PACIFIC AVENUE, SANTA CRUZ 1969-70. The photo is captioned The Mall Era. Note The Tea Cup, Tom Cahills, Hotel St. George and Zoccoli’s. You can also see the freshly widened sidewalk (i.e. freshly narrowed avenue). The St. George had the first elevator in Santa Cruz.                                              photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

DATELINE June 18, 2018

CITY COUNCIL ELECTION RUMORS. Like every year political Santa Cruzans wait, wonder, debate, ponder and eventually give up guessing on who’s going to run for our City Council. So far I’ve heard positive and solid promises directly from Justin Cummings and Drew Glover. We’ll wait and see. Filing dates for candidates begin July 16 and close August 10th in case you’re interested…and you should be.

UCSC AND THE RECENT STRIKE RESULTS. On my Universal Grapevine radio program June 12 UCSC Lecturer Maria Herrera and UCSC freshman and dining hall student service worker Alvaro Perez gave us a lot of background to the recent UC Campus wide strike. They talked about the frequent disdain that students have toward service workers. We talked about the lack of support the present students showed for the strikers. But we didn’t get to discuss the results of the strike. I asked Alvaro to send me his summary of what all the service workers at all the campuses won from their strike efforts. He sent… “There was no change from University strike. The UC agreed to adjust the price of benefits and pay the workers 12%-18% over 6 years. But what happened was the price of benefits increased and the workers were only paid 2% instead of the 3% the UC promised. Which is ironic because UC spent millions on extra police forces to maintain and control the strike. That was to make sure the strikes did  not harm the public or disturb the peace of the campus environment. The University could spend a couple of million extra on police rather than paying the workers”.

UCSC STUDENT VOTING. More than showing support for that strike UCSC students are also becoming less and less involved in caring about politics. Like recent miserable voting numbers for Santa Cruz citizens we see that there were 3500 students voting in 2016 and that it dropped down to 2300 in 2018. All this happening during the Trump regime we are enduring…what’s happening?

THE “NEW” LOS ANGELES. When I was living in Altadena (Pasadena) in the early 1950’s Los Angeles was a near circus. Having a couple of friends with open convertibles we could zip to Laguna Beach for a swim, race over to Long Beach for the amusement park, slowly crawl down Hollywood Boulevard to see sights…and I learned to drive on the Pasadena Freeway and in the Rose Bowl parking lot. Last week down there I stagnated in long highway jams, sweated in lines of cars stretching out of sight. You can’t get anywhere anytime in today’s Los Angeles. With just a few translations Santa Cruz is going through exactly the same transition.

BROWN MATERIAL ROAD. Last week I mentioned my curiosity about that road sign I saw on Route 46 heading to Victorville. Kind reader  Steve Premo sent this almost immediately …

“Your column got me thinking about Brown Material Road, which I pass by from time to time.  I’ve always wondered about that name, and just found an article that explains it.  It also explains Seventh Standard Road, which I’ve wondered about too. 

I won’t reveal it here….look it up, it’s funny…and true! 

June 18

NO MORE PARKING GARAGES!
Death of the Great American Parking Lot (and Garage)
We are in a pitched battle locally. Did you know parking spaces are in search of library books? Will meter attendants unite with public internet users inside one monstrous structure? Can sheltered automobiles really coexist alongside sheltered humans in a public space poised bombastically atop the former Farmer’s Market site? Victory? Or is a remodeled and revamped 1968, now odd-looking building, the way to live within our municipal financial constraints? The great library-garage debate that’s been raging in town for months (some say years) was in overdrive this week as the city council held a planned public study session to decide whether we continue down the fossil fuel path, OR just say NO to any more $40k parking spaces. Will it be settled this week, or will the tin can of a “public works” project be kicked down Cedar Street, take a left on Church, and land all the way back onto city hall’s drought-tolerant landscaping? (Note: BrattonOnline deadline is Monday at noon, so I will have more next week.)

Twelve very mature trees mark the spot! This is where the proposed “library-inside-a-garage-atop-the-Farmer’s-Market” may go if the community does not speak up. What about an alternate vision? Library bounded by a town plaza that could be a permanent home for the Farmer’s Market…and NO five-story parking structure…I’m sure you have a dream too…please share it!

E-Vehicle Flies in the Ointment
Parking bureaucrats froth at the mouth over monuments to the internal combustion engine (revenue$, revenue$, revenue$). Hell, they will even fully embrace electric cars if they could charge them to park! Funny thing was, since 2002 the city’s parking department could not fine electric vehicle owners who parked in city spaces because the council back then was trying to incentive e-vehicle use. That ended in 2016. I guess because Santa Cruz suffers from an e-vehicle glut? No, but it appears to be petty backlash by the city parking Czars who felt they were losing revenue. They lobbied hard to get the meter money back from the elitists who drive Nissan Leafs, Chevy Bolts, Kia Soules, and BMW i3s. These cars currently sell for between $21,000 and $35,000 after federal and state rebates. And please, don’t even get the parking apparatchiks started on those pricey Teslas.

Going Extinct: Parking Garages or 8-Track Tapes? Parking Garages or Crystal Sets?
“The bottom line: We’re going to need much less space to store cars. Some cities are gearing up to take advantage of the shift…Urban parking lots are dead or dying, and how we use the curb is changing,” said Rich Barone, vice president of transportation for the Regional Plan Association of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.” (Pew report, Dec. 12, 2017)

Environmentalists, the scourge of public works departments everywhere, are leading the charge and visioning a different kind of library project. “Library Sí”, they say, “Parking garage no!” There is a definite not-too-green aspect of building and maintaining a behemoth parking structure for 650-plus cars. Once built this garage also further eliminates impervious surfaces, produces toxic run-off, and will displace numerous trees on the site. The future is about how to park less cars downtown, and more about pedestrian amenities, how to create multiple nexus points between downtown and the San Lorenzo River, and finally where to place more trees and benches. Can we implement Traffic Demand Management (TDM) strategies now and not after the proposed garage becomes reality? Maybe we can use the desal issue as a model. Remember, our community far exceeded all conservation measures recommended by city staff and we avoided building a desalination plant. Can we get enough people not driving a car to downtown and actually forgo this $35-$40 million cement mistake?

New Vision?
Here’s an idea. Yes, Santa Cruz deserves a nice library, a monument to intellectual curiosity, civic virtue, and community vision. What about this: Sell the existing library site ($3-5 million?), take the $23 million in library bond money, and the additional $5 million to relocate the Farmer’s Market that’s being contemplated (that’s about $33 million), and build a library fronted by a long-desired town plaza. The plaza could then be the permanent home for the Farmer’s Market, and at the same time we could preserve all 12 trees on the site of the current Lincoln and Cedar Street parking lot. In fact, why not have a contest? It could be very exciting. Have architects and builders submit plans. Tell ’em they have $33 million to build it, and no more. Voila, no five-story garage, no monument to the internal combustion engine, and no large structure overwhelming the neighborhood, and the 12 mature trees would be preserved. This is such a wonderful time to be having this debate. Just sayin’! The report that the city council received recently has a staff recommendation to relieve businesses of fees they currently contribute so that the city can provide downtown parking. But monthly fees to park in the various city-owned garages would nearly double in cost, going from $38 to $75. I support this increase, but only if the increased revenue goes toward paying for bus passes, Uber-Jump bike fees, and occasional Lyft rides for all downtown city workers. Also, downtown businesses have to make good on bus passes for their employees too if they are to be relieved of paying “parking deficiency fees.” (P.S. BTW, the real cost of providing a downtown parking space per month is more like $105 per month.)

The Dirty, Not-so-little Secret
It is envisioned by Santa Cruz parking czars (no czarinas involved) that much of the new condo building planned for downtown would rely on this “library-garage” five-story scheme at Lincoln and Cedar. The market-rate developers would be relieved of having to build “sufficient” parking and instead, they would send their tenants to put their late-model cars to rest in the city-built parking structure. So, will there be a developer building fee that will off-set the parking garage construction costs? One has not been proposed yet.

Speech-ifying ON the Housing B.S. Report
On the night of this past June 12th, real estate interests and developer-types of all kinds came forward to extoll the market-rate housing recommendations in a report from the city council’s Housing Blueprint Subcommittee. Obviously, the recommendations were heavily influenced by this lobbying class through our own Santa Cruz Planning Department. Who could disagree with paving the way for hundreds more market-rate homes downtown? Me, for instance. The vote to approve was 5-1 with Councilmember Sandy Brown absent. I was the lone no-vote and before I voted I addressed the audience and the city council:

“Well, here I come as the unwelcome guest at the garden party.

“Doesn’t pencil out.” How often we’ve heard that line from developers. I for one believe all housing is not equal. The next city council will hopefully learn to say NO to developers who will not build inclusionary housing…because you know what? Market-rate housing does not currently “pencil out” for dishwashers, baristas, or even nurses. The next city council will hopefully learn how to say no to developers who want to pay in-lieu fees, or at least charge them a fee equal to the amount one of their units will be sold for. ($500k plus!) I take my hat off to this council for protecting housing by passing a rent freeze and just-cause eviction ordinance. But, I do not see either of those two accomplishments listed in this report in front of us tonight. I cannot support the removal of the owner-occupied requirements for ADUs. I cannot support the moving target of 10% or less inclusionary units proposed [in this report]. I cannot support a “Housing Academy” instead of an Affordable Housing Commission. The commission would at least be made up of residents [and not pedantic bureaucrats]. I cannot support a developer-heavy plan [that’s in front of us tonight] that will yield few affordable units for people who live in Santa Cruz right now. What I do support is a 25%-30% inclusionary [in every project]. I support getting up to speed and investing city resources in gaining affordable units. I support the creation of an affordable housing commission. I like looking at increasing the TOT (hotel tax) to build affordable housing. I support the idea of unbundling parking. I support the concepts here of placing housing near transit. I support involving the public more in housing decisions. Tonight, I am not so comfortable being this canary in the coal mine, but it seems to me if this plan goes forward y’all are throwing down a gauntlet and setting [up campaign issues) for the next election. So, I for one am looking forward to November. Thank you”.

New way of thinking…what if instead of lamenting the loss of two parking spaces, we look at the nine bikes parked here and think, that’s 7 people not occupying other spaces, or worse, driving around looking for parking…that’s the revolution we’re talking about.

If you don’t love Bernie, you really must admire his principles though in not endorsing his son, Levi for a congressional house seat. He believes in his son, but rejects political nepotism. Bernie said, “I don’t believe in dynastic politics. He’s on his own… I’m sure he’s gonna do very well…” (June 7) https://cnn.it/2JnR7jh #CuomoPrimeTime What a dad!

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) and Mayor (2001-2002). He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 12 years. He was elected last November to another 4-year term on the Santa Cruz City Council). Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Reminds us of the reality of housing and our libraryissue. See below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Ship Storm” 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.

MUNCHING WITH MOZART CONCERT. This free concert that happens every third Thursday at the endangered Main Library in downtown Santa Cruz is titled “A Gathering of Old Favorites” it features Lynn Kidder, piano. She’ll play

Sonata in C, K.159,  L.104  Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) 
Adagio sostenuto, from Sonata in c# minor. “Moonlight” Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Clair de Lune, from Suite Bergamasque      Claude Debussy (1862-1918)  
Traumerei, from Kinderszenen, op 15    Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Nocturne in Eb, op 9 #2     Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Etude in E, op 10 #3     Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) 
Allegro, from Sonata in D, K.576       Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) 
Ballade #1 in g, op 23      Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Prelude in g minor, op 23 #5        Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

That’s  Thursday, June 21st, 2018 from 12:10 – 12:50 at the Santa Cruz Public Library

Downtown Branch – Upstairs Meeting Room-and it’s free remember. Get there early.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “A single dad and his teenage daughter make music together in the winsome, upbeat Hearts Beat Loud, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). In more Beastly news, feast your eyes on the fabulous foil cover of my first hardcover copy of Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge. Compare it to the new audiobook cover (just out from Audible.com), and celebrate only one more month to publication with my Beast of the Month for June!” 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. June 19 has Lisa Robinson from the San Lorenzo Valley Museum and author  Jody BiergielCoclough describing their current exhibits and future plans. After Lisa, Julie Thayer will update us on the PG&E versus our trees battle.  Jane Mio discusses our river system and what’s needed to protect it first on June 26. She’s followed by Gillian Greensite talking about the many problems and issues she keeps track of and acts against…or for. Jumping to July 10, Lisa Jensen will be talking about her book “Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge” and her Bookshop book signing. Ellen Primack of The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music discusses it on July 17. July 24 has Dr. Larry DeGhetaldi CEO of Sutter Health Santa Cruz and Pres.of Palo Alto Medical Foundation of Santa Cruz talking about medical issues and developments. On August 7 Dr. Shawna Riddle of PAMF talks about staying healthy. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. TRAINS & RAILROADS

“Know how to travel from your town to a nearby town without a car, either by bus or by rail”. Marilyn vos Savant
“This is absolutely bizarre that we continue to subsidize highways beyond the gasoline tax, airlines, and we don’t subsidize, we don’t want to subsidize a national rail system that has environmental impact”. Joe Biden
“…what thrills me about trains is not their size or their equipment but the fact that they are moving, that they embody a connection between unseen places.” Marianne Wiggins
“Through the dark night chasing the morning light
That headlight streaming white through the night” Richard L. Ratliff

PACIFIC AVENUE Circa 1925. According to the Town Clock in its’ original position it looks about like 11:30 am. The St. George Hotel is on the left just above the electric trolley. Look at those lanes…enough room for two rows of parked cars, two sets of rail lines and lots of walking room in between. How smart was it to rip out those trolley lines?                                                    photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

DATELINE June 11, 2018

VACATION TRAVEL NOTES. Driving east on route 46 chugging behind trucks and such I’ve never missed seeing a large official  road sign stating “BROWN MATERIAL ROAD” off to the right. I’m assuming that it’s the result of a poor translation!! But it does produce a smile when you think of using it in such phrases as “Brown Material City Council” or “Brown Material President”. In addition to reading the L.A. Times each morning I read the Victorville Valley Daily Press. It’s a very right wing Republican paper as are most things in Victorville. The paper was happy to announce that the Adelanto (neighboring town) State prison was just completing a much larger facility that will strongly hold more than 2000 (two thousand)illegal immigrants. I probably learned more from ruminating over the statement printed every day from the newspaper’s editor. Read and think about it….”We believe that all men are equally endowed by the Creator, and not by a government, with the gifts of freedom, and that it is every man’s duty to God to preserve his own liberty and respect the liberty of others. Freedom is self-control, no more, no less.” The quote is repeated every day and is from R.C. Holles, an American Newspaper Publisher (1878-1970). For me that sums up just about all the differences between my beliefs and what’s coming out of Washington daily and crazily.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CULTURAL NEWS.  I read the L.A. Times daily for over a week while in Victorville. It is an unusual newspaper full of lengthy reports and I liked it much more than my daily San Francisco Chronicle. It said that Tom Hanks is doing Shakespeare’s Henry IV live on stage in L.A. It also said that Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum theatre troupe is quite alive and well in its same old site in Topanga Canyon.  Older Santa Cruzans will remember that it was The Theatricum Botanicum that opened the very first Shakespeare Santa Cruz Season in UCSC’s Quarry. Will Geer was a fine actor who was black listed by the House Un-American Committee. He was good friends with Pete Seegar, Woody Guthrie and Burl Ives.

RETURNING TO GOOD OLD SANTA CRUZ POLITICS. Santa Cruz Indivisible sent out an announcement saying…“ Santa Cruz had a 24.47% voter turnout for the Primary. That’s 37,295 out of 152,387 total Santa Cruz voters. California as a whole had about a 37% turn out. THIS IS SHOCKING but not surprising. Some districts, as reflected in the numbers above, had higher turnout than in 2014. We have a lot of work ahead to take back the House in November. We need people like you! One-on-one in-person canvassing is the most effective way to connect with voters and potential voters. There are also other ways to connect with voters through phone and text banking.  We need help from you to make this happen. Connect with Santa Cruz Indivisible at http://santacruzindivisible.org/signup  to figure out the best way to get involved!!!

John Aird, titular head of C.L.U.E. (Coalition for Limiting University Expansion) sent out a positive statement…”Wonderful to wake up to a huge headline in the Sentinel – “VOTERS SAY ‘NO’ TO UCSC GROWTH” – with an article that says that this should send a signal to UCSC and in fact the Regents themselves that Santa Cruz says “enough is enough”. The preliminary result shows that Measure U received an over 75% “Yes Vote”, a number that may indeed actually in fact go higher once the counting of thousands of more mail-in ballots has been counted in the next couple of weeks. Whatever the final tally turns out to be, it indicates to our City, County, and State Representatives the fight that’s expected of them to prevent further growth at any cost”.

June 4, 2018

GRADUATE STUDENT ORGANIZING, GOOGLE BUSES ON PACIFIC AVE. AND UBER BIKES.

Living the collective bargaining dream…Graduate students (right) at UC Santa Cruz bargain on wages and working conditions with the UC managerial class in the Humanities building on the UCSC campus.

Collective Bargaining: negotiation of wages and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees.

There it was, a site for sore eyes.  Recently, Graduate Students were sitting across the table in the Humanities building on the UCSC campus. I caught them in the act of bargaining over their wages and working conditions. OMG. It was a scene that looked pretty remote back in the early ’90’s when I was a member of the executive committee of the Graduate Students Employees Association (G-SEA).George Deukmejian was governor and Ronald Reagan had gutted the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) a decade before. Labor was reeling. All we were asking back then was to form a union and be able to negotiate with university higher-ups (higher in salary only). The United Autoworkers (UAW) took a chance and began expending major resources in an organizing effort because they saw graduate students as being a used and abused class of workers who, if the union was successful, would go forward in life as role models and spokespeople for the union effort. At the time, G-SEA was compiling complaints such as a grad student being coercedinto washing their professor’s car; unwanted sexual advances; grad student-written journal articles that the professor would take credit for; and absurdly large class section sizes that Teaching Assistants (TAs) had no power in negotiating over. But fast forward to this bargaining session. It was open to all grad students and bubbling with real and relevant questions: Why do TA’s at Rutgers (a public university in New Jersey) receive $2800 per month, while UCSC TA’s get a little over $1800? (It was also said that the University of Michigan and University of Washington both pay more.) What about the money the office of the president had squirreled away (a reported $175 million)? And what about the rampant rise of administrator positions and salaries in the face of stagnant of TA wages?

Call Out the Troops, That Will Take Care of the Great Unwashed Masses
Well, as you can imagine, these questions got to be a bit much for the 10-plus team of UC negotiators and the lead negotiator brought up the oft-used tactic of those wielding decision-making power: the-legal-occupancy-of-the-room-question. It’s proved to be a tried and true delaying, and annoying, tactic in the past on the part of management and those in power. The conversation went something like this:

UCSC Management: Only 47 people are allowed in this room. That’s the law.

UAW bargaining Team: Can we also hold to the fire codes in some of our classes and sections that are over-enrolled, and students are sitting on the floor and in aisles?

Four doors were quickly propped open, lots of room to leave now in case of a fire. But, it was clear to all present that a hazardous situation simply did not exist. In truth, I counted 86 in the room, mostly graduate students and UC negotiators, but there was actually space for up to 30 or 40 more bodies, seriously. Union bargainers asked for a larger room. UC managers said this was the only room they had. They continued with more questions until, lo and behold, the Fire Marshall arrived and ordered the room cleared of any participants in excess of the 47. (Who do you think called the Fire Marshall?) The students complied and got the number down to around 50, but clearly there was a bitter pall cast over the negotiations. But I suddenly thought there was no going back. The grad student union was here to stay! The testimonials that followed brought tears to the eyes of many: homeless students living in their cars or the forest or a friend’s couch; students using valuable research and study time to search for food in places like the food bank, Grey Bears, and the student food pantry; regretful students not having realized they would shell out 70% of their meager wage for rent in the out of control Santa Cruz rental market; and the lack of campus childcare is a significant issue for grad student parents. The collective bargaining continues. I will offer updates.

Google Buses on Pacific Avenue

ALL ABOARD! Getting on the Google/Amazon/Apple bus at the Transit Center on Pacific Avenue and headed over to Silicon Valley.

Truth be told, my daughter works for Google in New York City. She makes six figures. She lives with two other professionals who make six figure salaries as well. They live in a three-bedroom apartment in the East Village. They pay $4400 per month in rent. She walks the mile and a half each morning to Google’s sprawling campus located at 111 8th Avenue in Manhattan. She says she likes living in the city. Now, consider Santa Cruz and the Five55 Pacific’s 94-market-rate condo project that just opened. It’s located at the confluence of Front Street and Pacific Avenue. There’s a pool, a roof-top lounging space, and an outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven, but only “for those with the most discriminating tastes,” boasts their web site. Studios go for $2500 and one-bedrooms are $three grand$. What’s wrong with these two pictures? For starters, I don’t believe there are any three-bedroom apartments at Five55 Pacific Avenue thus making it more expensive than New York City’s East Village real estate. There are many six-figure jobs in NYC, there are not so many in Santa Cruz. The studio and one-bedroom configurations of Five55 Pacific insure that people will double and triple up in these apartments. It even states on their web site tenants are allowed to have three (!) in the one-bedroom apartments. So, where will these tenants come from? Eating at Zachary’s the other morning some friends and I spotted no less than four Google (Apple and Amazon too!) buses in less than an hour. They were making their way down Pacific to pick-up points where their six-figure passengers awaited. These large-ish salaried-class are making their bedrooms on this side of the hill because the current housing developer class, while not noticing the lack of affordable housing for locals, continues to chart a course of building for tech workers. The Downtown (Recovery) Plan will be discussed on the evenings of June 12th and June 19th, at 7pm. If you believe Santa Cruz should chart its own course without Google, Amazon, and Apple’s meddling then come out to these meetings and demand affordable housing now, not luxury tourist cells for the burgeoning high-tech class. Of course they want to live here, it is more livable in Santa Cruz than San Jose, but for how long? The city council needs your input. If these companies wish to locate to our industrial areas on the Westside, or Harvey West Park, pay taxes and have their employees bike or walk to work, then that is a different conversation, one we should have, one we ought to entertain, but on our community’s terms not Silicon Valley’s.

Do Uber’s Jump Bikes Offer SC Community Transportation Options?

Now, a little pushback on my BrattonOnline colleague, Gillian Greensite’s column a couple weeks back on the issue of Jump Bikes. I agree with Greensite that city officials should revisit currently planned bike station locations along West Cliff Drive. Resident voices should be heeded in making decisions like this. Is the issue, as Greensite points out, one of carbon-foot and health impacts versus visual blight and traffic safety concerns? I do not have a firm or fixed opinion yet on the great Jump Bike-Uber (alles!?) experiment now playing out on the streets of Surf City, but I do have some positive empirical results to report. I was in an unnamed cafe on Pacific Avenue the other day and late for a meeting. I was going to walk home and get my car when I laid my eyes on the “Red Alert” Jump Bike rack at Cooper and Pacific. I paused, checked the time. I had to be over at Swift and West Cliff in 15 minutes. I decided to jump on a bike. I covered the 2.39 miles in just under 12 minutes. I know this because of the app, and it costs me $1.00 according to the same app. On another occasion, I took the bike from city hall to a friend’s retirement party at the Seymour Center knowing I might have a drink or two and I could get a ride home. This time I would take a leisurely route along West Cliff Drive. I rode at times along the bike path, and because I know about neighbor’s concerns, I took to the street some of the time too. I covered the 4.77 miles in 31 minutes and paid $2.13. I was beginning to think that transportation might just be changing given the new “Red Alert” option. I don’t know, but I’m hopeful this will get more cars off the road, open up travel possibilities that weren’t there before, and I found that riding the Jump Bike was generally fun. I wasn’t sweating when I reached my destination and I had burned some calories and gotten exercise, just not excessively so. I can use my non-electric mountain bike when I’m wanting to really sweat. But, back to the neighbor concerns. They are real. We need to work out this bike program because while many have some anxiety, my experience is that most residents, including Ms. Greensite, want to support a bike-share program. I think we need to listen to neighbors and work out the kinks. Onward!

Violence and murder by the state is not a civilized act. We must abolish the death penalty. (June 2)

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) and Mayor (2001-2002). He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 12 years. He was elected last November to another 4-year term on the Santa Cruz City Council). Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

June 5, 2018

The picture above shows a photo taken during the construction of a new apartment complex located in the City of Santa Cruz. This new structure is actually a lot bigger than it appears here. The development is about twice as long as what is shown and contains ninety-four units. The developer calls it Five55. 

The development is located at 555 Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz (right where Pacific Avenue runs into Front Street), and this street address accounts for how the developer came up with the upscale name. The new apartments are being presented as “luxury living.” The photo below, from the news story reporting on this new development, shows the kind of glamour look that the developer is counting on to market his rental units.

As for the rental units themselves? Well, they are not exactly big, and they are certainly not “low rent.” The prices, at least, if not the actual apartments, are definitely found at the “luxury” level.  Here is some data from the news story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel: 

The monthly rent for a 440-square-foot studio: “$2,400 … and “about $2,800” a month for a 636-square-foot one-bedroom unit.

Apparently, the website for the development actually quotes higher prices. If you are thinking that a 440-square foot studio apartment is a bit small to qualify as “luxury” quarters, the developer’s spokesperson says “not to worry.”

“It feels bigger,” said Leah Boone, Redtree Partners’ project manager …  [And furthermore, said Boone], “nobody in Santa Cruz spends that much time indoors.”

Right! That’s it! Nobody actually spends much time indoors! In fact, it seems that lots of people are choosing to live on the streets!

So, who can afford to live at Five55? Let’s quote the Sentinel article again: “If you go by the longtime rule of thumb to pay no more than 30 percent of your income for housing, you’d have to earn $108,000 a year. We need to get on the bus to Google,” said Donna Musselman, a workplace consultant who lives in Santa Cruz. 

The average wage in Santa Cruz County is $50,440 a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while the average wage in Santa Clara County, home to tech giants Google, Facebook, and Apple, is $133,952 a year. The median pay at Facebook is over $240,000 a year. The Sentinel headline got it right: “Five55 complex offers 94 units at rates beyond reach of average wage earners.”

The Santa Cruz City Council eliminated a requirement that the new complex had to provide affordable, “inclusionary” units that average wage earners could afford. It’s clear that this development is not aimed at addressing the City’s affordable housing crisis. The housing is aimed at high-tech workers in the Silicon Valley, who don’t live here now, not our local workforce. John Burroughs, Lighthouse Bank chairman, says, “Must be a lot of people want to live here.”

Well, Duh! So, let’s build housing for all those upper-income people who would like to relocate to our community, instead of providing for our own local residents and their kids? Is that our plan?

In fact, the City of Santa Cruz doesn’t need “luxury living.” The City needs price-restricted units that will be permanently affordable to persons with average and below average incomes (as measured by the average income in Santa Cruz, not in the Silicon Valley).

Some people claim that “more housing” is the answer to the City’s affordable housing crisis. Just build more high-rise apartments and everything will get better. Prices will come down! Isn’t that what the “law” of supply and demand says will happen?

Well, based on what we’re seeing here, that isn’t the way it actually works. If you adhere to the “let’s just build a lot of market rate housing” view, why don’t you just hop on over to “Five55?” Maybe you can pick up one of those 636-square foot “luxury” models.  If you can afford $2,800 per month, that is!

Gary 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

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Another way to look at Coffee Shops…just below a few pages…

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. This week is a rerun, since we got out of sync with the comics. Back on track next week! 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: “Allow me to ponder the delicate art of uncoupling as I begin my new life without Art Boy, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Meanwhile, soak up the Aschbacher vibe at a tribute exhibit put up by the good folks at the Pajaro Valley Arts Gallery, and more details on the upcoming Celebration for James in August. Oh, and my Beast book gains another fan in the blogosphere!” 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. On June 12 Alvaro Perez  from Maria Herrara’s UCSC class will report on the UC campus wide Service Workers Strike. Then Lisa Sheridan and Robert Morgan talk about Soquel issues. June 19 has Lisa Robinson from the San Lorenzo Valley Museum describing their current exhibits and future plans. After Lisa, Julie Thayer will update us on the PG&E versus our trees battle.  Jane Mio discusses our river system and what’s needed to protect it first on June 26. Then Lisa Rose and Trink Praxel from Santa Cruz Indivisible talk about their upcoming event. Jumping to July 10, Lisa Jensen will be talking about her book “Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge” and her Bookshop book signing. July 24 has Dr. Larry DeGhetaldi CEO of Sutter Health Santa Cruz and Pres. of Palo Alto Medical Foundation of Santa Cruz talking about medical issues and developments.

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

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. “FATHERS DAY“

“The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, the second half by our children.” Clarence Darrow
“To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter”, Euripides
“It doesn’t matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was”, Anne Sexton
“Dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn’t teach me everything he knows”, Al Unser
“I gave my father $100 and said, “Buy yourself something that will make your life easier.” So he went out and bought a present for my mother.”  Rita Rudner.

“SCHOOL DEPARTMENT BUILDING BEING MOVED” (April 24, 1951) That’s the data on the back of the photo. It was taken  at Mission and Center Streets. It’s the Bank of The West corner now, if I’ve guessed right. Do note the two guys riding atop the building. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

DATELINE May 28, 2018

BI-ANNUAL HOLIDAY TIME. Once again, needing a break from the rigors and whims of the weekly BrattonOnline and my two weekly KZSC radio programs, I’m going to Victorville and Mar Vista (Los Angeles) for the next week and a half. SO…no BrattonOnline or my two radio show next week…and it’ll all be back the week of June 11th.

HOW TO VOTE ON TUESDAY JUNE 5TH. If you’ve read BrattonOnline more than once there’ll be no surprises in my urging, pleading, and at least trying to cajole you into voting for the best of everything and everybody. I did as much research as possible, and then I asked many of my most trusted friends and acquaintances who and how they are voting…or have voted. I voted last Thursday in person at the County Building. It was so crowded there that they let me vote by myself in the little Wedding Chapel room…which I never knew existed.

You might notice my not listing a vote for SANTA CRUZ COUNTY THIRD DISTRICT SUPERVISOR. Coonerty or Pleich. That’s because I have so many good, and not good points connected with both of them that my final vote was so full of doubt that I don’t want to talk about it.

TOURIST BOATS/SHIPS DOCKING IN SANTA CRUZ?  Pat Matejcek sent this very depressing and scary notice… “Leaders in Eureka are trying to make the tiny North Coast city a cruise ship destination. On Monday, they welcomed their first cruise ship to the bay in six years. Passengers were greeted with cider and live jazz music then departed on tours of the redwoods and the old town Victorians.  A “who’s-who” of Eureka politics sipped champagne with the captain. Here are some photo highlights.
// Lost Coast Outpost | Times-Standard

Read that issue of the Eureka Newspaper over carefully. Read the comments. Ms. Matejcek added. “the Eureka Mayor wanted the ships!!” Think for a minute (or much longer) how the Boardwalk/Seaside Company would profit from this. Think again about the “trolley” taking the tourists to Pacific Avenue and what ??? Taco Bell, Urban Outfitters, Starbucks, or Five Guys Burgers? What is even more scary is trying to bet how our current City Council would vote on tourist cruise ships docking here.

May 28, 2018

MAKING INROADS
Breaking News: Organizing Neighbors Works
This week I want to acknowledge a few of the people-initiated actions that led to some city hall power brokers having to change policy courses, rethink their priorities, and actually have to deal with the needs and wants of voters. We often dwell on the times that these same decision-makers failed to heed the people’s call to stop, and change course. The dreaded BearCat tank was one, for instance; rezoning of the Unity Temple church property from multi-family to hotel in order to make way for the Broadway Hyatt is another; and a lot of effort was put into obtaining some affordable units at two Swenson projects, the 94-condos at 555 Pacific and the 79-condo scheme at 1237 Pacific, but to no avail. That meant 173-units of housing in all and yet nothing was designated as affordable, at least not for ten years. But alas, there were other more recent political endeavors undertaken that have yielded some positive change.

Progressive Community Strikes Back
The Corridors Plan has been put on hold (shelved? maybe, maybe not) because of the work of the Branciforte Action Committee’s (BAC) relentless door-to-door, town hall, and telephone pole placard-style of campaigning. It was a grassroots campaign that halted some pretty onerous single-minded, profit-driven desires that saw developers in cahoots with city planners. Of course, this one ain’t over, but it has been significantly put on hold for a while. The current rent freeze now in effect in the city of Santa Cruz has led to countless rent increases NOT taking place. Of course, it may be short-lived until the results of the November election are in, but for now we need to declare a victory…because it is keeping some people in their homes right now.

The third success has been the extraordinary delay that’s taken place with the parking and planning department’s ill-advised scheme to stick the public library into the bottom of a five-story hunk of cement. To make the optics even more perilous, it happens to be planned for the site of the current farmer’s market in downtown Santa Cruz. The unremitting efforts of at least three local groups–Don’t Bury the Library, the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation, and the Santa Cruz Climate Action Network–has yielded a current checkmate with city hall and a rethinking of how best to use the $23 million from a bond measure passed to remodel and renovate the current downtown library. It must be said that the leadership of Jean Brocklebank, Rick Longinotti, and Pauline Seales, all seasoned veterans of past neighborhood organizing efforts, has led to significant delays in implementing this project. Back in December, the DLAC-–Downtown Library Advisory Committee–put forward a recommendation. The four choices arrived at by city staff seemed to leave no room for the creativity and energy that had been assembled within the DLAC. So, with their hands tied they went with staff’s recommendation to put the library inside the parking garage, but six months later their decision has not yet arrived onto any city council agenda, mostly because of the tenacious organizing done by the groups who seem to favor a pedestrian, alternative transportation, and smaller carbon footprint Santa Cruz future. It has left a city bureaucracy reeling and double-clutching for ways in which they can realize their dream of yet another downtown parking garage. Now fellow progressives, just stop and take a deep breath. Please consider these accomplishments for a moment. Then, reflect upon other past successes too like Lighthouse Field, No PG&E Nuclear Power plant in Davenport, Wilder Ranch, the Moore Creek Uplands, Wingspread, the Del Mar Theatre, the Tannery Arts project, and the Pogonip. That is some history. What a legacy to bequeath to your children and grandchildren! Keep it up because there’s still a lot more to do.

The Developers Stand at the Gates Once Again, Cha-chinging
Peter Douglas, the first Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission was fond of saying, “The coast is never saved, the coast is always being saved.” The same can be said of our Santa Cruz city resources. City councilmembers, when elected, might do well to stick with the medical profession’s credo, First, do no harm. We are elected to be informed stewards of a very special place, one that was special before we arrived and one that, if we do our jobs well, will continue to thrive and be a place where future generations will feel content that those who came before watched after this unique environment. Will future Santa Cruzans understand that we cared how much workers earned, fought for housing justice, racial equality, and ethical environmental stewardship? It is a daunting task, but one that can in fact be realized more locally by city councilmembers than by members of congress. Despite our major gains the developers and real estate interests are knocking once more at the Santa Cruz front door.

On June 12th, the city council’s evening session will be dedicated to discussing housing, pedestrian, and transportation plans for the downtown. Our “Downtown” is an area spanning Pacific and Front Street between Laurel and Soquel and abutting the San Lorenzo River. It’s important that the community shows up and makes its collective voice known. This is a very important part of our downtown that needs more eyes on it. Five hundred to 800 units of housing are contemplated for these streets, including a possible hotel at the corner of Soquel and Front. Will the developer Devcon be let off the hook in building the minimum 15% affordable units? Or, will the city council demand even more? Or, will the council let them off the hook and sign up for condos and rent them at market rate prices? It will go better if the public gets involved. Then, on June 19th, a week later, the 7 pm council discussion will center around parking downtown and how to use the $23 million in bond money to fix, remodel, or build an entirely new public library. Again, the council needs your input.

A Strange Decision
I couldn’t help but be mystified by the county Board of Supervisors decision to allow Nissan to build a car dealership off Soquel Avenue near 41st. This was one of those few blockbuster decisions that happen every decade. It seems to me it was a complete 180-degree reversal from the future many of us thought we were headed towards: alternative transportation, cutting greenhouse gases, and affordable housing now! Aside from the enormous amounts of tax revenue that cities and counties reap from these deals, I thought our county was different. I wanted to think that we were going towards a future not based in gasoline-powered pods, but supporting a more livable community, environmentally sustainable and one fundamentally opposed to more cars. Seems like this property could’ve been housing, which may have brought as much traffic as some Nissan supporters argued, but you would’ve had housing. Now we will get another temple to the automobile. This all makes very little sense.

Waste, the Final Frontier. This is where it all goes, the Dimeo Landfill located up just the coast from Santa Cruz. I toured the landfill with my daughter’s Environmental Science class. Leslie O’Malley the city’s Waste Reduction Coordinator emphasizes the 3 R’s, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and has added others: Repurpose, Refuse (the junk to begin with) and Re-acquaint (yourself with your old stuff). Being at the butt end of our society is both mind opening and mind blowing.

But being anti-Trump and anti-Republican is not enough. We need to continue our fight for a progressive agenda which will take on oligarchy, and improve the lives of working people throughout our country. (oligarchy, a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution)

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) and Mayor (2001-2002). He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 12 years. He was elected last November to another 4-year term on the Santa Cruz City Council).

May 25, 2018
#145 / It’s What You’re For

Pictured is Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Abrams is a Democrat, and she just won a primary contest against another “Stacey,” also a Democrat. The Nation calls Abrams’ victory “revolutionary.”

Joe Garofoli writes a column for the San Francisco Chronicle that he titles, “It’s All Political.” Garofoli’s column on Thursday, May 24th revealed that there was a “major Bay Area connection” behind Abrams’ success: 

Long before liberal pundits and MSNBC jumped on Abrams’ bandwagon, she was getting strategic help and money from a small crew of Bay Area political operatives and wealthy donors. She’s about to get $10 million more for the general election from that group, headed by San Franciscans Steve Phillips and his wife, Susan Sandler.

To them, Abrams represents what the Democratic Party should be doing to win back red states like Georgia as a way to take control of Congress and the presidency. 

The plan: Forget chasing working-class white voters who backed Donald Trump in 2016. Instead, appeal to a coalition that includes people of color, young voters and progressive whites. 

Or, as Abrams said on a 2017 episode of my “It’s All Political” podcast: Democrats need to spend less time convincing “Republicans to be Democrats instead of getting Democrats to be Democrats.”

Let me agree with Abrams on that strategy. Explaining to voters how bad Donald Trump is doesn’t win elections. Hillary Clinton tried it at the presidential level, and it clearly didn’t work. It won’t work for state or congressional campaigns, either. 

It is not who you’re against that will be persuasive; it’s what you’re for! 

Gary 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

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Scroll downward to check out DeCinzo’s views of our “trail users”.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See another of Eagan’s classic “Subconscious Comics” 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.
http://www.timeagan.com/?subconscious_comics

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “It’s no relation to my upcoming new novel, but the British movie, Beast, delivers dark, edgy thrills, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). Also, more tributes pour in for my beloved Art Boy, and stay tuned for details on how you (yes, you!) can help us stage his Life Celebration in August!” 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. The top 3 winners from the annual Bookshop Santa Cruz Short Story Contest read their works on May 29. I’ll be on vacation June 5 so KZSC’s own DJ Gata will take over for the full hour and play classical rock and her own unique musics. On June 12 Alvaro Perez  from Maria Pirata’s UCSC class will report on the UC Strike. Then Lisa Sheridan and Robert Morgan talk about Soquel issues. June 19 has Lisa Robinson from the San Lorenzo Valley Museum describing their current exhibits and future plans. After Lisa, Julie Thayer will update us on the PG&E versus our trees battle.  Jane Mio discusses our river system and what’s needed to protect it first on June 26. Then Lisa Rose and Trink Praxel from Santa Cruz Indivisible talk about their upcoming event. Jumping to July 10, Lisa Jensen will be talking about her book “Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge” and her Bookshop book signing. July 24 has Dr. Larry DeGhetaldi CEO of Sutter Health Santa Cruz and Pres.of Palo Alto Medical Foundation of Santa Cruz talking about medical issues and developments. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. “JUNE”
“Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January”, Hal Borland
“In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day.  No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.”   Aldo Leopold
“And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days” James Russell Lowell

PACIFIC AND CHURCH STREETS. January 1952 at 11:10 am. One of our busiest, major and most important downtown blocks. Leasks Department Store was here until they sold it in 1988 to Gottschalks. Gottschalks had it until the 1989 earthquake hit. Now it’s Urban Outfitters and Regal Cinema 9.                                                  photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

DATELINE May 21, 2018

UCSC STUDENTS DIDN’T SUPPORT THE UC-WIDE STRIKE.
Just when we think we can stereotype UCSC students, it turns out “about 175 student allies stood in solidarity with UC strikers”. This is according and quoted from City On A Hill Press, May 17. It goes on to say that less than 1% of the 19,000 UCSC students took it seriously, and “seemed to think it was a five day weekend”. Now the question is and will be how many will take the time to vote on June 5th? Santa Cruz politicians and organizations work hard to “get out the student vote”, and the student response and loyalty are very much unknown factors to predict. With the numerous issues the students are forced to live with — like financing, housing, class room and study space and transportation — it’s hard to blame them. Now’s a good time to guess, or even predict (or worry) whether this lack of support for their on-campus support workers signifies some real political shift.

NICKELODEON-DEL MAR SALE & LEGAL NEWS.
Once again good friend Joe Blackman keeps us up to date on our local Nickelodeon and Del Mar theatres being OR not being for sale. From the “Insider” website he sends clips such as…

“EXCLUSIVE: It’s very early in the process, but Byron Allen‘s Entertainment Studios is taking a look at Landmark Theatres which is on the sales block”. Still more, “Landmark Theatres spans 53 venues and 255 screens, many locations of which are comprised of leases. Seven years ago when Wagner/Cuban companies put the chain up for sale they were seeking an estimated $200M.” From The Hollywood reporter we have…yet another clip…Landmark Theatres is part of the Wagner/Cuban Companies, a vertically integrated group of media properties co-owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban that also includes theatrical and home entertainment distribution company Magnolia Pictures, production company 2929 Productions, and high definition networks AXS TV and HDNet Movies. If you still want more details..see the Landmark website.

In addition to their trying to sell the chain, they’ve also got legal problems…Again from The Reporter… “The legal action follows one that Landmark itself brought last year against Regal. Mark Cuban-owned Landmark Theatres is being accused of “hypocritical” conduct in an antitrust lawsuit filed on Wednesday by a group of independent community movie theaters who complain about being deprived of art films.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., federal court, alleges that Landmark is coercing agreements from film distributors. With operations in 22 major metropolises nationwide, Landmark is alleged to be using its nationwide market power to obtain exclusive licenses for specialty films.

The court action follows a lawsuit that Landmark itself brought in January 2016 against Regal Entertainment. In that case, Landmark similarly asserted that a bigger power had used its footprint to coerce film distributors like Sony, Lionsgate and Disney. The case, one of many over so-called “clearance” pacts in the movie industry, was settled in August 2016.

“Just as Landmark sought relief from Regal’s anticompetitive clearances with respect to Commercial Films (and succeeded), Plaintiffs seek relief from Landmark’s exploitation of its circuit power to demand and obtain clearances from distributors against Plaintiffs for Specialty Films,” states the newest complaint from West End Cinema, The Avalon Theatre Project, the Denver Film Society and Cinema Detroit.

I still think that some Santa Cruzan who knows our local Reed Hastings of Netflix should ask him to buy our two theatres so we can once again see so many great films we are missing. Now that The Obamas have signed a deal with Netflix, and we read that Netflix has 125 million subscribers worldwide, you’d think Reed H. could afford our two little classic theatres!!

GREY HAYES WRITES…I interviewed Ecologist Grey Hayes on my Universal Grapevine program last Tuesday (5/15) (you can hear it here) His news (to me) that the Homeless Gardens now take up nine (9) acres of the Pogonip Greenbelt property struck sharply. Especially when I/we realize and remember  all of the fighting that has gone on for decades to protect that Greenbelt. I asked Grey to write a Greenbelt piece for BrattonOnline. Here it is.

May 21, 2018
APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS ENDANGER AREA RESIDENTS
If there is a fire on Village Drive, Aptos/La Selva fire engines will not be able to access the road for response.  If the winds and conditions are red flag for high fire danger, a structure fire could quickly spread into the Aptos Creek Canyon, endangering the 350+ residents who have only Cathedral Drive for sole access, as well as Nisene Marks State Park visitors, and the Vienna Woods community across the canyon.  Does that worry you?  It should…

Last week, the Aptos Village Project developers closed off the through-road connecting Granite Way to Aptos Creek Road, an emergency evacuation route for the area residents.  Construction crews also re-graded the curve that is now the main ingress/egress for Village Drive residents, now forced to access their homes via Granite Way and Cathedral Drive, and raised the elevation of the road such that tree branches are low and will prevent fire engine access to Village Drive.  Also, the curve to Village Drive is extremely narrow (approximately 15′ across, effectively a one-lane access).  Granite Way is narrow at that end, flanked by SIX 3-story townhouses (all about 3000SF) with only a single car garage for occupant parking.  Does this too worry you?  It should…

A neighbor of mine who is active in local school affairs and I have been working with the Aptos/La Selva Fire District management for two years to address the potential safety hazards the fully-occupied Aptos Village Project will impose on area residents, school families and staff, and businesses.  Chief Jon Jones (now thankfully gone from his post) was not at all interested in discussing any issues with us.

Interim-Chief Ron Prince agreed to meet with us last fall, and did provide some interesting response to our concerns.  On December 19, 2017, he sent a message outlining response to issues of gridlock on Trout Gulch Road, fire evacuation routes being eliminated for Aptos Hills residents, and the issue of creating a new dead end road (violating County Code) by closing the Granite Way thoroughfare to Aptos Creek Road.  He stated there would be a hammerhead turnout included in the road design at the end of Granite Way leading to Village Drive to allow fire engine access.  THERE IS NO HAMMERHEAD TURNOUT INCLUDED IN THE CONCRETE CURB AND GUTTER CONSTRUCTION DONE LAST WEEK.

If this concerns you, please contact Santa Cruz County Public Works Director Steve Wiesner   454-2794  steve.wiesner@santacruzcounty.us   and…
Aptos / La Selva Fire District Marshall Trevor Dirksen 588-1170 trevord@aptosfire.com

NISENE MARKS STATE PARK CLOSES AGAIN(!!!) THANKS TO APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT CONSTRUCTION
Once again, Nisene Marks State Park was closed last Saturday to vehicle access due to all parking lots being full.  Since Swenson Builders blocked the dirt parking area last fall that people have used for years to bicycle and run into the Park, State Park staff has posted a “LOT FULL” sign on Aptos Creek Road seven times this year, however last Saturday is the first time the Park access has been closed with all internal parking lots accessible to visitors (in winter, areas of the Park beyond the Steel Bridge are closed). 

Swenson Builders have insisted that the Aptos Village Project will provide plenty of free parking for the public, including Nisene Marks State Park visitors (yes, I have a copy of an e-mail of Vice-President Jessie Nickell stating such) yet there likely be inadequate parking for the Project’s tenants alone because the trip analysis and parking study used a 61% occupancy figure, and failed to include a high-rate restaurant land use multiplier in the calculations.  Instead, lower-use multipliers were used….meaning that claims by the County and Swenson that the Aptos Village Project has more than enough parking to allow extra free parking for the general public may not really work out once the Project is occupied.

Contact State Parks Facilities Director Mr. Chris Spohrer chris.spohrer@parks.ca.gov and ask that State Parks work with the Community and the Aptos Village Project developers to create a public-private partnership to develop pervious paving area in the Phase 2 area instead of jamming more two and three-story mixed use development adjacent to Aptos Creek Road.  Swenson currently only is allowing 11 parking spaces for the future County Park Parcel (a vertical hillside below Mattison Lane) and claims this is sufficient for Nisene Marks visitors as well.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the Great American Music Festival return to Aptos Village Park?  The organizers refuse to come back to that venue because the Aptos Village Project has destroyed the area’s event staging and parking use.

TAXPAYERS WILL FUND ADDITIONAL APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENTS
The County Public Works Department will be hosting Study Sessions regarding the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for area roadways, which includes $6,496,912 total for the Aptos Village Traffic Improvement Phase I and 2 Projects.  Phase I added a traffic light at Trout Gulch Road, a dedicated turn lane for the Bay Federal / Starbucks area (owned by Aptos Village Project developer Joe Appenrodt).   Here is the summary of what taxpayers will GIFT PUBLIC MONEY to support the Aptos Village Project developers (CIP Project #R0052):

Prior years	$1,806,799
2017/18	$1,853,468
2018/19	$2,450,000
2019/20	$386,645

Meanwhile, Swenson, Testorff, Appenrodt and others have had reduced developer fees assessed, or waived entirely as in the case of the Park Development fee of $1000/bedroom that others have to pay.  Traffic impact fees were calculated using low-use medical office multipliers but not the high-use restaurant multiplier, which reduced the amount of money the Aptos Village developers had to pay to responsibly address the impact of the projected 8,000 new vehicle trips/day the Project will generate.  Do you think this is fair to taxpayers?

County Board of Supervisors May 22 Consent Agenda Item #42 will set the Study Sessions regarding the Public Works Capital Improvement Plan for May 23 (this Wednesday, 9am at 701 Ocean Street) before the County Planning Commission and June 12 before the Board of Supervisors.  You can read the proposed CIP Report by clicking on the Item #42 document here.

Please attend the Planning Commission meeting if you can get the morning off work, or write the Commissioners via the Commission’s Secretary Mr. Michael Lam 454-3371 michael.lam@santacruzcounty.us  or Chairman Rachel Dann rachel.dann@santacruzcounty.us

Here is the link to the Planning Commision website (which does NOT include any method by which the public may contact Commissioners).

YET MORE TAXPAYER GIFTS TO SWENSON AND THE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS
Board of Supervisor Consent Agenda Item #44 on the May 22 meeting agenda would approve an ADDITIONAL $394,331.78 to cover additional costs of handling the toxic soils encountered during the County-funded Aptos Village Traffic Improvement Phase I work at Trout Gulch Road.   This brings the total cost of that problem (that had not been addressed by Public Works until a citizen raised the issue. You may remember that this included building a new bus stop to accommodate the Aptos Village Project proposed entry from Soquel Drive to Parade Street.  That bus stop, which does not include bicycle parking as requested by the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) Bicycle Advisory Commission and will not allow a bus to fully exit the lane of traffic, has not yet been activated.  Soquel Creek Water District ratepayers had to foot the $70,000 bill to relocate water mains for this bus stop project.

In reading the details of the Public Works Department’s request for nearly half a million in additional funding for the Phase I gift to Swenson, I see it includes $21,494.97 for hazardous waste training for the contractor, John Madonna Construction, Inc.  When I asked County Public Works Director Steve Wiesner why taxpayers would have to pay to train workers for a large construction company that would seemingly already be licensed to do this type of work, he refused to answer and said I was asking too-specific a question for which I may not understand a technical answer.  He suggested I send my questions in writing so that I could refer to  the answers at a later time and be clear about the information.  Hmmm…

John Madonna Construction, Inc. website is here: http://jmadonna.com/

The company is well-established (since 1978) in San Luis Obispo, is large, and according to their website, licensed to handle hazardous materials.  The company receptionist confirmed that they have been licensed to handle hazardous materials for about 10 years (I phoned 805-543-7751 and asked).

I also asked Mr. Wiesner if County Public Works is looking into the toxic soil issue for the future Phase 2 Aptos Village Traffic Improvement Project that will add a second traffic light at Aptos Creek Road, crossing the railroad tracks.  He said it is being considered.   Contact Steve Wiesner or 454-2794.

Also part of this additional $394,331.78 is $6,720 for associated Project paving in front of Trout Gulch Crossing businesses.  Those merchants suffered for nearly one year with the closure of the Trout Gulch Road access to their businesses being blocked by the County’s protracted work.  Did the County Public Works engineers really not include the cost of paving the parking area destroyed by the construction of new sidewalk and ramp for the intersection?  The County still has not completely repaired the damage to the parking areas adjacent to the railroad tracks, or replaced the trees the construction damaged.

You might also contact Mr. Wiesner about this question, along with the question about the County using Federal Highway Administration grant funds to do $250,000 in safety repairs, some of which will be used to restore Trout Gulch Road in areas Swenson Builder destroyed for the storm water sewer hook up work for Aptos Village Project Phase I.  That is called a “gift of public funds”.  You can read about the contract the Board will approve for Fremont-based Chrisp Inc. to do the work in Consent Item #49 here

You can report potential abuse of public funds regarding transportation grants at   or call 1-800-424-9071. 

ASK THE SANTA CRUZ COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER, CARLOS PALACIOS
The League of Women Voters of Santa Cruz County is hosting Mr. Carlos Palacios at their 2018 Annual Meeting, June 9, 10am0noon.  It will be at the Seascape Golf Club (610 Clubhouse Drive, Aptos) and is open to the public.  RSVP by Friday, June 1:  325-4140 or    He will be discussing the “Vision Santa Cruz County” plan, due to be adopted by the Board of Supervisors by the end of June.

SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT JUST LOOKED THE OTHER WAY REGARDING POSSIBLE CONTAMINATION BY APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS?
For many months, I have asked the Board and staff of Soquel Creek Water District to address the lack of backflow prevention at a hose bib in front of Pete Testorff’s construction trailer at the Aptos Village Project and near the Bayview Hotel.  No answer.

Now that the area has been excavated (soils high in lead), a new hose bib connection without backflow prevention appeared next to the bike lane on Soquel Drive in front of the disgusting construction site.  Also, a meter box lid suddenly got excavated in the bike lane.  Wow. 

When I called the District Office to ask about the issue, I spoke with Engineer Director Taj Dufour.  He acknowledged that I have been bringing this potential contamination  and water theft issue to the District for quite some time.  He said he was not quite sure why Pete Testorff removed the backflow prevention device that had been at the Soquel Drive frontage area, but that it would be restored that day.  It was.  Wow.

The question remains, however, about the meter.  Has Pete Testorff been paying for the water used for construction via the problematic hose bib (somewhat hidden by his construction office trailer) or has he been using water related to the Bayview Hotel connection???   It would not be the first time the Aptos Village Project developers have created illegal connections for water service…last year; Soquel Creek Water District General Manager Ron Duncan looked the other way when residents repeatedly pointed out an illegal water connection on Granite Way that supplied water throughout the Aptos Village Project construction site.  

I wonder if Soquel Creek Water District will again be awarded the “Transparency Excellence Award” by the League of Special Districts?  Hmmmmm……

MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY BUDGET HANDS FINANCIAL REINS TO PRIVATE AGENCY?
Last week, the MidCounty Groundwater Agency (MGA) Board met to approve the $1,325,720 million budget for their agency.  They approved $295,000 to contract with the Regional Water Management Foundation, a subsidiary of the Santa Cruz County Community Foundation, to provide administrative support, develop the narrative and content of the Groundwater Sustainability Plan that will be submitted to the State and decide how to fix local water storage problems, and administer the $1.5 million grant monies awarded by the State Department of Water Resources.  That last issue is what has me most concerned, because the Community Foundation is NOT a public entity.

When I raised this concern at the MGA Board meeting, stating that the public cannot review documentation regarding the grant money if handled by the Community Foundation because that agency does not honor Public Records Act requests nor are their Board meetings open to the public, I was assured that Soquel Creek Water District would provide the information.  Well, that is a problem, too.  Whenever I submit Public Records Act requests with that agency, I have to pay $114.50 if I request any copies of correspondence.  That is because the Executive Secretary, Ms. Karen Reese, who handles the requests must send a request to her son’s business, ExceedIO, to do a search.  That contractor bills time at $110/hour minimum charge. 

So, how can the public be sure the public money is being used properly and efficiently to support solving the water problems of our area?  You can’t.  Transparency award, anyone?

Neither of the County representatives on the MGA Board, Supervisors Zach Friend and John Leopold were even at the Board meeting !

Attend the Advisory Committee meeting this Wednesday, May 23, 5:30pm (County Sheriff Community Room) and add your input to the Plan in the works.  Plan to attend the June 14 Stakeholder meeting, 7pm-9pm (no location given yet).  The County Board of Supervisors just approved a plan to reduce any credits that rural residents on septic systems might get in future taxation when the Plan is in place.

Here is the MGA website address where you can read all about it: http://www.midcountygroundwater.org/

If you are in the San Lorenzo Valley area and have a private well, plan to attend the Private Well Stakeholder meeting May 31, 7pm-9pm.  Look here for more information

WATER FOR SANTA CRUZ COUNTY HAS A GOOD PLAN THAT WON’T COST A FORTUNE AND COULD BEGIN NOW
Recently, intelligent and informed members of “Water for Santa Cruz County” have been presenting information at various water agency meetings during the 3-minute public comment time.  That group will be allowed a presentation at the next MGA Board meeting in July. 

Why spend over $70 million for Soquel Creek Water District’s PureWater Soquel plan to inject treated sewage water into the area’s groundwater supply when there is a regional solution possible, using clean excess water from the streams near Davenport for $650,000 and begin this year?  That would allow Soquel Creek Water District to reduce pumping from the over drafted Purisima Aquifer in the midcounty areas.  The pipe line already exists…the District just has to agree with Santa Cruz City Water Department to turn on the intertie connection.   Soquel Creek Water District is nearly finished with the studies regarding the chemical mixing of surface water with groundwater….results are promising and will be out in June.

Contact Water for Santa Cruz with your questions and support: Water For Santa Cruz

Water For Santa Cruz

Water pervades life, yet its presence and the need to steward it wisely slips easily from awareness. Water for S…

Cheers, Becky

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

Thursday, May 17, 2018
#137 / Nothing To Hide?

“Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.”

Glenn Greenwald, is “an American journalist and author, best known for his role in a series of reports published by The Guardian newspaper, beginning in June 2013.” These reports detailed global surveillance programs being operated by the United States and Britain, and were based on classified documents disclosed by Edward Snowden. 

Greenwald makes a great case for privacy. You can watch his persuasive TED Talk on the subject by clicking the link I have just provided, or by watching the video I have inserted at the end of this blog posting. 

A comment by Willie Brown, in Brown’s “Willie’s World” column in the April 15, 2018, edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, reminded of Greenwald’s rather clever way of demonstrating the hypocrisy of those who take the position that privacy doesn’t matter if you have “nothing to hide.” See the Greenwald video from minute 2:50 to minute 5:45.

The Chronicle inserts a powerful paywall on its online offerings, so non-subscribers might not be able to view Brown’s column. The headline, online, is “Facebook’s Zuckerberg smooth-talked Congress. Only 1 senator got to him.”  That Senator was Senator Dick Durbin, from Illinois, and here’s what Brown reported about Durbin’s dialogue with Zuckerberg: 

The only time Zuckerberg got nicked was when Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois asked the tech titan if [he] would be comfortable revealing the name of the hotel where he’d stayed the night before.

“Um, no,” Zuckerberg said after a pause.

“Would you share with us the names of the people you’ve messaged?” Durbin asked.

“Senator, no, I would probably not choose to do that publicly here,” Zuckerberg said.

Then Durbin made his point: That’s exactly the sort of information people fear is being sold on Facebook.

Maybe that’s what all the fuss was about, Durbin said. “Your right to privacy. The limits of your right to privacy and how much you give away in modern America in the name of quote, connecting people around the world.” It was a soft but effective hit that both got a big laugh in the committee room and at the same time went [to] the heart of the issue.  

Durbin’s challenge to Zuckerberg was not unlike the point that Greenwald makes in the video below. Forget about the statement that your privacy doesn’t matter to you, if you have “nothing to hide.” Our privacy matters to each one of us, even including Mark Zuckerberg, who famously claimed, several years ago, that privacy was “no longer a social norm.”

There are lots of good reasons we value privacy. Let Glenn Greenwald tell you all about it.

Gary 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

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo solves the “PEARL JAM” mystery. Scroll downwards just a ways.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s classic “Subconscious Comic from 1985” at                       http://www.timeagan.com/?subconscious_comics . 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.

COMMUNITY OF ARTISTS 10TH ANNUAL SHOW.  For their 10th group show A Community of Artists (ACOA) is focusing on their newest and most diverse work.  This group of Santa Cruz artists works in paint, photography, prints, mixed media, and video and has been creatively active in the community, collectively and individually, for more than three decades.  All the artists have shown their work locally and nationally during Open Studios, in galleries and in other collective shows. Artists are Mark Wainer (photography), Ted Orland (photography), Karen Kvenvold Bailey (digital mixed media paintings), Tim Kelly (photography), Annie Pike (printmaking), Ken Koenig (photography), Lisa Rose (photography), Jack Johnson (photography) and Helen Wallis (photography/collage).Judith Darrow Johnson (painting-abstracts), and Catharina Marlowe (photography-alternative processes).There’ll be an Opening Reception  First Friday June 1, 5-9 pm.

PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC CLUB FUNDRAISER. Very special “It’s About Time Awards” are going to be presented to Bill and Joyce Malone, Jim Weller, Gretchen Regenhardt, and the Santa Cruz Rent Control Campaign. Emceeing the event will be Nora Hochman and County Supervisor John Leopold. Then there’ll be a sing a long led by Peter Nicols on guitar. There’s also food and a no-host beer and wine.

Admission:  $25.  1-year membership included with payment of $35 and up. 

Special Discount:  Anyone under 35, $20 admission.  1-year membership included for $25 and up. It’s happening  from 2-4pm June 2 at the Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th Avenue Santa Cruz.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “My new novel, Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge, earns a starred review from Publishers Weekly (yay!), this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, two women dare to defy centuries of tradition in the nuanced Disobedience. And save the date — August 25 — for a celebration of James Aschbacher at the Rio! Details coming soon!” 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. On May 22 Wilma Marcus, George Lober and Rosie King will be reading and discussing poetry and discussing The Hummingbird Press Collective. C.L.U.E. (Coalition for Limiting University Expansion) co-chief John Aird will follow them and talk about UCSC growth, measure U and the June elections. The top winners from the annual Bookshop Santa Cruz Short Story Contest read their works on May 29. On June 12 Students from Maria Pirata’s UCSC class will report on the UC Strike. Then Lisa Sheridan and Robert Morgan talk about Soquel issues. June 19 has Lisa Robinson from the San Lorenzo Valley Museum describing their current exhibits and future plans. Jane Mio discusses our river system and what’s needed to protect it first on June 26. Then Lisa Rose and Trink Praxel from Santa Cruz Indivisible talk about their upcoming event. Jumping to July 10, Lisa Jensen will be talking about her book “Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge” and her Bookshop book signing. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. “GRADUATION”

“To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States.” George W. Bush
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” Dr. Seuss
“At Columbia Law School, my professor of constitutional law and federal courts was determined to place me in a federal court clerkship, despite what was then viewed as a grave impediment: On graduation, I was the mother of a 4-year-old child“. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

NATURAL BRIDGES STATE PARK 1954. Yes that’s West Cliff Drive, that’s also Swanton Blvd. — and yes, it would have been a wise investment to have bought an acre or two back then.                                                     photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

DATELINE May 14, 2015

SANDY BROWN, THE SENTINEL & ERIC GRODBERG. Sandy Brown sent BrattonOnline a couple of questions re the Sentinel & Grodberg’s attack. “(1) why would the Sentinel put a picture of a council member’s home on the front page because she voted in support of a measure that does not cover her? (2) Why would a guy who receives income from 26 renters in the city file a frivolous complaint that will do nothing but waste taxpayer (city and state) money? Answer: the Pacific Legal Foundation and the California Apartment Association”. A never ending stream of support for Sandy is flashing through the internet. We’re learning that Eric Grodberg is a landlord with 26 tenants. He’s already evicted some who support Rent Control. We learn too that Santa Cruz Sentinel reporter Jessica York has written really negative reports on Drew Glover, Rachel O’Malley, Chris Krohn and Sandy Brown before. Others asked why doesn’t The Sentinel print a photo of Grodberg’s house at 208 Trescony Street? Jeffrey Smedberg asked, “Let’s see: 10,791 city residents sign a petition to put rent control on the ballot; 1 landlord files a spurious conflict-of-interest complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission on a case they had previously cleared. Which does the Sentinel find newsworthy? Personally I’m also saddened by what I thought was a shift from the Sentinel’s historic prejudiced and one sided editorial position. When you want to get a sense of the Sentinel’s “other” — or is it their main readers’ opinions — read the “comments” to York’s biased attack. Shameful.

HOMELESS ATTITUDE AT HOME AND ELSEWHERE. We need to consider this! Santa Cruz is no different from most USA communities…they don’t like the homeless. They/we want them to disappear, vanish, just stay away and stop. At the very same time, and with the exact same breath, we send money, goods, food, anything possible to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela to aid and assist folks living there who need help. Why the difference in attitude: why are we so opposed to helping our struggling neighbors and locals…what’s that about? There are resident Hawaiians with so many of the same struggles — housing, drugs, employment, education, health — yet we manage to totally ignore them while we float, swim, and cavort on their land. How little we hear if anything about the financial scandal in The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, or what the latest news is about the huge development of the 13 telescope sites on their sacred land of Mauna Kea (read Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Meter_Telescope_protests ).

RENT CONTROL, THE NITPICKING AND FINAL SOLUTION. Regardless of The Sentinel’s obvious opposition to rent control, other folks seemed to have worked hard to find kinks and sections that may need examination. These can, and will be, dealt with as time goes on. This is the time and certainly the place for rent control. We’ve seen it work in 15 California cities that have rent control policies. Wikipedia says, “Fifteen cities are currently listed as rent controlled by the State of California:[119][120] Yet three of these cities are not listed here, but further below: Campbell (does not have rent control per se, but offers a mediation service), Fremont (rejected rent control in 2017), and Thousand Oaks (has limited rent control: mostly just for mobile home parks).[121] The remaining twelve: Berkeley,[122] Beverly Hills,[123] East Palo Alto,[124] Hayward,[125] Los Angeles,[126] Los Gatos,[127] Oakland,[128] Palm Springs,[129] San Francisco,[130] San Jose,[131] Santa Monica,[132][133] West Hollywood.[134] Alameda,[135] Mountain View,[136] Richmond.[137][138] The present grand total is fifteen.[139][140]

PICKET LINES. ABOUT YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS. The recent UCSC picket lines brought up an interesting discussion point. A point that has in the past, and will in the foreseeable future, split otherwise “liberal-progressive” friends. “Will you cross a picket line, any picket line, for any reason…and have you done so in the past?” Ask your friends, see what happens.

KZSC AND PUBLIC SERVICE SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS. At the last KZSC staff meeting many of us spoke to the fact that KZSC isn’t getting enough dated Public Service Announcements — otherwise known as PSAs. Tell every well-intentioned nonprofit group you know of to go to the KZSC website, read the easy PSA rules, and send them in. They are free, and are read many, many times.

CIRCLE CHURCH AND DEVELOPMENT. Latest rumors have it that the former church property is only “in a holding pattern” for about a year. Lighthouse Realty, with its present connections to “the circle”, will then start with the long-intended development…probably high rise and high cost apartments/condos.

KSCO AND TRUMP SUPPORT QUESTION. In answer to many questions over the last few years…NO, I do not know why well-intentioned progressive locals would purposely produce programs that bring profits to a TRUMP-supported radio station. It wasn’t so long ago that folks like Mardi Wormhoudt and other notables refused to be involved with KSCO. What’s changed and why?

UCSC’S LETTER TO ALUMNI AND “SLANTED”? As if UCSC hasn’t done enough to bring distrust and outright anger against itself, they’ve now sent out a letter to select alumni asking for support and opinions over their proposed East Meadow and West Side housing developments. We’ll watch closely to see how the response is shared with the public. Watch too to see if they sent those letters to mostly or only new alumni who couldn’t possibly share the historical or traditional respect the campus environment means to all of us…just watch and wait.

TOM SCRIBNER REVISITED AGAIN. From out of nowhere Will Combs sent me a copy of the original poster which he drew for the concert to raise money to re-pay Marghe McMann for the bronze statue she made of Tom. Note the guest artists who were very happy to appear on Tom’s behalf. Will even got Tom’s lost knuckle on his left hand. The Concert was in 1978.

May 14th 2018

LESS IS MORE
Since a picture is worth a thousand words I’ll keep this brief as you ponder the before and after visuals of what is proposed for the west side of the UCSC campus. This, in addition to building on the pristine East Meadow.

If you have any place in your heart for the physical beauty of the campus lands, these images may leave you speechless. There is, however a lot to say about the developer, Capstone Management Partners.

UCSC is venturing for the first time into what is called a Public Private Partnership or P3 with the above developer. A February 15th City on A Hill article titled The Many Faces of Capstone gives an overview of some of the company’s alleged construction and labor violations. Capstone’s website already shows Student Housing West and the East Meadow family student housing/child care projects in its Portfolio so they must be optimistic that approval is a given. The many comments submitted on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the project, including legal opinions citing CEQA violations and a strongly worded letter from 27 graduate student parents, protesting the privatizing of the child care facility under an entity named Bright Horizons, citing increased expense, lower quality teacher certification standards, and unsafe location on the East Meadow suggest that such optimism may be premature.

Capstone Development Partners LLC describes itself as a student housing real estate development Company. Their draw is that they take on the housing debt with tax-exempt financing, cover maintenance and management costs with an on-site management team, set the rents and reap profits from those rents and after 20 or so years, hand the housing back to the universities who take over the functions previously managed by Capstone. I’m no expert in such matters but numerous red flags went up the pole on this arrangement.

UC is a public educational institution and partnering with a private entity seems a violation of that tradition and mission.  UC would argue that they are forced to look to the private sector as public funding has shrunk. Critics would argue that UC should spend its money on professors and students instead of ever-increasing upper management. (Student housing is not state supported. It has to be self-supporting.) Apart from that issue, many concerns remain. Capstone eventually hands the housing back to the university. Such an arrangement seems a disincentive for Capstone to properly maintain the housing. Not that UCSC is a model of care. That the once lovely two story Family Student Housing apartments built in the mid-sixties have been allowed to decay to the point of needing to be torn down (or so they say) is an indictment on UCSC, which boasts a Sustainability Office.

Then there is the issue of an on-site management team brought in from the outside by Capstone.  According to their website, ” Campus Management Partners will work closely with residential life staff, campus safety, police, Environmental Health & Safety and others to provide for the safety and security of students.” This is a formula for disaster: a new layer of management to get lost in the maze of campus departments, rules, regulations, protocols or lack thereof. The Student Housing West complex (pictured) will contain 2,800 students. Nothing at UCSC comes close to that number of students living cheek by jowl. The ten colleges each house around 700 students max. To help make such living arrangements more human they each include dedicated student and professional staff with clear lines of communication and reporting responsibilities. Each has its own identity and physical space. And even with all that, mistakes are made and social conflicts arise. The college model, touted as a crown jewel of UCSC is here abandoned. One wonders if that choice was made by Capstone, which specializes in mega-student housing complexes or whether UCSC has forever lost its values or both.

As you contemplate the scale and visual impact of the proposed new student housing from the West entrance to campus, evaluate the words of the Chairman Emeritus of Capstone, Mike Mouron who says of their projects, “We cut the pattern to fit the cloth.”

Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.

May 14, 2018

“People with advantages are loathe to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages. They come readily to define themselves as inherently worthy of what they possess; they come to believe themselves ‘naturally’ elite; and, in fact, to imagine their possessions and their privileges as natural extensions of their own elite selves.” 
? C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite

Movement For Housing Justice moments before presenting the Santa Cruz City Clerk with 10,791 signatures of registered voters. Pictured Left to Right: Cynthia Berger, Josh Brahinski, Viveka Jagadeesna, Steve Schnaar, Drew Glover, Nita Hertel, Steve Pleich, and Jeffrey Smedberg.

THE RENT CONTROL DEBATE; CLASS WARFARE UNBOUND IN SANTA CRUZ
I’m convinced the city of Santa Cruz has to become a much bigger player in the housing market because the market is not serving the people. That “magic hand of capitalism,” as we know too well when left unattended, has allowed for fabulous profits in rentals and sales for a very few in this town. As the sociologist C. Wright Mills, and later G. William Domhoff, both describe in their work the notion of a ruling class elite, and the insular nature of such a class often leaves them with little empathy for the have-nots. (Yes, realtors, multiple parcel property owners, and developers are all directly and indirectly part of a Santa Cruz ruling class.) The rent control debate has shined some light on class difference in Surf City. As elucidated in Mills’, The Power Elite (1956: Oxford University Press). and Domhoff’s Who Rules America (1967: Prentice-Hall), not to mention the flotsam and jetsam lives of service provider jobs chronicled in Barbara Ehrenreich’s clear-eyed depiction of the working poor in Nickel and Dimed (2001: Metropolitan Books), the poor are often left unattended by the rich until it is too late. Of course, you might say those books are dated until a certain Thomas Picketty, the French economist comes along and puts it all together and says yes indeed, the rich are in fact getting richer and the poor, well, they’re getting poorer (Capital in the Twenty-first Century, Harvard University Press, 2014 (English version)). Picketty also comes down on the side of government stepping in to make things more equal. (Imagine that!) The Rev. William Barber of North Carolina is one of the bright lights of our generation and he focuses on what Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 sojourn to Memphis was all about: protesting low wages, high housing costs, and poor living conditions (The Third Reconstruction, Penguin-Random House, 2016). Reflecting back on Dr. King’s Memphis moments, it turns out much of our community is also siloed and in need of a wake-up call. The wealthy in Santa Cruz are having a difficult time getting in touch with the “rent burden” and pocketbook pain of everyday tenants. The wealthy and moderately wealthy in our town reside within particular bubbles. They tend to travel in the same social circles–Rotary breakfasts, Chamber of Commerce lunches, Downtown Association social outings– often attend similar religious institutions, and daily mingle at similar bars (not the Jury Room, Poet and Patriot, or Rush Inn) and restaurants (probably not Jack’s, Zachary’s, or the Bagelry). They by and large tend to stay mostly within their narrow class bounds. And with both rich and poor participating in this class segregation, along comes government to act as some sort of arbiter, a referee with a whistle, and impose a rent freeze, which not only acknowledges the fact we are in a housing crisis but also affects the profits of the ownership class.

Will Santa Cruz Residents Seize this Moment?
American history is littered with the wealthy’s tales of woe, brought to the attention of the government by the institutions they own: newspapers, TV stations, magazines, and now most significantly, large swaths of the internet. Most of that history sees “government authorities” facilitating the flow of capital for capitalists through government legislation. The economic crème de la crème come along and define “blight,” for example, (quaint cafes like Pergolesi? iconic venues such as the Rio Theatre (‘but we will save the marquee’ they exclaim)? and historic structures including the La Bahia?), and then they go about alleviating their defined pain of blight with an “urban renewal” plan through endless government PLANS: Beach and South of Laurel Plan, The Corridors Plan, and most recently, the Downtown Recovery Plan. So, the class on top keeps planning (Thatcher and Thompson, Jonathan Swift), and the developers keep developing (Swenson and Devcon). They get money not from the likes of Bay Federal or the Santa Cruz Credit Union, but through those same large banks (B of A, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank) that have been discredited by many of the national heroes that Santa Cruzans frequently turn to: Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Noam Chomsky; and also, the likes of Amy Goodman, Dan Ellsberg, and Bill McKibben who all three by the way will be in Santa Cruz this week. It does seem the rich in Santa Cruz are thinking big…500 hotel rooms (Hyatt, Marriot, La Bahia) here and 800 units of market-rate housing (current downtown plan) over there. And they are, from their perspective doing good (aka getting richer). We have a hot, hot housing market and “the market” says we have to raise the rents. Their same mindset seems to believe that corporations will save us too–Marriot, Hyatt, Five Guys, Habit Burger, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts (Dunkin Donuts?!?) have all been shepherded into SC under the auspices of the city’s own Economic Development Department. Oh, government facilitating the needs of capital…cha ching! Fast disappearing are the Logos, Tampicos, and Pergolesi’s, too funky the elite says. In with the new and out with the old has always been part of the Horatio Alger American mythology story, and it is generally the way of the wealthy in Santa Cruz too. But/And, then along comes a petition: Rent Control, and the government is asked to ‘hold it a darn second,’ stop for a moment facilitating the wants of the wealthy, and for a short time entertain the needs of tenants. A rent freeze is born.

“Nobody talks more of free enterprise and competition and of the best man winning than the man who inherited his father’s store or farm.” (C. Wright Mills)

‘Backlash,’ Not Just a Susan Faludi Best-seller
Uh oh, suddenly all is not well in the land of skateboards and espresso, ever-climbing median home prices and sky-rocketing rents. The local mighty are now cowering in their clubs and restaurants, or while climbing atop their $3,000 mountain bike, latte in hand, for part of the ride and ever-ready to conquer West Cliff Drive or the Pogonip or Upper Campus, all the while plotting and planning on how to defeat, no… annihilate, any spark of support for rent control and finally extinguish all memory of conviction for a notion that now exists and is a long time in coming: fair rents, housing justice, and inclusion of tenants needs in the community planning decisions.  All is not right within business lives of this town’s wealthy right now, and it may not be for some time to come. Is the flotsam poor squealing too loudly with this rent control ballot petition that they hope will help “redress their grievances?” Beware of the struggle that now ensues in the City of the Cross because real $money$ is on the table. The rent freeze pushback is just the beginning. It will be short-lived, but rent control, if passed this November, will likely have some staying power and the petition itself is driving realtors nuts. They’ve even come up with terms like “housing providers,” and “mom and pop” landlords in order to shield their remaking of the community through profit and plunder. It’s an old story. There are perhaps several Moms and Pops out there who the real estate industry is now using as fodder on the frontlines. The big landlords, including Cypress Point Apartments on Felix Street, Pacific Shores on Shaffer Road, the Seaside Company units that are everywhere, and the Outlook Apartments on Western Drive, they’re the ones who fear rent control the most, especially if the repeal of the anti-rent control legislation passed in 1995 known as Costa-Hawkins, makes it to the ballot. If Costa-Hawkins qualifies for the ballot, the Secretary of State’s office is still counting signatures, then the big financial guns–banks, real estate interests, and the California Apartment Association–will set their collective efforts on defeating what these interests fear most. If passed, Costa-Hawkins would finally lift state restrictions on rent control. If Costa-Hawkins passes all bets will be off as Californians everywhere would be saying that housing for profit does not work for most people in the Golden State. If universal healthcare and education are rights to be enjoyed by all, surely housing is too. The current rent control movement led by the Movement for Housing Justice and begun by a rag-tag band of housing activists–the Organizing Circle–canvassing in poor neighborhoods and asking residents what they think about high rents and low wages just happens to be fortuitously supported by the scholarly research of Steve McKay and Miriam Greenburg’s work locally concerning the vast housing and wage gap now experienced in Santa Cruz county. Everybody’s response: The rents are too damn high!  Are we truly witnessing an historic pendulum-swinging time, or just another rent control skirmish in a long war of attrition that’s already experienced multiple casualties including artists, musicians, teachers, and service workers leaving this community? Perhaps C. Wright Mills’ “sociological imagination” can come into play in Santa Cruz today. Was Mills referring to our community when he said way back in the 1950’s, “You can never really understand an individual unless you also understand the society, historical time period in which they live, personal troubles, and social issues.”

THE SPURIOUS ATTACK ON COUNCILMEMBER SANDY BROWN
Sandy Brown, was attacked and ridiculously vilified by a Santa Cruz Sentinel reporter last week. (What was it she did? She rents from a landlord who supports rent control? Does the hedge fund have an agenda?) The article is full of innuendo and yet again sees the Santa Cruz Sentinel missing so many good stories. There was no story after the near 11,000 signatures were turned to the city clerk last Thursday, just a photo; no story about the many homeowners and landlords who actually support rent control; and of course, no story of the courageous UCSC students who worked tirelessly to gather signatures for the petition. You have to go to the exemplary student newspaper, City on a Hill, for this information. The attack on Sandy Brown cannot go on without the newspaper hearing from the public. Some may say; oh if we contact the paper doesn’t this just make the story keep going? To them I would say, 1) Sandy Brown is the perfect model for why we are struggling for rent control. She is someone who is fighting to stay in Santa Cruz, even as a member of the city council, and to demean and dismiss her own story is at the Sentinel’s peril, and we must point this out; and 2) this issue is not going to let up until November 6th, so we must push back every time any media outlet over steps the bounds of truth and ethics and attacks struggling activists for working to make their lives and this community better. This attack is not just about Ms. Brown, it is an attack on every one who was involved in the struggle to keep this town from being divided up by wealthy interests who do not have the whole of the community in mind. Please respond to these outrageous ploys by either writingor calling (831-423-4242) the Sentinel.

“If you are concerned about education, infrastructure and health care, then you should be concerned about foreign policy.” May 14

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) and Mayor (2001-2002). He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 12 years. He was elected last November to another 4-year term on the Santa Cruz City Council). Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

May 11, 2018 #131 / The Twitter Mob

The picture illustrates an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled, “When the Twitter Mob Came for Me.” The article was written by a conservative political commentator, Kevin D. Williamson, and bemoans the fact that Williamson was, as he sees it, hounded from his new job at The Atlantic by swarms of unfair and largely unjustified comments relating to one of his long ago statements that was taken out of context. He suggested (not seriously, he claims) that anyone involved in an abortion should be hanged until dead.

Another example of how an online “mob” might cause real grief, to real people, in the real world, is the story related by Jesselyn Cook, a Canadian-American journalist, who writes for HuffPost, and who seems to be of a more or less “progressive” persuasion, politically. Cook relates her experience with Facebook, not Twitter, and tells us about an online reaction to a picture, which made her look rather attractive, and an accompanying invitation to comment on whether she should be “smashed” or “passed.” Cook identifies the comments made in response to this invitation (completely unprovoked by anything she said or did) as “sexual harassment.” Her story is truly distressing.

If you click the links, you can get the details of both Cook’s and Williamson’s experiences. It appears to be pretty clear that neither Williamson nor Cook were treated fairly by the online commenters who attacked and demeaned them. Is there something we can, or should, be doing about that?

Basic tort law might well allow both Cook and Williamson successfully to sue those who harassed and demeaned them. Suing Facebook and Twitter directly, however, would not be a successful legal strategy, since such online platforms are legally shielded from liability for what persons who use these platforms say. 

The situation is analogous to the problem that you or I would have if we attempted to sue the telephone company because someone harassed us over the telephone lines. You can’t successfully sue the telephone company for what someone says on the phone, and you can’t sue an online service provider for what people say as they use their online service. Click right here for an outline of defamation law and social media.

While the kind of attacks that Williamson and Cook suffered are genuinely distressing, and the power of social media to amplify such personal attacks is obvious, there isn’t any easy way to provide additional help for those who have been attacked online, though we do need to be working on the problem. 

An article in The New York Times on April 22, 2018, indicates the horrors that can follow when untrue and inflammatory stories are disseminated on social media. Reporters Amanda Taub and Max Fisher document how inflammatory postings on Facebook led to arson and murder in Sri Lanka, stoking fires of ethnic cleansing. As The Times headline writer put it: “Where Countries Are Tinderboxes and Facebook Is a Match.” A presidential adviser in Sri Lanka, commenting on the story told by Taub and Fisher, said it this way: “We don’t completely blame Facebook. The germs are ours, but Facebook is the wind, you know?”

Considering how quickly the winds of contagion and outrage can disseminate hatred online, in a way that causes real world consequences, from personal attacks to murder, this might be another good reason to live more of our lives offline.

In the real world, I mean!

Gary 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

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Check out DeCinzo’s classic and foresighted “DROID COMPETITION” just a scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “National Health Alert #17 Scabies Trump”                  down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

MUNCHING WITH MOZART. This free (FREE) concert series on May 17th (every third Thursday) Is titled  “Music for Two Cellos“. Louella Hasbun and Roger Emanuels are the cellists.

They’ll play ;

• Adagio cantabile by François Francoeur (1698-1787)
• Suite for Two Cellos by David Popper (1843-1913)
• Estampas y Estampillas by Jaime Mendoza-Nava (1925-2005)
• Tangos by Carlos Gardel (1890-1935), arr. Diego Collatti
• El cant dels ocells (Song of the Birds), traditional Catalan song, arr. Pablo Casals (1876-1973).

It happens this Thursday, May 17 th 12:10 – 12:50 at the threatened and endangered Santa Cruz Public Library’s Downtown Branch – in the upstairs Meeting Room.

UCSC’S MIRIAM ELLIS AND HER 18th INTERNATIONAL PLAYHOUSE. The Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics, and Cowell and Stevenson Colleges at UCSC will present the 18th season of the Miriam Ellis International Playhouse. In this unique multilingual program, students will be featured in fully-staged excerpts of short works in Punjabi, French, German, and Spanish, with English super-titles. There are exciting innovations in our program this year, with our first presentation of works in Punjabi, including a short play and poetry, directed by Arshinder Kaur, and excerpts from Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute, sung in German, directed by Sheila Willey, and performed by students of the University Opera Theater as a preview of their upcoming production of the opera, which will take place from May 31 to June 3 at the UCSC Music Center Recital Hall. Students of French will portray scenes from Marcel Pagnol’s Fanny, one of the plays in his trilogy about a group of serio-comic characters in Marseille, directed by Miriam Ellis and Renée Cailloux. Spanish will offer a contemporary comedy, Black and White, by Ignacio Dominis, directed by Carolina Castillo-Trelles. Which explores characters that live in two different worlds, separated by a line never to be crossed. Over the years, our multilingual theater presentations have attracted loyal audiences who look forward to hearing their native or acquired languages in this unusual format, and we cordially invite the community to attend. It’s at the Stevenson Event Center on the UCSC campus, it’s free…go here for details https://language.ucsc.edu. Everyone is invited. The four performances are; 05/17/2018 – 8:00pm , 05/18/2018 – 8:00pm 05/19/2018 – 8:00pm and 05/20/2018 – 8:00pm  

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Celebrate a real American superhero, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in RBG, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). Celebrate my Beast novel finally heading into the home stretch (only 2 more months to go!) with a cool new Beast of the Month illustration. And celebrate the life and legacy of James Aschbacher as more tributes roll in. Art Boy lives!” 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. May 15 has environmentalist Grey Hayes guesting the entire hour bringing us up to date on nature’s needs. On May 22 Wilma Marcus, George Lober and Rosie King will be reading and discussing poetry and discussing The Hummingbird Press Collective. C.L.U.E. (Coalition for Limiting University Expansion) co-chief John Aird will follow them and talk about UCSC growth, measure U and the June elections. The top winners from the annual Bookshop Santa Cruz Short Story Contest read their works on May 29. On June 12 Students from Maria Pirata’s UCSC class will report on the UC Strike. Then Lisa Sheridan and Robert Morgan talk about Soquel issues. June 19 has Lisa Robinson from the San Lorenzo Valley Museum describing their current exhibits and future plans. Jane Mio discusses our river system and what’s needed to protect it on June 26

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

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. “VOLCANOES“

“Love, my territory of kisses and volcanoes.”  Pablo Neruda
“It is spectacular to watch an erupting volcano; but it is even much more spectacular to watch the rise of a newly exploding revolutionary idea!” Mehmet Murat ildan
“I noticed that volcanoes, earthquakes and floods, though are not good events, they are better than the silence of good people when bad people take the podium. The latter are to an extent uncontrollable, but the former can be stopped.” Israelmore Ayivor
“All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution”, Havelock Ellis

CARL’S FLYING A GRAND OPENING…June 7, 1957 (King and Mission Streets) . Too bad we can’t see the per gallon gas prices on the pumps…but maybe it’s better this way. The station didn’t last too long. Now it’s The Five Gables Dentistry offices. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

DATELINE May 7, 2018

NICKELODEON AND DEL MAR NOT SOLD…YET! Many folks have been asking me about the future of the Nickelodeon and the Del Mar theatres. I’ve checked everywhere including the local management staff and Landmark reports in the financial websites and no action of any interest in buying Mark Cuban’s Landmark chain has been reported. I’ll sure keep you as up to date as possible.

KATHY BISBEE & DONALD TRUMP. Kathy Bisbee formerly of Calpirg at UCSC, Santa Cruz Action Network, Cruzio, and Santa Cruz Community Television was visiting last week. Shes’ now the executive director of The Brookline Interactive Group and co-founder of the Public VR lab. She’s all about Virtual Reality headsets and showing the world reality reasons why the environment needs protecting. She’s also getting married in September. Oner of the most interesting and surprising (to me) items she told me was that if loyal left wing progressives look up say “Donald Trump” on Google they get sent immediately to sites and sources completely different from what Trump supporters get from Google. When you think about it that sort of “fact or news searching” definitely keeps both sides in opposition. It’s like if we only had Fox News as a source.

MORE FROM KATHY BISBEE. Kathy Bisbee and I also got talking about generations…and about differences between those generations. She gave me some interesting data on the labeling and statistics of generations.

For example;

For much more and the source for all of above go here

WILPF SALUTES NANCY ABBEY. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom is creating a much deserved celebration of Nancy Abbey’s activist work on Sunday, May 20 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Resource Center for Non Violence, 612 Ocean Avenue, Santa Cruz. You can hear Nancy talk with Bruce Van Allen and other activists about their goals and the progress so far. Then there will be light snacks and shmoozing”.

HOUSING FOR THE CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC. They’ve announced the 2018 season and we know it will be an incredible array of talent and music. All the concerts will be at the Civic Auditorium starting Saturday, July 28 through Sunday August 12. Go here to get all the details   cabrillomusic.org

Hundreds of locals faithfully and freely attend the orchestra rehearsals. Those too are on the website. There are many free music events, children’s events, and public attractions. Aside from volunteering as ushers and food facilitators another one of the most sincere, touching community minded aspects of the Festival is that the musicians and composers who come here from all over the world get housed in local residents homes that are near the Civic. Families share the camaraderie the music and the friendship with these Festival people. If you  live near the Civic and have space just before and during the Festival go here   or call 831 326-6966.

THE OAKLAND SONG AND NPR. By accident I came across a link to the NPR interview I did a few years ago (2014) about the song our “Goodtime Washboard 3″ trio wrote. We had great fun and tremendous results from it. An album on Fantasy Records, national tv on Bing Crosby‘s tv show, “Hungry i” , “Purple Onion” gigs and lots more. Here’s a link to it…

CITY OF SANTA CRUZ ALLOWING PG&E DEADLY TREE REMOVAL…WHY?

May 07, 2018

Julie Thayer is as she says, “a concerned citizen, living along the pipeline…” I asked her to tell us what she’s learned about PG&E’s tree removal plot and plan that is affecting so many of us. She wrote…

“In Santa Cruz, do you live or spend time near Ocean View Park in Seabright, or Frederick St. Park near the harbor?  Do you like to walk the dog through the Jessie St. Marsh? What about biking along the upper San Lorenzo River trail?  Or any number of streets throughout Santa Cruz (7th Ave, Berkeley Way, Clinton St, Melrose Ave, Seaside St, to name a few…).  

Well, the view in Santa Cruz is changing, and not for the better.  PG&E has a Pipeline Pathways project to clear-cut trees and vegetation along their main gas pipeline, and that includes hundreds of trees throughout the city of Santa Cruz.  They have already started – removing 50 trees along Ocean St. near Graham Hill Rd (along the Memorial Park Cemetery and beyond). There is also a huge bare patch further up Graham Hill Rd. across from Henry Cowell State Park.

Unfortunately, cutting trees does not increase gas pipeline safety, based on federal code, what PG&E itself has stated in correspondence with various residents and groups recently, or even according to PG&E’s own studies!   Our pipelines have actually been performing fine according to PG&E’s own current reports, with numerous trees growing above or near them.  

The County of Santa Cruz, as well as 16 other municipalities in California, have recognized this and challenged PG&E’s authority both directly and in court.  Indeed, it turns out that federal and state ordinances do NOT require tree removal along pipelines; they defer to local ordinances such as the city’s Heritage Tree Ordinance, and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a statute that requires avoidance or satisfactory mitigation of significant environmental impacts.  Removing hundreds of trees in a city, in addition to thousands to tens of thousands of trees statewide, qualifies as a “significant impact”.   

The measly $10,000 that PG&E paid to the tree fund in Santa Cruz is not even close to a “satisfactory mitigation of environmental impacts,” as measured by carbon offsets, shade, fruit, aesthetics, quality of life, wildlife and bird habitat, etc., provided by the trees slated to be axed.  This amount is especially meager given that the city of Lafayette received $272,000 for a smaller number of trees… Why the discrepancy? Think of what the city of Santa Cruz could do with such funds!

PG&E’s reasoning for removing trees seems to pivot on several points related to improving public perception, but not necessarily increasing safety!  After PG&E’s massive illegal and deadly lack of response to the tragic San Bruno pipeline rupture in 2010, PG&E was fined $1.6 billion in 2015. More than half of that penalty — $850 million — was ordered to go to gas transmission pipeline safety infrastructure improvements.

So PGE is creating a public illusion that they are “doing something” to increase public safety by removing trees, when in fact the opposite is likely true.   There is no evidence that trees are damaging pipelines, but lots of evidence that trees provide soil stability and decrease erosion, which especially important for underground pipelines in sloping regions during heavy rains or in areas prone to earthquakes, as ours is.  Removing trees therefore is actually likely to decrease safety!

So why remove trees?  Well, this may keep public focus away from what PG&E is NOT doing.  And it can also work to save PG&E money.  What better way than to use actions from the $850 million penalty towards saving PG&E money in the future, to recoup their loss from the fine.  In other words, PG&E is not fully implementing true improvements with new, safer technology, but instead sticking with old unreliable methods. Internal inspecting, pressure testing, replacing lines, installing new safety shutoff valves, etc., are all required but would be very expensive to implement over PG&E’s entire pipeline.  PG&E is still using what is called direct assessment, an outdated faulty method that led to the San Bruno disaster in the first place.

PG&E will also save money with this initiative by never incurring any more costs for tree maintenance.  Ever notice how often electrical lines run above underground gas lines? Tree removal will also allow for continuing PG&E’s aerial surveys which are obscured by trees; a type of direct assessment – easy but unreliable.

Furthermore, cutting trees will help with PG&E not having to shut off gas and relight pilots.  PG&E has stated that trees inhibit emergency access to pipelines when they try to fix leaks without shutting off the gas.  What?! Any fire captain will tell you that this is prohibited – PG&E must shut off gas lines before fire crews will allow any activity in an area with a breached gas line.  Indeed, this is dangerous and illegal under federal regulations, but it saves PG&E the large expense of deploying a gas shut-off and then relighting all the pilot lights in a community afterwards.  

Finally, clear-cut access across their whole pipeline makes access more convenient in the future.  Not safer without all those trees, mind you, but definitely more convenient for PG&E.

PG&E, DON’T PUT YOUR PROFIT OVER OUR SAFETY!

The County has invoked relevant federal and state code and is not allowing PG&E to remove any more trees.   Why is the City allowing it?  The Mayor and City Council need to hear from you (citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com).  This is not necessary!  Trees are vital to our beautiful city.  And in fact, tree removal will serve to make pipeline conditions more dangerous.  

May 7, 2018

‘ACTIVIST BUZZ”

Rent Control on Fire

There it was in this past Monday’s (5/7) Santa Cruz Sentinel, the headline read, “Santa Cruz rent control campaign hits signature goal.” Over 9,000 signatures were collected locally, and according to someone who logs and checks all those petitions, an additional 1000-2000 were also collected, but couldn’t be included because they were from voters in Watsonville, Live Oak, Aptos, and even Scotts Valley. So, rent control fever appears to be alive in the entire county! Or is it? We all know that signing a petition to get something on the ballot before the voters is perhaps more about supporting the concept of “direct democracy” than necessarily what’s written on the petition. We can still support democracy by petition and be opposed to the issue when we’re in the voting booth, can’t we? This rent control petition has grabbed  the real estate community by the lapels, and that group is somewhat shaken now. If the petition is approved, we then have the opportunity for a real community-wide dialogue about our housing crisis. I believe most people in this community want such a discussion…and most I’ve talked to also want some immediate ACTION too.

Movement for Housing Justice proponents gathered last Sunday evening to celebrate the monumental accomplishment of gathering 9,500 Santa Cruz city voter signatures. Now, how many will be valid? They need just over 5700 to qualify for the November ballot.

Talk of Substitute Initiative

But wait?!? Several emergency meetings and late night discussions were held recently among members of the Movement for Housing Justice (MHJ) over possible changes in the initiative. Petition circulators were being sensitive to problems brought forward by tenants, landlords, and homeowners about how the current rent control ballot initiative might be tweaked to satisfy more people. MHJ was seeking more community-wide agreement. Of course, the original petition authors cannot change the petition language itself, which likely 10,000 city residents will have signed when, and if, they turn them in. But, the Santa Cruz City Council could put forward a substitute initiative, one crafted by members of the Movement for Housing Justice and incorporating certain changes in language, ones that came up again and again in front door and shopping center discussions between signers and gatherers. My experience with the MHJ group is that they want as many Santa Cruzans to come out of this process as content as possible, while still staying true to their actual goal of bringing some justice for renters that certain landlords can live with in this crazy Santa Cruz housing market. So, the changes that are being looked at have to do with relocation assistance, eviction policies, and rent board salaries as I understand. A deal may be in the works, but I’m not sure anyone should hold their breath. I would indeed guess that some form of rent control will be before the voters this November.

How Did We Get Here?
This Santa Cruz housing crisis was not born overnight. While there have always been tensions between UCSC’s student population and off-the-hill community members competing for available housing, it became much more acute as the 2005 Long Range Development Plan played itself out over the last decade. Housing 50% of the students back then was a helluva a lot more bearable than it is today…and while adding 10,000 more is problematic, the big elephant in the room is the exorbitant rates UCSC charges students to live on campus. Along with passing some form of rent control, those dorm charges have to come down 30-50% if students and non-students are going to find any relief on the housing front. In addition, as I sat in Zachary’s the other day in less than an hour I counted FOUR Google and Apple buses traveling down Pacific Avenue picking up tech workers. Folks, we gotta crisis!

Two More Parts of the Housing Problem
Short-term Vacation Rentals (STRs) make up a significant portion of the lack of housing for students and workers in Santa Cruz. The city council passed an STR ordinance limiting the number of these permitted rentals to 550 overall, but there is a sense that more people might be renting their places out under STR, but without a city permit. The other matter that impacts housing here is the gap between wages and the cost of rent. If we really want people to have a chance of living in the community they work in then we must seriously address the paltry $10.50 an hour minimum wage now in place. Isn’t it time to bring the “Fight for $15” to Surf City?

Addendum Notes

• The city’s establishment is collectively holding its breath until the June 5th ballot vote, i.e. sales tax increase worth approximately $3 million to city general fund…so, no library-garage issue meeting; no city council budget sessions until June 6th; rather small council agendas, filled with “ministerial” items; smiles on all faces until vote is in. By the way, voting started Monday, May 7th when mail-in ballots went out to voters!
• By the time you read this, AFSCME will have likely completed their 3-day walk-out at UCSC. City on a Hill Press wrote: “These American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local (AFSCME 3299), the largest labor union in the University of California, will hold a system-wide strike on May 7-9. Across the UC, 24,000 service and patient care workers will be participating in the strike. This includes custodians, loop bus drivers and dining hall workers among other employees essential to the functioning of the university system.” The point is that these hardworking men and women are some of the lowest paid, not only in the UC system but in the Santa Cruz community. They need a raise and they need it now!
• City council agenda this week was the thinnest ever, as noted above, a lot is riding on June 5th vote to raise the sales tax. The few items of note were a 20-year lease agreement with Santa Cruz Shakespeare (Yay!), with seemingly no rent increase over that time (boo!), not even the 2% allowed by the current rent freeze. (I wonder why?) There’s a sewer extension to 335 Golf Club Drive; a second reading to bring a “dynamic pricing” structure to downtown parking meters, partly because we do not want to attract “the wrong kind of element” and partly to soak the tourists more and keep cars moving around; and finally, a discussion of “residential short-term rental permit” fees was slated…seems that planning staff is saying it takes two hours at $131 per hour to do the paperwork for one of these permits. Total fee for STR permit suggested by staff: $262 samolians, rental inspection fee per unit, $68, hotel tax: 11%. And because of Item # 6 on the same agenda, Airbnb hoteliers can put all those fees that on their visa. Keep smiling, June 5th isn’t far off.

This Just In

Here is a case the city council was to discuss in closed session on the May 8th council agenda:

“Homeaway.com, Inc. v. City of Santa Monica; Airbnb, Inc. v. City of Santa Monica – UCDC Case Nos. 2:16-cv-06641-06641-ODW (AFM), 2:16-cv-06645-ODW (AFM) – (request for amicus support)”

~

“If we are going to turn this country around politically, we need to do well in states like Pennsylvania.” (May 6, Bernie on endorsing a slate of candidates in PA)

(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) and Mayor (2001-2002). He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 12 years. He was elected last November to another 4-year term on the Santa Cruz City Council). Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. De Cinzo’s classic proves that PG&E hasn’t changed much in all these decades. Scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Tunnel Of Peace”  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 “President Idiot” screed.

SIN SISTERS BURLESQUE’S 7TH  YEAR ANNIVERSARY. BrattonOnline webwoman Gunilla Leavitt sent the following.. We (Gunilla, Thomas, Brian and Jeff) religiously attend Sin Sisters Burlesque at Kuumbwa Jazz Center every month. They are a woman-owned, woman-produced, all-inclusive organization, and this next show is their 7 year anniversary. 84 shows, and thousands of dollars given back to the community (they donate 100% of their tips to various local charities – backpacks for kids, Planned Parenthood, you name it). This month, we’re going to celebrate my birthday, which is on Wednesday, May 9. The big show is on Saturday May 12 at Kuumbwa! We’d love to see you, please coma and say hi! If we don’t support local artists and entertainment, we won’t have any :/  Here’s the facebook event page, you can get your tickets online from there.

ASSASSINS. (From the March 21st and April 30 Issues of BrattonOnline)… ASSASSINS, THE MUSICAL…this week!!!  I love musicals, but only the really good ones. Most of my “good ones” have been written by Stephen Sondheim. Those certainly include Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum, Into The Woods, and Sunday In The Park With George. I’ve only seen one production of Assassins, a UCSC student production at Porter College many years ago. It’s so rarely produced that I wanted to urge musical fans and friends to get tickets as soon as they are available. Davis Banta is directing this production at The Mountain Community Theater (MCT) in Ben Lomond at the Park Hall May 4-June 2. The cast comprises both MCT favorites and newcomers to MCT, including Robert Gerbode as John Wilkes Booth, David Jackson as Giuseppe Zangara, Alexander Garrett as Charles Guiteau, Benjamin Canant as Samuel Byck, Brittney Mignano as Sara Jane Moore, Brennan Perry as Leon Czolgosz, John Wasielewski  as John Hinckley Jr., April Bennett as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, Sarah Kauffman as The Balladeer, and Mike Stark as The Proprietor.

If you’re wondering about timeliness, here are some excerpts from a recent review (2017) of assassins. “Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman examine the motivations of the men and women who have killed — or attempted to kill — United States Presidents throughout history. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley and others meet and interact in this revue-style musical. It has mad scenes, melodrama, minstrelsy and vaudeville. Wednesday night, when a character called the Balladeer sang the lyric “Every now and then, the country goes a little wrong,” applause stopped the show for perhaps 20 seconds”.

Still, when Giuseppe Zangara, who tried to kill Franklin D. Roosevelt, calls himself an “American nothing,” or when the nine assassins sing together about “another national anthem” that applies to the likes of them, you may feel, as I did, the rumblings of our unsettled country in your bones. “Assassins” is the report of that unsettlement, and the bang”. Tickets at Brown Paper Tickets. A very rare opportunity.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes this week: “Friends, it’d hard to believe that Death could sneak up on someone as full of life and fun as joy as James Aschbacher. But please join me this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ) in celebrating the huge spirit, gregarious sense of fun, and inspiring artistic legacy of my own Art Boy.” 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.Due to the UC Strike May 8 has a re-play of the April 24 broadcast with Candace Brown discussing the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Dept position and Gayle Yamaguchi-Gleason and Mary Lou Holleman from Santa Cruz Indivisible. May 15 has environmentalist Grey Hayes guesting the entire hour bringing us up to date on nature’s needs. On May 22 Wilma Marcus, George Lober and Rosie King will be reading and discussing poetry and discussing The Hummingbird Press Collective. C.L.U.E. (Coalition for Limiting University Expansion) co-chief John Aird will follow them and talk about UCSC growth, measure U and the June elections. The top winners from the annual Bookshop Santa Cruz Short Story Contest read their works on May 29. On June 12 Students from Maria Pirata’s UCSC class will report on the UC Strike. Then Lisa Sheridan and Robert Morgan talk about Soquel issues. June 19 has Lisa Robinson from the San Lorenzo Valley Museum describing their current exhibits and future plans. Jane Mio discusses our river system and what’s needed to protect it on June 26. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES. ” The White House”

“There’s nothing like white trash at the White House”. Dolly Parton
“The White House is the finest prison in the world”. Harry S Truman
“A white boy that makes C’s in college can make it to the White House”. Chris Rock
“Kennedy invited us into the White House-the first time in the history of the White House picketers had been invited inside. This made front page headlines”.Peter Coyote
“A funny thing happened to me on the way to the White House”.Adlai Stevenson

PACIFIC AVENUE AND SOQUEL CORNER. Circa 1920. That would be New Leaf Market right there in the middle and Forever 21 on the immediate left. You can see that the trolley rails are still in place. I wonder what the political pressure was like back then to rip out those rails?                                                     photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

DATELINE April 30, 2018
SOQUEL’S NISSAN DEALERSHIP NEWS. Nora Hochman called in to bring us all up to date regarding Don Groppetti’s maneuvering to open a Nissan Car Dealership in Soquel at the corner of 41st and Soquel. As Nora says it has 10 billion cars every day from 3pm to 5pm trying to avoid the even heavier traffic on Highway One. Groppetti has bought up all the properties at that corner…that includes the car wash, Kings Wallpaper and Paint, everything except one lot with a house that’s been vacant for 20 years. All of a sudden in a move that Soquel Neighbors say was too swift and too secret the Bored of Supervisors Red Tagged that property and now Groppetti is moving ahead with the Nissan Car lot swiftly. Nora also learned that Don Groppetti personally donated $25,000 to Congressman Devin Nunes. The Daily Beast online newspaper said of Nunes, “Devin Nunes Is the Emblematic Republican Hack of the Trump Era”. More than that five (5) members of Groppetti’s family in 2016 each donated $2700 to Carly Fiorina the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and former GOP presidential contender. What’s with our bored of supes giving this rightwinger guy such property when it could very well support all kinds of beneficial affordable housing ?? More on this issue..stay tuned, and read Becky Steinbruners column this week just a few turns below.

SAVING UCSC’S EAST MEADOW. Just before deadline (April 30) Jim Clifford sent this …

Dear Friends of the Meadow,
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.    Alumni Weekend, that is.  Lots of supportive honks from cars driving by our banners at Hagar and Coolidge (see picture below).  Then a walk, up Hagar along the East Meadow, where the red-wing blackbirds gamboled and sang.  Heartening and inspiring conversations with scores of concerned alumni, many of whom had not known about the plans to build on the meadow, showing how deep the care runs among those with long histories with UCSC and who identify with its core values.  And then there were the staff and administration.  They ranged from those who shared our passion and conviction, telling us that they wholly agreed with our position on the East Meadow and would do whatever they could sub rosa to help us, but also letting us know that they had been pressured by the higher ups to fall into line and voice no dissent (!), to those very higher-ups, who stonewalled us with the administration’s grim and inaccurate fall-back line: development of the East Meadow or no housing.  With some administrators it got even worse.   One higher administrator in University Relations (development) told us, in a tone dripping with condescension, that the anger and outrage among dissenting alumni and among those donors who have pledged to withhold donations would soon pass, and that things would quickly return to the status quo ante.  We got a strong impression that the administration was circling its wagons, tighter and tighter.   No dissent, no discussion.  Not exactly UCSC values.    

These are some of the reasons we’d like to encourage as big a turn-out as we can for the public meetings on the Draft Environmental Impact Report this week (see below for times).  Big numbers, strong and reasoned objections, and a focused message could give the administration a clear sense of the community’s position.  Your comments will need to be brief, and focused on the East Meadow.  We just don’t want the administration to be able to say “we consulted widely and found that the plan was generally welcomed”.  So please attend, and make your voices heard.   

“Once gone, the meadow is gone forever”. 

Sincerely yours, 

Organizing Committee, East Meadow Action Committee, eastmeadowaction.org

Details:

Wednesday, May 2, 2018, 6:30-8:30 PM  
Louden Nelson Center, 301 Center St., Santa Cruz                                                

Thursday, May 3, 5-7 PM   
Hotel Paradox, 611 Ocean St. Santa Cruz. 

If you’d like to read or skim the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), PDF downloads are available on this page.

There is now an on-line method for CONTRIBUTIONS TO EMAC (East Meadow Action Committee)  in support of ongoing legal fees, which are considerable. We are working with an expert environmental lawyer to provide comment on the DEIR, in preparation for possible litigation, See contribution details on our website eastmeadowaction.org . End of EMAC news bulletin.

SOQUEL’S BEER ALLEY. Starting at Carpos Main Street in Soquel has become a lush lane for booze. Neighbors are up in arms over the amount of cars, noise and degradation that it’s become. One irate neighbor sent this…Item 1. 161091 
This is ostensibly for Beer Thirty to operate a restaurant and nursery on the Soquel Farmhouse property at 2590 South Main Street, behind Sunnyside Produce.  But their actual broader plan is for an outdoor beer garden and gaming area that triples the size of their current beer garden at 2540 South Main and will have a total outdoor operation of 5700 square feet! Previously, alcohol has never been permitted on this property.  If approved with their intended hours of operation from 7am to midnight, imagine: a major onslaught of increased traffic in and out of Soquel, intense noise levels from outdoor music and gaming until midnight, and inebriated behavior including likely driving under the influence. The challenges for the well established  Main Street businesses such as Carpo’s, Sunnyside, Fishlady, Michael’s, etc. and their customers will be horrendous in addition to the adverse impacts on the entire surrounding neighborhood with its homes, schools and churches.  There has been plenty of complaint from customers and owners of other businesses on Main Street about the inadequacy and unavailability of parking for these other businesses during the hours when Beer 30 is packed, and in evenings, the complaints have included public urination. The new adjacent location will multiply the problems while further violating the Soquel master plan and adding substantially to the worst traffic in the county! 

Another Soquel neighbor sent this…

This is the website to read the Planning Department Staff Report in advance of the May 4th meeting.

The Soquel Farmhouse people have told the Planning Department they held a community meeting to discuss their plans. In fact, what they held was a closed meeting of their friends and investors. When adjacent business owners attempted to attend, they were told they were “not on the list” and could not enter! But then they represented to Planning Department that it was an open meeting! The Beer 30/Soquel Farmhouse people have behaved like criminals in various negotiations to alleviate the parking problem. I doubt they will adhere to anything they are told to do or not do, since all agreements Beer 30 has made have been broken”. Another email stated

“This new proposed beer-garden location is adjacent to residences and small businesses, and quite close to schools and churches. Like Beer 30, it will be without adequate parking. It violates not only the County Code, but destroys the entire character of the neighborhood. Alcohol has never been served at this new location previously. If this proposed business — to be called ‘Soquel Farmhouse’ — is allowed to open, it will be a very poor planning decision. Lots of folks are worried. The worst traffic anywhere in the county is 3-6 pm any day M-F is in Soquel, caused by all the hundreds of people who try to bypass the Hwy 1 gridlock by driving surface streets through town, continuing onto Soquel Drive through Capitola and Soquel town. Imagine how Friday night bashes at the Soquel Farmhouse will immeasurably add to the congestion!” Those are our neighbors talking …no matter where you live. What we can do is attend the Zoning Administrator Hearing on Friday May 4th at 9am in The Bored of Supervisors Chambers Room 525, at the County Government Center at 701 Ocean Street. 

Mention was made of this issue as SOQUEL UNDER SIEGE. Obviously, it’s best  to attend the meeting to get your opinion on record. Much more is at stake in Soquel Sustainability than 41st Avenue congestion! You can also write to Kathleen Molloy, Planning Director, and to First District Supervisor John Leopold, representing Soquel, and the entire Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Leopold, Friend, Caput, McPherson, Coonerty. County of Santa Cruz Planning Department 701 Ocean Street, 4th Floor, Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060

BARBARA BUSH REVISITED AGAIN. Reader Jeff Hay sent a link to Cindy Sheehans Soap Box. You remember Cindy Sheehan right? USA Today tells us…” Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan had a high profile during the George W. Bush years when her son, a 24-year-old Army specialist, died in a firefight in Iraq. Since then she has largely faded from view even as she has continued to oppose U.S. wars abroad under President Obama”. She titles her missile “Sorry, Not Sorry: Open Letter to Babs Bush” (Ca 2005) by Cindy Sheehan. Go to her “Soapbox”  link http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/2018/04/sorry-not-sorry-open-letter-to-babs.html  to read it and lots more of her opinions…

So the wife of one war criminal and mother of others has died at the very ripe old age of 92–according to the establishment media and political oligarchy, we are supposed to be remembering a “plainspoken political icon” (LA Slimes, April 17, 2018) instead of the Wicked Witch of War Criminals. I think its incumbent upon us in the 99% to recall the devastating remarks she made on Good Morning America on the eve of the war that killed my son: “Why should we hear about body bags and death? It’s not relevant. Why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?”

Or her callous disregard for Katrina refugees: 

Death does not confer respectability on such a privileged and cold-hearted life. She and her killer spouse reportedly played golf the day after their young daughter died from leukemia. This kind of behavior cannot be made up: It’s deplorable and reprehensible. Maybe the death of such a one should not be celebrated, but neither should we weep. The Bush’s wealth and the wealth of the other oligarchs can be proven to be ill-gotten by the exploitation of the rest of us and they should be resented, not worshiped.
The only reason I bring her death up now, is not for the one solitary death of one of the political oligarchy, but because of what she represents: the pinnacle of diseased capitalism and imperialism. Like the indigenous people of the USA said, “We kill one soldier, and 100 others arise.” The ideology of death and destruction that the life of Barbara Bush represented must be vigorously and militantly opposed, but first we have to be real and not pretend to be sad about something we are not, or should not waste our beautiful minds on”. 

JAMES ASCHBACHER’S FINAL PORTRAIT. James Aschbacher, Lisa Jensen and I shared dozens, maybe hundred’s of movie screenings together over the last 40 years. The last time was at the Nickelodeon the Friday before he died (April 20) watching Final Portrait. Jim and I also shared equal opinions that day on Kubrick’s “2001” as one of the best ever films. He’s gone now; the community has been deeply and equally kind and saddened by his loss. What he gave to all of us in terms of art was only surpassed by his wit, positive look at life and his love of Lisa. We’ll owe him forever.

LAST WEEK’S HISTORICAL PHOTO ADDITION. Rick Hyman wrote to let us know more about that photo taken from our wharf seashore area…The photo of the so called “Douglas House” was taken between and 1877 and 1882, not circa 1888. During this time the building in question was the Ocean View House owned by Thomas Varley Johnson. The photo shows a connection between the pictured Power Mill wharf at the foot of Main Street, which passed by the Ocean View House, and the Railroad Wharf. The connection was constructed in 1877 and taken down in 1882. The Powder Mill wharf was also taken down in late 1882 – thus, dating the photo. This building was remodeled in the mid-1880’s and then in 1890 integrated into the Sea Beach Hotel, as a new addition was constructed in front of it”. It’s always great to get “updates” on the photos. Thanks Rick.

April 30th 2018

DAVID & GOLIATH
There are two David and Goliath dramas playing right now in Santa Cruz: UCSC’s plans to cram ten thousand more students into an already overcrowded town and PG&E’s project to cut down thousands of heritage trees near its underground gas transmission lines under the dubious claim for public safety with nary a real-life problem child to present.  David is valiantly eying the stone in both. In one, the city is standing with David in the front lines against Goliath while in the other; the city is handing David’s stone to Goliath.

Understandably the city has to weigh its battles. PG&E is a formidable opponent but so is the UC system. There is little to lose in Measure U, the city’s ballot measure to gauge public sentiment regarding further UCSC growth.  A few cranky bigwigs and some tut-tuts at social functions but no potential lawsuits on the horizon. By contrast, to oppose PG&E and fight its bogus claim that it has the right to trample over CEQA and the local Heritage Tree Ordinance is to court costly legal challenges. So the city has chosen to play along with PG&E, accept its claim to be above environmental law and with cap in hand, has accepted the $10,000 as compensation for the impending heritage tree massacre, some of which has already transpired with much more to come.

Other cities were not so easily bought off.  They fought back. The cities of Concord, Dublin, El Cerrito, Pleasanton, Livermore, Walnut Creek and Town of Danville challenged the claim of PG&E that it could ignore local ordinances and CEQA as summarized in the following quote: “PG&E would have the cities completely disregard their long-standing policies and practices aimed at tree protection and maintenance. The citizens of the cities will not allow their public officials to blatantly shirk their duties as PG&E is asking them to do.” John Bakker, City Attorney, City of Dublin.

By contrast, the city of Santa Cruz with a reputation for environmental leadership not only did not formally challenge PG&E but also allowed the giant company to remove its item from the council agenda where this issue should have received public input and council deliberation. I was there. No one on council questioned that action or moved to have it re-appear at a future council meeting, which it didn’t. Rather, PG&E submitted a later letter to the city manager, ‘memoralizing” its plans for the project. That letter contains some sops to tree concerns most of which have not been honored. Last year, April 26th, the city arborist wrote to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) asking if it agreed with PG&E’s position on vegetation removal. CPUC did not respond until July 12th. Not surprisingly, it concurred with PG&E.

The largest number of the city’s heritage trees grows on private property. They are protected under the Heritage Tree Ordinance to the delight of some and the outrage of others. Chances are good that the trees are in the delighted camp. PG&E won’t disclose how many heritage trees on private property will face the axe. It may be hundreds or thousands. The young Araucaria or Monkey Puzzle tree pictured is one of them.

When 34 trees were suddenly cut down by PG&E without warning to the neighbors on Ocean Street Extension, neighbors took matters into their own hands since the city had tied its hands by accepting the $10,000 PG&E trade-off. Neighbors passed around the hat and hired local environmental firm, Wittwer and Parkin to write a legal opinion to the city. Their legal opinion mirrored that of other city’s attorneys: that PG&E is not above local HTO ordinances or CEQA and pending compliance with both, this unpopular and destructive project should immediately cease.

The letter was sent to the Mayor on April 5th. Curiously it was not immediately delivered to the city attorney but languished for a few days.The city attorney replied on April 12th with a request for more time to carefully review such an important letter. Tick tock…running out the clock. The statute of limitations to file a law suit is fast approaching.

With the city bedding down with Goliath, David needs a bigger stone. Money would buy a lawsuit. Public outrage has brought down bigger giants. It’s humbling that  cities that don’t enjoy our reputation for environmental action have so easily outranked us. Tick tock. No time to waste.

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.

We have a guest columnist, Santa Cruz City council member Sandy Brown. Chris Krohn is off this week.

April 30, 2018

A LOVE LETTER TO SANTA CRUZ, AND A CALL TO ACTION.

Dear BrattonOnline readers: First, thank you for staying tuned in to local politics! I imagine many of you are (like me) feeling as if we are living in the upside-down world so eloquently elucidated by Eduardo Galeano – a world full of injustices, crises, and contradictions. We think about the implications globally, nationally, regionally. And we work for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice wherever we see the need. At the same time we maintain these commitments at the local level. As a city council member, I rely on all of you to be engaged, to keep us honest when we are making critical policy decisions, to remind us of what matters. More on this to follow, after a brief bio.

I first came to Santa Cruz for a college visit, not long after after the Loma Prieta earthquake. The post-quake rains left downtown streets and buildings challenging to navigate. University guides did their best to convince us prospectives that this was the place to be. I did not need much convincing. Sitting, in a muddy median on Pacific Avenue in front of Zachary’s, I decided this was my home. I’ve become a community-labor activist, educator, researcher, agricultural practitioner, and now a policy maker. I credit the progressive community — union leaders, social service providers, environmental activists, and legislators — for allowing me the possibility to pursue all of these roads. At the same time, living here has been challenging. As a social justice activist, I’ve never earned much. I’ve been, and will always be, a renter. I’ve lived in garages (one a two car garage, with one bed and one car, seriously), attics, barns, living rooms, and tiny rooms. I want others who are committed to justice to be able to make the choices I’ve made, and still be able to live here.

These days it seems almost impossible. Almost every day, I talk to renters who don’t know how many months more they can make it. Recently I have helped too many friends pack their belongings into trucks to move elsewhere. On the city council, I have tried my level best to move an agenda that encourages but also requires the preservation and production of affordable housing. With all due respect to city staff, I do not believe that we must accept an “affordable by design” approach to new development or to legalizing units that have been removed from the market (largely as a result of the rental inspection ordinance). Developers should be required to provide twenty-five percent affordable units, either on-site or with an in-lieu fee formula that provides a meaningful investment for affordable projects; we must close the loophole that allows developers to collect ten years of rent before selling, without the affordable requirements required under the city law enacted by city voters almost four decades ago; we must find a way to protect renters from exorbitant rent increases and profit-motivated evictions; and we must pursue revenue measures based on progressive taxation. 

Okay, thanks for reading. It seems that my first attempt at journalism has resulted in a biopic-editorial. It’s because we have serious work to do. There’s so much to say about the library/parking garage, downtown development, ocean street extension, corridors, homeless services and right, and the list goes on. I hope you all will stay in touch about the issues that matter to you. We have to work for democracy in order for democracy to work 

April 30,2018

IS THE NISSAN DEALERSHIP ON 41st AVENUE AND SOQUEL A DONE DEAL WITH THE COUNTY?
The County Planning Commission unanimously approved the Nissan Dealership even though they recognized that the traffic will become even worse at the already-busy 41st Avenue & Soquel Drive intersection, and the Interim Director of Public Works, Mr. Steve Wiesner, admitted the County has no money to install improvements to address the problem in the foreseeable future.  The Commission approved the “Statement of Over-Riding Conditions to allow the owner, Mr. Don Groppetti,  to just do whatever he wants to do, but made a recommendation that the Board of Supervisors do their best to find money to fix this intersection within the next three years.  Wow.

Because of another commitment that morning, I arrived too late to be able to testify.  Had I been able, I would have asked why, in the Findings and Statement of Over-Riding Consideration’s first paragraph of the Introduction, the language uses past-tense  but includes dates in the future?

Specifically, the last sentence of the first paragraph states:

“The Planning Commission held a public hearing on April 25, 2018 and prepared a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors regarding certification of the final EIR and action on the project, and the Board of Supervisors held a public hearing on May 22, 2018 and determined to certify the Final EIR and to approve the requested Project entitlements.”

A Commissioner that I asked about this issue said that is just how those reports are done, but can be changed later to reflect any diversions.  That just does not seem right to me because it makes the documentation seem skewed with intention of shoving the project through.  I suspect that is the intent.

Sadly, the Commission chose to focus on traffic rather than fulfilling public benefit of housing.  How can this happen after so much public input?  The Soquel residents were very clear in their statements to Supervisor John Leopold and then-Director of Public Works John Presleigh at a Soquel Village Traffic Discussion public meeting a couple of years ago that they did NOT want a traffic light at Soquel Drive and Robertson.  Supervisor Leopold stated:  “Okay, we have heard you loud and clear this evening.  There will be NO traffic light installed at Robertson.”  Yet now, adding a traffic light at the Robertson intersection is exactly what Public Works is recommending to mitigate the anticipated traffic problem exacerbated by the Nissan Dealership.  Will Supervisor Leopold support that?

I want to commend Commissioners Lazenby and Shepherd for really questioning the wisdom of adding an auto dealership that will exacerbate problems that are already near-gridlock.  I thought it was amazing that the project was approved, even though the interim-Director of County Public Works, Steve Wiesner, clarified that the mitigations will be paid for by the County taxpayers (it is not feasible for the developer to pay for them all), that the County currently has NO MONEY to do any such project, and that if the County had the money today, it would take three years to get a traffic light installed.  This all reminds me of the ramrod efforts the County used for the Aptos Village Project.

Is the Nissan Dealership a “Done Deal”?  The Board of Supervisors will consider the matter at their May 22 meeting…and of course, at 9am on a Tuesday morning, the working residents of Soquel will all be able to take time off their jobs to attend????

Contact Supervisor John Leopold and/or your District Supervisor: 454-2200 or email them at:

• John Leopold john.leopold@santacruzcounty.us
• Greg Caput greg.caput@santacruzcounty.us
• Ryan Coonerty ryan.coonerty@santacruzcounty.us
• Zach Friend zach.friend@santacruzcounty.us
• Bruce McPhersonbruce.mcpherson@santacruzcounty.us

COUNTY HOUSING ADVISORY COMMISSION WILL HOLD EVENING MEETING TO DISCUSS HOUSING CRISIS AND POSSIBLE NEAR-TERM REGULATORY ACTIONS.
You need to be at this meeting if you care about the quality of life in Santa Cruz County, while weighing in on developer concessions for housing projects.  The County Housing Advisory Commission, which usually meets every other month in mid-afternoons, will meet Wednesday, May 2 at 6pm in the 5th Floor Supervisor Chambers at 701 Ocean Street County Government Building.  The group will hear a staff report by Housing Director Julie Conway and Planning Director Kathy Molloy and make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for action.

The meeting documentation, available for viewing at the Planning Department, and here reads:

“Planning staff recommends that the Housing Advisory Commission send approval of and support for Board of Supervisor approval to initiate the following Near-Term Regulatory Amendments to Support Creation of Affordable Housing:

1. a) Enhanced Density Bonus program (rather than up to 35%, allow for up to 50% bonus)
2. b) Amendments related to farmworker/agricultural employee housing
3. c) Modify fee structures to charge by square foot rather than by unit or by bedroom
4. d) Modify mixed use regulations to allow greater percentage of project square footage to be residential for affordable housing (currently 67% only for 100% affordable projects; 50% for all other mixed use projects)
5. e) Modified Process for Initiation of new R-Combining District Property Rezoning
6. f) Permanent Supportive Housing Overlay District, e.g., Permanent Room Housing (PRH) Combining District”

What does that all mean?  I think the Planning Department is piece-mealing from their Code Modernization changes that were rolled out on May 19, 2015 and for which an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has to be done, along with the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan, but that the Department just can’t get done, much to the chagrin of County Supervisors. 

This violates California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) law.

The Density Bonus issue means that if a developer includes affordable housing in a project, they are allowed to pack in even more units within the building footprint, maybe even allowed smaller setbacks (such as the 18″ setback from the sidewalk that the Aptos Village Project’s townhomes along Cathedral Drive have).  This recommendation would allow a 50% increase in units over normally-accepted County Codes to be crammed into the project footprint, and would probably get a parking requirement waiver as well.

The new R-Combining District rezoning would allow increasing the County’s current allowance for five residential units/acre to 20 units/acre. Here is what Planning Staff is recommending to the Housing Advisory Commission about that big change:

“For sites to be designated under the Regional Housing Need R Combining District, the site must be approved by the Board of Supervisors based on the County’s housing needs.”  “It would be helpful to adopt a code amendment to clarify and streamline the process through which new or substitute R-Combining sites could be proposed and studied.” 

Amendments to the zoning plan or map must undergo a proposed study, processing  and action after environmental review and public hearings before  the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, with action taken by the Supervisors.  “due to the high profile and high-risk nature of these types of rezoning applications, it would greatly assist property owners/applicants to be able to have either the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors either initiate or “concur with initiation” of a new or substitute R-Combining site.  This would allow for some level of public awareness of a possible application, and some acknowledgment by the County that a site is appropriate for study and processing.”  

Then, depending on the Level of Discretionary Review the project gets assigned, there may or may not be any requirement for widespread public notice or public hearings.  (This is what happened with the Aptos Village Project, which was given a Level 4 Discretionary Review rating, so the planner in charge makes all decisions without any requirement for public hearings and only people living within a 300′ radius receive any notification of major project changes.)

The Permanent Supportive Housing issue is also straight from the Code Modernization proposals that would allow permanent housing in hotels/motels when not used for visitor accommodations “due to their outdated and small configurations, and have essentially turned into Single Room Occupancy (SRO) properties with non-transient tenants.”  This could also be applied to nursing homes/convalescent centers that could be changed to affordable housing (but where will the elderly who need assistance go?).  Staff admits this would also help skirt the mixed-use requirement for such density.

The Agricultural  Employee Housing is straight from the proposed Code Modernization plans which would allow housing subdivisions of up to 12 units or 36 beds on agricultural land for workers.  There was no definition of “agricultural workers” or requirement that the tenants of the housing subdivision be employed on the farm where the subdivision would be located.  There was also some question about whether a “Farm Experience Resort” might also qualify for this agricultural worker housing.

The Planning Department projects 75 new ag employee housing units need to be built by 2023 (I am not sure that aligns with the Associated Monterey Bay Area Government, aka AMBAG projections).  Apparently, the Planning Department is forming a “Working Group to include City (all four cities in the County???) and County staff and farmers and landowners interested in developing housing for agricultural workers.”

“Rather than wait for the comprehensive Code Modernization effort, staff believes that since the farmworker/ag employee housing code amendments would relate to the specific stated objective of supporting affordable housing, that the amendments could be processed as part of a “near term” package of code changes.”  WHAT ABOUT MEASURE J’S REQUIREMENT TO PRESERVE AGRICULTURAL LAND???  Maybe that is what Ms. Molloy meant when I asked her why the recent County Housing Element’s annual report and subsequent Board of Supervisor action to adopt regulation changes that ELIMINATED “MEASURE J” from all housing ordinance, she answered: ” We feel there are other ordinances coming that will accomplish this better.”   

So, Supervisor Zach Friend seems to have gotten his way after all when he lobbied two years ago to abolish Measure J completely from the County Ordinances because “Measure J is old and no longer applies to current needs.”  he said.  That’s right, who needs to preserve valuable farm land when we can ship in our food from other places in the world instead and just grow Cannabis on what is left?  I just do not understand why Gary Patton, the former County Supervisor who wrote and helped pass Measure J does not seem concerned about this action, or even has an interest in discussing the matter with the Planning Director, Kathy Molloy.  Yes, I have asked him. Contact County Housing Director Julie Conway julie.conway@santacruzcounty.us   or her aid, Carlos Landaverry carlos.landaverry@santacruzcounty.us  454-2523.  Interestingly, Ms. Conway serves on the Santa Cruz City Planning Commission, too.   Hmmmmm…….

WILL RAISING PROPERTY TAXES MAKE IT EASIER TO AFFORD TO LIVE HERE?
A group called “Affordable Housing Santa Cruz County”, led by Fred Keeley and Don Lane, kicked off their public meetings to discuss their intent to convince the County Board of Supervisors to vote placing a measure on the November ballot to increase property taxes by $29 per $100.000 appraised property value in order to raise an estimated $250,000 (that seems low to me) for affordable housing projects in the County.

It seems like yet another “done deal” on the horizon in terms of the County Board of Supervisors putting this on the November, 2018 ballot.  I attended the April 26 session at the Santa Cruz City Police Station Community Room and video recorded it (see YouTube link that follows this topic’s discussion.)  The audience questioned the wisdom of increasing property taxes that will further drive out local homeowners who are struggling and will require landlords to increase rent for tenants.  Why not a sales tax?   Because there is a cap on how high the total sales tax can be in the County and we are nearly there.  Sheesh. 

As the questions were beginning to get too demanding of factual information, a consultant from Monterey jumped in and diffused the talk with alot of meaningless verbage to take up time, then announced that the meeting would now break up into small groups so that everyone felt comfortable to speak.  Tricky, huh?  But before adjourning the carefully-controlled public meeting, presenter Ms. Nancy Barr stated that “after the Board approves this, there will be more public opportunities for information.”  That sounded like it has already been decided that this WILL be on the ballot, but when I asked Ms. Barr about it, she assured me there are no guarantees the Board will take such action.  I am sure it is already approved behind closed doors, especially since the main organizer, Fred Keeley, still has an office in the County Administrative Officer’s (CAO) domain, which sits one-door-separation from the Board of Supervisor dias. 

How come citizens who want to get a measure on the ballot have to collect thousands of signatures, and are very expensive to get done?

What are your thoughts?  Contact your Supervisor and let him know.  I also would welcome your thoughts: Becky Steinbruner ki6tkb@yahoo.com

Here is a link to the Register-Pajaronian article describing the Affordable Housing Bond Measure

YouTube video link to Affordable Housing Bond Ballot Issue public meeting last week:

Affordable Housing Bond Meeting, Thu. April 26, 2018 (, uploaded 4/29/18)

‘MEASURE “U”.. ON THE JUNE BALLOT FOR SANTA CRUZ CITY VOTERS TO LIMIT UCSC EXPANSION
I attended the public meeting recently at the Santa Cruz City Police Community Room where a number of area government officials (Cynthia Matthews, Chris Krohn, and Ryan Coonerty), area activists (Gary Patton) and UCSC representatives spoke about the need to limit UCSC expansion because of the extreme housing pressure on the Community.  It was organized by a group called C.L.U.E.  (Coalition for Limiting University Expansion) and was very interesting. They are opposed to the UC Regents funneling 28,000 students to the Santa Cruz campus, with the smallest host city in the system.  The group recommends contacting the UC Regents and tell them to cap UCSC enrollment at 19,500 students.  Email or send post to Office of the Secretary and Chief of Staff to the Regents, 1111 Franklin Street, 12th Floor, Oakland, CA   94607.

I video recorded the talk, and will include the YouTube link next week.   Stay tuned for a very interesting June Election Day

Here is a link to information about the group and its efforts

MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY PLAN WOULD LOWER THE BAR FOR PROTECTING THE GROUNDWATER LEVELS IN ORDER TO BE A SUCCESS?
I was disappointed to hear the Advisory Committee say exactly those words during their April 26 monthly meeting at the Santa Cruz County Sheriff Department Community Room.  The reasoning was that if the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) that the group submits and is approved by the State Water Board is too “protective”, and requires measures that may not be able to get accomplished; the State could jump in and take over managing the area’s water systems.  The Committee agreed they did not want that, but seriously discussed making the GSP very easy to accomplish but not really pay much attention to solving the real problem of critical groundwater overdraft.   The Plan, a “living document” could be adjusted by others later to make sure it is really addressing overdraft problems in a feasible way.  Wow.

Some Committee members, such as Mr. Doug Ley (Business Representative) and Mr. Marco Romanini (Central Water District Representative) really questioned the wisdom of not trying too hard to protect the groundwater levels, and also noted the lack of historic monitoring and groundwater level trends.   The talk became somewhat of a finger-pointing session aimed at the “bad actors” in the neighboring Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency and the State Water Board 

The public was not allowed to speak on the issue until most of the discussion was complete.  In the audience was Mr. Dane Mathis, representing the State Department of Water Resources.  The Committee and staff did not include him in their discussion and only asked him one simple question for clarification (that is how I learned who he was). 

After the break, the public was allowed to sign up to speak for 3 minutes on the topic germane.  Several members of  “Water for Santa Cruz County” did speak about the importance of more public input, the ability to get water from Santa Cruz City’s North Coast streams to the MidCounty area and allow over drafted wells there to rest and recover groundwater levels without harming fish in the streams, and urging the Committee to include the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency people in future discussions as well as include the  specialist from the State who was sitting quietly in the audience.  

The facilitator, Mr. Poncelet, thanked the public for comment and announced that the remaining opportunity for public comment that had been scheduled on the agenda would now be ERASED.  I was too stunned to stay any longer…and the smell of  the food on the counter behind me, available for the Committee, was just too much for my growling stomach and brain to tolerate any longer.   I left the meeting in disgust.

Maybe the May 23 meeting will be better.  Maybe the May 17 Board meeting will be better.  Maybe we all need to attend and write letters in advance.  Here is the website link: http://www.midcountygroundwater.org/

If you want to see the March 15, 2018 presentation of the Danish company report about where the salt water/ fresh water interface was last August when the helicopter flew over, you can find it under the “Sustainability Process ” link, under “science & technology” and “Helicopter Surveys”.

Interestingly enough, Mr. Romanini had compiled data from Central Water District files dating back to the 1980’s, and showed that the salt water / fresh water interface (not the same connotation as ‘seawater intrusion’ is it?)  had not changed significantly in 30 years.  Granted, the soils in that area are well-suited to groundwater re-charge by winter rains, according to UCSC scientist Dr. Andy Fisher, but perhaps Soquel Creek Water District is beating an un-necessarily expensive (at least $70 Million) and complicated drum with their PureWater Soquel Project?

Do you want to drink expensive sewage water if there is an alternative, such as buying more water from Central Water District than they already do via an existing inter-tie connection and/or water from the North Coast streams via an already-existing intertie connection with Santa Cruz City Water? 

Maybe those regional intertie systems, along with more stormwater capture ponds in key recharge areas, such as what Dr. Fisher describes, could be the cheaper, less energy-demanding solution?  I found this excellent information on the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency website 

Take a look at www.WaterForSantaCruz.com for some sensible solutions to our area’s water storage problems.

IS THE COUNTY REALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT THE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS ARE DOING?
Last week, after watching the 50+ high water geyser in the Aptos Village Project gush through and pond in the disturbed soils known to have high lead content, I visited the Planning Department Records Room to look at the plans for Buildings #14 and #15 where the problem is located.  This is Pete Testorff and Joe Appenrodt’s separate building project that is blank on the Phase I Final Map approved by the Board of Supervisors December 8, 2015.  Swenson’s Project Manager, Mary Gourlay, insisted recently that those buildings are NOT part of the Aptos Village Project.  Really? 

Well, the plans for those buildings had interesting notes and the added “special requirements: soils and welding”  Hmmm….the soils issue, I understood because of all the contamination, but wondered what the welding issue might be.  I read more carefully and saw that there had been “change orders” approved for welding issues, perhaps not completely inspected at proper times by a qualified engineer?   I also had to wonder why the County-approved plans included welding notes that stated the plans had to be approved by the City of San Jose Building Department???   The planner who is responsible for checking this issue, Ms. Laura Mellish, assured me San Jose is not involved, but I have to wonder….Aptos Village is looking more like San Jose’s Santana Row every day.

Meanwhile, who from the County is overseeing the lack of storm water control over contaminated soils in the Aptos Village Project, and other violations of the Conditions of Approval, such as construction work on weekends?

WILL THE NEW GRANITE WAY WELL IN THE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT PROVIDE WATER FOR THE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPMENT?
At a recent public Rio del Mar Improvement Association meeting, Supervisor Zach Friend said the new Soquel Creek Water District’s Granite Way well, in the Aptos Village Project, is a MONITORING well.  That means it’s just an observation point for the District to monitor salt water/fresh water interface, and not actually pump anything from it.  That was news to me, but would explain why the District drilled the well in December, 2016 and has done nothing more to develop it as a water supply source.  Maybe the fact that the soils are mostly clay and would yield very little water has something to do with it, too.

Getting a parcel of land for a new well was one of the conditions of approval of the new service connections for the Aptos Village Project.  Barry Swenson Builder supposedly requested the parcel be re-located from the center of the development to the current location at the corner of Trout Gulch Road and Cathedral Drive.  That change was approved for the Project in April, 2015.  Having a new well this close to the sea violates the District’s Master Well Plan Goals to move all pumping further inland and connect the four service areas so that various wells near critically over drafted areas could rest. 

So why did Soquel Creek Water District drill this new well 1/2 mile from the sea when they also own land further inland in that area (Quail Run) and are planning to build a new storage tank there?   Curiouser and curiouser…..

RANCHO DEL MAR SHOPPING CENTER REMODEL WILL SOON GUT THE COMERICA BANK BUILDING
At the recent Rio del Mar Improvement Association meeting, Terra Mar Retail Center (TRC) representative Scott Grady described the future improvements for the Rancho del Mar Center work.  By this July, the tenants in the center island building, currently housing Comerica Bank and Fleet Feet, will be gutted and made into eight small shops.   The bank will move to the newly-remodeled area that used to be the Windjammer (near State Park Drive) and “we’re not sure where Fleet Feet will go”  he said. 

The current area under remodel looks like a bomb went off, but the plan is to have that area completed (with the exception of the old theater building) by this July.  The new tenants will include a fitness gym and Pilates yoga center.  Maybe a juice bar?   Maybe a fast food place?

“I will refer to the Theater Building this once, but for the rest of the discussion, it will be called “Building A,” said Mr. Grady.  Well, it was nice to have Aptos Cinema there for all those 40 years.   

Someone asked if the sidewalks would be widened along Soquel Drive to accommodate people walking more?  “TRC will do no improvements at the street.”  Well, I wonder who will????   I smell another taxpayer-funded grant application to the Regional Transportation Commission, but of course, County Public Works will have to finish the gifts of public funds to the Aptos Village Project developers first before getting back in line for more gravy.

COULD IT HAPPEN IN SANTA CRUZ?
The ‘Good Times’ featured an interesting article in the recent April 10 edition about the possibility of wildfire ravaging our area.  I sit in on the Santa Cruz County Fire Safe Council meetings, and attended a recent work session to update the San Mateo-Santa Cruz County Community Wildland Protection Plan (CWPP).  It was interesting to help map the critical resources that need to be protected in the face of unknown weather changes and budgetary whims. Here is a link to that good article.

That made me wonder about yet another proposed property tax initiative that Supervisor Bruce McPherson recently announced to the audience of “Lessons Learned From the Bear Fire” event, organized by the Santa Cruz County Fire Safe Council.  He wants to put that initiative on the November, 2018 ballot. 

What neither the Good Times article nor Supervisor Bruce McPherson talked about is that Santa Cruz County already receives over $17 MILLION annually from a statewide Proposition 172 ‘Public Safety” half-cent sales tax, intended to be split between fire protection and law enforcement.  The problem with Santa Cruz County government is that the Board of Supervisors repeatedly refuses to give any money to the County’s fire protection budget!!!  Only a paltry one-half of one percent goes to the Fire Chiefs Association, passing that money through the County Fire budget to satisfy State requirements.  ALL THE REST OF THE MONEY GOES TO LAW ENFORCEMENT, PROBATION AND THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE.

So, maybe we all need to contact Supervisor Bruce McPherson and ask why he won’t support giving more Prop. 172 taxpayer money to fund better fire protection, instead of slamming yet another property tax on the already-burdened public.

Supervisor Bruce McPherson   454-2200   bruce.mcpherson@santacruzcounty.us

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

FROM GARY A. PATTON  From Gary’s “We Live In A Political World” website…
April 26, 2018
#116 / A Local Newspaper Against Local Control

The picture shows what might happen in Santa Cruz, California if a bill like SB 827 ever became law. This is the bill that would have stripped local communities of their ability to control building heights on any residential property within one-half mile of a transit center, or within one-quarter mile of a transit line that has peak hour service every fifteen minutes. As originally introduced, the bill would have granted developers the right to build to no less than eight-five (85) feet. One might think that a local community newspaper would be on the side of the local community, and in favor of preserving local control over important land use decisions. One might think that efforts by the state government to take that local control away would be denounced and opposed by the local press, since such land use decisions can profoundly affect our residential neighborhoods. 

Not in Santa Cruz!

On Sunday, April 22, 2018, the Santa Cruz Sentinel published an editorial bemoaning the fact that SB 827 had been defeated. Click the link to read what the Sentinel said.  One might also think that a locally elected City Council would have been zealous to protect its ability to make land use decisions on behalf of the local community, and would have resisted an effort at the state level to take such land use authority away.

Not in Santa Cruz!

When SB 827 was brought before the City Council at the request of Mayor David Terrazas, with a request from the Mayor that the Council oppose SB 827, the Council decided to “study” the bill before taking a position. 

My view? 

One of the most important reasons to have local government at all is to empower local officials to make the land use decisions that will shape the character and quality of the local community. Local officials can listen to local residents, and then act to make local land use decisions that reflect what the local community wants. If local officials don’t want to protect local control over the land use decisions that will shape the future of the community, if that isn’t one of their very highest priorities, then I suggest that they are in the wrong job!

Gary 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

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo does a timely take on our youngsters. Scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Signs of our Times” 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 the epic/near epic poem “To Summit Up”

ASSASSINS. From the March 21st Issue of BrattonOnline… ASSASSINS, THE MUSICAL…this week!!!  I love musicals, but only the really good ones. Most of my “good ones” have been written by Stephen Sondheim. Those certainly include Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum, Into The Woods, and Sunday In The Park With George. I’ve only seen one production of Assassins, a UCSC student production at Porter College many years ago. It’s so rarely produced that I wanted to urge musical fans and friends to get tickets as soon as they are available. Davis Banta is directing this production at The Mountain Community Theater (MCT) in Ben Lomond at the Park Hall May 4-June 2. The cast comprises both MCT favorites and newcomers to MCT, including Robert Gerbode as John Wilkes Booth, David Jackson as Giuseppe Zangara, Alexander Garrett as Charles Guiteau, Benjamin Canant as Samuel Byck, Brittney Mignano as Sara Jane Moore, Brennan Perry as Leon Czolgosz, John Wasielewski  as John Hinckley Jr., April Bennett as Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, Sarah Kauffman as The Balladeer, and Mike Stark as The Proprietor.

If you’re wondering about timeliness, here are some excerpts from a recent review (2017) of assassins. “Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman examine the motivations of the men and women who have killed — or attempted to kill — United States Presidents throughout history. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley and others meet and interact in this revue-style musical. It has mad scenes, melodrama, minstrelsy and vaudeville. Wednesday night, when a character called the Balladeer sang the lyric “Every now and then, the country goes a little wrong,” applause stopped the show for perhaps 20 seconds”.

Still, when Giuseppe Zangara, who tried to kill Franklin D. Roosevelt, calls himself an “American nothing,” or when the nine assassins sing together about “another national anthem” that applies to the likes of them, you may feel, as I did, the rumblings of our unsettled country in your bones. “Assassins” is the report of that unsettlement, and the bang”. Tickets at Brown Paper Tickets. A very rare opportunity.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. With the death of her husband James Aschbacher Lisa is taking it easy these days. Send her good wishes and check out her website at Lisa Jensen Online Express ( http://ljo-express.blogspot.com ). Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

FOXTROT. Is simply a wonderful film. It was Israel’s entry into the Oscar best foreign language race. Actually it is an Israeli War drama and it is almost a Greek Tragedy. It deals with death, pain, war, and about what holds a family together. You will not forget this film…it’s that great. Too many surprises and twists to talk about…just go see it. That’s if you like great films.

LEAN ON PETE. Charlie Plummer plays a teen ager who works very hard just to make it through some terribly hard times and I predict he’s going to be a major talent very soon. Set in Portland and continuing Eastward Charlie faces the law, family deaths, Chloe Sevigny  and Steve Zahn are in it too but they don’t get a chance to do their grand and usual acting skills. It’s slow at times but it also develops an achingly tough look at a kid facing the toughest decisions we ever face. Go see it.

AVENGERS: AN INFINITY WAR. I am trying with enormous difficulty to like, enjoy understand Marvel Comics blockbusters. It is an entirely separate category of movies centering on comic books and graphic novels. I came of age reading Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel’s first issues in the early 40’s and still these movies go beyond my comprehension. They are the world’s number one money makers, The special effects, the blood, killings, raccoons piloting  spaceships just fly beyond my senses. One critic stated that there are 73 main characters in this latest chapter. This is apparently a near perfect Marvel Comic blockbuster. You’re on your own here and it’s two and a half hours long.

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE.  Joaquin Phoenix gives one of his best-ever performances is this very tight film. Scottish female director Lynne Ramsey has only made four films, and all are very uncompromising achievements. Phoenix is a veteran tortured by both war memories and childhood nightmares. The film is tight, violent, and breaks many, many film rules…go see it quickly…if you like innovative and new films.

A QUIET PLACE. Whew!!! This earned 97 % on Rotten Tomatoes — and is a genuinely scary movie. It’s well-paced, with fine acting, and Emily Blunt does a perfect believable mother, guardian and victim role. It’s upstate New York sometime in the future, and aliens (much like the Shape of Water Thing with longer legs) have taken over. The monsters attack and kill anything they hear, so everybody has be deathly silent…which makes for great suspense and tension. The kid who plays the deaf child Regan is Millicent Simmonds: she’s genuinely deaf, and she’s fabulous. Go see this IF you love scary movies.

ISLE OF DOGS. This is Wes Anderson’s latest, and I didn’t like it any more than any of his other sideways attempts at new cinema statements. The Royal Tannenbaums, Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, and The Grand Budapest Hotel all not just bored me but left me mystified. Rushmore was a notch up. Isle of Dogs uses cute Japanese-themed names like Kobayashi, Atari, Watanabe, Yoko-ono, and the clever Major Domo. The very famous and excellent Hollywood persons who do the voices are near legendary, but Anderson’s attempt at cleverness, brilliance and just plain story telling once again leaves me very cold and bored.

READY PLAYER ONE. The last video game I remember playing was Atari’s “Pong” back in 1972 or 73 with Manny Santana and John Tuck in “The Med” (Mediterranean Restaurant), next door to Manuels Restaurant on Center Street in Aptos. Video games have evolved since, and this Spielberg  FX extravaganza is all about avatars, time travel, old timey movies, TV shows and memorabilia…and features so much space jumping and time warping that I lost interest after about 15 minutes. It was too much trouble, and besides that it’s set in Columbus, Ohio in 2045. A very large and long and dull film from a director who usually can focus more sharply.

BLACK PANTHER. Like Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman created a lot of good will and empowered women Black Panther does the same for Blacks in America and around the rest of the world. Both are based on comics – DC and Marvel respectively – and are full of violence, killings and special effects. I’m finding it more and more difficult to see these action films with messages like revenge, torture, and blood and guts as having any semblance of cinematic art. Black Panther is science fiction, space travel and still the characters use spears and super hi tech weapons to kill each other. There are messages in this movie so I read…but I sensed nothing positive in it. Now I wonder since this has been such a blockbuster if we’ll see Mexican Panther, Chinese Panther, Croatian Panther? Got beat by …..

TRUTH OR DARE. The full title is Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare, but why Blumhouse would want his name on it is beyond me. Blumhouse also directed “Get Out” so it would seem to matter somehow.. This earned a 15 on RT…so I’m not alone in warning you about this lame excuse for a horror-murder-teen thriller. Teens get offed by some quasi-religious demon while on a spring break — and the acting is just as bad as the plot.

BLOCKERS. It’s billed as a teenage sex comedy, and while it does have the raunchy, crotch, rectal, sex stuff… it’s got ZERO comedy. Lots of the audience howled at it, I was bored and disgusted at what passes for humor nowadays. It’s about parents trying to stop their three daughters from losing their virginity on prom night. Don’t go!!!

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. May 1st has Kathy Bisbee talking about Virtual Reality and its future. After which Valeria Esqueda and Sara Durghalli from UCSC’s Common Ground discuss some of their upcoming events.  May 8 has Julie Thayer relating issues and concerns about PG&E’s latest move against our trees. She’s followed by Jane Mio discussing our river system and what’s needed to protect it. May 12 is KZSC’s Pledge Drive and environmentalist Grey Hayes will guest the entire hour bringing us up to date on nature’s needs. Wilma Marcus, George Lober and Rosie King will be reading and discussing poetry on May 23. C.L.U.E. co-chief John Aird will follow them and talk about UCSC growth and the June elections. The top winners from the annual Bookshop Santa Cruz Short Story Contest read their works on May 29. OR…if you just happen to miss either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens. 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

Who knew?!

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES “PACIFIC OCEAN”

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” Mahatma Gandhi
“The Pacific is my home ocean; I knew it first, grew up on its shore, collected marine animals along the coast. I know its moods, its color, its nature.” John Steinbeck,
“It rolls the mid-most waters of the world, the Indian Ocean and Atlantic being just its arms.” Herman Melville,
“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came.” John F. Kennedy
“Why is it that scuba divers and surfers are some of the strongest advocates of ocean conservation? Because they’ve spent time in and around the ocean, and they’ve personally seen the beauty, the fragility, and even the degradation of our planet’s blue heart.” Sylvia Earle

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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.