Highlights this week: NO BRATTONONLINE NEXT WEEK… Last Year in Santa Cruz, not very good, missing Joyce Malone… GREENSITE on Sexual Harassment… KROHN on housing, UCSC growth, and that LRDP… STEINBRUNER about the Board of Supes self-voted pay raise and how we can stop it, The desperate County budget Problem, Homeless moved to Harvey West, Soquel’s water fees to go up, and the new fire chief in Aptos…PATTON and too many cars…DeCINZO and holiday deliveries… EAGAN and our Unwanted Growth… JENSEN went on a holiday…I critique Star Wars:The Last Jedi, Coco, and Woody Allen’s Wonder Wheel…QUOTES on FIRES.
PACIFIC & WATER STREETS, December 26, 1951. This was SPIKE JONES (no relation) TIRE SERVICE and gas station, located right where the Town Clock is today. Even squinting I can’t read the gas prices… and it’s probably just as well.
ALDI-TRADER JOE’S OWNER’S. Here’s what little known about the world’s largest food market chain, Aldi. They are planning on growing in the USA. Our Trader Joe’s is a part of that chain.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN BLOOPERS.
JERRY LEE THE PUPPET. Cousin Dean Hagen
DATELINE December 18, 2017
HOLIDAY IN VICTORVILLE & MAR VISTA. I’ll be busy counting my blessings — and trying to avoid forest fires — driving down to Victorville and back here from Mar Vista. That means that we won’t be publishing “a BrattonOnline next week. Have a great and happy holiday season… and we can be sure that next year just has to be better!!!
THIS LAST YEAR. As anyone who has lived here more than 5 years will agree… “Santa Cruz has changed”. We’ve seen our Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors (especially John Leopold) bend over forwards to give developers every possible financial break. Our Santa Cruz City Council has also sold us down the tubes, by creating new ways to give developers every break possible. As Becky Steinbruner reports here weekly, Supervisor Greg Kaput has been the one to surprise us with some good votes. Cynthia Chase was a let-down, however, after so many progressives supported her, and helped get her elected.
Chris Krohn’s weekly columns here have taught us more about the City Council than we’ve ever known, including how they’ve cleverly manipulated meetings, breaking the audience into small groups in order to control any community thinking, and stop any sharing of unanimous ideas…or complaints. Then there’s the stacked Library Planning committee, and their blinded and predictable support of building a parking garage that will destroy the Downtown Farmer’s Market and encourage more vehicles downtown…shameful. Now we’re seeing more anti-homeless fencing about to be erected around London Nelson Park.
As Gillian Greensite reminds us often, there are also enormous challenges in settling our relationship with the UCSC campus. Santa Cruz has changed for the worse, bottom line, and seems set to continue to change… and get worse. The biggest and most promising hope we have is to elect two people-oriented, positive thinking, and hard-working candidates to our City Council. Let’s start hearing about some of those good candidates!
JOYCE MALONE’S GONE. Joyce Malone and Bill Malone — her husband of 51 years — moved here about 20 years ago from Cambria. They made one hell of a team. They also made a big positive dent in our local progressive politics. Joyce was severe in her political stance but had a fine sense of humor. She would debate anybody on any topic, and be more friendly and helpful than just about anybody I ever knew. In addition to all that, she loved the quotes always at the end of this column! Typically she decided that she didn’t want any “services” when she passed, so we’ll just have to miss her forever and tell each other for the next century how much we loved her.
Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
A REVOLUTIONARY NEW LEVEL.
Over the 30 years that I worked at UCSC to help prevent rape, and offer resources for those who had been raped, the words from a member of a 1974 Vietnamese Women’s Delegation to Toronto, Canada (and featured in a poster from The Guardian) kept hope alive. It read: “When women become massively political, the revolution will have moved to a new level.” What we are witnessing today in the unprecedented breaking of silence around sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace may indicate such a shift. Whether the movement of women to no longer protect abusive men with silence and shame leads to significant structural changes depends, as always, on human agency and not on hope or fate or faith.
As many have noted, the most profound change in women’s overall status in the 20th century was the massive entrance of middle class women into the paid work force. Working class women have always worked at low wage jobs, and the raising of children has never been recognized as deserving of a paycheck — but the two wage earning family is now the norm not the exception. Sexual harassment aside, women have not entered the paid work force on an equal footing with men: occupations that are predominantly female are paid less than those that are predominantly male, and women working at the equivalent jobs as men are paid less. But economic independence is key to altering the global status of women, which makes the widespread use of sexual harassment by many men in power to keep women out of jobs or promotion if they don’t comply more egregious than the harassment itself.
Physical and sexual abuse and control of women and girls by men is not confined to the workplace, of course. Domestic/interpersonal violence and sexual assault committed by ex-boyfriends, current boyfriends, spouses, acquaintances or strangers are largely male-on-female crimes: although same-gender sexual abuse is part of the complex picture, and females as perpetrators is not unknown. As an educator in these issues, I have found it challenging to keep the focus on gender as the underlying cause while avoiding alienating all genders in the process. Few are comfortable seeing men as the problem (and not all men are) and the biggest defenders of men are often female. Such defense goes way beyond objecting to over-generalizations: it objects to the facts as presented. From national data, 91% of those who are raped are female; 9% are male and 98% of those who commit rape are male. And perhaps unwittingly, the otherwise positive movement to disavow the male/female binary feeds into the de-gendering of male violence towards females.
The majority of men do not rape, but — as we have seen with sexual harassment — many men were aware of the harassment, and kept quiet, thereby aiding and abetting those who exploit their power. There are many men who are aware of a friend with attitudes of contempt for females; always having to prove masculinity with tough talk, aggressive behavior and being in control; viewing sex as conquest and (if heterosexual), abusive towards gays and homophobic. Such men are at high risk for raping. That risk would be reduced if their friends and acquaintances would drop the tacit support and silence around such behavior. And females who find only aggressive, controlling men attractive might want to contemplate not only why, but also how this attitude supports a rape culture.
Females breaking the silence against workplace sexual harassment en masse is long overdue. Refreshingly, it is led by and energized by women. Its detractors are few (or I’ve missed seeing them) and so far few women are rushing to the defense of the men in disgrace. I think this is partly due to the sharing of details. If we had heard only that Harvey Weinstein had sexually harassed women, we may have reacted differently — details of bathrobes, erect penises and hairy, slobbery advances has produced a helpful “yuk” factor. And then there is the sacrificial lamb of Al Franken. Due process, a focus on the details and making the punishment fit the crime, will be important going forward.
In the meantime there is cause for optimism. When Anita Hill faced Clarence Thomas with charges of sexual harassment in 1991 — and I was glued to the hearings — I believed the revolution was at hand. A bit premature! Twenty-six years later we may well be in such a revolutionary moment, but we cannot be spectators. If we want this moment to continue, every one of us needs to participate. A parting suggestion: the city’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women recently terminated 35 years of continuous, year-round self-defense classes for women and girls. In my experience, this is a backwards step. If you agree, let city council know.
~Gillian
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.
Hiking in the Pogonip with some of my favorite people: former SC mayor Jane Weed, her daughter Allie and son Dash, and Councilmember Sandy Brown
I wrote a column back in July in which I quoted those who came to the podium to clue the city council in on what ails city renters concerning the dearth of affordable housing in Surf City. They pretty much covered the housing conundrum: 1) developers get away with bypassing the city’s own 15% affordable inclusionary by paying a pittance into the housing fund of what a unit actually costs to build and thus economically segregate our community even further; 2) high cost of housing on-campus has students streaming down the hill and dislocating working families. I’m sorry, but housing 52% of an ever-growing student population–19,000 and counting–just doesn’t cut it; 3) there are well over 500 vacation rentals in the city of Santa Cruz and that is beginning to severely reduce our available housing stock for working people; and 4) Silicon Valley high tech workers have found a refuge in our city…just stand out there and count the “Google Buses” on the Avenue any given day.
WE ARE IN A HOUSING CRISIS
What do “the people” who come out to city council meetings to be a part of the community debate advocate? Of course, most would likely sign a rent control initiative in a heartbeat, but contrary to what the landlord-property owner is yelling at anyone who will listen, rent control is not THE answer, but it certainly is a part of solution. If we pass rent control we definitely get the attention of the moneyed-class because then you’re talking about their money. Tenants united is the only way to confront free-market abuses. First, you do a rent freeze to protect existing tenants, then pursue the rent control initiative. But what else should be on the table according to local voters? Real estate transfer tax, a soda tax (Berkeley raised over $3 million in one year), a 3% hotel tax. And by the way, doing all three of those will perhaps double the former Redevelopment funding that was lost when the program was ended in February of 2012. If rent control is to be successful the voters must also pass an initiative that installs an elected rent board. Tenants and landlords would both benefit from a Santa Cruz office of housing that also includes money to defend tenants in court. Lastly, it appears a housing bond will be before voters next November. This is also another important piece of the ever-difficult housing puzzle. Folks, if you want to ensure that this community has a fighting chance to win this housing struggle, you must ask city council candidates running on the 2018 ballot the tough questions around housing, and scrutinize the records of incumbents who may be once again asking for your vote, but often voting contrary to your interests.
Then You Get Tough
The community is demanding that UCSC stop admitting students without guaranteeing them housing. The current situation has not been working for Townies. The city has been losing big-time to the “U” over several years now. The losing streak likely began in 2005 after the last Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) was agreed to by the then-city council and the UC regents. Seems like it’s time for some old-fashioned Nikita Khrushchev (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4JhyHz3M5U ) shoe-banging and prepare for the arduous negotiations that are about to come. Khrushchev got the world’s attention, but the Santa Cruz city council only needs to get the UC regents’ attention. This coming year is perhaps the time for much shoe-banging. The LRDP is set to expire and there’s a committee of community “stake-holders” who will meet six times with university officials and offer input on what a reasonable town-gown agreement should be. These conversations need to be frank, and clear negotiations with cards placed on the table, need to occur. No one that I know is wishing the university to go away. In fact, the opposite is true. We are a more culturally rich, diverse, and vibrant community with our city on a hill present and accounted for, but we cannot allow the hill to swallow the town. Are we nearing the point of having too much of a good thing? Where is the tipping point? It is up to this committee to provide input and help chart a course that has the town and the gown thriving. No one-sided agreements can be allowed this time around. We also need to get tough on short-term rentals and live within our means. If 500 is the magic number, then no more. We must hire a firm like Host Compliance a firm out of San Francisco, which would monitor this number and make sure the hotel tax is paid and that the number of short term rentals remains stable. We must also get tough with market-rate housing developers. They must get the message: if you build in Santa Cruz you will build the inclusionary (affordable) units in every development. You will not be able to pay your way out.
Bernie Tweet of the Week
“Congratulations to Senator-elect Doug Jones@GDouglasJones for his great victory. Congratulations to the people of Alabama for doing what few thought they would do. This is a victory not just for Jones and Democrats. It is a victory for justice and decency”. (Dec. 12)
~ Chris
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.
THE REFERENDUM PETITION TO REPEAL COUNTY ORDINANCE GRANTING AUTOMATIC PAY RAISE FOR COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS IS MOVING AHEAD…CAN YOU HELP?
As I have written here before, I think the Board of Supervisors needs to be held accountable on a regular basis. Voting to grant themselves an automatic pay raise for the next four years is unacceptable, without public performance, especially when one considers the looming debt as presented last Tuesday by County Administration Officer (CAO)Carlos Palacios. Please call 831-685-2915 or e-mail. I would really appreciate your help.
THE COUNTY BUDGET WILL HAVE A $4-$9 MILLION SHORTFALL IN 2019-2020, ASSUMING $10 MILLION IS CUT FROM THE BUDGET EACH YEAR BETWEEN THEN.
Item #64, near the end of last Tuesday’s County Board of Supervisor Agenda was alarming: the debt tsunami is coming and expected to hit you and me in 2019-2020. County Administrative Officer (CAO) Carlos Palacios warned the Board that they will need to cut spending $10 Million annually beginning in June, 2018 to soften the blow of the impending CalPERS debt expected to implode many municipal budgets. The County’s increase for retirement benefits is anticipated to be $9-$13 Million. In five years, the County’s ratio of active personnel: retired personnel will be 1:1 (currently, it is 6:1).
What can be done, the Board wondered?
New employees are now promised less in retirement benefits, but there was no discussion about adjusting pay for the rest, such as retired CAO Susan Mauriello’s roughly $300,000 each year plus full medical benefits for the rest of her life. Apparently, there is a lawsuit in process in San Diego regarding the issue of cities changing retirement benefit rates, due to be resolved next year. Will there need to be a hiring freeze, wondered the Board? Maybe in two years, said CAO Palacios.
I asked during public comment on the matter (by the way, the room was pretty much empty by then) how CAO Palacios could claim the County has a balanced budget now when he admitted at June budget hearings that the deficit was about $7.4 Million, down from the surprising $12.8 Million deficit bomb that retired CAO Susan Mauriello dropped the previous year during a mid-year report. I asked why the County continues to hire expensive outside consultants, such as the $15-$25 Million engineers for Dept. of Public Works, $35,000 consultant to “find” Mr. Palacios for the CAO job last year (when it was obvious he had already been personally selected by Susan Mauriello), and the multitude of consultants like MIG hired to facilitate public meetings for large, dense developments like the Aptos Village Project, Pleasure Point area, Capitola Ave/17th, Brommer/7th, and Nissan dealership at Soquel/41st Ave.?????
I ran out of comment time before I could ask why there have been multiple remodels of the Board of Supervisor offices and CAO area offices, and why the Elections Dept. is going to move from the 2nd Floor to the 3rd Floor and why the County needs TWO Assistant Directors for the Planning Dept. and Public Works Dept.? But it would not have mattered, because I got NO ANSWERS to any of my questions.
Stay tuned for the Preliminary Budget presentation to the Board in mid-February, 2018. Do you think the Board will vote to repeal their automatic pay increases? Please help me with the Referendum Petition work to encourage them to take this fiscally-responsible action.
“NO! YOU’VE ALREADY SPOKEN AND CAN’T HAVE ANOTHER BITE AT THE APPLE!” SAID CHAIRMAN JOHN LEOPOLD.
That was County Supervisor Chairman of the Board John Leopold’s response when I stepped to the public podium last Tuesday after Consent Agenda comment, to alert the Board that there were problems with the video recording screens in the Board Chambers for the public view of speakers. It might have indicated that the meeting was not even being recorded. I persisted, ignoring his rude and disrespectful comment, to report the difficulty.
“Well, unless someone tells me differently, I’m going to assume the meeting is being recorded,” was his only reply. About five minutes later, a technician entered the Chambers and fixed the problem. Nothing like making sure the Board is transparent and involving the public’s participation, right?
WILL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY DECLARE A LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR HOUSING?
At last Tuesday’s County Board of Supervisor meeting, this issue was Item #11 on the Consent Agenda…which means no public discussion by the Board because it is considered non-controversial. Really? I asked that it be pulled and put on the Regular Agenda for better discussion and staff response. When citizens do this, they are doomed to having to wait the rest of the day for the item to come up AT THE VERY END OF THE AGENDA (Santa Cruz City Council is more respectful of the public’s and staff’s time and discusses pulled Consent Agenda items immediately following Council action on the Consent Agenda…maybe the County Supervisors could change their Draconian policy?)
At about 3pm, I finally got three minutes to ask what the process would be for the County to declare a Local State of Emergency? Would the public be involved? How would expediting building and zoning code and environmental restrictions affect the area? How would doing so affect funding and State mandates? How did staff choose to locate the Homeless Day Center in the Harvey West area? Why was nothing about a Center in Watsonville included in the staff report on Item #11 (now 64.1)? Why not put the Center in the vacant basement cafeteria at the 701 Ocean Street County Building instead of leasing industrial./commercial property (or other County-owned facilities)? I had written the Board in advance to ask all these questions, as Chairman John Leopold has tersely instructed me to do in the past, but had received NO response, which had prompted me to pull the Consent Item.
I only received chastisement from the Board because there apparently is discussion to open a Homeless Day Center in Watsonville (but it was not mentioned in the staff report. Supervisor Ryan Coonerty then said “You will get answers to the rest of your questions when staff reports to the Board at a later date.” Chairman John Leopold instructed me to contact Ms. Rayne Marr, the County’s Homeless Services Coordinator in the CAO’s office.
I had no idea there was such a person, did you? Here is her contact info:
She let me know after the meeting was adjourned that the County is just considering the action of declaring a Local State of Emergency, viewing what resulted when cities of Anaheim and Los Angeles took similar action. I researched that a bit myself and saw that Los Angeles has twice declared a State of Emergency for Housing (June 14, 2016 and September 22, 2017) to streamline permits for affordable housing, making it easier to get permits. However, despite their hopes to gain $13 Million to house the homeless and $100 Million to help with the greater associated problems, those elected officials are still wondering where the money will come from to house their homeless. In 2016, Los Angeles County government officials unsuccessfully lobbied the State for a special tax on incomes over $1 Million to pay for homeless programs.
The City of Anaheim declared a Health and Safety State of Emergency September 13, 2017 to deal with homeless problems along the area’s river trail. That municipality is hoping to get State money to open emergency shelters, increase homeless outreach services and hire more law enforcement staff.
Keep your eyes on these efforts and contact Ms. Rayne Marr with your thoughts and questions.
Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that the County and Santa Cruz City are arguing about how much each should pay to help those who are sleeping on the area’s sidewalks and camped at the San LorenzoBenchlands area in full view from the CAO’s office windows. It seems the Camp will be shut down soon, and relocated to a comfortable and out-of-view gravel parking lot in the Harvey West area. Out of sight, out of mind.
MAYBE TUFF SHEDS COULD HELP PROVIDE AN ANSWER AND LOW-COST SHELTER?
Last week, I talked with a man who was cleaning the Tuff Sheds on display at the Soquel Home Depot parking lot. He has the job of routinely cleaning the display shed for the Bay Area stores because homeless people move into them. He also works as a pastor at a church in Seaside and serves on a homeless advisory committee in that area. He told me about the project Oakland has begun, using Tuff Sheds to provide temporary shelter for the burgeoning homeless masses. He said the City of Seaside is also going to try it, and maybe Monterey.
Try an internet search for “Oakland Tuff Sheds” and see what you think.
SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT 17% RATE INCREASE TAKES EFFECT NEXT MONTH…HOW WILL STRUGGLING RATEPAYERS AFFORD TO PAY FOR THEIR DRINKING WATER?
The District will increase their rates by this hefty amount because customers have already done too much conservation, which reduced revenues to the District! However, the rate increase is also to help pay for the new engineering and administrative staff to put in place the PureWater Soquel Project to inject treated sewage water into the drinking water supply for the Midcounty Region.
While District Board members and staff insist the Project is not a done-deal, prioritizing it as the PREFERRED PROJECT has required the District to buy a parcel adjacent to District Offices for the future treatment plant, demolish the historic 1890 Millsap house, buy an educational outreach trailer to gain support for the Project, aggressively mention eminent domain possibilities to business owners in the proposed Chanticleer Avenue treatment plant area, and hire consultants costing $100,000’s.
The District will receive the report and findings from the National Water Research Institute (NWRI) on the PureWater Soquel Project at the December 19 Board meeting. Here is the link.
Take a look at this issue on Item #6.7, page 217. Take a look at the Board’s approval (Consent Agenda Item 3.6, page 23) of the additional $50,710-$61,930 additional money to HydroMetrics to further study the treated sewage water movement at PureWater Soquel injection well sites (without having real data on soil composition of the areas with soil boring work).
Page 68: The newest developed well, the O’Neill Ranch Well, has been taken offline again (as of October 16) due to the ammonia problem. There is still no public discussion or activity regarding the new Granite Way Well constructed a year ago in the Aptos Village Project.
Page 69: CONNECT THE DROPS public informational regional water issues event sponsored by LAFCO is scheduled for February 1, 2018 at New Brighton Middle School.
Page 65: The Pipe Study being conducted in Virginia Tech regarding use of water from Santa Cruz City. That report is due in June.
Page 107: The Comprehensive Financial Report for FY 2017.
The Board will hear the Report on the Danish SkyTEM study on January 16 to learn more about the sea water intrusion issue.
APTOS/LA SELVA FIRE DISTRICT BOARD WILL INTERVIEW PROSPECTIVE NEW CHIEFS NEXT MONTH The Aptos/La Selva Fire District Board heard Interim-Chief Ron Prince announce that there were 33 applicants for the position of Chief, with three local applicants. The top five or six applicants will be interviewed next month. I asked if those interviews will be public? No.
Too bad….let’s hope the Board does not repeat the bad mistake they made when hiring former chief Jon Jones. Litigation is still rumbling along because the Board refused to take leadership on those horrible issues that ensued with beleaguered Local 3535. The Board held closed session discussion on the lawsuit, giving Chief Prince direction to contact the labor mediator. What an expensive and stressful mess. Meanwhile, retaliatory action is proceeding against Captain Ryan Peters, President of Local 3535, who organized the unprecedented 100% VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE against former Chief Jon Jones when the Board considered extending his contract. His Skelley Hearing will be in January.
~ Becky
Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read and subscribe to his daily blog at www.gapatton.net
In Santa Cruz County, my own community, local officials are involved in a “Unified Corridor Study,” to try to find a way to reduce traffic congestion. See picture #2 for an illustration of how our local problem looks, from an on-road perspective. One major suggestion for alleviating traffic congestion on Highway One, in Santa Cruz County, is to widen the highway.
Too many cars on the highways? Let’s build more roads! That is the time-honored (albeit ineffective) way to deal with traffic congestion. As I have pointed out before, more than once, we can’t “build our way out” of traffic congestion.
While I know it seems counter-intuitive, building wider and more roads doesn’t, in fact, reduce congestion. “Induced demand” is a real thing. If we provide more space on the roads, more cars will quickly use it all up. “Wider highways and more cars stuck in the jam,” is how I usually phrase it. And if you are wondering where all those cars would come from, take a look outside at your residential street. Lots of our residential streets look just like picture #3. Thousands of cars are parked along the streets, or in driveways, just waiting for room to run.
If new construction isn’t the answer (and it is not) what can we do? My prescription is pretty basic. It’s one of those lessons we are supposed to learn in kindergarten. Instead of trying to make room for more cars, which is a costly and ineffective strategy, we should, instead, be finding ways to increase the number of people carried by the cars already on the highway.
“Sharing”, in other words, is that “kindergarten solution” that would actually work. “Sharing” is the magic word.
In the realm of transportation planning, as in all things political, we will start “moving along,” again, when we start moving along together.
~Gary
CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo’s historic view of our housing problems. See below.
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Unwanted Growth” 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 monthly concert presents Nicki Kerns and Lavinia Livingston solos & duets in a performance titled Celebrate Piano Ensemble plus Holiday Sing-Along. It’s happening..Thursday, December 21st 12:10 – 12:50 p.m. in the Downtown Branch – upstairs Meeting Room…of Santa Cruz Public Library.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Wishing Happy Holidays, Merry Midwinter, Swell Saturnalia and an all-round festive Yule to all! I’m taking a holiday break this week atLisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Actually, two weeks — don’t want to be accused of spreading fake news! But I’ll be back in the New Year with more fun stuff. Stay tuned!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. Yes, it gets 93 on RT… but I thought it was a complete fake of a billion-dollar movie machine. I’ll always remember going to our Soquel Drive-in (just a little stoned) and being taken into outer space with Star Wars 1. It had humor, empathy, great imagination, tension — and a story you could care about. The franchise now stages monotonous, uncaring space attacks, with wars so numerous that you can’t even remember who’s on whose side… and you don’t much care, either. There’s the Dark Side, the Resistance, Adam Driver, R2D2, a very dull Carrie Fisher, an aging Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, and those endless space battles that take up probably a third of the movie. A great disappointment… and at 2 1/2 hours, it’s also extra-long. Go at your own peril,.
COCO. A genuine Pixar cartoon, with amazingly three–dimensional animation. The plot is focused around the rich and traditional Mexican culture, with the Day of the Dead, plenty of food, religion, and music. You’ve never seen anything like this before: it’s way more creative and developed than what we usually think of as a Disney Cartoon — and only a little boring after the first half hour. Go see it.
WONDER WHEEL. One of Woody Allen’s worst films. How he can hit so wonderfully like Annie Hall,Purple Rose Of Cairo, Midnight In Paris, and Blue Jasmine and yet also create a dull, unbelievable flop like Wonder Wheel? Kate Winslet has never been less credible. Justin Timberlake does better than I would have predicted, but he’s out of place in this muck and mire. It’s about their lives in Coney Island in the 1950’s — and I went to Coney Island a few times in the 1950’s, so was really looking forward to this. Damn. Woody is now making a film titled Roda Gigante…we can only guess! RT gives Wonder Wheel 30.
LADY BIRD. This film restored my faith in great films! RT gives it 100% and it’s the highest rated film in RT’s history!!! 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.
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. First, please note the 95 RT rating. When you have Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell working in a film directed by an Oscar winning director you almost can’t miss. It is definitely a dark comedy. The plot contains murder, rape, loyalty, cancer, and some absolutely brilliant acting. Go see it, and force all your friends to see it too.
BLADERUNNER 2049. Denis Villeneuve directed this sequel with advice from Ridley Scott and it has many hidden plot lines from the original (try to see it before you see 2049)…it’s an unique addition to science fiction films. Dystopian is a very overused word describing a disaster based future. This film again has Los Angeles totally transfigured…and even darker and more devastated and bleak than the first one, was set in LA 2019. Ryan Gosling carries the entire story, with Robin Wright and Harrison Ford doing fine acting jobs too. I have rarely, if ever, seen or felt a theatre audience so still-so hypnotized-awed-puzzled-and silent as the one I joined last week. I’ve seen it 2 1/2 times now… it needs two viewings on as large a screen as possible, because the photography is so impressive and important.
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Most mystery nuts claim this is Agatha Christie’s best mystery but this isn’t the best movie version the 1974 was better. Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer are fine actors especially Michelle and they do their jobs in this new “Express”. However the cuts, flashbacks, photography, and not-tight directing by Kenneth Branagh who does the Poirot role just dull the trip. Remember the old one with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot and Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Ingrid Bergman? That film just roared along the tracks and took us with it. Bergman won her third Oscar with her role in that version.
All that said, go see it! It’s fun and only a little dull in parts.
WONDER. This highly touted sob story starring Julia Roberts got an 87 on RT and about a 5 from me. Owen Wilson with his misshapen nose and jerk smile and Julia play the little Jacob Tremblay’s parents. Jacob was born with a misshapen face as in the “Mask” movie (which was better even though Cher played the kid’s mother. Wonder is a genuine Hollywood production in every way. Cheap heart-tugging emotions, shallow acting except for Mandy Patinkin. Patinkin has been the co-star of the Homeland series on iTunes and I just finished near bingeing all six seasons. Mandy has become one of my all time favorite stars. Anyway, Wonder is commercial, shallow and don’t go.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. . December 19 Wilma Marcus Chandler, Mar Nae Taylor and Bonnie Ronzio tell us about the annual “Eight 10’s at Eight” play festival playing Jan. 5-Feb. 4th at the Center Stage. Then Ross Gibson returns to talk about his book, “An Architectural Tour of Historic Santa Cruz County”. I’ll be in Victorville and Mar Vista on Dec. 26. City Councilman Chris Krohn opens the new year on Jan. 2 He’s followed by Attorney/activist Bob Taren, looking ahead to the new political year. January 9th has Otolaryngologist, Dr. Douglas Hetzler discussing surfers ear, dear wax and dangers of candling and many other health issues. UC San Diego Professor Emeritus Roddey Reid comes from Berkeley to talk about his book, “Confronting Political Intimidation and Public Bullying” on Jan. 16. 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. “FIRES”
“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire”, Charles Bukowski
“Get excited and enthusiastic about your own dream. This excitement is like a forest fire – you can smell it, taste it, and see it from a mile away”, Denis Waitley “Desire is a bonfire that burns with greater fury, asking for more fuel”, Sri Sathya Sai Baba “Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn’t want them back. Not with the fire in me now. No, I wouldn’t want them back”, Samuel Beckett “One afternoon, when I was four years old, my father came home, and he found me in the living room in front of a roaring fire, which made him very angry. Because we didn’t have a fireplace”, Victor Borge
COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Click and enter the box in the upper right hand corner of each Column. You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!) Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!
Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Highlights this week:
Garage and Library scam and meeting happening Wednesday, Dec. 13…Greensite on the city’s Budget Shortfall…Krohn and the new mayor, Housing and developer issues, useless forums, tours and still ignoring the citizens, Gavin Newsom for Governor?… Steinbruner and Aptos Cinema and Food Court gone, RTC helping developers at Aptos Village, out-of-county truckers get woodwaste contract, Homeless Center to Harvey West Park….Patton about Democracy and getting involved…DeCinzo and our local Scrooge..Eagan and Sex and show business…Jensen and Scrooge play at Jewel Theatre and The Disaster Artist…I didn’t see any new movies last week! Quotes about “Holidays”.
TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS PACIFIC AVENUE HOLIDAY SNOW PHOTO. This was taken at 7:45 am in 1957. The Palomar Hotel is still there. You can see the original Town Clock site, atop the Odd Fellows building — now known as the Neary Business Center, and containing Artisans, The Hat Company, and Bunny Shoes. Leasks Department store on the right is now Urban Outfitters…and so it goes.
PARK N’ READ GROUND LEVEL LIBRARY MEETING WEDNESDAY. The level of response to increasing pressure from city powers to build a new library on the ground floor of a new parking garage is right up there with that provoked by the issues of housing, widening Highway 1, and UCSC growth. The concept of encouraging more cars to drive downtown, the destruction of the perfectly successful Downtown Farmer’s Market, the real possibility of renovating the present library and on and on. Here are excerpts from some of the “letters to the editor” I’ve received.
Judi Grunstra a Reference Librarian at the Watsonville Public Library wrote..
“On Dec. 3, slightly better advertising resulted in a larger crowd than previous meetings of the Downtown Library Advisory Committee. Participants were seated around tables in groups, where they had a chance to review the costs of the 4 options provided by the architectural firm Noll & Tam, only two of which are close to the $23 million allocated by Measure S. A completely new library building is millions over budget, so the affordable choices come down to either a partial renovation of the current 2-story library building, or moving the library into the ground floor of a multi-story “mixed use” (garage) on the parking lot behind the former Logos. The great majority of participants rejected the library-in-a-garage concept, preferring the renovation option, keeping the current site. Most also questioned the need for another garage downtown. The goal is to have an upgraded, safe, functional and attractive library that would serve the community well into the future. Although participants had questions to ask and ideas to share, this meeting was not set up to provide any answers. Gathering this type of community input should have occurred much earlier in the process and with the architects present. That is how other communities engage interested citizens. That did not happen here. The committee makes their recommendations at their final meeting, on Dec. 13 at 6 pm at the Santa Cruz Main library meeting room”. Judi adds the link to “Don’t Bury The Library”… www.dontburythelibrary.weebly.com .
LAST LIBRARY MEETING WEDNESDAY, Dec.13!!! Carol Long emailed…”
Last meeting on the parking garage/library branch: Final Meeting, Downtown Library Advisory Committee Wed, Dec 13, 6pm @ Downtown Library’s Upstairs meeting Room
Please go to the meeting or send an email like the one below to this address:
“I strongly urge the Library Advisory Committee to follow the advice they requested from the consultants from three different urban planning agencies; implement Transportation Demand Management before, and in fact, instead of expanding parking capacity. The Committee must think not only of the advantages the library will derive from various choices, but of the disadvantages — greater traffic and increased global warming emissions — which will accrue to the broader community and the world at large if we keep increasing automobile traffic. Traffic congestion will aggravated by the non-solution of enabling increased auto trips with more parking.
As Rick Longinotti and The Campaign for Sensible Transportation recommend, we need to decrease both traffic and global warming if our cities are to be livable. Some cities like London are on the way to eliminating individual vehicles altogether, and a study in Australia showed that this would be necessary for most urban centers in the near future. Again, I urge you to be forward-thinking and not to do business as usual. That’s not what we voted for when we voted in the funds for the library”.
Rick Longinotti from The Campaign for Sensible Transportation added… “Many urban planners are questioning whether any city would be wise to invest in more parking capacity at a time when autonomous vehicles are on the horizon, with their anticipated reduced parking demand.
Our group sends its best wishes to the Library decision-makers to figure out how to spend Measure S funds on the Downtown Library. We understand that becoming a tenant in a City garage would be a sweet financial deal for the Library. However, we ask you to consider that investing limited City resources on expanding auto capacity instead of the available alternatives would saddle future generations with debt for a white elephant “asset”. Moreover it would enable an increase in traffic, increasing greenhouse gases and making our streets less hospitable to walking and bicycling”. We all need to watch and remember how Santa Cruz as a city handles this huge and involving issue…especially on Wednesday!!
CUTS TO THE QUICK
With tourism booming, brand new expensive hotels open for business, property taxes secure despite Prop. 13, and with the median home price around $850,000, it came as a surprise when the city budget director forecast a $2.7 million General Fund deficit for 2018. Surprise turned to disdain when staff recommended filling the deficit by cutting First Alarm patrols at Harvey West Park, the River levees and the Wharf along with cuts to Youth and Teen programs, trail camp clean-ups and Parks and Recreation programs. To pick on such small, vital services seemed mean-spirited at best. And if, as staff claimed, such cuts would make no difference and be unnoticed by the public, then why have such services in the first place? To their credit, five council members, all but Mathews and Watkins, voted against such draconian ways to fill the deficit.
According to the budget director, the basis for the 2018 shortfall with more to come ($15 million by Fiscal Year 2021) is due to steep increases in pension and health care costs, and the “need to retain and develop city staff” (emphasis added). Most institutions don’t “develop” staff during budget shortfalls. They enact a hiring freeze. Yet hiring at the city, especially at the upper levels, chugs merrily along as though there were no shortfall in sight. Do we really need “spokespersons” for the SCPD and other departments? Aren’t the handsomely-paid department heads capable of speaking to the press and the community? And what about the plethora of consultants hired to develop unpopular projects such as the Corridors and the Wharf Master Plans? To be fair, the $1.1 million Wharf Master Plan was largely paid for by funds obtained under false pretenses from the federal government’s Department of Commerce, by the city’s claim that the wharf was “severely damaged” by the 2011 tsunami — when in fact the wharf was not damaged by the tsunami. In order to secure the federal grant, the city’s Parks and Recreation department had to cough up $175,000 in contributions, roughly the amount of the suggested budget cuts to fill the 2018 shortfall.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when staff decides on the first line of cuts to fill a shortfall. Is there a prize for nailing the smallest, most vital, most popular service? This happened during the recession of 2008. Harvey West Pool was that era’s sacrificial lamb. This popular, well-loved and well-used public resource was first on the chopping block, and has never fully recovered despite the public’s attempts to fill the gap. One guess at motivation is that it is aimed to get the community’s attention. A better tactic would be to put on the table and debate the sources of the city’s projected General Fund shortfalls.
According to the budget director, one of the three priority areas that threaten the city’s immediate ability to produce balanced General Fund budgets is the focused effort on housing. I don’t recall seeing that alert in the recent Housing Listening Tour documents. Nor is it highlighted in any of the re-zoning projects, such as the Downtown Recovery Plan or the Corridors Plan. Maybe it should be. With the budget director’s directive that “the city must aggressively continue down its fiscal sustainability path” (emphasis added), maybe we should be learning to live within our means. Do we need a larger Warriors Stadium? Do we need more mountain bike trails in Pogonip and De Laveaga, all requiring costly environmental impact reports with little return to the city except votes for council members? Is mixed-use high-rise development, with retail on the ground floor and 3 to 4 stories of housing above, a liability in an era when retail is shrinking and housing new residents is a strain on finite city resources?
A meaningful debate on such questions would show respect for the community. A set of options that includes cutting resources such as security on the levees is akin to telling us to go play in the sand box.
~Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? Last council meeting of the year brings home little bacon, and no tofu. But a subcommittee to study the Santa Cruz housing crisis some more? That got done.
This would be the year of housing, housing, and housing according to Mayor Cynthia Chase. That was back in December of 2016 when the mayoral world was new and immigration (ICE) raids and a homeless benchlands camps were yet to come. December of 2017 might’ve been thought about in terms of the next comet sighting, a happening event but still far off. Hope, along with Santa Cruz dope, were still wafting freely through borrowed gas-tax repaving projects and declarations that Surf City might be the fourth most expensive planetary housing destination. That was then. Chase again reiterated the pledge in a Good Times interview on Jan. 23rd, “Housing is a big focus this year.”
Of course, that statement was made in front of a developer-real estate heavy crowd. A very different crowd than the one that would show up the next month, 400-strong, at the SC Civic Auditorium. The June 24th council meeting was all about housing, housing, housing questions…and the crowd got back the council majority’s collective answer: study, study, study. But alas, it wasn’t until August that the mayor began her “listening tour” and the vaunted “Year of Housing” became a full-throated, the-British-are-coming cry, culminating in a five-month sprint all the way to the end of her mayoral run. That mad dash ended this past week in a few council motions she suggested others make because as mayor she cannot introduce legislation. Her words were spoken forcefully, trying to overcome laryngitis and possibly, sheer exhaustion. The finish line was nigh, but the gold (silver? bronze?) simply out of reach. Her main suggestion was to allow a committee of three councilmembers to go off and deliberate on the reams of material collected during her “listening tour” and then come back to the council in March with recommendations. During her marathon listening sprint she met with over 30 different groups to discuss “the crisis,” our brand of Northern Ireland’s “The Troubles,” I guess; five city council study sessions were held; and the mayor seemed to expend every ounce of her being in order to get something going and move the city toward real housing solutions for all. But therein lies the conundrum.
“WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?”
It goes back to the old union song, “Which Side Are You On?” It was written by Florence Reece at the age of twelve, when her father, a coal miner, was out on strike during the great “Harlan County War.” It was often performed by Pete Seeger (see right). The real estate interests in Santa Cruz have enough housing. The developer class gots their homes too. Mayor probably should’ve crossed them off the list early. No? The Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Association, and University Admin-types all have interests in continuing the failed state of a market-driven housing system in this part of the world. It’s not what Santa Cruz needs. Supply and demand can be thrown out in this arena. Mayor Chase’s margin of victory some three years ago came about because “The Progressives,” threw their support behind Bruce Van Allen, Leonie Sherman, and ‘da mayor. She simply forgot (?) who brung her as the political saying goes. She found some new friends at the big dance, I guess.
Our father was a union man someday I’ll be one too.
The bosses fired daddy what’s our family gonna do?
Come all you good workers good news to you
I’ll tell of how the good old union has come in here to dwell.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
The folks who showed up at the civic auditorium last June pretty much covered the gamut of our Santa Cruz lack of affordable housing troubles. I doubt the “listening tour” produced much in the way of new ideas before the council went on their customary July vacation. If a subcommittee of the city council and a group of impaneled residents, would’ve rolled up its collective sleeves immediately following June 24th meeting, and started then, we might actually now have a plan. Oh, but staff got in the way, and I guess suggested a “listening tour,” lengthy report backs, more study sessions, and reasons not to risk too much at this time, given the city manager’s $2.7 million current budget deficit. The plan put forward at last week’s city council meeting may well culminate in some really good suggestions by next June of 2018, right before the city manager (CM) puts the kaibosh on the whole thing ‘cause we now a $3 million hole in the budget’ as a result of past police and fire pension agreements. We just can’t take on any more stuff that costs money right now, will be the CM’s mantra. But folks, the real harm in forming this council subcommittee is that it’s leaving out the public. I suggested expanding the committee. Give each councilmember two appointments, and unleash the intelligence and creativity that overflows in this town. So many smart people here have a singular passion: real affordable housing. And they know a lot more, and have a lot more time, than any current member of the city council. I can honestly say there isn’t any member of the current council given his or her other committee assignments, council meeting dates, and outside jobs who can offer but a modicum of time, and that’s just not good enough given what’s at stake. So, look for certain city staff to try and lead the subcommittee towards a kind of bureaucratic Promised Land when final recommendations come back to council.
NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN. Santa Cruz Mayor, David Terrazas being sworn in by Superior Court Judge, Paul Marigonda in the Santa Cruz City Council Chambers at 809 Center Street.
Santa Cruz Has a New Mayor David Terrazas was sworn in as the 94th mayor of the city of Santa Cruz last week. He began his mayoral reign on the evening of December 6th. Formerly, vice-mayor Terrazas literally changed hats all in one motion as Mayor Cynthia Chase was absent due to a nasty cold. During his new mayor remarks, he spoke of “a deep love of Santa Cruz”, proudly stated he is the grandson of immigrants, and that his wife Monica is also an immigrant from El Salvador. David’s remarks were as circumspect as they were emotionally charged. There is “a crisis in mental health…there is crime on our streets…public misery and disorder…” Terrazas itemized his public safety concerns first. He wants to “improve the Riverwalk,” and “keep open spaces healthy and family-friendly.” I think I supported him when he said, “we need to find out who the homeless are, and what they need to get off the street.” Amen brother. He said he had three priorities: 1) community safety, 2) support for city core services including support for youth programs, and 3) “cleanliness of downtown.” He also said, “I support getting back to basics.” There was not much in the way of specifics, but it was offered up before the more than 80 David-supporters present with gobs of passion, multiple smiles, all the while exuding a sense of determination and forthrightness. I think too he wanted to be candid, but he held himself back, perhaps for another day and time.
Gavin Newsom, Candidate for Governor, Comes to the Cruz Looking for Support
In my lifetime, no elected governor has ever run a campaign on universal healthcare, support for sanctuary cities (and state!), or addressing the needs of our state’s most vulnerable population, the homeless. Gavin Newsom says he is running on all these issues, and even seems to be proud to run on these intractable matters, arguably the state’s most pressing and persistent ones. Newsom was in town this past Saturday bringing his upbeat, unabashed, some might say oil slick brand of liberalism to Surf City. In his hour-long presentation before a crowd of well over 100 — mostly Dem party loyalists at the Police Community room on Center Street — Newsom offered his stump speech, and he even acknowledged it at one point, thanking the audience for asking tough questions on homelessness, creating a state bank, releasing Prop. 51 funds, housing more UC students on campus, and the one he received the most applause on, universal-single payer-medicare for all healthcare. I came away impressed and wondering if, as the front runner — LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California State Treasurer John Chiang, and former California Public Schools Superintendent Delaine Easton are also running — he will tack towards the center, as he visits the rest of a state that is not Santa Cruz or San Francisco. He appeared quite comfortable here in the city of the Holy Cross. Villaraigosa will be in Santa Cruz on Wed. Dec. 13th at Fred Keeley’s house.
Bernie Tweet of the Week “The Democratic Party will not become a vibrant and successful 50 state party until it opens its doors widely to the working people and young people of our country. I am extremely pleased that the Unity Reform Commission has begun that process.” (Dec. 9)
~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.
HOLD THE SANTA CRUZ COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ACCOUNTABLE..SIGN THE REFERENDUM PETITION
Please help me hold the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors accountable to the people, by signing and helping to circulate the Referendum Petition to repeal Ordinance 5256 amending County Code to grant an AUTOMATIC pay increase to the Board for the next four years, with two increases in 2018.
Supervisors took this action via the Consent Agenda, without public discussion that day other than Supervisor Caput voting NO on the issue. This came after the Supervisors passed Resolution 279-75 on October 24 to increase their own salaries by the highest amount (5.18%) of any middle management salary increase approved. Look at the larger-than-cost-of-living increases granted here in Item #32
Please help me circulate Referendum Petitions countywide. Call me: 831-685-2915 or e-mail ki6tkb@yahoo.com
REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION (RTC) VOTED TO FUND $1.9 MILLION MORE TO HELP SWENSON & APTOS VILLAGE DEVELOPERS DESPITE OVER 200 VOTES OF PROTEST BY THE PUBLIC.
“We’ll try to squeeze them in if we can,” said Assistant Public Works Director Steve Wiesner, when asked by Commissioner Sandy Brown if there were any bike racks included in the County’s Aptos Village area road projects. Including bike racks had been a contingency for the County to receive the $650,000 grant last year, but none got included in the bus stop relocation area or anywhere in the Phase I Trout Gulch/Soquel Drive area project. There were none included in the Aptos Creek Road Traffic Light project application before the RTC either.
When quizzed further by Commissioner Brown, Mr. Wiesner said there will plenty of bike parking within the Aptos Village Project. That does not serve the public taking public transportation to the Village area or to the many festivals held at the County’s Aptos Village Park, where there is NO BIKE PARKING currently available.
Commissioner Bertrand asked why the public had been denied access to view the County’s Aptos Creek Road $3 Million Traffic Light Project. Mr. Wiesner replied it was because the plans have not been finalized. So, it is okay to spend public taxpayer money but not allow the taxpayers to see what is to be built???
The Commissioners seemed to think this was all okay, even though 127 people signed the online protest petition and 73 had signed protest petitions at the Cabrillo Farmer’s Market. The RTC approved yet another gift of $1.9 Million to help Swenson and the other Aptos Village Project developers mitigate the anticipated 8,000 new vehicle trips/day thanks to the disgustingly-dense three-story development in an area already in traffic gridlock.
Supposedly, the RTC Committees that had reviewed the applications before will have one more look at the Board’s approval…what changes do you think those groups will make???
DID THE BOARD VIOLATE PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE DURING HOSTED RENTAL PUBLIC HEARING?
The December 5 Board of Supervisor meeting was an incredible display of charade. The controversial Hosted Rental Ordinance proposed largely by Supervisors Zach Friend and Ryan Coonerty was scheduled for discussion at 1:30 pm, and filled the room with people who did not want unfair limitations placed on their ability to occasionally rent a room to travelers, and thereby financially enable them to pay mortgages and property taxes on their home. These homeowners had been advised earlier by Zach Friend that the issue would not come before the Board for a few months, but it had suddenly been scheduled for public hearing (not advertised in local papers?) last Tuesday. The word got out, and so did the people.
I could not stay for the entire hearing, but returned at about 4 pm to hear the Board still debating the issue. I had to stand and listen along with about 50 other people outside in the hallway because the Chambers were at capacity. Supervisor McPherson had made a motion, seconded by Supervisor Greg Caput, to not limit the number of nights to be rented, allow two rooms per household to be rented, and to dedicate a certain percentage of the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) that the homeowner would have to pay via AirBnB to affordable housing solutions within Santa Cruz County.
Just as it seemed things had been rehearsed in advance…Zach Friend INTRODUCED A SECOND MOTION while the first motion was still on the table and being considered. That has never been allowed before at any Board meeting I have attended, but Chairman John Leopold looked at CAO Carlos Palacios (the Parliamentarian for the Board) and, without consulting him, announced that the Board would consider Zach Friend’s motion, and asked that it be put up on the screen for discussion. After great length, Chairman Leopold announced that the Board would first vote on Zach Friend’s motion, and if it passed, Supervisor Bruce McPherson’s motion would die. That is just what happened….was that legal parliamentary procedure? Not according to Robert’s Rules of Order, but I think the Board uses another set of rules…maybe their own? Hmmmm…….
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVE TRUCKING ALL COUNTY WOODWASTE TO MONTEREY COUNTY, IGNORING LOWER BID TO KEEP IT LOCAL.
After the Board finished the dog-and-pony show for the hosted rental ordinance, at around 4:15 pm, the issue regarding Public Works recommendation to approve granting a new contract with Keith Day Trucking in Monterey County to truck all woodwaste and yard waste to Monterey County effective January 1, 2018, even though the cost will be higher to the County taxpayers by $211,000 — and it means significantly increasing the greenhouse gas emissions and truck traffic on Highway One. Assistant Director of County Public Works Colt Essenwein grinned as he listened to the appeals of the public, which included Scotts Valley Mayor Mr. Randy Johnson, a Watsonville City Councilmember Ms. Trina Coffman-Gomez, and a Man authorized to represent Watsonville Mayor Mr. Lowell Hurst, all of whom spoke in support of the County maintaining the current relationship with Vision Recycling.
Because the Board had allowed the Hosted Rental Ordinance discussion to take all afternoon before taking their pre-determined action, and because Chairman Leopold announced that two Board members had to leave at 5:30pm, PUBLIC COMMENT WAS REDUCED TO ONE MINUTE. It was a disgusting display of the Board going through the motions to pretend there could be any change to the County Public Works long-sought goal of awarding the contract to Monterey County’s Keith Day Trucking. The Board’s actions disregarded the public, disregarded the fact that Vision Recycling’s bid was the LOW bid, and shoved through something that, even though the Board recommended Keith Day Trucking hire the 21 Vision Recycling local residents who will stand to lose their jobs, was a callous disregard for the environmental and economic impacts of what, in my opinion, smells of a personal favor or deal.
I gathered in the hallway outside afterward with the Vision Recycling employees. The worried looks on their faces has haunted me for days, along with the question of the way the County seems to be doing business these days…
THE APTOS CINEMA BUILDING IS ALL BUT GONE AT RANCHO DEL MAR CENTER
Last week the claw of demolition chewed down the last of the Aptos Cinema and much of the former food court building at the Rancho del Mar Center. One wall standing, braced to prevent collapse, remains. Dust control was spotty, but runoff from the site’s water use was uncontrolled and ran directly into the storm drains and nearby Aptos/Valencia Creeks. I am glad to see now that there are at least some sediment screens over those grates. Is anyone from the County watching? I hope that you are, because the County probably won’t be.
By the way, what IS going on at the nearby 1928 Aptos Creek Bridge these days, with a construction company digging adjacent to the historic Bridge? Call County Public Works and ask: 454-2160.
COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS WILL CONSIDER DECLARING A LOCAL STATE OF EMERGENCY OR SHELTER CRISES TO EXPEDITE BUILDING A HOMELESS DROP-IN DAY CENTER NEAR HARVEY WEST PARK
County staff has determined that the best place to open a Drop-in Day Center for the area’s growing homeless population would be in the Harvey West Park area. This will probably not be discussed at the December 12 Board meeting, because it is in the Consent Agenda as Item #11. What worries me is that the Board will consider declaring a Local State of Emergency or Shelter Crisis “to expedite siting of the Day Center and allow for amendment to zoning, building and other building codes/regulatory codes, reduce land use barriers (aka public hearings) and expedite contracting processes.”
Currently, staff is looking for vacant commercial or industrial sites to lease. Preferred sites are 155 DuBois, 195 Harvey West Blvd (former Encompass Community Services building), 320-330 Encinal Street, and 350 Encinal (former Goodwill building).
Why lease property, increasing the burden on County taxpayers? Why not set up the Day Center in the basement of the County Building at 701 Ocean Street, in the now-vacant cafeteria? That would be close to the downtown homeless population, the existing Benchlands Homeless Camp adjacent to the County Building, and would provide logical and convenient access to public services for the homeless. The County already employs two full-time security guards for the County Building and parking areas.
I want to help the homeless, but shouldn’t the Board also act fiscally-responsible with precious taxpayer money? Would declaring a Local State of Emergency require that the County INCREASE the number of required affordable units to be built inclusionary in new developments and hold developers to the requirement? Call your Supervisor and ask: 454-2200.
BOARD OF SUPES WILL HEAR PRELIMINARY COUNTY BUDGET REPORT PROJECTING $4 -$9 MILLION BUDGET GAP IN 5-YEAR FORECAST
The County Board of Supervisors will hear the County Administrative Officer (CAO) Carlos Palacios report the Preliminary Budget Protection Report for 2018-19 and may take action as recommended by the CAO. That part is a bit murky, but read this report and ask why County employee retirement costs are projected to INCREASE $9-$13 MILLION in the next five years. Wow.
Help me with the Referendum Petition….make the Board accountable.
Cheers,
Becky Steinbruner, 831-685-2915
~Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes.
I am known to rely on book reviews as a place to uncover various ideas that strike me as important or useful (and yet I never read the books themselves). This is not the best practice, I know, but it works for me.
Most recently, I found some helpful observations in Barton Swaim’s review of a couple of books about democracy. Swaim’s review was published in the November 25-26 edition of The Wall Street Journal under the title, “Trusting the People to Make Mistakes.” That is the hard copy version of the title. When you click the link, you’ll see something else at the top, but the text is just the same as the version delivered to my doorstep. Swain focuses his review on the relationship between “liberalism” and “democracy,” and suggests, citing to Josiah Ober’s book, Demopolis: Democracy Before liberalism in Theory and Practice, that we disassociate these two terms. I am all for that!
Ober says that democratic government depends on “civic dignity,” which “requires citizens to be engaged in the effort of fashioning a shared existence.” That is what I call creating the “human world,” the world we most immediately inhabit. I am with Ober in saying that this requires civic engagement. My phrasing is generally along these lines: “We can’t have self-government unless we get involved with government ourselves.” Among other things, Ober says that civic dignity implies that the people, as they work to govern themselves, must be free to make mistakes. The fact that they do make mistakes is not a reason to invalidate our commitment to democracy, or to suggest (along with Plato and other philosophers of perfection) that only the “elites” are fit to rule.
What is the timely message in Ober’s scholarly analysis?
The people made a mistake, in our last presidential election. A BIG mistake. However, democracy will survive. Let’s not be suckered into the idea that all Trump supporters are “deplorable,” an idea based on elitist liberalism. We’re all in this together. That’s another one of my favorite observations!
Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
CLASSICAL DeCINZO. A December traditional DeCinzo with our own local Scrooge…scroll downwards, just a bit more.
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “If The Shoe Fits” down a few pages. As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog with his take on you-know-who titled “Just Go”.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol continues to haunt our holidays with the impressive, one-man show, Scrooge, at Jewel Theatre Company, reviewed this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Also, find out how an obscure guy with no talent became a cult idol by making the worst movie in Hollywood history in The Disaster Artist.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
For the very first time in years I didn’t attend any films last week. Nothing looked that exciting. I did see National Theatre Lives’ production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” at the Del Mar at 11am. last Sunday morning. It was great. Not as good as his later musicals, Company, Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Assassins… but very good all the same.
LADY BIRD. This film restored my faith in great films! RT gives it 100%, and it’s the highest-rated film in RT’s history!!! Greta Gerwig directed Saorise Ronan and others in this sincere, well-thought-out movie. A teenaged daughter and her mom have a terrible, never-ending battle over clothes, religion, dating, sex, college and everything. It all happens in Sacramento around 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.
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. First, please note the 95 RT rating. When you have Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell working in a film directed by an Oscar-winning director you almost can’t miss. It is definitely a dark comedy. The plot contains murder, rape, loyalty, cancer, and some absolutely brilliant acting. Go see it, and force all your friends to see it too.
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Most mystery nuts claim this is Agatha Christie’s best mystery, but this isn’t the best movie version — the 1974 was better. Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer are fine actors (especially Michelle) and they do their jobs in this new “Express”. However the cuts, flashbacks, photography, and not-tight directing by Kenneth Branagh — who also fills the Poirot role — just dull the trip. Remember the old one with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot and Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Ingrid Bergman? That film roared along the tracks and took us with it. Bergman won her third Oscar with her role in it, too.
All that said, go see this! It’s fun, and only a little dull in parts.
THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS. This simple minded Hallmark card movie is drivel. Christopher Plummer does a good job (as usual) and the rest of the cast swims through this rip off of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. It’s supposed to be funny or sentimental, but it lacks any cleverness or sophistication. I’m not sure why they made this cloying mess. Closes Dec.14.
WONDER. This highly touted sob story starring Julia Roberts got an 87 on RT, and about a 5 from me. Owen Wilson with his misshapen nose and jerk smile and Julia plays the little Jacob Tremblay’s parents. Jacob was born with a misshapen face as in the “Mask” movie (which was better, even though Cher played the kid’s mother). Wonder is a genuine Hollywood production in every way. Cheap heart-tugging emotions, and shallow acting with the exception of Mandy Patinkin. Patinkin has been the co-star of the Homeland series on iTunes, and I just finished near bingeing all six seasons. Mandy has become one of my all-time favorite stars. Anyway, Wonder is commercial, shallow and… don’t go.
DAISY WINTERS. Just when you think you’ve seen the worst movie of your life, along comes something like Daisy Winters. Oddly enough, the plot is similar to Lady Bird. A mother and daughter fight to the finish. Poor acting, lackluster photography, saccharine plot and there’s only one reason you might stay awake… Brooke Shields is in it. Brooke is now 52 years old and looks a lot like Bruce Jenner in full drag. If I remember correctly, Brooke was in Santa Cruz with director Louis Malle, and they shot a scene on Cooper Street by the side entrance to the Cooper House. Anyone remember that? Do not see this movie.
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. Dec.12 has Chayla Fisher and Brandon Truong from UCSC’s Student Environmental Center discussing some serious campus issues, such as the LRDP. December 19 Wilma Marcus Chandler and Bonnie Ronzio tell us about the annual “Eight 10’s at Eight” play festival playing Jan. 5-Feb. 4th at the Center Stage. Then Ross Gibson returns to talk about his book, “An Architectural Tour of Historic Santa Cruz County”. I’ll be in Victorville and Mar Vista on Dec. 26. City Councilman Chris Krohn opens the new year on Jan. 2 He’s followed by Attorney/activist Bob Taren, looking ahead to the new political year. January 9th has Otolaryngologist, Dr. Douglas Hetzler discussing surfers ear, dear wax and dangers of candling and many other health issues. …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
Pet Peeve Alert!! 🙂
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. HOLIDAYS
“Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice”. Dave Barry
“I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up—- they have no holidays”, Henny Youngman
“I love out-of-the-way, rugged places. For me, holidays are about the experiences, and the people, and the memories, rather than sitting on a nice beach getting tanned. I try to plant myself where I am and embrace what is there in front of me”, Evelyn Glennie
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Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Highlights this week:
Thanksgiving on 101 with Strawberry and Grape plastic fields, UCSC and Oral Roberts, real reason for Sentinel shrinkage, Cruzio responds to their rate hike and Net Neutrality, Quarnstrom and The Last Supper, another round a-bout at Bay and High, Dream Inn growth plans proceeding, Bartzcak tells more about his mural destruction, the shame of the Met Opera’s James Levine, Lady Bird breaks all RT records…Greensite on city’s Housing Report…Krohn about $80,000 on fencing, council’s housing failures, library garage plots. Kate Guzman at Sentinel helm…Steinbruner and the Supe’s self granted salary hike, Vision Santa Cruz plotting, UCSC growth…Patton and “Affordable Housing” …DeCinzo and Trump version of Christmas…Eagan and Trump’s new tax plan…Jensen and The Man Who Invented Christmas and Three Billboards…I critique Jane, Three Billboards, Daisy Winters and The Man Who Invented Christmas, Quotes about December.
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.
Best Neighborhood Synchronized Christmas Lights Show with Music in Yucaipa
California
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 WallaceBaine 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.
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, GoodTimes 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.
“HIGH HOPES”
After half a year of “listening” including 6 study sessions and many Mayor and staff hours soliciting input on the current housing crisis, one thing is clear: there is little the city can do to change the trajectory of ever increasing rental and housing costs.
While in no way wanting to detract from this admirable effort to hear from the community on housing, the suggestions offered in the Report fail to understand the driving forces behind the housing crisis. There is no mention of the fact that housing is a commodity traded by speculators to make money. There is scant mention of the impact of ballooning UCSC growth, whose students occupy a third of off-campus rental housing. The Mayor’s formal statement that: “The issues are complex and the needs cross all income spectrums” fails to grasp the class nature of the housing crisis. It is low and moderate income current renters, not home-owners who are suffering. If you’ve bought a house in Santa Cruz in the last ten years you are well-off by definition. And the rich are doing just fine.
Were the class nature of the housing cost crisis acknowledged, available options could be more readily assessed. When Governor Brown ended Redevelopment Funds in the face of blatant misuse, money dried up for local income-restricted housing. In Santa Cruz city there are 1500 such units. Without Redevelopment Funds, there is little if any money available to build more. A future ballot measure to raise money for “affordable” housing may pass but what is the definition of “affordable” and who would benefit? Rent control is an option but given legal restrictions, even if adopted, would apply to only 24% of current rental housing, a situation that would create its own set of problems. Upping the requirement for inclusionary ( below-market rate ) housing in new developments might help but so far the city council majority and staff seem to buy the developers’ crocodile tears that this would create a hardship for them and it would not “pencil out.” I’d say to that, sharpen your pencil and try again.
Without a class analysis, the suggestions offered do little to provide solutions for low and moderate income renters but do a lot for those wanting to make money from the housing crisis plus exacerbate problems of traffic and overcrowding in a town that has reached carrying capacity. For example, infilling and density bonuses are offered as a possible solution. There is no basis for such a claim. In fact such development worsens the situation. More and more units at the current median rent of $3240 a month do nothing to help low and moderate income renters. Research is readily available to demonstrate that such new construction serves to displace low and moderate income workers to the margins of towns and beyond. High income new tech workers, second homers and well-off students will fill the void. Surely no-one seriously can entertain this as a solution. Another possibility offered is to make permits for ADU’s easier and cheaper to obtain. There are currently 430 permitted ADU’s in the city with a further 100 soon to be approved. The Report claims that there is potential for (gasp) 7,000 ADU’s in the city. There goes the neighborhoods! One suggestion is to require that every single family home project must include an ADU. For some reason ADU’s are classified as “affordable” when in fact they are at the high end of rental units. And as was pointed out by economists when ADU’s were first on the horizon in Santa Cruz, a house plus ADU will be priced far higher than a house without ADU, further accelerating the value of housing. Good for the seller; not so good for the buyer and the low income renter doesn’t even enter the equation. This plus community-wide impacts of traffic, parking, crime, all of which escalate with density.
So what is to be done? Start by defining the issue as one that is impacting low and moderate income current renters, not those who’d like to move here or those wanting a mortgage assist. Then turn a critical eye toward the city on a hill and as a community demand that UCSC place a moratorium on further growth. Finally, appreciate that no amount of density or high-rise will impact the bottomless pit of demand for housing but in fact will have the opposite effect: displacing those very people who are the most impacted by the market-based housing cost crisis.
~Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
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!)
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:
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.
PLEASE HELP ME CIRCULATE A REFERENDUM PETITION TO REPEAL AUTOMATIC SALARY INCREASES FOR COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS…THAT THEY VOTED TO ENACT FOR THEMSELVES!!
I don’t think it is fair to County taxpayers to allow the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors to change a County ordinance that will provide them with an automatic salary increase for the next four years WITHOUT ANY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION WHATSOEVER BY THE PUBLIC. However, that’s just what they did, as part of the Consent Agenda Item #9 (reserved for non-controversial actions) on November 7. And that was after they voted October 24 on Resolution 279-75 to grant all Middle Management (which included themselves) various pay increase rates…5.18% for themselves was one of the highest rates AND a one-time signing Bonus of $250/employee in Middle Management. Wow…when the County Budget is in the RED by over $7 Million????
Please help me circulate a Referendum Petition that will cause the Supervisors to either repeal their action or place it on the ballot for a vote. Here is my e-mail contact: I will also be at the Cabrillo Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings(9am-noon). We have until Friday, January 5, to get this done.
As I have reported in this column before, I had intended to pull Consent Agenda Item #9 off the Consent Agenda and put it on the Regular Agenda, which allows for better discussion and requires that staff answer questions presented by the public. But that morning, there were NO parking places to be found at the 701 Ocean Street government lot, so I was 5 minutes late getting into the 5th Floor Chambers. Usually, after roll call, the Moment of Silence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, each Supervisor talks about something they are especially glad to have on the Consent Agenda…all that usually takes about 8-10 minutes. But on November 7, when I walked in 5 minutes late, the Board had done all that, opened/ closed public comment on the Consent Agenda and was voting on the Consent Agenda! Many thanks to Supervisor Greg Caput for voting NO on Item #9.
After the meeting, I asked Clerk of the Board, Ms. Susan Galloway, what I could do to appeal the Board’s passage of Item #9. She said she needed to check and would let me know. She e-mailed this the next day:
Regarding Item No. #9 on the Nov. 7, 2017 Agenda, the Board’s action was final adoption of an ordinance that had previously been on the Regular Agenda October 24th, at which time the Board accepted public testimony. There was also ample opportunity for submitting written public comments regarding either or both the agenda items. The action is considered final, and the ordinance will take effect 61 days after the adoption.
I hope this information is helpful.
Sincerely,
Susan (Susan Galloway, Chief Deputy Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
County of Santa Cruz, 701 Ocean St, Room 500, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Ofc (831) 454-2323, Fax (831) 454-2327, TTY/TDD call 711)
It took me a bit to realize that the Board had AMENDED AN ORDINANCE. That action can be appealed via a public referendum petition. When I e-mailed Ms. Galloway to inquire about this action, she did not respond. I visited the County Clerk and Elections Dept. and was assured that a referendum action is possible, given an instruction pamphlet and told I would need 7258 qualified votes to be successful, and that I had to get it done before the ordinance takes effect.
I went to the public library to get started, and found a sample petition on Word. I hammered it out and decided I had better show it to the Elections Department folks to make sure it passed muster. I was glad I did. Gail Pellerin let me know that the petition has to be in a specific format, even though it was not described or mentioned in the instruction pamphlet. She was kind enough to send me an electronic copy of the proper format required, but assured me that I need to consult an attorney to make sure it is correct. I also determined that while every other referendum action must occur in only 30 days after the ordinance is passed; this particular ordinance takes effect in 6o days…January 5.
It is time the Board of Supervisors be held accountable for their actions and to instill public evaluation of their performance related to their salary raise. Do YOU get to vote yourself an automatic pay raise without any performance evaluation? I don’t, and I think, along with Supervisor Caput, that the action the Board of Supervisors took November 7 was wrong. And then there is the matter of the WRONG information Ms. Galloway, the Clerk of the Board gave me…..Hmmmm…..
Here is a YouTube link to the one in Live Oak…see what you think:
VISION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PUBLIC MEETINGS….HOW CONTROLLED CAN YOU GET?
There was a public meeting held in each County District to gather public input for County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios’ new Strategic Plan for how the County will look in the future. I learned of the meetings from a friend who had attended the one in Aptos and thought it was the strangest thing he had ever experienced.
I attended the last two available…and agree with my friend.
The YouTube video of the Davenport meeting will be available soon.
The presenters at the public meetings were a bit foggy about how long the Survey will be available (“through the Holidays”), but at the Davenport meeting, they disclosed that the RESULTS OF PUBLIC MEETINGS WILL BE PRESENTED TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AT THE DECEMBER 12 MEETING. If the Online Survey is going to be available “through the Holidays”, how can the information presented December 12 be inclusive of those participants? The two meetings I attended included about 40-50 people and the presenters said those were the best-attended meetings they had held yet.
The CAO and Consultant intend to have a Comprehensive County Strategic Plan ready for Board approval by this June. Wow, don’t you wish the rest of the County government projects could move so quickly? Does it seem right to you that the poorly-attended public meetings and an incomplete online survey result will be presented to the Board as a representation of the County’s 272,000 unincorporated areas ???
Write your Supervisor and ask what this really all means and what exactly will this information be used to accomplish?
UC SANTA CRUZ 2005 LONG RANGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN STUDENT HOUSING WEST PROJECT SCOPING MEETING WAS POORLY ATTENDED…..BUT WHY?
I saw the ad in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (11/26/17, page A12) about the public Scoping Meeting held November 29 at Oaks College Academic Building, Room 105 on the UCSC Campus to accept public comment on the proposed 3000 new student bed addition. I attended but with great difficulty. There were NO signs to direct the public to the scoping meeting. The building was not marked as “Academic Building”, and the Classroom 105 was hidden from view of the sidewalk by a structural element of the building. I only found it because I had given up, after asking directions from multiple students, and was just looking for a restroom. There were only four members of the public there that submitted comment to the court reporter. Because I was late arriving, I missed the staff informational session, but I gathered from the comment of those who had heard it that the units proposed to be built will be very expensive for students. That is even with a Public-Private Partnership (P3) approach to get them built. Comment period ended November 30 at 5pm.
The next day, I attempted to alert some people whom I thought would be interested in registering comment, but discovered that the information on the UCSC website was not current and listed the end of comment being in October. Here is some information that I learned from the handout provided to those who attended the meeting:
Background…
“The proposed project supports the UC system-wide Housing Initiative, which was announced by UC President Janet Napolitano in January 2016. The overarching goals of the housing initiative are two-fold: first, to ensure that each of UC’s campuses has sufficient housing for its growing student populace; and second, to keep housing as affordable as possible for UC students.
“The 2005 LRDP, which was approved by the UC Regents in September 2006, provides a comprehensive framework for the physical development of the UC Santa Cruz campus, to accommodate an on-campus 3-quarter-average enrollment of 19,500 students, or an increase of approximately 5,100 students from the 2003-04 baseline. The 2005 LRDP includes a building program to accommodate UCSC’s academic, research, and public service mission as enrollment grows, and a land use plan that assigns elements of the building program to designated land-use area and describes general objectives that will guide development within those areas. The building program identifies a total of about 3,175,000 gross square feet of building space including 1,196,000 gross square feet of student and employee housing.
The land use plan assigns the land use designation Colleges and Student Housing (CSH) to 288 acres of land to the east, north, and west of the academic core. This land use designation accommodates the construction of new colleges, expansion of existing colleges through infill, new undergraduate and graduate student housing, and family student housing projects.
The 2005 LRDP identifiies on-campus housing targets of 50 percent of undergraduate students and 25 percent of graduate students. Thus, the 2005 LRDP EIR evaluated the addition of 2,300 student beds to the inventory of 6,891 beds existing in fall 2004, for a total of 9,190 beds.
AS PART OF A 2008 COMPREHENSIVE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT THAT RESOLVED LAWSUITS BY THE CITY AND COUNTY OF SANTA CRUZ AND NINE CITIZENS, the University agreed that UC Santa Cruz will provide housing to accommodate 67 percent of new-student enrollment within four years of reaching that enrollment. At a total enrollment of 19,500, UCSC would need to have university housing available for 10,125 students, which would be 935 more beds than analyzed in the 2005 LRDP EIR. In addition, as part of the Settlement Agreement, the University agreed that housing development in the area west of Porter College will be initiated before development of new bed spaces in the North Campus area. The Student Housing West Project would construct approximately 2,900 student beds west of Heller Drive (Heller site), and 125 to 150 units of housing for student families northeast of the intersection of Coolidge Drive and Hagar Drive (Hagar site). The development of student housing on the Hagar site would require an amendment of the 2005 LRDP to change the designation of approximately 20 acres of land from Campus Resource Land to Colleges and Student Housing. The project would be constructed in phases with the first phase available for occupancy by Fall 2020 and the remainder of the project to be completed by Fall 2022. These new beds would enable the Campus to eliminate some overflow beds in existing housing, and to meet its commitments under the Settlement Agreement.”
The article boasts that UCSC houses 53% of its students….that’s not approaching the 67% that the University agreed to in the Settlement in 2008, is it? The 2016-2017 enrollment figures were readily available: 16,328 undergraduate students, 1,735 graduate students, for a total of 18,063 students. The enrollment numbers for 2017-2018 are not readily available, but the article referenced above reports the intention to enroll 10,000 more in-state students in 2018. Is it any wonder that Santa Cruz has a housing problem???
FREEZE THAT RENT!
A group of local citizens are serious about getting a freeze on rent here. Take a look at https://tinyurl.com/screntfreeze
Contact your local government representatives.
THANK YOU MR. DEAN LUNDHOLM AND MS. NANCY ABBEY FOR STANDING UP TO SUPPORT COUNTY AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENTS
Once again, I really want to give public recognition to these two brave souls who volunteer their time on the County Housing Advisory Commission and recently fought to support the County requirement that 15% of new construction of rental units be inclusionary. They were out-voted by the rest of the Commission because Julie Conway, County Housing Planner, said it would not “pencil out for developers”, and recommended against enforcing the requirement. One Commissioner admitted he had been contacted by a large developer to sway his vote. There was no call for Ex Parte communication from the Commissioners. Isn’t that amazing?
I see Mr. Lundholm often at public housing informational and community events…we are lucky to have someone so dedicated to helping the community. Maybe he would run for County Supervisor?
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.
Pictured above is a nice little house in Cupertino. It just sold for $2 million. The new owner intends to tear it down. You can read the story right here. In Santa Cruz County, there is a lot of discussion about “affordable housing,” but there is a real problem with that label. When you think about it, all housing is “affordable.” The question is simply who can afford it!
The house pictured above, if located in Santa Cruz County, would probably sell for less than $2 million, but it wouldn’t sell for that much less. I am thinking that the $2 million house in Cupertino would probably bring something like $1.35 million here. Maybe a little bit less. Maybe even a little bit more, depending on location. That house certainly wouldn’t be “affordable” to a family with an average or below average income, here in Santa Cruz County, but it would be “affordable” to a person who could pay $1.35 million for a 79-year-old, 1,015-square-foot home, then pay to tear that home down, and then pay to put up a modern monster home, which is undoubtedly the fate of the property that has recently traded hands in Cupertino.
Here’s the point: as long as prices are set by “the market,” those with the most money will outbid those with less money and drive the prices up. The properties sold will only be affordable to the wealthy, and there happen to be an awful lot of those folks around. California coastal real estate commands top dollar in the global marketplace, and Santa Cruz finds itself right next door to the Silicon Valley, where high-tech workers have much more money than those who live and work right here.
Moreover, when the City or the County puts zoning on a home like the one pictured above that tells property owners that they can build a much larger, high-rise and high-density structure on their property, that zoning designation drives the price of the property even higher. That translates to the government inviting someone who has the money to do so to tear down perfectly acceptable existing housing, to create something that will be out of the price range of the people who are displaced when the existing housing is torn down.
The only way to make new housing “affordable” to persons who have an average or below average income is to put a price restriction on the new housing produced. Otherwise, the “market” will always respond according to that Golden Rule we know about. Those with the gold make the rules, and they get the goods.
The “law of supply and demand” suggests that producing more housing should bring down the price. In Santa Cruz, it won’t bring it down enough to enable local folks to “afford” the new housing produced. Let’s take a tip from this recent experience in Cupertino, and stop pricing ourselves out of our own community by upzoning properties to let developers tear down existing structures, and then build high-rise and high-density buildings in all our nicest neighborhoods!
(Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
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.
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. First, please note the 95 RT rating. When you have Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell working in a film directed by an Oscar winning director you almost can’t miss. It is definitely a dark comedy. The plot contains murder, rape, loyalty, cancer, and some absolutely brilliant acting. Go see it, and force all your friends to see it too.
JANE. This documentary has great previously undiscovered film footage that her husband took of Jane Goodall’s earliest years in Africa studying chimpanzees. Jane narrates most of the film herself and that includes her present day appeals to the UN and worldwide tours. Phillip Glasses’ music soundtrack doesn’t always fit into the flow of the film, and at time is much more interesting than the movie. I also keep thinking about Jane always wearing shorts in the Gombe, Tanzania jungle! Why would anyone wear shorts with flies, stickers, snakes, students, thorns, and mosquitoes all over the place? It’s a very nice film. Ends 12/07
THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS. This simple minded Hallmark card movie is drivel. Christopher Plummer does a good job (as usual) and the rest of the cast swims through this rip off of Charles Dickens'” A Christmas Carol”. It’s supposed to be funny or sentimental, but it lacks any cleverness or sophistication. I’m not sure why they made this cloying mess.
DAISY WINTERS. Just when you think you’ve seen the worst movie of your life along comes something like Daisy Winters. Oddly enough the plot is similar to Lady Bird. A mother and daughter fight to the finish. Poor acting, lack luster photography, saccharine filled plot and there’s only one reason you might stay awake….Brooke Shields is in it. Brooke is now 52 years old and looks a lot like Bruce Jenner in full drag. If I remember correctly Brooke was in Santa Cruz with director Louis Malle and they shot a scene on Cooper Street by the side entrance to the Cooper House. Anyone remember that? Do not see this movie.
LADY BIRD. This film restored my faith in great films! RT gives it 100% and it’s the highest rated film in RT’s history!!! 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.
LAST FLAG FLYING. An all start cast with Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne, and Bryan Cranston, it’s a buddy movie with strong U.S. Marine themes. Don’t take your Thanksgiving guests because it’s sad and feely-bad. It’s not at all like the funny trailer that you might have seen. Motherhood, patriotism, religion, Viet Nam, and maleness are the main themes. Don’t hurry to see it, you’ll fall asleep about half way through. Ends 12/07
WONDER. This highly touted sob story starring Julia Roberts got an 87 on RT and about a 5 from me. Owen Wilson with his misshapen nose and jerk smile and Julia play the little Jacob Tremblay’s parents. Jacob was born with a misshapen face as in the “Mask” movie (which was better even though Cher played the kid’s mother. Wonder is a genuine Hollywood production in every way. Cheap heart-tugging emotions, shallow acting except for Mandy Patinkin. Patinkin has been the co-star of the Homeland series on iTunes and I just finished near bingeing all six seasons. Mandy has become one of my all time favorite stars. Anyway, Wonder is commercial, shallow and don’t go.
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Most mystery nuts claim this is Agatha Christie’s best mystery but this isn’t the best movie version the 1974 was better. Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer are fine actors especially Michelle and they do their jobs in this new “Express”. However the cuts, flashbacks, photography, and not-tight directing by Kenneth Branagh who does the Poirot role just dull the trip. Remember the old one with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot and Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Ingrid Bergman? That film just roared along the tracks and took us with it. Bergman won her third Oscar with her role in that version.
All that said, go see it! It’s fun and only a little dull in parts.
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
This guy is great; gives credence to “don’t judge a book by its cover”.
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
COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Click and enter the box in the upper right hand corner of each Column. You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!) Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!
Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Highlights this week:
City lies about Scope Park Mural, Sentinel canned Wallace Baines, Michael Moore says Impeach Trump……Greensite on Downtown Recovery Plan…Krohn delivers bullets on Sentinel Council coverage, City helps evict UCSC students, Downtown Recovery Plan hoax, Rotkin and developers cheer “City Hall To You”, send us your news…Steinbruner tells us County cuts 43 trees, RTC to fund stop light and supports Aptos Village developers, S Cruz and housing fraud….Patton and Merry Munchins and their tax reform…DeCinzo and “clean” logging…Eagan and “Irritable Bowel Trump”…Hidden Valley String Ork Concert Dec. 3…Jensen and “Lady Bird” movie…I critique Last Flag Flying, Lady Bird and Wonder…Quotes on Thanksgiving…HAPPIEST THANKSGIVING POSSIBLE TO EVERYONE!!!
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!
AURORA BOREALIS LIVE STREAM. Ralph Davila found this unreal clip of a meteor.
No BrattonOnline edition
Nov.27th – Dec. 4th
Happy Thanksgiving!!
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
THE DOWNTOWN RECOVERY PLAN: FROM VISION TO NIGHTMARE
With a packed crowd of supporters at its last meeting, the council majority voted 5-2 to approve the so-called Downtown Recovery Plan Amendments: the rezoning of areas of downtown to allow for future building heights up to 85 feet with 70 feet along the San Lorenzo River. The conclusion was inescapable: developers have finally won out.
The original Downtown Recovery Plan (DRP) was a response to the devastation of downtown from the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. A group of 36 people, selected to represent the diverse, often conflicting interests of business, neighborhoods, environmentalists and social services, dubbed the Gang of 36 and named Vision Santa Cruz, met for over 300 meetings to develop a blue-print for rebuilding after the earthquake. Their compromise and final consensus was for a downtown of “proper density and scale” with most new buildings of 2 to 3 stories in height. A few would be allowed up to 5 stories under special circumstances.
So how did that Downtown Recovery Plan end up 30 years later under the same name with large areas of downtown re-zoned for buildings of 70-85 feet?
Some factors contributing to the shift include the global marketing of Santa Cruz as a cash cow for development, the red-hot housing market and the weakening of neighborhood groups over the decades with the influx of new residents with money and few ties to the community. Such changes occur although there is nothing inevitable about them. Other factors are less obvious. While the original Vision Santa Cruz truly represented diverse interests, the current decision-makers represent a narrow band of interests, mostly developers and developer-friendly. Those of us who represent the missing at the table interests of neighborhoods, environmentalists and advocates for the small-town uniqueness of Santa Cruz, who speak at meetings and send in written comments, are ignored. I say that as one of many who has attended most of the meetings on the current Downtown Recovery Plan. I can’t count the number of times we have shared with the decision-makers that we are not opposed to any development but we want it in-scale, consistent with the original intent of the DRP. We want to protect existing small businesses that will be forced out under the new rents, which will escalate with new high-rise mixed-use buildings. Not once has the Planning Commission or city council majority addressed these concerns.
Then there’s deliberate neglect. Taking a cue from the Seaside Company’s La Bahia, which was allowed to decay until a chorus was calling for its replacement, Front Street between Laurel and Soquel has been allowed to fall into disrepair. First the beautiful, mature trees were cut down under the direction of the former Parks and Recreation Director; then the sidewalks were allowed to deteriorate; then trash allowed to accumulate and the effect of neglect completed with the building of 1010 Pacific, one of the few higher buildings permitted downtown with its askew blinds, bike parts on balconies and overall tenement look looming over this section of Front St. leading one council member who supported the Amendments to say she doesn’t find this section of downtown appealing, a view probably shared by others who are unaware of the contrived conditions behind such a conclusion.
Add in double-speak and you have a development wolf in homespun sheep’s clothing. Many in support of the greatly increased heights spoke to the critical need for housing as if they believe this new market-rate housing will provide rents affordable to service workers leaving town in droves for lower rents elsewhere. I was reminded of the Republican tax cuts for the rich with assurances of trickle-down economics. Then there’s the “eyes on the river” mantra as if the homeless and drug addicts will appreciate that these new tall buildings with their alleyways to the river and recessed storefronts are off- limits for shooting up and sleeping.
As the principal planner stated to council about the developments that will flow from these Plan amendments, “It will be different going forward.” Given that there will be significant impacts on parking, traffic congestion, provision of parks, let alone future flooding and water table rises downtown that may well be the understatement of the year.
~Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
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.
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.
COUNTY CUTS DOWN 43 TREES AT 701 OCEAN STREET AND EMELINE OFFICES TO MAKE WAY FOR SOLAR PANELS.
Why did the County government order 43 trees cut down for solar panel projects when a presentation last year’s Board of Supervisor meeting stated there “would need to be a few trees removed but still pending project design”? It seems the County wanted to remove 43 more lungs from the earth in order to put up those panels. Why did County Parks & Recreatation have to pay for the mass tree slaughter? Why did the County award the solar project to SunPower in Richmond, CA when there are at least four Santa Cruz-based solar companies? What about carbon sequestration of all those greenhouse gasses that the dense eight-story mixed use developments proposed for that Ocean Street corridor would bring? And the slaughter will continue, with another 39 additional trees getting cut down at 5200 Soquel Avenue in the near future…..
Last year, the Santa Cruz County Government Administration ordered nearly 20 trees cut down around the 701 Ocean Street site without any arborist report or proper process to seek competitive bids. The chainsaw victims included six mature redwoods, five mature Scotch Pines, and nine mature Canary Island Pines. The Parks and Recreation Dept. had to pay that $12,000+ bill, but Parks Director Jeff Gaffney laughed and said “I don’t know!” when I asked him why it came out of his budget. Back then, the Public Records Act request materials showed the reason ranged from needing to remove a liability, needing to remove invasive root sources, and needing to remove inhibitors to rooftop radio antenna communication. Now it is clear that the true reason was none of the above. Now, there are plans submitted by SunPower for rooftop panels at 701 Ocean and parking lot panels at 1080 and 1400 Emeline.
I applaud the addition of solar power to the County’s grid demand butask: couldn’t the trees have been saved? Last year, Supervisors John Leopold and Bruce McPherson championed a fight with PG&E to SAVE TREES that were scheduled to be cut….isn’t this County tree slaughter a bit hypocritical? Why not put the panels in County-owned places that are already suitable and would require no or fewer trees to be cut?
Why is over $40,000 being spent from Parks & Recreation funds to remove trees (some of which required a crane operation) and grind their stumps and NOT from the County’s General Services money?
Here is what the General Services Dept. website says it is responsible to provide:
“The General Services Department is responsible for providing a wide variety of services for the County of Santa Cruz, such as facilities maintenance, construction management, fleet services, and the central purchasing division. We also provide administrative support to the County Fire Department; and are responsible for the administration for the Office of Emergency Services. General Services staffs the Energy Commission and works with County departments on energy efficient and energy conservation projects and practice.”
Contact Parks Director Jeff Gaffney 454-7901 or jeff.gaffney@santacruzcounty.us and Al Galvan at 454-7937, and Interim General Services Manager Carol Johnson 454-2210 carol.johnson@santacruzcounty.us and ask them questions. At least this time, there were three bids: Community Tree Service ($25,050), Lewis Tree Service ($26,990) and Christiansen Tree (they got the contract for $25,375 but had submitted a revised proposal earlier for $40,375 to do the work).
(I have also noticed a number of trees in the Simpkins Swim Center parking lot have been cut down…maybe that was included in the recent slaughter, too but did not come up on the Public Records Act request information.)
Here is what is planned:
5200 Soquel Avenue: 1 eucalyptus, 39 other designated trees.
By the way, you might also ask Ms. Gretchen Iliff (831-454-7988) about that studio re-roof Project #15C1-007 at 301 Eagle Ridge Road in Aptos. Is the Bert Scott Estate really a County park? Your tax dollars paid $17,486 in the summer of 2016 to re-roof it. Who lives in that studio? Hmmm….
SANTA CRUZ REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ADVISORY COMMITTEES UNANIMOUSLY AGREED TO FUND THE APTOS CREEK ROAD TRAFFIC LIGHT AND IMPROVEMENTS TO HELP APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS.
Last week, the RTC Bicycle Committee, the Elderly & Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee and the Inter-Agency Technical Advisory Committee reviewed the preliminary staff recommendations for how to award $22 million in grant money to the 35 total applications. Project #25 is the Aptos Creek Traffic Light, which in essence is doing traffic mitigation projects for the Aptos Village Project developers (Barry Swenson, Joe Appenrodt, Pete Testorff, et al). Staff recommends a $1.9 MILLION gift.
I pointed out the following:
The RTC has awarded top dollar amounts to gift the Aptos Village Project developers in 2015 and again in 2016 because it was stated as the County’s highest priority for funding.
Last year’s $650,000 gift was contingent upon including bike racks in the Phase II Aptos Creek Road improvements, when the RTC allowed the County to shift all of the money to their Phase I Trout Gulch Road project, the bike racks disappeared.
The bus stop relocation is going to make access for mobility-challenged passengers a huge challenge, due to the 8% slope ramps and the 100′ stretch of 5% grade without ADA-compliant resting pads.
This same relocated bus stop will potentially impose public safety hazards because the bus will not be able to completely get out of the lane of Soquel Drive traffic when stopped and there is poor visibility for approaching motorists and no Class II bike lane (that is going away to make room for an extra lane to accommodate Joe Appenrodt’s Bay Fed and Starbucks business at the intersection…did he pay any developer improvement fees to mitigate traffic there?).
There are no bike racks included in any of these publicly-financed County projects to mitigate the Aptos Village Project traffic impacts.
The proposed Aptos Creek Rd. Traffic Light (really just Phase II project) seems to allow removal of the Class II bike lanes along Soquel Drive to make room for additional turn lanes for the Aptos Village Project entries…an estimated 8,000 new vehicles trips/day.
The Aptos Village Project developers have paid the County only $700,000 in traffic impact fees Phase I and Public Works Director John Presleigh recently told me the County cannot ask for developer fees for Phase II.
The Bicycle Committee deliberated a bit about why the PROTECTED BIKE LANES THE COUNTY PROMISED EARLIER (that was the Traffic Engineer Jack Sohriakoff, who just recently took early retirement) have vanished and it seems that a simple white line demarking the Class II bike lane on Soquel Drive has also disappeared. Also, the Committee members noted that the new internal roads within the development do not have bike lanes, as was also promised. The Committee voted to request clarification of bike lanes on Soquel Drive, given the proposed $1.9 MILLION gift would add sidewalks on the ocean side of Soquel Drive, while maintaining existing parallel parking. I wonder what the County will promise now?
I was not able to attend the Elderly & Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, but was told that group did not discuss Project #25 much or make recommendations regarding it. That Committee did not even know the bus stop relocation was part of last year’s gift when they approved it because there were no specifications regarding it included in what was presented to be Phase II Aptos Creek Road work.
The Inter-Agency Technical Advisory was told by RTC staff presenter Rachel Moriconi and Deputy Director Luis Mendez that the issues I raised should have been discussed by the public with the County traffic engineer earlier in the design process and that the Committee could not make recommendations regarding design. I did point out that the Committee COULD make contingencies for funding, as was done in 2016 for bike racks. The Committee, most of whose agencies also had project applications on the table, did nothing to address Project #25, one of the highest awards proposed of all 35 projects.
Call the RTC and voice your opinion about Project #25 and others: 460-3200
Write the RTC Board: c/o Regional Transportation Commission, 1523 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Read the section “Falling Through the Cracks” where a small contractor did not get paid for supplies by a LARGE DEVELOPER. and quickly became homeless:
“Mark Hemersbach, a 58-year-old Santa Cruz resident of 35 years, has been homeless for two years. He’s been living in a tent at the benchlands for the last six months, after what he calls a “set of bad circumstances” involving the collapse of his marble and stone contracting business, he tells me, when a large developer didn’t pay the bills and he didn’t have the resources to fight them in court.
“It only took 10 days to go from heaven to hell,” Hemersbach says. He had 25 employees and had invested his life savings in the company. Hemersbach says that a nearby storage facility would help provide homeless people some peace of mind, while cutting down on theft from a population that doesn’t have much to their name to begin with.
“It would give the people a sense of organization if they can maintain it, and in the end it would give people a little more hope,” he says.
These days, Hemersbach has become something of a mediator among the community benchlands, sometimes settling disputes, and other times organizing morning cleanup efforts to make sure the camp stays as tidy as possible. “We don’t want to be an eyesore for the public,” he says. “We understand this is a park. It’s not supposed to look like a run down beat-up litterbox, and we don’t want it to look that way.”
SO WHY IS SANTA CRUZ COUNTY AND CITY SO QUICK TO WAIVE AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE LARGE DEVELOPERS BECAUSE THE DEVELOPERS CLAIM “IT JUST WON’T PENCIL OUT”?
Who is the local government really looking out for here????? Last week’s Santa Cruz City staff meeting with the public at the church on Frederick Street was laughable and infuriating at the same time. Staff explained that requiring a higher percentage of affordable housing (15% under Measure J) would not be feasible for developers and would trigger the State to review the projects for feasibility. HUH? What a disgusting joke that meeting was!
Call your local representatives and demand that affordable housing be included in all developments of over 4 units. Many thanks again to the valiant efforts of Santa Cruz County Housing Advisory Committee members Ms. Nancy Abbey and Dean Lindholm (I previously reported his name in error as “Bud”…so sorry!) for voting in against the Planning Department recommendation to waive required inclusionary affordable housing in developments at all.
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.
The image on the right graced the top of the Opinion page in the November 17, 2017, edition of The New York Times. It depicts Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, showing off the first press run of money with Mnuchin’s name on it.
Reading the message conveyed by the picture, these exemplars of the extremely rich are telling the American people, “your money belongs to us.” This isn’t just a “symbolic” statement, either. As The Times’ editorial accurately reported, commenting on the tax “reform” bill that is currently progressing at breakneck speed through the Congress, a bill strongly supported by Mr. Mnuchin and his boss, the President of the United States:
This bill would take money from working families
and give it to the world’s wealthiest people.
If it’s “our” government (and I mean if our government actually belongs to those not in the “billionaire class”), then we need to take back power from the billionaires. The message we need to remember is exactly the same message that Mnuchin and his wife articulate: “Your money belongs to us.” More accurately, “Our money belongs to us!” Wealth is collectively created. A government of, by, and for “the people,” can decide how to raise and spend money, and if the disproportionally rich have seized governmental control, diverting the collective wealth of society to themselves, then we (the non-rich, ordinary folks) need to regain control, and realign the paradigm. No guns or violence needed. Just inflamed, energized, and engaged voters.
The Times says this picture shows these representatives of the current administration as “cartoonishly evil.” A column in The Washington Post says they look like “a pair of Hollywood villains.”
Frankly, these folks don’t just “look like” villains. They’re the real thing. And whether we like it or not, the James Bond role falls to us!
~Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
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.
LADY BIRD. This film restored my faith in great films! RT gives 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, which is somehow appropriate. It’s sensitive, subtle, and surprising. Gerwig breaks many directing rules and creates new plot possibilities. Go see this film.
LAST FLAG FLYING. An all start cast with Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne, and Bryan Cranston,it’s a buddy movie with strong U.S. Marine themes. Don’t take your Thanksgiving guests because it’s sad and feely-bad. It’s not at all like the funny trailer that you might have seen. Motherhood, patriotism, religion, Viet Nam, and maleness are the main themes. Don’t hurry to see it, you’ll fall asleep about half way through.
WONDER. This highly touted sob story starring Julia Roberts got an 87 on RT and about a 5 from me. Owen Wilson with his mishapen nose and jerk smile and Julia play the little Jacob Trembly’s parents. Jacob was born with a mishapen face as in the “Mask” movie (which was better even though Cher played the kid’s mother. Wonder is a genuine Hollyweood production in every way. Cheap heart-tugging emotions, shallow acting except for Mandy Patinkin. Patinkin has been the co-star of the Homeland series on iTunes and I just finished near bingeing all six seasons. Mandy has become one of my all time favorite stars. Anyway, Wonder is commercial, shallow and don’t go.
NOVITIATE. Whether or not you view the Roman Catholic Church as favorable will make or break this film for you. It’s the saga of a 16 year old girl going through the nun’s training. It’s raw, beautifully filmed and Oscar winning acting performances, you’ll not forget this very serious near documentary. Cruel, brutal, psychologically scary, honest…what more can you ask for? Nunneries were so bad that the Vatican issued a change of rules in 1964 to stop the inhumanity that was rampant, 90,000 nuns left the church after that. Go see it quickly. 86 on RT.Closes 11/21
BLADERUNNER 2049. Denis Villeneuve directed this sequel with advice from Ridley Scott and it has many hidden plot lines from the original (try to see it before you see 2049)…it’s an unique addition to science fiction films. Dystopian is a very overused word describing a disaster based future. This film again has Los Angeles totally transfigured…and even darker and more devastated and bleak than the first one, was set in LA 2019. Ryan Gosling carries the entire story, with Robin Wright and Harrison Ford doing fine acting jobs too. I have rarely, if ever, seen or felt a theatre audience so still-so hypnotized-awed-puzzled-and silent as the one I joined last week. I’ve seen it 2 ½ times now… it needs two viewings on as large a screen as possible, because the photography is so impressive and important. Closes 11/21
IT. This broke all box office records the weekend when IT opened…and IT should have. IT is a well made, very scary movie. Based on a Stephen King novel, IT is chapter one of a two-part nightmare/daydream that will grab you when you are least prepared to be scared. It has all the clichés…BUT it’s also got tension, mystery, and perfect timing along with excellent acting. Just go see IT — but only if you truly enjoy being scared. 86 on RT.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES. Billie Jean King plays against Bobby Riggs in this easy-going tennis and sex movie. Billie Jean has an internal battle with her own sex, which adds a deeper and more involved plot than the 1973 match which we’ve all been reading up on, or remember from those days. Emma Stone— reputedly the highest star in the world — acts perfectly with Steve Carrell, and the movie is a guaranteed hit with everybody. I didn’t recognize Sarah Silverman as the women’s coach because she wears sunglasses all through the movie. I liked Little Miss Sunshine better.
VICTORIA & ABDUL. Almost everyone knows that Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria in this cute, warm, cuddly feel-good movie. Eddie Izzard plays the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), but you won’t recognize him. I didn’t, and I’m a big fan of Izzard’s. Stephen Frears directed it. He did My Beautiful Launderette, Prick Up your Ears, Philomena and some more great films but this isn’t in that category. Aside from the cuteness, it ignores the cruelty of the British rule over India during the almost 30 years. Closes 11/21
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Most mystery nuts claim this is Agatha Christie’s best mystery but this isn’t the best movie version the 1974 was better. Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer are fine actors especially Michelle and they do their jobs in this new “Express”. However the cuts, flashbacks, photography, and not-tight directing by Kenneth Branagh who does the Poirot role just dull the trip. Remember the old one with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot and Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Ingrid Bergman? That film just roared along the tracks and took us with it. Bergman won her third Oscar with her role in that version.
All that said, go see it! It’s fun and only a little dull in parts.
THE FLORIDA PROJECT. Willem Dafoe heads the cast of unknowns in this depressing almost-documentary of a six-year-old girl and her little friend’s sad lives, as they eke out an existence living in motels near Disneyland in Orlando. Their lives and the fragments of the other neighboring families are sad from start to the finish of this film. It’s a saga, and it’s well done, but for sure it’s a feel-bad film. Closes 11/21
WONDERSTRUCK. I never read the book and after seeing this movie I never will read the book. It’s a confusing story of two kids one from 1927, one from 1977 running away from home and going to New York City. They come from bad homes, looking for a parent, and love, and there must be 100 time flips back and forth showing some mysterious connection. You’ll learn that connection at the end but it’s not worth it. Closes 11/21
SUBURBICON. I have not and will not see this movie. Never, ever have I read and received so many bad warnings about a cruddy movie. George Clooney directed it, Matt Damon has the top role, and Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 27. Julianne Moore and Oscar Issac are in it too. Never mind about the plot, too many friends and readers have warned me…and I’m passing the word on to you, DON’T GO!
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. 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
COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Click and enter the box in the upper right hand corner of each Column. You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!) Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!
Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
PG&E and PUC are crooks, how to give your Doctor a check-up, Wallace Baine and the Sentinel, Leonard The Haberdasher, Aldo Giacchino and some wisdom about our housing demand and Outside influences …Greensite: spotlight on and off UCSC…Krohn about more City Council meetings, UCSC student housing facts, City Water Facilities….Steinbruner about RTC and funding their projects, DeSal and who is Dudek, “Save Santa Cruz” meeting, Soquel gets more water hookups, Board Of Supervisors and their pay raise!!! Patton and Matsui family land gift in serious development question….DeCinzo and “Plane As Day”…Eagan divulges secret behind our gun laws….Munching With Mozart…Brecht’s Arturo Ui at UCSC…Jensen reviews Wonderstruck…I critique Novitiate, Murder on The Orient Express, and Wonderstruck…great Quotes about Forest Fires.
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.
SANTA CRUZ’S MOBILE FUTURE? Daughter Jennifer sent this one. As she says, it’s interesting. Like maybe Mission Street between Chestnut and
Swift?
DRAINING THE SAN LORENZO RIVER. This sure is a long way from home, but what if they drained our San Lorenzo?
THE HYPERLOOP…ELON MUSK EXPLAINS IT. Again from daughter Jennifer this goes a long way of explaining what a hyperloop is…and we’ve all been
wondering, right?
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.
SHINING A LIGHT ON AND FROM THE HILL
The Associated Press continues its investigations into the UC President’s top- level interference into a confidential state audit of the Office, with the collusion of the UCSC Chancellor. Emails show that both the UC President and the UCSC Chancellor were not only aware of this interference but the latter also instrumental in ensuring the doctored surveys from UCSC were implemented as requested by the UC President’s Office. The revisions reversed criticisms to ensure the President’s office was shown in a favorable light. The chief of staff to the UC President has resigned “to pursue other opportunities on the east coast”, Napolitano (who was briefed on the revisions) has apologized and no heads have rolled at UCSC. While scandals, sexual and otherwise are daily fare, it’s tempting to shrug this one off as minor league, and move on. That would be a mistake. We should take this rare glimpse into the machinations of power at the esteemed city on a hill to criticize and mobilize rather than cower and accept that continued UCSC growth is inevitable. The Emperor, in this case the UC President and her cohort, the UCSC Chancellor have no clothes and it’s a prime time to stand up and demand they enact a moratorium on UCSC growth which is causing havoc to a small town with limited resources. Don’t buy the PR that they have an obligation to educate students and have no choice. There are always choices.
When its student population was under 10,000 in the 1990’s, UCSC brought many positives to its host city of Santa Cruz. Since that time its student population has doubled along with associated bloated top administration and underpaid support staff. UCSC students, half of whom live off campus, comprise 30 per cent of city renters and overwhelm the city’s limited rental properties. No amount of building can accommodate such numbers, whether on or off campus, without destroying the beauty and livability of both the campus and the town.
So far, the city and county elected leaders have been weak in response to their constituents’ growing recognition that enough is enough on the hill. Two letters of concern are insufficient. We need stronger leadership.
While a small light of press scrutiny has been shone on the abuse of power at UCSC and the President’s office, UCSC has turned a spotlight on the community: many spotlights to be accurate. Without a blink of concern for its impact on the town, UCSC has installed mobile night spotlights on the East Field for night Rugby. These glaring, unshielded lights pollute the night sky and are the dominant lights from UCSC as seen from the wharf and from over 3 miles away on Highway 1 as the halo of white lights documented in the image on the right. Fiat Lux to be sure.
~Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
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.”
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).
There are more applicants this year than last (the RTC only had $7 Million to give away.
Look at Project #6 where the RTC funds itself $409.000 for planning work even though the cost of their work is only $250,000. But because the State allows staff to grab up to $409,000, they have recommended to themselves that they take the maximum allowed. Don’t you wish you could decide such parameters of YOUR paycheck? (Well, you do, if you are a County Supervisor…more on that later.) Wow.
Look at Project #8 where the Highway One Auxiliary Lane between 41st Avenue and Soquel get $2 Million (staff recommendations state that the money has been held for that project since 2014…so why didn’t they get going with the project before the campaign for Measure D began?) Hmmm…
Look at Project # 9 where the Highway One Auxiliary Lane between State Park Drive and Bay/Porter get proposed funding of $1,830,000 with more to come in from Measure D funding. Did you see the November 2, 2017 Santa Cruz Sentinel report about this topic? Here it is.
Take a look at Project #35. I think it is interesting that the many of the projects submitted by both the Santa Cruz County and City Public Works are virtually the same as last year. Supervisor Zach Friend (who chairs the RTC this year) must be sad to see that for the second time, the RTC staff recommends $0 for improvements in his Seacliff neighborhood. The RTC states that $850,000 has already been awarded to this project but that $1.69 Million is still needed. I wonder where all the money is coming from to do all the work that is happening there? Maybe it was Susan Maureillo’s County budget reward to him as she retired from County Administrative Officer in June in exchange for his District overlay restriction on outdoor cultivation of Cannabis? I understand that her neighborhood had some big grows that smelled offensive to her.
THE BOARD ALSO APPROVED THEIR OWN PAY RAISE GUARANTEED FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS.
Because I could not find a parking place at the County Building lot last Tuesday morning, I arrived at the November 7 Board of Supervisor 9am meeting five minutes late. Normally, the Pledge of Allegiance and the individual Supervisor comments on the Consent Agenda items takes about 10 minutes to get through, but I walked into the Chambers just as the Board was approving the Consent Agenda. Supervisor Greg Caput voted “NO” on Item #9, an automatic pay raise for the Supervisors for the next four years. I had intended to pull that item off the Consent agenda and demand public discussion about why the Supervisors can vote themselves a guarateed payraise without any public input on their performance?
I asked Clerk of the Board, Ms. susan Galloway, afterward how I could appeal that action? She later wrote this:
“Regarding Item No. #9 on the Nov. 7, 2017 Agenda, the Board’s action was final adoption of an ordinance that had previously been on the Regular Agenda October 24th, at which time the Board accepted public testimony. There was also ample opportunity for submitting written public comments regarding either or both the agenda items. The action is considered final, and the ordinance will take effect 61 days after the adoption. I hope this information is helpful.”
Do you think this is fair? Did you even know the Board had approved their own pay raises as part of the October 24 agenda? Do you get to decide on your own pay raise without any level of performance review? What do you think the taxpayers need to do to change this outrageous and unacceptable situation with the Board of Supervisors?
The RTC staff is recommending a taxpayer gift of $1,900,000 MORE to fund the Aptos Village Project developers Swenson, Testorff, Appenrodt and others because the project is “a priority for the County.” The County already spent all the money we gave them last year to do this work, but instead spent it on the Trout Gulch intersection, so they are back this year to ask for more.
The description of this year’s Project application includes a traffic signal at Aptos Creek Road and Soquel Drive, including railroad crossing arms, controlled pedestrian crossing at railroad crossing, crosswalks across Aptos Creek Road and Soquel Drive, sidewalks, curb and gutter along the south side of Soquel Drive (does that mean on-street parking there will be eliminated?) and bicycle lanes. Look at page 60, under Project #25 here: https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/FULL_BC_PACKET_Nov_2017.pdf
I do not understand how County Public Works can claim that the intersection serves 8910 vehicles daily when last year’s application for the same intersection claimed closer to 15,000, with an estimated 8,000 additional vehicles/day with the Aptos Village Project build-out. It is also incongruent with the RTC’s own traffic count of 16,332/day in July, 2015 for the nearby Soquel Drive/Spreckles intersection. Take a look at page 4 of that document here: https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/SCCTrafficCounts2010-15.pdf
The County asked the RTC to fund this same project with taxpayer money LAST year to benefit the developers as the Aptos Village Phase II Traffic Project and was gifted $650,000 to do. BUT 100% OF THIS MONEY GOT SPENT ON PHASE I (TROUT GULCH/SOQUEL DR. INTERSECTION & MOVING THE #71 BUS STOP).
Here is what the County Public Works Dept. asked the taxpayers to gift the developers with this work LAST year:
Construct new traffic signal and railroad crossing at Soquel Drive/Aptos Creek Road. Includes road widening, center turn lane, sidewalks (750 feet), bike lanes, drainage infrastructure, new street (Parade Street), and pavement overlay of Soquel and Aptos Creek Rd. Drive (Spreckles to Trout Gulch) and Aptos Creek Road. There was a CONDITION stipulating that bike parking racks be included in the project and the traffic signal give priority to transit. The RTC staff noted $690,000 had been awarded to the project the PREVIOUS year.
Here is an enhanced photo image of the Aptos Creek Rd. / Soquel Dr. intersection showing the railroad crossing arms but MISSING the traffic lights. Many thanks to my clever neighbor Mr.Holger Blech for this image.
You can watch the YouTube video of the October 10, 2017 Regional Transportation Commission’s Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee meeting when Mr. Steve Wiesner, Assistant Director of Public Works, explained that sidewalks do not have to meet state requirements for access by disabled people.. Mr. Ciro Aguiree, Operations Chief for Metro, explained the reason for moving the #71 bus stop is to provide more on-street parking for Aptos Village businesses.
“E&D TAC Meeting 10/10/17” https://youtu.be/gjBxHAOY15E
Moving the #71 bus stop has become very expensive because of the contaminated railroad soils. The extended traffic delays and hazardous conditions have really hurt existing Aptos Village businesses. In fact, at last week’s Aptos Chamber of Commerce breakfast, John Hibble advised people to “STAY OUT OF APTOS VILLAGE DURING COMMUTE HOURS” BECAUSE THE TRAFFIC IS SO BAD. Wow. In my observation as an Aptos resident, the commute hours last pretty much all day long.
SANTA CRUZ WATER ADVISORY COMMISSION RE-VISITS THE POSSIBLE DESAL PLANT….WHO IS DUDEK & ASSOCIATES?
At last week’s City Water Advisory Commission meeting, the possibility of a desalination plant again came up, with a very impressive presentation by consultants Kennedy-Jenks and Dudek & Associates. I was surprised to see hardly anyone in the audience, given the history of the proposal. It was interesting that things have changed at the State level to require all desal projects to present a project that includes subsurface seawater intake, versus a pipe sucking water directly. The State then will make any and all decisions regarding whether the subsurface intake design is feasible. This has not yet been done, so there is no precedent for municipalities to follow for guidelines on how best to get such a project declared unfeasible.
The presenters mentioned that the State has also reduced the allowed intake pipe openings from 2mm to 1mm, making a subsurface intake project for Santa Cruz desal difficult, given the new desal project area would be confined to the Wharf area. The State had comments before about the undesirability of water intake further north near Natural Bridges State Park and the adjacent marine research facility.
The presentation offered a novel design that included multiple radial arm collection pipes, aka Ranney collector that has historically been used in fresh water intake plants. Read more here.
The engineer admitted that the idea may not work well, maybe not at all because of the fine mud and silts in that area of the Bay. Well, the Commission decided to hold off making a decision until 2020.
So, who is Dudek & Associates? That is a very large environmental consulting firm based in San Diego but opened an office at 725 Front Street in Santa Cruz two years ago. Take a look at their website: https://www.dudek.com/about-us/
I really get the impression that the County and City plans for major growth (aka “Code Modernization”) is a lucrative business for the likes of major developers such as Swenson, and that Dudek & Associates will help push the consulting paperwork through in a flash. I wonder what that SB375 mandated Sustainable Communities Strategy that the RTC mentions in some documents is all about and how it ties with this?? Hmmm…..
“SAVE SANTA CRUZ” PUBLIC MEETING WITH CITY OFFICIALS THIS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15 TO DISCUSS PLANS TO OVERBUILD.
Attend the public meeting this Wednesday, November15, 6:30pm at 440 Frederick Street (Santa Cruz Bible Church). Here are the questions the leaders suggest the public ask:
Let’s ask our city leaders some tough questions about their decisions on development regarding
Traffic (more density/units in smaller spaces = more people on the roads)
Heights (proposed plans allow 5 stories or higher)
Parking (requirements for parking spaces for new units are being reduced or removed)
Environmental and neighborhood review (review times and processes are being shortened that DO NOT allow for needed scrutiny and environmental review)
Reduction in privacy (higher buildings = less privacy in backyards)
Solar access is no longer guaranteed on your property next to mid-rise buildings
Neighborhood character/integrity
Light and noise pollution
I think this is a good idea…and needs to be expanded to the County’s unincorporated areas of land use planning and critical water problems.
SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT BOARD CONTINUES TO APPROVE MORE HOOK-UPS.
At last week’s District Board meeting, they granted approval of three large new Will Serve connections: Twin Lakes Church expansion (I think that project got a variance earlier), expansion at Carolines Thrift Store in Aptos (near the Aptos Village Project), and two new appratments at 4205 Clares St. in Capitola.
I applaud Director Daniels for consistently voting “NO” on these requests for more water when there is not a working solution to the problem of critical overdraft. I wonder if the other Directors have overdrawn checking accounts and continue to write checks anyway? It’s the same principle, but somehow asking new service applicants to give the District $55,000/acrefoot water anticipated just makes the problem melt away.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has the LEGAL ability and MORAL responsibility to declare a County Groundwater Emegency, under the 1987 County Well Ordinance. Under this ordinance, the County can declare an emergencto limit new water use and drilling of new wells until the problem is addressed. The Santa Cruz County Water Advisory Commission has recommended this action to the Board of Suprvisors MANY times. What do you think the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan and Code Modernization will do to the water supply problem? The county Planning Department REFUSES to add water municipalities associated with new developpemetn permit applications to be added to the plan check route. WHY??? Newly-appointed Assistant Planning Director (one of two) Ms. Paia Levine told me that the Planning Department just does not want to risk slowing the permit processing down. Hmmm…
Maybe this is where Dudek & Associates, just across the River from the 701 Ocean Street County Building, will swoop in and make things happen…the question is: What will that look like for the quality of life in Santa Cruz County????
MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY BOARD WILL REVIEW THE SEMI-ANNUAL GROUNDWATER MONITORING REPORT FOR 2017 THIS THURSDAY EVENING. Nov. 16.
The Midcounty Groundwater Agency, chaired this year by Mr. Rob Marani (Central Water District Boardmember) will review the 2017 Groundwater Monitoring Report during the meeting Thursday, November 16, 7pm at Simpkins Swim Center.
The meetings are now all recorded and are available on the website. WHY DID THE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVE COUNTY STAFF TIME TO HELP SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT GET A GRANT?
That’s what I wanted to know about Board Consent Agenda Item #23 at last Tuesday’s 11/7/17 meeting. I support groundwater recharge efforts, but I take issue with the County taxpayers funding time to apply for and implement a $49,000 grant for Soquel Creek Water district when the District is COLLECTING $55,000/ACREFOOT FROM ALL NEW APPLICANTS FOR WATER DEMAND OFFSET PROJECT.S, which is what the District has declared the proposed grant project would accomplish for them.
Here is what County Water Director, Mr. John Ricker wrote to me when I raised the issue:
“The DualEM project is a joint project with the County and the Soquel Creek Water District, to help develop groundwater recharge projects for both the County and the District. It is more cost-effective to combine those efforts than to conduct them separately. The Dual EM work is the next step to build on prior work by Dr. Andy Fisher and the Resource Conservation District. That work identified potentially favorable recharge sites based on general mapped information. The Dual EM will now do detailed subsurface mapping of specific sites to confirm suitability and to target the specific locations for subsurface boring and detailed design of recharge projects. The Soquel Water District and the County both believe there is good potential to develop recharge projects to benefit the groundwater basin. Once the feasibility and benefit is confirmed, construction could be funded through the District’s Water Demand Offset Program. Development of recharge projects through the WDO program has been discussed a number of times at District Board meetings. Efforts to develop recharge projects have also been discussed at the County Water Advisory Commission, which has been very supportive of these efforts.”
Do you think this is fair to County taxpayers? Call 831-454-2200 or write the Board of Supervisors:
A POSITIVE THING FOR SANTA CRUZ COUNTY RESIDENTS…..COMMUNITY BASED POWER
The Board of Supervisors (with wallets well-satiated) then approved selling $8 million in bonds to fund the fledgling Monterey Bay Community Power (MBCP)project. This will bring on board 100% carbon-free electricity for Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties acting jointly with 16 municipalities. The MBCP will, according to a staff presentation, save Santa cruz County $28 million the first year of operation, thereby costing the County nothing effective the first year of operation.
I heard a second presentation on the MBCP again that same evening at the Soquel Creek Water District 11/7/17 Board meeting. You can watch both of those presentations on the Community Television “Government on Demand” website: http://www.communitytv.org/watch/government-demand/
JUST ONE LAST THING….PROBLEMS REMAIN AT APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT CONSTRUCTION SITE.
I attended the Aptos Chamber of Commerce breakfast last week, and learned that Barry Swenson Builder had treated the Chamber to a tour of the Project the previous Monday. Some of those who had been on the tour joked publicly that “I want that 3rd floor office suite”. The issue remains: who will be able to afford any of those commercial and residential suites in the Aptos Village Project? Do you think it will be the grocery clerks at New Leaf Market? The Sereno Property Management Group is currently taking applications for the FIVE Measure J affordable residential units, which the County allowed Swenson to make smaller and with fewer bedrooms than HUD usually requires. Nice concession to make it “pencil out”, don’t you think? Will any local teachers or firefighters get a shot at these five units? Hmmmm…..
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.
#317 GIFT WITH A TWIST.
The Matsui family has given a gift that is reportedly worth $20 million to Hartnell College, which is located in Monterey County. Read all about it right here, in a story from the Monterey Herald. You can see the gift, outlined in yellow, in the picture above. The gift to Hartnell is 215 acres of prime Salinas Valley farmland. The estimated market value of the land, that $20 million figure, is based on the idea that the land will not continue to be farmland, but will be converted to development.
Let’s assume that this gift is totally motivated by the charitable impulses of the Matsui family, which definitely has a record of charitable giving. The Matsui Family Foundation is dedicated to supporting education, so it does seem likely that this gift, too, has been motivated by the family’s charitable impulses. How could it be otherwise, you say?
Well, if the Matsui family owns adjacent land, the development of the land they have now given to Hartnell would boost the value of their own, adjacent property. If that were true, and it would be easy enough to check this out, by consulting the Assessor’s records, the gift of this land to Hartnell would derive from a mixed motive.
Schools and colleges are often used by wily landowners to “pioneer” a new area for sprawl. The Monterey County Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, is supposed to stop sprawl, and LAFCO will ultimately decide whether or not to allow the annexation of this land to Salinas, leading to its subsequent development. LAFCO is a body that is composed of political officials, and LAFCO members would probably be swayed by an appeal from Hartnell, which could point to the public benefit of letting the college gain an annexation approval that would let it develop the land. Query whether a private landowner would get the same treatment.
Without any reference, however, to what may have motivated the Matsui family’s gift, careful consideration should be given to whether or not this land should be annexed to Salinas for development. All involved in the future decisions that will determine the fate of this land (and that definitely includes Monterey County and Salinas voters) should think long and hard about what the annexation and development of the gifted land would mean for the future of the community. This gift comes with a twist!
If the land is allowed to be developed, that will mean more money to the landowner and the developer, and if the landowner is Hartnell College, that money will be used to support local education. That’s a plus! On the other hand, development of the land will also help undermine the long-term viability of the county’s biggest industry, agriculture, and will lead to more water supply/seawater intrusion problems, more air pollution, more traffic, and more demand on scarce public resources.
Not for most of the public anyway, with landowners and developers excepted!
~Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
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.
NOVITIATE. Whether or not you view the Roman Catholic Church as favorable will make or break this film for you. It’s the saga of a 16 year old girl going through the nun’s training. It’s raw, beautifully filmed and Oscar winning acting performances, you’ll not forget this very serious near documentary. Cruel, brutal, psychologically scary, honest…what more can you ask for? Nunneries were so bad that the Vatican issued a change of rules in 1964 to stop the inhumanity that was rampant, 90,000 nuns left the church after that. Go see it quickly. 86 on RT.
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Most mystery nuts claim this is Agatha Christie’s best mystery but this isn’t the best movie version the 1974 was better. Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer are fine actors especially Michelle and they do their jobs in this new “Express”. However the cuts, flashbacks, photography, and not-tight directing by Kenneth Branagh who does the Poirot role just dull the trip. Remember the old one with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot and Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Ingrid Bergman? That film just roared along the tracks and took us with it. Bergman won her third Oscar with her role in that version.
All that said, go see it! It’s fun and only a little dull in parts.
WONDERSTRUCK. I never read the book and after seeing this movie I never will read the book. It’s a confusing story of two kids one from 1927, one from 1977 running away from home and going to New York City. They come from bad homes, looking for a parent, and love, and there must be 100 time flips back and forth showing some mysterious connection. You’ll learn that connection at the end but it’s not worth it.
BLADERUNNER 2049. Denis Villeneuve directed this sequel with advice from Ridley Scott and it has many hidden plot lines from the original (try to see it before you see 2049)…it’s an unique addition to science fiction films. Dystopian is a very overused word describing a disaster based future. This film again has Los Angeles totally transfigured…and even darker and more devastated and bleak than the first one, was set in LA 2019. Ryan Gosling carries the entire story, with Robin Wright and Harrison Ford doing fine acting jobs too. I have rarely, if ever, seen or felt a theatre audience so still-so hypnotized-awed-puzzled-and silent as the one I joined last week. I’ve seen it 2 ½ times now… it needs two viewings on as large a screen as possible, because the photography is so impressive and important.
ITThis broke all box office records the weekend when IT opened…and IT should have. IT is a well made, very scary movie. Based on a Stephen King novel, IT is chapter one of a two-part nightmare/daydream that will grab you when you are least prepared to be scared. It has all the clichés…BUT it’s also got tension, mystery, and perfect timing along with excellent acting. Just go see IT — but only if you truly enjoy being scared. 86 on RT.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES. Billie Jean King plays against Bobby Riggs in this easy-going tennis and sex movie. Billie Jean has an internal battle with her own sex, which adds a deeper and more involved plot than the 1973 match which we’ve all been reading up on, or remember from those days. Emma Stone— reputedly the highest star in the world — acts perfectly with Steve Carrell, and the movie is a guaranteed hit with everybody. I didn’t recognize Sarah Silverman as the women’s coach because she wears sunglasses all through the movie. I liked Little Miss Sunshine better.
VICTORIA & ABDUL. Almost everyone knows that Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria in this cute, warm, cuddly feel-good movie. Eddie Izzard plays the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), but you won’t recognize him. I didn’t, and I’m a big fan of Izzard’s. Stephen Frears directed it. He did My Beautiful Launderette, Prick Up your Ears, Philomena and some more great films but this isn’t in that category. Aside from the cuteness, it ignores the cruelty of the British rule over India during the almost 30 years.
LUCKY. This is Harry Dean Stanton’s last film and he was 91 years old when they filmed it. He died in September. He also played and sang in Santa Cruz a few times too. This is a sad saga of an old man who never married, wandering around his desert town yakking and gossiping with his crony friends. He talks about death, tortoises, and the things you’d imagine a 91 year old would talk about. The cast includes Transcendental Meditation’s David Lynch, plus Ed Begley Jr., and Tom Skerritt. Probably no Academy Awards, but it’s a pleasant film. 98 on RT. ENDS 11/16
THE FLORIDA PROJECT. Willem Dafoe heads the cast of unknowns in this depressing almost-documentary of a six-year-old girl and her little friend’s sad lives, as they eke out an existence living in motels near Disneyland in Orlando. Their lives and the fragments of the other neighboring families are sad from start to the finish of this film. It’s a saga, and it’s well done, but for sure it’s a feel-bad film.
THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER. Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell top the acting list but it’s Barry Keoghan as the driven, mysterious teen ager that you’ll remember long after you leave the theatre. This film is a deadly serious drama. Its mythical, symbolic, and deep. The director Yorgos Lanthimos also made Dogtooth and The Lobster films also starring Colin Farrell so that should give you an idea of how far out this one is. ENDS 11/16
LBJ. Not the greatest bio-pic ever filmed but eventually Woody Harrelson will grow on you
as LBJ really takes over as President and deals with Civil Rights, Viet Nam, and his many other accomplishments and defeats. Audiences switch back and forth from silly laughing at funny script lines to damn near crying when LBJ leaves the support of his southern cronies. Yes, JFK’s assassination is in there, so is Walter Cronkite’s announcement of JFK’s death. Go see it, and be prepared to have even more remorse over what’s happening at the White House this week. ENDS 11/16
KINGSMEN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE. I wished I’d remembered that this second installment of an ongoing series comes from comic books. The entire movie looks like an animated cartoon. It’s violent, murderous, and plain goofy. Elton John plays himself, and there’s a warning right there. To watch such good actors as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and especially Colin Firth jump around for their million dollar salaries is embarrassing.
SUBURBICON. I have not and will not see this movie. Never, ever have I read and received so many bad warnings about a cruddy movie. George Clooney directed it, Matt Damon has the top role, and Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 27. Julianne Moore and Oscar Issac are in it too. Never mind about the plot, too many friends and readers have warned me…and I’m passing the word on to you, DON’T GO!
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. 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
Good old days, indeed…
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
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Highlights this week:
Santa Cruz Halloween downtown but no costume contests, Impeach Trump (going for 2 million) petition, Sentinel moved back into old Sentinel Building, Black M’s new interpretation, Hot Damners back on this Friday night, 300 new beds at UCSC-who for?, Felton Victory over Mt. Hermon’s Jesus Bike Land plan… Greensite on city cutting women’s safety workshops…Krohn about Housing-a civil right?, Bernie, Hillary and that convention, Swenson’s money hole on Pacific giveaway, balancing what budget?, STR’s and a possible rent freeze?…Steinbruner relates the county housing sham, Rancho Del Mar gets permits, yardwaste gets dumped, Live Oak Library switches, Groundwater Agency Workshop happening. ..Patton about our billionaire’s biggest worries and the lower classes….Eagan and another water problem….DeCinzo goes to church!!!…Jensen reviews THOR…I critique The Killing Of A Sacred Deer and LBJ…Quotes on “November”
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.
RUTH ETTING & “IT HAD TO BE YOU”. She never got the fame she deserved…just the notoriety. Just listen a minute or two.
LATEST NEW MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. We’ve seen plenty around Santa Cruz but check the ones near the end of this clip.
TEN MYSTERIOUS THINGS FOUND IN ICEBERGS. Maybe they’ll find am old city council that we could thaw into something useful!
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…
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.
In Defense of Women’s Self-Defense
As women come forward en masse with stories of decades of sexual harassment from male supervisors and mentors, one might conclude that the decades of programs to encourage females to find the confidence to confront such behavior are finally bearing fruit. Or one could perversely decide to cut such programs. The City of Santa Cruz has opted for the latter.
At Wednesday’s meeting (11/1/17) of the city’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women, staff recommended cutting the provision of the free (residents) and low cost (non-residents) women and girl’s self-defense workshops from year round to just one month in April which is national Sexual Assault Awareness month. The commissioners voted to support staff’s proposal. The rationale? That enrollment has been dropping, classes cancelled or held with low enrollment. Alerted that this was on the agenda and unable to attend the meeting I emailed a response, urging commissioners to adopt a vigorous publicity and outreach effort rather than dropping the classes: to no avail. I can only conclude that commissioners, staff and the city manager (the commission is under the city manager’s office) are ignorant of the demonstrated value in self-defense to empower women and girls to find their voice and use the skills learned to thwart sexist behavior and sexual assault.
The Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women was enacted into local law through a citizen’s initiative in 1981. I was one of the co-founders. As the first chair of the seated Commission I and other commissioners recognized the crucial role of women’s self-defense in maximizing women’s safety. From that date until now (1981-2017) women’s self-defense has been central to the Commission’s programs. The community has been blessed with a number of skilled self-defense instructors offering such workshops, funded by the Commission. Women’s self-defense is not a variety of karate. It is based on the awareness that females often lack the necessary mind-set to confront male aggression. They too often giggle, ignore or try to please rather than delivering a controlled, direct imperative to “leave me alone.” It recognizes that many threatening situations involve intimates. It backs up verbal assertiveness with simple effective physical techniques that have nothing to do with typical karate moves. It urges women to listen to their gut feelings rather than dismiss them. It works. Thousands of women and girls have used the skills learned in such workshops to thwart male aggression. Commission files are full of words of appreciation from those who have taken the workshops. One senior woman shared that she got more confidence out of four weeks of class than hundreds of hours of therapy.
Encouraging girls and women to take advantage of self-defense classes has always been a challenge. Workshops fill after a high profile stranger rape but otherwise, outreach and publicity is key. Who wants to admit that daily lives are organized around avoiding male aggression? The sole publicity for the city’s self-defense classes is via the Parks and Recreation Guide. A robust publicity campaign should include neighborhood online networks; Sentinel; Good Times; senior centers; banners; posters; radio spots etc. For staff and commissioners to ignore such an obvious first step prior to terminating most of the workshops is unacceptable.
Ordinance No. 81-29 that created the Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women states that: “It shall be the policy of the City of Santa Cruz that the prevention of rape and domestic violence shall be one of its highest priorities.” Cutting women’s self-defense workshops before making every effort to publicize their effectiveness makes a mockery of such policy directive. This issue goes before city council for a vote in early December. If you care about the safety of women and girls in Santa Cruz, let council know how you feel about this ill-advised recommendation.
Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
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 Bellowsargued 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.)
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.
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY HOUSING ADVISORY COMMISSION REJECTS REQUIRING 15% RENTAL UNIT NEW DEVELOPMENT TO BE AFFORDABLE.
County Planning Director Kathy Previsich and Housing Planner Julie Conway were adamant that developers will not build rental housing units if required to make 15% of them affordable and inclusionary because it would not be feasible for the developers. Here we go again, folks, the poor developers claim they just can’t make building affordable places for people to live “pencil out” for their wallets, and the County (and Santa Cruz City) just fall all over themselves to give the developers whatever they want. Remember, that’s what Planning director Kathy Previsich told the Board of Supervisors recently: “We need to change the regulations so the developers can do what they want to do.” Wow.
The Housing Advisory Commission, a group of citizens who considers these issues based on Planning staff information and makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors, had a fair discussion of the merits of inclusionary affordable housing requirements for rentals. One of the Commissioners admitted a large developer had contacted him. I wondered why the Commission is not required to declare this Ex Parte communication on matters, as does the Planning Commission? I had an uncomfortable feeling that more than one of the Commissioners had been contacted, perhaps by Mr. Robert Singleton, who was sitting in the audience and has deep connections with the real estate industry here. He was obviously pleased by the Commission’s vote.
Julie Conway assured the Commissioners that if they approved her recommendation to deny the requirement of 15% affordable units included in rental projects of seven or more units, she would notify them right away if any developer applied for a project that would include affordable rental housing, and they could at that time revisit the issue. Huh? Why should any greedy developer want to do that when the Planning Department just bows down to them to allow them to “do what they want to do”? If a developer were to apply for such a project, according to Julie Conway, they could ask for up to three concessions. Wow, Barry Swenson Builder got A LOT more than that at the Aptos Village Project (and Soquel Creek Water District allows them free water during construction).
Many thanks to Commissioners Nancy Abbey and Bud Lindholm for voting NO, and beseeching the Commission and Planning staff to require developers to build 15% affordable units in residential rental projects. At least THEY are acting responsibly and with conscience. Let’s just hope the Board of Supervisors will NOT FOLLOW the Commission’s recommendations and vote to require developers build affordable housing.
COUNTY PLANNING DEPARTMENT HIRES SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Well, with all the developers flocking in to submit building permit applications for lucrative projects and assured concessions, the Planning Department needed a SECOND Assistant Director. That person is Ms. Paia Levine, who has been working there as a planner and often has been at public hearings to help Kathy Previsich intelligibly answer questions.
Ms. Levine’s promotion was announced to the Housing Advisory Commission, along with the news that she will be hiring outside consultants soon to get the Sustainable Santa Cruz County Plan moving along in the environmental review process. That’s the BIG zoning code and general plan changes that “will allow the developers to do what they want to do”, as Director Previsich has said. It also means public process will be nipped in the bud to expedite the permit processing for all those lucrative projects.
RANCHO DEL MAR CENTER FINALLY GETS BUILDING PERMITS.
The TRC Retail folks and their architects finally addressed the many problems on the Rancho del Mar Center building permit applications and were issued building permits on October 27, 2017 for canopy and facade remodels. The asbestos removal is hopefully nearing completion, and progress will speed up. It is difficult to see through the green screening material on the chain link fence perimeter, but it seems there is more demolition to be done on the old theater building. I wonder if the County is verifying their CALGreen requirement (5.408.1) that 65% of the construction waste be salvaged, recycled or reused? I wonder how the merchants that got evicted are doing? Stay tuned for more next week.
THE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION MINUTES SET TO BE APPROVED WERE INCOMPLETE.
Last Thursday, the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) met in Watsonville and discussed many items, including the State Rail Report, and Measure D-funded projects. However, their minutes from last month neglected to record Commissioner Jacque Bertrand’s request that staff look into the Aptos Village bus stop relocation, funded in part by the RTC. He asked to amend the October 5 minutes to include his order to staff. RTC Chairman (and County Supervisor) Zach Friend tried to pressure him to make a quick amendment, but he would not, stating “I want to review things before I do that.” Thank you, Commissioner Bertrand.
The RTC Elderly and Disabled Transportaion Advisory Commission minutes for October 10 had been submitted to the Board for acceptance, even though that Commission itself has not yet formally approved them. Is that proper process? Those minutes left out the part where Metro Operations Official Mr. Ciro Aguirre admitted that the only reason the Aptos Village bus stop is being moved is to create parking for the businesses. The minutes also did not include Assistant Public Works Director Mr. Steve Weisner’s admission that the access to the new bus stop “will be a tight fit” and will include ramps with 8% and 7% grades, and that the 100′-long sidewalk of 5% grade does not have to meet ADA requirements for accessibility by the handicapped. The RTC Board accepted the minutes anyway without question.
PROTEST THE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS REQUEST FOR A $3 MILLION TRAFFIC LIGHT TO BENEFIT THE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS.
You can call the RTC Office at (831) 460-3200 to express your thoughts about having to pay for a $3 million traffic light at Aptos Creek Road for Swenson Builders, Pete Testorff, Joe Appenrodt and other nebulous Aptos Village LLC developers. I think there are other things included in the package, but the County Department of Public Works refuses to allow me to see the project plans. Maybe you will have better luck: Christine Berge <christine.berge@santacruzcounty.us”> or 454-2160
Here is the schedule of those RTC Committee meetings where the grant application will be considered (all are at the RTC Office on 1523 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz 95060):
You can also watch the Metro Board meeting for Sept. 22 at about marker 65 to see Metro Operations Officer Mr. Ciro Aguirre’s explanation of the expensive Aptos Village bus stop relocation. I later recorded him at the RTC Elderly & Disabled Committee saying that the only reason the bus stop is being moved is to provide parking for the businesses. That video will be up for viewing on Youtube later this week, so stay tuned.
WE HAVE TO SPEAK OUT LOUDLY AGAINST THIS NOW OR WE WILL CONTINUE TO PAY FOR IMPROVEMENTS FOR BARRY SWENSON BUILDER AND THE OTHER APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS. Please pass this information on to anyone you think would be interested.
WHY IS COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS STAFF INTENT ON SHUTTING DOWN YARD WASTE RECYCLING IN OUR COUNTY?
In August, the Board of Supervisors asked County Public Works to re-issue a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the yard waste recycling / composting contract. There were odd things about the way the Public Works staff had decided to take the contract away from Vision Recycling doing the work at the Buena Vista Drive site near Watsonville, and award the contract to Keith Day Trucking in Monterey County. Public Works is now reviewing the second round of RFP’s submitted, but seems intent on harassing Vision Recycling. County staff used to visit the site infrequently and issue one or two letters of violation per year for minor issues but since the August Board meeting, have been inspecting the composting/recycling site constantly and have issued 12 violations for minor things such as pathways between compost piles being 24″ too narrow.
Does it make sense to you that 100% of the County’s 43,000 tons of yard waste be trucked to Monterey County, perhaps to San Lucas?Does it make sense to you that NONE of that material would most likely return to Santa Cruz County? Why would Public Works want to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve a contract that would multiply the carbon footprint of the composting program, and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions with all that trucking and remove a viable operation and jobs from Santa Cruz County? Please write and call the Board of Supervisors and insist all yard waste recycling/composting stay in Santa Cruz County at the Buena Vista site and to give the contract to Vision Recycling: 454-2200
COUNTY MEASURE S FUNDS WILL PAY FOR A $5+ MILLION COMMUNITY CENTER?
That’s what the County Board of Supervisors approved as a Consent Agenda (aka non-controversial) item at their October 24 meeting. The Live Oak Library Annex will have “a small collection of books” but will have a community meeting room, kitchen, cafe, and small classrooms. It is proposed to be built next to the Simpkins Swim Center and Live Oak Boys and Girls Club.
Is that what you thought the Measure S Library Sales Tax would be used for when you voted for it? Maybe the beautiful Live Oak Library, which was built on Portola Drive and will be flooded if sea level rise predictions really happen, would have better placed near the Simpkins Swim Center? Hmmmm…… Maybe Supervisor John Leopold needs to hear from you. 454-2200 John Leopold
WHY PAY A RETIRED SHERIFF DEPUTY $45,000 TO MAINTAIN SHERIFF VEHICLES INSTEAD OF THE COUNTY SHOP?
In another Consent Item (#21 on the Nov. 7 agenda) Sheriff Jim Hart recommends the Board of Supervisors approve this sole source contract with retired deputy Nathan Murray to do sheriff vehicle inventory and maintenance work at the new Sheriff Center on Soquel Avenue Frontage Road and Chanticleer. He claims it is too inconvenient to arrange the vehicle drop-off at 701 Ocean Street County Shop. Apparently the County hired Mr. Murray to do vehicle maintenance and inventory work last April, one month after he was retired on disability and would now like to hand him a $45,000 sole source contract.
All other County workers who drive County vehicles manage the issue of vehicle drop-off at 701 Ocean Shop. Is there a vehicle repair business happening at the Sheriff Center that needs Santa Cruz County funding? Is this the beginning of phasing out the 701 Ocean shop to make way for something else? It probably would not be additional parking for the general public, who can be frequently seen circling the reduced public parking lot like piranhas looking for a place to park. That’s one way to discourage the public from attending hearings and public meetings, I guess. Hmmm….
THE COUNTY WILL HELP SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT PAY FOR THEIR STUDIES?
Why is the County doing all the work to help Soquel Creek get a grant for a project that will enable MORE new development with Water Demand Offsets for which the District collects $55,000/Acre-foot water use from applicants? In still another Consent Agenda item (#23 on Nov. 7) the Health Services Director, Ms. Giang Nyugen, recommends the Board approve staff time for applying for a $49,000 grant and implementing it on behalf of Soquel Creek Water District. It will help the District pay for a DualEM survey to determine if there are soils suitable for storm water recharge of the critically-overdrafted aquifer within their service area.
Well, recharging the aquifer is great, but why is the County (that’s you and me) paying for staff time to apply for the State Water Quality Control Board grant and implement it to help Soquel Creek Water District be able to approve more development in their critically-over drafted service area? I have heard the District discuss this DualEM soil mapping project, admitting that there are no other real projects available that meet their criteria for Water Demand Offset projects to use the $55,000/acre-foot fee they charge all who want water for new construction projects. Why not use Dr. Andy Fisher’s excellent work from UCSC, wherein he has already worked with the Resource Conservation District to map and identify soils throughout Santa Cruz County for Managed Stormwater Recharge Suitability?
Also, some of the project sites the District is considering are NOT in their service area (are in Central Water District) and would recharge the Aromas Aquifer, not the Purisima Aquifer, from which where most of Soquel Creek’s water is pumped, and is critically over-drafted.
Maybe Ms. Nyugen feels sorry for the Soquel Creek Water District’s ratepayers who currently have the second-highest rates in the state and will be greeted by a 17% increase on January 1, 2018. Call County Environmental Health Water Manager Mr. John Ricker and ask: 454-2022 or write john.ricker@santacruzcounty.us .
ASK QUESTIONS AT THE MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY WORKSHOP AND PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING
Attend the next MidCounty Groundwater Agency educational workshop on Monday, November 13, 7pm-9pm at the Community Foundation Building in Aptos (just across the street from the Rancho del Mar Center Safeway). That workshop is for the general public but also to educate the Groundwater Sustainability Planning Committee that is writing the plan of action to heal the area’s critically-over drafted aquifer. That Committee will meet Monday, November 13, 4pm-6:15pm and will also be at the Community Foundation Building. Don’t let them talk YOU out of staying to listen to their discussion, as that did happen to a private well owner who showed up at the last meeting! Here’s more info: http://www.midcountygroundwater.org/gsp-advisory-committee/committee-meetings
~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.
The world’s billionaires are worried. What are they worried about? According to Newsweek, they “fear that the poor will rise up.” When I first saw the Newsweek article, I put it on Facebook. I provided a “Pull Quote” from the article, followed by a Question and a Statement:
PULL QUOTE: “The total wealth held by the world’s billionaires rose by 17 percent in 2016 to $6 trillion, and the uber-rich are concerned that growing inequality could lead to society turning against them”.
QUESTION/STATEMENT:
(1) How could they ever imagine something like that?
(2) Wouldn’t that be nice!
The wealth controlled by the world’s “billionaire class,” to quote Bernie Sanders, is wealth that was socially created. It is absolutely legitimate to consider how best to utilize that wealth for the benefit of those not personally in possession of it. The questions to be addressed are all “political” questions. We do “live in a political world,” and in the United States, we believe that our representative democracy can make decisions about how to structure our economy and society. Trying to figure out how to set up a system that reduces the incredible wealth inequality now prevailing is absolutely appropriate. “Rising up,” in this context, means starting to take seriously the opportunity to use our political system to make significant (even revolutionary) changes.
Americans, we all remember, are all about revolution!
What is the point of this posting? Not to urge violence against billionaires. I am against that. If that kind of “rising up” is proposed, please count me out. I think there is a better way. This is a plea to my fellow citizens to understand that we are, in fact, “all in this together,” and that our political system needs to marshal the resources of our society to deal with the crises of our time: a natural world that is moving towards the massive extinction of species, from bugs to humans, and a situation in the nation in which hard working men and women can no longer find a sheltered place to sleep at night, and are homeless under bridges.
What am I worried about?
I am worried that we are going to continue to let the billionaires take it all, and that because of this our world, a world that does belongs to all of us, rich and poor alike, is going to come apart.
Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
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.
THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER. Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell top the acting list but it’s Barry Keoghan as the driven, mysterious teen ager that you’ll remember long after you leave the theatre. This film is a deadly serious drama. Its mythical, symbolic, and deep. The director Yorgos Lanthimos also made Dogtooth and The Lobster films also starring Colin Farrell so that should give you an idea of how far out this one is.
LBJ. Not the greatest bio-pic ever filmed but eventually Woody Harrelson will grow on you as LBJ really takes over as President and deals with Civil Rights, Viet Nam, and his many other accomplishments and defeats. Audiences switch back and forth from silly laughing at funny script lines to damn near crying when LBJ leaves the support of his southern cronies. Yes, JFK’s assassination is in there, so is Walter Cronkite’s announcement of JFK’s death. Go see it, and be prepared to have even more remorse over what’s happening at the White House this week.
THE FLORIDA PROJECT. Willem Dafoe heads the cast of unknowns in this depressing almost-documentary of a six-year-old girl and her little friend’s sad lives, as they eke out an existence living in motels near Disneyland in Orlando. Their lives and the fragments of the other neighboring families are sad from start to the finish of this film. It’s a saga, and it’s well done, but for sure it’s a feel-bad film.
MARK FELT: THE MAN WHO BROUGHT DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE. We thought we knew enough about Watergate, but this story of the “Deep Throat” behind the revelation of Nixon’s involvement, is involving and interesting right from the start. Liam Neeson plays the stiff, moral, upright tightlipped Mark Felt, and does it well. Diane Lane plays his boozy wife and doesn’t get a chance to add much. It’s a learning experience and you’ll become even more concerned over the current relationship between Trump and the FBI. Go for it.
SUBURBICON. I have not and will not see this movie. Never, ever have I read and received so many bad warnings about a cruddy movie. George Clooney directed it, Matt Damon has the top role, and Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 27. Julianne Moore and Oscar Issac are in it too. Never mind about the plot, too many friends and readers have warned me…and I’m passing the word on to you, DON’T GO!
BLADERUNNER 2049. Denis Villeneuve directed this sequel with advice from Ridley Scott and it has many hidden plot lines from the original (try to see it before you see 2049)…it’s an unique addition to science fiction films. Dystopian is a very overused word describing a disaster based future. This film again has Los Angeles totally transfigured…and even darker and more devastated and bleak than the first one, was set in LA 2019. Ryan Gosling carries the entire story, with Robin Wright and Harrison Ford doing fine acting jobs too. I have rarely, if ever, seen or felt a theatre audience so still-so hypnotized-awed-puzzled-and silent as the one I joined last week. I’ve seen it 2 ½ times now… it needs two viewings on as large a screen as possible, because the photography is so impressive and important.
ITThis broke all box office records the weekend when IT opened…and IT should have. IT is a well made, very scary movie. Based on a Stephen King novel, IT is chapter one of a two-part nightmare/daydream that will grab you when you are least prepared to be scared. It has all the clichés…BUT it’s also got tension, mystery, and perfect timing along with excellent acting. Just go see IT — but only if you truly enjoy being scared. 86 on RT.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES. Billie Jean King plays against Bobby Riggs in this easy-going tennis and sex movie. Billie Jean has an internal battle with her own sex, which adds a deeper and more involved plot than the 1973 match which we’ve all been reading up on, or remember from those days. Emma Stone— reputedly the highest star in the world — acts perfectly with Steve Carrell, and the movie is a guaranteed hit with everybody. I didn’t recognize Sarah Silverman as the women’s coach because she wears sunglasses all through the movie. I liked Little Miss Sunshine better.
VICTORIA & ABDUL. Almost everyone knows that Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria in this cute, warm, cuddly feel-good movie. Eddie Izzard plays the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), but you won’t recognize him. I didn’t, and I’m a big fan of Izzard’s. Stephen Frears directed it. He did My Beautiful Launderette, Prick Up your Ears, Philomena and some more great films but this isn’t in that category. Aside from the cuteness, it ignores the cruelty of the British rule over India during the almost 30 years.
LUCKY. This is Harry Dean Stanton’s last film and he was 91 years old when they filmed it. He died in September. He also played and sang in Santa Cruz a few times too. This is a sad saga of an old man who never married, wandering around his desert town yakking and gossiping with his crony friends. He talks about death, tortoises, and the things you’d imagine a 91 year old would talk about. The cast includes Transcendental Meditation’s David Lynch, plus Ed Begley Jr., and Tom Skerritt. Probably no Academy Awards, but it’s a pleasant film. 98 on RT.
AMERICAN MADE. Is NOT another dopey, violent Tom Cruise superhuman action flick. This one is based on an unbelievable probably half-true story about a guy who becomes an international drug runner, and then gets involved illegally with our CIA and the Iran Contra affair that almost got President Ronnie R. evicted. It’s probably Scientology that gives Tom Cruise that certain extra something…and I have to admit I like watching the buy. 87 on RT.
KINGSMEN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE. I wished I’d remembered that this second installment of an ongoing series comes from comic books. The entire movie looks like an animated cartoon. It’s violent, murderous, and plain goofy. Elton John plays himself, and there’s a warning right there. To watch such good actors as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and especially Colin Firth jump around for their million dollar salaries is embarrassing.
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.
Seven words: turn up the volume and watch this.
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.
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Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Highlights this week:
Amazon not Apple moves to Pacific Avenue, Omei closed forever, Martine Watkins mayor after Terrazas, Car deal worked, Hot Damn String Band at Bookshop…Greensite researching…Krohn about library Garage, Save Santa Cruz SRO meeting…Steinbruner on Swenson’s Pacific Avenue condos, Aptos Village and no affordable units, Santa Cruz Metro Bus Stop, that $3 million dollar stop light pricing…Patton and our Political World…DeCinzo and weather…Eagan’s profound Subconscious Comics…Jewel Theatre’s Award and Patsy Cline Play…Jensen and The Florida Project…I critique Mark Felt, The Florida Project and NOT Sunburbicon…Quotes for Election Day.
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.
ANIMALS just LOVE kids!!! And note the political ad that comes up first!!!
SAD DRONE FILM OF SANTA ROSA FIRE DESTRUCTION.
FROZEN DRONE FOOTAGE OF NIAGARA FALLS.
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!!!
GREENSITE’S INSIGHT. Gillian is probably deep into research…and will return here next week.
(Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild).
JUST THE FACTS MA’AM!
Sgt. Joe Friday on the old cop show, Dragnet, used to say, “Just the facts ma’am,” which is pretty convenient when you might not want to hear the quilt of stories behind how the facts became facts. But without context, facts are like vacuum cleaners sold to people who don’t have access to electricity: convenient machines, but not very useful without a power source. There’s quite a few “facts” running around Santa Cruz inside the housing, homelessness, and UCSC conversations, but often a context, the stories behind the facts, is lacking. Having stated the obvious, I am going to now put out a bunch of factoids that happened this week — and in the interest of time, let you draw your own conclusions. It’s a kind of, do as I say not as I do, column this week.
Packed Save Santa Cruz eastside meeting, over 200 in attendance!
Stellar performances by eastside community members at the Save Santa Cruz forum (L-R): Gary Patton, Jerry Christiansen, Walt Wadlow, Dolores Salazar Talbert, Deborah Marks, Dawn Norris, Candace Brown, Bob von Elgg, and Cyndi Dawson. Kudos!
Library-garage architects (advocates?) presented three plans recently to the Library Committee. (1) $37.7 million to renovate existing library; (2) $47 million to build a new, one-story library, (3) $49 million to build a new two-story library…but, lo and behold, if it is put inside of a five-story parking garage, the price magically comes down to $26 million. BTW, none of these buildings would be “net zero energy”, which is really sad in 2017.
Just the facts ma’am: Six undergraduate women were evicted by the city this past week from 102-104 Hillcrest Terrace, below the University, just off Highland Avenue. They were given 36 hours to vacate and not offered any alternative housing opportunities as far as I’ve been able to ascertain. One of them said to me when I stopped by to see what could be done:”We can kiss tomorrow’s midterms goodbye.”
In the new movie, Mark Felt (Watergate’s Deep Throat character) the main character, FBI second-in-command to J. Edgar Hoover, Mark Felt— played by Liam Neeson —goes through a long list of communes where his runaway daughter might be, and he lands on one in Ben Lomond of all places, on Bear Creek Rd. In the next scene he is retrieving her and bringing her back to Washington, D.C. just in time to see Nixon walk across the tarmac and get on that infamous helicopter just after resigning.
SC4Bernie member and UCSC student leader, Jeff Stoll talked to City on a Hill Press recently about housing and his comment as one of now 19,000 hill-dwellers bears repeating. “At the end of the day, housing is the issue that unites the campus and the community…it’s an issue related to campus development and the way we want to see the campus expand or not expand in a sustainable way.”
UCSC Prof. Adam Millard-Ball reported that in the transportation research he is conducting, “traffic sprawl” in the United States peaked in 1994, although not in Atlanta, which seems to still be in “sprawl” mode. He also said that car ownership peaked in 2005. Interesting.
Just the Facts Ma’am: The top issues of concern by residents in the Prospect Heights neighborhood, voiced at a forum on public safety at DeLaveaga School hosted by SCPD Chief, Andy Mills, were: Isolate aggressive transients, form private sector partnerships for patrolling, focus on community safety — wellness and quality of life, make mental health collaborations between city and county, connect crime to campsites, there needs to be more visible patrols — get out of the car and more citizen involvement, use compassion when confronting homeless, police need to be proactive vs. reactive, and we need to find better ways of managing mental illness. Chief Mills also said that “80% of the calls for service by PD are for homeless-related issues.”
Just the Facts Ma’am: Talking Points from Eastside “Save Santa Cruz” meeting last Thursday night, at 411 Roxas Street:
“Anyone here play poker? Well, the Corridors Plan is currently on ‘hold,’… we need the city to ‘fold’ the Corridors Plan.” (Jerry Christianson)
Farrell’s Donuts vs. Dunkin’ Donuts (corporations certainly know how to vulture local businesses)
— Habit Burger? Where did that come from?
The goal of developers is to maximize profits…and we get that. The goal of the city council should be to maximize the quality of life for residents, and THEY should get that!
Is a 340 square feet unit renting for $1700-$2000 really “affordable by design?”
“We need housing for people who live here now.” (Dawn Norris)
City has approved over 500 hotel rooms in the past three years. Where will the wait- staff, gardeners, bartenders, and chefs all live?
Gary Patton hit it out of the park at the Eastside “Save Santa Cruz” meeting when he said: “Let’s make this city the way we want it to be, not the city someone tells us it should be.” And on the accusation of NIMBY-ism, Patton said:”We have nothing to be ashamed of if we fight for our community…we can’t have self-government if we don’t get involved ourselves.” Patton seemed to throw down the gauntlet when he said if developers really want to build in Santa Cruz, they can build 50% market rate and 50% affordable…the crowd went wild!
Okay, Patton and the rest were all really good, but Carmela Weintraub, who wrote “The Spirit of Santa Cruz” statement, had the quote of the night when she stood up from the audience and announced: “Okay, we saved the Pogonip, we saved Lighthouse Field, we saved Wilder Ranch…now we have to save the whole god-damned city!” (Applause!!!)
Finally, I planted a redwood tree and a sequoia tree in my backyard this week…I really felt powerful, and can’t wait for the grand kids figure out how to save them from over-development!
Bernie Tweet of the Week… “Are you truly free if you work 100 hours a week because you can’t find a job with a living wage? Are you free if you have no health care?” (October 29) ~(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).
IN OBSERVANCE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING WEEK, SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL VOTES FOR ZERO AFFORDABLE UNITS TO HELP “PENCIL OUT” 79 CONDOS DOWNTOWN FOR BARRY SWENSON BUILDER.
Thanks to Councilman Chris Krohn for pulling Item #9 off the Consent Agenda (saved for non-controversial issues) to allow public discussion about the five-story mixed-use Subdivision Map for 1547 Pacific Avenue. He and Councilmember Sandy Brown lobbied the rest of the Council to reconsider the earlier approval that waived the 12 affordable rental units that could have been required, if the Council followed their own regulations and Strategic Plan goal to provide more affordable housing to residents.
“We have to be consistent with our decisions,” said Mayor Cynthia Chase. “We can’t hold up a good plan because it isn’t a perfect plan and I think this is a good plan,” said Councilmember Martine Watkins. “Any units are good units,” said Councilmember Michelle Noroyan. The Council refused to require Barry Swenson Builder to include the 12 required affordable units, even though members of the public also spoke out to ask that they reconsider. One member of the public called the Council “a bunch of hypocrites” for pretending they want to increase affordable housing but not having the actual will to act accordingly.
As the guillotine of votes passed the Subdivision Map approval, Jesse Nickell, the Vice President of Barry Swenson Builder, stepped to the podium and thanked the Council. “This will fill a big hole in housing,” he said. I think it will mostly fill his wallet.
COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CONSIDERS CHANGES TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENTS
It worried me to hear County Planning Director Kathy Previsich say “We want to change things so the developers can do what they want to do.” She was referring to the Code Modernization that will change County Zoning and General Plan policies. Item #30 before the Board at last Tuesday’s meeting presented a good opportunity to examine a Planning Department presentation about proposed changes to affordable housing and Measure J requirements of developers. There was good discussion about the effectiveness of the current ability of developers to pay in lieu fees instead of actually building 15% of a 5 or more unit development as affordable housing units. The Planning Department also proposed increasing developer fees for affordable housing from commercial developments, in order to house prospective employees, and for remodel additions of over 500SF.
The Board asked lots of questions about how increasing the fees might affect developer feasibility. There was also discussion about developers “gaming the system” by offering rental units instead of selling units, to escape having to offer 15% to affordable deed sales or pay the in lieu fee. Here is what the Planning Department staff recommended:
It is therefore RECOMMENDED that your Board provide direction, in concept, that staff prepare drafts of proposed regulatory amendments consistent with the following changes:
Update Santa Cruz County Code Chapter 17.10 to require on-site inclusionary units at 15% of total units for projects of 7 or more units (with the Board of Supervisors having authority to approve alternative of AHIF payment);
Revise the Affordable Housing Impact Fee schedule to apply to net new square footage over 500 square feet for additions, replacements and remodels; and to raise the Fee on Projects of 2 to 4 units as recommended in this report;
Revise Commercial Impact Fee to develop categories based on occupancy so that net new square footage or a change to a more employment intensive occupancy would pay higher AHIF;
Require AHIF payment at building permit issuance rather than through escrow, unless an alternative timing is approved by the Board of Supervisors; and
Require all projects, including mapped subdivisions being used as rental housing, to pay fees and utilize affordable units consistent with the Affordable Housing Guidelines.
The Board agreed to ask staff to examine the economic impacts of the proposed changes, and report back with a draft policy change. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, it was stated in the staff report that the Aptos Village will provide 10 affordable units (mostly 600SF) of the 65 approved units. Wait a minute, the Board added more housing at the May 5, 2015 Project Changes Appeal for a total of 69. Does that mean that Pete Testorff and Joe Appenrodt’s four exclusive units with ocean views will not have any affordable units included?
HOW COULD SANTA CRUZ METRO APPROVE WHAT IS NOT YET DESIGNED?
I finally received documents from the Santa Cruz Metro Public Records Act request regarding the Aptos Village #71 Inbound stop relocation. I really wanted to verify that the leader of the Bus Drivers Union, Mr. Eduardo Montesino, had approved the new location and bus bay design. Well, he did but it was back in 2015 before the Public Utilities Commission approved any designs of the project. I wondered why on earth he would, when the design will pose such a safety hazard to drivers and passengers.? His memo to Mr. Ciro Aguirre, Operations Official, noted that he had driven by the general area and thought the proposed location would be workable “if the County actually comes through with a bus turnout and a shelter.”
How could he really approve the project if he had not seen the actual plans, which did not get approved by the Public Utility Commission until 2016? Further, the specifications keep changing because of problems related to the rail utility right of way setbacks. That is why the proposed bus bay is shallower than originally bid upon last summer….the contractors at the bidding meeting pointed that little problem out to County Public Works staff at the site meeting last October.
At Last week’s Santa Cruz Metro Board meeting, I asked Mr. Montesino if he has seen the current bus stop relocation design and specifications? “No,” he said, “That seems to be a moving target.” The Metro Safety and Training Officer, Ms. Sharon Toline, only recently visited the relocation site on September 11, at the request of County staff on April 7, 2017. She determined there would be no safety problems for Metro. Really? Poor line of sight and congested traffic, coupled with the fact that the bus will stick out in the lane of traffic when stopped and there will no longer be bike lanes in that area of Soquel Drive…all that will not pose a safety problem? Hmmmm…..
And there remains the issue of the non-ADA compliant 100′ long 5% grade sidewalk leading to the bus stop, coupled with 8% and 7% grade ramps. Assistant Public Works Director Mr. Steve Weisner admitted to the RTC Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Commission that access “will be a tight fit.” You and I are paying for this, not the Aptos Village Project developers.
I then asked the Metro Board to issue a ‘Stop Work Order’ on the bus stop work, to allow proper review of the design being developed as you read this. The Board did not take any such action. Therefore, I asked that the Board amend the September 22 Board minutes to include the forthright questions posed by Director Dan Rothwell: “Why are we moving the bus stop anyway?” Because the County isn’t going to build any sidewalk to the existing stop. “Well, why not? Aptos Village traffic is a nightmare now…how will our drivers safely re-enter traffic at this new spot?” I also requested the Board include Director Mike Rotkin’s interjection at that meeting: “Well, we just have to take what the County hands us. We have no choice.” That could be a critical phrase to have on record for any future lawsuits related to accidents at the bus stop site, don’t you think? Well, the Board did not take action to amend the Minutes as I had publicly asked.
WILL THE RTC APPROVE A $3 MILLION TRAFFIC LIGHT AT APTOS CREEK ROAD FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS?
And the mess may continue, with County Public Works asking the Regional Transportation Commission for another $3 million to fund a second traffic light in the Aptos Village area, again without the developers contributing to the cost of traffic mitigation. “We can’t ask the developers for any money for this,” said Public Works Director Mr. John Presleigh recently, outside the Board of Supervisor Chambers.
How can a traffic light cost $3 million? I submitted a Public Records Act request to review the preliminary designs that support the RTC grant application. Public Works staff, Ms. Christine Berge, informed me that I am not allowed to see the plans because a code allows that whenever the benefit to the public of withholding documents outweighs the benefit to the public of disclosing them, the government agency does not have to provide the public documents in question. I wrote Ms. Berge and asked her to explain the public benefit analysis…she has yet to answer. I wonder whose benefit the County Public Works Dept. is really protecting?
In the meantime, call and write the RTC Committee Staff that will be reviewing all RTIP grant applications, and attend the meetings if you are able (all will be in the RTC Office, 1523 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz):
November 13, 6pm, Bicycle Advisory Committee Cory Caletti ccaletti@sccrtc.org 460-3200
November 14, 1:30pm, Elderly & Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee Grace Blakeslee gblakeslee@sccrtc.org 460-3200
November 16, 1:30pm, Inter-Agency Transportation Advisory Committee Yesenia Parra yparra@sccrtc.org 460-3218
Copy CEO George Dondero and Deputy Director Luis Mendez lmendez@sccrtc.org
Don’t forget County Supervisor Zach Friend zach.friend@santacruzcounty.org 454-2200 because he says he loves to hear from you.
STAYING WARM THIS WINTER
I am really glad the County Board of Supervisors approved funding an extra 22 nights of shelter this winter for the burgeoning homeless population. They only addressed the issue in North County. The Salvation Army will handle that under contract this year in both North and South County areas. The City of Watsonville will handle the contract for South County, but nothing is set up yet. I wonder why the North County contract will get $485,000 (some being paid by Capitola, Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz) but South County contract will only get $47,000?
I wish there were a shelter in the San Lorenzo Valley to help there. Last winter, I met a Veteran in a wheelchair who lived under a bridge in Felton. He said he had no other choice. Will the many homeless who live under the bridges in Felton, Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek be able to make it down into Santa Cruz’s winter shelters at Laurel Street and 7th Avenue Veteran’s Building?
And what about the Mid-County area? There are more homeless encampments in Nisene Marks State Park and along the railroad tracks than you would think, some of which cause problems for the neighbors in the area. What’s the answer? I don’t know.
MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY’S FIRST SUSTAINABLE PLANNING COMMITTEE GOT OFF THE GROUND.
The freshly-appointed group of volunteers who will write the plan for how water is distributed and how much it will cost met last week at the Community Foundation to discuss their charter and rules. It was a lively session, and I think the group was wise to spend time laying the foundation for how it will function cooperatively. The County Board of Supervisors had just approved allowing an alternate for the position held by their Board. Supervisor Zach Friend’s aide, Allyson Violante, announced that she was replacing Supervisor John Leopold on the Committee. She admitted she knows nothing about water but is interested in policy-making. During the meeting, she seemed mostly interested in making sure things were kept under rigid control.
I really appreciated that as the only member of the public who had questions/comments, I got to ask them all at the end and not before. I guess the reason I had to write them down and submit them to be read was to eliminate any possibility of dialogue. For some reason, most public meetings I attend these days actively discourage dialogue with the public. Sigh.
However, I was very grateful when the the facilitator made sure my questions and comments were addressed by the Committee before the meeting ended. Even though the Committee did not seem to like my suggestion that the representatives of the various interest groups be required to meet with those they represent, it seems they may consider it next time. Many thanks to Ms. Rosemary Menard, Director of Santa Cruz City Water Dept. for reminding the group that considerable weight was given to selecting the individuals based on their representative interests.
It is rare to get answers to questions posed at public meetings. I have often wondered why those public agencies pretend to call their meetings “public meetings” and say the public is welcome?
MY NEIGHBOR, MATT, BRAVELY SAVED MY NEIGHBORHOOD AND NISENE MARKS STATE PARK FROM BURNING UP
Last Thursday night, my neighbor Matt noticed an orange glow coming from a house nearby that was on everyone’s radar as suspicious. The house was unoccupied at the time. Matt investigated and saw flames licking up the exterior wall and flaming material dropping below into the woods. We had red-flag fire conditions that night. He called 9-1-1 and rushed over with his fire extinguisher. It wasn’t enough to stop the flames. His roommates arrived home just then and helped form a bucket brigade that was able to quell the fire enough until multiple fire engines arrived and doused the flames.
It was then that he and the firefighters discovered small mountains of butane cannisters nearby and throughout the house, along with massive amounts of drying marijuana hanging thickly throughout every single room. Yep, it was a large refinery and extremely dangerous. Then Matt understood why the 9-1-1 dispatcher advised him NOT to approach the house to try to put out the fire. It also explained why the fire engines were accompanied by multiple sheriff units.
The firefighters told Matt that the house came dangerously close to reaching an explosive condition. He unknowingly had risked his life to fight the fire and save the neighborhood. Wow. He is my hero.
We have all felt shaken since, realizing how close our community and the State Park came to being a conflagration. How much did law enforcement know about this situation beforehand? This is the second time in three years that a fire has begun due to drug processing in my community. I wonder how the Cannabis legalization and County’s permitting will affect the drug refining landscape in rural areas like mine? There are industry people who are conscientious and will do things well, yet the Black Market will persist, possibly being bolstered by the onerous 31 pages of mitigations set forth by the County for those who want to gain a legal cultivation and processing permit. It would help neighborhoods like mine if those legal operations were somehow identified.
The comments are due by October 31, and further public meetings will follow the CEQA process.
TOTO, WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE.
I attended the “Stop Overbuilding Santa Cruz” gathering last week, along with about 200 others. We heard community speakers explain what the City of Santa Cruz is really up to with the Corridor Plan, how traffic levels are already at the limits of what the 2006 studies supporting the traffic plans projected for future growth, and no one is mentioning the groundwater overdraft crisis. We agreed on the fact that the quality of life is about to change and citizens need to get to work now to have any effect at all.
Somehow, I was hoping to hear how the group plans to accomplish having a meaningful and effective voice at the table of Sustainable Santa Cruz and Vision 2030 and all those studies and charettes steamrolling along. What troubled me as I left is the stark realization that, based on my experiences with local government agencies, attitude toward the public has deteriorated. By and large, the elected officials making policy affecting the lives of others have a palpable disregard and disrespect for members of the public who attempt to take an active interest in government. As I mentioned earlier, public dialogue is openly and admittedly discouraged. Those who ask questions are ignored or dismissed, unless you are a large developer.
This is a big change from how elected officials regarded the public’s involvement 25-30 years ago. What does that mean for those who are concerned by the steamroller tactics of local government officials who throw themselves at the feet of AMBAG and the State bullwhips? It means, in my opinion that we have to make our voices louder and even more persistent, backed by reliable information and documentation. It also means, in my opinion, that it is time for some citizen initiative actions to put more issues on the ballot for the people to examine, discuss and vote upon. There have been too many back-room deals made and it simply must stop.
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).
As Jennifer Szalai noted in an article published last Sunday (10/29) in The New York Times Magazine (the article was titled “Cheap Trick” in the hard copy version), politicization is not held in high repute:
Politicization is the last refuge of the scoundrel.To “politicize” something — hurricanes, intelligence, science, football, gun violence — is to render it political in a way that distorts its true meaning. That, at least, seems to be the reasoning of those who use the term as an insult: We adhere to pristine, unadulterated facts and call for unity; they politicize those facts for partisan gain and divide us even more.
As I read those introductory words, I immediately began writing (mentally) my opposing Op-Ed. In fact, since we do “live in a political world,” meaning that the social, economic, and cultural aspects of our civilization depend on the political choices we make, “politicization” is hardly negative. In fact, “politicization” means that we are collectively debating, and ultimately deciding, what we are going to do about something. We need more, not less, of that.
By the time I reached the end of Szalai’s essay, I had calmed right down. Szalai finished her discussion by citing to Hanna Arendt, who always deserves the last word:
According to popular lore, part of what made totalitarianism so dangerous was its “politicization of everything,” but Hannah Arendt, who should know, insisted in a 1958 essay that the opposite was true. It is “depoliticization,” she wrote, that “destroys the element of political freedom in all activities”. Depoliticization is what makes political action seem futile and moot. To strip an issue of its political dimension is to assume it’s settled or to try to make it so — not by argument, which would be to politicize it, but by blithe dismissal or brute force.
(Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
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.
THE FLORIDA PROJECT. Willem Dafoe heads the cast of unknowns in this depressing almost-documentary of a six-year-old girl and her little friend’s sad lives, as they eke out an existence living in motels near Disneyland in Orlando. Their lives and the fragments of the other neighboring families are sad from start to the finish of this film. It’s a saga, and it’s well done, but for sure it’s a feel-bad film.
MARK FELT: THE MAN WHO BROUGHT DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE. We thought we knew enough about Watergate, but this story of the “Deep Throat” behind the revelation of Nixon’s involvement, is involving and interesting right from the start. Liam Neeson plays the stiff, moral, upright tightlipped Mark Felt, and does it well. Diane Lane plays his boozy wife and doesn’t get a chance to add much. It’s a learning experience and you’ll become even more concerned over the current relationship between Trump and the FBI. Go for it.
SUBURBICON. I have not and will not see this movie. Never, ever have I read and received so many bad warnings about a cruddy movie. George Clooney directed it, Matt Damon has the top role, and Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 27. Julianne Moore and Oscar Issac are in it too. Never mind about the plot, too many friends and readers have warned me…and I’m passing the word on to you, DON’T GO!
BLADERUNNER 2049. Denis Villeneuve directed this sequel with advice from Ridley Scott and it has many hidden plot lines from the original (try to see it before you see 2049)…it’s an unique addition to science fiction films. Dystopian is a very overused word describing a disaster based future. This film again has Los Angeles totally transfigured…and even darker and more devastated and bleak than the first one, was set in LA 2019. Ryan Gosling carries the entire story, with Robin Wright and Harrison Ford doing fine acting jobs too. I have rarely, if ever, seen or felt a theatre audience so still-so hypnotized-awed-puzzled-and silent as the one I joined last week. I’ve seen it 2 ½ times now… it needs two viewings on as large a screen as possible, because the photography is so impressive and important.
LOVING VINCENT. The first movie ever to have been made with 1000’s of oil paintings, to create an animation of Vincent Van Gogh’s life and questionable murder or suicide. You’ll see dozens of his and your most favorite Van Gogh paintings “come to life” — plus an intriguing story line. The animation is so good that fans (I’m one) of PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre Poldark series will recognize Eleanor Tomlinson (Demelza) playing Adeline Ravoux in this absolutely beautiful film. It has a 77 Rotten Tomato rating! See it ASAP because Landmark doesn’t keep masterpieces long unless audiences show up the first weeks. ENDS THURS. NOV. 2
IT This broke all box office records the weekend when IT opened…and IT should have. IT is a well made, very scary movie. Based on a Stephen King novel, IT is chapter one of a two-part nightmare/daydream that will grab you when you are least prepared to be scared. It has all the clichés…BUT it’s also got tension, mystery, and perfect timing along with excellent acting. Just go see IT — but only if you truly enjoy being scared. 86 on RT.
GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN. The veddy-veddy British story of A.A. Milne and his son that inspired the “Winnie The Pooh” books. Milne suffered greatly from his war time service — as did Britain —and the Pooh books made Milne millions of dollars, while ruining his son and the mother’s lives. The accents are hard to understand in parts and you’ll end up feeling sorry for everyone in the story…IF you go see the movie. ENDS THURS. NOV. 2
BATTLE OF THE SEXES. Billie Jean King plays against Bobby Riggs in this easy-going tennis and sex movie. Billie Jean has an internal battle with her own sex, which adds a deeper and more involved plot than the 1973 match which we’ve all been reading up on, or remember from those days. Emma Stone— reputedly the highest star in the world — acts perfectly with Steve Carrell, and the movie is a guaranteed hit with everybody. I didn’t recognize Sarah Silverman as the women’s coach because she wears sunglasses all through the movie. I liked Little Miss Sunshine better.
VICTORIA & ABDUL. Almost everyone knows that Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria in this cute, warm, cuddly feel-good movie. Eddie Izzard plays the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), but you won’t recognize him. I didn’t, and I’m a big fan of Izzard’s. Stephen Frears directed it. He did My Beautiful Launderette, Prick Up your Ears, Philomena and some more great films but this isn’t in that category. Aside from the cuteness, it ignores the cruelty of the British rule over India during the almost 30 years.
MARSHALL. This movie almost takes us back to Raymond Burr and his role as Perry Mason the Lawyer in the Perry Mason 1957 TV series …it’s a courtroom drama. More importantly, it’s based on an early case that Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall handled for the NAACP in Connecticut. You’ll recognize Kate Hudson as the “victim” and James Cromwell as the racist judge. Fine story, good cast…not the most memorable film in history, but you’ll like it. ENDS THURS. NOV. 2
LUCKY. This is Harry Dean Stanton’s last film and he was 91 years old when they filmed it. He died in September. He also played and sang in Santa Cruz a few times too. This is a sad saga of an old man who never married, wandering around his desert town yakking and gossiping with his crony friends. He talks about death, tortoises, and the things you’d imagine a 91 year old would talk about. The cast includes Transcendental Meditation’s David Lynch, plus Ed Begley Jr., and Tom Skerritt. Probably no Academy Awards, but it’s a pleasant film. 98 on RT.
AMERICAN MADE. Is NOT another dopey, violent Tom Cruise superhuman action flick. This one is based on an unbelievable probably half-true story about a guy who becomes an international drug runner, and then gets involved illegally with our CIA and the Iran Contra affair that almost got President Ronnie R. evicted. It’s probably Scientology that gives Tom Cruise that certain extra something…and I have to admit I like watching the buy. 87 on RT.
KINGSMEN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE. I wished I’d remembered that this second installment of an ongoing series comes from comic books. The entire movie looks like an animated cartoon. It’s violent, murderous, and plain goofy. Elton John plays himself, and there’s a warning right there. To watch such good actors as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and especially Colin Firth jump around for their million dollar salaries is embarrassing.
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
I realize now why, and how much, I really like her. Spend the time to watch this (I’ve fixed the video that didn’t work; give it a second to load).
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
COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Click and enter the box in the upper right hand corner of each Column. You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!) Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!
Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Highlights this week:
Don Lane Bearcat out on attack last week!, Santa Cruz and Watsonville are almost the happiest places (it says), Lou Harrison fought the Cabrillo Music Festival, J.M. Brown running again for City Council…Greensite On Weinstein, Weiners and Women …Chris Krohn about City Council Agenda problems, Swenson’s Pacific Ave hole condos and nada affordable, City ambulance service questions, planning dept exodus by Rebagliati and more questions, Odd and unusual cuts in City budget…Becky Steinbruner deals with County contracts with SALINAS Yellow Cab-why?, More on Swenson’s black hole condos on Pacific ave., united Corridor Study problems, Aptos Village developers illegal moves, $3 million for a development stoplight and we pay for it!!…Patton reports on Chris Hedges and world future predictions…DeCinzo and Highway 17 …Eagan depicts our nationwide heart attack…Jensen reviews Goodbye Christopher Robin…I critique Lucky and G’bye Christopher Robin…Quotes for Halloween.
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.
CRAZY INVENTIONS OF 2017. There are 100’s more these came up first.
BUILT IN GOTHENBURG SWEDEN IN 1914 this cargo ship was in use till 1939, then abandoned and sailing the seas on its own for 38 years(!).
SANTA CRUZ AND HIGHWAY 1. Looks like a Russian tourist view of our
extremely happy town!!!
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.
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.
WEINSTEIN, WIENERS AND WOMEN
Does the massive reaction to Harvey Weinstein’s long history of sexually abusing women signify a cultural shift in the norms of sexual violence? Or is it a momentary focus, soon to be lost in the next news saga? A few reflections from the past may help illuminate its significance in the long struggle for gender equality.
In 1991, during the Senate hearings for the Anita Hill testimony of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas I was glued to the television, declaring excitedly that there was no turning back. The revolution had arrived! A tad premature to be sure, since at the same time Harvey Weinstein was probably cornering another young woman in his hotel room with penis erect and male privilege intact.
Anita Hill brought the issue of sexual harassment into the light of day and on a global level. This crucial step is a prerequisite for change. But cultural change is often slow, accompanied by the expected backlash. It requires constant work by engaged people to keep it moving. Two decades earlier, Lin Farley had coined the term, “sexual harassment” to describe the shared experiences of countless women who had received unwelcome sexual attention at work from men, usually their supervisors, with firings and poor performance evaluations a result of their non-compliance. It wasn’t long before universities were also under scrutiny for routine sexual harassment. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, universities and workplaces scrambled to put policies in place and educate their workforce under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The fact that 40 years later, universities are still being sued and investigated, including UCSC, for sexual harassment violations is a reminder that social change is never easy or automatic. In my experience, which includes 30 years at UCSC in rape prevention education as well as years on the city’s commission to prevent violence against women, institutions strive to bury, not solve, the issues. Public Relations, not prevention is the goal. Of course no one will admit to that but working from the inside I can attest that’s the case. It’s rare to find institutions, which sincerely want to change. I had to travel to Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa to find them and the difference was tangible. While sexual and interpersonal violence against women in these countries far outstrips the norms in our own country and national leaders are often the perpetrators, in every country I found sincere efforts for change at the institutional level. Hopefully this will lead to change at the personal level.
Whether the outcry over Harvey Weinstein’s long history of sexual abuse will lead to institutional change or window dressing remains to be seen. Much depends on shifting the economic and social power imbalance between women and men. Much depends on how males react to this wake-up call. Much depends on our ability to move beyond revenge and tackle the changes needed to ensure boys are raised to relate to girls as equals and girls are raised as equals. Only then can we ignore gender as the great un-equalizer.
It is significant that a dominant reaction to Harvey Weinstein’s sexually abusive behavior focuses on the yuk factor. Yes he was a powerful man who abused his power and the women whom he sexually abused are brave to come forward, but bathrobes, massages, voyeuristic showers and that he is SO ugly titillate the world. As for that Anthony Wiener, his sharing images of his own genitals are what did him in. Had either been your “normal” sexual abuser it is doubtful we would have paid a passing glance. It was Clarence Thomas’s placing a genital hair on a can of coke for Anita Hill to see that caused the most negative reaction. It is still sex, particularly kinky sex not gender power imbalance that we as a society find most troubling.
We can cheer as the Weinstein pedestal is toppled but if we can’t see the dilemma in Chief of Staff John Kelly’s statement that in the 1950’s we put women on a pedestal then real change is still far ahead. We can pretend that warnings about pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections and abstinence is sufficient for sex education for our youth but until we allow that they will be sexual and educate them about relationships, respect and consent, then real change is difficult. That many males abuse their power to obtain sexual favors is not inherent in males or their biology. Historically, cultures without rape and abuse of women were widespread. That in such cultures women, men and other gender arrangements shared power is not incidental but is key. For the opening created by the Weinstein moment to have lasting significance we need a more far reaching response than outrage and one that penetrates all corners of our culture. One that examines gender relations and power rather than one that further exploits our sexuality.
~Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
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:
“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.
COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVES 5-YEAR CONTRACT OF $86,000 per YEAR WITH SALINAS YELLOW CAB!!
The owner of the consolidated Yellow Cab Company for Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties could not explain to me how the $86,000 per year dollar amount for the proposed 5-year contract County Health Services recommended that the Board approve. The recommendation to the Board stated that Yellow Cab is the only cab service that can provide what is needed to transport clients from the Behavioral Health facilities to appointments locally.
“THAT IS NOT TRUE,” said local Green Taxi Cab owner, Mr. Brian Lister, who attended the October 17 Board meeting and testified that he was not even made aware of the potential contract. He is a local business owner, and his cabs run on bio-diesel. That should have made the Supervisors pause and agree to Mr. Lister’s and my request to either postpone the approval for further discussion, or to award the contract for one year, rather than five. That would have made a lot of sense, given the Health Service staff that, in answering Supervisor Caput’s question about the economics of the arrangement, said laws are changing at the State level that will most likely change what the County can allow for transportation of these clients.
NOPE. “Well, we could use the ambulance service or law enforcement to transport people,” the staff member said. “Well, what about having the attendant that gets paid $65/hour to help the clients who are able to instead learn to navigate the public transit system? These people will most likely not be able to afford a taxi when they are no longer under County care,” I said.
NOPE. The Board approved a 5-year contract with Salinas Yellow Cab for $86,000/year. That will make the owner of Yellow Cab happy. He was not at the meeting, but had told me on the phone “Uber has made it really hard for cab companies to survive, but this County contract will save me.” He plans to buy more cabs, just for the County work. Mr. Lister, Green Cab owner, said he would sure appreciate a shot at the County’s contract, too. However, it seems the Board of Supervisors could not be bothered, and instead handed the 5-year generous paycheck to an out-of-County conglomerate with a fossil fuel-powered fleet. It seems a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?
MEASURE J AND DEJA VU
In 1978. Santa Cruz County voters passed this legendary Ordinance to address the rapid growth rate (Santa Cruz County was the fastest-growing county in the state while being the smallest, next to San Francisco), and lack of affordable housing due to high housing prices. Doesn’t this sound familiar?
The County Planning Commission will consider the Santa Cruz County Unincorporated Area 2018 Growth Goal Report on Wednesday, October 25, 9am at 701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz. It was presented to the Board of Supervisors at the October 17 meeting. The interesting Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) population forecast for 2035 (Table 3 on Page 3) for Santa Cruz County is interesting:
City of Capitola 1.71% increase rate
City of Santa Cruz 27.94% increase
City of Scotts Valley 2.01% increase
City of Watsonville 28.44% increase
Unincorporated 11.1% increase
WOW.
According to the Growth Goal Report, AMBAG is updating forecasts for population, employment and housing for the region for 2015 through 2040, and should be out for adoption in June, 2018. Here is the link for the Growth Goal Report (Item #29)
WHY IS SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL WAIVING 15% AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENT FOR BARRY SWENSON BUILDER AT 1547 PACIFIC AVENUE 5-STORY, 79-CONDO UNIT SUBDIVISION WHEN THEY HAVE THE LEGAL ABILITY TO REQUIRE THEM?
At last week’s “No Place Like Home” Affordable Housing Week kick-off event at the Civic Auditorium, there were five of us with lime green protest signs, asking for the City Council to be held accountable on this issue. I had the opportunity to ask Council member Ms. Cynthia Matthews to explain this puzzling action.
“I just don’t understand why you would vote to waive affordable housing. It does not make sense,” I said.
“It did make sense,” she replied as she left the Auditorium during the student presentation,” But I don’t have time to explain it to you.”
One must ask: if the County is in an affordable housing crisis, why is Item #9 on this Tuesday’s Santa Cruz City Council meeting agenda going to allow owner Barry Swenson builder to not provide 12 inclusionary affordable units? How come this was published on the “non-controversial” Consent Agenda???
Attend the Tuesday, October 24 City Council meeting, Council Chambers, 12:30 pm or call 831-420-5020
I think we need multiple ways for people to get where they need to go in an affordable manner. I think building high density mixed use development along the Soquel Drive and Water Street corridor is a mistake…the bus system is broken already without adding massive numbers of people that are expected to ride the bus exclusively to get around.
What do you think?
APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS VIOLATE COUNTY REQUIREMENT FOR ENCROACHMENT PERMIT TO DESTROY PUBLIC ROADS.
Why is Santa Cruz County Public Works allowing Swenson and the other Aptos Village Project developers to dig up Trout Gulch Road, Cathedral Drive and Aptos Creek Road without first getting an Encroachment Permit? This permit is required, under Santa Cruz County Code 9.70, of any and all projects within the County right of way and is important because the agreement legally relieves the County (that’s you and me) of any liability associated with the work. It also allows the County to oversee proper restoration of the damaged road surfaces.
I think that’s important, especially when the developer (Barry Swenson Builder) has just been issued a Judgment for $125,000 by the County District Attorney for violating multiple public health and safety laws. What do you think?
Here is what County Counsel Mr. David Nefouse, wrote in response to my Public Records Act request for the encroachment permits between the Aptos Village Project developers and the County for work on Trout Gulch Road, Cathedral Drive, and Aptos Creek Road:
After a review, the County has determined it does not maintain and/or possess the records you have requested, as the County does not have any encroachment permits secured by Aptos Village LLC or parties involved in the Aptos Village Project.
Kind regards,
David Nefouse
Assistant County Counsel
Office of the County Counsel, County of Santa Cruz
701 Ocean Street, Room 505
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831)454-2069 (Direct Line)
(831)454-2115 (Facsimile)
9.70.050 Permit—Required when.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, company, corporation, association, political subdivision or organization, without first obtaining a written permit, to encroach upon, or make or cause to be made any encroachment over or under the limits of any County-maintained road in the unincorporated territory of the County, or to make or cause to be made any alteration of any nature within, upon, over or under such County-maintained road. [Ord. 3197 § 2, 1982; prior code § 8.75.060].
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPROVED GRANT APPLICATION WITH RTC FOR $3 MILLION TRAFFIC LIGHT AT APTOS VILLAGE (THE SECOND ONE)
I asked to pull this item off the October 17 Consent Agenda and place it on the Regular Agenda, which allows for public discussion and further public scrutiny. This “non-controversial issue” was a Consent Agenda item on the October 17 County Board of Supervisor agenda? How can asking the taxpayers to gift Swenson and the other Aptos Village Project developers an additional $3 million for improvements to support their disgusting development not be considered controversial? Trying to sneak this past the public is egregiously poor government transparency.
When I asked that Public Works explain why the bulk of the District 2 proposed Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) grant application money be devoted to a $3 million traffic light for the Aptos Village (never mind that the rest of the application would fund street improvements in Supervisor Zach Friend’s neighborhood), Mr. John Presleigh, Director, told the Board that he had to submit this project because the RTC was pressuring him to complete this Project and “get it off his plate”. Really??
The Board accepted that weak answer and approved the ability for Public Works to apply for the RTC grant. When I followed him out into the hallway, asking how much the Aptos Village Project developers were going to pay for this traffic light to mitigate the effects of the anticipated 8,000 additional vehicles/day (according to retired County Traffic Engineer Jack Sohriakoff in last year’s RTC grant application), Mr. Presleigh said “We can’t ask the developer for money for this.” Wow.
When I asked what the $3 million traffic light project involved…paving Aptos Creek Road? Constructing the new Parade Street railroad crossing and premier gateway to the development? Mr. Presleigh told me he could not say. When I asked how I could find out, Assistant Public Works Director Mr. Steve Wiesner said “Write down your request and send it to us.” So I did. No response.
The County has no Development Agreement to lock the Aptos Village Project developers into paying for improvements. There were two versions of that Agreement that got kicked around, both included the County refunding Swenson for anywhere from $2 million (County’s version) to $10 million (Swenson’s version, which also limited their paying only $15,000 for paving Aptos Creek Road…that’s about three potholes-worth of work), but County Counsel has confirmed via my Public Records Act request that there is NO Development Agreement for the Aptos Village Project. Doesn’t that give you a warm, fuzzy feeling?
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO PAY $3 MILLION FOR A TRAFFIC LIGHT BENEFITING THE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS, YOU NEED TO CONTACT THE RTC NOW!
The RTC Board will consider all RTIP Grant applications at the December 7 meeting, but the time to speak out loudly against this continued rape of the Aptos community and County taxpayers is at the sub-committee meetings during November: (all meetings at at the RTC Office, 1523 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz 95060)
Copy Mr. Luis Mendez, RTC Deputy Director, on all communication; Luis Mendez lmendez@sccrtc.org
“WE’VE LOOKED INTO IT AND FEEL THAT EVERYTHING IS OKAY.”
That is what Soquel Creek Water District’s General Manager, Mr. Ron Duncan, said when I asked at last week’s Board meeting whether any staff was investigating the attached ‘General Parcel’ of residential land and the Scotts Valley mobile home, both of which were attached to the District’s new well parcel within the Aptos Village Project. The Board accepted this nebulous answer and adjourned the meeting. I wonder what explanation Mr. Duncan will send me…I did ask for a response to my inquiry. Oddly, all that information seems to have disappeared from the County Assessor’s data base. I am glad I took some screen videos before that happened.
THANKS, DIRECTOR BRUCE DANIELS, FOR SHOWING UP AND SPEAKING OUT.
I really appreciated the great effort and dedication that Soquel Creek Water District Director Bruce Daniels showed when he arrived at the October 17 Board meeting, just hopping off an international flight in time to appear at the meeting. He raised some excellent questions during the presentation by Carollo Engineer, Mr. Andy Salveson, reporting on the contaminant study conducted of the Santa Cruz City sewage water. The District’s proposed PureWater SoquelProject would inject about 3 million gallons of treated sewage water /day into various well sites in the District (mostly around Cabrillo College area) to push back sea water intrusion.
Director Daniels astutely observed that the contamination list did not include NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine), a carcinogen that cannot always be removed from sewage water by the purification processes used in advanced purification treatments. (This report begins on page 96 of the agenda packet) Mr. Salveson said that NDMA had not been included in this study, but could be added if the Board requested it. Here is information from the State Water Resources Control Board website about NDMA that will help you also appreciate Bruce Daniels’ request for NDMA to be added to the tests that will continue:
Many thanks to Mr. Salveson for taking the time to answer my questions…he was the only one who did so during the entire meeting.
Later, Director Daniels also explained that he always votes NO on adding new service connections because the District continues to collect $55,00 per Acre Foot for new water development demand but has no projects the money is actually being used for to offset the new demand. The District declared a GROUNDWATER STATE OF EMERGENCY in 2014, yet continues to approve new service connections as the sea water advances due to over-pumping of the aquifer. By all objective criteria, the entire County needs to declare a Groundwater Emergency, under the 1987 County Well Ordinance.
STATE OF THE MID-COUNTY BASIN PUBLIC WORKSHOP THIS WEEK
The second public educational workshop for the MidCounty Groundwater Agency will be this Wednesday, October 25, 7pm-9pm at the Community Foundation building in Aptos. The Groundwater Sustainability Planning committee will have it’s first meeting that same day (4pm-6pm) and is open to the public. Get involved here, folks, and have a say in how the area’s water policies will be shaped.
WHY WON’T THE COUNTY PLANNING DEPARTMENT COOPERATE WITH THE WATER DISTRICT?
Soquel Creek Water District Staff discussed the challenges new State Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) laws will present to the District. Under SB229, the District must provide water for ADU construction, cannot require a new or separate utility connection but the District still will apply the Water Demand Offset (WDO) requirements for conservation measures in order to grant new service approval.
Staff explained that “the City and County will no longer require the conversion ADU applicants to produce a Will Serve letter before a building permit application is accepted. The best solution to this issue is to be added to the land use agencies’ check off/ routing process, similar to other agencies such as fire and sanitation districts. District staff has made this request of the County on multiple occasions in the past; however, the County has been reluctant to add the District to this process. Until this occurs, it will be a challenge to inform the conversion ADU applicants of the WDO requirements. Naturally, alerting development project applicants late in the process can be a surprise, resulting in unanticipated costs and delays.”
“Why do you think the County is so resistant to working with the District?” I asked. Staff looked at the Board and remained silent. No one answered my question. So, I will ask you, the reader, why you think the County wants to maintain this disconnect between land use and water policy? Write your County Supervisor (or call 831-454-2200) and ask for this to change:
SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT BOARD WILL RECONSIDER PUNITIVE RATES FOR LEAKS
An elderly lady on a fixed income came to the Board meeting October 17 and pleaded for a variance of the District’s Leak Adjustment Policy. It nearly broke my heart to listen to her beg for financial help with the $1500 punitive bill she received for a leak that she could not have known was occurring until she got a shocking bill. The District charges $39/unit instead of $6/unit for excessive water use. The Board decided to allow her an adjustment on her bill, and will reconsider their 2015 leak adjustment policy at a future Board meeting.
With all the worry in the air over fires, infrastructure and world events, I hope you will all take time to walk on the beach or in the beautiful forests to appreciate the exquisite beauty of where we live.
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.
Chris Hedges (pictured right) authored the essay mentioned in my blog posting yesterday. He conveys a rather daunting message:
The American empire is coming to an end. The U.S. economy is being drained by wars in the Middle East and vast military expansion around the globe. It is burdened by growing deficits, along with the devastating effects of deindustrialization and global trade agreements. Our democracy has been captured and destroyed by corporations that steadily demand more tax cuts, more deregulation and impunity from prosecution for massive acts of financial fraud, all the while looting trillions from the U.S. treasury in the form of bailouts. The nation has lost the power and respect needed to induce allies in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa to do its bidding. Add to this the mounting destruction caused by climate change and you have a recipe for an emerging dystopia. Overseeing this descent at the highest levels of the federal and state governments is a motley collection of imbeciles, con artists, thieves, opportunists and warmongering generals. And to be clear, I am speaking about Democrats, too.
I can’t say I disagree with Hedges’ analysis. How about you? Is the American Empire “coming to an end?” If it is, and I have already said that I personally think that Hedges’ analysis is on target, here is question number two: Would that actually be a bad thing?
The cartoon that headed up my blog posting yesterday has Uncle Sam, in the guise of a homeless person, holding up a sign that says, “Will Destroy The World For Money.” To the extent that this is what the American Empire does (and there are some pretty good arguments that this is an accurate description), it would be hard to mourn that “End of Empire.” So, here is question number three: Is Hedges offering a “prediction” or a “prophecy?” In other words, is Hedges claiming to outline what must and will happen – as “predictions” do – or is he providing us a warning about what could happen? If the latter, that would make Hedges’ essay a “prophecy,” at least in the way I draw a distinction between these two different words that both relate to a forecast of the future. It is probably relevant that Hedges is a Presbyterian minister. He must certainly know about those prophets in the Bible. Those Biblical prophets typically forecasted doom, unless the people repented. Generally, as I’m recalling the Bible stories, the people didn’t repent, and the projected doom arrived, in spades!
After the listing reproduced above, here is what Hedges says about the coming of the End of Empire:
Short of a sudden and widespread popular revolt, which does not seem likely, the death spiral appears unstoppable, meaning the United States as we know it will no longer exist within a decade or, at most, two. The global vacuum we leave behind will be filled by China, already establishing itself as an economic and military juggernaut, or perhaps there will be a multipolar world carved up among Russia, China, India, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and a few other states. Or maybe the void will be filled, as the historian Alfred W. McCoy writes in his book “In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power,” by “a coalition of transnational corporations, multilateral military forces like NATO, and an international financial leadership self-selected at Davos and Bilderberg” that will “forge a supranational nexus to supersede any nation or empire.” That introductory phrase (“short of….”), which is in the nature of a call to repent, tells me that Hedges is speaking in the prophetic tradition. Bad things will happen, and our doom will come, unless we do something now.
Hedges calls that “something” that we might do a “popular revolt.” I call it a “revolution.”
The changes we need don’t have to be violent. In fact, to be truly an avenue to change, they can’t be, because violence has permeated everything we do, today, and it will be “the revolution” when we eschew violence for a nonviolent future.
Is that possible? You bet it is!
It’s not “inevitable,” though.
The future is never “inevitable,” because human beings are possessed of the gift of freedom, and can always inaugurate something completely new, and create a “New Order In The World,” a Novus Ordo Seclorum.
Hey, we did that once before, remember?
(Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
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.
LUCKY. This is Harry Dean Stanton’s last film and he was 91 years old when they filmed it. He died in September. He also played and sang in Santa Cruz a few times too. This is a sad saga of an old man who never married wandering around his desert town yakking and gossiping with his crony friends. He talks about death, tortoises, and the things you’d imagine a 91 year old would talk about. The cast includes Transcendental Meditation’s David Lynch, plus Ed Begley Jr., and Tom Skerritt. Probably no Academy Awards but it’s a pleasant film. 98 on RT.
GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN. The veddy-veddy British story of A.A.Milne and his son that inspired the “Winnie The Pooh” books. Milne suffered greatly from his war time service as did Britain, and the Pooh books made Milne millions of dollars, ruined his son and the mother’s lives. The accents are hard to understand in parts and you’ll end up feeling sorry for everyone in the story…IF you go see the movie.
BLADE RUNNER 2049. Denis Villeneuve directed this sequel with advice from Ridley Scott and it has many hidden plot lines from the original (try to see it before you see 2049)…it’s an unique addition to science fiction films. Dystopian is the very overused word describing a disaster based future. This film again has Los Angeles really transfigured…and even darker and more devastated and bleak than the first one which was set in LA 2019. Ryan Gosling carries the entire story, with Robin Wright and Harrison Ford doing fine acting jobs too. I have rarely, if ever, seen or felt a theatre audience so still-so hypnotized-awed-puzzled-and silent as the one I joined last week. I’ve seen it 2 ½ times now… it needs two viewings on as large a screen as possible because the photography is so impressive and important.
MOTHER. An excellent, genius- directed, absolutely intelligent plot, best-acted…what more can you ask from a movie?? Jennifer Lawrence, plus two of my favorite actors Javier Bardem and Ed Harris, Brian Gleeson, and a darker Michelle Pfeiffer make a perfect cast for this challenging film. Not a scary, boo-type, odd, weird, what’s that?, cellar stairs type of film. It’s more like “what is going on”, “I can’t imagine what’s happening next kind of film, Directed by Darren Aronofsky it’s a winner, and you’ll remember seeing it. So go. RT calls it a “psychological thriller” I agree.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES. Billie Jean King plays against Bobby Riggs in this easy going tennis and sex movie. Billie Jean has an internal battle with her own sex, which adds a deeper and more involved plot than the 1973 match which we’ve all been reading up on or remember from those days. Emma Stone reputedly the highest star in the world acts perfectly with Steve Carrell and the movie is a guaranteed hit with everybody. I didn’t recognize Sarah Silverman as the women’s coach because she wears sunglasses all through the movie. I liked Little Miss Sunshine better.
ITThis broke all box office records last weekend when IT opened…and IT should have. IT is a well made, very scary movie. Based on some Stephen King books, IT is chapter one of a two part nightmare- daydream that will grab you when you are least prepared to be scared. It has all the clichés…BUT it’s got tension, mystery, and perfect timing along with excellent acting. Just go see IT but only if you truly enjoy being scared. 86 on RT.
LOVING VINCENT. The first movie ever to have been made with 1000’s of oil paintings to create animation of Vincent Van Gogh’s life and questionable murder or suicide. You’ll see dozens of his and your most favorite Van Gogh paintings”come to life” plus an intriguing story line. The animation is so good that fans (I’m one) of PBS”s Masterpiece Theatre Poldark series will recognize Eleanor Tomlinson (Demelza) playing Adeline Ravoux in this absolutely beautiful film. It has a 77 Rotten Tomato rating! See it ASAP Landmark doesn’t keep masterpieces very long unless audiences show up the first week.
VICTORIA & ABDUL. Almost everyone knows that Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria in this cute, warm, cuddly feel good movie. Eddie Izzard plays the Prince of Wales ( Edward VII), but you won’t recognize him. I didn’t, and I’m a big fan of Izzards. Stephen Frears directed it. He did My Beautiful Launderette, Prick Up your Ears, Philomena and some more great films but this isn’t in that category. Aside from the cuteness, it ignores the cruelty of the British rule over India during the almost 30 years.
MARSHALL. It almost takes us back to Raymond Burr and his role as Perry Mason the Lawyer in the Perry Mason 1957 TV series …it’s a courtroom drama. More importantly it’s based on an early case that Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall handled for the NAACP in Connecticut. You’ll recognize Kate Hudson as the “victim” and James Cromwell as the racist judge. Fine story, good cast, not the most memorable film in history but you’ll like it.
AMERICAN MADE. It is NOT another dopey, violent Tom Cruise superhuman action flick. This one is based on an unbelievable probably half true story about a guy who becomes an international drug runner then gets involved illegally with our CIA and the Iran Contra affair that almost got President Ronnie R. evicted. It’s probably Scientology that gives Tom Cruise that certain extra something…and I have to admit I like watching the buy. 87 on RT.
KINGSMEN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE. I wished I’d remembered that this part 2 of an ongoing series comes from comic books. The entire movie looks like an animated cartoon. It’s violent, murderous, and plain goofy. Elton John plays himself and there’s a warning right there. To watch such good actors as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and especially Colin Firth jump around for their million dollar salaries is embarrassing.
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
Some of these Mondegreens you can’t unhear! 🙂
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
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Snail Mail: Bratton Online
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Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Highlights this week:
More about the MAH Black “M” and Abbott Fountain, Omei Boycott in effect, Save Santa Cruz meeting,…Debbie Bulger and mountain bikers… Greensite on Downtown Recovery Plan finale at Planning Commission…Krohn and what affordable housing crisis? our “crazy” police chief, Drew Glover running for City Council, why Robert Singleton for Planning Commissioner? …Steinbruner and why are we paying $3 million dollars for an Aptos Village Stoplight?, Aptos Village developer Testorff breaking rules, still no permits for Rancho Del Mar demolitions, historic 1890 Milsap House destroyed, and she too asks why Robert Singleton for Planning Commissioner …Patton about “Better Living Without Chemistry”…deCinzo and cyclists…Eagan and Ducking the issue…Munching with Mozart…Santa Cruz Chamber Players new season concert on 10/22…Jensen and Rotten Tomatoes symbols…I critique Loving Vincent and Marshall…Quotes on Forest Fires.
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.
NIAGARA FALLS COLLAPSE.
Having grown up in Buffalo, New York we went to the falls every time relatives visited. This footage is shocking and looks like our West Cliff Drive.
BLADERUNNER 2049. I’m just trying to get everybody to go see this brilliant film.
STEPHEN COLBERT’S FAKE INTERVIEW WITH TRUMP.
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.
HIGH RISE GAMBLING
Surveying the near empty council chambers at the last Planning Commission meeting for a final vote on the Downtown “Recovery” Plan (DRP), the chair of the Commission declared, “no one here means the community is ready for the Plan and supports it.” A convenient forgetting of the scores of people who have showed up and voiced their opposition to this rezoning of sections of the downtown for future building heights of up to 70 feet abutting the river levee between Soquel and Laurel and up to 85 feet on the west side of Front and between Pacific and Front for selected parcels: such heights way beyond those recommended in the post-earthquake DRP. I attended most of the meetings on this project, including this final one. I can attest that when the topic of building heights was on the agenda, public opposition was vocal and strong and ignored. When the public is ignored, they either get organized and push back or drift away. I was the only person who spoke against the project.
Most commissioners had nothing but praise for the DRP. Commissioner Conway did acknowledge that this “represents a significant change for our town” and “we’ll be counting on talented architects” to make it work. Commissioner Spellman is often the lone voice expressing a modicum of reservation for the overbuilding of Santa Cruz. His cautious critique of the DRP passed into the void, as did the CA Coastal Commission’s concerns, which were reframed by senior planner Ron Powers as “encouraging active uses of the river walk.” The CA Coastal Commission concerns were actually about the height of the buildings and the need for more community serving uses but no mind; this is about selling the private development agenda not communicating the facts. Tall building heights are no problem, says the EIR (Environmental Impact Report) since we look at things “at eye level”. The EIR also concluded that the increased traffic from the project cannot be mitigated. This inconvenient truth was swept away by a Statement of Overriding Considerations, the means by which significant environmental impacts can be ignored in an EIR if other needs are deemed overriding. Chair Mesiti-Miller, noting that the traffic impacts from the project are unavoidable said, “I rejoice in that. It may get people out of their cars.” A unanimous vote of approval sent the DRP to city council for a meeting and vote on November 14th.
If you clear away the smoke of details, the Downtown Recovery Plan, the Wharf Master Plan, the Corridors Plan and other re-zoning is at its core an attempt to change the social class of Santa Cruz. For decades the business/tourist industry has looked with disdain on working class families from over the hill who bring coolers and spend the day at the beach. They prefer a higher class of people who spend money at preferably higher end restaurants. I recall the consultant from ROMA, the SF urban design firm who was paid handsomely for both the DRP and the WMP saying about Gilda’s restaurant on the wharf, “not exactly a destination…we can do better.” Talk about throwing locals under the bus! This desire for a class shift was in evidence at the Commission meeting. Four or five stories of housing above retail are needed first, it was said, so that the retail that follows has consumers. No pretense that this is housing for workers who will serve the consumption needs of these higher class newcomers. Displacement of lower income workers is a direct result of increasing density of new housing at market rate and is well recognized in urban planning circles.
Commissioners gushed over what this project will mean for the San Lorenzo River. Accolades flew about how it will “activate the river; take the river back; incentivize the river walk; take back the river; embrace the river.” I was surprised at no suggestion to take a walk and plunge headlong into the San Lorenzo in ecstatic embrace for its future. And what does this future look like along the banks of our river? First, no blinds. Very important that blinds are up because we need “eyes on the river.” Everyone liked that. So no housing on the ground floor facing the river since that may mean blinds closed. Maybe “game rooms and exercise facilities” offered staff. Many sweaty eyes on the river. Maybe a bar? offered a commissioner. Never mind that consultant, ROMA advised the city that retail facing the river would not work. Never mind that at this same meeting, commissioners approved language that alerts businesses selling alcohol or fixing cars in this zone: Bonesio Liquor Store; Andy’s Auto Supply; New Leaf; CVC; Trader Joes that they will be out of business by 2020 or have to greatly reduce the sale of alcohol and stop fixing cars. (We’ll all be out of our cars by then so no worries). This zoning restriction encourages the class of people who can afford to drink inside restaurants and discourages the class who can’t: affluent over poor; tourists over residents. Not to mention putting at least one small business owner out of business. According to the owner of Bonesio’s, he got the notice about the meeting the day before. He pleaded with the city and police to work together to solve any problems associated with his business. “Further discussions on this will be between the police and the city”, stated the chair, giving the business owner a clear message of where he stood.
I’m reminded of a comment by local historian Sandy Lydon. In essence he said that Santa Cruz has always been the beer side of the bay and Monterey the champagne side. Despite all attempts historically to change this class arrangement, Santa Cruz has never succeeded in doing so. While beer has become more trendy than champagne, the class comparison still holds, for now. Bulldozing familiar low-rise businesses and replacing with high-rise mixed-use market rate housing and trendy retail will only accelerate this class shift, driving local workers further afield and eventually away altogether. One downturn in the economy, empty high rises, closed businesses and the last thing we’ll be concerned about is “eyes on the river.”
~ Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
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.
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.
TAXPAYERS WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR A SECOND $3 MILLION STOP LIGHT FOR APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPERS????
The County Department of Public Works wants taxpayers to spend nearly $3 million more to help Barry Swenson, Joe Appenrodt, Pete Testorff and other unseen Aptos Village Project developers and have asked the Board of Supervisors for permission to apply for grants to do so from the Regional Transportation Commission. Item #26 on the October 17 Board Agenda spells out the shocking request, at the expense of other much-needed road improvement projects in Supervisor Zach Friend’s District, such as Freedom Boulevard, San Andreas Road, Trout Gulch Road and Soquel Drive that are absolutely failing in places, but are receiving NO ATTENTION.
Write the Regional Transportation Commission and demand that the $3 MILLION Aptos Creek Traffic Light be dumped from the consideration table completely. It is time that the Aptos Village Project developers pay for the impacts of their disgusting development that will add 8,000 vehicles/day.
George Donderos, Executive Director gdonderos@sccrtc.org, Luis Mendez, Deputy director lmendez@sccrtc.org, Daniel Nikuna dnikuna@sccrtc.orgSanta Cruz Regional Transportation Commission, 1523 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 or call 831-460-3215. The RTC Board meets November 2, 9am, location TBD. The RTC Budget and Administration Committee meets November 9, 3pm in the County CAO Conference Room (5th Floor) at 701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz.
“SOMETIMES THE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS TELLS US TO JUST APPROVE PROJECT PERMITS” EVEN WHEN THERE IS NO PARCEL NUMBER ASSIGNED.
Why did the Santa Cruz County Planning Department issue building permits for Aptos Village Project developers Barry Swenson , Pete Testorff, and Joe Apppenrodt when the permit applications had expired? (Check the County Planning Department “Permit Status” for APN 041-011-41, 041-011-42 and APN 041-011-51). That is what I wanted to know last week as the excavators were digging up what could have been remnants of the 1880’s railroad turntable near the historic Bayview Hotel. The kind lady at the Building Counter had no explanation, and said it was odd. She asked her supervisor.
“The last plan review for those got done on the day the permit applications expired, so it was okay.” he said “We cut them some slack.”
When I asked why a concrete building pad is being built in the Phase II Project area “Remainder Parcel” without permit or an approved Final Map,(and in a mapped archaeologic site) he said “Well, sometimes the Board of Supervisors just tells us to approve things when they are sure it will go through.” He looked again at the computer screen and said it seemed that there might be a parcel split happening, but he did not have the new parcel numbers.
“Well, how does one research that?” I asked. He sent me to the Assessor’s Office. An incredibly kind lady there spent a lot of time trying to find out why none of her maps showed any new parcels carved out of the Aptos Village Project area since early 2016. “There must be some kind of a hold-up because the new maps are not being forwarded to our books or to the County GIS. March of 2016 is old and should have been updated” she said. Hmmmm….
She referred the mysterious matter to her co-worker, who was gone for the day. I have not been able to contact her yet….stay tuned.
APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT DEVELOPER PETE TESTORFF VIOLATES CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL BUT SHERIFF REFUSES TO RESPOND.
As a condition of the Aptos Village Project Approval, no construction crews are allowed to work on weekends. Even Barry Swenson abides by that rule, but not developer Pete Testorff. His crews worked all day immediately next to the Bayview Hotel last Saturday as some friends and I were helping out Bayview Hotel owner, Ms. Cristina Locke, work in the back garden to prepare for her late husband’s Celebration of Life gathering next week. I had to ask the workers twice to do something about dust control, because one of my friends was having trouble with her asthma amidst all the construction dust.
He finally turned on the hose, connected to an UNMETERED SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT WATER CONNECTION (that’s the second one within the Project being allowed free water this year). Ms. Locke finally phoned the sheriff to ask for some assistance to request that the construction stop, as per the Project Conditions of Approval granted by the County Board of Supervisors.
Deputy Lopez (Badge # 13632) called her back and informed her that he could not enforce the County Noise Ordinance for the situation. Ms. Locke handed me the phone. Deputy Lopez read the full text of the County Noise Ordinance to me while I politely listened amidst the dust and tractor exhaust. “Thank you for reading that ordinance, but that is not the problem. The crew is not allowed to work today, as per the Project Conditions of Approval. No construction work is supposed to happen on the weekends.” I explained.
Deputy Lopez told me that if I had an issue with the agreements I had made with the developers, I should hire an attorney and sue them. “I didn’t make the agreements; the County Board of Supervisors approved the agreement. Can you come help us enforce it?” I politely asked.
“No.”
“Can you come ask the developer if he has permission to be working today?
“No.”
“Can you please come to the front of the Bayview Hotel and talk with me about this?” I asked, hoping that a sheriff car would scare the wits out of the crew and send them packing.
“No.”
“Well, could you please call the 24-hour answering service for the Project and leave a message with Barry Swenson’s foreman to ask if they have restrictions? Here’s the number 427-8050.”
“No, I’m not going to leave a message. Why don’t you call them?”
So much for law enforcement’s long-lost “Protect and Serve” motto that disappeared from all government vehicles years ago.
THE REAL REASON COUNTY TAXPAYERS ARE FUNDING THE RELOCATION OF THE APTOS VILLAGE METRO BUS STOP.
Why would the County insist on making taxpayers move a perfectly good, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant bus stop to a location that has contaminated soils, “a tight fit” and steep slope for those Metro riders with mobility issues and poor line-of-sight for approaching motorists with the bus stopped in the lane of traffic? It was a deal cut to appease the existing Aptos Village merchants who were not happy about losing what little parking along Soquel Drive that their customers have if the Parade Street connector gets built to act as the gateway to the disgusting Village with soil contamination problems. I was glad the County Public Works Assistant Director Steve Weisner and Metro Operations Officer Ciro Aguirre finally attended the RTC Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Committee meeting to answer their many questions.
Mr. Weisner informed the group that there is a difference between a “ramp” and a “sidewalk”: sidewalks do not have to meet ADA requirements of slope and resting platforms. That is what is going in…a 100′ run of 5% grade sidewalk without any resting pads for the mobility challenged. He could not answer why the site being excavated for the stop was chosen over the other site possibility that would have been level, closer to the Aptos Village Project and existing businesses, and had good line of sight. He could not tell us how wide the bus bay will be, but the engineer designing it was there and grabbed a ruler to measure the drawing’s space. The bus will be sticking out in the lane of traffic when stopped at the relocated site.
Bus riders who have been discussing the relocation with the #71 Metro drivers report that most of the drivers say “That’s an accident waiting to happen.”
Well, never mind. “We needed to create parking on Soquel Drive for the business owners along there,” said Ciro Aguirre. “Was that a requirement of the Project or a concession?” one of the Committee members wanted to know. Neither Mr. Aguirre nor Mr. Weisner had an answer.
LOWER RANCHO DEL MAR CENTER BEGINS DEMOLITION AND ASBESTOS REMOVAL TRC Retail still has no building permits for the remodel work at Rancho del Mar Center but does have a demolition permit. Work began on that last week. Aptos/ La Selva Fire crews were allowed to do some rare trainings there, such as forcible entry of masonry walls. Still no word on if the demo or construction crews are local workers…probably not, according to information from Carpenter Local 505.
SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT DEMOLISHES HISTORIC 1890 MILLSAP FAMILY HOME, SALVAGING NOTHING.
The Board of Directors could care less if the 1890 home of the very prominent Soquel Village Millsap family got preserved or even salvaged. Apparently, one of the demolition workers saw the value of the two 20′ virgin redwood 8″ x 8″ timbers that were under the newest of the two houses, and set them aside.
I was video documenting the barren lot and multiple dumpsters when a man appeared with a long metal probe. He was a long-time Soquel resident and was looking for old bottle and artifacts on the land. I enjoyed talking with him from behind the chain link fence at the lot’s perimeter. “That Millsap house was really old,” he said. I replied that the County records showed it built in 1890. “No, it was older…more like 1860,” he said, “What a shame nothing got saved.” Indeed.
So, if Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors insists no decisions have been made about whether the land will be used for the West Annex sewage water treatment station for the PureWater Soquel project, what was the rush to demolish a very significant piece of Soquel Village history? I guess it was just in the way. and the District could not be bothered to make any effort to move or salvage any part of it. A sad commentary on the values of the Soquel Creek Water District management.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER OVERDRAFT AND DISCUSS SOLUTIONS.
Plan to attend the MidCounty Groundwater Agency’s Drop-In discussion session Thursday, October 19, 10am-noon, at the Community Foundation in Aptos. It is refreshing to ask a question and actually get an answer with opportunity for open discussion longer than 3-minutes of ty so speak longer than 3 minutes.
APTOS/LA SELVA FIRE DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS WANTS TO DEMOTE LOCAL 3535 PRESIDENT…IS THIS RETALIATION??
It certainly seems so. The Board hired a private investigator to look into some e-mails that Captain Ryan Peters sent out last year to all firefighters to advise caution when interacting with Ms. New, the Administrative Manager. She had just filed a sexual harassment complaint against the firefighters who dared to question the Board about the wisdom of approving a 47% pay raise for Ms. New when then-Chief Jon Jones had just informed the Board (and firefighters) that there was not enough money for new equipment and trainings for certain programs (Surf Rescue, Car Seat Safety, etc). Captain Peters eventually, as President of the Union Local 3535, organized members to vote a unanimous (and unprecedented) “Vote of No Confidence” against Chief Jones and asked the Board not to extend his contract if he asked (and he did).
Well, it appears now that the Board is taking legal action against Captain Peters and SEEKING TO DEMOTE HIM because of the e-mails. They acknowledge that they could FIRE HIM, but have chosen demotion because he has a squeaky-clean record of selfless public service and supportive leadership for fellow firefighters. The District’s legal counsel served Captain Peters with notice of the legal action, leaving him only three days to respond in writing with anything that could be used for his defense. Further, the District’s legal counsel refused to submit the entire record of materials and the full text of Ms. New’s accusations for consideration in the case calling for his demotion.
Does this make sense to you? It is both ludicrous and disappointing that the Aptos/La Selva Fire District Board of Directors refuses to show leadership and wisdom to promote actions that could heal and unify the District after the destructive mayhem of (now retired) Chief Jon Jones. Instead, they granted a one-year severance pay package to Chief Jones with full benefits, and a 10% bonus for serving for five years in good standing. What???!!!
Please read the information below and consider writing a letter of support for Captain Ryan Peters by October 19. Even if you read this message after that date, send a letter of support anyway, because the hearing date keeps getting pushed back.
**************
Greetings,
I am sending this message Bcc to those whom I think would want to be aware of the continued problems at the Aptos/La Selva Fire District in the aftermath of Chief Jones’s contract severance. Now it seems that the Board of Directors has voted to hire a private investigator to examine complaints against Captain Ryan Peters, President of the Local 3535 Aptos/La Selva Firefighters Union.
The Board is considering demotion of Captain Peters to the rank of Firefighter/Paramedic because he sent e-mails to fellow firefighters to be careful when interacting with Chief Jones and Administrative Manager, Ms. Tracy New, who had filed a sexual harassment complaint (after Union members simply questioned the wisdom of the Board approving a 47% salary increase for her at a time when Chief Jones said there was no money for necessary equipment and certain training programs). Making no accusations or negative remarks whatsoever, Captain Peters simply advised union members to take a buddy if it was necessary to interact with Chief Jones or Ms. New.
Captain Peters was served the legal notice of this action and given only three days to respond in writing, with any information that could be used to support his defense. Further, the District’s attorneys, with Board consent, have withheld the full record of information that would include information supportive of Captain Peters. This is ludicrous…a minimum of seven days is standard legal time for response to being served notice of action. The full record of information must be submitted for legal consideration to determine grounds for demotion. There are other actions that could be taken as action to address any protocol violations, such as mediation, additional training, etc…but the Board has chosen to pursue DEMOTION
Captain Peters has a spotless record and a long history of selfless dedication to the public and support of fellow firefighters. However, because of this legal action to demote him, he has stepped down as President of Local 3535. To me, this appears to be retaliation for Captain Peters’ leadership in organizing Local 3535 action last spring to vote unanimous “Vote of No Confidence” against Chief Jones and urged the Board not to extend his contract for an additional two years.
The Board did issue a severance agreement with Chief Jones to continue paying him $225,000 with benefits for another year, plus a 10% BONUS to reward him for working five years in good standing. He has been on paid administrative leave since the Board agreed on August 10 not to extend his contract, but he officially retires October 19, 2017. Here is a link to the recent Sentinel article.
I HOPE YOU WILL CONSIDER WRITING A LETTER TO SUPPORT CAPTAIN RYAN PETERS AND PASS THIS INFORMATION TO OTHERS WHOM YOU FEEL WOULD BE INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING HIM AND THE APTOS/LA SELVA FIREFIGHTERS.
Thanks so much. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.
Sincerely,
Becky Steinbruner
Begin forwarded message:
From: (I have omitted this source to preserve privacy…Becky S.)
Date: October 13, 2017 at 4:44:05 PM PDT To: (I have omitted this to preserve privacy….Becky S.) Subject:***L3535 Call to Action***
L3535,
Many have been asking what can we do to help our union brother and president Ryan Peters in this time of need. After consultation with our legal team, it has been determined that the single greatest thing we can do for him right now is write a letter of support that will be given in a packet to the Skelly officer during his hearing.
This letter should be address to “Whom it may concern” and it should be a personal testament to the type of public servant, community advocate, cooperator, fire captain and leader RP is. This should be quite easy, as I know we are all better for having the opportunity to work and learn from Ryan. This letter can talk about your experiences with RP and how he interacts within this agency, its membership, his superiors and with the public.
This is absolutely safe for probationary firefighter to do as well…. and it can be as simple as describing the leadership qualities you have seen in RP and the type of mentor he has been to you.
Although we can not demand this of anyone, PLEASE show up for our brother who has sacrificed so much to protect our union, our benefits and our culture at ALSFD. If members have wives (or husband) that would like to write letters, that would also be greatly appreciated. This letter can be done in microsoft word or pages for apple.
Please sign your name, rank and years with Aptos and total years in the fire service at the bottom and if you need assistance, please contact one of your eboard members and we will be happy to help. Please feel free to leave your contact information should the skelly officer choose to reach out about your experiences with RP.
PLEASE SUBMIT LETTERS NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 19th
Completed letter can be sent to our attorney Sean Howell at showell@mastagni.com
In Solidarity,
PS- For those of you currently on a strike team, you can just send your letter via email to Sean and he can format it into a word document.
***************
Finally, send good thoughts to all those in the areas of the State continuing to burn that have lost their homes, their lives and for which life will never be the same. Send thoughts of gratitude for the hundreds of emergency responders working around the clock to protect and serve, and will also be affected by the devastation.
I find myself appreciating the true beauty of our area, and wondering how best to fight and to save it from the Barry Swensons and tax-hungry governments steamrolling zoning changes and ignoring building codes to push through massive San Jose-like developments that will forever change the quality of life as we know it in Santa Cruz County.. Read the story of WHY the non-profit is moving here Nonprofit to move to Santa Cruz Delaware Project, making way for housing downtown Join me October 19, 6:30pm in front of the Civic Auditorium to protest the Santa Cruz City Council waiving a 15% affordable housing requirement for Barry Swenson’s 79 condos in the five-story building on Pacific Avenue. Attend the October 26, 6pm “Stop Over-Building Santa Cruz” at 411 Roxas St. in Santa Cruz. Do you think it is a good sign that Robert Singleton, a young aggressive pro-development-at-any-cost person just got appointed to the Santa Cruz City Planning Commission?
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.
When I was growing up, the DuPont Corporation told us we could achieve “Better Living…Through Chemistry.” That was sort of like the statement in The Graduate, advising that “plastics” was the “one word” that would open up a positive future for all aspiring young people, and for the nation at large. Chemistry and “plastics” definitely do go together.
As time went on, I became deeply skeptical about “plastics,” and chemistry, and about all “synthetics,” as the way forward to a better living or a better future.
A few weeks ago, in an article in my local paper, I learned that strawberry growers have discovered a “natural fumigation” technique, eliminating the need for methyl bromide and other synthetic chemicals dangerous to all life. The article is worth reading.
Isn’t it time that we abandon our quest to build a “synthetic” world, and realize that our lives will be better without chemistry?
I’m pleased to find that this is what local strawberry farmers are starting to understand”.
Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
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.
LOVING VINCENT. The first movie ever to have been made with 1000’s of oil paintings to create animation of Vincent Van Gogh’s life and questionable murder or suicide. You’ll see dozens of his and your most favorite Van Gogh paintings “come to life” plus an intriguing story line. The animation is so good that fans (I’m one) of PBS”s Masterpiece Theatre Poldark series will recognize Eleanor Tomlinson (Demelza) playing Adeline Ravoux in this absolutely beautiful film. It has a 77 Rotten Tomato rating! See it ASAP Landmark doesn’t keep masterpieces very long unless audiences show up the first week.
MARSHALL. It almost takes us back to Raymond Burr and his role as Lawyer Hamilton Berger in the Perry Mason 1957TV series …it’s a courtroom drama. More importantly it’s based on an early case that Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall handled for the NAACP in Connecticut. You’ll recognize Kate Hudson as the “victim” and James Cromwell as the racist judge. Fine story, good cast, not the most memorable film in history but you’ll like it.
BLADE RUNNER 2049. Denis Villeneuve directed this sequel with advice from Ridley Scott and it has many hidden plot lines from the original (try to see it before you see 2049)…it’s an unique addition to science fiction films. Dystopian is the very overused word describing a disaster based future. This film again has Los Angeles really transfigured…and even darker and more devastated and bleak than the first one which was set in LA 2019. Ryan Gosling carries the entire story, with Robin Wright and Harrison Ford doing fine acting jobs too. I have rarely, if ever, seen or felt a theatre audience so still-so hypnotized-awed-puzzled-and silent as the one I joined last week. I’ve seen it 2 1/2 times now… it needs two viewings on as large a screen as possible because the photography is so impressive and important.
VICTORIA & ABDUL. Almost everyone knows that Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria in this cute, warm, cuddly feel good movie. Eddie Izzard plays the Prince of Wales ( Edward VII), but you won’t recognize him. I didn’t, and I’m a big fan of Izzards. Stephen Frears directed it. He did My Beautiful Launderette, Prick Up your Ears, Philomena and some more great films but this isn’t in that category. Aside from the cuteness, it ignores the cruelty of the British rule over India during the almost 30 years.
MOTHER. An excellent, genius- directed, absolutely intelligent plot, best-acted…what more can you ask from a movie?? Jennifer Lawrence, plus two of my favorite actors Javier Bardem and Ed Harris, Brian Gleeson, and a darker Michelle Pfeiffer make a perfect cast for this challenging film. Not a scary, boo-type, odd, weird, what’s that?, cellar stairs type of film. It’s more like “what is going on”, “I can’t imagine what’s happening next kind of film, Directed by Darren Aronofsky, it’s a winner, and you’ll remember seeing it. So go. RT calls it a “psychological thriller” I agree.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES. Billie Jean King plays against Bobby Riggs in this easy going tennis and sex movie. Billie Jean has an internal battle with her own sex, which adds a deeper and more involved plot than the 1973 match which we’ve all been reading up on or remember from those days. Emma Stone reputedly the highest star in the world acts perfectly with Steve Carrell and the movie is a guaranteed hit with everybody. I didn’t recognize Sarah Silverman as the women’s coach because she wears sunglasses all through the movie. I liked Little Miss Sunshine better.
IT. This broke all box office records last weekend when IT opened…and IT should have. IT is a well made, very scary movie. Based on some Stephen King books, IT is chapter one of a two part nightmare- daydream that will grab you when you are least prepared to be scared. It has all the clichés…BUT it’s got tension, mystery, and perfect timing along with excellent acting. Just go see IT but only if you truly enjoy being scared. 86 on RT.
AMERICAN MADE. It is NOT another dopey, violent Tom Cruise superhuman action flick. This one is based on an unbelievable probably half true story about a guy who becomes an international drug runner then gets involved illegally with our CIA and the Iran Contra affair that almost got President Ronnie R. evicted. It’s probably Scientology that gives Tom Cruise that certain extra something…and I have to admit I like watching the buy. 87 on RT.
KINGSMEN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE. I wished I’d remembered that this part 2 of an ongoing series comes from comic books. The entire movie looks like an animated cartoon. It’s violent, murderous, and plain goofy. Elton John plays himself and there’s a warning right there. To watch such good actors as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and especially Colin Firth jump around for their million dollar salaries is embarrassing.
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
The very best part of this is the last minute and 15 seconds.
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
COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Click and enter the box in the upper right hand corner of each Column. You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!) Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!
Snail Mail: Bratton Online
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Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Highlights this week:
ICE Raids here?, Homeless UCSC students hiding?, Voting for Mayor, Abbott Square Fountain distruction, County Jail volunteers quit, Community TV getting worse, I NEED A CAR …Greensite on the rail/trail environmental review …Krohn about loaded City Council agenda, future of City Manager, Homeless Task Force, going to Texas…Steinbruner reports that State Historic Preservation Staff says, “Santa Cruz County Is A Black Hole for Historic Preservation“, Bulldozing Hirahara Barn, Swenson and Pacific hole condos get affordable units requirement waived by City Council, still no building permits at Rancho Del Mar, fees charged at Privates Beach just like Martin’s Beach issue ?…Gary Patton and “The Low Road” poem…DeCinzo and our Earthquake’s 28th anniversary…Jensen reviews Blade Runner 2049…I critique Blade Runner 2049 and Victoria & Abdul…Quotes about Earthquakes.
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 😉 !!
Today I found out… This is a great show on Youtube – this episode is about why some people sneeze from the sun.
They don’t make ’em like this anymore…
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?
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??
TALL TALES AND RAIL~TRAILS
Until last Thursday, I hadn’t paid close attention to the controversial rail/trail project beyond the knowledge that some strongly support both rail and trail and some strongly support only the trail. Arguments seem persuasive on both sides.
When I read that the environmental review for Phase 1 of Segment 7 of this 32-mile project, the 1.36 mile section from Natural Bridges to Bay and California Streets was on the October 5th Planning Commission agenda, I thought it wise to take a closer look. The city has a poor track record with environmental reviews or lack thereof. It took a lawsuit to convince the city that yes, if it was going to weaken its Heritage Tree Ordinance it needed to conduct an environmental review and its claims of CEQA exemption were unfounded. It took 2500 petition signers and a letter from an attorney to convince the city that an EIR was needed to adequately assess the environmental impact of changes proposed for the Municipal Wharf under the Wharf Master Plan. So I was keen to read and spot any inadequacies in the environmental documents for this segment of the rail/trail project. It did not take long.
The plan is to construct a 4.5 feet tall safety fence to separate the trail from the rail. It is to be made of steel posts and wire with the lowest rung 6 inches above grade. A friend commented that such a fence would be a disaster for animal migration, including skunks, coyotes, possums and the occasional deer on the far west side. With that in mind I was surprised to read under Section IV: Biological Resources on page 3-22 of the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) that: “The Project is located within an urban area and there are no wildlife corridors within the Project area.” Anyone living for a while on the lower Westside knows that’s not true. The MND follows that misstatement with: “Arroyo Seco and Neary Lagoon are not wildlife corridors for migratory fish species.” That’s true. It’s called Arroyo SECO for a reason. What about other species using the supposedly non-existent wildlife corridors? Not mentioned.
Such sloppy environmental review was sufficient to get me to the meeting. The room was crowded with the opposing camps of trail only defenders and rail/trail defenders. One fact is obvious. The rail/trail proponents or at least the many who wrote emails and those who attended the meeting have no interest in potential environmental impacts to animals or the loss of 25 trees due to the project. They applauded the MND and urged swift approval. The trail only proponents expressed concern regarding trees and used that issue to support the trail only option, which minimizes tree loss. No one mentioned animal corridors. When it was my turn to speak, I pointed out the incorrect entry regarding animal corridors. The planner in charge of the project shook his head as I was speaking. I hate when they do that. It’s a signal to other staff and commissioners that the speaker is wrong and is misquoting, which in this case was not true. Despite that tactic, when commissioners deliberated after public comment, three of them expressed concern regarding animal corridors and the impact of the linear fence. While they unanimously approved the project, one asked for that issue to be better addressed in the MND. We’ll see how that is handled when the MND goes to council.
Personally, this closer examination of the project has raised red flags. The 32 miles of the rail line from Davenport to Watsonville bisects many animal corridors, especially in the open space areas. A continuous steel fence running that distance should be of concern for animal migration. Besides that, many areas along the rail are lined with groves of trees providing immense habitat value. If you sight along the tracks in some places, to accommodate the widened rail/trail, all trees will be removed. Many are Monarch butterflies overwintering sites whether designated or not. At the Monarch Festival at Natural Bridges on Sunday, October 9th, the lead interpreter noted not only the decline of this iconic species but underscored the need to “help with trees on the coast and conserve tree groves” if we are to share a future with Monarch butterflies. How will further environmental reviews of the rail/trail handle this dilemma?
An environmental review manipulated to promote a project needs to be called out, whatever side of the issue you support. Otherwise such review is meaningless. In the long run we all lose… butterflies, trees, animals and ourselves.
Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild.
“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?
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 ofhousing 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.
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PLANNING DEPT. WANTS TO BULLDOZE HISTORIC REDMAN-HIRAHARA BARN IN WATSONVILLE.
“You have legal ability to require the barn be re-built rather than demolished. You do not have to be the beggars at the table here,” local historian Mr. Ross Gibson wisely told the County Historic Resources Commission at their October 2 meeting. His sage words went unheeded.
Here is the video of that disgusting County Historic Resources Commission meeting last week.
Last week’s County Historic Resources Commission meeting was a real eye-opener. Assistant Planning Director WandaWilliams insisted the wooden barn (built around 1900) next to the Nationally-Registered Redman-Hirahara house on Lee Road in Watsonville has no significance and in fact, informed the Commission that an over-the-counter demolition permit is in the works This was a visible shock to the Commissioners, especially Ms. Carolyn Swift, who was aware of the 2010 archaeologist report recommending the barn also be placed on the National Historic Registry because of the incredible significance the barn played in housing many Japanese-American families returning to the area after forced incarceration during World War II. Luckily for the Hirahara family, their neighbors had paid the taxes on their farm while they were imprisoned, but many other families were not so lucky. The barn housed them until they could get re-established.
The Santa Cruz County Planning Director, Ms. Kathy Previsich, could care less. Neither her Assistant, Wanda Williams, nor the Historic Resources Special Projects Planner, Annie Murphy were willing to acknowledge the importance of the barn, the significance of the 2010 archaeologist report or the blunder on the part of the Planning Dept. to follow through with the National Registry designation when it was professionally recommended. Instead, without notifying the Historic Resources Commission, staff is working diligently with the owner/developer Tut Family and Elite Developers to finish knocking the barn down, splintering the wood and any possible artifacts, and sending it all down the road to the dump. And gee, wouldn’t it all be a shame if the demolition crew accidentally backed the dozer into the house? That pesky historic house is in the way of a profitable new hotel or two, just like what is currently in the works on their other parcel across the road. At the behest of Commissioner Swift, the Planning Dept. staff will ASK the developers if the Commissioners could be notified of the demolition date so as to possibly be present with archaeologists to retrieve historic morsels from the wreckage.
Keep watching it and you will see the brilliant argument that local historian Mr. Ross Gibson made to have the Bob Merriman family home at 1438 Capitola Road saved from the bulldozer. That is on County-owned land slated for a hotel or maybe dense development. Bob Merriman was the real-life hero that Ernest Hemmingway based his “For Whom the Bell Tolls” novel upon…the Planning Dept. does not think that is significant either. The site is also the birthplace of the farmer’s cooperative model that took flight around the nation to help small farmers prosper while working together. That explains why the historic lots in Live Oak are very deep, doesn’t it? Well, the Planning Dept. doesn’t think that is significant, even though that model spawned a rich agricultural heritage of small, very successful poultry farmers in Santa Cruz County. In the early 1900’s, Santa Cruz was second only to Petaluma for the economic value of poultry in the State, and the University of California encouraged an agricultural advisor to work with poultry farmers to build a National Egg Laying Contest Center on the banks of the San Lorenzo River, today the home of Riverside Lighting. Does the Planning Dept. care about this bit of significant County history? NOPE!
Is it any wonder that staff from the State Historic Preservation Office recently said “Santa Cruz County is a Black Hole for historic preservation.”?
Does any of this bother you? Call your County Supervisor: 831-454-2200 and the Director of State Historic Preservation
And the Director of the National Historic Registry: “Jaime Loichinger” jloichinger@achp.gov
(According to Ross Gibson, all structures on a property within the national Historic designation are protected. Wanda Williams would not listen to this or even attempt to investigate the issue.)
Demand that the historic carriage barn at the Redman-Hirahara house be rebuilt, not demolished. The professional survey and recommendation to do so exist from 2010 but the County Planning Dept. never followed up on the recommendation. Also demand that the Bob Merriman home be elevated from an NR-6 historic status (no significance) to an NR-5 status (local historic status and worthy of preservation) and be preserved. The County wants to bulldoze it to make way for dense tax-rich development.
IS ANYBODY PAYING ATTENTION IN SANTA CRUZ?
Two weeks ago, Santa Cruz City Councilman Chris Krohn wrote in BrattonOnline that the City Council had waived for Barry Swenson Builder the City’s requirement to include 15% of the new five-story 79-condo unit development on upper Pacific and Cedar Streets (the hole next to Lulu Carpenters) be dedicated to affordable units. I was shocked. How could the Council throw away 12 affordable residential units when their highest priority in the City’s Strategic Goals is to add more affordable housing for residents?
I wrote the “Affordable Housing NOW!” group to ask their thoughts and was puzzled as to why the leader, Mr. Tim Willoughby, seemed rather unconcerned, stating “there seems to be some confusion about the 15% requirement issue.” But he did acknowledge that 15% of the units will have to meet the affordability requirement when they are sold. (This is technically a condominium project)The council chose not to add any requirement on renting a percentage of the units at restricted rent levels while they are in the rental market.
Here is what Councilmember Chris Krohn had to say:
“The city council CAN demand the builder include “up to 15%” affordable units in a “planned development” (condo project). We have the right and it is legal according to the city attorney. The council had that opportunity, but not the will, to tell Jesse Nickell of Swenson to build them, 12 units. Our community lost.”
Maybe we will see more responsible action from the Council during Affordable Housing Week, October 19-26, with a nice event planned for October 19, 7pm-9pm, at the Civic. JOIN ME FOR A STREET PROTEST THERE TO LET THE SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL KNOW PEOPLE WANT MORE THAN JUST LIP SERVICE TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING REQUIREMENTS. Bring your own signs or make one there. I’ll see you on the sidewalk in front of the Civic at 7pm
BARRY SWENSON’S SLAP ON THE WRIST FOR VIOLATING MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY AND CONTAMINATING APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT SOILS.
As was reported here recently, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney fined Barry Swenson Builder a measly $125,000 for the multiple public health and safety laws that the Swenson crew broke, at the behest of foremen Keith Henderson and Jim Lynn, along with the aid of Santa Cruz Underground Paving (SCUP). Here is the communication from Mr. Ed Browne, the DA, regarding the case:
Ms. Steinbruner,
The case number for the matter is 17 CV 02333. Any negotiations are confidential pursuant to Evidence Code section 1152. However, the attached Complaint and Judgment clears set out the violation and resolution. There are no liens since all penalties and costs were paid prior to the filing of the case.
Ed Browne
LOWER RANCHO DEL MAR CENTER FENCED OFF…DEMOLITION PERMIT ISSUED WITHOUT BUILDING PERMITS APPROVED.
Well, here we go, folks, the Planning Dept. gave TRC Retail a demolition permit, but no building permits yet. I guess that’s the “tight construction timeline” that County Supervisor Zach Friend held onto in order to help boot out the merchants with a 30-day notice. Take a look for yourself at what the Planning Dept. issued just last Thursday, October 5, 2017
You can see the lack of building permits issued if you look at the permit status for APN 039-221-11, advancing to Page 4 of the history. NO PERMITS YET APPROVED.
THANK YOU RTC COMMISSIONER JACQUE BERTRAND FOR INVESTIGATION OF APTOS VILLAGE BUS STOP RELOCATION PROBLEMS!
I spoke before the Regional Transportation Commission Board last week, asking for some accountability of the County’s use of RTC grant money (over $2 million total) to fund all the Aptos Village Traffic Improvements to benefit the developers, but especially the Metro inbound #71 bus stop. Recently, Metro Operations Official, Mr. Ciro Aguirre told the Metro Board that the County plans to pay for the new bus bay that will not allow bus drivers to entirely exit the lane of traffic when stopped, nor will there be a sidewalk leading to the bus stop! How can that be? Thankfully, Mr. Bertrand, the RTC Commissioner representing Capitola, asked staff to investigate and report back.
The RTC Elderly and Disabled Transportation Advisory Commission meets this week…maybe County Public Works will finally explain the reasoning behind this bus stop relocation and lack of access for those with mobility challenges. Stay tuned!
HOW IS MARTIN’S BEACH DIFFERENT FROM CAPITOLA’S “PRIVATE’S BEACH”?
Maybe you saw the headlines in newspapers last week (Santa Cruz Sentinel, 10/5/2017 Page A1) about the Coastal Commission forcing the owner of an access road to Martin’s Beach up north to open the locked gate to once again allow the public free access to the public beach. The Coastal Commission threatened to impose $11,000/day fines if the gate remained closed to the public. So, how can the local Opal Cliffs Recreation District be allowed to continue restricting public access with a locked gate, forcing the public to purchase a $100 key pass to enter the public Private’s Beach? The parcel of land is supposedly owned by the County of Santa Cruz, but the members of the Opal Cliffs Recreation District pay to have access to the beach and also fund improvements at the entry site, located at 4524 Opal Cliffs Drive, Capitola. Why did County Sheriff Jim Hart write and post a letter at the gate last year to support the continued locked gate and paid membership access?
The Santa Cruz Sentinel article (6/17/2017) reported that the County struck a deal with the Coastal Commission to allow free public access from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and to allow the exclusive paid membership access the rest of the year. WHY IS THIS DIFFERENT THAN MARTIN’S BEACH? It is impossible to research much about the ownership of the parcel…County Assessor data show it was recorded on July 4, 1776 and is not traceable. Just like the Soquel Creek Water District’s new Granite Way Well site in Aptos Village Project…..
YET ANOTHER NEW MOBILE HOME ASSOCIATED WITH THE SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT’S APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT WELL SITE?
Strange but true…last week when I was verifying information at the County Assessor’s office public computers regarding the Soquel Creek Water District’s new Granite Way well site (APN 041-011-54), the same “GENERAL PARCEL’ in a residential zone information came up as had previously, but now it has been given an address: 123 Parcel Ave., but no city. Hmmmm…… The other change I observed was that the previous Scotts Valley mobile home information has been replaced with a different mobile home…this one in Aptos.
I asked County Assessor Mr. Sean Saldavia about the irregularity. He was not familiar with a “GENERAL PARCEL” on the data base entries, so asked for a staff person to join the discussion. This woman seemed to be unconcerned with the fact that a residential parcel (now with a mailing address of 123 General Parcel Ave. but no city and no site address) was connected with the APN of a tax-exempt well parcel owned by Soquel Creek Water District, and that a different mobile home was also connected with this piece of Special District owned tax-exempt land. Now, the APN 038-081-14 (site #98, address 220 Mar Vista Drive, Aptos) is attached to the Granite Way well parcel, located within the Aptos Village Project. The General Parcel is also tax-exempt with no assessed value according to 2013-2014 data shown.
Both Mr. Saldavia and the staff person took note that the public computer screen did not print out entirely when the command was issued….removing on paper any connection with the Well Parcel 041-011-54 and the General Parcel of residential land (recorded on July 4, 1776 with no traceable document), and the mobile home personal property recorded July 13, 2017, with document 2017-MHA022 (not available at the County Recorder’s Office).
“What would you think, if you were a common citizen, and saw this information on a County data base?” I asked. “Well,” the woman said, ” I would be curious, but I would not speculate.” Hmmmm……
If it were your property that seemed to have irregular information attached, would you shrug your shoulders and move along? Maybe so, especially if you were the Soquel Creek Water District Board. They still have not responded to my letter to them with documentation of the issue and request for explanation. Are you a ratepayer? Maybe they will have an answer for you if you try contacting them:
COUNTY PUBLIC WORKS CLOSING APTOS VILLAGE TRAFFIC TO ONE LANE THROUGH DECEMBER, 2017.
The massive storm damage to Soquel Drive just at the underpass entering the Aptos Village will be repaired, beginning this week. That has been a worry to many, and the FEMA repair will be welcome. What will make it all a challenge for the area’s residents and businesses is the closure to one-lane of traffic until December 15. That is in addition to the nightmare already in progress, for which there is little public information, in the taxpayer-funded County Phase I work to benefit the Aptos Village Project developers (http://aptosvillageimprovement.blogspot.com/) AND the mess on Trout Gulch Road, Cathedral Drive and Aptos Creek Road that Barry Swenson Builder is creating, with absolutely no public information.
Please contact Supervisor Zach Friend and let him know your thoughts. He loves to hear from you.
~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).
The Sun magazine, which I have recently discovered, and which I find remarkable, has printed “The Low Road,” by Marge Piercy, in its October 2017 edition.
The following is almost the whole poem, but I am ending where I have often said, in this blog, we must all begin. Marge Piercy says it more powerfully. She says it better than I ever could: “The Low Road”
What can they do
to you? Whatever they want.
They can set you up, they can
bust you, they can break
your fingers, they can
burn your brain with electricity,
blur you with drugs till you
can’t walk, can’t remember, they can
take your child, wall up
your lover. They can do anything
you can’t stop them
from doing. How can you stop
them? Alone, you can fight,
you can refuse, you can
take what revenge you can
but they roll over you.
But two people fighting
back to back can cut through
a mob, a snake-dancing file
can break a cordon, an army
can meet an army.
Two people can keep each other
sane, can give support, conviction,
love, massage, hope, sex.
Three people are a delegation,
a committee, a wedge. With four
you can play bridge and start
an organization. With six
you can rent a whole house,
eat pie for dinner with no
seconds, and hold a fund-raising party.
A dozen make a demonstration.
A hundred fill a hall.
A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter;
ten thousand, power and your own paper;
a hundred thousand, your own media;
ten million, your own country.
It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again after they said no,
it starts when you say We …
~Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net
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.
BLADE RUNNER 2049. Denis Villeneuve directed this sequel and it has very little visually or plot wise in the way of continuity…it’s an unique addition to science fiction films. Dystopian is the very overused word describing a disaster based future. This film has Los Angeles really transfigured…and terrible. Ryan Gosling carries the entire story, with Robin Wright and Harrison Ford doing fine acting jobs too. I have rarely, if ever,seen or felt a theatre audience so still-hypnotized-awed-puzzled-and silent as the one I joined last week. I’m going again, it needs two viewings on as large a screen as possible.
VICTORIA & ABDUL. Almost everyone knows that Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria in this cute, warm, cuddly feel good movie. Eddie Izzard plays the Prince of Wales ( Edward VII), but you won’t recognize him. I didn’t, and I’m a big fan of Izzards. Stephen Frears directed it. He did My Beautiful Launderette, Prick Up your Ears, Philomena and some more great films but this isn’t in that category. Aside from the cuteness, it ignores the cruelty of the British rule over India during the almost 30 years.
MOTHER. An excellent, genius- directed, absolutely intelligent plot, best-acted…what more can you ask from a movie?? Jennifer Lawrence, plus two of my favorite actors Javier Bardem and Ed Harris, Brian Gleeson, and a darker Michelle Pfeiffer make a perfect cast for this challenging film. Not a scary, boo-type, odd, weird, what’s that?, cellar stairs type of film. It’s more like “what is going on”, “I can’t imagine what’s happening next kind of film, Directed by Darren Aronofsky it’s a winner, and you’ll remember seeing it. So go. RT calls it a “psychological thriller” I agree.
BATTLE OF THE SEXES. Billie Jean King plays against Bobby Riggs in this easy going tennis and sex movie. Billie Jean has an internal battle with her own sex, which adds a deeper and more involved plot than the 1973 match which we’ve all been reading up on or remember from those days. Emma Stone reputedly the highest star in the world acts perfectly with Steve Carrell and the movie is a guaranteed hit with everybody. I didn’t recognize Sarah Silverman as the women’s coach because she wears sunglasses all through the movie. I liked Little Miss Sunshine better.
This broke all box office records last weekend when IT opened…and IT should have. IT is a well made, very scary movie. Based on some Stephen King books, IT is chapter one of a two part nightmare- daydream that will grab you when you are least prepared to be scared. It has all the clichés…BUT it’s got tension, mystery, and perfect timing along with excellent acting. Just go see IT but only if you truly enjoy being scared. 86 on RT.
AMERICAN MADE. It is NOT another dopey, violent Tom Cruise superhuman action flick. This one is based on an unbelievable probably half true story about a guy who becomes an international drug runner then gets involved illegally with our CIA and the Iran Contra affair that almost got President Ronnie R. evicted. It’s probably Scientology that gives Tom Cruise that certain extra something…and I have to admit I like watching the buy. 87 on RT.
KINGSMEN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE. I wished I’d remembered that this part 2 of an ongoing series comes from comic books. The entire movie looks like an animated cartoon. It’s violent, murderous, and plain goofy. Elton John plays himself and there’s a warning right there. To watch such good actors as Julianne Moore, Halle Berry and especially Colin Firth jump around for their million dollar salaries is embarrassing.
FLATLINERS. Ellen Page who looks like she’s about 18 and is really 30 has the lead in this potentially interesting but terrible mess of a movie. She and some fellow Med students try flatlining (killing) themselves then bringing each other back to life a minute or two later. They have death visions, the equipment fails, they chicken out, and they suffer night and day- mares. But IF there was a director (;-) he or she completely blew it. Don’t go…you won’t be able to make any sense of it either. ENDS THURSDAY OCTOBER12.
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
Tutorials are one of the best things about Youtube, for reals!
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
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Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
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…
