COOPER HOUSE CHRISTMAS 1954. Actually this was still our County Court House on December 3, 1954. It even had a lawn. It was our County Court House from 1894-1970 when Max Walden bought it and created the Cooper House. The Cooper House existed until it was destroyed by greed, not the earthquake. The new owner wanted to get the FEMA funds from earthquake funding.                                        photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE December 4, 2017

LOS ANGELES & THANKSGIVING. It was actually fun driving down and up Highway 101 to L.A. (Mar Vista actually) to spend Thanksgiving with both daughters and three grandsons.  The first thing I noticed for miles and miles were the shining, waving fields of plastic covering all the acreage of, first our local strawberries, then going down 101, the huge acreage of wine grapes. What special kind of pollution can that plastic create when it’s time for picking those fruits?? What happens to that plastic…it can’t be re-used! Then again, what follow-up is being done to assure the west coast that the pesticides aren’t killing much more than is necessary?  I wouldn’t swear to this but I don’t think there are any more of those Truck Stop Weigh In stations. Don’t they check for illegal trucking problems anymore? Then on the way back home I found a copy of The Santa Barbara Sentinel! Just a skinny little weekly throw away full of local ads.

UCSC MEMORIES. A fun part of my L.A. trip was getting together with my two nephews Bobby and Larry Cornman. Both of them came here around the 1980’s and went to UCSC. I told them of the 19,600 student enrollment, they were nonplussed. Larry reminded me of the early failure of UCSC when no students wanted to come here, the attendance was so bad that UCSC was almost sold to Oral Roberts Christian University.  Larry also had fond memories of Peter Scott and George Blumenthal way back when he too was in the physics department.         

SPEAKING OF LOCAL PAPERS. Music critic and editor of “Performing Arts Monterey Bay Weekly” Scott McClelland found and sent a detailed explanation of the demise of our Santa Cruz Sentinel and the Monterey Herald. You’ll get their perspective on why Wallace Baine and Don Miller were canned. Yes, much of the problem is what the internet created for advertising possibilities, but there’s a lot more than that. And besides the article is from The Nation so you know it’s true!!!

CRUZIO & $5 RATE HIKE AND PRO NET NEUTRALITY. Being a customer, former marketing adviser, and supporter of CRUZIO since May 1999, I figured Chris Neklason co-owner and co-creator of Cruzio would have some kind of reason for announcing that $5 per month additional charge for us folks who have that “cruzio.com” after our names. And I also wanted to get the “official” Cruzio statement on the scary Net Neutrality issue.  I emailed him , he replied…

“ABOUT THAT $5”
Cruzio is raising the monthly price of our email service to $5 per mailbox. For some people who have previously had free email attached to another service, this represents a significant jump.

Bruce (bratton@cruzio.com) asks a simple question, why the increase? And the simple answer is that email is among our most expensive services to provide. Sending and receiving messages would seem to be a cheap and easy thing to provide, and how many times have I been told that “the cost of machines, of memory, of hard disk space has come way down! Why do you charge X for Y?!”  

The fact of the matter is that email is what our customers call or write us about most. Our customers access their email using a wide array of mail apps from a wide variety of locations across the planet in a wide variety of circumstances. They call with “how do I” questions and our staff walks them through their Mac or Windows email settings or helps them stop their email app from sending the same email over and over again to their new mailing list to the annoyance of all their family or colleagues or helps them find that message from Uncle Joe while they are stuck in an airport in Singapore with a dead laptop.

We hire and train excellent people to answer those questions and help our customers, and our 100% local staff lives in one of the most expensive places on Earth, and for the last 30 years we’ve been undercharging or not charging for email. 

Add to this the fact that unlike the so-called free email providers like Yahoo! and Google, Cruzio customer eyeballs, data and privacy are not for sale to subsidize the email service and customer support, and that’s why the price increase. 

Cruzio customers pay for great customer service. At other providers, it is advertisers, political campaigns and who knows what-all that pay the email provider for you.

Recognizing that some of our customers do not utilize our support staff and will elect to move to a different service or perhaps a free service, we have given months of notice to make sure people have time to find and transition to a new provider.  If any of our email users want to talk to us about the change, we want them to contact us. Our staff is on hand to assist in any way possible. We value you as customers and as neighbors.

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“ABOUT NET NEUTRALITY”
Cruzio is a passionate supporter of Net Neutrality, the principle that ISPs treat all traffic the same, with no discrimination of service based on the source or destination of the traffic.

Along with dozens of other ISPs, we have signed a letter to that effect and presented it to the FCC which is about to reverse the Net Neutrality regulations put in place under the previous administration.

Further, we dispute the stated rationale of the current FCC for changing the regulations and are outraged the FCC is ignoring our input and the input of millions of Americans who have contacted the FCC in support of Net Neutrality.

No matter how the FCC rules, Cruzio remains committed to Net Neutrality. We’re here to provide the fastest and cheapest Internet service possible. No games, no fooling around. 

Learn more about Net Neutrality at the Electronic Frontier Foundation site.

LEE QUARNSTROM AND THE LAST SUPPER. Long time reporter and man around town Lee Quarnstrom writes to say… “Happy Holidays, etc. The photo in your last column of the figures of “The Last Supper” wax sculpture getting a spring cleaning at the old Art League gallery reminds me that I once wrote a story for the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian, Good Times or, most-likely, the San Jose Mercury News, about the installation. I noted that among the baker’s dozen apostles and Jesus, only one, Judas Iscariot, could be said to look prototypically Semitic; the other 12, Jesus and 11 apostles, looked like they had just stepped off a bus full of Norwegian tourists!

ANOTHER “ROUND-ABOUT” AT BAY & HIGH!!! I commute to the UCSC Campus a lot. I’ve never seen a need for it, but there’s going to be a round-a-bout stuck in the intersection of Bay and High Streets. So far there’s been very little positive reactions or results from ANY of the round-a-bouts that have grown around here. Then too speaking of UCSC for another reason that isn’t obvious, they are going to erect a “UCSC STRAIGHT AHEAD” (or something like that) on High Street about a block below Bay. Who thinks up these ideas?

DREAM INN MOVING SILENTLY AHEAD. No big deal hoopla, no heavy PR but the Dream Inn is definitely moving ahead with those development plans for their property across the street. Remember you heard it here first, or second maybe.

BARTZCAK MURAL RE-VISITED. Peter Bartczak sent this email…”thanks for the coverage on the little sleight of hand that the art commission pulled on me. I felt betrayed – I did them a favor to lessen the heat on them for their decision and then they lay part of the blame on me for taking away a popular mural. I think people who were living here and were around when I did the mural love it, but the new crop didn’t live it or love it and it doesn’t mean anything to them.

Also, I was never notified of the unveiling of the new mural, either, even tho I’m on their mailing list.  And I’m sorry; I’m not a big fan of the new mural. I’m curious about what the other two submissions were like……………………..”. Once again we have to wonder why the Santa Cruz Arts Commission felt the need to lie.

LEONARD-ONE MORE TIME. Friends are still trying to remember Leonard the haberdasher’s last name. Leonard ran the haberdashery in the old Cooper House. No one replied the last time I mentioned this…somebody must remember Leonard.

METROPOLITAN OPERA’S JAMES LEVINE’S SAGA. Being a long time opera fan,  the news last Sunday morning that James (they called him Jimmy) Levine, the long time conductor and main star of New York City’s  Metropolitan Opera has more than a decade’s long history of sex abuse with young boys was miserably shocking. The news that Levine’s sex history had been rumored and suspected all that time was equally depressing. The Met fired him just after the news broke out.

“LADY BIRD” MOVIE RECORD BREAKER ON ROTTEN TOMATOES.
This film restored my faith in great films! RT gives it 100% and Lady Bird is now  the highest rated film in RT’s history!!! That means it has more critics and more audiences giving it 100%. Greta Gerwig directed Saorise Ronan and others in this sincere, well thought out movie. A teen aged daughter and her Mom have a terrible, never ending battle over clothes, religion, dating, sex, college and everything. It all happens in Sacramento in about 2003 , which is somehow appropriate. It’s sensitive, subtle, and surprising. Gerwig breaks many directing rules and creates new plot possibilities. Go see this film.

By: Chris Krohn    Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

2017: The Year of Housing Dangerously

What’s New (and Old) This Week

• Spending $80,000 for fencing in Louden Nelson and Star of the Sea Park
• Now we know why Parks and Rec. purchased the humongous F-150 pick-ups!
• Do we really need another “committee” to study housing, post “Mayoral Listening Tour?”
• SC Finance Minister does not, or won’t, get it.
• Ideas, short of a rent freeze, that city council could implement to protect renters and improve our housing situation in the city of Santa Cruz.
• Verbal fireworks abound at “library-garage” community meeting this past Sunday
• Kara Guzman replaces Don Miller as editor of the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Fences Make Good Neighbors?
OMG! Eighty grand. I kid you not. The Parks and Recreation Department (P&R) came forward with a done-deal resolution to fence in Star of the Sea Park and Laurel Park, which is the backside green space side of the Louden Nelson Center. It came to the council big and fat and ripe for a rubber stamp. Meetings were held (with who? “Neighbors.” what neighbors?) and decisions were made, I guess by Mauro Garcia the director of P&R, and he put it on a batting tee before the city council last Tuesday (Yes, the fences were already ordered and construction will start tomorrow. Then he added, almost as an after-thought, …that is if you (the council) pass this resolution approving the funding…) Did I say it will cost upwards to $80,000 for both sites? Will the “wrought-iron fences” do what the neighbors, and Parks and Rec (?) think it will do? ALL persons will still be allowed in the parks during daylight hours. Until we begin funneling the $80k into mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, and shelter space we will likely see more requests for fencing and police for our parks and greenbelt spaces.

Parks and Recreation and Those Enormous Pickups They Purchased
I received a text message last Saturday while marching alongside the mayor and other city councilmembers in the incredibly popular and well-attended Santa Cruz Holiday Parade. (Btw, I counted around 8000 people out in the streets, and I am sure that is a conservative estimate.) It seems that P&R. had a holiday float in the parade. The text said: “It all makes sense now. We needed the Ranger trucks (Ford F-150’s) for the parade.” (They really make a great float!)

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

2017, ‘The Year to Not Do Anything About Housing,’ or, ‘The Build-Baby-Build Group Wins’
After announcing 2017 as “The Year of Housing,” and following dozens of sometimes grueling and tedious and momentous meetings a big thud seemed to hit the city council agenda for Dec. 5th. Many were expecting this meeting to be THE meeting, to actually get something done. You know, vote on some housing ideas and issues, up or down. The Dec. 5th agenda arrived and this is what the housing item stated:

Santa Cruz Voices on Housing:  Fall 2017 Community Engagement Report (CM)

Motion to direct the Mayor to appoint a priority ad-hoc City Council Housing Blueprint Subcommittee to evaluate the ideas, actions and proposals in the Santa Cruz Voices on Housing Report and return with a set of recommendations for Council deliberation by March 27, 2018.

I recently found this definition:

“Committee: a group that individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done.”

Housing Ideas Collected During the “Listening Tour” and Not Yet Acted Upon Because We Need to Take Them to a Committee
Will all the good ideas put forward during the Mayor’s “Year of Housing Listening Tour,” now go to die in a committee? The city council can act on many of the ideas without a committee (of 3 council members? How about a cross-section of 14 community members, which I will advocate.) Right now the Santa Cruz city council can implement real affordable housing measures, like legislating a 25% affordable housing ordinance on every project; offering tenants “just-cause eviction protection” from unscrupulous landlords; commit to placing an initiative on the November ballot to raise the hotel tax by 3% to create a fund for housing and homeless services; implement a vacant homes tax, and even commit to placing a rent control measure on the ballot and let the community decide this issue. I am not holding my breath, but all these measures might be discussed. (Stay tuned because this column goes to bed on Monday’s near noon, so results of the last council meeting are not in yet.)

We Will Be in the Red Until 2024
That is the word from Finance Director, Marcus Pimentel. He and City Manager Martin Bernal are increasingly hard-pressed to explain why deficits in the city budget continue even though city coffers seem flush, there is no hiring freeze, no recession, and people seem to be out in the streets spending money. Their main reason for the deficit: police and fire fighter pensions included in contracts before 2010. So, it will take many retirements until the city (cities all across California to be fair) see a leveling off of revenues versus expenditures. It will take until 2024, in fact. Director Pimentel even brought in the heavy hitters from the accounting firm, Varinek, Trine, Day & Co. LLP, Certified Public Accountants, to explain to councilmembers–he and city manager looking on–that all California cities are in deep doo doo because of the pension agreements they signed in past decades. And if you want to avoid bankruptcy, follow our suggestions on cutting, shaving, and repairing your budget now so we do not have to do open-heart surgery later. Council is pushing back though, not on the veracity of our need to cut, but on what we want to cut and what we want to retain (cut kids programs or capitalize on cost saving through attrition, for example.)

~

Drew Glover (far left) brought a Round-Up ban initiative to the Santa Cruz City Council. The council majority wanted to punt, but then passed a 6-month pilot project that will look at all pesticides used by the city.

Library-Garage Redux?
Stopped in briefly to the Downtown Library Committee’s second to last public meeting last Sunday. Wow! Over a hundred people had been divided up into groups and each group was offering their report-backs to the larger group. What I heard was that virtually no one seemed to want the library paired with the garage, and that several folks said if you have $25 million of public funds for this project why do consultants come back with $30 and $40 million projects? The question of the day: will the city manager and city transportation officials get their garage with a library? Or will they take the garage idea, sever the tie to a library, and go back yet again to the drawing board? This garage concept on the current Farmer’s Market site has been kicked around by city traffic planners for over two decades now. Most of the public present on Sunday seem to believe garages are so 20th century and we need to move into the 21st century. Score one for community organizing! I saw members from the Campaign for Sensible Transportation (CFST), SC4Bernie, Santa Cruz Climate Action Network, and Don’t Bury the Library all present and accounted for and offering Santa Cruz officials Susan Nemitz,  Martin Bernal, and Jim Burr all they could handle.

Newsworthy

• Kara Guzman, a former Santa Cruz Sentinel writer is now the Sentinel’s Executive Editor. (Here  http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20171129/NEWS/171129651) This is news! Does the editor of the Sentinel still have the clout in the community it once had? Of course not, but the paper is still alive and kicking, but unfortunately still owned by hedge fund people who are constantly looking to cut and winnow out whatever dough might be left in this hometown newspaper asset. Many of us who still read the Sentinel welcome Kara Guzman and are hoping for greatness.
• Jake Pierce of the Santa Cruz Good Times gets it pretty right in his recent piece on the forces at work in this city’s housing struggle. Check it out, “Can Santa Cruz Build its Way Out of a Housing Crisis?” Of course, the short answer is, ‘Hell NO!’ But there are forces, usually economic ones (some named in Jake’s article), who will have us believe this and take-down the community with its market-rate supply and demand theories.
• The best day-to-day working journalist in America, and most hard-working–I’ve run into her in Boston, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and New York City–is hands-down, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now (democracynow.org). But possibly the best show on the air that offers consistently in-depth and insightful critiques of the media is Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone’s weekly show, On the Media. This week’s version is a compendium of Fake News, which rightly puts the President as the lead rumor-monger on the fake news circuit. Listen to it now at: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/otm/
• I could not believe it, not only is Bill O’Reilly from Long Island (Levittown), but this week’s New York Times Magazine profile candidate, Sean Hannity, “How Far Will Sean Hannity Go?” has him also from L.I. (Franklin Square). Now, full disclosure, my first 18 years were lived in Nassau County not far from these two infamous Fox News strumpets. No, I’m not proud of that, but Amy Goodman also grew up on Long Island (Bay Shore), so go figure.

Bernie Tweet of the Week
“Mr. President, keep your promises. Today, get on the phone. Tell Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell that you will veto any bill that cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.” (Dec. 3)

~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.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo catches Trump’s Christmas spirit. Scroll below just a bit.

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

SANTA CRUZ BOOK ON SALE. Author Lois Lawson announced she will be selling her book “Growing Up In Santa Cruz” at the Aptos Grange Holiday Vendor Show.  This will be Saturday December 9th from 12-4 PM at the Aptos Grange Hall, 2555 Mar Vista Dr, Aptos, CA 95003. She will also be participating in “Breakfast with Santa” at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz on Saturday December 16 from 9-11 AM.  There will be a full breakfast buffet, cookie decorating, and she will be doing a Christmas story reading from her book.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Watch the superb Frances McDormand battle her way to her next Oscar nomination in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, you don’t have to be an expert on Charles Dickens’ to appreciate the sly gusto with which The Man Who Invented Christmas delivers the holiday cheer! Fun factoid: it’s scripted by Susan Coyne, creator of the cult Canadian TV comedy Slings And Arrows!” 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. December 5 has Michelle Willi ams exec. dir. of the Arts Council of Santa Cruz talking about their new events and looking forward to 2018. Then boat captain Jim Christmann shares some amazing tales from his nearby ocean adventures. Dec.12 has Chayla Fisher and Brandon from UCSC’s Student Environmental Center discussing some serious campus issues, sucas the LRDP. December 19 Ross Gibson returns to talk about his book, “An Architectural Tour of Historic Santa Cruz County”…AND ALSO…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. “DECEMBER”

“Colored lights blink on and off, racing across the green boughs. Their reflections dance across exquisite glass globes and splinter into shards against tinsel thread and garlands of metallic filaments that disappear underneath the other ornaments and finery.
Shadows follow, joyful, laughing sprites.
The tree is rich with potential wonder.
All it needs is a glance from you to come alive.” Vera Nazarian,

“I heard a bird sing in the dark of December. A magical thing. And sweet to remember. We are nearer to Spring than we were in September. I heard a bird sing in the dark of December.” Oliver Herford

“It was snowing. It was always snowing at Christmas. December, in my memory, is white as Lapland, though there were no reindeers. But there were cats.” Dylan Thomas, A Child’s Christmas in Wales

HOLIDAY TOUCH UP TIME. This was taken April 23, 1954 when the ¾ sized Lord’s last Supper wax figure group was still located where The Santa Cruz Arts Council is today. That’s Katherine Strubergh and her daughter doing the touching up. The wax group is now located  in the Santa Cruz Memorial Park and Funeral Home (viewing only by appointment) p.s. She’s not working on Jesus, he’s sitting to the far right we can only see his “severed” right hand. That’s John who’s getting the hairdo. Judas is to the left of John…note that he’s holding a small bag that probably contains those infamous pieces of silver!                                                         photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE November 20, 2017

SCOPE PARK MURAL LIES!!! Peter Bartzcak who painted the original Moonlight Dance p Figures on the Scope Park mural  wrote in a Face Book memo Monday (11/20) …”Just to set the record straight- in the Sentinel article on the unveiling of the new Scope Park mural, the S.C. Arts Commission stated that if I hadn’t given the new mural my blessing, they wouldn’t have replaced the Moon Dance mural. Not true. The decommissioning was presented as a done deal and I decided to be noble and give it my blessing. The commission had been trying to remove my mural since around 2008. Then they were just going to paint the wall battleship grey. A group of local muralists volunteered to freshen it up.” Why in hell’s name  does the Santa Cruz Arts Commission feel the need to lie like this?

WALLACE BAINE GUESSING! I don’t think there has ever been any doubt that Wallace Baine was one of the popular newspaper people ever in Santa Cruz County. He too was surprised at the huge number of Facebook friends who emailed to say they’ll miss him. My mention last week  guessing that he was willingly leaving The Santa Cruz Sentinel to move to  some greener pastures brought many, many emails my way. Most of them say that I missread Wallace’s “farewell” note on FB. Most folks seem convinced that since he got a very generous severance settlement that he was “let go” by the Sentinel management…such as it is. I then emailed Wallace asking him directly if he was canned or left willingly. Many days later, no answer from Wallace. And he has always answered my emails promptly. So the management of The Sentinel once again seems to have cut off their feet in an attempt to save money. Now we should take bets on the future of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. It’ll be much quicker to read it now that Wallace is leaving.

LAST WEEK’S PACIFIC AVENUE PHOTO. “Carey” emailed to say re that early Pacific Avenue photo from last week (scroll down)… “I love that we have a series of photos showing this same view, beginning in 1860. Note that 1891 was the year the horse-drawn streetcar lines were electrified – the tracks had been there since 1875. Bituminous rock paving was installed on Pacific during the 1880s, as can be seen here. The shorter 2-story building past the big awning on the right is the only survivor on that side of the block – now Lulu Carpenter’s”. Your comments are always welcome…bratton@cruzio.com  

IMPEACH TRUMP…MICHAEL MOORE & TOM STEYER. Michael Tierra was kind enough to send this excellent letter…take a minute or two and pass it on (after you’ve signed it). Otherwise what will you tell your kids when they grow up??? Or what you tell your relatives around the Thanksgiving table??

IMPEACH!
by Michael Moore

It is time to remove this dangerous man from office.

I have just signed the “Need To Impeach” petition initiated by Tom Steyer of California. Over two million other Americans have also signed it. And that number keeps growing every hour. We — all of us — must not wait a minute longer to act.

Trump has sent a fleet of our ships into the waters off North Korea in order to provoke the unhinged leader of that country to make the mistake of attacking us. This, plus Trump’s reckless taunts at Kim Jong-un, is being done for one reason: to start some sort of conflict so that America will rally behind him and forget about the impending criminal indictments he, his family and his cohorts now face. He has put us all in danger, and he may get a lot of people killed.

The Founders of this country were worried that, from time to time, we would have a President who would behave in such a manner that would put our nation in jeopardy, or a President who would try to profit off being in office, or a Commander-in-Chief who might not be right in the head (King George III gave them a good example of that). They feared we could end up with a President who might be a traitor to our country. They even knew that we might get stuck with someone who committed not just “high crimes” but also “misdemeanors.” They wanted to make it easy for us to fix a mistake we’ve made.

My friends, we have the most colossal mistake in our history sitting right now in the Oval Office. And there is only one way to rectify it: TRUMP MUST BE IMPEACHED. We can NOT wait until November of 2020 for that to happen. We simply won’t make it til then. The country we know as the United States of America will not be the same after three more years of Trump. You know it and I know it. Turning the TV off and trying to avoid the daily insanity won’t make him go away.

Donald J. Trump has proven himself to be completely unfit for office, a threat to our country and an imminent danger to this world.

He is also not well. He is a malignant narcissist and an active sociopath. Because he holds the codes to, on his own, launch nuclear weapons, he is a singular threat to humanity.

He has no fidelity to this country, to the constitution or to his oath of office.

He tried to coerce the director of the FBI into ending the investigation of him — and when the director wouldn’t, Trump fired him. It’s only a matter of time before he fires the Special Prosecutor.

He has lied about his finances, his campaign’s dealings with Russia and just about everything else that has come out of his mouth. It is stunning to see how many untruths he speaks in a single day (this site keeps track of all of them on a daily basis).

But here’s something even more stunning than Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors:

NOT ONE Democrat in the U.S. Senate has stood on that floor and called for his impeachment! Not one! Rep. Maxine Waters and other members in the House have not been afraid to do so. This morning, Rep. Steve Cohen was joined by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Rep. Al Green, Rep. Marcia Fudge, Rep. John Yarmuth, and Rep. Adriano Espaillat in introducing five Articles of Impeachment against Trump. But no Democrat in the Senate has yet to say this man must be impeached!

This petition I’m asking you to sign isn’t just a challenge to the Republicans to clean house, it is a demand to the Democratic elected officials you and I voted for to DO THEIR JOB. Many of these Democrats have even said they are opposed to impeachment. They need to hear from us! Now! If recent history has proven anything, it’s that Democrats only act when we tell them to.

When you were opposed to George W. Bush getting ready to start a massive war in Iraq (when Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11), the majority of Democratic Senators voted to send us to war. Most didn’t change their votes until the citizenry went to the polls in the Democratic primaries in 2008 and rejected the Democratic candidate for President who had voted FOR the war. These Democratic candidates became anti-war because of YOU.

For decades, when you believed our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters should be able to get married, the establishment Democrats (including the Clintons and Obamas) said NO and used their religion as an excuse to say that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Only when the polls showed that a majority of Americans backed this basic civil right did Democratic leaders begin to “evolve.”?

Although the majority of Americans have favored a single-payer universal health care system for some time — Medicare for All — it took until last month for 16 Democratic Senators to finally back such a bill.

The cautious and often-frightened Democratic leaders will usually, eventually, finally come around and do the right thing. And they do so because they are good at (sooner or later) listening to the will of the people.

That’s why they need to hear from you and me right now. Give them the backbone and support they’re looking for. Sign the Need to Impeach petition and let them see that the majority of us can’t wait any longer to remove this dangerous man from office.

Here’s the link once again. Share it and this letter with your friends and everyone you know who loves this country. Let’s not wait until he gets us in a war to sign this petition. Let’s not wait until he turns another million acres of federal land over to the oil companies. Let’s not wait until he and Betsy DeVos dismantle what’s left of our once-admired-around-the-world public schools. Every day at his EPA, at his ICE headquarters, at his FDA and elsewhere, his cronies are literally taking apart our American way of life, piece by piece — and it will take years to rebuild after all the damage they are doing.

Can you really take one more day of this??

Please, I appeal to you, join with me and millions of your fellow Americans and sign this impeachment petition now: www.needtoimpeach.com

I did. You must.

Thank you for helping to save this country and this planet.

Michael Moore

By: Chris Krohn    Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

BULLET – POINT NEWS

‘Cause That’s What Friends are For…

My friend, the culture czar/bike anarchist/re-use guru/bioneer/heart-person extraordinaire, Grant Wilson mentioned to me last week, “Hey Chris, I like reading your column, but I don’t always have time. Can you make a bullet point version,” he suggested, “like a ‘what happened and what’s going to happen’ kind of piece?” The answer to your query Grant is, yes, I can and here it is, in bullet fashion with some web sites if you want more information. (But, after reading it over, the bullet points are perhaps too long for ‘bullets.’

Full Disclosure: Only one of the following stories was covered in the Santa Cruz Sentinel this past week that I am aware. In fact, I have not been contacted even one time since the election a year ago by Sentinel city council reporter, Jessica York. Housing reporter, Jondi Gumz has emailed me four times. I queried Sandy Brown and she too said the Sentinel has not contacted her this past year. On the other hand, I have had multiple inquiries from at least three Good Times reporters, Georgia Johnson, Jake Pierce, and Ardy Raghian.

Campus Hot SpotThis picture might not look like much until you know what the scene is…this is part of the 22-member Long Range Development Plan, Community Advisory Group (CAG). They were surveying where new campus housing might go in the upper UCSC campus. Those included in the picture from L-R are Melissa Whatley (Government Affairs for UCSC), Sarah Latham (vice chancellor of Business and Administrative Services at UCSC), Ted Benhari, unknown woman, Charles Eadie (former UCSC, SC city, and Watsonville city planner), Gage Dayton (UCSC Site Steward Director), John Aird (Coalition to Limit University Expansion, CLUE), Gary Patton (former SC county supervisor), Lee Butler (SC city planning director), and four other people including SC county supervisor Ryan Coonerty and SC city councilmember Cynthia Mathews.

This Was the Week That Was

• Best thing I participated in, along with Councilmembers Sandy Brown and David Terrazas, was calling in the city code compliance officers and asking them to explain how six UCSC undergrads were put out onto the street because the house they were living in was red-tagged. I think we made some headway for tenants in the area of eviction protection. The council directed the city attorney, Tony Condotti, to come back with an ordinance that would have the city help those evicted when the city acts in the face of landlord violations. With two of the six students telling the council their horrific story about being put out, our code compliance staff would only say that they did everything by the book, which no one in the room was contesting. Because of this ordinance, the city in supporting tenants, could place a lien on the house and sue for expenses incurred. Seems like what city guv should be about, no?! (https://chriskrohn.org/2017/11/15/a-bit-of-relief-for-renters/ )
• Now contrast that to the some not-so-good news to come out of the Nov. 14th city council meeting: The Downtown Recovery Plan Amendments were approved on a 5-2 vote with NO affordable housing provisions that I am aware, while they will allow developers to build up to five and six-stories along the San Lorenzo River on Front Street, from Soquel Avenue to Laurel Street. If you are wondering if this is an OMG pro-growth moment, well…yes, it is. And by the way, a seventy-five- foot hotel width (small boutique style) was changed, first to a 200 feet width and then to NO LIMIT at all. This means that Front Street could have one continuous line of hotels from Soquel to Laurel Street. Yes, unbelievable! This hotel part of the amendment has not been much debated by the community, nor did the city council say much in their discussion on Nov. 14th. The community will have another chance when it comes back to the council on Nov. 28th for the mandated “second reading” of the ordinance.
• The above-mentioned council meeting was quite the affair, even awe-inspiring from a developer-real estate perspective. It literally gave one the sense of who actually wields power in Surf City. THE FAB FIVE “yes” votes clearly understood who’s in control. Somehow Brown and Krohn’s NO vote in the absence of any inclusionary provision just doesn’t “pencil out” for developer-class. Under the same roof touting build-baby-build were Robert Singleton of the Business Council, Developer Owen Lawlor, Casey Beyer of the Chamber of Commerce, the personnel director from Looker was there, Ted Burke of the Shadow Brook restaurant, Developer Craig Rowell, and there was even some cheerleading from former Councilmember Mike Rotkin (“The plan does many things in a synergistic way….” Rotkin said.). Indeed, those developer-real estaters present were all quite pleased that this item passed…high-fives, shoulder slaps and big grin$. More Santa Cruz seed corn sold. Check.

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The lowest-paid worker for the city of Santa Cruz will get a less than hefty raise on January 1st. The wage will go from $10.71 to $11.00. So, while the lowest paid worker was making 21 cents over last year’s $10.50 minimum wage, next year they will be making exactly the eleven-dollar minimum. Something does not seem right here. Bernie Sanders’ “fight for $15” needs to begin right here at home.
The city’s Public Works department will be spending $1,244,822 in purchasing four non-hybrid garbage trucks. Seems first generation hybrids were good, but not second generation, according to PW director, Mark Dettle. So, we wait for the third generation, I guess?
The city’s Cannabis Ordinance passed with flying colors on its second reading on Nov. 14th, so it is now law. It will go into effect on January 1, 2018 and it appears that long-serving and long-suffering local medicinal supplier, WAMM, will be first in line for a permit. The only contention among councilmembers was raising the current 7% city tax one more percentage point, to 8%. That extra one percent would go to fund “children’s programs” in Santa Cruz. Councilmember Cynthia Mathews vehemently opposed the increase. She preferred it be decided at a future time and to be dedicated to help fund the city’s $2.4 million deficit. Mathews was out-voted. Richelle Noroyan and Cynthia Chase were with her in the debate, but not on the final vote. The vote was 6-1 to dedicate 1% to the children with Mathews holding to her principles, and I admire that.
The SC4Bernie meeting was attended by 35 people who were word-smithing the future of the Bernie movement, something that fit in “justice,” “equality,” “advocacy,” “nurturing,” “promoting a healthy planet…” Good stuff like that. Stay tuned on what the final brand will be. I am mightily impressed that this group is trying to architect a future that includes working on issues of social justice, labor, single-payer healthcare, realizing a progressive city council majority in Santa Cruz, and forming coalitions with other like-minded groups throughout Santa Cruz County.
The People’s Democratic Party quizzed new Police Chief, Andy Mills on keeping the BearCat Tank, further militarization of SCPD, and homelessness and camping in San Lorenzo Park and other places in town. I believe the group came away believing Mills was someone they could work with on these issues.
The big meeting of the week was the city’s formatted, perhaps somewhat canned and uber-scripted, “City Hall to You.” It was held at the Bible Church on the eastside on Frederick Street. The fireworks centered around the “Corridors Plan” (what else!?) and affordable housing. City staff present wanted to talk about other things, but the large group was having none of it. Not wanting to be shut out by the 3 by 5 cards, many residents were forced to shout questions and comments from the audience. Only Mayor Cynthia Chase, City Manager Martin Bernal, and Planning Director Lee Butler had a firm grip on the microphone and were not willing to give that up. While the Police Chief entered like a rock star, quite comfortable addressing the over 200 neighbors present, it was the long-time staff who appeared uncomfortable and not ready for prime-time. While SCPD’s Mills leveled with residents about his plan for not ticketing homeless campers and allowing them to sleep temporarily in San Lorenzo Park, other city staff–affordable housing “guru,” Carol Berg and senior planner, Ron Powers–seemed to obfuscate issues and shy away from what those present wanted to hear about, namely how the Corridors Plan will be killed. Everyone, whether they agreed or not with the PD Chief, appreciated his straightforward and down-to-earth attitude. Other city staff members seem to want to anticipate how residents might hear their words, so they hem and haw and back off on sharing with them the realities of city planning, second home buyers, university growth, high rents, and affordable housing. There was trouble on the eastside of Santa Cruz last week and it’s not going away anytime soon.
Many talk about “food deserts,” but we have a real local “news desert” here in Surf City. I advocate all of you to send BrattonOnline (bratton@cruzio.com) your news items and we will try to follow-up and report on them. News in the new millennium has become much more of a collective endeavor, but with mixed results. “Fake News” abounds, but so does real on the ground information at the airport, conditions on 17, real-time video from around the corner or around the world of breaking news. We do not have to rely on the networks as much now, but we have to keep our eyes wide open and use the multiple sources that do exist–alternative and mainstream–in order to stay informed. Read wisely my friends!

News Flash!—–Go To: www.ChrisKrohn.org/ for updates on city council business!

Bernie Tweet of the Week
“If we are going to stop Republicans from taking health care from millions and slashing Medicare to give tax cuts to the wealthy and large corporations, NOW is the time to stand up and fight back.” (Nov.16)

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.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Check out DeCinzo’s view of “Selective Timbering” just a scrowl or two below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Irritable Bowel 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.

HIDDEN VALLEY STRING ORCHESTRA CONCERT. Sunday December 3. 2017
Sixteen of Northern California’s finest string players will play; Claude Debussy ~ Clair de Lune, Manuel Ponce ~ Estampes Nocturnas and Arnold Schoenberg ~ Verklärte Nacht.

In the early tradition, the orchestra will perform without a conductor. Prepared under the direction of Stewart Robertson, performances will be led by concertmaster, Roy Malan. Comprising sixteen of Northern California’s most talented and accomplished string players, the String Orchestra of Hidden Valley debuted to acclaim in November 2014.  Lyn Bronson of Peninsula Reviews  said of the String Orchestra’s debut, “A gorgeous performance. Every section . . . a perfect jewel.”
The doors open 30 minutes before the performance. Wine and cheese receptions with the musicians will immediately follow the performance., which happens Sunday, December 3, 3:00pm Peace United Church 900 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Tickets probably at the door or are available online, by telephone at (831) 659-3115 or by mail.  Send your check addressed to Hidden Valley Music Seminars, Post Office Box 116, Carmel Valley, California 93924.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “What happens when indie film darling Greta Gerwig steps behind the camera as writer/director on Lady Bird? Find out the happy results, along with a few other surprises, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, how do you plan to resist Black Friday? Here are some ideas to consider!” 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. November 21 author and political scientist Jill Cody talks about her book, “America Abandoned”. Following Jill will be Rick Longinotti talking about libraries, highways, and plenty more hot issues. The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. December 5 has Michelle Williams exec. dir. of the Arts Council of Santa Cruz talking about their new events and looking forward to 2018. Then boat captain Jim Christmann shares some amazing tales from his nearby ocean adventures. Dec.12 has Chayla Fisher and Brandon from UCSC’s Student Environmental Center discussing some serious campus issues, sucas the LRDP. December 19 Ross Gibson returns to talk about his book, “An Architectural Tour of Historic Santa Cruz County”…AND ALSO…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.     “THANKSGIVING”
“If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share”,  W. Clement Stone
“An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day”, Irv Kupcinet
“My cooking is so bad my kids thought Thanksgiving was to commemorate Pearl Harbor”, Phyllis Diller

DOWNTOWN SANTA CRUZ circa 1894. The tracks shown here would be 100% effective and great if only THAT city council had left them in. The tracks were installed in 1891. It’s odd but Pacific Avenue looks narrower in this historic photo. As usual in these photos you can see the Town Clock atop the Odd Fellows Building just to the right of that five tiered phone pole. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

Dateline November 13, 2017

THE EVILS OF PG&E plus PUC. I’m betting there’s few — if any— even half-informed Californians who trust our Public Utilities Commission. It was formed in 1915, our governors appoint the board members, and we’ve watched as they give minor spankings to Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) over flagrant and criminal deeds. This time PG&E is asking the PUC to make us customers pay higher monthly bills to cover the costs of the wine country fires that their equipment caused. We’ve heard and wondered and sworn at those board choices, and their business connections and credentials…and still state disasters continue, and virtually nothing is done about changing public utilities rules and laws. PG&E is again being allowed to string pole-to-pole wiring throughout timber country…and we are only now learning the true price to both the environment and humans from the wine country fires. Locally, (20 years ago) when I was president of the Rural Bonny Doon Association, PG&E  stated they were going to replace the rotting phone/electrical lines…we worked and swore at them to place the lines underground. It’s cheaper and obviously safer to have underground lines, because there’s a fraction of upkeep needed — and it removes the need for tree trimming. We put together petitions, letters, meetings…PG&E wouldn’t do it. They said it wouldn’t “pencil out”. As we see, that’s how the PUC has seen fit to allow them to get away with it all these years. We need a politician or two, or a majority, to “legalize” both PG&E and the PUC. Got any ideas? The Chronicle had an article stating some of the above gripes and further noted… “PG&E functions as an investor-owned business. Even though it is often termed a public utility, it is managed as a private enterprise and is not a government entity or public cooperative. PG&E has a market capitalization of about $29.37 billion”.

CHECKING YOUR DOCTOR’S RECORDS. I just learned that you can check your Doctor’s records for issues like malpractice. First, go here to the Medical Board of California…then on the lower left click on the “Quick Physicians Name Search”. You can go get their listed records…such as malpractice, court orders misdemeanors All my Docs passed 100%. I hope yours do too.

WALLACE BAINE AND DUNKIN DONUTS. All of us were negatively surprised I’m sure by  Wallace Baine announcing that he’s leaving the Santa Cruz Sentinel. All those decades, all those words and events. Not a lot of well known and well read names left at the old Sentinel, is there?  What everybody’s guessing at is where Wallace will go next? He said he’s not leaving the area…we should have a guessing contest. Look at the Sentinel lately. Note the front page photo covering the opening of Dunkin Donuts. Is that where Santa Cruz really has become? Front Page & Dunkin Donuts??? What kind of newspaper does that? Then there’s the almost confirmed rumors of terrible management change and more nutsy editorial decisions. I’d leave the Sentinel too if I were Wallace.

ALDO GIACCHINO ABOUT HOUSING. Last Sunday’s (11/12) Santa Cruz Sentinel had a column by long time friend Aldo Giacchino. It lays out the Santa Cruz housing problem better than anything I’ve seen or heard read it at least twice then get the City Council to commit it to memory. Sentinel credits say… Aldo Giacchino is a Santa Cruz resident, a retired city planner, and a retired health care facilities planner and business manager.

OUTSIDE SOURCES INFLUENCE OUR HOUSING DEMAND. By Aldo Giacchino

The community disquisition about housing that is currently underway has highlighted quite well the unavailability of low and moderate cost housing.

The misguided solution that has been put forth is that if we build a lot of new housing, prices/rents will come down. The city bureaucracy has jumped on this bandwagon, enthusiastically promoting higher densities and the construction of thousands of units in six- to seven story buildings. The city’s motivation, however, is stimulated mostly by the growing city deficit which is caused by somewhat static tax revenues while operating costs increase at a much faster pace. The single solution that council and staff are promoting is that the new housing will bring more net revenue. But this is a fallacy that requires some sober analysis.

Housing demand in Santa Cruz is generated, mostly, by outside sources such as students rotating through UCSC, young professionals from Silicon Valley seeking lower prices, and by second home part-timers from a wide area. Much of this demand is bolstered by the city’s appeal as a small coastal town and the quest for relief from an overly dense and overly expensive Silicon Valley. These factors are of such magnitude that there is no amount of housing density and market- rate construction increase that will reduce demand or prices. With what is going on in the densification of Silicon Valley, the demand spillover into Santa Cruz will continue, no matter how much we build. Another part of the overall demand is the local component of low and moderate income workers who are needed to provide services to us all. No amount of market-rate housing is going to help to these people: they need subsidized housing.

With such intense demand, the proposed “build baby, build” solution will be futile. It will not reduce housing costs and will adversely impact the livability rating of Santa Cruz.

The transportation, circulation and mobility infrastructure, which is already grossly inadequate, will be severely over capacity. Developers will be the only beneficiaries of such policy. The rest of us will get more gridlock and continuing rises in home prices and rents. The fact is that new housing does not generate enough municipal revenue to match the increased cost of extending services to the new housing. City expenditure growth is driven mostly by ever-rising employee costs (65 percent of all general fund expenditures), while growth in the primary revenue sources (real estate taxes and sales taxes) is severely restricted by Proposition 13 and by the switch to internet commerce.

For sure, new housing will increase tax revenue at first, as it comes on line, but the predominance of inelastic tax revenue sources cannot sustain the ever increasing municipal costs. There will be no net gain.

Different strategies are needed. Housing for low and moderate income workers requires local/ state subsidies and must have a mandatory requirement that each new market- rate housing development include 30 percent- 40 percent units for low and middle income workers. The city deficit problem requires expense reductions and also the increase of revenue sources to pay for the growing cost and quantity of city services.

Building more market rate housing will only increase the severity of the city’s financial problems and, through increased congestion, will certainly bring about a steep decline in the livable qualities of the city. As the business saying goes, when a product produces continuing net losses, you cannot make it up in volume.

Housing demand in Santa Cruz is generated, mostly, by outside sources such as students rotating through UCSC, young professionals from Silicon Valley seeking lower prices, and by second home part timers from a wide area.

Much of this demand is bolstered by the city’s appeal as a small coastal town and the quest for relief from an overly dense and overly expensive Silicon Valley.

WHO KNOWS LEONARD THE HABERDASHER? Long or old timers from Santa Cruz must remember Leonard and the Haberdashery he ran upstairs at the old Cooperhouse. That’s assuming you remember the Cooperhouse! A friend and I got to talking about those days and neither of us could remember Leonard’s last name…anybody in readerland remember his last name? email me as always at bratton@cruzio.com.

By: Chris Krohn    Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

THIS WEEK ON THE CITY COUNCIL:an insider’s report to more meetings

So, You Want Political?!
Wow, what a political week it was! You’d never know it by reading our print media, Santa Cruz Sentinel and Good Times, even though they both did yeoman’s work on reporting out about homeless-houseless sleeping in the San Lorenzo Park Benchlands. There are simply more news-worthy issues happening than they can currently cover. Both Jessica York [here] and Jondi Gumz [here] wrote insightful stories for the Sentinel on camping and UCSC students being evicted in Santa Cruz, respectively. The Good Times’ Andrea Patton got a cover story titled, “Homeless Camp in San Lorenz Park Stirs Controversy, Hope.” It was well-researched and contained some key information about the link between the dire housing and ongoing homeless-houseless conundrum in Surf City. But, in the recent past, say 1975-2005, there were at times three, or four weeklies, and the Sentinel had a whopping 15 or more reporters (now down to four, I hear).

Frankly, an awful lot of stuff does not get reported on in this city. Trees are indeed falling everywhere, and the forest is lacking journalism resources. Perhaps we are in transition to the Twitter-verse, Snapchat, and Facebook future, and it continues to be a continuing challenge to get the word out about what’s happening down at city hall. How are those supposedly in charge actually spending your $225 million dollars that passes as the city budget?

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings
I know, if you follow this column I’ve used that sub-head before, but this job is a lot about meetings and this week was no different. There were four in fact, at the University alone. All were about housing.

Unacceptable! Pave paradise and put up 79 condos with NO affordable ones. Not only is Swenson Builder about to do that, they now have completely taken the entire sidewalk on upper Cedar Street (across from Cafe Bene) and took out a #10 bus stop as well. I am still asking, what is the public benefit that the public is getting from this Swenson project on the site of the old Bookshop SC? Please don’t cut the Great Walnut Tree too…

First, the developers of UCSC’s Housing West, you know the 3000-bed project that’s actually 2300 beds when they put back all the beds that are now in study lounges, triples into quadruples and doubles into triples situations…yeah, that project. They invited students to “share” what they would like to see. There was a strong presence of Orwellian linguistic gymnastics at the meeting. “We are analyzing sustainability…integrating the project into the campus ethos (at 3000 beds!)…it will be seamless…a hub…and clusters…spaces that mimic the library…” Of course, they never once talked about the main topic on everyone’s mind: $$ HOW MUCH $$$?What I also saw was a developer hamstrung by a reduced building envelope—now only being able to build on the highly successful and popular “Family Student Housing” footprint, and trying really hard to come off as least corporate as possible. They even let out that they would be lowering the number of units for student families (bad idea!) from the current 199 units to 125. One current family housing invitee said to me afterwards, “Why would you ever take down perfectly good housing when we are in the middle of a housing crisis? It’s my home they are talking about.”

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Meeting number two at UCSC was with the Student Union Assembly (SUA) president, Max Jimenez. What a breath of fresh air she is. Max Jimenez got into her current elected office job not as a resume-builder, but to actually get something done and make a difference.(Let’s hear it for Community Studies majors!) I am confident she is the right person to be speaking truth to power for UCSC’s burgeoning student body. She’s sharp and she’s been tough on the current administration and I applaud that. Jimenez knows that students are not getting what they deserve. Transportation is maxed out, housing, not a disaster waiting to happen, but happening, while the information flow between the administration and student body is very limited. This is not a good recipe for a university founded on the Cambridge model of “learning in a community of scholars.” Go Max Jimenez!

Meeting number three was watching twenty undergrads grill, or try to, our Mayor. It was a part of Mayor Cynthia Chase’s “Listening Tour” on housing. She stopped by the city on a hill and found discontent this past week. Students let her know what was on their mind. The group was among the most informed on campus and placed several practical solutions on the table in front of ‘Da Mayor. These included an immediate rent freeze, a rent control ballot initiative, decriminalizing homelessness, and allowing the effective Mental Health Client Action Network (MHCAN) on Cayuga Street to expand beyond its current permitted 20 hours per week. They also said the council should repeal Costa-Hawkins, which currently severely limits rent control in California, fund electric buses, and “have a good conversation with TAPS (Transportation and Parking Services at UCSC)” about working together with Metro service on and off-campus. Some also said strengthen the inclusionary housing rule, while someone said we should “require all developments to be 100% affordable.” You got the feeling these students really did their homework.

Meeting number four was with the SEC, the Student Environmental Center, which is making a strong pitch to get students involved in the housing crisis that’s unfolding on and off-campus. The same SUA president, Max Jimenez addressed a rapt audience of some 75 undergrads and graduate students for at least 40 minutes. She gave them an earful about the lack of transparency she experiences in meetings with the likes of Susan Latham the Business and Administrative Services Vice Chancellor, and even UC president, Janet Napolitano who meets with SUA presidents from all ten campuses once each quarter. Jimenez said that some of them even want me to sign non-disclosure agreements. “I live in Kresge. I consider the university my landlord.” Jimenez continued, “When I meet with other SUA presidents I say, maybe y’all can’t take more students, but we really can’t take more students!” The students are worried that the new bed space mirrors the process of some kind of campus urban renewal. Knock down family student housing and build six-story dorms with pool tables and food lounges. “It just sounds a lot like gentrification,” Jimenez said.

Long story short, students understand that the UC administration’s status quo approach on housing is failing them. Insufficient bed space and skyrocketing dorm rents are pricing students out of on-campus housing (currently $1700 per month), making the university by far the largest “bad actor” landlord in Santa Cruz. Stay tuned for more on student organizing and thoughts on how we can support them.

Tours
Last Monday, I was part of an eye-opening tour of our city water facilities. Councilmembers Sandy Brown and Martine Watkins were all along with the H2O department’s director, Rosemary Menard, and her watershed manager (and chief environmental officer), Chris Berry. It was quite the experience! From the Locust Street main office to the River Street “water main replacement project,” and on up to the Coast Pump Station, Bay Street Reservoir, North Coast Pipeline (Little Baldwin Creek), Laguna Diversion along Highway 1 south of Davenport, and all the way to the Newell Creek Dam up towards Bonny Doon and then onto the Loch Lomond Reservoir…wow, mind blowing! It was a feast for the thirsty, the environmentalist, and those skeptical, like me, of city services. On this latter point I felt a lot better afterwards knowing that we have some very hardworking and capable city staff in our water department.

On Tuesday, it was on to the Los Gatos Library with almost a full council, the Downtown Library Advisory Committee (DLAC), city manager Martin Bernal, and the library director, Susan Nemitz all came along on the bus. Nice library up there in Los Gatos, and perhaps more importantly for many readers of this column, there was NO parking garage attached to this very glassy, open, ample and architecturally modern library. Outside I saw bearded-looking techies seated on benches huddled over their laptops waiting for the library to open. There were two outdoor “reading gardens,” delightfully-styled hanging lights, stained glass portals, a separate teen and children’s area, and a “lap top computer checkout station.”

The Los Gatos library was built in 2012 for around $22 million. It is a 30,000 square-foot, two-story Leeds Gold (not platinum) building. The DLAC is currently working on what recommendations to send to the Santa Cruz city council concerning size (currently 44,000 square feet), should it be a remodel or part of a much-talked about parking garage on the site of the current farmer’s market at the corner of Lincoln and Cedar streets. The market would move over to Front Street, behind Kianti’s.

Bernie Tweet of the Week
“The Paradise Papers make clear that we need, in the United States and throughout the world, a tax system which is fair, progressive and transparent.” (Nov. 13)

~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).

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo “flies low” over San Jose…see downwards a few pages.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Gun Control” 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 Thursday, November 16 from 12:10-12:50 at the Santa Cruz Public Library Downtown Branch in the upstairs Meeting Room Carol Panofsky on  recorder and Ann Thiermann at the piano will play Sonata in G minor, op. 1, No. 2 by

George Frideric Handel. Then they’ll play Sonate F-Dur, TWV 41:F 2 by Georg Philipp Telemann. Following those two will be Sarabande from Partita BWV 1013 by none other than

Johann Sebastien Bach. The last piece will be  Sonata in G minor H.524.5 by good old Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. It’s free and get there early because there aren’t that many seats.

BERTHOLD BRECHT AT UCSC. The rarely performed “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui”
Will be performed Friday, November 10, 2017 to Sunday, November 19, 2017 at the Mainstage Theater (UCSC). It’s being presented by: the Theater Arts Department. Their web page says…Bertolt Brecht’s witty satire, in which notorious gangster Arturo Ui bullies his way to dominance over 1930s Chicago, comes to the stage in this biting satire of Hitler’s rise to power. Drawing inspiration from classic Hollywood icons such as James Cagney, Paul Muni, and Edward G. Robinson, this comedy by Bertolt Brecht warns of what happens when a vain and violent fear monger is allowed to go unchecked. With a live band, projected film clips, and the witty language of Jennifer Wise’s fresh translation, faculty director Erik Pearson brings a modern twist to this timeless call for resistance.  November 10-19, 2017 Thursday-Saturday at 7:30PM Sundays at 3:00PM Talk-backs after both Saturday performances
General admissionTickets on sale at UCSCtickets.com. We talked about the play on Universal Grapevine. Brecht pretty much linked and compared Hitler with Al Capone. This production adds Donald Trump to that group. Don’t miss it.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “It’s not Hugo, but find out why I think Wonderstruck, the new movie based on another eccentric Brian Selznick book, still scores points for tolerance and visual style, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, get in the seasonal spirit with my new favorite holiday movie trailer!” 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. November 14 is KZSCs PLEDGE DRIVE night and historian Ross Gibson will keep us up to date on what old news is new!  November 21 author and political scientist Jill Cody talks about her book, “America Abandoned”. Following Jill will be Rick Longinotti talking about libraries, highways, and plenty more hot issues. The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. December 5 has Michelle Williams exec. dir. of the Arts Council of Santa Cruz talking about their new events and looking forward to 2018. Then boat captain Jim Christmann shares some amazing tales from his nearby ocean adventures.Dec.12 has Chayla Fisher from UCSC’s Student Environmental Center discussing some serious campus issues, sucas the LRDP. AND ALSO…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

QUOTES. “FOREST FIRES”
“But clouds bellied out in the sultry heat, the sky cracked open with a crimson gash, spewed flame-and the ancient forest began to smoke. By morning there was a mass of booming, fiery tongues, a hissing, crashing, howling all around, half the sky black with smoke, and the bloodied sun just barely visible.

And what can little men do with their spades, ditches, and pails? The forest is no more, it was devoured by fire: stumps and ash. Perhaps illimitable fields will be plowed here one day, perhaps some new, unheard-of wheat will ripen here and men from Arkansas with shaven faces will weigh in their palms the heavy golden grain. Or perhaps a city will grow up-alive with ringing sound and motion, all stone and crystal and iron-and winged men will come here flying over seas and mountains from all ends of the world. But never again the forest, never again the blue winter silence and the golden silence of summer. And only the tellers of tales will speak in many-colored patterned words about what had been, about wolves and bears and stately green-coated century-old grandfathers, about old Russia; they will speak about all this to us who have seen it with our own eyes ten years – a hundred years! – ago, and to those others, the winged ones, who will come in a hundred years to listen and to marvel at it all as at a fairy tale. (“In Old Russia”)”
? Yevgeny Zamyatin, The Dragon: Fifteen Stories

“She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful”, Neil Gaiman

DESTROYING OUR SANTA CRUZ CITY LIBRARY. Andrew Carnegie funded 1689 classic public libraries around the USA; Santa Cruz’s beautiful library was one of them. On September 12, 1966 that City Council gave permission to destroy this historic building. You can see Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church which still stands across Church Street from the library. That church used to be a funeral home. I’m betting (on this Monday Nov. 6, 2017) that this week our present developer-loving City Council will vote 5-2 to tear down our present library and vote for the parking garage-library 5 floor cement monster.                                                         photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE November 6, 2017

HALLOWEEN IN SANTA CRUZ. An absolutely magnificent civic celebration. One we should all be proud of. Thousands roaming Pacific Avenue from about 1 pm onward. (Too bad they had to put the temporary jail/holding tank, and the Watsonville Police van, right in the middle of Cooper Street). Also good news is there weren’t the usual number of arrests, which that proves something. Now what we need is for Santa Cruz Downtown Association— maybe partnering with the Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Cruz Business Council— to have a Halloween Costume Contest, like we used to. Judges, a raised platform, some music and great prizes from area stores would make a grand addition to the vanishing sense of community, and add to the family fun we saw this Halloween. Remember the great Good Times Halloween Parties at the Coconut Grove; remember the huge celebrations at the Catalyst…again with great prizes and hundreds of happy celebrators? I remember them like it was yesterday. Maybe next year??

IMPEACH TRUMP PETITION. We’ve all read about Tom Steyer’s petition to IMPEACH TRUMP. Just make sure you too have signed it. You don’t want to feel embarrassed when he’s impeached and your grandchildren ask if you helped get that monster out of office!!! Here’s the link. It’ll take about 37 seconds: https://action.needtoimpeach.com/act?sc=ema_s

HELL ON A HILL. Latest rumors and a few messages scrawled here and there say that all the new construction planned for UCSC — and the adding of 3000 beds — is for allowing MORE students to come to campus…not to handle the sad, near-evil crowded conditions the present students have to deal with. Let’s hope someone tells us this isn’t true.

SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL MOVES BACK TO ORIGINAL SENTINEL BUILDING!!!
It seems just a bit odd, but as you probably read The Sentinel has moved out of its Scotts Valley offices. They are planning on locating over near Costco in the Harvey West Park. The offices aren’t ready, so where do they end up??? Renting space from Cruzio, which of course is the old Sentinel Building…,You could say “Only In Santa Cruz”… but you don’t have to.

MORE ON THAT MISSING BLACK “M”. Now we know the 10 foot tall black M that stood next to the extra large ORANGE ball at the corner of Cooper and Front streets rests in Nina Simon’s back yard. We also know that the M didn’t stand for McPherson— it stood for “Museum”. So along comes Welles Goodrich, one of Bonny Doon’s wisest sages, who tells me he thought the M together with the ball stood for…. “Mac-Sphere-son”.Wait for it.

HOT DAMN STRING BAND AT THE BOOKSHOP SANTA CRUZ…AGAIN/STILL. None of us remember what year our Hot Damn String Band played at The Bookshop Santa Cruz’s annual birthday. It was before we helped organize the book drive and survival party that made it possible for the Bookshop to open in the tent (pavilion) right after the 1989 earthquake. Well, The Hot Damns are playing again (and still) this year, at 7:30 on Friday Night November 10. That definitely includes Jim Reynolds on guitar, Annie Steinhardt on fiddle, me on washboard, Gary Cunningham string bass, Dave Magram banjo, and Dore Coller mandolin. The real deal is that book prices will be the lowest they get all year that Friday and Saturday. See you there!!!

HELL ON A HILL. Latest rumors and a few messages scrawled here and there say the all that new construction planned for UCSC and the adding of 3000 beds is for allowing MORE students to come to campus…not to handle the sad, near evil crowded conditions the present students have to deal with now. Let’s hope someone tells us it isn’t true.

ENVIRONMENTAL VICTORY IN MOUNT HERMON IN FELTON. Nancy Macy from the San Lorenzo Valley Women’s Club has been way out in front of the battle to save some precious land from being turned into a JESUS BIKE PARK. She sent the following…

Campaign to Prevent “Felton Meadow Project” Successful. Project Withdrawn

Posted on: October 5, 2017 2:32 pm

Posted in Community Concerns, Environment, Featured Story, Felton Meadow Project

Felton Meadow Preserved! (For Now)

It is with intense gratitude that we announce the Mount Hermon Association (MHA) has withdrawn its plans to replace a rare remaining meadow, at the entrance to the San Lorenzo Valley, with an “Adventure Park” that included a “Bike Velocity Park.” Their official statement on their website read, “Thank you for your continued interest in the Felton Meadow. We have been encouraged by the interest. The costs associated with developing the Felton Meadow property have exceeded our current capabilities and so we have decided to forego any development. Although we are not moving forward with development of the property, there are new programs in development that will benefit our surrounding community including new programs intended for our local community. We will be starting an After School Program for grade school students in the San Lorenzo Valley and launching Velocity Bike School and Adventures with classes, guided rides, and backcountry trips based out of our current location. The Felton Meadow property will continue to be maintained and managed by Mount Hermon.”

The defeat of the project is due to the intense, multi-year involvement of many people. Thoughtful, intelligent, in-depth research provided cogent arguments against the development and drove the effort to stop the project and preserve the valuable meadow, wetlands, oak woodlands and viewshed (significantly beautiful view protected in the Felton Town Plan) at the entrance to the SLV. 

The VWC and its Environmental Committee are surprised and relieved by MHA’s decision. We were prepared – after thousands of hours of research – with hundreds of documented arguments against the project which was officially initiated with an attempt for a Mitigated Negative Declaration in the summer of 2014, after having met twice with MHA about their plans after purchasing the property two years before. We have a plan in place with dozens of concerned people ready to help, had raised funds to support the effort to comment on the EIR. We were also ready to further publicize the disturbing problems with the proposal, to enlist community support to protect the Meadow, and to speak at Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors public hearings to convince these leaders not to support the project. With the many delays in producing the Draft Environmental Impact Report, we felt it would have taken at least another year from now to resolve the issue with a vote by the Supervisors. 

We are committed to continuing to “Save the Meadow,” and are open to ideas and support for doing so. Financial assistance is also appreciated. 

We learned a lot in researching the many aspects of the project beyond the significant environmental and social problems. We will be providing further information about the health and safety issues to the community, to increase awareness of the problems we learned of. Please watch the VWC website and Facebook for further information, or contact us to help. 

To become involved in the effort to further protect the Meadow, contact Environmental Committee Chair, email Nancy Macy or call (831) 345-1555.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, TO ALL WHO SUPPORTED THE EFFORT TO STOP THE AMUSEMENT PARK PROPOSAL ON OUR PRECIOUS AND RARE MEADOW, WITH ITS OAK WOODLANDS, and WETLANDS with its BEAUTIFUL VIEWSHED.

All of us should read and memorize the steps and thinking that went into this victory over the destruction of more of our county. Check out the VWC website. http://valleywomensclub.org/category/environment/felton-meadow-project

NOT ALL CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS ARE THE SAME.

A Dream
It occurred to me recently that maybe we need to look at housing differently. Maybe we should look at it like universal healthcare, or public education. Maybe since everyone needs a place to live, we need to find places for everybody. Possibly, if we can agree that housing itself is a right, it may be the way to free up funding for affordable housing because it is a civil rights issue, and people of color are being pushed out of their homes in greater numbers because of skyrocketing rents. That’s what Lorena Melgarejo and Anne Bellows argued in an editorial in the San Mateo Journal this past Sunday.

They wrote: “This month, San Mateo County and a handful of nearby local governments officially recognized what many of us already knew: Large rent increases and no-cause evictions are an urgent civil rights issue on the Peninsula. These practices, which thrive in the brutal rental market on the Peninsula, undermine the housing security of many — but they disproportionately harm African-American, Latino, Filipino and Pacific Islander renters. Left unchecked, the displacement crisis we now face will lead to a new era of housing segregation.”

On a cloudy day in Lower Ocean neighborhood about a dozen protesters set up a post in front of the Sleep Tight apartments on Ocean Street this past week to provide support for tenants who were to be evicted.

Along with education (Article 26) and healthcare, housing (Article 25) is also included in what’s become the gold standard of human rights documents, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/), and for good reason. Everybody needs a place to live. Of course, the housing crisis is bigger than Santa Cruz because everyone cannot live here, but we have to figure out the numbers and plan, and also secure the funding for affordable housing for people who live here now. We’ve got to continue making demands on Sacramento and Washington, D.C. while working locally on obtaining money for an affordable housing trust fund, taxing speculators, and building a 24/7 emergency homeless shelter. We can do this.

Donna Brazile’s New Book, Hacks
Are you kidding me?! Donna Brazile’s new book, “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House”. It’s the memoire in which she confides to the readers that the Hillary Clinton campaign came to own and operate the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and that in itself might’ve made for an unfair primary against her opponent, Bernie Sanders. Well, I get it, Bernie is a socialist. He believes we all should be taken care of, probably even believes in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see above). I get that. He was not a real big “D” Democrat, so realpolitik demanded that the Dem party elders do everything they could to Stop Bernie. But somehow the party will change and Bernie, like same sex marriage, minimum wage, universal healthcare, equal pay for equal work, and collective bargaining will come out on the right side of history. Just watch (and I hope you participate too!). What all this says is that a whole lot of Democrats, socialists, and non-party people are disappointed in the democratic process and the current Democratic Party and are demanding change. To all of you I say, keep pushing, on the inside and the outside, it’s the only way change actually happens.

Another Bite at Swenson Apple on Pacific
Councilmember Brown and I pulled item #9, Park Pacific Subdivision at 1547 Pacific Avenue, off the city council consent agenda last week. “Subdivision” (map) is the word for $money$. By obtaining a subdivision map, Barry Swenson Builder represented by their Santa Cruz Manager, Jesse Nickel, is now able to avoid providing twelve affordable rental units. The scheme is like this: since they will be “for-sale units,” Swenson-Builder will not have to sell the Magic 12 for at least ten years to comply with the city’s 15% inclusionary law. They will rent them out instead, all 79 condos, at market rates. I checked with the city attorney and planning director before the meeting and they both said the council could demand the 12 inclusionary units be rented out at affordable HUD rents, right now. Brown and I argued for this, but were rebuffed by a council that was more intent on “filling a hole” than obtaining more affordable housing. These units slipped away like so many others into that profit-driven black hole named, “Does-Not-Pencil-Out”. (If this is sounding like a Molly Ivins story about the Texas state legislature, well you wouldn’t be too far off the mark…do as I say, not as I do.)

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

Looks Like the City Might be Getting into the (Socialist?) Ambulance Transport Business
A unanimous motion “carried to direct staff to delay selected projects until the Winter/Spring after the October 2018 implementation to ensure appropriate staff capacity to launch the operation of an ambulance transport service, if awarded.” Which is city clerk-speak for putting off the selection of a new banking services agreement (aka, get rid of Wells Fargo) until 2018 and put all of our extra administrative efforts towards securing the ambulance franchise that our fire chief, Jim Frawley is recommending. If the city wins the bidding contest with private contractor, AMR, we will be taking a gigantic step forward in providing additional medical services for the homeless, avoiding unnecessary hospital drop-offs, and creating up to fifty new well-paying city jobs. And I support all of that, just not the part that puts off into the future cutting the cord with Wells. According to Chief Frawley, the city will put out 10-12 ambulances serving the entire county from Scotts Valley to Watsonville. Sound ambitious and risky? The council weighed this, and the initiative will come back for additional direction, but for now I find it incredibly exciting. In an era where cities are selling off services, our city is on the brink of signing up to provide a service that should not be profit-driven, one that stands to benefit the entire community.

CM and Finance Director’s Agenda Item to Balance Budget Flops
Item #18, “FY 2018 Proposed Budget Balancing” was voted down 4-3. With Councilmember Cynthia Mathews calling herself the “adult in the room,” as she made a motion to accept the staff’s $2 million-plus cuts in city services, the silence on the council dais was deafening as the motion went down for lack of a second. David Terrazas followed with a motion to delay a vote on any budget cuts until the council had a chance to look deeper and decide if it had any choices on what we could cut. It was quickly seconded. At least four councilmembers were not supportive of the choices made by the city manager and finance director. The council was not consulted, nor were city commissioners, neighborhood groups, nonprofit providers, or anyone else outside of the city’s department heads. Bravo Councilmembers Terrazas, Watkins, and Brown in voting to delay this decision until the council is given better information about the overall budget and a set of alternative choices! (Footnote: the final vote was actually 5-2 with the mayor joining the majority after arguing to accept the staff recommendation. A new 5-2?)

Density Bonus Agenda Item
What is a “density bonus?” It is a provision that is granted by a city to a developer, or homeowner, if they agree to include a certain number of affordable housing units in their project. For example, if the developer is willing to include a significant number of affordable units they would be granted an additional story on a given project. A number of state laws were recently passed, including ones concerning the issue of density bonuses. City staff was bringing an ordinance forward to “clean up” existing city ordinances, but the council decided to put it off until January in order to, again, discuss what options are available and to deliberate on what the new state laws might mean for development in Santa Cruz. It was a good decision that will definitely be revisited.

Short Term Rentals (STRs)
Back again for a second and presumably final reading, was the Short-Term Rental ordinance final adoption and also a “Resolution Directing the City Manager to Submit the Amendments to the California Coastal Commission.” Me and Councilmember Sandy Brown voted no on this ordinance (another 5-2) because it gives away too much of the Santa Cruz housing stock to tourists. Five hundred and fifty permits were approved, 200 for “unhosted” (people owning two or more units and not living on the premises) and 350 permits for “hosted” (people who have to live on the premises) Short Term Rentals. We asked the council to go slower, as we did in approving only 8 (likely 4-5) permits for cannabis dispensaries in the city. STRs are taking rental housing away from residents who need it and who live here now. When you put together the 550 STR permits with the hundreds of market-rate-for- sale units that Silicon Valley looks on as second homes, and combine that with over 9000 UCSC students who are searching for off-campus rentals, then you quickly see the outlines of our working-class and workforce housing crisis. Short term rentals are neither the cause nor solution to our housing crisis, but a definite symptom that’s afflicting the Santa Cruz patient looking for housing.

Rent Freeze Emergency Ordinance Called for by Over 100 City Council Attendees
The city council meeting of Oct. 24th was sailing along when, all of a sudden over 100 residents showed up for “oral communication” to demand that their city council acknowledge our current housing crisis and pass an immediate rent freeze to protect tenants from escalating rents in Santa Cruz. This crowd clapped, told heart-rending stories about trying to exist in a difficult rental market, and carried various signs for rent control, ones denouncing greedy landlords and imploring the council to take immediate action on a rent freeze. Finally, the last speaker, Danny Drysdale pleaded with the city council to enact a rent freeze to protect tenants while community groups circulate rent control petitions. I made a motion to add a rent freeze to our agenda because we are in the middle of a housing emergency and there is a clause in our city charter that might allow us to place a previously non-agendized emergency item on our agenda. We are in fact experiencing a housing crisis and I hoped the council would discuss the gravity of this disaster and vote on an immediate rent freeze for all the reasons speakers at the public podium stated. Mayor Cynthia Chase agreed it is an “emergency and a crisis,” but she wanted to bring it back with a smorgasbord of other housing issues on December 5th, and thus potentially burying the rent freeze issue.  “It’s already agendized for December 5th,” according to Mayor Chase. I put forward a motion, seconded by Councilmember Brown to avoid mixing the rent freeze issue with all the other housing issues and put it on the November 14th city council agenda. The audience seemed fine with that and this action would recognize their efforts and acknowledge the housing crisis in Santa Cruz. The motion was defeated, 5-2. Cross your fingers for the December 5th meeting in which maybe, a rent freeze, rent control, no-cause evictions, developer pot-sweeteners like the 15% affordable housing inclusionary loophole that developers have been using to not build affordable housing, all of the affordable housing ideas the mayor has been hearing during her listening tour, and the status of campus housing and the 3000-bed facility UCSC is seeking developer financing to construct. All these could end up on that December 5th agenda. Stay woke and stay tuned, not much of this revolution will be televised!

~
Bernie Tweet of the Week.
“Instead of more tax breaks for Wall Street, we must make public colleges and universities tuition-free by taxing Wall Street speculators.” (Nov. 1)

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.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo “kids around” a large church issue…scroll downwards just a bit…

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Desert View” 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: “Okay, so it’s less about the gods of classical Norse Mythology than the Marvel Comics pantheon, but find out why I still get a kick out of the surprisingly funny new Thor movie this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, my Beast book prowls closer to publication with a cool new page in The Candlewick catalogue, and pre-order online discounts galore!” 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 November 7 Dr. Suzanne Kerley talks about plastic surgery, hand surgery and the dangers of trusting what you see on the internet. Then Scott McGilvray from Water For Santa Cruz straightens the record on our water problems. November 14 is KZSCs PLEDGE DRIVE night and historian Ross Gibson will keep us up to date on what old news is new!  November 21 author and political scientist Jill Cody talks about her book, “America Abandoned”. Following Jill will be Rick Longinotti talking about libraries, highways, and plenty more hot issues. The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. December 5 has Michelle Williams exec. dir. of the Arts Council of Santa Cruz talking about their new events and looking forward to 2018. Then boat captain Jim Christmann shares some amazing tales from his nearby ocean adventures.

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

QUOTES. “NOVEMBER”
“Wind warns November’s done with. The blown leaves make bat-shapes, Web-winged and furious,” Sylvia Plath, The Collected Poems
“I detest ‘Jingle Bells,’ ‘White Christmas,’ ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,’ and the obscene spending bonanza that nowadays seems to occupy not just December, but November and much of October, too”, Richard Dawkins
“November; Crows are approaching – Wounded leaves fall to the ground’, Sir Kristian Goldmund Aumann
“There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November”, Martin Luther King, Jr.

UCSC STUDENTS PROTESTING THE UC REGENTS ON CAMPUS Oct. 18. 1968. The regents wanted to ban Eldridge Cleaver the Black Panthers leader from speaking on campus. According to this year’s UCSC Primer more than 1000 students, 20 faculty members, two horses and a pig went to Crown College to share their beliefs. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE October 30, 2017

OCTAGON PLATZ and PLANS. Geez, yes, and thanks to everyone — like former mayor Bruce Van Allen— who wrote to tell me that I mixed up my tech companies. I wrote here last week… “With Apple employees now ensconced in the top two floors of the O’Neill Building (formerly Cooper House) we can only wait and wonder —(1) how many were locals,(2) how many moved here, and (3)how many more will be coming here, and where will they live?” B. Van Allen wrote… “Amazon, not Apple, is in the top floors of that building where the Cooper House was. They have been recruiting locally to some extent —a lot of us in the geek worlds of SC heard about it (and some applied). Think of the disparity between the earnings of someone upstairs there and almost anyone working on the street level downtown —retail workers, restaurant and coffee shop workers, clerical workers in ‘old economy’ offices such as banks, insurance agencies, non-profits, and so on. Then project that disparity in ability to pay onto our local housing market”. B. Van Allen makes a strong point…and I sit corrected.

Yes, I read in Christina Waters’Good Times column that the Omei Restaurant is officially closed for good! (or in Grigsby’s case, closed for evil). I wonder just how many of the folks who did eat at the Omei would stay in a Trump Hotel? Will we ever know?

Who becomes Mayor after David Terrazas, you ask? Well, the City Council will muck it over and will most likely decide on Martine Watkins. I really believe we should start voting directly for Mayor. We also need to keep track of just how much Terrazas actually accomplishes in his term. Most folks don’t expect much.

THAT BIG BLACK “M”. Ed Penniman emailed to opine… “Regarding the ‘M’ at the MAH, I think that few people realize the the ‘M’ stands for MacPherson —Fred and Linda — who were nice enough to financially underwrite the institution. So in my mind, it seems disrespectful to just jettison it or use it as a planter or whatever, a trophy in someone’s backyard?!” BUT Ed, — and I think, most of us — were wrong!!! Historian and MAH stalwart Stan Stevens tells us… “I agree with Ed Penniman insofar as this M should have a more prominent place. I wish to clarify for Ed and your readers, however, that the M is (or was) for Museum — the Museum of Art and History — not for McPherson (although both are appropriate). Although I do wish to point out that it was the entire McPherson family (note that it isn’t Mac, it’s Mc) contributed to MAH, not just Fred III and Linda. It was primarily Lillian McPherson Rouse, Mahlon McPherson, and Fred D. McPherson Jr. — sister and brothers — that were the primary-generation contributors.

DON YOUNG DIED…DAMNIT! Harry Meserve wrote to say:“Donald J. Young, a founder of the Saturday Shakespeare Club and Cabrillo College Professor for thirty years, died today in Aptos California at the age of 94. He was an extraordinary teacher, both in college and in the club, with a sense of humor and eagerness to work with anyone who wanted to think and to write. There will no doubt be many remembrances of him, not least from club members who shared with him a love of Shakespeare and of drama.

He taught many of us to think, and challenged us to write, especially in the context of a breakfast group that met every Wednesday, at Severinos in Aptos — and even in his own living room. There are no words to express how each of us will remember him. I am sure that there will be opportunities to say more in the near future. Don leaves a daughter, two sons and grandchildren, as well as his wife and close companion for over 50 years, Viviane Young — a force for good in her own right”.

Personally I’d add that Don was not just brilliant and witty, but an inspiring human being…I’ll miss him, and so will thousands of former pupils and friends.

CAR DEAL COMPLETED!!! Thanks very much to BrattonOnline reader, Universal Grapevine interviewee, and activist for Live Oak neighborhood preservation, Bob Morgan. I’ll soon be driving his 2010 Honda Civic. I’m lucky because as predicted I received exactly 2 responses and Bob’s worked perfectly.

HOT DAMN STRING BAND AT THE BOOKSHOP SANTA CRUZ…AGAIN/STILL. None of us remember what year our Hot Damn String Band played at The Bookshop Santa Cruz’s annual birthday. It was before we helped organize the book drive and survival party that made it possible for the Bookshop to open in the tent (pavilion) right after the 1989 earthquake. Well, The Hot Damn’s are playing again (and still) this year, at 7:30 on Friday Night November 10. That definitely includes Jim Reynolds on guitar, Annie Steinhardt on fiddle, me on washboard, Gary Cunningham string bass, Dave Magram banjo, and Dore Coller mandolin. The real deal is that book prices will be the lowest they get all year that Friday and Saturday. See you there!!!

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Everybody talks about the weather but DeCinzo illustrates the problem…scroll below

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

JEWEL THEATRE COMPANY RECEIVES RECOGNITION FROM THE AMERICAN THEATRE WING
The Jewel Theatre Company wins prized National Theatre Company Grant honor from Founder of the Tony Awards. Their announcement reads…Jewel Theatre Company is pleased to announce that the American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Antoine Perry “Tony” Awards, is awarding the Jewel Theatre Company with one of the 2017 National Theatre Company grants. Created by American Theatre Wing to recognize and support the most promising emerging theatre companies, the 2017 grants for Initial Support are being presented to nine companies from around the country”. That’s great and well deserved news. Jewel Theatre opens their next play “Always…Patsy Cline” starring Diana Torres Koss and Julie James on Thursday Nov. 9 and it plays through December 3. It’s at the Colligan Theatre in the Tannery and if you haven’t been there yet…just go!

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “My response to The Florida Project was so lukewarm; I decided not to even post it on the blog. Read all about it in this week’s Good Times, instead, but please do keep checking out Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/) for future updates!” 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. Halloween night Oct. 31st has Jean Brocklebank and Judi Grunstra talking about the Santa Cruz Main Library plots and plans. Then dramaturg Victoria Gardiner and friend talk about UCSC’s production of Berthold Brecht’s play, “Resistable Rise Of Arturo Ui” playing Nov.11-19. On November 7 Dr. Suzanne Kerley talks about plastic surgery, hand surgery and the dangers of trusting what you see on the internet. Then Scott McGilvray from Water For Santa Cruz straightens the record on our water problems. November 14 is KZSCs PLEDGE DRIVE night and historian Ross Gibson will keep us up to date on what old news is new! The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. 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

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

QUOTES. “ELECTION DAY”
“The politicians were talking themselves red, white and blue in the face”, Clare Boothe Luce

“Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time making each other’s speeches, that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in”, H. L. Mencken

“Republicans are relentless and they’re smart, too – they’re not all dumb – and on Election Day, they’ll be up at five in the morning”, Michael Moore

“An election is coming.  Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry”, George Eliot, Felix Holt, Chapter 5

SEA  BEACH HOTEL. Built in 1870’s  and it burned down at 3:30 am, June 12, 1912. It had 170 rooms and stood about where the Casa Blanca Inn &  Motel are located  on Main Street by the Boardwalk.      photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE October 23, 2017

OCTAGON PLATZ. One of the first things I heard at the Octagon Platz last week was that Don Lane’s Bearcat Police Attack Vehicle was used once again on October 19 to deal with a robbery at Outdoor World. I somehow missed any Santa Cruz Sentinel coverage of that war zone incident.  With Apple employees now ensconced in the top two floors of the O’Neill Building (formerly Cooper House) we can only wait and wonder —(1) how many were locals,(2) how many moved here, and (3)how many more will be coming here, and where will they live? When you look closely at the proposed Downtown plan — which is mostly about ruining the area with expensive high rises — you’ll see that one idea is to turn an area of Front Street in front of the Post Office into an extended plaza that sort of connects to the Town Clock space. That part doesn’t seem too bad at first squint. On Wednesday I met with novelist Michael Marshall Smith. He’s going to help me get little things like the difference between comas and commas and punctuation gizmos such as syntax into this space. He’s courageous; I gotta say that about him. Truly amazing how many dozens or more folks stop by The Octagon daily to say how they miss Manthri Srinath’s Lulu’s Coffee House at that location. Another MAH employee told me it looks it’ll remain empty into next year, before two locally-owned restaurants open in what was the historic Octagon/County Hall of Records. Much, much kudos to the Digital Design and Brand Surgery folks, who had the historic Leonard Building (1894) at the corner of Cooper Street and Front painted last week. By the way, Cooper Street was named after the Cooper Brothers, who came here in the 1850s from Gettysburg, and were related to James Fennimore Cooper.

STOP LAUGHING AND BEING SO HAPPY. Be sure to click and read the link below that reveals Santa Cruz to be the second happiest city in the United States! Britain’s Daily Mail had the article; I just clipped parts of it to post here…

“America’s top 25 happiest cities revealed: Boulder in Colorado is named as the place with the most satisfied residents. The metro area of Santa Cruz-Watsonville California came second in the list, followed by Charlottesville, Virginia, Fort Collins, Colorado, and San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande in California.

It tops a list of 25 of America’s happiest cities, revealed in new book The Blue Zones of Happiness. Written by National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner, it reveals ‘the secrets of the world’s happiest places’. California has no less than eight cities in the top 25 list, including the metro area of San Diego-Carlsbad.

Read all of it here if you don’t believe me

CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC HISTORY. I had lunch last week with very long-time friend Alyce Vestal Caudil. She and Ted Toews, who taught at Cabrillo College, started the Cabrillo Music Festival. Along with stacks of newspaper articles documenting the very first Cabrillo Festival —and showing Alyce’s and Ted’s incredible energy and foresight — Alyce has related over and over again that Lou Harrison “fought the Cabrillo Festival tooth and nail” right up to close to the opening concert, and finally joined in”. Lou was a wonderful guy and an inspiration to musicians and music lovers all over the world, but to keep reading endlessly misleading stories concerning his alleged early support of the Festival seems more than ridiculous.

J.M. Brown is strongly rumored to be running for Santa Cruz City Council. He didn’t make it the last time. Take a look at some of the folks who endorsed him…see just a hint of anything here? Cynthia Mathews, Zach Friend, Steve Reed, Santa Cruz Realtors, Hillary Bryant, Bike Santa Cruz, Bob Bosso, Cynthia Chase, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Robert deFreitas, Geoffrey Dunn, Doug Ley, Matt Farrell, Carol Fuller, Bud Colligan and Robert Singleton — for starters. Chris Krohn wrote about Drew Glover’s big campaign kickoff party here last week. Please send me any/all the 2018 Council candidates names you hear of…it’s going to be a crowded race.

By: Chris Krohn    Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

Good Development Ribbon cutting for thirty-nine new affordable units on Soquel Avenue near 7th Ave. Bad Development Single-family monster home on Getchell near the corner of Wanzer Street Ugly Development Everyone asks me, ‘What is this?’ It is a soulless hotel on Mission Street Extension. No emoji can express our collective community angst and sadness.

HIDDEN AGENDA OR OPEN AGENDA? WHY NOT JUST PUBLISH AN “AGENDA FOR DUMMIES?”
So much of the Santa Cruz City Council agenda is made up of snooze items. For example, the “Reconciliation of Private Encroachment on City Watershed Lands,” might be one. The issue is that years-ago somebody paved over city land to put in a private driveway and now they want to trade two of their acres to the city for the driveway land. Then there’s approving grants for Water Department “technical assistance contracts,” worth a couple of million dollars. Of course, many agenda items are snooze items until something goes wrong resulting in a law suit. The city is often involved in suing and being sued. Turns out though that so much of municipal substance is shrouded in the bureaucratic word blather that makes up each agenda item. This week’s city council agenda was of particular note. It was seemingly filled with insignificant and tedious snooze items, but in fact reflected a great deal about of our current collective anxiety around affordable housing, healthcare, a planning department that sees things differently than the community, and a city budget deficit. Perception and deception are unfortunately often by-products in our representative democracy.

Still No Affordable Rental Housing at Swenson 79-condo Project at 1547 Pacific Avenue, Why?
Not to beat a dead horse, but there they were, 11.85 units (15% of 79) of affordable rentals right there on the table at the last two city council meetings. The majority decided not to demand these units because it “just won’t pencil out” for the developer. On the Tuesday, Oct. 24th agenda, Barry Swenson and company was asking the council for a final condo map for their Pacific Park project (the old Bookshop Santa Cruz site). Seems like they need the map in order to rent the units at market-rate and avoid selling them to further avoid having to sell the affordable ones. If you are confused, then this complicated scheme is working. It’s the eleventh hour or the bottom of the ninth or nearing the end of overtime, whatever metaphor works, and the city council needs to decide which side of the affordable housing debate they are on. Either find developers who only build affordable, or continue making deals with devils who have their bottom lines, or shareholders’ concerns, first. Hoping for affordable units isn’t the same as making them build the units. The council is responsible to the housing needs of the community, not to the 20-30% profit margin developers expect.

Public Ownership of Ambulance Services
Can the Santa Cruz Fire Department add a countywide ambulance service to its workload? The short answer is, maybe. But, there is a $70,000 consultant contract on the agenda to evaluate the potential to make this happen. It would mean not having to take a huge fire truck out with the inevitable private ambulance service, usually AMR, following close behind. Instead, SCFD would leave the fire truck at the station and operate its own ambulance. In fact, if Fire Chief, Jim Frawley’s dream is realized we just might better be able to attend to our “unhoused and economically disadvantaged populations…” A part of Frawley’s dream bears repeating here from the city council staff report he submitted for this council agenda item:

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

“Because they (homeless and economically disadvantaged) are not able to address small health issues while they are small, their conditions worsen to the point where emergency 911 service is needed. As a part of the (new city) ambulance transport service, a special unit that actively and proactively engages with these communities can dramatically alter the response needs by providing mobile health services, referrals, and connection to other services like mental health experts, substance use disorder counselors, and social service case workers.”

Can I get an Amen?! Wow, yes, a fire chief with vision. Go Chief Frawley! The only drawback is that to implement this it will take a variety of finance and IT city staff to assess and get the project up and running. The downside is that there are tradeoffs in workloads being discussed. One is that the finance director is suggesting that a way to free up the 1,350 person-hours the start of the ambulance endeavor may take is to delay moving on finding new banking services. Earlier this year the council gave direction to find an alternative to the now tarnished and disreputable current service provider, Wells Fargo. Another choice offered would have the city not moving forward until 2018 on a Parks and Recreation fee study. What would the public say about this? What’s more important, not giving city money over to a disreputable bank, or not performing a fee study? I think I know which one the public would choose. Yes, the ambulance idea is a worthy one and we need to move ahead with all deliberate speed, but we also need to find a path sooner than later in withdrawing city support of a failing financial corporation.

A Report that Sent a Planning Director Packing?
Again, here’s an agenda item you would never know is a follow-up, “status update’ that was ordered by a previous city council. It was the outcome of a rather scathing outside consultant in-depth report on “Improving the Planning and Community Development Department.” The report was issued on March 16, 2015 at the behest of city manager, Martin Bernal and likely a majority of city council votes at the time. I believe this 31-page report is the first time it’s ever appeared in a city council agenda.

Go here, click on item #16, and then go to the right column to see the document. The report states on page 11, “A common customer comment is that the Planning and Community Development Department is not doing an effective job of communicating with the public about the planning and building process. As a result, some customers are frustrated with the department, calling it ‘bureaucratic,’ ‘rigid,’ ‘not helpful,’ and similar comments.” The Conclusion reads like this: “Without measurable customer service objectives and measures of workload or service activity, it is difficult to confirm the quality of service that staff believes they are providing or hold them accountable if they are not. And, based on customer interviews, there is room for improvement.”

Folks, this is not pretty stuff, and likely led to the demise of former Planning Director, Julianna Rebagliati. But what I fear is that her ouster came about more because she was going too slow in approving for-profit development in Santa Cruz, which may actually be a desire more in line with the present wishes of the community, i.e. reign in the developer-class. What I hear from the community is yes to affordable housing and no to second-home large profit-driven development; severely limit the number of short-term rentals, and engage with the university to house ALL of its students over 19,000 on their beautiful campus. Is “planning” just about building and economic growth? Since when did planning become synonymous with being responsible for lining the pockets of this developer class? Air quality, water quality, care for the bay and our redwood groves, being good stewards of the resources we have…shouldn’t this be the bedrock mission values of our “planning and community development” department?

City Manager (CM) Suggested Budget Cuts You May Want to Know About
The cuts the city manager is asking the council to make by January aren’t pretty either. Under the agenda title: “FY 2018 Proposed Budget Balancing,” CM Bernal put forward a list of nine pages of line item cuts totaling $2,278,219. Some of the cuts are as follows, and remember this is from the City Manager and his department heads. As far as I know, there have been no public meetings, neighborhood meetings, consultation with the various city commissions, nor has the city council suggested any of these cuts. There are more, but the following seem “short-sited”:

• $124,000 from the elimination of on-site probation officers. This may delay probation related reviews.
• $43,725 in various reductions to Recreation programs and facilities including youth & teen programming, sports and general classes, special events, and support for Louden Nelson community center, the City Museum, and Harvey West pool.
• $27,000 in reduced capacity for City Council special projects (who knew we had this money?!?)
• $35,250 in Wharf maintenance and technical services. This will impact various levels of commerce, utility or the public’s safety.

These are just a few of the cuts I am concerned about. Please email me (ckrohn@cruzio.com) any ideas you might have on cuts the city might make given the $2 million-plus current deficit.

To see list, go here and click on item #18 then look over to right column and click on documents to see list of cuts.

P.S.
Over 500 people came out this past week at the Civic Auditorium to hear Professors Steve McKay and Miriam Greenberg present their findings on how crazy bad our housing market has become. They had an army of over 200 students interview 1700 renters across Santa Cruz county. You can see their work at http://noplacelikehomeucsc.org/en

P.P.S.
This Thursday at 6:30 p.m. the Santa Cruz Community Church at 411 Roxas Street on the eastside will be buzzing with Save Santa Cruz people advocating for the final entombing of the “Corridors Plan.” Many believe it is not dead yet, but still limping along. I suggest Save Santa Cruz people look at Item #23 “Density Bonus Ordinance Amendments” on the Oct. 24th council agenda and see how even without the Corridor Plan, a nasty for-profit developer genie is working over-time.

Bernie Quote of the Week
Sen. Sanders on Trump’s tax plan: “It is a Robin Hood proposal in reverse…it must be defeated”

~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.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo’s historical view of Highway 17…see below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Heart Attack 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 that contains his piece “Like A Rug”

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Find out how filmmaker Simon Curtis gets an author’s biography right in Goodbye Christopher Robin, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, my next novel,  Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge, may not be coming out until 2018, but it’s already available for pre-order online at an insane discount! ” 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. Tuesday October 24 has City on A Hill editors in chief Nicolette Nodine and Michael Kushner talking  about their publications. Then BrattonOnline columnist and area activist Becky Steinbruner brings us up to date.  On November 7  Dr. Suzanne Kerley talks about plastic surgery, hand surgery and the dangers of trusting what you see on the internet. Then Scott McGilvray from Water For Santa Cruz straightens the record on our water problems. The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. 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. HALLOWEEN

“I’ll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween”, Author unknown
“At first cock-crow the ghosts must go
Back to their quiet graves below”, Theodosia Garrison
“Never let your kids buy an off-the-shelf Halloween costume. Forbid it, no matter how close you may be to the witching hour. Instead, help them make their own. Encourage them to use their imaginations and their ingenuity. Show them that what can be created is often better than what can be bought. And besides, don’t the darkest, most frightening things live inside us anyway?”, Joe Kita Wisdom of Our Fathers, 1999
“‘Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world”, William Shakespeare, Hamlet [III, 2, Hamlet]
“This Halloween the most popular mask is the Arnold Schwarzenegger mask. And the best part? With a mouth full of candy you will sound just like him”, Conan O’Brien

AERIAL VIEW DOWNTOWN SANTA CRUZ 1946. Look closely… see the post office, McHugh Bianchi Store, The Civic Auditorium, The Cooper House, the original pre-Catalyst building, just a bit of the Octagon,…a great photo.                                                             photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE October 16, 2017

OCTAGON PLATZ. Being back sitting near the front door of The Octagon not only re-opens contact with dozens and dozens of old and new friends, it creates grand new items to write about. Again the question came up about…”whatever happened to the big, tall black letter “M” that stood at the corner of Front and Cooper Street”. As I reported a couple of weeks ago Nina Simon MAH director replied…

…”When we designed and built the new deck wrapping around the corner, we wanted to invite people to easily hang out and people-watch from there. We also wanted to make the deck as big as possible”. What I learned last week from one of those reliable sources is the the big black letter M at last sighting was in Nina and her husband’s back yard!

I also learned that the Chuck Abbott Square Fountain, the only fountain in Santa Cruz was originally built with the original steps to The Octagon itself. The Octagon was our original Hall of Records in 1882. Alan Counahan who designed and built that fountain cut those stairs into the sides of that fountain over at Angelo Grova’s Michangelo’s studios on River Street. Where are those steps now? Who knows?? Somehow many folks keep forgetting that MAH, the entire Abbott Square operation all are under County not Santa Cruz City control.

OMEI BACK OPEN AND BOYCOTT?? According to once again located in Santa Cruz…Sentinel, Roger Grigsby has opened the Omei on a limited basis. As you probably remember Grigsby donated $500 to the 2016 U.S. Senate Campaign of David Duke the former head of the Ku Klux Klan. As Grigsby stated, “It would be really interesting if these people really listen to David Duke himself, rather than listening to what other people say about him,” Grigsby said of Duke, who led the KKK from 1974 to 1978′. It’s all about the supremacy of the white race and especially the males. Many folks stated that a boycott closed the Omei…I don’t think so. Grigsby himself stated it was the quitting of his staff. Now we have a chance to see if a BOYCOTT of the Omei will keep it closed. You probably remember Greenpeace boycotting Exxon, boycotting Nestle for their artificial breast milk, Wal-Mart and their gun sales, Gallo wine and Cesar Chavez’ protest? Well check inward and figure out if you want your money going to the Ku Klux Klan or whatever right wing organizations your Omei bill goes to.

I STILL NEED A CAR. I got one response from Ralph Williams who is trying to help me find a reasonably priced car. If any reader of friends of readers knows of an automobile for sale please get in touch as soon as possible. It’s easy just email me at bratton@cruzio.com . My 1998 Honda has about 205,000 miles on it and……please???

“SAVE SANTA CRUZ”. Stop Overbuilding, stop rezoning.
As their face book page says, “Who is being served here & who is making money? Please attend these housing events & ask tough questions “The development on tap all over the City is not required to include below market rate housing & provides HUGE breaks to developers”.

There’s a meeting for everyone who cares about the character and community of Santa Cruz. It’s Thursday October 26 at The Santa Cruz Community Church 411 Roxas Street 6:30 -8 p.m.

Click the image on the right to see what Seabright and Soquel corner (Charlie Hong Kong) would look like

Hear more from your neighbors and find out ways you can get involved and TAKE ACTION!! The Church on 411 Roxas Street is between Trevethen Avenue and Park Way.

“MOUNTAIN BIKERS WANT MORE”. That’s what Debbie Bulger told me at The Octagon Platz last week. Debbie is the coordinator of “Mission: Pedestrian“, the Santa Cruz pedestrian advocacy group and local affiliate of California Walks. Write it up I said…she did!

MOUNTAIN BIKERS WANT MORE…Debbie Bulger.

Mountain bikers want more places to play in Santa Cruz. In fact they have displaced those on foot in park after park yet represent only one quarter the numbers of residents who prefer walking and hiking for recreation.

Right now Santa Cruz is a “Mecca” for mountain biking. Don’t take my word for it; listen to the mountain bikers themselves and the folks who track them: Singletracks.com  lists the Soquel Demonstration Forest/Forest of Nisene Marks as #2 in their posting of the BEST Mountain Bike Trails in California. That’s right, #2 in the whole state.

Stacy Peterson reports on santacruz.org : “From mellow rollers beside the ocean to technical singletrack through the redwoods, Santa Cruz is a mountain bike Mecca with spectacular terrain and views to match.”

Dan Palermini says this about the Soquel Demonstration State Forest on mtbr.com. “Boasting some of the best legal mountain biking in the San Francisco Bay Area, “Demo” is a regional riding hotspot . . . .”The Soquel Demo Forest above Nisene Marks has the Flow Trail, an almost 4-mile long technical screamer featuring banked turns and jumps.

The Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBoSC) website enthuses “We are blessed with a multitude of options for riding here in Santa Cruz County.” Additionally they assert, “Santa Cruz County is quickly becoming a bike park mecca.”

These sentiments explain the comments I receive whenever I’m out of town and mention to a new acquaintance that I’m from Santa Cruz. “Santa Cruz is a biking Mecca,” they invariably say whether they are from Orange County or Vermont.

MBoSC, on its own website, identifies over 200 miles of mountain bike routes in or near Santa Cruz at Wilder Ranch, Henry Cowell State Park, UCSC campus, Big Basin, Pogonip, and DeLaveaga Park not counting the miles of new trails to be created in the next few years in the San Vicente Redwoods (former Cemex). This plethora of trails does not count those in Monterey County such as the over 100 miles of trails on Fort Ord National Monument.

MBoSC is a well-funded non-profit with multiple paid staff members and numerous local partners in the bike industry such as Fox Shox, Santa Cruz Bicycles, and Ibis Cycles among others. Santa Cruz Bicycles has donated $500,000 for new trail development in the San Vicente Redwoods area. Some of these trails will be designated for mountain bike use alone.

I am not arguing against mountain biking as a sport or “wholesome family activity.” I am arguing against misrepresentation of the facts. It is critical that decision makers objectively analyze the situation and not be swayed by false claims of paucity of mountain biking trails.

In testimony before the Santa Cruz City Council those lobbying for more mountain biking trails in City parks claimed there are fewer than “40 miles of trails open to cyclists” in Santa Cruz. They derive that number because they don’t count fire roads. Many of those testifying were from out of town.

Despite the bikers’ public testimony, they actually have it pretty good in Santa Cruz—more than pretty good. What is threatened is the peaceful experience and serenity hikers’ desire. Few hikers crave the adrenalin surge of spotting a bike and rider hurtling downhill towards them at 30 mph or more. Officially, the bike rider is supposed to yield to the hiker. How many hikers choose to test this right of way challenge?

Because of such conflicts most hikers have been displaced on trails at Wilder Ranch, the Aptos Creek Fire Road, and the McCrary trail at Pogonip. Indeed, Pogonip and Moore Creek Preserve are part of a dwindling resource for hikers and dog walkers: a place to walk where they don’t have to worry about being run over. The stress is almost unbearable for elderly walkers who just want a quiet stroll in a natural setting.

The fact is the city of Santa Cruz  residents overwhelmingly prefer hiking, running, swimming, surfing, and soccer over mountain biking. A random sample survey of community preferences for fitness, athletic, or sports activities conducted for the City showed that the greatest percent of respondents (37%) preferred hiking or walking. Next came swimming and running at 17% each. Further down on the list after road biking, surfing and soccer was mountain biking at 9%. Despite the many mountain bike opportunities in the Santa Cruz area, mountain bikers want more. That is understandable; it is human nature to want more. They are lobbying the City of Santa Cruz to build additional trails in the Pogonip and at DeLaveaga Park Wilderness.

The City will be studying proposed new trails in our open spaces. If you are concerned about the loss of quiet, natural places for people to walk without fear, sign up for info on Walking in Nature at missionped.org and talk to your Santa Cruz City Council members.

By: Chris Krohn    Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS? WHAT AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS?
Well, this week is being dubbed, “Affordable Housing Week” by the city of Santa Cruz. So, it’s official, a result of Affordable Housing Crisis Month(s), I guess. It begins this Thursday at the Civic Auditorium. Expect an inside look at our county’s housing crisis from UCSC sociology professor’s, Miriam Greenberg and Steve McKay. They will tell us things like how much people pay to live here (50-70% of their salary), and how many residents live three-to-a-bedroom (27%). The stats won’t be pretty, but then so many Santa Cruzanos live the housing nightmare each day, and having a pair of capable and well-versed academics sum up the pretty dismal Surf City housing scenario may feel like a special salve applied to a particularly nasty gash. They’ve been doing research and employing dozens of undergraduates to walk neighborhoods and collect up data and stories about how people survive here in, arguably the most difficult of housing markets in California. Doors open at 6pm and there will be plenty of organizers, activists, and nonprofits present to offer you opportunities to get involved. Other groups will be present too, representing homeless issues, climate change, and transportation among other themes that directly and indirectly affect our housing market. Greenberg and McKay go on at 7pm.

The face of Homelessness this past Saturday morning on Chestnut Street

Our “Crazy” Police Chief
Well, you may be hearing this for the first time, but our Police Chief, Andy Mills, went and penned an editorial that appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. It states that the Santa Cruz Police Department will not issue camping citations between 9pm and 6am.

How crazy is that? Not very. There isn’t any room at the inn, so what he’s done is essentially taken a step back from the abyss of criminalizing people who are homeless, who need a legal place to sleep, and offered them some breathing room. The last homeless count in Santa Cruz was around 1500 and there are not enough shelter beds for even 30% of those experiencing homelessness. Here’s an excerpt from the chief’s Op-Ed:

“From 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. SCPD will not issue camping citations unless there is a complaint by someone in control of that property or some other crime or nuisance behavior is taking place. Instead, the police will turn their focus to finding those stealing out of your yards, cars, and homes during the night. SCPD will pursue them with vigor. I believe we can break the cycle of reactionary homeless policy.”

Drew Glover and his campaign manager, Juliette Lyon in a fun moment this past Sunday (10/15) when Drew hosted a “Campaign 2018” brunch. He’s officially running for Santa Cruz City Council. Go Drew!

That’s a wow! In my 35 years of living in Santa Cruz I’ve never heard a chief of police state such an obvious truth so intelligently and also, compassionately. Now it is up to the city and county to approve the resources to fund the necessary programs, transitional housing, and addition shelter services so desperately needed. Hopefully this stirs the pot a bit and will lead to meaningful change in our community.

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Is the City Council Earning It’s Keep? “Listening” Is Not the Same as Acting
The current Santa Cruz city council spends a good deal of time talking about affordable housing, but without yielding up much results. In the past year, the council has left more than a couple dozen affordable apartments on the table because the developers they chose to do business with said it would not “pencil out”, or the banks just won’t loan us money…in this the hottest of housing markets! So, the majority of the council, instead of telling staff go back and find us a developer who has experience building affordable housing and who will work with the city, they relax our rules and allow builders to pay a pittance of what an “affordable” unit is worth into a housing fund. Folks, we’ve got to get serious about housing.

The council needs to hear from you, so call (831.430.5020). Don’t let the developers off the hook! A couple dozen units were lost at 555 Pacific where it meets Front Street, and at 1547 Pacific, the site of the old Bookshop Santa Cruz. These are Barry Swenson properties that bookend our Pacific Avenue. And then there’s also the 17 units above the Catalyst night club, which will contain not one affordable rental unit. To top it off, city staff came to the council in September and said our 15% affordable inclusionary ordinance just doesn’t work because developers don’t like it. What’s their fix? Cut the percentage in half, but please don’t exactly demand they build the units, just politely ask for 7.5%.

Folks, the situation is out of hand, and whatever metaphor you want to use–foxes in charge of the hen house or a kind of Reverse Robin Hood scenario–it’s not working. The city council in Santa Cruz has to find developers who are willing to build affordable units in this city, and the council also has to figure out how to help finance it–bonds, increase in hotel tax, or a speculation tax on those who flip houses. Solutions exist; it’s time for the council to vote. It’s also time to vote, not only because it’s “Affordable Housing Week,” but because real people are suffering in this crisis.

Finally

The Good:  Drew Glover is running for city council in 2018. You can find out more at his Facebook page.

The (sort of) bad:  I counted 58 individuals milling around their tents that were situated on the Benchlands next astride the backside of 701 Ocean Street last Sunday night at around 6:15pm.

The Ugly:  The city council majority appointed their seventh (out of seven), planning commissioners last week. He is Santa Cruz Business Council stand-in and wannabe Real Estate entrepreneur, Robert Singleton. Sandy Brown and I nominated Candace Brown, Faz Faisal and Zav Hershfield to fill the seat, but the majority was having none of it. They wanted all the seats for themselves, I guess. Maybe there are too many renters, tenant’s advocates, sociologists, psychologists and community studies majors already on the commission. Ooooh, it was ugly. As Woodrow Allen’s character, Fielding Mellish once stated (in Bananas), “It’s a travesty of sham of a mockery of a sham of two mockeries…”

Bernie Sanders Quote of the Week
“Trump might be unaware that Puerto Rico is part of the US, but Congress must move as quickly as possible to pass a disaster relief package.” (October 12)

~
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.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. “Cyclist’s Mecca”..see DeCinzo’s true view of the scene just scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Ducking The Issue” 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 concert series happens the third Thursday of every month in the upstairs meeting room of the threatened Santa Cruz Main Library. This Thursday  October 19th Daniel Lewin, solo violin plays Johann Sebastien Bach’s  Violin Sonata No. 3 in C major, (BWV 1005) Adagio Fuga Largo Allegro Assai. That happens at 12:10 p.m.

SANTA CRUZ CHAMBER PLAYERS START NEW SEASON. On Saturday and Sunday Oct. 21 and 22nd,MUSA the Bay Area ensemble Presents “Smörgåsbord Baroque”
Music by Antonio de Salazar, Teodorico Pedrini, Georg Philipp Telemann, and more

Derek Tam, concert director and haprsicord, Cynthia Black and Addi Liu, Baroque violins and Gretchen Claasen, Baroque violoncello.

“Smörgåsbord Baroque” features Baroque and Classical music from unexpected places! From the imperial Chinese court to the cathedrals of Guatemala, composers drew from European and indigenous sources to create music that dynamically captured the first wave of globalization from the 16th through 18th centuries.

That’s Saturday, October 21, 7:30 pm and Sunday, October 22, 3:00 pm at the Christ Lutheran Church 10707 Soquel Dr. Aptos, CA. Tickets just maybe at the door or… http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3094600

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “What separates a big red tomato from a (dreaded) splat over at Rotten Tomatoes? Find out this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). And celebrate the upcoming publication of Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge (coming in 2018) with another beauteous Beast of the Month!” 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. Gary Patton gives info and background on the Save Santa Cruz Organization on Oct.17. Also on the 17th Sheila Carrillo and Muna Alsheikh from The Muslim Solidarity Group (part of Santa Cruz Sanctuary) will talk about their aims, goals, and issues. City on A Hill editors in chief Nicolette Nodine and Michael Kushner talk about their publications.  The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. 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. ‘FOREST FIRES’

“She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful”, Neil Gaiman
“Among the environmental trends undermining our future are shrinking forests, expanding deserts, falling water tables, collapsing fisheries, disappearing species, and rising temperatures. The temperature increases bring crop-withering heat waves, more-destructive storms, more-intense droughts, more forest fires, and, of course, ice melting. We are crossing natural thresholds that we cannot see and violating deadlines that we do not recognize”. Lester R. Brown
“No time to grieve for roses when the forests are burning”, Zbigniew Herbert  
Read this next one twice…
“The forest fires are the worst disaster in California since I was elected”, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Norman Lezin addressing a “Civil Rights Sympathy” demonstration in front of The City Hall on March 13, 1965. Norm was formerly Chairman of the Board of Directors of Salz Leathers and Salz Tannery. Salz closed in 2001. The leather industry was one of Santa Cruz County’s most important businesses. Norm was our Mayor 1964-1965 and he was one of the few Democrats in the area back then 😉 !!                                                        photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE October 9, 2017

OCTAGON & MAH MUSINGS. As I mentioned in the last two weeks I’m now back to sitting in front of the once meaningful Octagon building two or three afternoons per week. Folks ask and tell me all sorts of things. For example will there be more ICE Raids in Santa Cruz as Trump has now amped up DACA? Will our City Council take any stand on ICE Raids? What’s going to happen with that huge “homeless recommendations list” survey the City did about homeless? Is it just a council hype job? What about all the UCSC Students who are homeless…where and when are they entered into the statistics?  Any chance there will ever be another push to have rent control put on our ballots? Any possibility of us ever actually voting for the mayor position in Santa Cruz instead of the City Council choosing among themselves?

ABBOTT SQUARE FOUNTAIN. Long time friend Nick Royal emailed me and asked … in the little courtyard (now eating places) was a nice fountain by Alan Counahan.  I wonder if it still exists, some place? I liked it”.  Nick added that he knows Alan and his wife Gypsy who now live in Ireland.

MAH’s Nina Simon replied…”I met directly with Alan onsite regarding the fountain in 2014 and he agreed that it could and probably should be removed. Because it was poured in place, it was not easily moveable to another site – all but the central column would have been irreplaceable. We did actively pursue the possibility of recreating it with several other sites around the county, but ultimately, no one wanted to do that heavy reconstruction. 

Alan preferred for it to be destroyed rather than re-sited as he saw it as a site-specific piece. It was a few years ago, so I don’t remember his precise words, but Alan said something lovely about the idea that the fountain was built to commemorate an important time around the Earthquake, and that now downtown was in a new phase, a new time, time to move on… something like that.  

VOLUNTEERS AT THE COUNTY JAIL

Rick Longinotti stopped by the Octagon Platz to tell us that he and the Roman Catholic group of volunteers have stopped counseling, and helping at the County Jail because the officials tried to force them to sign a form freeing the County from any problems the inmates might either cause or be the result of. In a letter to the County he wrote…”I’m hoping that the County really doesn’t expect its jail volunteers to take responsibility for any damage that the inmates might do to one another while they are in our groups. Could you please ask the Sheriff Dept. to edit out the following paragraph in the waiver and I’ll be happy to sign it?

“I further agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the County, its officers, agents, employees, and volunteers from any and all claims, demands, actions, judgments, costs, attorney’s fees and damages of any kind for liability which the County may incur arising out of or in any manner related to the performance of voluntary service

He added…”The Catholics still aren’t going to the jail and it’s been six months since they raised their objection. See the Sentinel article here.

COMMUNITY TELEVISION & CLASSICAL ARTS? Far too many friends and locals are wondering what’s happened to our Community Television Station. Yes, it still runs the local meetings and Amy Goodman but what happened to Classical Arts ? It was the only cultural saving grace we’ve been able to enjoy over the years of cutbacks. The last on screen notice was that “Classical Arts no longer links to Dish Television” but CTV isn’t a Dish owned station. And of course we get the exact same daily movies over and over…what’s really happening at CTV? Why are they so bad at communicating? Why aren’t they more public?

HAPPY “WHAT” DAY? We must all be aware of the ethnic divisions in celebrating Columbus Day. Read this illuminating story from The Nation on how it all came about. I never knew… The Invention of Christopher Columbus, American Hero. From The Nation. Oct. 9, 2017

APOLOGY ABOUT EDITING. Mea Culpa all over the place. Last week’s BrattonOnline had way more than the usual errors, misspellings and goofs. I wish there was time each Monday morning to have some editor go over all the words that come flying in. Back in the day I had a few really great, supportive editors. Tom Honig, Buzz Bezore and Rob Pratt were the most memorable. Many errors are also due to lousy linking between Mac and PC. For example the 26 actual pages that made up last week’s edition took way more nerves and naps to produce…thanks for bearing with me, it and us all these years. [Webmistress adds: Mea culpa as well! I’ve had less time to edit – I used to do much more of it, and I’ll try to get back to it!]

I NEED A CAR. Over the more than 42 years that I’ve been writing a weekly column (12 of them online) I’ve posted a “car wanted plea” three times and each time it worked wonderfully. What I need is not an “affordable” car but “middle to low income” priced car. Also each time I’ve asked through this column many folks think that everyone else will respond…they don’t!!! I need you or any friend of yours who wants to sell a car to email me at bratton@cruzio.com and we’ll talk it over. Please??

By: Chris Krohn    Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

Filled with riddle, mystery. and enigma

“It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key.”
–Winston Churchill referring to Russia, but perhaps he could’ve been talking about how the issue of homelessness is addressed in the City of Santa Cruz

Vice Mayor David Terrazas and Council member Chris Krohn cycling through the streets of Houston on a bike-share program. The Santa Cruz version of bike share starts this spring.

City Council Agendas
If you throw in the Parks Master Plan, the report on Short Term Vacation Rentals and its dozens of resident emails, and the “2017 Homelessness Recommendations” list, this city council agenda is well over 1000 pages! Whaaaat! It’s true. You receive the agenda on Thursday night and, voila, by Tuesday morning at 11:30am you have totally digested it, or not…and that’s after the daughter’s Saturday soccer game, a 3-hour council steering committee panel of village elders meeting, a Friday night date with spouse, and of course, the usual Monday meeting with department heads, city attorney and city manager mad-dash…it ain’t pretty, but I know what you are thinking. This is why they pay us the big bucks, about $1500 take home pay each month. I can live with it, but it doesn’t necessarily assuage those self-inflicted guilty feelings of not getting the job done.

But Why?
Why are council agendas so hefty at certain times of the year? We’ve had so many off-Tuesday night meetings cancelled, and at the twice monthly official meeting there’s often been no 7 o’clock session. Why so much on this one agenda? Poor planning? Staff necessities? Is it a chess game–overload councilmembers when you want to get something through? Is the word out? Or is it simply that the city doesn’t sleep, so get used to it rookie!? Okay, the council was able to pivot somewhat and meet this past Monday in closed session for two hours to discuss the future of the city manager. It was the only thing on the agenda. So, it is possible for the council to meet and mediate the work load, sometimes. Is it possible to meet on all the off-Tuesday council meeting nights and take up an issue like homelessness or housing, or a combination of the two…and actually make some decisions? And, how about meeting in a different neighborhood each of those off-Tuesdays? You know, bring the city council to the people similar to the Mayor’s valiant efforts of holding “City Hall to You” meetings in different parts of the city. Why not go the distance and hold an “official council meeting” on the Westside to discuss, and decide upon, an aspect of university growth? Or meet on the eastside to debate the final fate of the “Corridors Plan?” Or meet in any neighborhood and discuss homelessness and what is to be done?

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We need to find meaningful responses to homelessness, it’s what’s on everyone’s mind and often outside their front door, but it seems to currently linger like the white elephant in the room. When the agenda is so loaded, as it was this past Tuesday, many residents often head home before their item comes up because meetings are so long. It is even more ironic that if residents wished to register a comment about such a tiring experience, they used to be able to do so at the 7pm, “Oral Communication”, the public podium in other words. That is a time for the council to hear about issues of concern, but the ones that are not on the official agenda. Now, there is no fixed time for Oral Communication. It floats. It might happen at its 5pm scheduled time, or at 5:30pm or 5:45pm as it often does. In addition, if we were serious about creating more affordable housing–as was described in item 17, which was about closing the affordable housing loophole and demanding developers build the legal 15% the community is entitled to asking–it would not have been taken off this week’s agenda. In fact, we could’ve passed it two weeks ago, but who needs housing? City councilmembers all have houses, some have multiple ones. (Full disclosure, I have the one I live in and one that I rent out.) Only Cynthia Chase (looking for a house she says) and Sandy Brown (priced out of the rental market) are the lone councilmembers who rent. I guess my point here is, we need to get some perspective of what is possible in a city council meeting and remain mindful of the public’s ability to participate in meaningful ways.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” (Matthew chapter 25, verses 35-36)

Homeless Issues Task Force
Everywhere I go I hear about the high cost of housing and, can’t we do something to help the homeless come in off the streets of our city? Those are by far the top two issues. So, it appears to be “wrapped in a mystery,” as Churchill states above, why we cannot as a council and a community muster the cajones to build a 24/7 shelter with the attendant wrap-around services like drug and alcohol counseling along, and also identify the transitional housing that is needed. In my first nine months on the city council, round 2 (I also served 1998-2002), we are failing at alleviating the plight of our homeless and not providing much affordable housing to speak of. The staff report for this week’s council meeting says “staff are pleased to report substantial progress…” on homeless issues. I kid you not. The Benchlands, alongside the county building at 701 Ocean Street, is housing 40-50 campers per night I’m told. The US Post Office on Front Street is surrounded by campers now that they’ve been unceremoniously removed from the grounds of city hall. Just off the bike path below highway one that runs next to Holy Cross church often holds a dozen campers, many in tents. Combined with the Food Not Bombs weekly feedings, this picture attests to a great need for items 17 (Shelter!), 18 (year-round shelter!),19 (year-round homeless shelter), and 20 (day services with basic services and case management) listed in the Task Force report. All of them were in the report, but, are now strangely deemed too hard to do. While it is laudable to charge the electronic devices of the homeless, help store their belongings, and offer showers, and I support all of them, but they barely scratch the surface and it’s been well over a year of talking, meetings, more talking and more meetings. The staff even describes these above four points as “Long-Horizon Solutions.” I believe they are the really necessary elements of the 20 points, the ones you hear your neighbors talk about, the ones that are even discussed at the bars and cafes around town, not to mention at every public meeting I’ve been to recently. Housing and counseling services have somehow been left to the auspices of divine intervention…too tough for mammon, too intractable for us in 2017, and too controversial for the meager city resources that currently spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants, facilitators, and job head-hunters (see memo below). Please notify the assistant city manager, Tina Schull who is in charge of putting together the most recent homeless report. She can be reached at tshull@cityofsantacruz.com, or 831.420.5020. Please demand that housing and mental health services be the number one priority when it comes to city funding for homeless services.

“Stuff” Department
Odd Stuff

• Councilmember Chris Krohn accompanied Police Chief Andy Mills and Vice Mayor, David Terrazas on a trip to Houston, Texas last week to attend a POP conference, “Problem-Oriented Policing.” I will leave it to the mind of the reader why this might be odd, but it was quite the informative conference, bordering on some rigorous intellectual training. It was actually a joy to see a curious, inquisitive, and passionate Santa Cruz police chief interact with his mentor of 27 years, Herman Goldstein, Professor Emeritus in criminal law at the UW Madison law school. Goldstein literally wrote the book on POP in 1990, Problem-Oriented Policing. He knows his stuff and is quite the lecturer.

Hot Stuff

• UCSCS sociology professors, Miriam Greenberg and Steve McKay will be hosting a “No Place Like Home” talk and question session at the Civic Auditorium on Thursday, October 19th at 7pm. It is free to the public, so mark your calendars and come prepared to talk housing!

Sleeper Stuff

• I’m already receiving another round of emails supportive of the developer give-away Downtown Recovery Plan Amendments slated to be before the city council sometime soon.
• Amber Blizinski resigned from the Planning Commission and the council majority gets to choose yet another commissioner this week…It only takes FOUR votes on the council to pick all SEVEN commissioners on every city commission. It’s an inherently unfair process. We need to bring back the one councilmember-one commissioner appointment process and restore not only fairness and balance to the commissions, but a diversity of views as well.

Bernie Quote of the Week
“Despite the Trump administration’s destructive efforts, we will not stop fighting for women’s rights and full reproductive justice.” (Oct. 6)

~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.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. See and appreciate DeCinzo’s very serious 1989 earthquake vision just a few scrolls downward.The earthquake happened October 17, 1989 at 5:04 pm.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Worshipping What?” 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 some “Dotard” concepts.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Catch up with one of Santa Cruz’s most beloved Open Studios artists this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). And life is still mysterious for human and replicant alike in the thoughtful 30-years-late sequel, Blade Runner 2049.” 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 October 10 Phyllis Rosenblum discusses the Santa Cruz Chamber Players 2017-18 season. Following Phyllis, Katie Hansen and Sierra Ryan two of the authors of the new MAH book Harvesting Our Heritage will discuss our County crop history. Gary Patton gives info and background on the Save Santa Cruz Organization on Oct.17. Also on the 17th The Muslim Solidarity Group (part of Santa Cruz Sanctuary) will talk about their aims, goals, and issues.  The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. 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

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.              “EARTHQUAKES”

“Playing polo is like trying to play golf during an earthquake”, Sylvester Stallone
“The safest place to be during an earthquake would be in a stationary store.”
George Carlin,
“The earthquake, however, must be to every one a most impressive event: the earth, considered from our earliest childhood as the type of solidity, has oscillated like a thin crust beneath our feet; and in seeing the laboured works of man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his boasted power.” Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle
“Southern Californians freak out when it rains, yet when there’s an earthquake they’re like ‘pass the salt”, Gregor Collins,
“An earthquake is such fun when it is over“, George Orwell, Burmese Days

“Buffalo Bill Cody in parade on Pacific Ave. between Lincoln Street and Cathcart…Friday May 7, 1915”. With Buffalo Bill is his sister Mrs. Lydia Goulding who lived on Seabright Avenue. He visited here here in 1910, April 18,1914  and the above in 1915, his last visit, he died January 10, 1917.                                                        photo credit: photo and Buffalo Bill data courtesy of David Terrazas Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE Oct. 2, 2017

GARFIELD CIRCLE CHURCH SALE. “Something’s fishy about the sale of the Garfield Park Christian Circle Church” is what I heard over and over again from some residents who live in and on the circle street (Errett) that surrounds the church. Why was the selling price so far below the market value? It sold, and is in escrow for a listed price of $2,995,000. Who bought it?  Is there a brewery owner involved in the sale and purchase? Where is the money going from the sale? Why are they ripping out the church pews? Many complaints from the treatment of the community from Pastor Steve’s time as head guy to Christopher Drury who runs it now. There was no debt on the building,  the neighbors say. It had wide community use by all sorts of groups, now available times are severally limited. Why the new paint job on the church since it was only five years since the last one? There are more questions and because this is such a prime piece of Santa Cruz community and such a piece of our history…these questions and many more need answering, and more publicity shed on this sad  Drury dilemma.

NINA SIMON ON OCTAGON AND MAH CHANGES. I mentioned last week that I’m back sitting in front of The Octagon a few random hours each week. It’s great…folks stop by and give me all sorts of topics, secrets, and ideas for BrattonOnline. I also get plenty of questions about the changes that MAH and Nina Simon made to “the MAH-ABBOTT neighborhood” In answer to my query to her about what happened to the huge black letter M that stood next to the red ball at the corner of Cooper and Front Street she replied…”When we designed and built the new deck wrapping around the corner, we wanted to invite people to easily hang out and people-watch from there. We also wanted to make the deck as big as possible. We found a way for the ball – which is iconic to the site and beloved by many – to remain. But not the M. It was removed as part of the project”. In answer to even more questions about what’s going into the Octagon itself she emailed…” The Octagon is leased as part of Abbott Square Market and it is my understanding that they are actively developing it with local chefs, to open in 2018″. As it happened after her reply I asked two guys working inside the Octagon…they said that TWO locally owned restaurants will be opening in there by (next month) November!! I guess we’ll wait and see.

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BUFFALO BILL AND SANTA CRUZ VISITS. David Terrazas and I got to talking (not about politics!!!)  about Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) and his visits to his Santa Cruz sisters. I’d never seen or heard about Bill visiting here…and had never seen any local photos…or knew that he was one of seven children. Sophia M. Decker and Lydia Goudling were his Santa Cruz sisters. Sophia died here at her sister’s home on Seabright avenue. David  T. also had the library print copies of his PEERLESS PAGEANT OF PLEASURE appearing at the Liebrandt Circus Grounds. His Sells-Floto Circus featured “his Indians, Zora Bravest woman in the world, Ranch Girls, and Beasts of the Jungle performed by MME. Ricardo and Captain Dutch. Before all of that happened they would stage a Circus Parade two miles long!!!  

WILDER RANCH HISTORY AND THE S.F. CHRONICLE. Tom Stienstra in his OUTDOORS column for the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, September 28 wrote a great piece about Wilder Ranch State Park. He titled it “A Hidden Gem for Bikers and Hikers”.

He describes not just the scope of the park but the protocol for hikers, horse people and mountain bikers. That is bikers give way to hikers and equestrians; hikers give way to horses. He repeats Ranger conversations and it’s all very nice BUT never once does he or any ranger tell of the huge battle and victory we locals had in fighting the development of 10,000 homes there. No mention of the $121,000,000 lawsuit that Bob Bosso and The Hollywood Turf Club that he represented slammed on us that we had to fight (we won). That battle against development was significant. I wrote Stienstra about all of it. We should wonder now what would our City Council or Board of Supes do today if Apple, Microsoft, Google wanted to build the equivalent of 10,000 homes here…like a Silicon Beach Ranch or some such monstrosity??

THE SPIRIT OF SANTA CRUZ by CARMELLA WEINTRAUB. My decade’s long- time friend Carmella Weintraub wrote this piece and sent it to Gary Patton and me. Carmella is a long time Santa Cruzan, mother and designer. Gary ran it on Facebook and I want to share it with all of you here. It’s so well written and covers the beliefs and feelings so many of us have. Don’t miss it…read it all…

“SAVING THE SOUL OF SANTA CRUZ”

Carmella Weintraub

It is said that the soul of a place is the sum total of the essence of its highest ideals and should be an expression of its commitment to the good, the true and the beautiful. This quality of soul comes only after the evolution through phases of its development, some of which is challenging and some a natural progress. Then, on both the personality level and the cultural level, integration comes and the soul essence solidifies into a clear and palpable sense of integrity and direction. After facing many changes and challenges in the last 25 years, I feel the soul of Santa Cruz in on the line and I want respectfully offer my perspective.

I came to Santa Cruz in 1969, the year of the Woodstock Festival, an event that heralded the arrival and growing strength of the counterculture and the beginning of the Aquarian Age. This coincided with my serendipitous landing in a town that seemed on the verge of virtually living the values of that time.  I must say, I resonated. The energy here was so positive and real.

The town, which I had known since the 1940’s – my great aunt and uncle lived in Paradise Park – had not changed that much since that time. It was still a sleepy little burg, full of senior citizens, retirees in their quaint little one of a kind cottages and students and faculty of the newly minted University and a main drag that sported some nice stores, Leasks and the Morris Abrams store in addition to the Cooper House and numerous small businesses.  

I found a city that was bordered on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on the other by giant redwood forests. Between these was a magical strip, which included many charming homes and multiple historic public buildings, built between the Victorian age and the 1950’s.  In addition, there was a huge amusement part called the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, an iconic symbol of the natural and playful part of human nature. The City on the Hill, the University community, overlooked this whole picture. The arts community, music and entertainment and surfers, boaters and colorful hippies rounded out the palpable spirit of Santa Cruz.

How could one go wrong?  Unparalleled pristine beauty, intelligence on the hill and creative energy all around.  How could one resist all of that?  I moved here.  I was 30 years old, give or take a few, and made a life here, knowing this place was special. Finding a job in social services saved me from living on the edge in a place without a huge economic base to support its populace.

The scene blossomed in the 1970’s, in the middle of some awesome cultural institutions, both of the Catalysts (old and new), the Cooper House, with live music and dancing by Ginger, Bookshop Santa Cruz, The Teacup Restaurant, the annual Spring Fair and lots and lots of live music groups, art and literary groups.  People “owned” the town. Pacific Ave. was turned into the Pacific Garden Mall in 1968 (originally called Downtown Oasis) a plan inspired by Chuck and Esther Abbott.

The mall was basically a non-stop party of music, mirth and exchange of ideas and provided a place where town residents started to mix with University students and their professors, several of whom held forth at the Pergolesi coffee shop behind Bookshop Santa Cruz to lead a weekly forum of the latest ideological point of view. Hanging out at Logos book store was the pastime du Jour. People were out in droves to see and be seen, to enjoy Don McCaslin, the Brothers Karamozov and to enjoy the radically individualistic social scene that was fueled by the general zeitgeist of the times. Tom Noddy, the Bubble Man, even made it to the Johnny Carson show.  

It was a fun, unselfconscious time, and even with the advent of recreational drugs, it was still slow, but upbeat, rich and enjoyable, a culture of free spirits, unfettered by the strictures of a culture of conformity.

Perhaps feeding off of some present, but unacknowledged, understanding of what we really had here, social action began to take place in the mid- 1970’s, focused on preserving the natural settings of Santa Cruz, for all time. During this magnificent period, many Open Spaces were saved for the enjoyment of future generations.  Pogonip was saved and annexed by the City in 1978 and would not be developed for housing. In 1974, a committed group of Santa Cruz citizens organized to keep Wilder Ranch from the ravages of north coast development. Later, in 1978, Lighthouse Point was saved, also from development, and later converted to a State Park, a status which endures until now providing perhaps the most beloved gathering spot in our city. Even later in the ‘70s Arana Gulch became a permanent greenbelt and would remain committed to its pristine original nature- green, wet and wild.

Money was beginning to creep into the culture of Santa Cruz, but not in a greedy or ostentatious way.  Houses on Westcliff were sold and other large ones built but still, there was the original feeling of Santa Cruz. A place for many people, visitors and residents alike to enjoy a place of rest, rejuvenation, relaxation and renewal.  It was a magical time and things were about to change dramatically.

At the end of the 1980’s, there occurred a sudden and major shift.  The Loma Prieta earthquake hit, decimating the Pacific Garden Mall and killing 3 people. I was downtown with my young children at the time and witnessed this tragic event. The damage was so extensive that the Mall lost its Historic status because 19 of 36 buildings that qualified for the appellation just two years prior to the quake were lost. Future generations would never see the examples of 1890s to 1929 architecture. The Cooper House, deemed unsafe by City officials, came down, despite the protests of hundreds of tearful onlookers.

This loss was a metaphor for much more that was lost in the Earthquake because in the ensuing years many aspects of Santa Cruz changed. In the nanoseconds following the earthquake, the town was plunged into a crisis of major proportions. The town was in shambles and soon so was the spirit of Santa Cruz. We had lost our center.

Very quickly, outside professional urban planning consultants were called in to consult on what our town should look like, despite their lack of familiarity as to what the DNA of Santa Cruz had always been.  Our hip little town soon became a “chic” little town and started a trend that was to continue until this very day.

After the earthquake the local ambience and architecture changed very rapidly and often surprisingly with less public input than was probably fair.

Costco, our first city big box store, opened in 1994.  A few years later, in a sudden departure from our historic heritage, Gateway Center opened in 1997, much to the chagrin of the small business owners who had their charming and historic buildings knocked down. Replacing these historic businesses with what turned out to be a strip mall in the shape of a square, housing businesses at the gateway to our town, in non-descript box like stores with no apparent nod to the look and feel of our town.  As if that were not enough shock. Soon modern design, coupled with a garish green paint on metal standards, appeared in the form of lighting on River St., ostensibly to create a welcoming look to the historic center of town.  In the opinion of many citizens, this goal was never achieved.

There were many shocked people, including myself, but as local architect–activist Mark Primack stated, at the time, after only two people showed up at the design review planning meetings, “the citizens of Santa Cruz will get what they deserve”. I am recalling all of this because I believe we are at a similar juncture now. If we don’t get actively involved in setting the course of development in this town, we will again be the recipients of something we do not want nor deserve.

After this particular surprise, more change came about and currently continues to come about, fast and furiously as the City fathers (and mothers) move quickly to fill in every empty space in Santa Cruz city limits with high density potentially generically designed “infill”, a phenomenon that is currently in process now, led by the Santa Cruz City Council and City Planners.   

To that end, currently on the table or in process are these projects:

• The Corridor Plan, putting high density, tall buildings and hotels on Ocean St. Soquel Ave, Water St. and Mission St.
• The Active Transportation Plan, a plan containing 260 separate projects all over the city to encourage bicycle and walking transportation and safety. Some of the projects disturb neighborhood unity, safety and aesthetics with signage and changes the neighborhood residents do not want to see in their established places of habitation. Other projects invite unbidden crime to enter quiet neighborhoods that are particularly vulnerable.
• The Wharf Plan, potentially putting high density, tall buildings on the wharf, creating issues in congestion, questionable aesthetics and future dangers if sea levels do rise,
• The Hyatt hotel in place of the former Unity Church, out of place in this particular crowded neighborhood with congested streets.
• Potentially moving the present downtown City Library to the space displacing the Farmer’s Market and putting in a multilevel parking garage where none currently exists, at that site.
• Increased non-aesthetic designs (so far) on the planned San Lorenzo River high-end housing development.
• Increased development of the tech industry coupled with high speed Internet cable.
• Destruction of more historical housing and buildings, especially on high profile streets.
• More freeway lanes going to and from Watsonville, yielding more pollution and greenhouse gases
• Private development of housing that does not meet the economic needs of most local citizens, low income and homeless populations.

Why is this all-important and where are we going with this? And why?

What can we do?

Taken together and followed by potentially more changes, these planned projects would change the face of our city in radical ways.  We need to determine our personal response to these intended changes and act on our convictions on behalf of all stakeholders, including visitors and future children. We need, as a community, to take stock of exactly what values we hold dear and exactly what we are losing by not honoring these values.

First, let’s be clear, these concerns are not about maintaining the status quo or about nostalgia.  They are about maintaining our spiritual, aesthetic and moral center in the face of an increasingly inhuman environment which is killing people and compromising the sanity of many our of  citizens, young and old and obliterating natural resources and open space.

There are many practical issues associated with planned changes for Santa Cruz, many of which are long term concerns .  First, can the infrastructure we have now support new development, especially those that will house many residents or visitors? Currently, our infrastructure of roads, sidewalks and buildings need repairing before money is spent on private development. Secondly and importantly, can we continue to supply water and other resources to new development and still service existing citizens? While new hotels can support the sagging tax base, the concern that current water users have is valid. We have contributed here for years.  Thirdly, why are taxes not levied on the multi-million dollar homes that are being built? The alternative, sales tax, creates an overdependence on materialism and shopping. Fourthly, how are all economic levels of citizens going to be able to remain here to enliven the mix of cultures and points of view we have historically enjoyed?

These are all valid, reality-based concerns for our citizens but there are also meta-issues which cannot be addressed at town hall meetings and these involve concerns that are often talked about in private conversations and they affect a large constituency of residents, visitors and future generations of same. Let me express, as a long term resident of this town, how I experience the many hidden values of our town and what we can do to save these before it is too late.

I feel Santa Cruz (Holy Cross) is a sanctuary, a holy sacred space for all who venture into these environs. The operative word here is ALL. Over the years, we have developed something special here and Santa Cruz’ charm and values are a magnet for people all over the United States and the world as well. I submit that Santa Cruz is a center of counter culture for a reason and is known worldwide for the way we live. As our mainstream culture speeds up, creates crowded, concrete communities overloaded with technology and cars and speed, we have maintained a commitment to something slower, saner and unique. It is perhaps a one-of-a-kind experience. Indeed, Santa Cruz IS an experience, a state of mind that is almost indescribable. We have much to offer a world-weary population and we must adhere to the core values and the gifts we offer to the planet. And they are many.  Our human lives actually rely on the necessity of regeneration, relaxation, recreation and rest. Our nervous systems actually demand this and the price we pay for not adhering to these necessities is illness, sometimes severe and often expressed as continuing low grade stress.

We have many healers here and it is, in my opinion, because we are a healing community. People need what we have, all people.  We must remain faithful to the part we play in healing the homeless, the frazzled, the young and the restless and let’s not forget our seniors, the original inhabitants of this retirement community.  We owe this to them as well as our children and future generations.

The chance to experience nature at its finest on miles of currently protected beaches and hundreds of square miles of redwood forests is priceless and nurturing and is, in essence, the basis of our healing atmosphere. The pace in Santa Cruz is not syncopated or staccato but, instead, more lyrical and softly entrained to the rhythm of the ocean and its playful inhabitant creatures. This is our DNA. Nature is our “brand” and in keeping with that, countless human beings can remain a natural human and even more can come here and remember what it is to be fully human. Through the enjoyment of our natural resources, we can experience the joyful and natural state that is evoked by our beautiful beaches and the countless other recreational opportunities that our environment offers.

In a time when cultural mania is increasing to megalomania and the metropolis becomes megalopolis; we have an example, here, of how to balance this trend. Hyperactivity is a national illness and it is up to us to remain a clear beacon for an alternative way to live.  Indeed, Santa Cruz has the ability to provide an active model for a viable life-style alternative.  A lot is riding on our commitment to modeling how it is to be fully human, related to nature, to each other and our fellow inhabitants of the planet. In these meta-respects, we are a model city.

Coupled with our natural resources, our University culture and our small, human size homes and public buildings, each with its individual look, we have created a culture of connected individualism, environmental sanity and ecological consciousness. Artists, musicians, creators, imaginers, young and old, people of diverse orientations, rich and poor, come together to create a culture of character and diversity which is unmatched anywhere. Why would we want to ruin this by importing any of the insanity that is what ruins most other large communities. To do so would, in and of itself, be insanity of the highest order.

We should not become a Silicon Beach. We do not need to be a bedroom community of Silicon Valley and we do not necessarily need to grow. We should not become Monterey and we are not Carmel with its quaint arts community. We simply need to continue to be ourselves and honor what has come to be an amazing place centered as we are on the edge of the Pacific Rim.

I believe we are here with a spiritual charge to balance the insanity of the techno, bureaucratic, corporate industrial complex.  With the protection of the forest on one side and the sea on the other, we are a virtual island of sanity. We are a true oasis of intelligence and creation and beacon of individual freedom to each be who we are as essence and to also share in the rich and diverse community that we share. We must as what we can do to retain the paradise that we have. In the spirit of dialogue, I humbly offer the following suggestions to perhaps stimulate a discussion about how we can help maintain a commitment to existing beauty and value in this town,.  

OUR TASKS

• Support activities and leaders who will not gentrify, technologize, monetize or materialize (nor caffeinate) our community nor exploit human or natural resources to these ends.
• Support the continuance of spiritual development and higher consciousness here, thus encouraging each individual to reach his or her full potential.
• Support spontaneous grass roots level creativity, especially collaborative kinds of projects and events for all ages and stages of  life..
• Support those activities, which do not exploit our natural and historic collective resources on behalf of a few, whether that is government, private citizens or outside developers.  
• Support aesthetic building and public art and design which is in keeping with our historic legacy. This entails keeping the landscape “low rise” as opposed to high rise.  
• Support those policies which do not allow crowding out the citizens of this area who are operating in the lower socio-economic levels.
• Support those changes which do not increase speed, concrete, cars or exclusive money.  Economic development must be based on values of economic moderation and inclusiveness of all levels.
• Support activities, people and policies that allow us to keep our natural rhythm, size and connectivity.  Choose that which supports harmony, diversity, inclusiveness and diversity.
• Support the development of a process for ongoing public input and voting on each proposed development that has the capacity to change the DNA of our community.  Encourage referendum process.  
• Support density in what is already here, change zoning laws to allow development of the many small outbuildings that abound in the city of Santa Cruz.
• Support individuals to accept responsibility and accountability for the role he or she plays in the evolution of our planet and indeed, our very existence.
• This includes responsibility for not over-populating the planet, for not condoning any form of violence or brutality and for respecting all beings as worthy of dignity and acceptance.

We need to unify our energies and goals for this town and listen closely to every voice. The planet and we have a lot at stake.  It is not too late to save what we have created in this village by the sea. We are capable of leading the nation in propagating values that lead to quality human lives as well as the other kingdoms with whom we share the planet, lives unburdened by values not developed in our true interests- that of being happy, healthy and connected with our whole planet and Universe.

Lastly, it is important that we elect leaders who understand the language of the soul. This means making collaborative decisions and working through a channel of what feels right, not only what a few think is right. Leaders need to listen carefully to all citizens who choose to speak up and it is my feeling that it needs to be longer than 2 or 3 minutes per speaker (as it currently stands in the City Council). Santa Cruz people know the language of the soul and we need to speak up on behalf of what we might lose if we don’t make our values known. We have way too much to lose if we stay silent. Many citizens, present and future are depending on us to serve the highest good of all.

Carmella Weintraub, September 5, 2017

Carmella@got.net

By: Chris Krohn    Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

“Wins and Loses”

“New York (Santa Cruz too?) in its current dissonant form, is at ease with a disturbingly paradoxical identity, as a place that says yes to every branch of Dunkin’ Donuts and no to the people whose fortunes consign them to working there.”–Gina Bellafante, N.Y. Times Book Review of Vanishing New York

I offer an update about several issues that went before the Santa Cruz city council last week. Here’s the recap…

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

Ya Win Some…
There was unanimity on the Santa Cruz City Council to support Senate Bill 54, which essentially declares California a sanctuary state. It is such a positive step in the direction of providing a commitment to some of the “huddled masses yearning to be free.” It is a bill that affirms our commitment to immigrants, and it is also in keeping with our American heritage, culture, and traditions. Although it is essentially a symbolic gesture unless the state also offers sanctuary cities legal support in defending ourselves against the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) raids. These ICE raids continue to take place across the country. To also make it real, our Santa Cruz city council needs to set aside some money during the mid-year budget review in January to help pay the legal bills in defending our residents and their DACA offspring, which leads me to the next win. This same city council voted 7-0 to also stand firm with the Dreamers, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Perhaps nothing the Trump administration has done is more insidious and wrong than trying to end the DACA program. But there is hope. There are conversations going on between Republicans and Democrats that we hope will continue this important program. Our council resolution calls on congress to renew this program. Please call US Rep., Jimmy Panetta today and urge him to stand firm and support the program.

There is “…complicity between municipal government and big private money to reconfigure whole sections of a city, with dubious consequences, chief among them the ceding of space, goods and social currency from the ordinary classes to the ruling order.” (Bellafante, Times Book Review)

Ya Lose Some...
We lost on bringing some sanity to the Santa Cruz bail schedule. Sandy Brown and I vote “to not approve this bail schedule and ask staff to bring it back with information about a sliding bail schedule that does not adversely hurt poor people.” The vote was 5-2. The other notable council agenda item was a recommendation by staff to close the inclusionary loophole for planned developments. Most of the time, developers choose to pay into an affordable housing fund or rent to Section 8 voucher-holders instead of renting the required 15% as affordable units. City staff came and unfortunately recommended 7.5%…maybe…if it’s not too much of a burden on the developer the head of Economic Development department indicated. Since the staff report for this item was obfuscating, the council chose to punt and wait on a final inclusionary decision until the next council meeting…it could be in this week’s rainout category too. (too many sports metaphors I know, sorry.)

It’s about “…the hand of menacing greed and self-interest.” (Bellafante, Times Book Review)

And Some Get Rained Out…
No doubt my agenda item to oppose SB 35, the so-called, “Affordable Housing” bill was nothing short of a rainout. On the face of it, this measure is a pro-developer one. Good things are actually present in the bill: developers must pay prevailing wage, requires a 10% inclusionary, and Sacramento acknowledges there is a severe housing crisis in this state, especially along the coast. But why does the state have to tell us to require a 10% inclusionary in all developments when Santa Cruz already has a 15% inclusionary? The bad stuff in SB 35: it allows multi-family development in single-family neighborhoods, it also would tie the hands of local decision-makers in making land-use decisions, and it is bad for democracy. This bill also provides no money. What is it that conservatives often rail about, “unfunded mandates?” This bill was opposed early on by two groups who often do not see eye-to-eye, the League of California Cities, because it puts constraints on what cities can decide, and the Sierra Club because SB 35 seeks to undermine the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The council finally voted to change the “we oppose this bill” resolution to a rather milk-toast just tell Gov. Brown that we want to let you know we don’t think it’s such a good thing to do to put mandates on cities and undermine CEQA. Our resolution is now moot as Brown signed it last week and it is now law. Another rainout may happen with the repeal of SB 1, the gas tax. It passed the legislature this past April. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1

As California Attorney General, Xavier Becerra and the anti-gas tax petition gathers continue to wrangle over what the initiative will exactly be named, many cities including Santa Cruz are already spending some of the money that is anticipated to be collected, that is 12 cents per gallon. The tax kicks in beginning Nov. 1st. How many signatures do they need to get the repeal on the ballot? Only 365, 880, statewide.

https://ballotpedia.org/California_Repeal_Gas_Tax_and_Fees_Increase_Bill_Initiative_(2018)

~

News of the Most Vulnerable Food Not Bombs Feeding the Poor Last Sunday at Post Office

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” (sound familiar?!)

Truly Affordable Housing Now! A 10-Point Plan
Get ready; we could be in for a roller-coaster of a ride if we hope to make any kind of dent in the currently insufferable pro-seller-landlord housing market in Surf City. There are so many first-course menu items vying to get on the table that it’s hard to keep up. So, here it is, a TEN-POINT Santa Cruz Quality of Life Plan that not only looks to lift all boats, but seeks to protect the most vulnerable and offer everyone a pay raise as our community approaches the stark reality that there is an actual “carrying-capacity” in our ecological hot-spot. Who will tell the people that there are limits? The following 10 points are not only the jagged pieces to the Santa Cruz housing puzzle–each not THE answer but rather a constituent part–but also its what I’ve been hearing from the multiple voices within the various social and political bubbles that I inhabit.

Santa Cruz Quality of Life Plan

1. Placing a housing bond before the voters and it’s got to be in the hundreds of millions to even make a dent. (Santa Clara County passed one last year with 68% of the necessary two-thirds vote. It was for around a $1 billion.)
2. Enact rent control complete with a “just cause eviction” ordinance along with an elected rent board. It failed twice before in Santa Cruz, but that was a long time ago when there were less than 50% renters, now tenants are near 60% and rents are at an all-time high.
3. A five-year moratorium on growth at UCSC. Is it time for the gown to take a time-out so the town can recover, work on its own housing needs and shore up the transportation, and water infrastructure?
4. Should the community demand that at least a full 50% of the thousand units of housing now being envisioned along Front and Pacific, between Soquel and Laurel, be truly affordable housing? Not by “design” or simply called, “workforce housing,” but by law and HUD standards of between 30% and 80% of the median county household income?

5. San Jose to Houston for the P.O.P. conference–“Problem Oriented Policing.” Notice this is how they rope you in…there’s that first box of donuts, then…who knows what’s next. (L-R) Councilmember Chris Krohn, Chief of Police Andy Mills, Cathy Mills, Principal Management Analyst Lupita Alamos, and in the back, Santa Cruz Police Sergeant Bill Azua and Lt. Jose Garcia. [edit: Vice Mayor David Terrazas is also in the photo!] I’ll tell you about the conference in next week’s post and how many donuts I ate!!

   Continue the “Fight for $15” and demand it be on the ballot in 2018!

6. The city should implement the UCSC model of faculty housing by building low-cost for-sale units, which only increase in price at the local cost of living rate.
7. The city must work with the school district to create affordable housing for teachers. The city of Santa Cruz has land that could be “donated” to the school district to construct teacher housing. The school district holds land that the city can help with the permitting process.
8. Enact a real estate transfer tax, a special “Airbnb” tax, and a 3% hotel tax to support homeless services and a permanent fund for affordable housing.
9. The UCSC administration must lower its $1700 per month, per student dorm fees. It is the most potent force in driving up rentals all over town.
10. Elect a city council majority in 2018 that will help advocate, enact, and enforce the housing measures above; candidates who promote student concerns, uphold the values of labor, and place social justice, fairness and an open political process, first.

Bernie Tweet of the Week
“At a time of massive inequality, the Republican budget takes from the middle class and those in need, and gives huge tax breaks to the rich.” (Sept. 29)

Correction(?) Who knows how old UCSC is? Raise your hand. I know they had a 50th anniversary that lasted like, two years. In my column last week, I said this was the 51st year. (opened in 1965) Well, it turns out that 2017-1965 = 52. Someone wrote in to say UCSC is actually 53. So how old is it? You’d think you could Google the answer, but it’s not so easy.

(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).

By: Becky Steinbruner    Email Becky at KI6TKB@yahoo.com

SAD DAY FOR RANCHO DEL MAR MERCHANTS AND THE APTOS COMMUNITY
I stopped in last Saturday evening at lower Rancho del Mar Center to offer help and good wishes to the independent small business owners on their final day allowed by TRC Retail.  Keang and DeeDee Lee were working hard to load fixtures they had sold into a trailer to clear out Le Chef Kitchen Store.  Lee’s Baskin-Robbins was already closed, but posters on the  window held hand-written sentiments from the customers who have appreciated Keang’s friendly manner and delicious ice cream for 14 years. Showtime Pizza owner Jose Gonzalez served a loyal customer the last piece of pizza and shook hands.  Sofia’s Taqueria owner, Robert Cordova, who started as a teenage dishwasher there and bought the business 12 years ago, talked casually with the many loyal customers who came for dinner before the restaurant is shuttered. 

WHY IS DEVELOPER TRC RETAIL BOOTING THESE FOLKS OUT WHEN THERE ARE NO BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED?  WHERE IS SUPERVISOR ZACH FRIEND? 
I asked the merchants what they would like to have from TRC Retail?

• Showtime Pizza owner Jose Gonzalez:  “Nothing.”  He got lucky and will move to the nearby Aptos Village Square and re-open next month.
• Sofia’s Tacqueria owner Robert Cordova replied “Please talk to me.”  He said TRC Retail would not answer his many requests for information and updates about the remodel timeline, and thought he had more time to find another place.  When he received the 30-day eviction notice, he said he asked about the projected price of the spaces after remodeling is complete: ” They said $4/SF…that’s too much for me.”  He pays $1.75/SF now.
• Baskin-Robbins and Le Chef owners Keang and Dee Dee Lee were working too hard to talk much, but said they really don’t know what to do.  TRC Retail has not replied to their repeated requests for information either.  “It would be nice if we had first option to locate back into the Center after the remodel is complete” Keang said earlier.  Maybe he does not know the $4/SF price tag.  “I am beginning to think that TRC Retail does not want a Baskin-Robbins in their shopping center,”  he added.
• Erik’s Deli was already closed up.
• Senior Benefits Insurance Services owners Ken Cook and Bill Weber, the last business to occupy the vacant theater building, were not around.

Call TRC Retail Project Manager Scott Grady 949-500-6192  Scott Grady sgrady@trcretail.com and ask that TRC Retail to at least give the tenants compensation for moving costs…after all, TRC Retail’s property managers (there have been three of them!) did not respond to the tenant’s questions and Mr. Bruce Walton, TRC Retail management, admitted “We dropped the ball on communication.”

TOTO, WE’RE NOT IN APTOS VILLAGE ANYMORE…..
Work on the Trout Gulch/Soquel Drive intersection in Aptos Village is looking more like downtown San Jose every day.  Take a look at this great photo by Aptos resident Holger Blech.  The railroad crossing towers are not yet in place but are stored on the Aptos Village Project premises and ready for Collins Electric to hoist them into place.  What is missing in this photo is the gridlocked traffic in all directions.

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

I WANTED TO BUY A GOOD BOOK, SO TRAVELLED TO KELLY’S BOOKS IN WATSONVILLE.
I asked Kelly (of Kelly’s Books) about the scenario when she was given a 30-day eviction notice by Kaiser Medical last year.  She had an interesting story.  It seems that well-meaning efforts by elected officials actually were not so helpful, but the additional time and $2/SF moving cost re-imbursement was better than nothing.  What surprised me was that those elected officials never once asked the affected business owners what they wanted in the process.  She also said that there is a legal requirement that businesses must be given 60 days notice to relocate, even if their rents are month-to-month.  I want to investigate that…..

COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT REPORT PRIORITIZES COUNTY STORM-DAMAGED ROADS FOR REPAIR.
Last Tuesday’s Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisor meeting included a report from Department of Public Works (Item #38 on the Consent Agenda) that prioritized all 207 projects (page 1407 of the agenda, if you are interested).  I am happy to see that the precarious southbound Soquel Drive in the Aptos Village underpass area is #8 on the list and should be fixed by December 18, at a cost of $717,801.  The #1 priority of the County is Valencia Road in Aptos, now up to a grand total of $5.2 million after the Sups approved doubling the budget the week before. 

Even though Supervisor Zach Friend curtly announced at that meeting that he was tired of having me bring up the subject of Nelson Road in Scotts Valley and comparing it to the Valencia Road repair, I’m gonna do it again.  It needs to be pointed out (again) that the Nelson Road repair is a nearly-identical situation to the Valencia Road culvert repair but now at #156 on the County’s priority list for repair and is listed at costing $305,000 to repair.  Wow.  Why the difference?  Supervisor Bruce McPherson got Anna Eshoo up there right away, and the temporary bridge that had been sitting in the Public Works yard, according to Director John Presleigh, got installed within three weeks after the storm made the creek crossing impassable.  Supervisor Zach Friend waited over a month to give Jimmy Panetta a tour, and the temporary bridge finally went in six months after the storm collapsed the culvert and Valencia Elementary School closed. 

I am sure it will all look good someday on Zach Friend’s political resume.

SHOULD LOCAL FIRE AGENCIES BE ABLE TO BID ON PROVIDING EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORT?
That was the big question and I was glad the Board of Supervisors had pulled that “non-controversial” Consent Agenda item off to be discussed in more depth as a regular agenda item.  So were the dozen or so fire and emergency response staff that attended.  It seems the County hired Abaris Group consultants for $100,000 to write a Request for Proposal (RFP) for providing emergency medical transport for Santa Cruz County residents.  The consultant met with emergency responders and related EMS staff to help craft the content of the RFP and had told the fire agencies they would be able to apply.  However, the actual wording of the document excluded the fire agencies, seemingly at the recommendation of the County Health Services Director Ms. Giang Nguyen.  After much discussion, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to accept the RFP wording and “get the process started.”  Only Supervisor Greg Caput looked out into the sea of dark blue uniforms and asked “Is this motion (to approve the RFP) what you want?”  Several heads shook ‘No”, but only Supervisor Greg Caput paid attention.  He was the lone “No” vote.  Stay tuned to possible delayed response times in a neighborhood near you….the bids close December 19.

COMMENT PERIOD EXTENDED FOR THE COUNTY DRAFT EIR FOR CANNABIS CULTIVATION & MANUFACTURING LICENSES
Thanks to County Cannabis Licensing Director Ms. Robin Bolster-Grant for listening to the many residents who asked for more time to read the two-inch-thick Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR).  Now you have until October 31, 2017 to read and submit comment regarding this document that spells out significant impacts of the new County licenses for Cannabis Cultivation and Manufacturing.  The mitigations along are 33 pages long.  

Several County Commissions and staff have spent hundreds of thoughtful hours working out the details to address both the needs of the Cannabis industry, for which the County has already budgeted $1 million in anticipated tax revenue, and the mountain residents who worry about fires, water, erosion and trash.  The trick will be striking a balance that is not so onerous that the Black Market flourishes at the expense of the people dedicated to trying to do the right thing.  

It seems that the Second District special overlay that Supervisor Zach Friend pushed through at CEO Susan Mauriello’s bidding will remain in effect…no outdoor Cannabis cultivation allowed in his District.  Ms. Mauriello lives in the Second District and did not like the smell of Cannabis growing in her neighborhood.  Never mind that forcing growing operations inside buildings increases the risk of electrical overloads and fires.  My neighborhood nearly burned to the ground in 2013 for that very reason.

WILL THERE EVER BE ENOUGH AFFORDABLE HOUSING?
With Governor Brown signing into law several bills aimed at increasing the state’s affordable housing problems, it merits thought as to what is behind the problem.  Is it lack of housing, or lack of housing that local people can AFFORD?  Santa Cruz City Councilman Chris Krohn’s article last week in Bratton Online really upset me…why wouldn’t the City leaders choose to require Barry Swenson developers to make 15% of the 79 residential units approved for the FIVE-STORY mixed-use building on Pacific Avenue and Cedar Street affordable?  Mr. Tim Willoughby of ‘Affordable Housing NOW!’ replied to my query to that group on this topic that the City only can require 15% affordable units that are to be sold, but not if they are for rent.

Now, however, that may change with AB 1505, which restores the ability of local governments to require developers to include affordable rental units after a 2009 appellate court had nixed it.  This seems like a good thing for the public benefit, as fewer people are able to afford to buy a home.  Notice, however, that the local governments MAY require but, if the process follows past patterns, local governments will not, because they seem to covet the “developer’s feasibility and flexibility.”  In other words, the developer gets to call the shots and make as much profit as they can, and often are awarded grand concessions to boot.  Not good for the taxpayers, or the general public benefit.

Other laws that Governor Brown just signed have me worried: 

• SB 167 will fine cities that do not comply with a court order to build developments at a certain rate would be hit with automatic fines of $10,000 per housing unit not built.
• SB 35 will require cities to build at the rate dictated by faceless regional agencies, such as Associated Bay Area Governments (AMBAG).  It will target cities that fall short of the quota and require them to approve more housing developments that fit the criteria until they are caught up with the mandated numbers.
• SB 540 will allow cities to essentially create planned unit developments for certain areas, possibly waiving public hearings and environmental reviews.  This is intended to speed up the approval and construction process.
• SB 2 will impose taxes of up to $225 on some real estate transactions (but not home purchases) to collect $1.2 billion over the next five years to address homeless issues.

A thought-provoking article in the Mercury News discussed the idea that constantly increasing taxes on the population only worsens the poverty levels and makes affordable housing further out of reach for more people.  Here is the link

BUILDING THE GREAT BIG WALL
I have been somewhat surprised that the Santa Cruz Sentinel has not been covering the progress of Trump’s Wall at the Mexican border, but I am grateful that the Mercury News and many other newspapers have.  According to the media, work is beginning this week on the prototypes by companies selected by the Homeland Security administration.  Several environmental laws have been waived to expedite the work. Here is a link to just one article

Also of note are articles about ICE arrests increasing 43% but fewer have criminal records.  Here is a link  

It seems that maybe our government could effectively put more effort and resources into helping undocumented residents hop on the pathway to citizenship.

What do you think?

~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.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. A not very historic visit to KSCO!!! Scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Taking The Knee” 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 and “Hoot Culture”

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “It’s game-on when Billie jean King meets Bobby Riggs on the tennis court of honor in Battle of the Sexes, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). And kudos to the Santa Cruz Actors’ Theatre for bringing an intriguing new play about Martin Luther King to our little town!” 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. October 3 has Denise Gallant talking about her Tom Scribner documentary, and then we’ll talk with Erik Gandolfini and Avondina Wills about The Mountain Top play at the Center Stage. On October 10 Phyllis Rosenblum discusses the Santa Cruz Chamber Players 2017-18 season. Following Phyllis Katie Hansen and Sierra Ryan two of the authors of the new MAH book Harvesting Our Heritage will discuss our County crop history. Gary Patton gives info and background on the Save Santa Cruz Organization on Oct.17. The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. 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. “PUERTO RICO”

“American imperialism is often traced to the takeover of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii in 1898.”  Noam Chomsky
“In Puerto Rico, we have a lot of traditions. We eat a very typical thing that’s called ‘pasteles’ – it’s almost like a tamale made of bananas, and we make it all together. Like, all the women of the family unite, and it’s a very big deal, a very big thing”. Joyce Giraud
“After four centuries of Spanish rule, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States in 1898. Residents were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917, and the federal government has allowed Puerto Rico to exercise authority over its local affairs in a manner similar to the 50 states.” Pedro Pierluisi

HINKLE’S CASH STORE.circa 1894 to 1923. At the corner of Pacific Avenue, Mission and Water Streets. Read more about this once great and important corner two paragraphs below.        photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE  September 25, 2017

ABOUT RAPE AND SEXISM. Last week in BrattonOnline Gillian Greensite enclosed a paragraph in her column that not only bears repeating but it should be memorized. It says so much about rape and sexism that still isn’t said , admitted and practiced enough. Read it again…

“This developer friendly view of the high cost of housing brings to mind a similar distortion when people discuss why we have a high rate of rape in Santa Cruz, in California, in the US and globally. The usual list includes: women wearing skimpy clothes; women drinking; women going out alone; women partying; women not using the buddy system; women flirting…you get the picture. The main cause of rape is masculine sexual aggression, which is rendered invisible and thus assumes the status of a force of nature that women must navigate around, alter their lives around and suffer the guilt and blame if they fail and are raped. We will never radically reduce the incidence and trauma of rape if we ignore the cause and focus on extraneous factors that are at best, irrelevant, at worst victim-blaming. We need to re-focus attention on creating the social conditions for boys to be raised in a culture where “being a man” is not equated with being aggressive and in which all genders respect and support each other. No, not easy, we don’t have a good role model at the top right now and it won’t happen overnight but at least we can stop looking in all the wrong directions while ignoring the only one that will make a difference”.

BACK TO THE OCTAGON. I seriously have no idea how many years I’ d enjoyed sitting in front of the Octagon working on this column and my radio shows. In front of the Octagon is a great place to observe the passing parade and to get hundreds of confidential tips on what’s happening. While the de-construction of Abbott Square and the con-struction of MAH’s courtyard happened, I mostly stayed home for those hours. I went back last week, met dozens of long time friends, and got some ideas and opinions you see here. The two biggest questions I was asked and I’m asking too, were…. what happened to the giant black “M” that stood so tall next to the Red Ball at the corner of Cooper and Front Street. Where did the M go and why was it removed? The probably more often asked question was when or who is opening what inside the Octagon…the most historic building in our Downtown? I’ve asked Nina Simon director of MAH……as of this printing (downloading) no response from Nina. But we’ll hear soon, I’ll bet.

HISTORICAL MISTAKE. I wrote some awkward words about the McHugh Bianchi Building that I pictured last week. Eagle eyed Steven Bignell wrote to say, “As I’m sure other have already commented (and of course you know), the late and lamented McHugh and Bianchi General Store was actually demolished not in 2011 but back on August 20th, 1974.  John Chase’s Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture gives a good summary of the losing battle that ultimately helped create the City Historic Preservation Commission and the Santa Cruz Historic Building Survey”. He’s right of course and Chase’s book tells us that specific corner building started out as a barbershop, a candy factory, a stove store, and then a bunch more businesses.  From 1894 to 1923 it was Hinkle’s Cash Store. It was McHugh and Bianchi’s from 1946 to 1974. There was a huge battle to save McHugh’s and when I ran Henry Faitz’s campaign for State Assembly in 1974 we made it a big part of the campaign platform. We lost, and Bank of the West built what we now see at the Pacific and Water and Mission intersection.

FASHION/ART SHOW AND ANGLO GROVA’S GOOD BYE. For what seems to be obvious reasons the annual FashionArt Show at the Civic is another one of those Santa Cruz things. It’s silly, beautiful, erratic, artistic, and has become in its 12 years very successful, and I’ve been to every one of them…including the first one in Angelo Grova’s Michael Angelo Gallery parking lot in 2004. Angelo gave a serious and heartfelt 37 second speech last Saturday night at the end of the show. He’s retiring and turning it all (almost all) over to Christina Morgan Cree who will executive direct it. So plan on attending next year…she’ll do a great job too.

By: Chris Krohn    Email Chris at ckrohn@cruzio.com

I Dreamed I Saw Some Affordable Housing Last Night…
“EDGI” at the Cutting Edge of Climate Justice

Most locals agree that UCSC growth is out of control. You’ve probably noticed that students are back! Some are still in pursuit of non-existent apartments and the cars most off-campus dwellers bring to town are beginning fill that brief street lull that locals relish between Labor Day Boardwalk closure and the first day of school. The rush on and off-campus begins in earnest this Thursday, Day 1 of Year 51. And, if you ask old-time watchers, those who monitor the student stream flow on and off the city-on-a-hill, it has only become more intense–more crowded, congested, and often bumper-to-bumper–on Bay, Story, and High Streets. Of course, it’s not just the estudiantes, its larger numbers of faculty and staff who serve them and travel from as far away as Hollister and Gilroy, and from Livermore and Walnut Creek too.

Bernie Quote of the Week “We must work toward making health care a right. But right now, our job is to save our current system which Republicans are trying to destroy.” (Sept. 18). Bernie was hot this week. He spoke at the California Nurses Association (CNA) conference in San Francisco. See the video here:

If politics, the housing crisis, car traffic, or the latest rent increase has you down, just take a hike across the UCSC campus. It’s still filled with deer, bobcats, incredible bird life, a bunch of wild turkeys, and even a few rarely-seen pumas.

So, it was with those foreboding thoughts in mind that I attended a recent UCSC, Friday “The Original Thinkers” Forum. What drew me to this event was the mildly politically-charged title, “Meaningful Activism in the Trump Era,” and it was being officially sponsored by the University of California. And “meaningful” it was. Seems that the keynote speaker, sociology Prof., Lindsey Dillon is part of an international group named EDGI, Environmental Data and Governance Initiative whose charge is to save U.S. government agencies’ data from the likes of Trump and his ilk. Plus NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Osha, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Energy, and the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency were a few of the “guv” agencies that scientists were worried about as Trump era troglodytes began to leave their caves and roam about freely in the capitol. Outfitted with IT scrubbing brushes, and their nefarious form of electronic Windex, they are still out looking to obliterate words like “climate change,” and all the data that comes with it that’s taken years to compile, Dillon said. The EDGI data collecting was a monumental job that began shortly after election day and continued until May 1st of this year. Her task originally was to create “data rescue events” in which dozens of people with laptops would assemble and download government data before it could be erased or rearranged. Now, EDGI’s work is directed at creating access points for scientists and all members of the public to view the data. They also are writing reports on how these government agencies are going through unprecedented change with the new Administration. One of their reports, The First 100 Days and Counting Part 1: The EPA Under Siege, “is an in-depth analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Trump and administrator Scott Pruitt” according to EDGI’s web site. Part of group’s work too has been to conduct confidential interviews with scientists and other employees of these government agencies to find out what change looks like from the inside.

How does EDGI “organize and collaborate?” Dillon said they use programs like #slack, peerio (end-to-end encryption software), zoom (video conferencing software), GitHub (“data folks use it”), Versionista (“to track changes on-line), and the more well-known, Google Drive so every team member can work on tasks together she said. The data itself is set to be stored at the University of Pennsylvania, Dillon revealed. It was refreshing to see a host of local academics and pols offer Proffessor Dillon kudos. As Chancellor George Blumenthal opened the Hotel Paradox 8am breakfast event, I looked around at the faces of the 50 or so packed into a smallish conference room. Among those present were former Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane, Supervisor Ryan Coonerty, former Redevelopment Director Ceil Cirillo, new UCSC Dean of social sciences, Katheryn Mitchell, and former city council candidate Robert Singleton also came out. It was a good audience for Dillon, and she knocked it out of the park. It is also good to know activist-scientists like Dillon and her crew are working, like our state and federal court system, to combat all the seeds of badness and chaos that the Trump gang continues to sow. Yay Lindsey, keep it up!

click here to continue (link expands, click again to collapse)

Homeless Garden Project–Back from the Brink and Prospering

I met with Homeless Garden Project’s (HGP) board chair, Cathy Calfo, along with HGP executive director, Darrie Ganzhorn, to get briefed and updated on where their capital campaign and future are headed. They offered me some impressive numbers: 17 current trainees; 2,188 total garden and store volunteers last year alone; and a healthy $750,000 annual budget. The HGP ain’t going away anytime soon! In fact, it appears to be thriving as its board carries out a formidable capital campaign–as was done not too long ago at UCSC’sCommunity Agroecology and Sustainable Farm Systems (CASFS) led by the Prof. Daniel Press–to stabilize and grow the program as they make their seismic move to the Golf Club Drive side of the Pogonip. They are more than a third of the way to their $3 million-dollar goal and local heavyweights who form the capital committee include Patrice Boyle (Soif), Scott Roseman (former owner of New Leaf Market) and Calfo herself (Executive Director of California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF)).With the HPG, CASFS, Life Lab, and the explosion of our local farmer’s market, Santa Cruz is continuing to lead the way in organic agriculture and consumer products. This is all the more reason that we have to carefully till the social, political, and agricultural soil of the newly legal cannabis culture. If the cannabis commercial newbies (CannaCruz, Kind Peoples, WAMM you listening?) take a page from these three successful organically grown (pun intended) venerable organizations, our Santa Cruz will solidify its position at the forefront of the organic movement right where it belongs, and continue to create good jobs and attract grant money as well.

What do STR’s, Closing of the 15% Inclusionary Loophole, SC City Bail Schedule, and Affordable Housing Week Have in Common?

They’re all on the September 26 Santa Cruz city council agenda. Of course, STR’s (Short-term Vacation Rentals) far and away leads the pack for now. I’ve received over 200 email messages on this subject and they are running about 60-40 in favor of clamping down on STR’s in order to free up more housing for locals. The Planning Department staff report seems on the surface to be a reasonable one: supports limiting STR’s before they completely overwhelm Santa Cruz; all STR’s must be “hosted,” meaning owner has to live on premises; expresses concern about “unhosted” STR’s and suggests severely limiting their number by not issuing any new permits to the unhosted; and limiting the number of new “hosted” permits to 200. But, when joined with the existing STR’s this would give us around 500 (? still not clear) legal short-term rentals in the city of Santa Cruz. Is that too many or too few, or should government not get involved in telling people what they can and can’t do with their property(s)? Aside from the fact that government already has lots of rules around how people can develop property in the city, there are many heart-breaking and uplifting stories contained in those correspondences that support few limits. Mom visits for three months a year, Son comes home during summer…Can’t afford my mortgage without the STR…This is my retirement income you’re playing with…We get a better “class” of people to rent to (not fooled on that one)…I get to meet so many interesting people in a short period of time, and on and on go these stories. And most of them I take pretty seriously and have great sympathy. But folks, the community comes first, and really, we are talking currently about a very small group changing, whether they realize it, the very character of this town. Yes, it has been a tourist town at least since the first railroad steamed in during the 1880’s, but there has always been protection, preservation, and dedication by the city council concerning neighborhood integrity. If let to its own devices, the short-term rentals market would be, if it is not already, an unwanted mainstay in every neighborhood. And rental property is the most pressing need in this community, not short-term, but long-term rentals. If you need to house your son, daughter, granddaughter or grandfather at various times during the year then why not rent your place out as a sublet? Given the housing market and how long people search and have to wait to occupy a long-term rental, sublets could be a very necessary piece of our housing puzzle. Two, three, and four-month sublets are in short supply. It seems to me that by limiting the number of short-term rentals, the city council is sending the message to most year-round residents that they’re doing their job by protecting local housing stock for locals. Look for an update on STRs here next week…this issue will likely not become moot any time soon.

Bail Schedule needs reforming now. When a $20 fine for smoking ends up costing $152 after court costs, something is terribly wrong. Enough said. See the entire list of crazy, outdated, and sometimes outrageous acts you can commit and be fined for here.

It’s Agenda item #1.

Look at right sidebar and click on the icon titled, “September 2017 Bail Schedule” to access the 15-page document.

Affordable Housing Week Oct 19-26 is getting closer and Steve McKay and Miriam Greenberg’s “No Place Like Home” project will kick it off on October 19th at the downtown Civic Auditorium. Mark your calendar, much more to come. We need to arm ourselves first with information, organize into small groups and large groups, and then get out and make some demands on councilmembers, supervisors, assembly members, and state senators. As Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Together, we can do this.

Odd Stuff

• Are there really over 500 short-term rentals in the city of Santa Cruz?
• Seventeen condos are proposed to go in over Old School Shoes on Pacific Ave., right next to the Catalyst. Will it be spelled out in the lease that ear protection will be provided by the landlord for every tenant?

• Did anyone pony up the hundred bucks to attend Chip’s, “Downtown Party” last Friday night? (How was it?)
• Two thousand and one-hundred beds are supposed to be coming on-line at UCSC by the year 2022, but the Family Student Housing complex–at $1658 per month for a 2-bedroom arguably one of the best deals in the city–will be shut down in order to rebuild it. Won’t that be a temporary loss of several hundred beds? So, not so big an increase in bed space then?

Hot Stuff

• It’s amazing to watch NFL football players, and now fans too, “taking a knee” during the national anthem. Somebody proposed that city councilmembers “take a knee” during the flag salute at the beginning of each meeting in support of our Black Lives Matters’ brothers and sisters.

Sleeper Stuff:

The Looming, But Not-forgotten Issue of Next Month

Sign of the times…forty proposed condos at 1930 Ocean Street Extension.  Housing for the second-home crowd?

~ (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).

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo Looks at what could now be a Trump approved private school!!! See below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” National Health Alert #9” 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: “Look, Ma, I’m on Rotten Tomatoes! Here’s the link, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, Rebel In the Rye, the new movie about the life and times of J. D. Salinger: perceptive or phony? Read all about it in this week’s Good Times.” 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. September 26 has Conductor, artistic director Michel Singher talking about the next Espressivo Orchestra Concert, after Michel,  Betsy Anderson and Alison Carrillo talk about  Museo Carrillo. October 3 has Denise Gallant talking about her Tom Scribner documentary, and then we’ll talk with Erik Gandolfini and Avondina Wills about the Mountain Top play at the Center Stage. On October 10 Phyllis Rosenblum discusses the Santa Cruz Chamber Players 2017-18 season. Following Phyllis two of the authors of the new MAH book Harvesting Our Heritage will discuss our County crop history. Gary Patton gives info and background on the Save Santa Cruz Organization on Oct.17. The top winners of the Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers contest read their works on November 28. 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.    “October”

“October is the month for painted leaves…. As fruits and leaves and the day itself acquire a bright tint just before they fall, so the year near its setting. October is its sunset sky; November the later twilight”, Henry David Thoreau, “Autumnal Tints”
“October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins…. Merry October! ~Rainbow Rowell
“On October 15, 1965, an estimated 70,000 people took part in large-scale anti-war demonstrations“, Noam Chomsky
“Chicago is an October sort of city even in spring”, Nelson Algren