows over a 30 year period and setting the stream flow requirement for surface water diversions to the 90th percentile of that average. Diversions would be limited to December through March, and could not exceed 20% of the total stream flow.

The State developed this Fact Sheet discussing “Beneficial Uses” and underground storage projects.

I think this is exciting news. I spoke with the State Water Resources Control Board attorney who worked on the new regulation. Her name is Nicole Kuenzi. She told me there was an excellent presentation about this given at the ACWA conference last fall. I have looked for this presentation but I think it is available only to those who paid to attend. I have written Ms. Kuenzi to ask for a link to the material. The presentation given at yesterday’s SGMA Workshop will be available by the end of next week on the Waterboard website.

All of the Soquel Creek Water District Board members attended the ACWA conference, and their trip was paid for by the District ratepayers. Perhaps they attended a different module of presentations, so I will bring this information that I learned yesterday to their attention at the next Board meeting, scheduled for January 21, 6pm.

RANCHO DEL MAR SHOPPING CENTER UPDATE
Many are happy to see the empty stores in the newly-remodeled Rancho del Mar Shopping Center slowly filling. Sadly, however, the TRC Retail owners have contracted with chainstores that will directly compete with the existing Ace Hardware and the Showtime Pizza locally-owned businesses. Take a look at the roster

You can write the TRC Retail Project Manager, Mr. Scott Grady with your thoughts: Scott Grady

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVE PHASE 2 FINAL MAP OF APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT WITHOUT ANY COMMENT
On Tuesday, January 14, the County Board of Supervisors approved the Aptos Village Project Phase 2 Final Map as part of the 58-item Consent Agenda. Members of the public spoke during the allotted two minutes for general public comment on all Consent Agenda items, bringing critical information regarding the legal cloud existing.

Supervisor Zach Friend made no comment at all about the issues, listed as Item #61 on the Consent Agenda. Nor did he respond to my earlier written request that the item be pulled for better discussion.

Hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil.

NISENE MARKS STATE PARK CONTINUES TO HAVE PARKING AND ACCESS PROBLEMS
A resident of the Aptos Creek community has sent me information about the continual problem with insufficient parking now that the winter gate is closed, and thus causing visitors to park haphazardly along the road into the Park. The road is full of potholes, making it nearly a slalom course, that is further exacerbated by poor parking jobs all along the way. I have written Park Supervisor Mr. Chris Spohrer and asked for a meeting. I encourage you to also contact him and ask for a community meeting to help creatively problem-solve this issue so that visits to Nisene Marks State Park continue to be both safe and enjoyable. Chris Spohrer chris.spohrer@parks.ca.gov

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’s running again right now!!!
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

January 17
#17 / Cause Or Effect?

One of the biggest divides in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is whether Donald Trump is a cause or a symptom of the current dysfunction in American politics. Joe Biden has argued the former — replace Trump and everything will go back to normal — while the likes of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have based their campaigns on the need for “big, structural change.”

I am quoting from a book review written by Ari Berman. Berman’s review appeared in The New York Times Book Review on Sunday, December 22, 2019. It is titled, in the hard copy version, “How to Mend Our Broken Politics.” Berman reviews the following two books: They Don’t Represent Us: Reclaiming Our Democracy, by Lawrence Lessig, and The Great Democracy: How to Fix Our Politics, Unrig the Economy, and Unite America, by Ganesh Sitaraman.

So, what is the right answer? Is Trump the “cause,” or is his presidency an “effect” of what is wrong with politics in the United States of America? I tend to think that the Trump presidency is much more “effect” than “cause,” but the right answer is probably “both.” At any rate, what I noticed as I read Berman’s review was the way he describes the central thesis of the Lessig book. Lessig is definitely in the “effect” camp. Here is how Berman synopsizes what Lessig has to say:

“The crisis in America is not its president,” Lessig writes in his opening pages. “Its president is the consequence of a crisis much more fundamental.” That crisis is the state of democracy itself.

You could fill an entire bookshelf with works about the crisis of democracy in the Trump era, but Lessig, a professor at Harvard Law School, has been eloquently hammering this point longer than most. He isolates the problem with American democracy to one word: “unrepresentativeness.” Voter suppression undermines free and fair elections, gerrymandering allows politicians to pick their preferred electorate, the Senate and the Electoral College favor small states and swing states over the rest of the country and the post-Citizens United campaign-finance system gives a tiny handful of billionaires far more clout than the average small donor. “In every dimension, the core principle of a representative democracy has been compromised,” he writes (emphasis added).

I haven’t read either of the books reviewed by Berman, but I am prepared to agree with Lessig, based on the above description of his views. However, in thinking about how the compromise of our representative democracy has occurred, I want to suggest that “the fault,” as Cassius says to Brutus in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, is “…in ourselves.”

In a representative democracy, elected officials are supposed to represent the people who elect them, but it is the responsibility of the people to insist that they in fact do that. “We, the people,” in other words, are the source of the power wielded by our representatives, but we often act more like petitioners and protesters than like those who are actually in charge. Various structural reforms can help, but what is mainly necessary is that we decide that we are, and should be, “in charge” of our government. To make any such decision “real,” and not just “theoretical,” we must then spend the time and effort necessary to make sure that the people we elect do what we want.

When the people act like “pussies,” it’s no wonder that our so-called “representatives” start representing themselves, not us! Trump’s ascendency comes right out of a deep-seated frustration that the government is beyond our control, when we know it should be doing what we want. Trump is an “effect.”

President Trump is not, of course, the solution to the problem of our failing democratic institutions, and no other candidate will be, either. What might work is the so-called “political revolution” that Bernie Sanders talks about. Such a “revolution” would require that we, the people, reassert and effectuate, as a reality, our own primacy on the terrain of politics.

Ojalá!

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. More inside views of our little movers and shakers….scroll downwards.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Socialized medicine” 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 with his thoughts on Whatever!!!

JEWEL THEATRE. The real details to follow soon. “The Other Place” by Sharr White is the next production starting Jan. 22 through February 16. It’s about a woman scientist who deals with internal and external problems. Great reviews.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes, “It happens every January, the popular Art Exhibit: Take Aways; Art to Go opens this week at Pajaro Valley Arts in Watsonville. This annual show features the works of 70 local artists – including this year, a few last pieces by James Aschbacher – all priced at $300 or less! Read all about it – and find out why my Art Boy loved this show – this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo:expressblogspot.com) Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

It’s January, one of the worst months of the year for films and I didn’t see any new ones!!

JOKER. I wrote this in October 2019…JOKER. Joaquin Phoenix should just be given the Oscar now, instead of all that fuss in January. Yes, this is the origin of why the Joker haunts Bruce Wayne (Batman) b ut it’s so much more than that. The film is deep, dark, brilliant, violent, clever, absorbing, haunting, and will move you into a different perspective. Forget the criticism about protesters; the Joker is insane and magnetic. See this film if you like films beyond what’s acceptable! It just became the biggest money-making attendance record R-rated film ever!!!. Now (11/18) it’s taken in over 1 billion dollars.

QUOTES. “DRONES”

In the Age of the Almighty Computer, drones are the perfect warriors. They kill without remorse, obey without kidding around, and they never reveal the names of their masters” Eduardo Galeano

We have no regulation of drones in the United States in their commercial use. You can see drones someday hovering over the homes of Hollywood luminaries, violating privacy. This question has to be addressed. And we need rules of operation on the border, by police, by commercial use, and also by military and intelligence use”. Dianne Feinstein

“They were drones, men costumed in independent thought who’d become slaves of party groupspeak”. Jonathan Lethem, Dissident Gardens

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

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January 15 – 21, 2020

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Show up and Save the church, meet Krohn and Glover personally, The DWC club of Santa Cruz. GREENSITE…on Santa Cruz: a sense of place. KROHN…Council agenda this week, tone of the City Council, 2020 and the differences. STEINBRUNER…Supes and Aptos Village project, Anne Isaacs passed. PATTON…Hot Mess America. EAGAN…Sub Cens and Deep Cover EVENTS Munching With Mozart, Tandy Beal’s Scoville Units. JENSEN…2019’s lack of films. BRATTON…I critique1917, Just Mercy UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “Whales”

EQUAL RIGHTS SYMPATHY MARCH. March 13 1965. This very behaved and organized march was at Lincoln and Center Streets. I can’t read many of the signs they are carrying, but one says “WRITE AND TELL WALLACE TO STOP”. Another says “WRITE TO Pres. JOHNSON, KATZENBACH, WALLACE, SHERIFF CLARK”

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

Sally Rand a great old time burlesque dancer. Not quite Sin Sisters Burlesque.

TWO HUMPBACK WHALES DANCE

DATELINE January 13

SAVE THE CIRCLE CHURCH. Sue Powell, one of the staunchest leaders of the community group working to save the Errett Circle Church from destruction by money-centered developers, sent an email saying… “The Santa Cruz City Historic Preservation Commission Public Hearing on the historic significance of the Circle Church and property at 111 Errett Circle has been RESCHEDULED to Thursday, January 30th, at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers Please attend!! The HPC will consider making a recommendation to the City Council to list the property on the City’s Historic Building Survey and to designate the site as a Local Historic Landmark.

The HPC wants to hear community concerns about the historic and cultural importance of this property. Please attend to speak or support speakers. We need a huge turnout!!

At the HPC meeting, public comments may be limited to 2-3 minutes, so be prepared to keep your speeches short. If you can’t attend, please submit your comments in writing to the Historic Preservation Commission, c/o Planning Department, 809 Center Street – Room 206, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Comments can also be sent by email to cityplan@cityofsantacruz.com.

There is an 11-page review of the developers’ first historic report. Historic Preservation Commissioners Joe Michalak and Jessica Kusz wrote the critique, and concluded that the report was inadequate, incomplete, and full of errors. At the Public Hearing, the HPC will review the developers’ second historic report. The developers’ historic reports and other documents can be accessed via this link

MEET COUNCILMEMBERS CHRIS KROHN AND DREW GLOVER. The Coalition For Glover and Krohn — plus the many friends and supporters of both Krohn and Glover — have worked hard to create a great opportunity to actually talk with and discuss whatever you’d like to talk about with these two city Council members on January 17. They have also gathered some art pieces that are really worth looking at (and taking home). We have heard these two councilmember’s names banged around for ages. Talk to them; ask them your most serious questions. We elected them, and they’ve done tremendous jobs representing us. They are friendly, caring, serious, and very dedicated. See for yourselves. This evening represents a unique opportunity to speak to them directly about the issues that concern our beautiful city. Art submitted for a contest on the theme Representation for All will be exhibited during the evening. You will be invited to choose your three favorite pieces, which will be printed on postcards and distributed to the community. Friday, January 17, 5:30 to 9 pm, The Palomar, 1336 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served. There is no charge for this event.

THE DEMOCRATIC WOMEN’S CLUB OF SANTA CRUZ. No one should be surprised by any move Mike Rotkin makes to get on or back into our political scene. And yet I was surprised to see that Mike is now on the Democratic Women’s Club board. That’s Cynthia Mathews long-time hiding ground, with Carol Fuller holding forth for years. The DWC also came out and endorsed the recalls of Glover and Krohn….skipping a beat….Sheila Carrillo wrote to remind us… “People have no idea that if they are opposing the recall, it is Critical that they vote for Tim Fitzmaurice and Katherine Beiers also. That is very confusing and needs to be spotlighted!! They are the only people that are running as No on Recall candidates and thus placeholders for the progressive torch. But really folks need to know that if Tim doesn’t win, a registered Republican will take over Drew’s seat!

January 13

A SENSE OF PLACE
San Francisco essayist and author Rebecca Solnit has a quote that resonates with me. “Sense of place is the 6th sense, an internal compass and map made by memory and spatial perception together.” I recently saw the quote and have yet to read the book “Savage Dreams” which contains it, so cannot speak to its significance in that context but I can speak to its significance to me in Santa Cruz.

For me, a sense of place includes all of nature that is familiar as well as structures that have some history, however modest and are of human scale. In the natural world, it includes the weather patterns, the ocean tides, the changing beach profiles, the trees and migratory birds to name a few. It takes time for these to become an internal compass. When I first arrived in Santa Cruz in 1975 I had yet to internalize a sense of place. The birds were sparse compared to Australia, the water cold, and what was this stuff called fog? Yes it was objectively pretty but it was not yet a part of me that I would fight to defend. That would soon change.

“Oh you’re the tree lady?” is a frequent query when introduced to someone new. I say “yes” but sometimes think, “I wouldn’t need that identity if you bastards cared more for big trees.” The number of big trees, especially cypress and eucalyptus that graced the lower Westside in the 1970’s was prodigious, with many close to a century in age. Now they have all but a few been cut down. Gone with them are the owls and hawks. Bearing witness to their removal is not easy and I feel the needle of my compass de-center with each death.

A sense of place is personal and to each their own. Many prefer a city with bright lights, hustle and bustle. Fortunately for them, no one is working to knock down the tall buildings, turn off the lights and plant trees. My preferred sense of place has sunshine, trees and skies dominant, with human buildings small. Unfortunately for me, there are those who are working to knock down the old buildings, yank out the trees and urbanize the town, destroying my sense of place and imposing their own. That others have done this before to indigenous peoples does not make it more tolerable.

I didn’t come to Santa Cruz, look around and decide I’d prefer it if the town were bigger, more upscale and then set about to achieve that vision. I should have moved on if Santa Cruz were too funky. I allowed Santa Cruz to reach into my heart and build a sense of place for me. Not so the new urbanites. Where I see familiarity and feel comfort in the small-scale businesses on Soquel, Water, Mission and Front streets they see “underutilized space,” “dated buildings” and apparently feel nothing in their heart. Perhaps the most blatant example of heartlessness was when the head of ROMA, the San Francisco firm hired for a million bucks to write up the Wharf Master Plan, which would morph the wharf into an unrecognizable upscale tourist destination, said over his power point: “And here’s Gilda’s (mispronouncing the name) not awful but we can do better.” My internal compass swung wildly at that insult. If Santa Cruz is in the heart, then the wharf and especially Gilda’s is its center.

The city’s Economic Development Department and Planning Department are central players in this transformation of Santa Cruz city with developers courted to sit at the table as they figure out how to make the most money out of urbanizing the town. That most don’t live in the city helps explain their surprise that some of us care about the old buildings and familiar places. Accusing us of “nostalgia” is a cheap shot at dismissing a sense of place that is Solnit’s sixth sense. Destroying our sense of place is like tearing out our eyes. Tearing down the Circles Church is but the latest in a long list of transformative city planning projects. The passion that motivates residents to try to save this iconic center of the lower westside wells up from a deep and sacred place. It should not be underestimated.

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.

January 13

SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL AGENDA
It’s what might be called a medium hot city council agenda this week. That does not mean there are not some very significant issues, but just not so many. Here’s a summary look:

125 Coral Street is on the closed session agenda, “Under Negotiation: Price, terms of payment, or both for potential property purchase” by the city of SC (This property is in the Harvey West area situated next to the Homeless Services Center.)
There will be a presentation on the “Three-year Strategic Plan.” This current council has not met to discuss a 3-year strategic plan, so I am not sure if this is just a creation of the city manager’s office, or a new initiative. Do organizations do 3-year strategic plans anymore? The first step of an organization, the city, should be to decide whether a strategic plan is called for. The current city council has not yet had input into whether it should be a 1, 2,3, or 4-year plan. Perhaps we will on Tues., but no vote will be taken as it is a “presentation.”
A Long-Range Development Plan Advocate has been hired jointly by the city and county and she, Morgan Bostic, will be introducing herself. Bostic will work “on the implementation of the Council-approved strategy” vis-a-vis University growth. The voters passed Measure U in 2018 with 77% voting in favor of “giving the city council sole authority to implement policies intended to limit enrollment growth and to establish infrastructure requirements…” In other words, as I read it, cap growth at the current 19,500.
There are three feel-good, well-intentioned resolutions, two opposing human trafficking and fracking statewide, and a third resolution “Calling for the California Public Utilities Commission and US Bankruptcy Court to fully consider a proposal to transform PG&E into a customer-owned utility.” How about that!
The Circle Church, 111 Errett Circle, is back on the council agenda. The reason, writes the Planning Director in an email, is “[Assuming HPC (Historic Preservation Commission) provides a recommendation on 1/30, this will be on the Council’s 2/25 agenda. The Council has an agenda item this Tuesday related to the HPC’s deliberations on the subject site, and the movement of the HPC meeting to 1/30 is noted in that report.
A $235,439 contract forTasers for the Police Dept. is also on the agenda. Seems like the current ones are wearing out? Estimated life of a Taser? I guess five years since the contract is for five years…
$10,000 for the Warming Center…the needs of those living in the street are real and Brent Adams has been helping address those needs of storage, showers, and warmth from cold winter nights. It seems to be a good investment and many I have spoken to say why not fund this program even more as he helps alleviate wear and tear on city parks and streets by helping provide shelter and few minor, but very needed services.
“Authorizing $6.25 million to remodel the Branciforte and Garfield Park libraries” also is a wise investment of a different kind.
The last item on the evening agenda is about the “City Council Request Process.” I am not sure exactly what it is, but it may be seeking to address the historic Byzantine process that seems to change with every new council on an age-old conundrum, how does a city councilmember get something placed on a city council agenda? Stay tuned!

I know, you might be thinking now…this seems like a lot for one agenda, and it is.

Tone of the 2020 Santa Cruz City Council
Oh, it will be different. There is a new mayor and it seems to appear the arrow is pointing up from where we were last January. I look forward to regular meetings with the mayor (any mayor should be meeting regularly with councilmembers who you agree with or not); smoother meeting agendas and realistic time allotments for agenda items; a fairer and more balanced way of calling on councilmembers; regular bathroom breaks; and of course, placing items that affect regular working-class Santa Cruzans on an evening agenda so they can get to the meeting after work. The newbie Mayor, Justin Cummings, may make all the difference in the world concerning the output, tone, and demeanor of this 2020 SC city council, although rainbows and unicorns are unlikely to appear in council chambers anytime soon.

And It is 2020…
I woke up on January 1st and realized it was 2020. It has been 52 years–1969— since earthlings stepped onto the moon and the New York Mets stepped all over the Baltimore Orioles to win a Cinderella World Series when the Cinderella metaphor seemed more real. When I was a high school senior, 1976 that was THE year we were all waiting for, 200 years of official country status. Then Orwell’s year, 1984, just zipped right past us, but Big Brother has become a reality with license plate readers, facial recognition software, and video cameras everywhere. Next was 2000, the millennium, Y2K, and the dawning of the age of Aquarius. As each BIG date played out, a feeling of overhype washed over me. The Mets did win it as Neil Armstrong stepped into the Sea of Tranquility, but Jimmy Carter’s environmental planted seeds quickly faded into a Reagan quagmire of fear. It’s all culminated in a Trumpian free-fall into an abyss defined by an all consumption is good consumption ethos. We have the opportunity locally and nationally to turn a corner in 2020.

So, Why Should 2020 be any Different?
Because it’s about the environment. We have about 10 years to get this climate crisis right. We know that coal, natural gas, petroleum, and everything plastic, has to go. Voters might want to be thinking, which city council will be more willing to take the steps that are needed to not give variances when solar is now required; to offer alternatives to the automobile; to install electric charging stations all over town; to not build any more last-century parking garages; to form city-university partnerships with the best minds on the UCSC campus who are thinking about our climate 24/7; to implement not only a downtown employee eco-bus pass program, but a citywide free-fare box, as Kansas City just did; and to continue aggressive water conservation, and maintain and enhance greenbelt protection. Which city council will be willing to say NO to developers who only want to build more over-priced condos for people who do not live here. Which council majority will take more seriously human rights, voting rights, and housing rights of city residents? These are the political, social, and emotional issues and questions before us as we head into the March 3rd 2020 election, which by the way begins Feb. 3rd when “vote by mail” ballots go out. See you at the ballot box, or at least on the corner by the post box!

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

January 13

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TO APPROVE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT PHASE 2 ON CONSENT AGENDA
The Consent Agenda, by definition, is meant to quickly handle non-controversial and low-dollar matters that are considered more like housekeeping. However, the County Board of Supervisors likes to do quite the opposite, and shove things that ARE controversial quietly through as items buried in the Consent Agenda, approved without discussion and in one fell-swoop.

So, here they are, approving the Phase 2 Aptos Village Project Final Map as Consent Agenda Item #61 on Tuesday’s meeting plan. Disgusting. This is the last time the public will have any shred of an opportunity to publicly comment on this massive project that few in the community want. All of Phase 2 is three-story dense development, with reduced setbacks and very little landscaping, thanks to the design modifications the County approved with a discretionary wand three years ago

Drainage plans show the parking lot storm water going into Aptos Creek. The County gifted the developers the easement across the County-owned Aptos Village Park to dump that oily water into the southernmost stream for Coho salmon.

The County taxpayer-funded traffic light at Aptos Creek Road is currently out to bid, estimated to be a $2.5 million project that will benefit the developers.

How sad that neither the County nor developers ever listened to any of the extensive comments voiced by the public. Clearly, those meetings were all perfunctory.

You can watch a video of Anne describing her passion for the Aptos Community and all the hard work and fun she and her friends had (Anne’ s interview begins at about minute 7:00)

APTOS LADIES TUESDAY EVENING SOCIETY CO-FOUNDER ANNE ISAACS PASSED AWAY
I am saddened to have learned that the wonderful Anne Isaacs, who conspired with Lucille Aldrich back in the day to form the Aptos Ladies Tuesday Evening Society and ultimately the Aptos Parade, has passed away. Anne and Lucille led the fight against a cement batching plant being built in Aptos Village, and laid down on the railroad tracks to stop Southern Pacific Railroad’s plan to thwart the Aptos Community Picnic.

I met Anne many years ago, and have treasured her spirited outlook. She inspired me in many ways with her kind, fair and humorous views of the world. I was honored to have Anne and her husband, Albert, be the first to sign my nomination papers that enabled me to become a candidate for Second District County Supervisor now.

Anne’s services are scheduled for Saturday, January 18 at 11am in her beloved St. John’s Episcopal Church 9125 Canterbury Dr., Aptos) with internment to follow. There will be viewing on Friday, January 17, 2pm-8pm at Pacific Gardens Chapel (1050 Cayuga St., Santa Cruz).

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. BE COURAGEOUS AND MAKE A 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). She is running again for Second District County Supervisor right now!!

Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

January 8 #8 / Hot Mess America?

New York Times’ columnist Timothy Egan says America is a “hot mess”. That term is defined as follows by Dictionary.com:

Hot mess is used to describe a particularly disorganized person or chaotic situation.

As we venture into an election year, and a year in which the political stakes are extremely high, such a description of the “state of the union” does not, exactly, inspire confidence and an optimistic sense of our future possibilities. However, I think that a thoughtful read of Egan’s opinion-editorial comment might be somewhat comforting.

Egan’s column ran in early December of last year, and in the online version of the column, the “hot mess” aspect of America’s current situation is headlined. Since Egan’s column was written well before President Trump’s assassination by drone of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, it is fair to say that the “hot mess” Egan mentions is even “hotter” and “messier” now. Let me alert you, however, to the fact that in the hard copy version of the newspaper, which was delivered to my home on December 7th, the headline doesn’t use that “hot mess” language. It reads a little bit differently, and I think we should pay attention to that original headline:

America Still Has a Story To Tell

I believe that the hard copy headline gets it right. Overcoming adversity is always the way that we find a new way forward. Won’t it be great when we not only “survive,” but “overcome” our hot mess condition, and start leading the world towards a democracy based on the full engagement of ordinary people in the challenges that confront us?*

Is there any reason to believe that we can’t do that? Here’s some positive language from Egan’s column:

Today, there is no external enemy to unite us — not the British Crown, Nazi Germany or a Communist Soviet Union. For much of the world, and more than half of the United States, Trump is the uniter — the repellent-in-chief. As we saw again this week in Europe, the president is a laughingstock, mocked for his buffoonery, ignorance and bluster. In just a few days abroad, he made 21 false statements, a microcosm of his presidency.

At home, he wages war on American institutions: the military, the courts, Congress, the press, respect for truth, the Constitution itself. But he also faces certain impeachment, because what he did warrants no other choice. Though he most likely won’t be removed, a majority of Americans say he has committed an impeachable offense. He will be forever remembered for the gross violations of his oath.

We should be loud and proud with this to the rest of the world: L’état, c’est moi is nowhere in the founding documents. That’s another story America can yet tell.

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Visit our inner selves and bring your friends. Wild, deep and wooly/….that’s Sub Cons!!! See below.

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.

MUNCHING WITH MOZART AND FRIENDS. Every Third Thursday like this

Thursday, January 16, from 12:10 – 12:50p.m. there is a free concert upstairs in the threatened Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown Branch in the Meeting Room. This week’s concert is titled The Folk World Meets the Classical World. The musicians will be Linc Russin, mandolin • Nick Royal, mandolin and Lynn Kidder, piano. They’ll play J.S. Bach, Mozart, Johnny Mercer, Gounod and some 17th Century Jewish Mystic plus Jay Unger.

TANDY BEAL & JON SCOVILLE PRESENT… Tandy Beal and Company presents Scoville Units – a celebration of Jon Scoville’s extraordinary music—on January 18th and 19th, 2020 at the Cabrillo Crocker Theatre – for two shows only! That’s Saturday night at 7:30 and Sunday at 2 p.m. His music and artistic insights have inspired dances for not only Tandy Beal, but for choreographers around the world. Named after the scale of spiciness for peppers, Scoville Units is a multi-arts celebration of Scoville’s beguiling compositions from cool to hot, with unique films and performances by 30 musicians and dancers. I’ll save you a seat!!!

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “If you read my last blog post, you might understand why I didn’t see enough movies last year to compose a traditional Best of 2019 list. However, among the various small, weird, and/or esoteric movies I did see, I have a few favorites! Find out what they are this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ).” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

1917Do not see this film if you expect to watch much of Benedict Cumberbatch. IF he’s in it more than 2 minutes I’ll eat my helmet!!! I also wouldn’t give this movie ANY “best of” awards, and am surprised at what it’s won so far. It’s the story of two foot soldiers slogging through, under, and around enemy lines to deliver an important life-saving message. It’s an impressive hunk of movie making, and yet it won’t really draw you into the story. 89RT

JOKER. I wrote this in November 2019…JOKER. Joaquin Phoenix should just be given the Oscar now, instead of all that fuss in January. Yes this is the origin of why the Joker haunts Bruce Wayne (Batman) and it’s so much more than that. The film is deep, dark, brilliant, violent, clever, absorbing, haunting, and will move you into a different perspective. Forget the criticism about protesters; the Joker is insane and magnetic. See this film if you like films beyond what’s acceptable! It just became the biggest – money making attendance record R-rated film ever!!!. Now (11/18) it’s taken in over 1 billion dollars.

AERONAUTS. Felicity Jones plays a very cute and Disney like character matching Eddie Redmayne’s equally sweet and nerdy partner in this supposedly true story of an early hot air balloon ascension in Britain’s Victorian age in 1862. It’s cute, some funny parts a bit scary due to heights of the balloon. Being such a cute movie they changed the sex of the person accompanying Redmayne , it was really a male friend of his.It’s on Amazon.

STAR WARS. THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. 54 RT. George Lucas’ Star Wars empire started 43 years ago with wildly clever and intelligent twists and an absolutely brilliant story line. We watched politely while some sad sequels stained our screens, now thanks to Disney buying and producing this concluding finale we have an ending to the saga that isn’t worth your time or expectations. Trite, predictable, and sad to see our old heroes and heroines suffer with a plot as dull and unrewarding as this one. You have to go if you’ve seen more than one of the series…just don’t expect to be satisfied with the conclusion.

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. . Peter Klotz-Chamberlin from The Resource Center for Non Violence guests on Jan. 14. He’s followed by Julie and Stu Phillips talking about saving the Tule Elk and the issues at Point Reyes. Michel Singher conductor of the Espressivo Orchestra talks about their concerts on Jan. 21. Jean Brocklebank talks about our Santa Cruz Public library issues on Feb 11. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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 I can relate to…

“WHALES”

“There are people in this world who can wear whale masks and people who cannot, and the wise know to which group they belong.” Tom Robbins

“If you swim with sharks, make sure you have the appetite of a whale.” Matshona Dhliwayo

“It’s time to end the cruel slaughter of whales and leave these magnificent creatures alone.” Paul McCartney

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
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Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
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Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

January 8 – 14, 2019

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…Whale City Bakery and Bar for sale, Bruce McDougal died, Brommer and 17th architect, Save Errett Circle Church public meeting, Jack “Broken Egg” Churchill’s birthday party. GREENSITE…on protecting our open space lands. KROHN… Chris Krohn is off this week and will return next week. STEINBRUNER…Campaign news, 17th and Brommer building, Don’t bury the Library, 908 Ocean Street project, CSA Rural tax illegal?, Nisene Marks closed to traffic. PATTON…on Dementia. EAGAN…patriotism. JENSEN…links to reviews.BRATTON…I critique Two Popes, Little Women, Uncut Gems, Marriage Story, Aeronauts, Star Wars. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES…”2020″

SEABRIGHT AND SOQUEL AVENUE CIRCA 1949. That’s a ’49 Studebaker and a ’49 Oldsmobile and what appears to be one huge flood. Now it’s Lillian’s Italian Kitchen, The Post Office and Ace Hardware.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

LEARN TO YODEL. Long time friend Bob Armstrong on guitar.

OPTICAL ILLUSIONS.

DATELINE January 6

WHALE CITY BAKERY BAR & GRILL FOR SALE!! The near legendary success of this warm, friendly stopping point right on historical Highway 1 keeps on going upward. Finally after many long years of the Raugust/McDougal ownership and managing they are tired and have just announced that it’s for sale. Check out the Facebook page and the great customer comments.

If you want to know more call Chris Shoemaker at (831) 476-8194.

BRUCE McDOUGAL DIED. Bruce fought Alzheimer’s, his only enemy in this life, and lost on Monday, December 30 at 5 am. Bruce and Marcia McDougal had been my closest and dearest friends since 1962 in Berkeley. Bruce’s remarkable pottery artistry led them to open Big Creek Pottery School back in the late 60’s and 70″s. I’ll bet that more than 3/4 of the pottery you see in this county was directly inspired, or is related to, Big Creek Pottery. After Big Creek Pottery, Bruce and Marcia opened The Davenport Cash Store as a pottery studio and restaurant. Bruce taught me and influenced me more than anyone I’ve known.

SWENSON’S BROMMER AND 17TH ARCHITECT? Many friends and passersby and me too thought that the new building at the corner of 17th and Brommer was so ridiculous (ugly) that it must have been designed by Mark Primack, especially if you look at his buildings over on the west side. But nope, it was Daniel W. Sells. And I’ll bet Sells knows Primack. Be sure to read Becky Steinbruner’s more complete piece below on the Brommer Bummer, and see the one page from Swenson here.

PLEASE HELP SAVE THE ERRETT CIRCLE CHURCH ON JANUARY 15. . Now’s the time when all of us can act as a community and attend a meeting that will help save an important part of our community. There will be a public hearing at the City Council Chambers at 7 p.m. on Wednesday January 15th to hear from concerned community members and determine the historic significance of the Circle Church and the property at 111 Errett Circle. Here’s what Sue Powell from Friends of the Circle Church sent….
The Historic Preservation Commission could recommend that the property should be listed on the City’s Historic Building Survey or be designated as a Local Historic Landmark.

Please attend to speak or support speakers. We need a huge turnout!!

At their December 10th meeting, the City Council voted 4-3 to refer this issue to the Historic Preservation Commission. Christopher Krohn, Sandy Brown, Drew Glover, and Justin Cummings voted in favor of referring the developer-paid historic report to the HPC for their review and recommendations.

Special thanks to all who showed up and spoke in favor of the agenda item at the City Council meeting!! Speakers included: Janet Bryer, Karolyn Ronzano, Andrea van de Loo, Bruce Thomas from Dufour Neighbors, Candace Brown from Save Santa Cruz, Freya Sands, Artist of the Year and former Poet Laureate Ellen Bass, Ron Pomerantz, Jan Chaffin, Jennifer Smith, Marilyn Garrett, John Sears, and Hilary Martisius. Speakers were passionate and persuasive – and very effective!

At the upcoming Historic Preservation Commission meeting, public comments may be limited to 2-3 minutes, so be prepared to keep your speeches short. If you can’t attend, please submit your comments in writing to the Historic Preservation Commission, c/o Planning Department, 809 Center Street – Room 206, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.

The developers’ historic reports can be accessed via this link

Please email friendsofthecircles@gmail.com if you would like to receive the 11-page review of the developers’ first historic report.

Historic Preservation Commissioners Joe Michalak and Jessica Kusz wrote the critique and concluded that the developers report was inadequate, incomplete, and full of errors.

To be added to the email list, please send a message to friendsofthecircles@gmail.com

We have 960 petition signatures at www.change.org/p/save-the-circle-church, and 55 paper-petition signatures.

Our Facebook page is “Save the Circle Church”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK CHURCHILL. Long timers will certainly remember the Broken Egg Omelet House on Front Street. Jack Churchill managed it for years around the early 70’s . He lives in Hawaii now and was back here last week to greet family and friends while he turned 90.

January 6

PROTECTING OUR OPEN SPACES
A small entry in the most recent Sierra Club Magazine caught my eye. It read: A crash in the elk population in the vicinity of Vail, Colorado, appears to be related to an upsurge in the number of hikers and mountain bikers in the region. We are facing the same issue on the central coast (not elk but other species) and especially Santa Cruz County, which is fast becoming the most popular mountain biking destination in the region. Popular, not only due to the relative abundance of state, regional and local parks but also to the absence of restrictions that face mountain bike riders in other counties. There, land managers are aware of the negative impact on the natural environment (as well as the impact on other users) by the ever-increasing numbers of mountain bike riders and are taking steps to address the impact. Here, land managers appear indifferent to the impact and actively court the well-funded mountain bike organizations. And well funded they are, compared to the cash-strapped local and state government entities that are responsible for our open space lands. Mountain Bikers Of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) showcase twelve staff on their website. Plenty of human resources to court the decision-makers at this critical time when new open space lands such as San Vicente, acquired through years of effort and at great expense are coming online for public use.

Open space land managers are constantly lobbied to develop new trails for mountain bike access and to allow mountain bikes on trails currently restricted to hiking only. Castle Rock State Park for example is currently considering what is termed a Change In Use (CIU) to allow mountain bike riders on trails previously restricted to hiking only, including the iconic Skyline to the Sea trail. Despite the fact that hiking is far ahead of mountain bike riding in any survey of popular usage of open space (almost 4 times as popular in a local random survey), hikers lack well-funded organizations to lobby on their behalf. This lack of political clout might be compensated for if more land managers cared about other users of open space and the care of the open space itself but they don’t. The result is that hikers have been pushed out of many parks and the open spaces have become crisscrossed with eroded dead zones wherever scores of bike riders have access. Include technological additions such as night-lights to bikes and even the nocturnal species such as mountain lions have no respite from the incessant intrusion into their habitat.

I was thinking about all this on a daylong hike at Mount Diablo State Park this past Saturday. Fortunately that day there were no bikes on the narrow, steep trails although evidence of their damage was clear. Wherever there were switchbacks there was evidence of shortcutting by bicyclists. There was also evidence that State Parks maintenance crew had tried to prevent further damage by installing barriers but the bike riders had just gone around the barriers and created new ruts. The photo shows typical mountain bike erosion on a section of Wilder Ranch bluff trail. Despite its being a flat trail, since there is no restriction on bike access after rain, the soft sandy soil is easily eroded. In parts the cliff has collapsed due to bike riders widening their tracks to avoid the areas damaged from years of bike use. In the face of clear evidence of the disproportionate trail damage created by mountain bike tires as they wear the telltale longitudinal grooves that channel water downhill, the industry and the organizations produce “scientific” documents purporting to prove that mountain bikes cause no more damage to trails than hikers. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

This year will see increasing pressure from the mountain bike industry for more access and more trails. No one expects anything less. What we should expect is that land managers whether local, regional or state will do their job, which is to protect the natural environment and evaluate without bias, the impact of the various land users. And sometimes they will have to say no, even to those who have money and influence.

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.

“Chris Krohn is off this week and will return next week.”

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

January 6

THE RACE FOR COUNTY SUPERVISOR IS ON!

With the help of my neighbors and friends, there are now a large signs for my campaign up prominently in the Aptos Village and Rio del Mar, with requests pouring in for others and for yard signs. A post on NextDoor last Saturday caused an explosion in posts (mostly good!) from people throughout the MidCounty area.

It is humbling, and also enforces what I have known: the people of the Second District want and deserve responsive leadership with respectful equality for all. I would certainly do my best if honored with this job.

I will be available this Friday, Jan. 10, at Peet’s Coffee in Rancho del Mar Center in Aptos from 6pm-8pm, and Saturday, Jan. 11, 10am-noon. Stop by if you would like to ask questions, discuss matters, and perhaps take home a yard sign.

You can e-mail me at Becky Steinbruner . My website will be up in the near future. HUZZAH!!

HOW DID THAT UGLY BUILDING AT 17th & BROMMER EVER GET APPROVED?
I have wondered this as I travel past the new multi-use development on this busy Live Oak intersection. Someone contacted me to ask about the architect responsible for this ugly beast? I did a bit of research, and learned the public process was anything but robust, and seemed to change the design mid-stream. That sounds a lot like the Aptos Village Project process, too.

We can only hope that Swenson has perhaps learned that it is smart to pay attention to the triple bottom-line early on, getting important public input and actually incorporating it into the proposed project.

The architect for the 2014 amended design (what we are gagging over now) is Daniel W. Sells. It appears that he is (or was) an in-house architect for Barry Swenson builder but I cannot find any other mention of him in the architectural field. That says a lot right there.

In the Planning Commission staff report (10/28/2015), there are notes from the one and only community meeting for the project (seven people attended). A Swenson architect named Jeff Current presided there. I found a news release that shows he had worked for Barry Swenson for 28 years as an in-house architect, but launched his own business in January of 2014. He is married to Barry Swenson’s daughter.

I did a search of the County Planning Dept for the address and application and found that the mixed use project (1155 17th Ave., APN 026-311-33) was originally approved in 2008 for eight for-sale apartments and some retail space. There was some environmental analysis, but it got approved with a Negative Declaration.

The permit approved in 2008 languished, due to economic downturn, but came back to the Planning Commission on October 28, 2015. Swenson wanted to increase the number of units to 13, making them smaller, but only adding two bedrooms total (14 increasing to 16 total), and also making them rental units. The design included seven retail spaces.

It seems that the roofline architecture really changed with this design re-working. Public comment at the community meeting included statements that they liked the roof lines of the other design better.

I found it shocking that the planner, Annette Olson, stated that the design of the structure “will enhance the aesthetic qualities of the surrounding properties.” “The bulk, massing and scale of the structure will be minimized by using varied roof and wall planes and different finish materials…making it compatible with existing built environment..” (page 26 of the October 28, 2015)

In looking at the architect’s plans (an example on pages 45 and 57 of the Planning Commission staff report)

The County actually did create an environmental review for it, but it, like the Aptos Village Project, got away with just a Negative Declaration. The biggest issue is increased storm water runoff from the impervious surfaces but also the increased sewage to an area that had a moratorium on new sewage service.

The County wanted Swenson to install pervious paving to reduce storm water runoff, but Swenson hired a new soils engineer that submitted a report claiming there is a clay layer that would not permit proper drainage from the (more expensive) pervious paving. So, the County required Swenson to install a storm water treatment unit on site to improve the water quality before it is discharged into the storm water drain. This was on page 15 of the staff report. ( I wonder if that is getting built and if so, who will monitor it’s function?)

There was no traffic study required, just a general trip study to calculate developer fees.

The notes included from the one community meeting held on May 22, 2014, which only seven people attended, noted that people said they liked the old roof lines of the 2008 design better. The response was that the building design had been altered to create an interesting space in the units and provide large windows overlooking the streets. (page 184 of the staff report) There is a note on page 185 that says the previous design was a combination of shed and roof gable design, but it was altered in the 2014 design. According to Barry Swenson Builder website, the in-house architect Daniel W. Sell’s phone number is 408-938-6338. Planning Dept. staff report claimed this project will revitalize the area..I think it will increase traffic speeds as people try to race at top speed past this ugly eyesore and try not to look at it!

WHY WE SHOULD NOT BURY THE LIBRARIES.
Both Jean Brocklebank and Becky Steinbruner worked on the large, expensive and suspicious plan to spend large sums of money on our Downtown library and its future. Jean wrote “In my opinion, the similarities are basic for all branches, even the two that were clearly identified for new construction during the Measure S campaign (Felton and Capitola). Rather than having the branches repaired, upgraded and modernized, we’ve witnessed manipulation of a public fervor for architectural grandeur. Plans call for substituting sleek for cozy, snazzy for practical, brand new loud colored furnishings for all branches, entertaining for informing, loud and noisy for quiet contemplation, and social services for informational services. More empty space than peopled space, for a sense of expansiveness, which is energy foolishness in cities and counties with Climate Action Plans and Climate Emergency Resolutions (e.g., replacement of eleven foot high ceilings with eighteen foot high energy-inefficient ceilings, while even the new shelving will only be six feet high).

All branches are way over budget totaling millions of dollars throughout the system and that is not due only to the escalation of construction costs, as some would have us swallow. It is due to asking too much and not being content with sufficiency. This constant voracious societal demand for more and bigger is what drives destruction of the environment, locally, nationally and globally. Apparently decision-makers can’t connect the dots. But that may be because they are too busy providing for entertainment rather than education.

The shocking plan to build a large new library downtown beneath a parking garage continues. The proposed parking garage is senseless, and would destroy the space that has hosted the weekly Farmer’s Market providing a wonderful community connection beneath graceful Magnolia trees. The fight to remodel the existing library and thereby save not only the Farmer’s Market, but also lots of taxpayer money, goes on. Many wonder if the parking garage idea is simply to provide parking that is absent from planned dense developments nearby. Below is a thoughtful response from” Don’t Bury the Library” leader, Ms. Jean Brocklebank, remarking on my comparison of the similarities of the Aptos Library’s remodel plans to demolish what is structurally sound in the name of modernization, when remodeling is less expensive and can accomplish the goals intended . Jean kindly gave me permission to share all of what follows:

Dear friends of the Downtown Library ~

This Update is devoted solely to Stephen Kessler and his latest exquisite column in Saturday Jan. 4 Sentinel. What a pleasant surprise to read it earlier!

Be green now. Save Lot 4. Rebuild the library” by Stephen Kessler

Stephen captured all aspects of the matter before us and articulated them clearly. It would be well for everyone involved — from the City Council and City Manager, to staff of the Economic Development Department, and the Library System administration — to read and digest this column.

WHAT MAY BE ON THE HORIZON IN DOWNTOWN SANTA CRUZ…ANY TREES?
A BrattonOnline reader contacted me about a proposed project at 908 Ocean Street, wondering if I thought the parking at the County Government Building might become shared parking for the 333 new residential units? The mixed-use development would swallow the 19 parcels encompassing the area from Marianne’s and extend nearly to the Sewing Center at Water Street. Indeed, how will this all work?

You can read more about the proposal here: Designer responds to Ocean Street 333-unit condo project concerns

What made me catch my breath was when I investigated the City of Santa Cruz Planning & Development website, and saw that the large 908 Ocean Street project is only the tip of the iceberg for what is in the works!

Take a look:

Development Projects | City of Santa Cruz

While it is encouraging that the 908 Ocean Street project would provide 15% or 50 of the units to be affordable, one wonders why the percentage is not higher? These are to be 600 SF units for living a quality of life that is something different than what Santa Cruz has known and come to treasure.

Will there be large trees to provide shade and a sens of nature nearby? Will the parking be waived, as has occurred for the Laurel Towers development? Is there enough water in prolonged periods of drought for all this development without forcing people to drink treated sewage water that requires massive amounts of energy to process and yet may not be reliably clean? Traffic is already a congested nightmare. Are these part of the 700 new units the City has promised to the big tech companies, as City Economic Development Director Bonnie Lipscomb stated on local television two years ago? I suggest you add your contact to the project notifications lists for the project near you…make a big difference by showing up, and speaking out.

ABOUT THAT PROPOSED CSA 48 RURAL TAX…IS IT LEGAL?
The Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on January 14 to consider the final public input and voting on the proposed County Service Area (CSA) 48 County fire benefit assessment. This new tax could be substantial, and would be levied in addition to the current CSA 48 property tax. The Board voted October 22 to move forward with this ballot action, referring to the staff’s claim that “County Fire recommends” the Board do so. However, maybe that letter of recommendation and all that staff claimed is not legally correct.

The “Letter of Recommendation” came from FDAC. However, I attended the meeting at which the FDAC supposedly voted unanimously to make this recommendation and it was not at all what was represented in the staff report to the Board. The FDAC never saw the engineer’s report before it went to the Board. There were only three FDAC members that attended the meeting, but there were other non-voting staff present. Doug Aumack said that the FDAC could not make any recommendations, but Michael Beaton insisted that they do, and pressured them to do so.

The three FDAC members approved IN CONCEPT action to augment County Fire revenue, but never explicitly recommended the ballot action at hand. Michael Beaton wrote in his staff report to the Board that there were 10 members of FDAC present at the meeting and the vote was unanimous to send the ballot to the property owners.

Here is a link to the minutes of that FDAC meeting (it does not include members of the public who were also present). I have just noted that the vote recorded for the Item included a vote in favor by Alex Leman. However, the minutes note that Alex Leman was absent.

Also, I think it needs to be pointed out that Carey Pico, the Second District FDAC representative, does not live within the CSA 48 boundaries, and therefore cannot legally support a tax increase for CSA 48.

This was recently established in Santa Cruz County Superior Court by Judge Paul Burdick when residents of the San Lorenzo Valley School District argued that Supervisor Bruce McPherson could not legally sign on to the Measure S school bond ballot measure as a supporter because he does not live in the school district boundaries. Therefore, Carey Pico should have abstained from any vote on the CSA 48 tax issue.

I submitted a letter that is attached to the October 22 hearing item about the incongruity of what the FDAC actually had done and what Mr. Beaton’s report stated to the Board.

At the October 22 hearing, Supervisor John Leopold did ask Michael Beaton about the FDAC recommendation, and I believe that Mr. Beaton just stated that there had been a quorum present and the vote was unanimous. Doug Aumack, dressed in his County Fire uniform, testified in support of the action. I think it would be worthwhile to review the video of this public hearing (Item #12 at the 1pm hearing)

I think there are some very serious issues we need to raise in writing. In my experience, it is best to send these issues to the Board early because they will not do anything at the hearing to make staff look questionable if we wait to bring it up at the hearing.

Write your County Supervisor and raise question of legality in this very vaguely – calculated tax that has rounded UP all acreage to a whole acre amount for assessment, which can mean substantial tax difference for “invisible land”.

NISENE MARKS STATE PARK CLOSED TO TRAFFIC FOR PAST TWO WEEKS
A reader who lives in the Nisene Marks State Park area let me know that for the past two weeks, the road leading into the Park has been posted daily with the sign you see below, barring visitors from driving to the hiking trail heads, and forcing them to park dangerously alongside the pothole-filled road. I wanted to see if the sign were removed one evening, so drove in on Aptos Creek Road at dusk. The sign was indeed folded and stowed, but there were hikers and bikers dodging potholes in an effort to return to their vehicles parked behind the Aptos Station Center.

I gave one such young woman a ride. She was grateful because she had not come prepared to have to walk alone at night in the woods for an extra couple of miles to return to her car in Aptos Village. It would seem that perhaps it is time the State Parks considers providing a shuttle bus for such vulnerable visitors at the end of the day when the “PARKING FULL” signs have to go up. Write Mr. Chris Spohrer chris.spohrer@parks.ca.gov with your thoughts.

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.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

January 1, 2020
#1 / Dealing With Dementia: Walk And Write

Happy New Year to all!

A whole new calendar awaits us, and for those of us who just had a post-Christmas birthday (and even for others, who didn’t, but who do approach a New Year with the thought that they are getting older), visions of dementia float through our heads.

Of course, I am exaggerating! How to deal with dementia isn’t, actually, the very first thought that came to mind as I woke up on this January 1st. Still, while I can’t speak for anyone else, I am almost positive, as John Lennon might have said, that “I am not the only one.” I am not the only one who does consider the possibility that dementia is an issue to which I should pay some increasing attention as I get older.

Because certain mental failings and lapses do come to my attention from time to time, I am comforted by the thought that I am not so far gone that I don’t even realize that I have a bit of a problem in coming up with the right word, or name, as quickly as I’d like, and as quickly as I used to. Again, however, the idea that age and dementia are related is not a new idea for me. How to deal with it?

The Wall Street Journal ran a story last November titled, “What Science Tells Us About Preventing Dementia.” Presuming you can slither past a possible paywall, I recommend the article. Here’s a pretty adequate summary:

When it comes to battling dementia, the unfortunate news is this: Medications have proven ineffective at curing or stopping the disease and its most common form, Alzheimer’s disease. But that isn’t the end of the story. According to a recent wave of scientific studies, we have more control over our cognitive health than is commonly known. We just have to take certain steps—ideally, early and often—to live a healthier lifestyle.

In fact, according to a recent report commissioned by the Lancet, a medical journal, around 35% of dementia cases might be prevented if people do things including exercising and engaging in cognitively stimulating activities. “When people ask me how to prevent dementia, they often want a simple answer, such as vitamins, dietary supplements or the latest hyped idea,” says Eric Larson, a physician at Kaiser Permanente in Seattle and one of a group of scientists who helped prepare the report. “I tell them they can take many common-sense actions that promote health throughout life.”

My personal take-away from the article (confirming what I have learned from my own experience), is that Walking and Writing are two important ways to make sure I stay connected with the world. For what it is worth, if you are thinking about those oft-adopted, seldom achieved, “New Year’s Resolutions,” I would like to suggest walking and writing as two ways to deal with and defeat dementia (and the threat thereof).

For me, because I do take seriously that “writing” part, you can look forward to another 365 days of “We Live In A Political World.”
God Willing / Inshallah!

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Scroll below for yet another Sub Con and a peek way inside our driving forces.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Terriorism and Violationism” 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.

SANTA CRUZ CHAMBER PLAYERS Concert #3. The concert title is From the Old World to the New:Schubert and 21 st Century America

Music by Schubert, Rebecca Clarke, Henry Mollicone, John Wineglass, Emily Wong

It happens Saturday, January 11, 7:30 pm and Sunday, January 12, 3:00 pm. The musicians are;Kristin Garbeff, Concert Director and cello; Cynthia Baehr-Williams, violin; Chad Kaltinger, Viola; Kumiko Uyeda, Piano.

Travel through time as we begin with Schubert in 19th century Europe and emerge in California in the 21st century. The program begins with Schubert’s masterful Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major then moves to the new world with Morpheus, Rebecca Clarke’s impressionist-inspired work for viola and piano. From there we explore the beauty and tragedy of 21st century American composers, all of whom have ties to Santa Cruz and the SF Bay Area. Henry Mollicone’s heaven-inspired work for violin and piano was written in remembrance of his dear friend. John Wineglass’ piano trio explores new soundscapes with haunting melodies as it depicts the last days of Diana, Princess of Wales. Last on the program is Emily Wong’s jazz-influenced tribute to the victims of September 11th. Their concerts are at Christ Lutheran Church 10707 Soquel Drive, Aptos (Off Highway 1 at Freedom Blvd.)

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: ” ‘Tis the season when we get all nostalgic about the year that’s just ended. I beg to differ. Fast away the old year passes, and it couldn’t happen soon enough for me! Find out why, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). What kind of a year did you have?” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

LITTLE WOMEN. Another movie version of the classic Louisa May Alcott book. Greta Gerwig was the new director and she cut up the timeline, added some modern dialogue in spots and it’s well worth seeing. Saoirse Ronan heads the cast with Emma Watson and Laura Dern filling in the family members. 95 on RT. CLOSES THURSDAY JANUARY 9

RICHARD JEWELL. Once again right wing conservative Clint Eastwood directs a film with his usual hidden political statements. This time it’s based on a true story about a security guard who discovers a bomb hidden in an Atlanta park in 1996. The FBI decides that the guard planted the bomb himself. Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell and Kathy Bates do super jobs in the totally exciting movie. Eastwood twisted the story to have reporter Olivia Wilde swap sex for a tip from FBI guy Jon Hamm. It wasn’t true and folks are really upset that Eastwood made up this indignity. And it’s an exciting movie….go anyways. 96 audience score on RT. 73 RT from critics. CLOSES THURSDAY JANUARY 9.

A HIDDEN LIFE. If and that’s a big IF you are a Terrence Malick fan you’ll love this masterpiece that he directed. Malick directed Paradise, Amazing Grace, The Tree of life, The Knight of Cups, The New World and other lengthy cinematic statements. Hidden Life is almost exact;ly 3 hours long. It’s totally beautiful and is about a family man who refuses to enter the German army during WWII. I tried to like it, but Malick takes so much screen time to get his complex internal messages out I lose contact. I predict that future generations will “discover” Malick’s films and give them the attention he’s not getting from us.

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. January 7 Kara Guzman and Stephen Baxter from Santa Cruz Local open the show. Then Tandy Beal and Jon Scoville talk about “Scoville Units”. Peter Klotz-Chamberlin from The Resource Center for Non Violence guests on Jan. 14. Michel Singher conductor of the Espressivo Orchestra talks about their concerts on Jan. 21. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

Sin Sisters Burlesque! Come check it out this weekend – always on the second Saturday of every month. This is a burlesque show that has graced the stage in Santa Cruz monthly for going on 9 years!

“2020”

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

“Begin anywhere.” – John Cage

“What the New Year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the New Year.” – Vern McLellan

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

Posted in Weekly Articles | Leave a comment

December 25, 2019 – January 8, 2020

Posted on December 26, 2019 by Bruce

Highlights this week:

BRATTON…No On Recall news, latest on Errett Church’s hope. GREENSITE… on the UCSC Graduate Students’ Strike. KROHN…City Council thanks, COLA and student strike, more No on Recall STEINBRUNER…Cabrillo College bond, Bob Bosso retires, water rates rise, water with added sewage, Valencia Road barn saved, Aptos Village project, Zach Friend from Mountain View? Campaign signs ready to spread. PATTON…When we can’t trust our Government. EAGAN…Deep Cover and Subconscious Comics. JENSEN…prepares for holidays. BRATTON…I critique Cats and A Hidden Life. UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE GUEST LINEUP. QUOTES… “New Years Eve”

MISSION AND WATER STREETS (aka Front & Pacific) 1957. That was the famed — and now demolished — McHugh & Bianchi Store, that carried about everything. Now it’s Bank of the West

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

Russell Brutsche’s “Council Members Games” song.

POSTMODERN JUKEBOX. They are coming to the Rio in February!! Get your tickets here

DATELINE December 23

RECALL AND ELECTIONS..

As the Sentinel said last week…

“Former city mayors Katherine Beiers and Don Lane, both historically aligned with the city’s politically progressive factions, are contenders for what would be the remaining nine months of Krohn’s seat. Former progressive mayor Tim Fitzmaurice will face off against recall organizers’ favorite and local teacher Renee Golder for the nearly three years remaining to Glover’s seat. Both Glover and Krohn are considered members of the sitting council’s progressive bloc”. Aside from being a Republican Renee Golder has voted No on M and is supported by Greg Larson, Hilary Bryant, David Terrazas, and Pam Comstock. If those names don’t define which sector of our community they represent you must be very new or uninvolved here. Tim Fitzmaurice on the other hand states on his site…” I have served on many commissions, Bus Board, Transportation, Farmers Market, Criminal Justice, City Schools, Arts Council, among others, and on the City Council (1998 to 2006) as Mayor in 2000-2001. I am married to Laurie Brooks. I have been a union officer, and coached youth soccer and baseball. I teach ethics and writing at UCSC and in state prison near Soledad. I garden, bake bread and write poetry”.

ERRETT CHURCH & PRESERVING HOPE.
Santa Cruz has seen many preservation battles lost to developers and greed, so this City Council decision is a great victory in preserving an historic landmark. Would this be another City Council display of who supports developers, money and to hell with community? Read on and see. I asked Sue Powell, one of the leaders of Friends of the Circle, to give us her view of the City Council’s action. She wrote… “Update on Community Efforts to Save the Circle Church On Tuesday, December 10, the Santa Cruz City Council voted 4-3 to direct staff to refer the developer-paid historic report for the 111 Errett Circle property to the City’s Historic Preservation Commission for review and to make a formal recommendation to the Council as to whether the site should be listed as a Local Historic Landmark. This is a major victory for community members that have been working for nearly a year to protect the Circle Church from demolition. Since last January, neighbors and friends have gathered over 1000 signatures and have addressed the City Council during Oral Communications many times about our concerns. We have also made presentations to the Historic Preservation Commission, and listened to Commissioners state that they wanted to review the developers’ consultant historic report at a public meeting. They are interested in the historic significance of the site and want to advise the City Council about the adequacy of the historic report. In response to community and HPC concerns, Councilmembers Chris Krohn, Drew Glover, and Sandy Brown requested that an item be placed on the City Council Agenda to refer the issue to the HPC. They submitted an Agenda Report to the Mayor, and the item was placed on the Agenda for December 10. Speakers in favor of the Agenda item included representatives from Friends of the Circles, Karolyn Ronzano and Jennifer Smith from Circles Women’s Coalition, Candace Brown from Save Santa Cruz, and Bruce Thomas from Dufour Neighbors. Santa Cruz City Council Members Chris Krohn, Drew Glover, Sandy Brown, and Justin Cummings voted in favor of the item.

We expect that the item will be on the Agenda for the Historic Preservation Commission on Wednesday, January 15.”

December 23rd 2019

Let History Be a Guide

The current UCSC Graduate Students’ strike is a demand for a significant increase in pay for graduate students who work as Teaching Assistants (TA’s) for professors of undergraduate classes. The basis for their demand is that rents in Santa Cruz, whether on or off campus, have risen faster than have annual cost of living increases. Graduate students are quoted as saying they pay over 75% of their monthly paycheck in rent. This is not news in Santa Cruz. What is news is that graduate students are striking to pressure the UCSC administration to act to remedy the situation.

While such a strike is news it is not new. I helped organize a successful strike over rents at UCSC in 1978. It might encourage the current strikers to hear that story.

When we first moved into Family Student Housing (FSH) at UCSC in 1976 (the same housing complex the Administration wants to now bulldoze and build anew, albeit with fewer units, on the East Meadow) the monthly rent was $110. That is not a typo. That was the typical rent at the time for a two- bedroom apartment or house in town as well as on campus. Many rented for less. If I remember correctly, the monthly pay for a TA working 20 hours a week was about $800: a one to seven ratio of rents to paycheck.

Today, the rent for the same 2 bedroom apartment at FSH is $1,767 and the monthly pay for a graduate student working 20 hours a week as a TA is $2,364: a one to one and a third ratio of rents to paycheck. The imbalance is self-evident.

In 1977, the administration proposed raising the FSH rents from $110 a month to $145. We were stunned! Word spread quickly among the residents of the 199 apartments at FSH. We were a fairly tight community and some of us were activists. We had organized and raised funds to build a playground for the children of FSH and many of us belonged to radical groups of the time. We were not about to take a rent increase lying down.

A core group met and after much discussion (decision by consensus was the norm at the time) we decided to assess if the majority of residents would be willing to withhold rents as a protest. They were. Over 90 per cent agreed to put their monthly rent into a collective bank account and withhold paying UCSC until our demand for no rent increase was met. (We also demanded to take over the budget for FSH, which was met and proved to be far more difficult in practice but that’s another story.)

After delivering news of our rent strike to the administration, we asked for a meeting with Chancellor Robert Sinsheimer. Since many of us were spouses of graduate students and with young children, it was decided that a small group with toddlers in tow might illuminate for the Chancellor that our concerns were real.

We decided on an approach that was valid and persuasive: that UCSC was no different from a factory town in that it controlled both wages and housing costs. Given that analogy, if UCSC wanted to raise rents it should also raise wages. Whether this was a convincing argument or whether the Chancellor was eager to usher us and the kids out or both, his decision was that there would be no rent increase for FSH. And most importantly, that FSH would be taken out of the formula whereby new campus housing cost debts were (and are) spread across all current students, the major driver of rent increases on campus and by extension off-campus and an inevitable result of UCSC growth.

Clearly rents have risen at FSH since that time and institutional memory has erased our successful strike. However I believe FSH is still exempt from the new housing debt formula and $1,767 a month for a 2- bedroom apartment is low by current Santa Cruz and UCSC standards. That is not the point. The only relevant point is the rent to pay ratio and by that metric, a significant pay increase for TA’s is more than warranted.

***********************************************************************************
Correcting the record: I ended last week’s column with a paragraph on the Sierra Club’s ballot for election to the local Executive Committee. I critiqued a flyer being circulated and passed out at a Sierra Club event, which proclaimed the three male candidates as the only ones serious about the climate crisis and by inference, demeaning the two female incumbents. This was not fair. My mistake was assuming the male candidates were distributing the flyer at the event when in fact it was their supporters from FORT (Friends Of the Rail Trail) who were the distributors. That one of the male candidates endorsed the flyer may have led me to make an incorrect assumption. My other mistake was assuming this objectionable flyer was also the campaign mailer the slate of three male candidates sent to all members. The mailer, which arrived after my writing the piece, is not the flyer and is not objectionable. I apologize for these mistakes.

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.

December 23

LAST COLUMN OF THE YEAR.
There is so much to be thankful for my friends. My family, a roof over our head, a great community to live in, and of course great people active in the political life of this town. Yes, getting beyond the recall and all that innuendo surrounding it is something, but it pales in comparison to all of the wonderful community members who have stepped up these past months and continue to support the Brand New City Council majority, which took two elections to create. And of course, y’all know it will take winning two more elections–2020 and 2022–to maintain the majority and create some real balance in advocating for the needs of this community. When I write balance, I mean bringing the issues of renters, students, neighborhoods, and local business owners to city hall and implementing policies that support their needs and reflect a fair and transparent local government. Right now, our city seems locked in struggle over Santa Cruz values and who gets to live here. The question before us in the electoral arena is how is the city council going to ensure this is a community that is open, just, and caring, which are all values that made many of us want to live here in the first place.

Cola4All
There’s a minor revolution going on up on the UCSC Hill. Graduate students are on “grade strike” and asking everyone not to cross the “cyber” picket line. Graduate students, over 500, have signed onto a pledge not to turn in their final grades–they of course do a lot of the teaching at UCSC in case you are wondering–until they receive a cost of living increase. The university administration claims the grad union signed a contract and they need to abide by it. Grad students are affiliated with UAW Local 2865. When their current contract was first approved, over 80% of UCSC’s grad students voted no, simply because it costs so much more to live in Santa Cruz than say Riverside or Merced. They are calling this a “wildcat” strike and withholding their labor until a cost of living increase is approved by the UC Regents based in Oakland. The Cola4All Campaign being waged also includes university staff and that is a smart move on the part of grad students so as not to alienate all underpaid workers on campus. Gp here for more information about the strike.

Letter in Support of a COLA for All
The following is a letter of support that I wrote to graduate students and was also endorsed by Councilmember Sandy Brown and Mayor Justin Cummings last Tuesday, the deadline for submitting grades. That deadline came and went and grad students are still on strike as far as I am aware as BrattonOnline.com goes to press.

Dear Graduate Students,

I bring you greetings and support from Mayor Justin Cummings and Councilmember Sandy Brown. All three of us have been graduate students, two of us here at UCSC, but being a graduate student now in Santa Cruz has never been more difficult. We acknowledge that, we support graduate students, and we support your campaign for a COLA4ALL!

In a recent letter to the campus community, EVC Kletzer wrote that the campus administration is “continuing to develop solutions…in the face of the severe housing crisis.” It is critical that she share those “solutions” with us and the timeline for implementation. The problem we face is that there is not only a housing shortage in Santa Cruz, but there are also some landlords who are charging too much, including the University. The rent-burden solution for students has to begin with the University. Graduate students along with UCSC staff are facing an extreme rent-burden and the City Council stands ready to work with UCSC to make housing more affordable.

We—Mayor Justin Cummings and councilmembers Sandy Brown and Chris Krohn–believe it is critical that the UCSC administration sit down with graduate student representatives and begin mediating this crisis as soon as possible. As we all said on the campaign trail, “not all housing is equal” and there is not a “housing” crisis in Santa Cruz, there is an AFFORDABLE housing crisis. We urge the administration to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Secondly, we need the UCSC administration to take a longer view and consider drastically lowering dorm fees. For example, an email just went out from the Summer Session office advertising dorm fees at HALF-off for summer session students. If you can do it for summer session students you can do it for all students.

As city councilmembers, we stand with over 500 graduate students and 400 faculty members in demanding an immediate resolution to this matter. We support the COLA4ALL campaign. As elected officials wanting to see the best outcome for all, we support a COLA increase and a speedy resolution to this matter. If you would like to call on the auspices of the Mayor and City Council we stand ready to assist in any mediation effort as the resolution to this issue moves forward.

Best,

Chris Krohn
Sandy Brown
Justin Cummings

No Recall Campaign Rolls
Thirty community members showed up last week to walk precincts, organize, make phone calls, and get the No Recall campaign off the ground. The past two weekends Santa Cruz4Bernie has been out canvassing and supporting Bernie Sanders for President, No Recall, Annrae Angel for Judge and Adam Scow for US Representative. It is comforting, consoling, and a real treat to be among active and passionate people who want to change the direction of their local and federal government.

Here is some information about the No Recall Campaign:

We’ve been raising money, but the shortened timeline of this election makes it even more difficult to get the word out before February 3rd when vote by mail ballots go out, even though Election Day is March 3rd.

Please click here to donate

What are we spending money on?

Filing fees and ballot statement—$1650.
Two Mailings—$10-$15,000 each
Yard signs—$2000
Campaign walking pieces—$2000
Campaign Coordinator–$2000

As you can see, there is no fat in this budget. We’re hoping to do a couple more walks even though the holidays are upon us. There’s no other choice. You are welcome to join us. You can sign up here

It would be great if you could go online now and send in a donation today, so we can get the NO RECALL message out to a wider audience.

StopSantaCruzRecalls.org/donate/

Or, you can do it the old-fashioned way too, here’s the mailing address.

Checks can be made out to:

Committee to Stop the Recalls of Councilmembers Glover & Krohn
P.O. Box 839
Santa Cruz CA 95061

FPPC ID # 1419490

As we approach the New Year, let us reflect on the values Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez puts forward every day. I repeat her tweet from July 16:

Reminder of what people are calling the “radical, extreme-left agenda”:

Medicare for All
A Living Wage & Labor Rights
K-16 schooling, aka Public Colleges
100% Renewable Energy
Fixing the pipes in Flint
Not Hurting Immigrants
Holding Wall Street Accountable

Aren’t these Santa Cruz Values too?

(Chris Krohn  is a father, writer, activist, and was on the Santa Cruz City Councilmember from 1998-2002. Krohn was Mayor in 2001-2002. He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 14 years. He was elected the the city council again in November of 2016, after his kids went off to college. His current term ends in 2020.
Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

December 23

TAXES, TAXES, TAXES…
Yet another tax for Cabrillo College will be on our ballots in March, 2020. Measure R would ask you to approve a third bond for Cabrillo College…before we even have the other two paid off. This proposed $274 Million debt would last for 30 years…wow. The existing budget allows only 0.37% for maintenance, yet the College claims this new bond is required for critical maintenance projects.

It would spend $23 Million to buy land in Watsonville to build a new training center for law enforcement and firefighters. Why expand in Watsonville when the Aptos Campus is available due to current and projected declining enrollment?

Did you know that parts of Monterey and San Benito Counties are included in the Cabrillo College Assessment boundary? However, I find it odd that Cabrillo College cannot provide me with an accurate map showing names of roads or boundary delineation. I will most likely have to consult with the County Assessors.

How many more taxes and tax increases can the people be expected to burden when it is already a struggle for many to survive?

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT HONORS RETIRING COUNSEL BOB BOSSO’S 50 YEARS
The District Board presented Mr. Bob Bosso a resolution last week to honor his 50 years of legal expertise and defending the District’s legal interests. That is a notable accomplishment. Although I have not enjoyed the court room battles waged by Mr. Bosso against my legal demands that the District simply conduct full environmental analysis of the surface water transfer agreements with the City, and other major violations, I have come to appreciate that he is much better with connecting on a human level than the Best, Best & Krieger counsel who flies up from Riverside. The District ratepayers have written him a monthly check for $8,000 for his services for a long time. I wish Mr. Bosso well.

The District has hired Best, Best & Krieger to take his place. That firm now sends two attorneys who attend the Board meetings, driving from Walnut Creek.

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT RATES WILL INCREASE AGAIN IN JANUARY, 2020
If you are a District ratepayer, watch out for yet another rate increase that will pop out on your February, 2020 bill. This is the second of five years that you will pay a 9% increase for water, and even more than that if your household uses more than 5.99 units of water. THIS IS HURTING FAMILIES AND IS UNFAIR. At last week’s meeting, a couple of rate payers testified they have been careful to conserve water, but have multiple people living in the house. They asked the Board to reconsider the rate increases and be fair.

Later in the meeting, after the ratepayers had left, Chairman Bruce Daniels scoffed that people who are getting these big bills just use too much water.

Write the Board with your thoughts: Soquel Creek Water District Board bod@soquelcreekwater.org and copy Emma Olin emmao@soquelcreekwater.org Ask for a written response…they never respond, but do ask. Maybe the League of Special Districts who keeps handing out the Transparency Awards will take notice.

WATER TRANSFER VOLUME THROTTLED BACK BUT EXPANDING TO SECOND SERVICE AREA IN MID-COUNTY
Engineer Director Taj Dufour told the Soquel Creek Water District that the water transfers have begun, but the initial transfer amount at the inter-tie connection linking the District’s system with the City’s was letting too much water in too quickly. The City Water Dept. staff asked the District to throttle the transfer rate back a bit, but the plan is still to send the water to Service Areas 1 and 2, and allow the District’s wells to rest. You can listen to this explanation beginning at minute 46:03 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDuMNOgYFuY&list=PLo9N9AsVOVvSoD4ukIIU2-1n-SpSLmwFt&index=1

Write a letter to the Board to support this low-energy demanding regional water management project that will allow groundwater levels to rise naturally and not inject pharmaceuticals into our drinking water.

NOTICE OF APPEAL FILED

Last week, I filed the Notice of Appeal regarding Judge Schmal’s Order to Deny Petition for Writ of Mandate against Soquel Creek Water District for the un-necessary, expensive and environmentally-degrading project to inject millions of gallons of treated sewage into the drinking water supply of the MidCounty area. I also filed a Motion to strike the nearly $2,400 the District wants me to pay for costs that I think are not reasonable or necessary, and certainly not due them. I am also filing a Motion to disqualify presiding Appellate Division Judge Tim Volkmann, former law partner of Judge Schmal. The Motion to Strike Costs will be heard on February 7, 2020 by Judge Schmal. The appeal for the Denial of the Writ will be heard at a future date under a new case #19AP00031 by the Appellate Division, a tribunal of three.

WHY DID THE COUNTY STOP HAVING ENVIRONMENTAL COORDINATOR PUBLIC HEARINGS?
I stumbled upon archived meeting minutes and agendas of the County Environmental Coordinator on the Planning Dept. website. There were, until 2014, regular hearings and postings regarding environmental reviews of various projects throughout the County. Take a look

It is interesting to note that until 2014, there are good minutes provided, with recommendations that some projects receive further environmental review, and go before various Commissions. That changed in 2014, when there are only agendas posted. The website ends, with nothing shown for 2015 and forward. The minutes provide detail about the Environmental Coordinator reviewing “clean-up language” for the County Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance to allow the likes of the Aptos Village Project, and the County Housing Element on November 3, 2009. Note that the Aptos Village Plan was reviewed on Saturday, November 21, 2009, with recommendations by planner Todd Sexauer that the design replace the Aptos Village Community Design Framework. I think it would be a good idea to bring this staff work back to the public for transparency and better review. It seems like now, all projects are categorically “CEQA EXEMPT”. Write Planning Director Kathy Molloy and ask why this change happened at the end of 2014, and whether it could be re-instated. Kathy Molloy kathy.molloy@santacruzcounty.us

GOOD NEWS FOR THE HISTORIC BARN ON VALENCIA ROAD
Last week, I wrote about my concern for the historic barn at 1400 Valencia Road in Aptos, and the lovely yellow house tucked in the historic apple orchard, once owned by Frederick Hihn. I attended the County Zoning Administrative hearing last Friday for the project and spoke in defense of preserving /protecting the barn. The project was approved without any consideration of my request that construction netting be placed around the barn to protect it from errant construction crews and equipment. Afterward, outside in the hallway, the owners assured me they appreciate historic and environmental preservation and will protect the barn. They have leased the orchard to a local apple farmer who will keep it in production. I think that is all good news. Notably, the owners are related to Al Gore.

WILL SEASCAPE RESIDENTS HAVE TO PAY MORE FOR CLEAN STREETS AND BEACHES?
I recently learned that since 1965, residents in Seascape pay a fee collected with their property taxes to patrol beaches, pick up litter on the beaches, maintain beach access, sweep the streets, and maintain their landscaped medians. Assessments are made via County Service Area (CSA) 3, and assessments range from $50 to $400. The rates were last increased n 1996. Now, the County Dept. of Public Works wants more money, and states no money will be used to do this outside of the CSA 3 revenues. In June, 2019, the Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO) reviewed the function and efficiency of CSA 3. Here is a link to that report

It is interesting that when the CSA was formed, road lighting was not included in the description of purpose, yet on page 5, the map of the assessment area is titled “Aptos/Seascape Road Lighting Maintenance”. Make sure you look at page 9, where the revenues and expenses are first reported for 2003/2004, then nothing at all is reported again until ten years later, and the financial picture starts to go downhill. The numbers just make no sense, and there is no documentation to verify anything.

I understand there may be a community meeting about this on January 6, 2020, that has been posted on NextDoor, for those who participate in that. The LAFCO Report recommends either cutting services or increasing taxes. What do you think the County will pressure the people to accept? If I lived in that area, I would file a Public Records Act request for any and all contracts, revenues, receipts, reports, audits, and correspondence for CSA 3 from July 1, 2003 to present date. Public Works should have that information for you, and if it is sent electronically, it will cost you nothing to obtain.

Elsa Aguilar elsa.aguilar@santacruzcounty.us is the staff contact for all County Service Areas.

APTOS VILLAGE TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT PROJECT GOES TO BID

You might want to see what this $2.5 Million County Public Works project involves:

Project Name:	Aptos Village Improvements Phase 2B
Project Type:	Engineering/Civil
Ownership:	Public
Project City, State:	Aptos, California
Engineer’s Estimated Cost:	$2,511,297
Pre-Qualification for Bidders:	Not Required
Project Contact:	Tim Nguyen County of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works 701 Ocean Street Room 410 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Tel:(831) 454-2371 Fax:(831) 454-2385 tim.nguyen@santacruzcounty.us
Bid Due Date:	01/23/20
Bid Due Time:	2:00 PM
Project Duration:	100 Work Days
Bid Bond Percentage:	10%
Cost of Printed Plans & Specs:	$140.00
Project Description:	This project involves the construction a new traffic signal at the Soquel Drive and Aptos Creek Road intersection, Railroad Crossing Warning System, video detection system at the Spreckels Drive intersection, signal upgrades and new fiber optic improvements along Soquel Drive at the State Park Drive, Aptos Rancho Road, Spreckels Drive, Aptos Creek Road, and Trout Gulch Road intersections, curb, gutter, and sidewalk improvements, new storm drainage facilities, asphalt concrete overlay, thermoplastic striping, railroad track work, excavation, transportation, and disposal of contaminated soil.

What will this mean for the people who live in the area, and for those who travel through it? Wouldn’t it be great to have a town hall meeting with the public to discuss all that? Contact Director of Public Works Matt Machado 454-2160 <matt.machado@santacruzcounty.us> and County Supervisor Zach Friend zach.friend@santacruzcounty.us, (831) 454-2200.

Here is the link to this and other projects out to bid: https://www.ebidboard.com/public/projects/index.asp?mbrguid=A15DE033-1DE6-4FD7-A33E-49E4DCDE243B

ZACH FRIEND IS A POLITICAL COMMENTATOR FROM MOUNTAIN VIEW?
Someone sent me this link sent out by County Supervisor Zach Friend, bragging about being on the Larry King show as a political commentator. The odd thing is that he claims to be from Mountain View, and never states that he is a County Supervisor. Hmmm…climbing ladders is really all that he seems to care about. Take a look

SIGNS UP FOR SUPERVISOR
The yard signs for my campaign for Second District County Supervisor are in and look great! Please contact me if you would like one or more. Many thanks to all of you who wrote and asked for one in your yard. Becky Steinbruner vote4beckysteinbruner@gmail.com or phone 831-685-2915.

I AIM TO WORK HARD AS YOUR PUBLIC SERVANT AND VOICE OF REASON

My campaign website is under construction, but in a nutshell, here is why I am running for County Supervisor in the Second District. Above all, I think people deserve a choice at the ballot box. It is never a healthy situation for democracy when questionable elected representatives are unopposed.

The people in the Second District deserve an elected representative who will respond to their concerns. The incumbent usually does not answer e-mails or phone calls, unless you are someone who will help him climb his political ladder to higher places. The rural residents in particular have suffered from lack of representation and responsive public service. I will work hard to change that.
County Fire and emergency response to the rural areas must be funded from Prop. 172 money that the County receives annually. Last year, that was $18 million from this permanent statewide half-cent sales tax to help fund emergency response and public safety. The County Board of Supervisors refuses to give any to fund County Fire protection. Instead, the rural property owners are currently being asked for a hefty benefit assessment levy. I feel that protecting the rural areas will also protect the urban interface areas because wildland fire can blow right into the urban areas if conditions are right. All you have to do is look at what happened in the Santa Rosa and Chico areas during those conflagrations. Protecting the rural areas also protects the natural beauty and habitats in the County, and also our watersheds. utilities and communications infrastructure that we all rely upon.
County road repairs are woefully behind schedule. That needs to change. Storm repairs are just happening now on Eureka Canyon Road from damages in 2011. Some of the 2016-17 winter repairs may not get funded because the work to get them ready for bid has taken so long, even though the County hired five outside engineering contractors for $25 million to expedite the work, so FEMA and the State Highway Administration may no longer fund the repairs. I think the Dept. of Public Works needs to be held accountable, and to offer incentives to the staff who get things done efficiently and well.
I would work to negotiate benefit reductions for top level management and apply the savings to the looming CalPERS unfunded benefit debt due to hit in 2020/2021. County Administrative Officer (CAO) Carlos Palacios has warned the Board that the budget deficit could reach $9 million-$15 Million.
The Grand Jury needs to have more teeth to actually work with the District Attorney to force actions that would remediate the problems brought forth by the investigations. I would work to make that happen.
I would work to re-establish the Building and Fire Code Appeals Board, which was abolished by the County Administrative Officer Susan Mauriello, and handed to the Board of Supervisors, who are not experts in the field.
I would reduce appeal fees in general for matters contested by the public. Currently, one must pay $1200 to appeal a Zoning Administrative matter to the Planning Commission. If the matter is to go before the Board of Supervisors, one must pay $1800. The Board always refuses to even take jurisdiction over matters brought before them, in essence, rubber-stamping support for whatever has taken place against the appellant. In my experience, the Board does not even read the materials presented to them, never asks questions, and just does not care.
I would work to establish a staking and flagging ordinance in this county so that when a building permit is in the works, the applicant must put up flagging to show the dimensions of the proposed building. Monterey County requires this, and I think we should, too, in order to let people know what is being proposed for their neighborhoods and not have to rely on plan drawings that are difficult to interpret. This would help communities get involved earlier in the planning process for projects that would affect them.
I would work hard to get funding for the pedestrian/ bicycle over passes in Aptos (Mar Vista) and for the Pajaro Valley High School students to get built. Both of these have been promised for nearly decades, but little action to move them forward. The Mar Vista overpass should be closer to Cabrillo College and Mar Vista School for student safety.
I would work to support building a trail along the rail corridor without disturbing the contaminated soils. I support leaving the rail open as an option for public transportation, whether with a hydrogen fuel cell technology train, or electric carts, with a strong focus on linking the Watsonville residents with a cost-efficient and practical alternative to a bus system that is stuck in congested traffic and provides no service on holidays.
I would like to consider the possibility of re-tooling the County General Plan, which is still in process of being updated, to include clusters of denser affordable housing along the rail corridor, to encourage and support possible rail uses in the future.
I would work to require County building codes to include double plumbing and water recirculation features to reduce water use. I would support rainwater catchment systems for landscape uses, and stormwater recharge features when soils support percolation rather than sending polluted water from streets and parking lots to local creeks.
I would add a Youth in Government Commission, with representatives of local high schools and Cabrillo College serving as liaisons with the Board.
I would work to establish the Mills Act in the County to provide owners of historically-significant properties to preserve and maintain them, rather than demolish them, and to receive tax reductions for doing so.
I would work to amend the County Significant Tree Ordinance to protect the historic trees that are important in our communities and that help sequester carbon and provide habitat for wildlife. I would work to re-forest County-owned areas, such as the monolith at 701 Ocean Street Government Building where all the mature trees were cut down mysteriously and there is no plan to replant them.
I would allow free parking at the County Government Building for the public doing business. I would work to build a secure parking structure for County staff who work in the court and judicial system and currently face physical threats when accessing the government buildings.
I would hold regular public town hall meetings and constituent meetings at locations and hours that would encourage people to attend and participate in local government. Despite many people asking for a public town hall meeting regarding the Aptos Village Traffic Improvement Project, the incumbent has refused to hold any such meeting. Now, the Public Works Dept. has issued a call for bids on the $2.5 million project for the second traffic light at Aptos Creek Road and pave the way for the Aptos Village Project’s Phase 2 subdivision without any public input whatsoever.
I would again allow members of the public to be able to pull items from the Board’s Consent Agenda and place them on the Regular Agenda for better public discussion. I would uphold the spirit of the Brown Act and make sure that people who address the Board at meetings are acknowledged and their concerns addressed /clarified.
I would publish a monthly newsletter to keep constituents apprised of events and public hearings, with links to information. I would try to establish a weekly radio program for call-in discussions and brain-storming solutions to local issues.
I would be honored to work hard as a public servant, with no interest in climbing political ladders to higher places. I would donate a significant portion of my salary every year to public charity and student scholarships. I would recommend to the Board that all Supervisors take a pay reduction, but I realistically doubt that would ever fly.

YOU CAN SERVE, TOO
There are many commissions in the County government that need to have people who care and are willing to serve as a liaison between the public and make recommendations to the Board and staff. Take a look at this long list of commissions, and consider applying with your Supervisor for a position on one of them!

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. ATTEND A PUBLIC MEETING. THANK A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE WHO IS DOING A GOOD JOB. Cheers, and Season’s Greetings to All, 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. She’s running again for Second District County Supervisor.
Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

December 22
#356 / When You Can’t Trust The U.S. Government

The Wall Street Journal is, I think, a “go-to” source of information for the business class. I don’t qualify in that category, but I read The Wall Street Journal, too. On Friday, November 29, 2019, The Journal ran an article titled, “Boeing’s Next Jet Faces Scrutiny.” I think that the article is, or should be, instructive for American business, which has celebrated, for the most part, the fact that the United States government is increasingly ready to accept business claims about product safety without independently verifying their veracity.

Take Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane as a prime example. The Federal Aviation Administration “delegated” safety checks of the airplane to the manufacturer, which sped the plane into service without additional pilot training, and with what turned out to be a massively defective software system that helped crash two of the planes, killing hundreds of people.

“My bad” Boeing has now admitted.

Well, it turns out that other nations have relied upon the integrity of the FAA, and have heretofore assumed that if the FAA has certified a plane as safe, then the plane is, in fact, safe. That reliance on the United States’ regulatory process has significantly benefitted Boeing.

No more!

If I were a business person in the United States, I would take a lesson from this recent article, and realize that when foreign nations can’t trust the United States government (which more and more, under the current administration, is removing or weakening regulatory reviews of all kinds) the end result, in a global economy, is not “good,” but “bad,” for American business.

I, for one, don’t trust Boeing, period. And, of course, I now don’t trust the FAA, either, having learned that the FAA thinks it is just fine to delegate its responsibilities to the corporations that the FAA is supposed to regulate. I guess I am now going to have to rely on foreign government airplane safety reviews, instead of safety reviews by our own government. And I don’t trust those other governments very much, either. Is the fact that the world can no longer trust the integrity of the United States government good for United States corporations?

I doubt it.

Just a thought for all those corporate types – and all their lobbyists, in every industry, seeking to weaken governmental regulatory reviews!

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

EAGAN’S SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS. Scroll below for yet another Sub Con and a peek way inside our driving forces.

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

LISA JENSEN LINKS. . Lisa’s reviews are at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ).” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

CATS. Hard to believe that this insanity of a movie is from a book by T.S. Eliot. It’s even more difficult to acknowledge the amazing stage history of the musical. Judy Dench, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and dozens more stars wore whiskers, and danced and made fools of themselves, only for millions of dollars in salaries. Andrew Lloyd Webber himself refuses to talk about this flop. It got an 18 RT. As a play it has also been playing on stages around the world for 40 years!!! They spent $95 million dollars to make this movie. I wouldn’t see it if I were you. When D.B. and I saw it we were the only two people in the theatre!!!

A HIDDEN LIFE. If and that’s a big IF you are a Terrence Malick fan, you’ll love this masterpiece. Malick directed Paradise, Amazing Grace, The Tree of life, The Knight of Cups, The New World and other lengthy cinematic statements. Hidden Life is almost exactly 3 hours long. It’s totally beautiful, and about a family man who refuses to enter the German army during WWII. I tried to like it, but Malick takes so much screen time to get across his complex internal messages that I lose contact. I predict that future generations will “discover” Malick’s films, and give them the attention he’s not getting from us.

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. . I’m taking Christmas Eve (12/24) off from G’vine . New Years Eve (Dec. 31) has surprises as of this printing.. January 7 Kara Guzman and Stephen Baxter from Santa Cruz Local open the show. Then Tandy Beal and Jon Scoville talk about “Scoville Units”. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… https://www.radiofreeamerica.com/schedule/kzsc You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

If you survived Whamageddon (go ahead, google it), this is for you!

“New Years Eve”

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” Benjamin Franklin

“May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early! My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue, so that I triumph even when I fall!” Aleister Crowley,

“Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough”. Mark Twain

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

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

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March 4 – 10, 2020

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