January 24 – 30, 2017 - Bratton Online - A Weekly Column By Bruce Bratton - Page 47Bratton Online – A Weekly Column By Bruce Bratton | The latest incarnation of Bruce Bratton's weekly opinion columns, 34 years and running

January 24 – 30, 2017

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Bruce

SOQUEL RAINS IN 1955. Taken on the Soquel Bridge looking east we can see that rains and storms have done some damage many times before these last two weeks.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE January 23, 2017

I FORGOT THAT BURGER JOINT ON “REVITALIZED” OCEAN STREET. Last week I wrote about the unmitigated mess that Ocean Street (and all our other Santa Cruz entrances) have become. Then I wrote about how our City Planning Department shovels out the muck about making Ocean Street vibrant, and revitalized. All the while inviting and encouraging such buck’s up franchises like Dunkin Donuts to open massive new outlets. I forgot that IN THE SAME NEW BUILDING on Ocean Street they’re allowing HabitBurger Grill to add another franchise/joint. From their website… “The first Habit Burger Grill opened in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 and has since grown to more than 150 restaurants in 16 markets throughout California, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia and Washington. More information is available at www.habitburger.com. Check out their grills, their architecture, their burgers, uniforms…everything!!!

Once again, this is the City of Santa Cruz’s idea of how to beautify our Ocean street entrance. More facts from Wikipedia… The Habit Burger Grill was founded in November 15, 1969 in Goleta, California as a family-owned business.[4] In 2007, it was purchased by KarpReilly, a private equity firm that began to rapidly expand the chain, including franchising. Multiple newspapers reported in 2013 that Habit Burger LLC, the parent company to the chain, was planning an IPO. On November 19, 2014 the company raised $83.7 million in an initial public offering (IPO). And this is supposed to re-vitalize Ocean Street???

SANTA CRUZ WOMEN’S PROTEST PARADE NUMBERS. Chris Krohn was there and he says 10,000, Tony Russomano has the Sentinel saying 8,000, Jodi Frediani has it at 16,000. Nobody really, really knows and someone said it was definitely the biggest protest/crowd/march Santa Cruz has ever created….any evidence otherwise???

FLOODS, THE TANNERY, ARTISTS AND HOMELESS. Reading about the San Lorenzo River flooding again I remembered all the reasons so many of us fought creating and building The Tannery. Santa Cruz can’t get it together to provide adequate shelter for our homeless yet we build affordable housing for people who dabble in art. We ignore the flooding San Lorenzo river and build The Tannery in that flood plain. Why do art hobbyists deserve housing and not teachers, nurses, students, and especially day workers. Throughout history artists have always made art under impossible conditions. Many times those very conditions are what push them to make art. Santa Cruz made a serious error when they made The Tannery exclusivly for art hobbyists.

LAND WATCH MONTEREY VICTORY. This is taken directly from Landwatch Monterey’s newsletter of Monday January 16. It’s about The Monterey Downs Development being defeated.

“VICTORY AFTER 11 YEARS”.

The California Coastal Commission voted 9-0 last Thursday to deny the proposed 26-unit Rancho Roberto subdivision in North Monterey County. LandWatch first opposed the project at the County level in 2005, alongside Friends, Artists, and Neighbors of Elkhorn Slough (FANS) which had opposed the project since 1999. FANS appealed the Monterey County Board of Supervisors’ 2005 approval to the Commission in the public interest, and kept a vigilant eye on the project for the last 11 years. Download our letter submitted to the Coastal Commission.

Testifying on behalf of LandWatch, former Executive Director Gary Patton, urged the Coastal Commission to deny the project. Testifying on behalf of FANS, Mari Kloeppel, and legal counsel Molly Erickson, also expressed strong objections to the project, describing FANS’ sustained opposition over 17 years, the on-the-ground impacts of critical overdraft and citing applicable North County Land Use Plan policies.

GIRL SCOUTS MARCH IN TRUMP’S PARADE. Lee Quarnstrom sent this article “Girl Scouts Defend Their Involvement in Donald Trump Inauguration” check it out… See, it’s not just the cookies!!! Or the uniforms!!!

No Greensite’s Insight this week. Gillian’s beloved partner of 29 years, John Phillip Bergwall, died suddenly on January 19th. Grief takes its own time. Gillian will resume writing after a short break.

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 Santa Cruz city council life is serious business. Seven council members can seriously affect the everyday lives of the people who live, work, and play in our “ecological hotspot,” vulnerably located near the thirty-sixth parallel, north of the equator. The city council can intervene to make things better or to make life worse for our residents. We often do both.

At the outset of this column, I take a moment to remember the words of the former editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Joseph Pulitzer. Around 1902 he said it was his business to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” Pulitzer was talking about journalism, but somehow city councils also might pay close attention to those words. I know I will.

The city council frequently offends one group as they go ahead, at any given meeting and support the economic and social interests of another interest group. My intentions are to represent those who either currently have no representation, or who feel like their issues are going unheard, while the interests of “the comfortable” go to the head of the line because somehow they’ve figured out how to get their agenda item near the top of the list. No, it’s not magic. It is the stuff of politics, and one thing I have come to learn in this town is that the squeaky wheel does get the grease. So take heart, our agenda items will be moving up the ladder soon.

The goal of open government is perhaps one of our nation’s most laudable achievements, but also a work in progress. Open government means that elected representatives ought to provide residents with a transparent process, one that is understandable and easy to use. As your city councilmember, my goal is to hear more from the public, not less; provide you with more services, not fewer; and to hopefully place you, the (under represented?) residents, front and center in co-creating a healthy and sustaining civic relationship.

Shall we get started?

WOW! This weekend saw two big marches descend upon downtown Santa Cruz. On Friday I marched with a thousand UCSC students from campus to the town clock. A “General Strike” was called for by the “General Strike Committee of Santa Cruz” for January 20th, the day of the presidential inauguration. It became a day of protest and teach-ins throughout Santa Cruz. When students and staff arrived at the Town Clock they were met by over a thousand “townies.” A loudspeaker was placed atop an old Toyota pick-up and the first teach-in commenced at the intersection of Pacific, Front, and Mission streets. Everyone sat down on the asphalt for an hour to hear from UCSC professor, T.J. Demos and community activist, Ernestina Saldana. Both recounted the “trumposities” that will be visited upon us Californians during the next four years beyond what we already can see: cuts to the Affordable Care Act, calls for deportations, and attacks on iconic figures like civil rights marcher and US Rep., John Lewis from Georgia.

The following day, Saturday, more than 10,000 (yes, you read that right: ten thousand) marched slowly down Pacific Avenue to protest the Donald Trump presidency. The Woman’s March carried out here and in cities around the world was a major push back on the misogynist, homophobic and racist language and actions the incoming President has unleashed on the American people over the past year.

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The mood on Pacific was anxious, sometimes uncertain, often joyful, but always filled with hope and ideas on how this community might confront the next four years. “Free Melania!” “You’re so vain, you probably think the march is about you, don’t you!?” and “This Pussy bites back,” were some of my favorite messages. The outpouring of people, stories, songs and music was invigorating and made me realize why I love Santa Cruz so much…we may be a bit down for the count right now, but we’re not out of the fight by any means (necessary!).

A couple of weeks ago the city council met for the first time this year with three new members, two from the BNC, Brand New Council slate, Sandy Brown and myself. The agenda was rather slight, a scant ten items (there are sometimes over thirty). No evening meeting was scheduled. The council entered “closed session” at 1:30p inside the windowless white-washed conference room behind the main city council chambers at 809 Center Street. We finally exited open session for the day at 6:38pm, five hours and eight minutes of meeting. Get ready I told myself, we’ll work our way up to the nine and ten-hour marathon sessions.

In politics there are issues put out that are real and personal and heartfelt. And sometimes those same issues might cloud or obfuscate or provide cover for a more $money-centric$ set of issues. In political life I always remember Deep Throat’s admonition, “Follow the money.”

The unfamiliar issues, ones with perhaps more of a backstory on this past January 10th agenda were ones I will continue to follow and they include: the lease agreement between the city and Stagnaro’s restaurant on the wharf; 1100 Cedar Street, one that was pulled from closed session concerning “real property negotiations” (address is across the street from Café Benne and under the old walnut tree behind the old Bookshop Santa Cruz…It was casually mentioned to me that some 75(?) condos were approved on the old Bookshop site back in 2007(!), and maybe the project might start soon? Ten years ago a project was approved at this site and there has been no real update given to new council members about what the project entails…maybe that’s why it was taken off the agenda?

And then there is the 350 Ocean Street apartments near the corner of Broadway, cattycorner to the 7/11 store on the same block. Council was asked by staff (who mostly seem to determine how agenda items get on the agenda) for an “Urgency Interim Ordinance” for residential demolition. A man identifying himself as the lawyer for the 350 Ocean property owners appeared before the council, possibly hoping we would not pass this demolition ordinance. He seemed to contend that the council presumably would “eminent domain” his client’s property and scrape off the now uninhabited former low income rental units. These same units were boarded up recently by the city. The demolition ordinance passed in open session, but going forward I felt a bit queasy about how it might be used. These are difficult and complicated issues and it is almost impossible for council members not to get caught up in historic battles they sometimes know little about.

The large social issue on this agenda had to do with declaring Santa Cruz a sanctuary city. It was a resolution and not an ordinance, meaning it fit the spirit of Santa Cruz, but not the letter of any law. Councilmember Sandy Brown asked for a friendly amendment, that councilmembers be notified by the police department when ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or La Migra) comes to town. It was turned down by the councilmember who made the motion to approve the sanctuary city status, Councilmember Cynthia Mathews. I asked if we could add the language, “No human is illegal.” She turned it down as well.

It was heartfelt bordering on wonderful to see 27 members of the public speak so forcefully and passionately about how our community could and should provide a safe space for immigrants. Many urged the council to adopt ordinance language, so my friendly amendment was accepted in so much as the staff (city attorney) will bring back ordinance—teeth—language (Feb. 14th) for the council to wrestle over and vote on. The Sanctuary City resolution passed unanimously, and although it is “one small step forward” in protecting our immigrants, it is a “giant leap” for the community in getting this city council engaged in one of THE community issues of our time. I was proud.

A “Taxicab Industry Regulation” item also was on the agenda. It seemed to be a measure that would help shore up our existing taxi cab industry (21 Yellow, 4 Deluxe, and 2 Go-Greencabs. Who knew, 27 cabs in town?!) against the rapid onslaught of technology-friendly, fast, and furious, Uber. It seemed though like it is too little, too late for our local cabs. But I wondered if a different business model might still perhaps save them? I was able to get staff to bring back a taxi issue to look at electric cabs. Now that seems like it would sell here in surf city, doesn’t it?

The issue of “oral communication,” a time for the public to speak on an issue NOT on the agenda, has become troubling. It is no longer agendized with a number, nor at a “time certain” that the public can rely on. In the past it was always set for 7pm. Even if no other city business was on the agenda the council would still meet to hear from the public. A few years ago it was moved to 5pm, but now it seems mostly to be a moving target. The public might have to now come and sit for an hour or two until, at the discretion of the mayor, it is called for. Here’s an example of how “oral communication” might be used.

On the night of January 10th, seven members of the public spoke about the broken process of city development known as the “corridor plan.” So, on advice from the city attorney, since the issue was not on the agenda, I tried to bring back the Corridor Advisory Committee. I used agenda item #10, “Council Meeting Calendar,” to call for a reset and a renewed discussion about the corridor plan, much the way the desal discussion was revitalized and reset. I made a motion to place this item on the next city council agenda, Sandy Brown seconded, but it failed by a 5-2 vote. This motion was not to approve anything other than simply placing it on the next agenda for discussion and presumably, an up or down vote. But no, it was not to be. Not even with seven residents looking on and hoping for a rebirth of this committee could we place it on the next agenda. It was clear during the fall election that eastside neighbors want staff and council to look again at this plan that contemplates five and six story buildings along Ocean, Soquel, and Water corridors among others. But what we did win was a minor victory in having staff bring back a discussion of the corridor plan at the February 14th city council meeting. You can’t always get what you want…ya get what you need…oh yeah.

Krohn’s Council Watch for next week, January 24th

ISSUES: a) UCSC/City/County/CLUE settlement agreement (item 6), b) resolution amending city’s bail schedule (item5), c) city living wage annual increase of 3.1% as prescribed by ordinance (item 10), d) resolution ratifying existence of a state of emergency due to severe weather and requesting funds from Governor (item 9), e) approve $117k for bike/ped bridge, “Branciforte Bridge,” (item 15), f) approve issuance (not by city but needs city approval?) of $10.5 million “of tax-exempt obligations” for Kirby school, and g) approve members (by 4-vote majority) of members on the city’s 7-member commissions (item #20). This last issue might take the longest? Closed session begins at 1:30p and open session is scheduled to begin at 2:30p. Oral communication is somewhere near the end, but no time certain (yet!).

~Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) ex-Santa Cruz City Mayor (2001-2002) an employee of UCSC. And newly re-elected to the Santa Cruz City Council.

Probably the weather or the political climate but nary a word from Becky this week.

~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).

From Gary’s “We Live In A Political World” website…Thursday, January 19, 2017

#19 / Born Bad?

This column is stimulated, in fact, by a column in the January 5, 2017 edition of The New York Times. That column, by Robert Leonard, the news director for two radio stations in Tennessee, was titled, “Why Rural America Voted for Trump.” Mostly, the column describes a number of reasons that rural residents might resent city residents, specifying both tax allocation issues and perceived cultural differences.

Leonard, who says he is a pretty liberal Democrat, was having a hard time understanding why his friends and neighbors seemed to be so willing to vote for Donald Trump. None of them were fascists, racists, misogynists, or otherwise deplorable, at least not visibly so, so what could possibly be motivating them? Here is how Leonard describes his enlightenment: For me, it took a 2015 pre-caucus stop in Pella by J. C. Watts, a Baptist minister raised in the small town of Eufaula, Okla., who was a Republican congressman from 1995 to 2003, to begin to understand my neighbors — and most likely other rural Americans as well. “The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans believe people are fundamentally bad, while Democrats see people as fundamentally good,” said Mr. Watts, who was in the area to campaign for Senator Rand Paul. “We are born bad,” he said and added that children did not need to be taught to behave badly — they are born knowing how to do that.

“We teach them how to be good,” he said. “We become good by being reborn — born again.” [Watts] continued: “Democrats believe that we are born good, that we create God, not that he created us. If we are our own God, as the Democrats say, then we need to look at something else to blame when things go wrong — not us.”
Leonard’s column doesn’t really go much further with this kind of theological differentiation, which hypothesizes that the different political parties are made different by their different approaches to God. What you get from Leonard on this topic is what you have just read, right here, and I personally don’t find the argument very convincing. In fact, I don’t really get the point that Reverend Watts is trying to make in that last sentence. To me, his statement seems contradictory on its face. If Democrats (supposedly as opposed to Republicans) believe that they ARE God, then when things go wrong, who else could those Democrats possibly blame but themselves?

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~Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for indivuduals 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. Water, Water everywhere..or nowhere? Scroll below and see DeCinzo’s take on the problem!!!

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s ” Worm’s eye 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 too, is missing this week but you should always check out her Good Times review of the week and Check out her Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

20th CENTURY WOMEN. Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Billy Crudup, and Greta Gerwig do award winning roles in this very independent, off kilter story of a “family” group trying to exist in Santa Barbara in 1979. Bening deserves every possible acting award for her role as a mom trying her damndest to raise her son while surrounded by rapidly aging girls. It’s not an easy film to follow and takes wtists turns and flashbacks with little or no warning…but go see it. You’ll be completely intrigued by it.

FOUNDER. Michael Keaton is just about the only reason to see this McDonald’s Burger saga. Founder is probably President Trump’s favorite movie, both he and Roy Kroc bought and fought their way to the top by every hook and crooked means they could think of. Roy Kroc bought the rights to McDonalds from the McDonald brothers. He then screwed them out of every deal they made with him. Keaton plays this part perfectly. Laura Dern is in this for about three minutes, a must for Keaton fans., maybe his best role yet.

ELLE. This French (subtitled) film is a cinema masterpiece. Especially because Isabelle Huppert plays the lead role. Isabelle deserves any and all awards she’s up for. She plays the CEO of a Video Game production company that produces very kinky films. Elle too is a very kinky film. Isabelle is strong, puzzling, full of angst, guilt, hatred, and even more strong. Just go see Elle, it’s a shocking and amazingly well done movie.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA. Casey Affleck single handidly sustains this deep, emotional film. It’s on the way to several awards and should win them all. It’s an intelligent, beautifically acted in depth portrait of people going through trauma and relationships. Along with Affleck there’s Michelle Williams, Gretchen Mol, even Mathew Broderick in a bit part and especially the 16 year old Lucas Hedges. It’s a cold and unrelenting film that demands your attention especially since you’ve gone through tragedies too. I’m going again, there’s just so much to watch and think about.

ARRIVAL. Amy Adams has always been an excellent actor and she’s even better in this pretty sophisticated science fiction spellbinder. 11 alien speceships hover around earth just a few feet above ground while Amy and Jeremy Renner attempt to communicate with them. It’s a thoughtful film and it’ll make you wonder just how would anybody relate to aliens (and vice versa) Like the Trump victory the world is in a state of shock over these visitors. No killings, violence or cheap cliches…a fine film. I forgot to add that like so many Special effects films nowadays it is photographed in a very dark style. (Saves money I guess)

PASSENGERS. Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt do as best they can in this spaceship drama about waking up too soon (90 years too soon) on a 120 year voyage to another planet to find a home away from earth. For obvious reasons it has to be love at first sight after Chris wakes Jennifer up early but “Hollywood level” problems arise and the plot goes lower and more predictable. Nothing here you haven’t seen before.

PATRIOT’S DAY. Mark Wahlberg, J.K Simmons, Michelle Monaghan and the ever popular Kevin Bacon plus a weird John Goodman with odd looking dark eyebrows, all add up to a saga revolving around the Boston Marathon bombing and how the cops found the perpetrators.It’s almost an advertisement for the Boston Police and their speed in shooting the last bomber while he was hiding in a boat in someone’s back yard. There isn’t a point to this docudrama, and Wahlberg’s role is all fictional. But you’ll definitely stay awake all through it.

LION. A true story of a little 5 year old boy getting lost in India. At last we get to see Dev Patel portray somebody serious and he does an excellent job. It’s a very cornball plot that you can guess every turn and twist, but still just because it’s India you do stay tuned in all the way through. Rooney Mara is his girlfriend for part of the plot and Nicole Kidman is the Australian wife who adopts him. It’s 100% feelgood and there are much better films out and around now, but it does have a certain charm.

HIDDEN FIGURES. A syrupy, Hollywoody much- altered story of three Black American women who did spectacular mathematical and technical work at NASA while fighting against a lot of racial and female prejudice. All to launch John Glenn into orbit. It’s both a cute and painful story at the same time. It’s a contender and still lacks something that could have made it a classic. It almost outdrew Star Wars on opening weekend!

LA LA LAND. It all depends on how much you remember the glorious and very bright and brilliant days of the Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Betty Grable, even Barbara Striesand, Judy Garland, and especially Ginger Rogers musicals. La La Land works very hard to convince us that the world hasn’t changed since those days and tries earnestly to recreate the innocence, and obvious genius of those performers. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone make La La Land fun and happy to a degree, but it’s not the same. The music and songs aren’t anywhere near as good and the photography of today’s LA doesn’t add much either, besides that Stone and Gosling are not professional dancers or singers like all of above. It’s like having Eddie Redmayne play Tarzan.

LIVE BY NIGHT. Ben Affleck both stars in and directed this 1920’s gangster re-hash. He shouldn’t have done ether one. I couldn’t stop from thinking James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft, plus Ann Dvorak, Merle Oberon, Lauren Bacall, and dozens more molls would show up…they didn’t, darn it. The plot is twisted and pointless and would take pages to even provide an out line. The great old cars are used in wonderful shots (pun). Why in this day and age these films of killing and hatred make as much money as they do is beyond me.

SILENCE. Martin Scorsese has been consumed with the need to portray faith, despair, and tensions of religion in every one of his films. Here he has two Catholic Jesuit Portuguese priests in 17th century Japan searching for a lost brother priest. Adam Driver, Adam Garfield and later Liam Neeson are deeply involved in the roles. You’ll need to be seriously religious especially Christian or Buddhist to enjoy this slow moving twisted exercise in faith. I didn’t like it. Too long (almost three hours) and too twisted and hard to follow, I wouldn’t advise seeing it. Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Good Fellas, and many of his other films were much better and more understandable and universal.

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. We can only guess that now that the Star Wars movie property is Walt Disney Property it would change, but not like this latest mess. Instead of being more cute, cuddly and cartoonish (like traditional Disney films)…Rogue One is darker, colder, meaner and full of war and killing. It has none of the charm, humor, humanity, mystery, history, tradition or fun quirkieness that the original Star Wars films brought us. The plot is tripe stuff about stealing Death Star plans. Darth Vader is back and James Earl Jones voice is too, but he looks thinner and smaller. The biggest afult for me is that it was filmed so dark it’s hard to see details, or look anywhere besides center screen. No great intricate space ships stay in view long enough to enjoy the fantasy. The acting is ok but there’s not much screen time for it to happen. Big disapointment.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM. The first Harry Potter spinoff from J.K. Rowling, and it’s only the first of four more FBeast movies planned!! Eddie Redmayne and Colin Farrell are the only actors we know of. In this very dark, depressing, beast filled mistake. Set in New York City in 1926 it lacks any semblence of the charm, magic, character or even cuteness of Harry Potter’s world of Hogwarts and vicinity. Special effects produced beast like snakes, octopii, Dragons, Hydras, and more than 85 different types according to Rowland’s book. Redmayne and Farrell aren’t given a chance to be likable or empathetic. You probably catch my drift…don’t go.

SLEEPLESS. Jamie Foxx plays a Las Vegas cop who operates undercover in this very bad re-hash, violent, senseless, bloody, meaningless, pointless mess. Michelle Monaghan and Dermot Mulroney are in it too. Only the weird, young and poorly oriented could find anything worth seeing in this waste of time, money and special effects.

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. Environmentalist Grey Hayes opens the program January 24 listing and discussing environmental issues in the county. Then former newspaper reporter and author Steve Shender talks about his new Hawaii book, “Once There Was Fire” (Kamehameha and friends). January 31 has UCSC Professor Linda Burman-Hall informing us about the 2017 season of The Santa Cruz Baroque festival and their Feb.4th concert. Sexpert, author, lecturer, and performer Susie Bright guests on Feb. 7 talking about lots of things. Feb.14 has author Dave Evans sharing ideas from his new book, “Designing Your Life”. On March 7 Newton and Helen Harrison talk about their book, ” The Time of The Force Majeure”. 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

After the week we’ve had, I think we need something like this. I know I do. These two are so cute, it’s almost painful 🙂

NEW UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVE FEATURE. Stuff changes at KZSC a lot. If you missed 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.

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. “REVOLUTION”

“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall”, Che Guevara
“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution”, Emma Goldman
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable”, John F. Kennedy

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Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

January 17 – 23, 2017

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Bruce

OUR CLASSIC CITY LIBRARY. On September 12, 1966 the city tore down this classic Carnegie Library at the same location our threatened library sits today. Carnegie built 1689 libraries in the USA. You can see the funeral home that still sits across Church street. It’s now Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

PREDICTING TRUMP.

Billie Holiday & Louis Armstrong – The Blues Are Brewing

The Beach Boys – Help Me Rhonda

DATELINE January 16, 1017

ENTERING SANTA CRUZ??? It’s no secret that every Highway, Route, Road or Street entrance into or through Santa Cruz City is ugly and filled with such unattractive businesses. Your friends must have commented on it for decades. The latest part of this mess is that the City Planning Department’s website is filled with such phrases as We’re “Revitalizing” Ocean Street. They talk about making Ocean Street a “vibrant gateway”. What’s the plan? What’s already underway to beautify Ocean Street??….A NEW DUNKIN DONUTS!!!

This worldwide franchise business is going onto a lot right across Ocean Street from Ferrell’s Donuts. Check out Dunkin Donuts website you’ll read their bragging about the number of stores they have. To quote, “Today, there are more than 11,300 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants worldwide – more than 8,000 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in 41 states in the U.S. plus the District of Columbia, and more than 3,200 international restaurants in 36 countries”.

Why does Santa Cruz keep bending over to attract and allow our city to grow in this direction? We also recently gave away one of our most prominent corners of Ocean and Soquel to Starbucks.

Ferrell’s is locally owned and has been here for more than 3 decades. Their profits stay here and yet we allow our city to create a monstrous competition, and all in the name of a vibrant gateway or Revitalizing Ocean Street? Drive up and down Ocean Street… count the motels, restaurants, and cheesy looking businesses and ask yourself or better yet, ask City Planning, why are you allowing and even encouraging this?

RUMOR DEPARTMENT. Really hard to track this down but murmurs and rumors have it that Juliana Rebagliatti’s announced departure as Director of the City Planning Department was due to her taking too long to approve new developments. Does that mean that City pressures want even faster approval and more developments like we’ve been crushed with since the ‘89 earthquake?

MORE FACTS NEEDED. First I heard that there was/is renewed pressure to cut down the historic Walnut tree on Cedar Street across from Café Bene. Then I got the news second hand that there are new plans to build 74 condo units facing Pacific Avenue where the hole still sits from the ’89 quake. The City Planning Department’s website is both out of date and impossible to find any data on who the developer is, why that Walnut Tree is in the way of the project or any other facts on this development. It was all proposed before, the condos, the tree removal, etc, but it fell through.

Watch this space, or better yet, if you have any news or even facts …do let me know. It’s our city and we all need to be made more aware of what’s happening to it.

WHITHER LOCAL DEMOCRACY?

On a national level, the state of our democratic republic is being assessed and its longevity debated. On a local level the same issues are frequently at play. A recent exchange between incoming council member Christopher Krohn and council member Richelle Noroyan had me pondering the role of elected officials with respect to the community they serve. At issue was the Corridors committee, the select group that held public meetings and workshops to present the Corridors Plan, that high rise, dense development Plan intended for Mission, Soquel, Ocean and Water Streets. There has been consistent, vocal and major opposition to this Plan from neighbors on the eastside where the impact will be felt the most. At the first council meeting of the year, Krohn moved that the Corridors committee be reinstated due to the neighbors’ concerns that they had not been listened to. Noroyan, who had served on the committee, objected to that description and retorted that the committee had listened to the neighbors but just didn’t agree with them. The motion failed on a 5-2 vote. At first utterance I found myself somewhat persuaded by Noroyan’s statement. “Yes, we listened but we disagree,” sounds honest and reasonable. That is until you consider more carefully the role of an elected representative and in this case, the role of the Corridors committee.

Council candidates run on very broad issues. Unless you know the individuals, know their track record if they have one, or are familiar with the groups who back them, it is very hard to distinguish one from another on major issues. All claim to be for affordable housing; all claim to be champions of the environment; all support social services and neighborhood integrity. Campaign literature and candidates forums deal in generalities. Unless a candidate has declared a position on a specific issue, such broad strokes afford little idea how a council member will vote on projects such as 85 foot tall buildings on Front St. lining the river or moving the downtown library under a 5 story parking structure or supporting the commercialization and transformation of the historic Municipal wharf. And these are the big issues! Scores of important smaller issues are decided at every meeting. However, what we do know is that each council member was elected to represent the community, guided by the General Plan. It is the duty not just the obligation of each council member to listen to the public. The Corridors committee was designed to gather information from the public and present that to the full council for consideration. In that context, Noroyan’s comment that the committee listened to but disagreed with the neighbors is troubling. It suggests that the committee came into the process with its mind made up. That the public input was tolerated at best but never taken seriously. And the public like a bloodhound can always sniff out when it is being patronized.

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If the democratic process were taken more seriously by city council, what would it look like? I notice that 2 minutes for public comment is now the norm. That’s a backward step. A minor irritant is the practice of demanding to know how many people want to speak to an item, counting raised hands (hold them higher!) looking at the clock and then magnanimously allotting a minute or two per person. This does not make members of the public who come to meetings feel welcome and listened to. President Obama urges us to become more involved in politics. Too many city politicians make us feel like a necessary nuisance to be endured. Beyond minor irritants there are more substantial erosions of the local democratic process. Major issues and projects used to be placed on the evening agenda to allow for maximum public attendance. That rarely happens now. The current practice is to have a packed afternoon agenda allowing for only rushed public comment and often no evening agenda. Oral communications used to be the first item on the evening agenda. Now it is the last item on the afternoon agenda and the exact time is flexible. People wishing to speak are told to hurry it up; that there are other ways such as email to reach council members. This last statement fails to grasp the significance of the face -to -face interaction of elected representative with a member of the public that cannot be duplicated by email, nor easily accomplished at other than a local level. It should be treated with more respect as the cornerstone of our democracy.

Perhaps the most significant erosion of democratic process is the practice of city department heads hiring out of town consultants, who talk to carefully selected “stake-holders”, develop expensive Plans such as the Wharf Master Plan, avoid proper environmental review and by the time the Plan or project reaches council after being discussed at the Commission level it is a done deal. By the way, why is the city of Santa Cruz Planning Commission not broadcast on Community TV? Scotts Valley, Capitola and Watsonville all broadcast theirs. Perhaps if the public had a better chance of knowing what is in the wings they could better articulate their views to their elected representatives. And if you aren’t aware of the scores of projects that are stacked up for council approval, hold onto your hats.

It is up to us to be involved: it is up to city council to create the conditions to maximize public involvement (that is in the General Plan); to encourage, respect and listen to public input and that should be the main guide for their decision-making. Developers, not so much.

~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).

THE DROUGHT MAY BE OVER BUT …
THE AQUIFER IS STILL IN CRITICAL OVERDRAFT

The recent rains may lift drought conditions, but regardless, we will continue to be in big trouble with groundwater shortage for years to come. That means folks between Live Oak and La Selva Beach will still be required to practice strict conservation. Well, we all need to, actually.

Soquel Creek Water District’s studies show that, in order to prevent further sea water intrusion into the underground drinking water supply, recent customer conservation levels need to DOUBLE and stay at that level for twenty years, or the District needs to STOP PUMPING COMPLETELY for seven years. Wow.

For the past six years, farmers in the Central Valley have been doing something amazing to recharge the aquifers there: flooding their farmland with winter storm runoff. Researchers from UC Davis are initiating a study this year to determine the effects of winter flooding on different tree and forage crops. “We really have to find new ways of storing and capturing rainfall in winter when water is available,” said UCD groundwater hydrologist Helen Dahlke. That sure makes sense!

Maybe that’s what Barry Swenson Builder is doing at the Aptos Village Project site…big ponds of standing water there. I wonder, though, about the possible unremediated soil contaminants from that buried 5,000 gallon diesel tank leaking who-knows-what near the utility pole area and Village Drive last March. I was glad that someone from their crew finally took action to stop the muddy (contaminated?) water and demolition debris from overflowing under the chain link fence onto Trout Gulch Road and into Trout Gulch and Valencia Creeks. Diesel and arsenic and lead! Oh, my! I wonder if Fish and Wildlife folks know about this? 707-944-5500 Bay Delta Regional Office.

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The response could not have been because someone called the 24-hour emergency phone number posted at the site, as required to be posted by the County. That number: 831-475-7100, is only good for Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm. The Barry Swenson Builder receptionist confided that messages left on that number’s general mailbox only get checked about once a week. So much for the County’s requirement for an emergency number to be posted.

SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL THE COUNTY
TO ENFORCE THEIR REQUIREMENTS UNIFORMLY

That was the goal of the We Are Aptos suit last year. Judge Burdick agreed that the County had failed to enforce it’s own requirements regarding the Aptos Village Project Subdivision Permit Conditions of Approval, and that the lots left blank (about 60% of the Project area) on the Final Map approved by the Board of Supervisors were not legal “Remainder Lots”. So why did he then deny the writ? Who knows. To add to the mystery, Judge Burdick disclosed (after reading his decision) that he is a long-time friend and neighbor of one of the Aptos Village Project developers. Does that make your jaw drop? It did mine.

MIDCOUNTY GROUNDWATER AGENCY DROP-IN DISCUSSION SESSION THIS THURSDAY (1/19) EVENING, 6pm-8pm AT SIMPKINS SWIM CENTER

Here’s your chance to have a real discussion with a few representatives of the MidCounty Groundwater Agency regarding your ideas and concerns for water policy. You need not be a customer of Soquel Creek Water District, Central Water District or any of the small water companies located between Live Oak and Corralitos to be welcome at this discussion opportunity. Are you a private well owner? You need to attend and ask questions about possible future taxation. Want to actually get some answers to your questions about Soquel Creek Water District’s plan to inject treated sewage water into your groundwater drinking supply? Here’s your chance. This is the first time this sort of session has been scheduled for a time other than 10am on a work day. I hope to see you there! 6pm-8pm, Thursday January 19, Simpkins Swim Center.

START WHERE YOU ARE, USE WHAT YOU HAVE AND DO WHAT YOU CAN

Feeling a bit anxious this week with Presidential matters? Yep, these are interesting times, and we are in for a wild ride. However, I encourage you all to not be afraid, but rather to be informed and not caught off-guard. Afterall, look what happened during the hysteria after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Did anyone speak out against this?

Executive Order 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation

In an atmosphere of World War II hysteria, President Roosevelt, encouraged by officials at all levels of the federal government, authorized the internment of tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, dated February 19, 1942, gave the military broad powers to ban any citizen from a fifty- to sixty-mile-wide coastal area stretching from Washington state to California and extending inland into southern Arizona. The order also authorized transporting these citizens to assembly centers hastily set up and governed by the military in California, Arizona, Washington state, and Oregon. Although it is not well known, the same executive order (and other war-time orders and restrictions) were also applied to smaller numbers of residents of the United States who were of Italian or German descent. For example, 3,200 resident aliens of Italian background were arrested and more than 300 of them were interned. About 11,000 German residents—including some naturalized citizens—were arrested and more than 5000 were interned. Yet while these individuals (and others from those groups) suffered grievous violations of their civil liberties, the war-time measures applied to Japanese Americans were worse and more sweeping, uprooting entire communities and targeting citizens as well as resident aliens.

(reprinted from www.historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5154)

AND DON’T FORGET THE HYSTERIA after the 9/11 event… Guantanamo Bay still has prisoners waiting for a trial, many tortured, and our civil liberties are in shambles. Were there protests in the streets? Not really.

PERHAPS THE SILVER LINING WILL BE that citizens will wake up, pay attention, unite and take action.

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Cheers,

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

PATTON’S PROGRAM. From Gary’s “We Live In A Political World” website…

Peter Thiel is a Silicon Valley billionaire. He is now advising our billionaire president-elect, Donald J. Trump, and Thiel is apparently arguing for “authoritarian government.” Furthermore, rumors have it that Thiel would like to import the Trump brand of politics and government into California. Business Insider says Thiel may be planning to run for Governor in 2018.

The following is what Thiel has to say about freedom and democracy. Let’s consider what this all might mean for our state, before we get too enthusiastic about a “Thiel for Governor” campaign. I am quoting, below, from a comment by Thiel published in Cato Unbound, the journal of the right-wing Cato Institute:

“I remain committed to the faith of my teenage years: to authentic human freedom as a precondition for the highest good. I stand against confiscatory taxes, totalitarian collectives, and the ideology of the inevitability of the death of every individual … But I must confess that over the last two decades, I have changed radically on the question of how to achieve these goals. Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible”. (emphasis added).

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Thiel’s statement has been much repeated, and to great applause from those who see life as a contest between “freedom” and the tyranny of the majority. The illustration at the top of this posting, for instance, appears in an online comment by Derek Balling, who was seeking to answer this question: “What did Peter Thiel mean when he said, ‘I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible?'”

Here’s Balling:

Democracy is the tool of a majority to enforce their will upon a minority. It gives an illusion of “say in the decision,” but ultimately those who control the votes control the outcome.

Freedom is about a lack of encroachment of others into one’s own affairs. This means that – for example – freedom is about a majority not being able to tell you “you can’t marry this person,” or “you can’t smoke this plant,” or “you can’t own this gun.” It also limits your ability to encroach on others, which is why you have no freedom to, say, walk up to someone and punch them in the side of the head.

Democracy on the other hand is the opposite of that, it is a majority of folks saying, “We don’t care if you have made a decision for yourself, you’re not allowed to poison yourself with that plant,” or “We don’t care if both of you are in love and happy, we say you can’t be joined together in marriage,” or “We don’t care if you’re not actually harming someone with that gun, we say you aren’t allowed to have it.” So I can’t pretend to know what Peter Thiel was thinking about with that quote, but that’s the sense that it evokes in me. I can’t, in fact, understand how anyone ever consider them compatible. To me, it is pretty clear that the resolution of this debate hinges on how we see ourselves. If we are each to understand ourselves as radically separate and individual, then “democracy” really does impose on our individual ability to do whatever we want.

If however, we see ourselves as connected, and believe that we are, in the end, “together in this,” if we have a self-conception that recognizes our mutual interdependence, and if we believe that our interdependence is at least as important as our “individuality,” then it should be obvious that we need to have some mechanism for making collective decisions about what we are going to do. An “authoritarian government” is certainly one way to solve the problem of collective governance. One person is the “decider,” and he or she tells everyone else what to do. Maybe we will soon be calling this the “Trump/Thiel” model. It used to be called “Monarchy.”

“Democracy” takes the opposite approach (the United States did have an entire revolution about this), and it requires us to get along and to make decisions in common that (generally speaking) are agreed to by the majority. I would hasten to note that in the American version of democracy there are some constitutional guarantees that prevent the majority from burning up the “Straw Man.” The illustration at the top of the posting, in other words, is truly a “straw man” argument!

I try not to miss a chance to insert a Bob Dylan reference into these blog postings, if I think there is a plausible excuse. On the question whether we should see ourselves as radically individual, or as part of a whole, I’m with Bob. As he says in one of his album titles, we are “Together Through Life.” If that’s our basic reality, and we really are “together in this,” then I think Winston Churchill beats Peter Thiel, hands down:

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time….
Thiel for Governor?
NOT!

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. One more DeCinzo take on our National Monument… see downwards just a bit.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Inauguration Day” 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. P.S. Read Tim Eagan’s Eagan Blog on Tilikum the “Killer” Orca.

MUNCHING WITH MOZART. Tatyana Rekow, flute and Rose Georgi, piano will perform “Music for Flute and Piano” in the monthly free concert series in the upstairs meeting room in the Santa Cruz Main Library downtown this Thursday, January 19th 12:10 – 12:50. They’ll play works by Reinecke, Bach, Mozart, Delibes, Massenet and Bolling. Get there early, the seats go fast.

LISA JENSEN LINKS.No words or answers from Lisa this week.She must be really busy. . Check out her Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

SLEEPLESS. Jamie Foxx plays a Las Vegas cop who operetaes undercover in this very bad re-hash, violent, senseless, bloody, meaningless, pointless mess. Michelle Monaghan and Dermot Mulroney are in it too. Only the weird, young and poorly oriented could find anything worth seeing in this waste of time, money and special effects.

FENCES. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis acted in August Wilson’s play “Fences” in 2010. Now Denzel directed this film version starring the two of them and most of the rest of that NYC cast. It’s drama after drama and is about a dysfunctional black family that takes place almost entirely in their small backyard. To watch the always articulate and brilliant Denzel play a black jerk who is forever down on his luck and is also mean, poorly motivated, and plain nasty was more than I could believe. I didn’t care for this film at all, and it’s doing very poorly at the boxoffice.

THE EAGLE HUNTRESS. Charming, cute, girl-empowering and all for the sake of tradition and making this very staged “documentary”. Male Mongolian tribes folk trained eagles to kill foxes in the old days probably because they needed the furs and meat. Now that everybody lives in houses, eats in cafeterias, and wears spin off clothing from Target, L.L. Bean, via China why still kill foxes?? But this cute 13 year old girl defies tradition with 100% help from staged camera work and a devoted dad…she too kills a fox. Besides the making of this film it also helps the tourist trade who visit the Mongol Mountains every year to watch the Eagle Hunt with vans, television, and lots of posters in English pushing the event.

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM. The first Harry Potter spinoff from J.K. Rowling, and it’s only the first of four more Beast movies planned!! Eddie Redmayne and Colin Farrell are the only actors we know of. In this very dark, depressing, beast filled mistake. Set in New York City in 1926 it lacks any semblence of the charm, magic, character or even cuteness of Harry Potter’s world of Hogwarts and vicinity. Special effects produced beast like snakes, octopii, Dragons, Hydras, and more than 85 different types according to Rowland’s book. Redmayne and Farrell aren’t given a chance to be likable or empathetic. You probably catch my drift…don’t go.

UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS. Kate Beckinsale is back her black, tight tights again in this fifth kinky mess of the Vampires versus the Lycans battle against the light. I tried to nap during the first half-hour but the sound effects were too loud. The thread (usually called a plot) is so nutsy and impossible that you can’t possibly care or even know who’s winning. It had the poorest opening of any of the previous four films in the series, and it deserved it.

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. Jewel Theatre’s Julie James talks about “The Book Club Play” that is playing 1/25-2/19. She’s followed by newly elected Santa Cruz City Councilpersons Chris Krohn and Sandy Brown, They’ll talk about their plans and future years on the council. Environmentalist Grey Hayes opens the program January 24 listing and discussing environmental issues in the county. Then former newspaper reporter and author Steve Shender talks about his new Hawaii book, “Once There Was Fire” (Kamehameha and friends). January 31 has UCSC Professor Linda Burman-Hall informing us about the 2017 season of The Santa Cruz Baroque festival and their Feb.4th concert. Sexpert, author, lecturer, and performer Susie Bright guests on Feb. 7 talking about lots of things. On March 7 Newton and Helen Harrison talk about their book, ” The Time of The Force Majeure”. 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

Maz Jobrani talks about the Boston bombing and stupid people on Twitter. He’s great 🙂

QUOTES. “FLOODS”

“We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear”, Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Everyone who is critical of Israeli policy is deluged by crazed messages intended to flood their email system or, more insidiously, passwords are accessed and messages sent out under their name! I’m sure it’s illegal. It’s also an effort to undermine free speech”, Noam Chomsky

“There was an ocean above us, held in by a thin sac that might rupture and let down a flood at any second” Stephen King

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

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

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

January 10 – 16, 2017

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Bruce

PACIFIC AVENUE December 22, 1955. This was about between where Rip N’ Curl and PaperVision are today. Many Pacific Ave business basements on the river side still flood today.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE January 9, 2017

INK SPOTS DOING “IF I DIDN’T CARE”

SPIKE JONES: ALL GIRL BAND MEDLEY.

SANTA CRUZ PUBLIC LIBRARY,THE HOMELESS AND MAH. Far too many people have been sucker punched by Nina Simon’s attendance numbers at what used to be a very credible Art Museum and a history museum. It took Eloise and Page Smith, and Charles Hilger and hundreds more artists and organizers to establish what was our combined art and history museum. With the City Council’s and many other’s encouragement Nina has ruined the one source and location Santa Cruz had for being exposed to the art of the world. As we know NFL football games outdraw Opera, liquor bars outdraw art galleries, Marvel Comic hero movies bring in higher attendance than Fellini, Kurosawa and Hitchcock films ever did. Now the Santa Cruz Public Library is being talked about as a Homeless Services Center IN ADDITION to remaining a library!!! Or as some folks are noting, as a way of giving up the present library building so they can justify building that new six story parking structure with a new library on the main floor. It is the same pattern as our Art and History Museum was ruined by events that bring in crowds and provide nothing of lasting value to the community. As one friend emailed…

“Users of our library system encompass all of our community, most certainly including some or many of the homeless. Right now the library is a daytime place of last resort—at least during the winter months. It is an institution that has for years existed to encourage reading, provide information and for such other purposes as may be appropriate. These purposes have been enlarged over the years and now include such things as the upstairs room that is used for meetings and concerts. I believe libraries are places with a discreet set of functions. If the community wants, it surely can change those purposes. I don’t think the community has yet to be heard on this. It should be.

The assumption behind the librarian’s comments is that the homeless congregate at the library because there is no other place to go. I believe there should be other places appropriately designed, equipped probably also close to or in the downtown business center. Indeed, creation of what the military would call a “dayroom” could well be a priority for the Council. This is a huge issue. The primary function of the library is not as a community center, unless the community decides differently. . Surely anyone may want to and should be encouraged to use the library for such purposes. But those who do not want to use it for its designed purposes should not have to go there by default.

Another friend emailed on the same issue…” A library is not a homeless services center. Most of the homeless I see are hanging around, not using library services as they are meant to be used. The City could find a place to long-term lease for a homeless services center, including warming on very cold nights, where the service agencies and charities can send their people to help the homeless. The old Midas Muffler shop is still vacant on the June streetview of Google Maps, with a sign saying that the current lease holder (Midas) is looking for a sublessee. The City cleaned up a worse environmental mess when it acquired the Tannery. This cleanup should be easy in comparison. The site is next to McDonalds and the new location of Dunkin’ Donuts, on a bus line, not too far to walk to Food-Not-Bombs. There must be other under-utilized places around downtown, too. This would be just an interim solution until the City builds permanent housing. Watch this: Housing First as Kevin Fagan of the San Francisco Chronicle talks about housing and homeless. Some folks are saying “gee, I go to events at MAH much more since Nina took over than I ever went before”. Those people should ask their devoted historian friends and their serious artist friends whether they went to MAH more before Nina Simon took over or after ? Remember too, as a tourist, don’t you visit Art Museums, and Historical Museums more than you visit any Community Centers??

SAN LORENZO RIVER ISSUES…FEW ANSWERS. Jane Mio and Barbara Wiverwoman have a blog “San Lorenzo River Mysteries” she sent this river update, check it all out..

https://sanlorenzoriverblog.com

GREENSITE’S INSIGHT.

CHALLENGING HOUSING ASSUMPTIONS.

Some verbal exchanges stick in the mind like mud on a hiking boot. Disgruntled at the majority council decision to permit a planned development on a beautiful piece of open space along Western Drive in the mid-1990’s, I muttered under my breath loud enough for the person sitting next to me to lean in and say, ” but Gillian, it’s housing!” I suppose I was meant to feel that housing is always an inherent good; that more housing will lead to more affordable housing and if we just build more, then the folks who work at low paying jobs in Santa Cruz will eventually be able to afford to live here. This myth has persisted ever since investors noticed that Santa Cruz was ripe for the taking. It is a myth promulgated by both the business and the progressive communities. With housing poised to take center stage at city hall in the coming year it is time to ask some hard questions, challenge some long held assumptions and assess what options remain.

First the “low hanging fruit” as the expression goes. Stop using the term “affordable” housing. It is meaningless without the qualifier “for whom?” Inclusionary housing, that 15% percent of new development required to be offered at lower than market rate (unless the developer opts to pay instead of provide) is no longer affordable to that group of workers for whom it was originally targeted. A one bedroom “affordable” unit will rent for $2,150 a month in one recently approved development and a 500 square foot unit will rent for $2,600 in another. With rents rising 6% a year, some individuals will be able to afford these “affordable” units but not the usual folks that stir housing activists to action.

Second, who are the folks buying and renting these new houses and housing units? Are they local workers? Students? People who don’t yet live here? The answers to these questions should be important guides to policy makers. That information is obtainable but rarely examined. If I were making decisions on whether to approve yet another high rise housing complex such as those springing up like mushrooms on the eastside and downtown, I would have little difficulty approving a development guaranteed to provide housing for a local worker of average means. My guess is that this is the exception rather than the rule. I would have no difficulty not approving a development obviously designed for student housing and would say to the university, no more growth…this town cannot accommodate more of your growth.

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Nearly fifty percent of the growth in the city of Santa Cruz’s population over the past 40 years is attributable to student growth at UCSC, roughly half living off-campus. As for those (non-student) people who don’t yet live here, who are the main buyers of current housing and new housing, I would put the brakes on that bottomless demand. All new housing developments that I’ve tracked in the last 20 years are advertised outside Santa Cruz with the “come live by the sea in sunny Santa Cruz” inducement and local real estate agents report that houses are being snatched up by outsiders wanting a second home by the beach. The belief that new housing is providing homes for local workers is a myth and should not be aired as justification. That doesn’t mean that all development can or should be stopped or that new comers are never welcome. It’s a question of scale and impact.

Third, housing activists and property speculators who uncritically accept supply and demand and lobby the state to preempt local decision making in housing to eradicate zoning to make it easy and quick to add housing should be challenged on their assumptions. Since when did density and infilling lower rents and housing costs, absent rent control or a tax on housing speculation? Since when did increased housing, which leads to increased population, not have a snowball effect? A report provided for the city and county of SF as part of their Inclusionary housing analysis titled the Residential Nexus Analysis concluded that for every new 100 market-rate condominium units there are a total of 43 lower income households generated through the direct, indirect and induced impacts of the consumption of the condominium buyers. In other words, folks who can afford market rate units eat, buy, play, get sick and those activities require workers who are predominantly lower income workers who also need housing. To put it in stark terms, market rate housing creates the need for far more additional affordable housing for lower income workers than is ever provided through Inclusionary zoning or through subsidized housing. Development itself is a source of the problem not the solution.

While there are no easy answers to the housing cost crisis short of regulating the market, it would be refreshing if the decision makers would drop the Trumpian pronouncements that have no basis in reality. Pledging to “take a robust approach to affordable housing” as the top vote getter in the city council race was quoted as saying should be challenged. What exactly does that pledge mean in practice? If it is based on the usual assumptions of supply and demand it is as hollow as “make America great again.” No amount of development will contribute positively to the housing cost crisis: it will only worsen the situation. And in so doing, the unique character of Santa Cruz will be forever lost to high rise, dense, ubiquitous market rate housing generating the need for more and more low income workers who will increasingly be squeezed to the margins of existence “.

STEINBRUNER STATES.

MAKE ONE CALL. WRITE ONE LETTER….GET ONE ANSWER…NEWS ABOUT COUNTY PARKS AND SAN VICENTE REDWOODS PATROLS…

Last week, I asked the question here about how Santa Cruz County Parks & Open Space could afford to fund the three (maybe more) park rangers to patrol San Vicente Redwoods, privately-owned by Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) and Sempervirens Fund. I wrote a letter to County Parks Director Mr. Jeff Gaffney with that question. He replied rather quickly that the rangers would be funded by the property owners and the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. Representatives of those agencies contacted County Supervisor Mr. Ryan Coonerty on November 22, 2016 to ask for his support. He immediately placed the issue on the December 6, 2016 Board consent agenda as item #17. The formal agreement proposal will be on the February 14, 2017 Board agenda. The projected three-year budget is $1,230,000.

These private landowners will request Board approval of a fee-for-service structure for patrols to begin during the 2017-18 fiscal year. The program would run for three years, at which time the agreement and financial structure would be re-evaluated. County Parks rangers would lead routine maintenance and nature interpretation, conduct nighttime patrols, and enforce the rules and the law. This allows the Public Access Plan to move forward with public safety and address local concerns about stewardship. This would “provide a critical tool (i.e., the Ranger Program) for regional stewardship and natural resource protection.” The rangers would gain access via other nearby state and federal lands.

County Parks Rangers will be the legal representative for law enforcement and public safety responsibilities and will lead the response for any trespass, illegal activity or emergency within the private property. “County Parks will collaborate with POST and Sempervirens Fund to resolve any conflicts between public access and their activities on San Vicente Redwoods, recognizing that public access will be SUBORDINATE IN PRIORITY to those activities and must be consistent with the conservation easement held by Save the Redwoods League.”

County Park rangers will also provide guided tours during a period of provisional public access before access is opened to the public. They will not carry firearms. The rangers will have a team of seasonal assistants.

I’m still a bit leery of the long-term agreements of County employees being hired to patrol privately-owned land, especially when public access is subordinate to planned activities by the property owners. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Hmmmmm…

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

SANTA CRUZ REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON UNIFIED TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR INVESTMENT STUDY PHASE 2….

The RTC wants your help evaluating the transportation investment options of the three parallel transportation routes:

Highway One
Soquel Avenue / Soquel Drive
Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line

Evaluation topics include investments, economic vitality and natural environment. “This study will identify the multimodal transportation investments that will provide the greatest benefit based on a performance-based decision making process…..A scenario analysis will be performed to analyze a number of alternative groups of projects using the modeling tools that were developed in Phase1.” I thought the RTC had already done all that work in order to arrive at the Measure D wording. Hmmmm…

Get information at https://sccrtc.org/projects/multi-modal/unified-corridor-study

(maybe you will understand more of the language there than I seem to be able to do)

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. ATTEND THIS PUBLIC MEETING this Thursday, January 12, 6pm at Simpkins Swim Center at 979 17th near Brommer.

MORE ON THE MILITARIZATION OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT…

I think local law enforcement training policies need to change. State Assemblyman Mark Stone told me the changes must come from proposals by people at the local level. I propose that military veterans cannot be hired for active duty law enforcement jobs until at least eight years have elapsed after discharge from the military. I also propose that all active duty law enforcement officers be required to train regularly and continuously in some form of martial art, in order to provide “muscle memory” tactics other than pulling a taser or gun.

I found some interesting information that you might like to read on this issue. In one article in Military.com, a veteran, Mr. Jason Deitch discusses the opinion similar to mine that although it is an easy transition for veterans to move into law enforcement jobs, it may not be the best for the veterans. He cites the continued stress imposed, and the fact that many veterans have big issues, such as post-traumatic stress and traumatic injuries, to work thought after discharge from duty. It takes time to work through those issues. Working in active-duty law enforcement and being re-traumatized on a daily basis does not help the process. He urges caution.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police also is concerned about the issue. Three years ago, that organization developed guidebooks for veterans and any agency considering hiring veterans. The health and well-being of the veterans needs to be addressed. However, at a Hire Our Heroes job fair in Santa Clara County two years ago, San Francisco Police Department was actively recruiting veterans because they have the needed skill set (i.e., they know how to handle guns), and need little training for the job. Military.com has links to “Five Hot Jobs for Ex-Military”…police officer is the second job listed. Many police departments offer perks to ex-military applicants.

Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), an arm of the Department of Justice, recently offered 220 cities $114.6 million in incentives to hire post 9/11 veterans to fill 800 law enforcement positions.

Here’s the Military.com link…it’s interesting…

http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/search/law-enforcement-jobs/military-transition-to-police-force.html

The second article disturbed me. The article, “The Rise of the Warrior Cop” in ‘New American’ discussed the fact that more municipal law enforcement officers are training with military special operations groups. Homeland Security offers money and equipment to municipal law enforcement, in the name of anti-terrorism. That’s how Santa Cruz Police got the Bear Cat, right? It is also how the Santa Cruz County Sheriff Department was able to help pay for extra deputies (about 100) last July 4. They used a $65,000 grant from Homeland Security that was mostly for surveillance of North Coast beaches and illegal drug deliveries from sea, but patrolling the North Coast and other beaches in the County on July 4 also seemed to fit.

Here’s the link….give it some thought. .

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/17474-secret-military-training-blurs-line-between-police-and-soldiers

Remember, Assemblyman Stone said that the local communities must insist on changes in police training that could prevent future tragic deaths such as Mr. Sean Arlt, who wielded only a garden rake, and the 15-year-old Mr. Luke Smith, who had a pocket knife and a bad LSD trip.

WRITE a letter to the Editor. SPEAK UP at public comment times in local government meetings.

PUT ON YOUR PROTEST BOOTS AND SHOW UP ON JANUARY 21…..
WOMEN’S MARCH SANTA CRUZ COUNTY PROTEST.

Come join us in standing together for a peaceful and family-friendly march and rally that represents our community and joins us together.

WE STAND WITH YOU OUR PARTNERS AND ALLIES, TO MARCH IN SOLIDARITY TO:…protect the rights of all including women, LGBTQ, immigrants, religious freedom, people with disabilities’, and the rights of people of color. And to recognize that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country. This all-inclusive, non-partisan event allows us to send a bold message to our administration and to the world that all human rights matter.

WE CALL ON ALL DEFENDERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS TO JOIN US!

When: January 21, 2017, 11:00 am – 5:30pm

The Rally starts in Watsonville at the Plaza 11:00 am Joining in Solidarity and Community Strength with North County: at Santa Cruz City Hall, 1:30 PM The March will conclude at London Nelson Ctr., Santa Cruz For up to date information, visit www.womenmarchsantacruz.com

FREE WOMENS SAFETY TRAINING this Thursday, January 12 at London Nelson Community Center, 6pm-9pm. Class taught by Jane Weed Pomerantz and Leonie Sherman, self-defense trainer. This is sponsored by the Women’s March of Washington Santa Cruz County group.

“Participants are suggested to be prepared to face the unknown and stick together.”

HUZZAH!!”

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

BRAND NEW DeCINZO. A well meaning North Coast protector of all that’s good had DeCinzo create this last minute visual saga of the hassle over protecting The Cotoni-Coast Dairies land. It’s worth much more than a thousand words…

PATTON’S PROGRAM. From Gary’s “We Live In A Political World” website…Monday, January 2, 2017.

#2 / Over-Inflated

Loretta Lynch is currently the Attorney General of the United States (but not for long). Lynch was quoted in a recent article in The New York Times, titled “Loretta Lynch’s Parting Message.” She is clearly worried about whether the federal government will continue to “march toward a more just and peaceful future.” That’s something worth worrying about, given that the person whom president-elect Trump has named to succeed her is Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. Sessions has a record indicating support for racial discrimination, and a commitment, in particular, to preserving Alabama’s long history of “separate and unequal education,” to quote from another article in The Times. By way of an antidote to despair, The Times quoted Lynch to this effect:

The way we achieved voting equality in this country was always from the community level up. It was the leaders on the ground who raised these issues, who had people out there on the streets, who had people out registering people to vote. The Times noted that it was “sobering to hear a departing attorney general implicitly telling vulnerable Americans that the federal government may fail to protect their rights and that they will have to do this work themselves. But any other message would whitewash the painful truth.”

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

~(Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for indivuduals 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

The Beach Boys & Annette Funicello – The Monkey’s Uncle

ACLU’S ANNUAL MEETING. The Santa Cruz chapter of the ACLU will hold its annual membership and awards meeting Sunday Jan 15, 2017 at Michaels on Main restaurant (2591 S. Main St Soquel, Ca.) from 2pm to 4 pm. Tessa D’Arcangelew of the Northern California ACLU will be the featured speaker. She’ll discuss how to protect civil rights and liberties in the Trump presidency. This year the ACLU will be honoring Michael Mehr, Ruth Hunter and Keith McHenry for their outstanding contributions to the community. The public is welcome. Cost is sliding scale from $10.00 TO $20.00 with no one being turned away. To RSVP contact Joyce at 335-1060

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Sad and true rainey day blues…scroll down just a bit.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Ethics and Swamps”” just below 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. Be sure to think about and play his “Desert Island Game”

ANNIE LYDON AND DAVE STAMEY AT DON QUIXOTES. Dave Stamey is the winner of more Western Music Association Awards Than He Can Fit in His Saddlebags! ie…
• Songwriter of the year (3 times)
• Male Performer of the Year (6 times)
• Entertainer of the Year (6 times) including 2014 Entertainer of the Year

And Annie Lydon will be singing with him. Annie Lydon has been writing and performing the harmonies for Western singer-songwriter Dave Stamey’s recordings for many years. All of the CD work has been done in studio with Annie laying down the harmonies – often three-part and sometimes four-part – over Dave’s already-recorded vocal and instrumental tracks. They have rarely sung together, most frequently at the Monterey Cowboy Poetry Festivals in December and several times at Don Quixote’s in Felton.It’s happening this Thursday, January 12 at 7:30 p.m.

At Don Quixote’s 6275 Highway 9 Felton – 831-603-2294 for tickets (and they sell out every time) www.donquixotesmusic.info and more about Dave at www.davestamey.com

SANTA CRUZ CHAMBER PLAYERS. Their concert #3 is titled “MADE IN VIENNA” with music by Mozart, Haydn, and Schubert is the third concert in their season. ‘Made in Vienna’ brings audiences traditional works, such as Haydn’s Trio in C Major for piano, violin, and cello, inspired in London, and composed after Haydn returned to Vienna. Hear well-known Schubert Lieder, including Rosamunde and Der Tod und Das Mädchen for voice and piano, composed in Vienna between 1817 and 1825.The second half of the concert features less common pieces by Mozart, including selections from 6 Preludes and Fugues (from Bach transcriptions) for violin, viola, and cello. They finish with Haydn’s Arianna à Naxos, a setting of the famous Greek mythological story of Princess Ariadne’s desertion by Theseus on the island of Naxos. Originally written for voice and keyboard, this transcription features mezzo-soprano and string quartet. Solmaaz Adeli, Concert director and voice, Elizabeth Schumann, Co-concert director and piano, Shannon Delaney, violin; Rebecca Wishnia, violin, Chad Kaltinger, viola; and Kristin Garbeff, cello. The concerts happen at Christ Lutheran Church which is at 10707 Soquel Drive near the Calif. Highway Patrol turnoff from Freedom Boulevard in Aptos. Go here for tickets and directions… http://www.scchamberplayers.org/concert-three . These concerts are on Saturday, January 14, 7:30 pm and Sunday, January 15, 3:00 pm.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa’s editing her latest tome, saga, epic, or something special and will be back here next week….more than likely. Check out her Lisa Jensen Online Express (ljo-express.blogspot.com). Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

JACKIE. I can’t honestly critique this film. Watching Natalie Portman portray Jackie Kennedy so perfectly as she went through those agonizing moments just seconds before the assassination and a few days after, just ripped me apart. It took just minutes into the film before I was back there in November of 1963 sharing her shock and horror as we all tried to face the reality of losing our president and all the dreams and hope that vanished with him. It’s a sad, monumental film. It also shows the cruel, condescending power of the males surounding Jackie in her time of need. See this film, no matter how old you are

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. We can only guess that now that the Star Wars movie property is Walt Disney Property it would change, but not like this latest mess. Instead of being more cute, cuddly and cartoonish (like traditional Disney films)…Rogue One is darker, colder, meaner and full of war and killing. It has none of the charm, humor, humanity, mystery, history, tradition or fun quirkiness that the original Star Wars films brought us. The plot is tripe stuff about stealing Death Star plans. Darth Vader is back and James Earl Jones voice is too, but he looks thinner and smaller. The biggest afult for me is that it was filmed so dark it’s hard to see details, or look anywhere besides center screen. No great intricate space ships stay in view long enough to enjoy the fantasy. The acting is ok but there’s not much screen time for it to happen. Big disapointment.

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. Dr. Rachel Carlton Abrams guests on Jan. 10 talking about her new Rodale Book, “Body Wise.” It is about our “Body’s Intelligence” and health & healing. She’ll be followed by Gillian Greensite talking about wharves, trees, and environmental problems we are facing. Jewel Theatre’s Julie James talks about “The Book Club Play” that’s playing 1/25-2/19. She’s followed by newly elected Santa Cruz City Councilpersons Chris Krohn and Sandy Brown, They’ll talk about their plans and future years on the council. Environmentalist Grey Hayes opens the program January 24 listing and discussing environmental issues in the county. Then former newspaper reporter and author Steve Shender talks about his new Hawaii book, “Once There Was Fire” (Kamehameha and friends).

It’s hard to imagine that there are people still alive, who were alive back when lynchings were a thing. I can’t even begin to imagine all the things and changes in the world that this woman has witnessed.

January 31 has UCSC Professor Linda Berman-Hall informing us about the 2017 season of The Santa Cruz Baroque festival and their Feb.4th concert. Sexpert, author, lecturer, and performer Susie Bright guests on Feb. 7 talking about lots of things. On March 7 Newton and Helen Harrison talk about their book, ” The Time of The Force Majeure”. 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. “STORMS and…”

“Storms make the oak grow deeper roots,” George Herbert
“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship,” Louisa May Alcott
“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else,” Margaret Mead
“Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes”, Jim Carrey

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

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

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

January 3 – 9, 2017

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Bruce

BEFORE EMILY’S BAKERY. This was taken May 2, 1962. Do note the 31.9 cents per gallon gas price. It is of course Laurel and Mission Streets. Emily opened it in October of 1982. One could say that you still get gas there, but that wouldn’t be funny.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE January 2, 2017

GIVE US LIBRARY, LIBERTY OR DEBTS.

Fine little film starring Spencer Williams. Take a break and watch…
Oft in the Silly Night (1929, Spencer Williams, Roberta Hyson, race film)

Amy Winehouse – Back to Black amazing live performance! Such a tragedy, what a life she could have had!!!

Why are so many loyal Santa Cruzans convinced that ex Mayor Cynthia Mathews and her loyal followers on last year’s City Council have plotted with Susan Nemitz (the new library director) to let the Downtown library go to hell and the homeless so they can justify building that new six (6) story parking structure on Cedar Street that’ll contain a spanking new 21st Century library? Shelley Bodamer Manager of Collection Management Services at the library states that there’s “about $394,514 that’s budgeted for print items (books, etc). That must come out to about half a new book per citizen nowadays. And Nemitz has stated that the main function of our libraries has changed from books and reading anyways. The City went ahead and justified purchasing a Bearcat armored vehicle for $251,000 but it can’t somehow come up with even the minimal care and housing for the homeless.

There are many locations both temporary and possible permanent where some kind of homeless services center could be located. Right now with this cold and wet weather our homeless have to go to the Library. The police have stopped them from staying near the levee. Until we hear and learn otherwise we can predict the City Council voices saying “Yes but the new six story parking structure that will have the library on the first floor will bring in revenue that we can use for our social services”. It’s the same claim they use to justify any/all growth and yet Santa Cruz does next to nothing for the homeless compared to so many other cities. They haven’t talked much about the more than $25 million ($25,000,000) the parking palace will cost. They don’t say much either about how it will encourage more, not fewer cars downtown. I have to thank all the folks who have emailed and stopped me on Pacific to talk about this. It’s going to be genuine proof of what, if any heart, empathy, decency or simple human kindness our Santa Cruz City Council has.

(Watch this space and the corner where the library sits.)

WIDENING HIGHWAY ONE. Just enough voters passed that Measure D and we’ll probably get that new auxilliary lane someday. Ralph Davila and others sent me this amazing and very believeable article from the New York Times. It tells how Los Angeles spent 1.6 Billion dollars and added one car pool lane to the nortorious 405 and 6 years later…it wasn’t worth it. Raed the article…http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/us/los-angeles-drivers-on-the-405-ask-was-1-6-billion-worth-it.html?_r=2

GREENSITE’S INSIGHT.

Gillian emailed to say, “No Greensite’s Insight this week due to a nasty respiratory virus. Returns next week”.

STEINBRUNER STATES.

WOULD YOU DRINK TREATED SEWAGE WATER? COMMENT PERIOD EXTENDED

Thanks, Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors, for voting to extend the Pure Water Soquel Environmental Impact Report Scoping public comment period 15 days to allow people additional time to access, read the 48-page Initial Study and submit comments. Citizens now have until January 5, 5pm, to enter comments to: purewatersoquel@soquelcreekwater.org or drop them off at the District Office at 5180 Soquel Drive, Soquel (there is an external payment box you can deposit letters in if the office is closed)

You can read through the Initial Study here: www.soquelcreekwater.org/purewatersoquel

Here are my greatest concerns, having read the document: lack of full assessment of several valid alternatives(eg, water transfers and storm water percolation ponds for recharge such as are being used in Sweden, Israel, and other areas in the U.S.), assessing realistic need for temporary moratorium on new service connections until aquifer overdraft is reversed, possible effects on groundwater chemistry and micro-organisms (Orange County experienced spikes of arsenic), potential contamination of MidCounty Groundwater Basin with pharmaceuticals and endocrine inhibitors, allowing all citizens who rely on safe drinking water from the same aquifer to vote by ballot in a special election on this project, realistic geological ability to absorb 1.3 million gallons/day year round without pressurized injection wells, possible liquefaction and seismic hazards for nearby neighborhoods and Highway One, disturbance/destruction of tribal & cultural artifacts, emergency power back-up and system failure safeguards, hazards of chemicals and brine transfer system….well, that’s just a few.

The District is moving quickly to apply for grant funding for the Pure Water Soquel project, but not for studies of other alternative supplemental supplies.

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

WRITE A LETTER. MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Thanks, County Supervisor John Leopold for organizing a Soquel Neighborhood public discussion and dialogue with Soquel Creek Water District staff to really get some information about the potentially-significant negative impacts that were identified in the Initial Study but not discussed publicly at the District’s Pure Water Soquel public hearings on December 7 at Twin Lakes Church. No one was allowed to publicly ask questions at either of those two hearings. There were no hard copies of the Initial Study available for people to take home to study carefully.

At current over-pumping levels, sea water is intruding into the District’s monitoring wells at Pleasure Point and La Selva Beach. If the monitoring wells in Aptos detect chloride (sea water), the District’s consultants have said the sea water will contaminate the supply wells (eg, the new Granite Way Well in Aptos Village) within two years and cause irreparable damage. So, why not declare a temporary moratorium on new connections, which increase the pumping demands, until a supplemental supply is secured? The District’s Board is not willing to do so, for some reason, although they did declare a District Groundwater Emergency in June, 2014. County Supervisor John Leopold stated at the December 6, 2016 Board public hearing of the County’s 2017 Growth Goals, that “the County will not issue building permits if the water agencies tell us they don’t have the water” to support the growth. If you think the County needs to uphold it’s own 1987 County Well Ordinance and declare a temporary Groundwater Emergency, and that the water agencies within the MidCounty Groundwater Basin, such as Soquel Creek Water District, City of Capitola and City of Santa Cruz, need to change their policy, please contact them and let them know. Write letters to the editors of local papers. If allowed to rumble along as if nothing is wrong, the problem will only get so bad that citizens could possibly be forced to accept very expensive remedies, in the name of public health and safety.

WRITE ONE LETTER. MAKE ONE CALL. MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE NOW.

THANK YOU, CITIZEN WATER SLEUTH BRUCE HOLLOWAY…..

We all need to read Kara Guzman’s article in last week’s Good Times (Dec. 21st) about the excellent investigation San Lorenzo Valley citizen Mr. Bruce Holloway did to bring some very questionable San Lorenzo Valley Water Board decisions to light….and court. Read the article here: http://goodtimes.sc/santa-cruz-news/news/judge-finds-conflict-slv-water-scandal

Nice work, Bruce! Good inspiration.

SPEAKING OF LOCAL WATER ISSUES….A NEW WATER PLANNER IS HIRED

The Mid County Groundwater Agency has a new Senior Water Planner, Ms. Darcy Pruitt, an attorney with land use background. She was hired by the Community Water Foundation, which is a $1.3 million budgeted arm of the Community Foundation and managed by Mr. Tim Carson. I am trying to understand this relationship and why a private agency is managing the water and money for Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz City, Soquel Creek Water District, and Central Water District. Does this mean our water will be controlled by a private agency, not transparent to the Public Records Information Act? How much control will private well owners and small water companies have in this process? Currently, those groups do not have voting power on financial matters and do not select their own representatives on the MidCounty Groundwater Agency Board. I can see a new tax on the horizon…….

NO MORE TREES AT 701 OCEAN STREET…..

Those who visit the County Building at 701 Ocean Street in Santa Cruz might have noticed the large and lovely pine trees that used to soften the imposing five-story concrete building are now GONE. Six redwood trees were also removed. They were removed in late September, with claims they were diseased and a hazard. A Public Records Act request revealed that there was NO arborist report ever issued, and the work was not put out to competitive bid. Further, the $18,000 to pay Community Tree Service for the removal and stump grinding came out of County Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services budget…except they had not budgeted for that expense. Somehow, magically, the County Administrative Officer, Susan Mauriello, and her amazing accountants found the $18,000 to add in to the Parks budget. I wonder where that money came from? Maybe we can find out next month when the CAO presents the semi-annual financial status report to the County Board of Supervisors. Last year, is when the Board was shocked to learn that the County was operating at a $12.7 million deficit….and were not happy about the sudden news.

HOW WILL COUNTY PARKS PAY FOR THREE NEW FULL-TIMERS IN SAN VICENTE REDWOODS?

The Aptos Times reported in the December 15, 2016 edition that a proposal will come before the County Supervisors in February to consider three full-time staff positions in the Parks Department to be assigned to San Vicente Redwoods, with possible additional part-time staff. Where will THAT money come from? According to the article, County Parks, Sempervirens and the Land Trust would assume the costs of the program. Owned by the Sempervirens group and County Parks (?), “The San Vicente Redwoods property is the largest PRIVATELY OWNED parcel in Santa Cruz County and one of the largest in California.” The Land Trust is developing the access plan for the property, with initial public access expected in 2018.

County Parks Director, Mr. Jeff Gaffney, has openly stated at Board of Supervisor meetings that Parks staff cannot effectively manage the work and properties currently under their responsibility. Will County taxpayers really be expected to foot the bill to help manage this PRIVATELY-OWNED property? Supervisor John Leopold also has expressed some concern regarding this issue at earlier public meetings. Hmmm….

FYI, the San Vicente Redwoods area adjoins the Cotoni – Coast Dairies property, which is on President Obama’s radar for declaring as a National Monument, even though the land is already protected by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Many residents of Davenport and Bonny Doon feel the National Monument designation would bring undue burden to the already-overtaxed water and sewage infrastructure, as well as highway safety hazards. The issues are real, not just a case of NIMBY……

COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS DECLARES MORATORIUM ON ALL RECREATIONAL CANNABIS

Just when County residents thought the passage of Proposition 64 would allow recreational use of Cannabis throughout the green state of California, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted in December to enact a 10-month and 15-day moratorium on all recreational Cannabis activity within the County. That is the maximum moratorium time allowed within the language of Proposition 64. That means no one will be able to legally grow or sell recreational Cannabis in the County until mid-November of next year. That’s after the season’s harvest. The CAO and County Counsel insisted the County needs the time to clarify certain issues before opening the floodgates for recreational Cannabis trade. Mr. Dan Peterson, the newly-hired (at $140,000/year) County Cannabis Enforcement Officer, was on hand to support the recommendation.

It seems disingenuous to me that so many people have already spent hundreds of hours working this all out at the C4 Responsible Cannabis Cultivation Committee. Many of those same people brought forth the overwhelmingly-successful citizen’s referendum to negate the County Board of Supervisor’s ban on medical Cannabis activity in the County. Rather than put the issue to a ballot vote for citizens, the Board elected to form the C4 Committee to develop policy recommendations. That was done. The County, meanwhile, is willing to accept THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in fees and has budgeted the anticipated $1 million into the General Fund coffers but chose to enact the maximum moratorium for recreational cannabis business.

AND CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY citizens in Supervisor Zach Friend’s District 2 cannot grow their own medical cannabis outdoors? That’s right, ONLY in his district is it illegal to grow cannabis outdoors. Why? Reputable sources explain that it is because County Administrative Officer, Susan Mauriello, lives in the Second District and does not like the smell of cannabis growing near her home. She was able to convince Supervisor Friend to put a policy overlay in place for his District (and hers) to make outdoor cannabis growing illegal. The Board of Supervisors supported it, for some reason, although Supervisor Leopold voiced some opposition. Supervisor Caput recently asked for a similar overlay for his Watsonville-area but no other Supervisor would even second his motion to bring it before the Board for a vote. Hmmm……. Write one letter. Make one call. Make a difference now.

Happy Holidays to you all!

#1 / Names Have Been Changed
I have been writing a blog for eight years. I wrote the first of my blog postings in early January, 2009. I titled my new blog, Abrazos/365, in honor of Eduardo Galeano, author of a wonderful book, The Book of Embraces, which is titled El Libro de los Abrazos en Español. The title I chose was also intended to commemorate my intention to write one blog post every day. The “/365” part of the title was to demonstrate that commitment. Let me recommend Galeano’s book, by the way, as I did way back on January 25, 2009, repeating that good advice on December 31st of that year, and once again on January 1, 2011. In fact, I recommend ALL of Galeano’s books, in either English or Spanish. I am sorry he is no longer with us.

By the end of 2009, I had to confess my failure as to the daily blog postings. I determined to keep on, nonetheless, and I still wanted to bring discipline to the task, and to do one blog posting each day. I decided to keep the “/365,” but I also decided to change the name of the blog. As I explained on December 31, 2009, I changed the title of the blog to “reflect my continuing efforts to understand ‘the world’ by seeing it as consisting, in fact, of ‘two worlds,’ both of which we inhabit simultaneously, and one of which we create ourselves.”

Starting in January 2010, this blog was titled, Two Worlds / 365. On January 1, 2011, I was happy to be able to say that I had, in fact, published one blog posting each day during 2010 (though I had to acknowledge that there had been some problems with the numbering). Given my success in writing something each day, I decided that my blog would continue to be published under the title, Two Worlds / 365 during 2011. On January 1, 2012, one year later, in a posting titled, “Just A Little Title Change,” I announced my intention to rename this blog once again, and to drop the “/365.” This was not because I had failed to maintain my commitment to publish one blog posting each day. I made a posting every day in 2011 – and without any numbering errors, either! As I said in 2012, I just decided to “relieve myself of that commitment.” Starting January 1, 2012, and continuing through December 31, 2016, this blog has been called, simply, Two Worlds. The “/365” part of the title I had previously included clearly wasn’t needed. I haven’t missed a day since January 1, 2010, with or without the “/365” in the title.

Today, at the start of what I think is likely to be a very consequential New Year, I have decided to change the title of this blog once again. Changing the title works backwards, as well as forwards, so the Two Worlds name will disappear entirely, just as the Abrazos title did. All the postings remain, and my ideas are not going to be any different, either.

Starting today, this blog will be called, We Live In A Political World. That’s a shout out to Bob Dylan, of course, who will presumably receive his Nobel Prize check sometime in early 2017, and who is supposed to give some sort of public presentation in connection with that. I am looking forward to that presentation, whatever that turns out to be. If you are not familiar with Dylan’s song, Political World, you can click the link for the lyrics.

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There is more to the title change than my admiration for Bob Dylan. I still hold to my “Two Worlds Hypothesis,” and I am sure that I am not going to forget about the environment, and the World of Nature, as I write my daily blog postings during the year to come. But we do, inevitably, live, most immediately, in a “political world.” The “Political World” we inhabit is a world that we create, together, through our own actions and activities. The name for these “actions and activities,” the ones we undertake together to shape our world, is “politics.”

This is a good year to pay special attention to “politics,” because our actions and choices in the year to come will almost certainly have vast impacts not only on our own, “human” world, but on the World of Nature that sustains all life. Bob Dylan doesn’t think much of the “political world” he sings about – and I don’t blame him. Seen as a description of current realities, his commentary is right on the mark, and our politics are despicable (or maybe “deplorable” is the word I should use). Let me state, again, however, as I always do, that it is we who create the “political world” we most immediately inhabit. Nothing is inevitable in the world we create. All things are possible, and “miracles,” in fact, are to be looked for in the political, as much as in the theological, realm. As long as human beings have the gift of freedom, which means our freedom to act, and to choose to do something different from what we have always done, something different from what is expected, we can (as we have always done in the past) transform the reality of the world in which we live, telling “an entirely new story, a story never known or told before.” That is a quote from Hannah Arendt, in her book, On Revolution. In another place, in an essay titled, “What is Freedom?” Hannah Arendt said this about the importance of miracles in politics: “It is not in the least superstitious, it is even a counsel of realism, to look for the unforeseeable and unpredictable, to be prepared for and to expect “miracles” in the political realm. And the more heavily the scales are weighted in favor of disaster, the more miraculous will the deed done in freedom appear. It is men who perform miracles—men who because they have received the twofold gift of freedom and action can establish a reality of their own.

This year, we will need to pay especial attention to politics. We do “live in a political world,” and we will need to get involved in that world this year, to plunge into that world, and to act. Only by doing so will we be able to create a human world worth inhabiting, a world that is worthy of our greatest aspirations, and a world that we can bequeath, without regret, to our children and their children.

~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 )

SPIKE JONES and The City Slickers do “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth”. One of my favorite orchestras. I saw them many times live in both Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo swears this one was never printed…and DeCinzo ” rains” supreme!!! Scroll below.

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

SANTA CRUZ CHAMBER PLAYERS CONCERT#3. Is titled “MADE IN VIENNA” with music by Mozart, Haydn, and Schubert is the third concert in their season. ‘Made in Vienna’ brings audiences traditional works, such as Haydn’s Trio in C Major for piano, violin, and cello, inspired in London, and composed after Haydn returned to Vienna. Hear well-known Schubert Lieder, including Rosamunde and Der Tod und Das Mädchen for voice and piano, composed in Vienna between 1817 and 1825.The second half of the concert features less common pieces by Mozart, including selections from 6 Preludes and Fugues (from Bach transcriptions) for violin, viola, and cello. They finish with Haydn’s Arianna à Naxos, a setting of the famous Greek mythological story of Princess Ariadne’s desertion by Theseus on the island of Naxos. Originally written for voice and keyboard, this transcription features mezzo-soprano and string quartet. Solmaaz Adeli, Concert director and voice, Elizabeth Schumann, Co-concert director and piano, Shannon Delaney, violin; Rebecca Wishnia, violin, Chad Kaltinger, viola; and Kristin Garbeff, cello. The concerts happen at Christ Lutheran Church which is at 10707 Soquel Drive near the Calif. Highway Patrol turnoff from Freedom Boulevard in Aptos. Go here for tickets and directions… http://www.scchamberplayers.org/concert-three . These concerts are on Saturday, January 14, 7:30 pm and Sunday, January 15, 3:00 pm.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa’s working on secret things and will be back here next week. Check out her Lisa Jensen Online Express (ljo-express.blogspot.com). Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

LA LA LAND. It all depends on how much you remember the glorious and very bright and brilliant days of the Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Betty Grable, even Barbara Streisand, Judy Garland, and especially Ginger Rogers musicals. La La Land works very hard to convince us that the world hasn’t changed since those days and tries earnestly to recreate the innocence, and obvious genius of those performers. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone make La La Land fun and happy to a degree, but it’s not the same. The music and songs aren’t anywhere near as good and the photography of today’s LA doesn’t add much either, besides that Stone and Gosling are not professional dancers or singers like all of above. It’s like having Eddie Redmayne play Tarzan.

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. Starting the New Year properly on Jan. 3 Patricia Rain will be my guest telling us all about Vanilla. Then Becky Steinbruner returns to bring us up to date on Aptos Issues and water problems everywhere. Dr. Rachel Abrams guests on Jan. 10 talking about her new Rodale Book, “Body Wise.” It is about our “Body’s Intelligence“and health & healing. She’ll be followed by Gillian Greensite talking about wharves, trees, and environmental problems we are facing. 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

She is terribly missed. This is a great interview with Carrie Fisher.

QUOTES.

“I like the cold weather. It means you get work done”, Noam Chomsky
“There are three reasons why I live in Scotland. First, I like silence, and you have to be a millionaire to buy silence in Italy. Second, I like cold weather. Third, in Italy I have too many relatives and know too many people, so I never get a quiet time”, Gian Carlo Menotti
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man”, Benjamin Franklin
“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you”, F. Scott Fitzgerald

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

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

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

December 21, 2016 – January 3, 2017

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Bruce

LIBERACE’S BROTHER GEORGE AT SANTA’S VILLAGE. May 9, 1959. Not a genuine holiday photo but neither was Santa’s Village very genuine. That’s Hocus Pocus passing as Santa. Hocus was a local magician and showman with one million friends.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE December 19, 2016

How the world mocks Donald Trump

Donald Trump hates his satirical portrayal on Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the world is making the same jokes.

Posted by QZ on Friday, December 16, 2016

BUT FIRST….many happy holidays to all our readers. The year was almost as wild and nutty as we know the next four years will be. Your emails mean a lot and I try to answer every one of them. Stay in touch and let me know what’s happening…I’ll do the same. BB

GAS LEAF BLOWERS BANNED IN SONOMA, WHY NOT IN SANTA CRUZ? Here’s a clip from The Sonoma News December 1, 2016 by staff writer Christian Kallen. “The final results came early, on Wednesday, Nov. 30, almost a week ahead of the Dec. 6 deadline for the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters to release the official election totals. When all the votes were counted, Measure V to ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers inside city limits won by a scant 19 votes.

TEN BIZZARRE INSTRUMENTS. I don’t care much for the slick presenation but check out the instruments.

THE TITANIC TUBA…who would guess, who would make such a thing???

It decided, presumably once and for all, an issue that has been plaguing the City of Sonoma for years, at least since Darryl Ponicson put up an information table about leaf blowers at the Tuesday Farmers Market five years ago. Even a 3-2 vote to ban the blowers by the City Council in March wasn’t the final word, as a public signature drive to put the measure to a public vote lead to last month’s election. The ban goes into effect Dec. 22. “I hope this means that the people who voted for the measure, and those that voted against, will come to appreciate the restoration of the quality of life in Sonoma as time goes on,” said Cecilia Ponicsan, who with her husband had been at the forefront of the years-long effort to ban leaf blowers.

For outgoing Mayor Laurie Gallian, who said she got into politics because of the environment, the vote was a bittersweet victory. “The magic of this story is the involvement of the community members behind it. Sonoma CALM, they are the real winners,” she said. “I was only asked to bring the item back and campaign for it – campaigning for myself for re-election, and campaigning for Measure V. I’m glad one of us was victorious!”

But for the landscapers who are asked to make Sonoma properties look tidy, the vote will have a very specific impact – and it could mean that Sonoma itself might look a bit different, too.

“I think we will have to use rakes and brooms,” said Fernando Coronel, who has been doing landscape work in Sonoma for over a decade. “Probably we can use electric blowers just to clean the cement, that’s all we can do.” Coronel pointed out that some of the tasks he is asked to do now, like clean out gravel beds and bark groundcover won’t be as easy. “It’s very hard without blowers. We take the gravel or the bark when we rake the leaves.” We need to organize and let the Santa Cruz City Council know a majority of us care about our health and our environment.

PESTICIDE DANGERS. Luisa Calderon from Safe Agriculture – Safe Schools and Organizer for Californians for Pesticide Reform states…”A 1/4-mile is not enough to protect from pesticide drift and illness. To protect public health and make sure agricultural pesticide illness is truly reduced, Santa Cruz County and the entire state need full-time, full-mile buffer zones around schools”. That’s why the headline…” Santa Cruz County has second most agricultural pesticide illnesses in the state”. Lets see what our Santa Cruz County Board Of Supervisors does about this….sure, I’ll take all bets, and give them a full year to do anything at all.

PEDESTRIAN GOOD NEWS. Debbie Bulger sends this in… “Good News for Pedestrians!”

The City of Santa Cruz has received a $968,200 grant for pedestrian projects at intersections throughout the City. “Mission: Pedestrian” wrote a letter of support for this grant. Data shows 71% of pedestrian and bicycle crashes in the City of Santa Cruz are at intersections. This project will increase pedestrian safety at 15 unsignalized intersections throughout the city by marking crosswalks, building bulb outs, installing curb ramps, and installing rectangular rapid flashing beacons among other measures. Not all the intersections will receive the same treatment. The grant was awarded by the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP Cycle 8) a federal program administered by CalTrans.

Intersections that will be made safer include eight along Soquel Avenue, two along Ocean Street, and King at Walnut among other locations. The following intersections along Soquel Avenue are also included: Caledonia, Pine, Pennsylvania, Doyle, Cayuga, Seabright, Marnell, and Mentel. The intersections along Ocean are at Leonard and Dakota.

(Repeat item)…

WARMTH, THE BANDThe Sentinel’s Wallace Baine ran a grand tribute to Don McCaslin who turns 90 this week in Monday’s Sentinel (12/12) Wallace didn’t know any of the details behind McCaslin’s first gig with his historical jazz band “Warmth”. Here’s what I wrote in the Metro Weekly back in November 2001…. “DEMOCRAT POLITICS IN SANTA CRUZ 1972”. The photo above was taken early in the morning at the front door of the original Cooper House*. That’s Julian Camacho praying on the left; he was running for California State Senate. In the middle is Henry Faitz, a local attorney who ran for California State Assembly against Republican incumbent Frank Murphy. Next is Alan Cranston also praying , who ran for state controller. Right behind Cranston is old friend and near-legendary late jazz musician Phil Yost, who was there to play with Don McCaslin’s new group, premiering that day: Warmth. (Full disclosure: I ran Henry Faitz’s campaign against Murphy; we lost.)

(* PS. The Cooper House was NOT destroyed by the ’89 earthquake..it had been retrofitted and withstood the quake. It was torn down by its new owner to get the FEMA money).

VELCRO PLANNING

The final city council meeting for 2016 under the leadership of Mayor Cynthia Mathews contained no surprises: an unnecessarily packed agenda; the important item placed last on the agenda; public comment whittled down to a minute each person due to lack of time; public comment ignored; developers handed a sweetheart deal. Ho hum.

The important item under consideration was major modifications sought for the development project at 2120 Delaware Street. This project was approved by city council in 2008. It stalled due to the recession and has seen little progress since the recovery. The land is zoned light industrial/commercial and the council at the time carefully weighed the pros and cons of allowing any residential use to intrude into the very small percentage of land left available and zoned for light industrial/commercial use. Approval was based on the proposal to allow two thirds of the land to remain commercial/industrial with one third dedicated to live/work residential space; perfect for small start-ups and small home-based businesses. This combo of home and work in one living space, obviating the need for a car, or so the theory goes, was the selling point for the council. A large billboard at the empty site proudly proclaimed, “If you worked here, you’d be home by now.” Those of us who spoke against the project at the time cautioned against losing any of our scarce remaining industrial land. A self-sustaining town needs more than housing. It also needs light industry. Imagine the loss to our town’s economic base if an early council had decided that Harvey West would be ideal for housing and had rezoned a third of that important industrial/ commercial area as residential? Those of us who opposed the 2120 Delaware Street project also wondered aloud how long it would take before the developers came back for “modifications?” A round of modifications was sought and granted in 2014. The original conditions of approval disallowed sequencing so the residential did not precede the commercial and thereby create conflicts with new residents complaining about the impacts of the subsequently built commercial. Redtree Properties, the developers, wanted to modify that condition since they claimed, live/work housing was easier to sell and investors weren’t interested in commercial at that time. Council gave them their modification. Those of us who spoke against this change to the original conditions of approval wondered out loud how long it would take before Redtree was back for more modifications?

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It took 4 hours for council to finally get to the 2120 Delaware item. We had sat through farewells to the retiring police dog and lengthy, repetitive presentations from the SCPD on how well it was doing in community policing before staff and Redtree made their case late into the afternoon. Redtree claimed it was the same project and they just wanted to move the parts around which they demonstrated via a display board of the site with Velcro pieces. Not quite accurate. Major changes to the very concept of the development were proposed. Gone were the live/work units, the main selling point for the project’s approval. All units, a total of 161 would now be live only. Gone was the minimum 20,000 square feet for the industrial/commercial buildings. Building setbacks were proposed to be reduced or eliminated, “to create a more urban neighborhood.” Heights of units to be increased to 3 and 4 stories, parking to be reduced and the tree-lined pedestrian lanes that were intended to create vehicle- free neighborhoods eliminated. I guess it’s hard to capture all such changes with Velcro. The few inclusionary (below market rate aka “affordable”) units would rent for $2,150 for a one bedroom and $2,600 for a two bedroom. The rest of the required inclusionary spaces eliminated and paid to the city as in lieu fees towards the building of future low -income housing. One wonders where that might be located given the scarcity of available land for purchase by the city? Council member Micah Posner, the lone vote against the project objected to the loss of inclusionary units but the rest of the council had few objections and none objected to the major modifications. It passed 5-1 with council member David Terrazas recusing himself due to living within 500 feet of the project.

The original conditions of approval stated that there was to be a “solid connection between the residential uses and the commercial/industrial uses.” The developer bought the property and gained council approval based on that condition and understanding. For a council majority to remove that condition and agreement because “the developer indicates that due to financial and lending constraints it is necessary to separate the residential condos from the commercial/industrial uses and to eliminate the live/work units” (staff report) is in my mind a betrayal of public trust and an unwise economic decision. Of course the housing will become an off-campus student enclave with all the problems inherent in such a concentration, similar to Isla Vista next to UCSB. With the bottomless pit of housing demand generating huge profits for developers, and continued UCSC growth, how long before Redtree is back at the council with an urgent financial need to replace the remaining industrial/commercial areas to market rate housing? A community cannot live on housing alone”.

IS LAW ENFORCEMENT BECOMING TOO MILITARIZED?
(plus, under the link, WOULD YOU DRINK TREATED SEWAGE WATER? and FOLSOM HISTORIC DISTRICT IS WORTH THE TRAVEL)

Well, let me just begin this week with a proposal that I recently presented to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors regarding a conversation I had with State Assemblyman Mark Stone on this question. When I asked Assemblyman Stone (he spoke to my daughter’s high school government class last month) about his thoughts on the two recent cases of law enforcement killing troubled young people in which one had only a garden rake and the other a pocket knife, he said that any changes in law enforcement procedures and trainings must come from the local community’s efforts. That is why I spoke to the Board of Supervisors during Open Public Comment.

I pointed out the two cases of law enforcement quickly shooting to KILL the two troubled young men. I pointed out that those rapid fatal actions are a result of training and “muscle memory” on the part of the officers. When under stress, the human reaction is to respond in a way that is most familiar…”muscle memory” takes over. I described to the Board an incident I remembered reading about a few years ago in the Santa Cruz Sentinel wherein a young man broke loose in the court room and attempted to flee. An attorney present in the court room who had extensive Aikido training (a form of martial art), quickly maneuvered the young man to the floor, rendering him inactive but without harming him at all. No guns were drawn. No tasers were fired. The situation was quickly under control without harm. I remember reading this article to my children, who were studying Aikido at the time.

It is common knowledge that many of our law enforcement officers are freshly out of the military. In the military, people are trained to shoot and kill. They train extensively to respond with that action. That creates their muscle memory.

I have read in local newspaper articles regarding the two recent killings that area law enforcement officers receive a few months of training before being put on active service duty. I could not find any information to clarify that, but County sheriff deputy recruit requirements can be found at this link.

Can a person trained by the military for years to shoot and kill really lose all that muscle memory in a few months? I don’t think so. Neither did a couple of veterans that I asked about the issue. They both said it took them eight to ten years to get out of the military muscle memory reactions, and that everyone is different in their recovery time.

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Can we truly expect that firing a taser at someone already agitated and possibly troubled by mental conditions, trauma and/or drug problems will subdue them? Most wild animals, when injured, will react with greater agitation and ferocity. I think human reaction mostly follows that behavioral pattern as well.

So, my request to the County Board of Supervisors was that they create policy to change all this deadly mix that has resulted in two recent tragedies. I asked that all law enforcement officers be required to train regularly for at least two years in some form of martial art before being allowed on patrols. Afterward, I spoke with two veterans who agreed with my comments and suggested that any deputy with military training be required to wait at least eight years after military discharge to apply for an active duty law enforcement job.

In support of the families of Mr. Sean Arlt, who was killed when he brandished a garden rake, and of Mr. Luke Smith, the 15-year-old teen who had a pocket knife and a bad LSD trip, I ask you to contact your County Supervisor (454-2200 or 701 Ocean Street, 5th Floor, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 or e-mail him at this template: his first name.his last name@santacruzcounty.us) and ask that policy be changed regarding requirements for Santa Cruz County law enforcement officers. Contact all city councils as well. Assemblyman Mark Stone has stated that any changes must come from the local communities. So, let’s get to work.

WOULD YOU DRINK TREATED SEWAGE WATER?

Soquel Creek Water District is forging ahead quickly to set in motion their preferred supplemental water source, injection of advanced tertiary treated sewage water directly into the aquifer. Because the Initial Study of the project, as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), determined that there are a number of significant negative impacts associated with the proposed project, a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) must be done. The District must gather public input regarding the scope of this EIR. That public comment period is due to end this Wednesday, December 21 at 5pm.

However, at a Joint Santa Cruz / Soquel Creek Water District Water Supply Progress Report public presentation December 15, District General Manager Mr. Ron Duncan stated that the Board will discuss EXTENDING THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD at their meeting Tuesday, December 20. I urge anyone who feels that they just do not know enough about the project to comment (that was the opinion of the majority of people who attended the December 7 public hearings) to contact the Board either directly (contact information is on the website www.soquelcreekwater.org) and ask for an extension of public comment time. In my opinion, a more thorough public discussion is warranted wherein the representatives of ESA, the consultants conducting the EIR, explain the basis for the various potentially significant negative impacts and, together with District staff, publicly answer peoples’ questions.

You can read the 48-page Initial Study for the Pure Water Soquel project on the District website, or in a hard copy form available at the Aptos and Capitola libraries. Many people I have talked with about the proposed project are worried about potential contamination of the groundwater source that would affect all people who rely on the Purisima Aquifer for their safe drinking water supply. Not all of them are District customers. Everyone ought to be able to vote on this. A fair number of the people I spoke with after the December 7 hearings at Twin Lakes Church were also upset about having a wastewater treatment plant built next to their properties on Capitola Avenue, near District offices.

You can read a recent article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel about the issue: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20161206/NEWS/161209837

Because I worry mostly about contamination from pharmaceuticals and hormone-interruptors, I have been researching the issue. Here are some interesting sources you might like to investigate, too:

I have been following the City of Arcata’s wastewater treatment processes for a number of years because I am interested in wetland restoration and the water purification issues inherent. I might go there on a field trip early next year….. it’s closer than Sweden and Israel.

SPEAKING OF FIELD TRIPS….FOLSOM HISTORIC DISTRICT IS WORTH THE TRAVEL

Because of the recent demolition of a number of significant historic structures in Aptos Village, and having witnessed the complicity of Santa Cruz County Planning Department staff to needlessly allow such demolition, I have been thinking that creating an historic district in the Aptos Village area could be a good thing to do (and maybe city incorporation, too, but that’s for a future article). I traveled to the Folsom Historic District to talk with some folks there and look around a bit. What an amazing place with dedicated people and supportive city government working together.

In the excellent Folsom History Museum, I learned that during the Gold Rush, Granite City (aka Folsom) was 80% inhabited by Chinese, who were extremely successful at re-working the mine tailings and profiting well. Unfortunately, the miners of other nationalities were not happy about this: Chinatown burned completely five times within about ten years. The fire brigades at the time refused to respond. I also learned that the area of Folsom Historic District called “Negro Bar State Park” is where the first Negro gold mining claims were worked. It now is the site of Lake Natoma, where university rowing teams practice and compete. There are also some excellent Rail With Trails areas to explore and ponder…..I enjoyed the visit and came home inspired by what could be created and preserved for future generations here in Santa Cruz County and beyond.

I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THE WONDERFUL RAIN LAST WEEK! I live in the Santa Cruz Mountains and loved the 5.2 inches of rain that fell in my neighborhood. A friend on upper Old San Jose Road reported receiving 9.5 inches! I was glad the King Tides that occurred during the same time frame were earlier in the day than the main storm event. If you love listening to frogs singing in the night, go check out the Jessie Street Marsh in Santa Cruz. It, like the rain, is amazing. Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for Peace on Earth, 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).

PATTON’S PROGRAM. From Gary’s Two Worlds website…Saturday, December 10, 2016

#345 / Away From The Battlefield

The United States’ Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) was featured in a day-after-Thanksgiving-Day story in The Washington Post. The Post’s story noted that JSOC is considered to be an “elite” part of our military establishment, a judgment enhanced, without a doubt, because JSOC was “the organization that helped kill Osama bin Laden…” . According to The Washington Post article, President Obama has now given JSOC “expanded power,” and JSOC has been authorized to “track, plan and potentially launch attacks on terrorist cells around the globe.”

Wikipedia reports that “JSOC has an operational relationship with the CIA’s Special Activities Division,” which is responsible for covert operations, and that this covert operations division within the CIA “often recruits from JSOC.”
The new authority given to Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) by President Obama will be available, and will undoubtedly be used, by our current President-elect, Donald Trump, once he takes office next January. The expanded authority just provided to JSOC will permit JSOC to operate “away from the battlefield.” Since there really isn’t any specific “battlefield,” in the “War Against Terror,” which has been authorized by two different Acts of Congress (see below), JSOC’s “Special Teams” will now be able to operate worldwide, pretty much on a “fire at will basis.”

The case of Hedges v. Obama provides some background that is worth thinking about. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), augments the Authorization For the Use of Military Force enacted by Congress in 2001 (AUMF). These two laws, combined, will now allow the military to operate within the United States (or anywhere else) and to detain anyone whom the President has determined has given “substantial support” to any forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.”

Just to make things crystal clear, a person detained by the military under these laws is considered to be an enemy combatant. Such a person will not be entitled to a jury trial, or a speedy trial, or to confront his or her accusers, or to have access to the Writ of Habeas Corpus, which allows persons in custody to demand that government authorities be made to prove, to an impartial court, that the government has a legally valid reason to keep them in custody.

This is just a “heads up.” “Away from the battlefield” means right here!

Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds at www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. What the Dicken’s??? it’s UCSC and Christmas time. See below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Driving blind” 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 didn’t send anything this week. But I’ll bet she loved “La La Land”. Check out her Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. We can only guess that now that the Star Wars movie property is Walt Disney Property it would change, but not like this latest mess. Instead of being more cute, cuddly and cartoonish (like traditional Disney films)…Rogue One is darker, colder, meaner and full of war and killing. It has none of the charm, humor, humanity, mystery, history, tradition or fun quirkieness that the original Star Wars films brought us. The plot is tripe stuff about stealing Death Star plans. Darth Vader is back and James Earl Jones voice is too, but he looks thinner and smaller. The biggest fault for me is that it was filmed so dark it’s hard to see details, or look anywhere besides center screen. No great intricate space ships stay in view long enough to enjoy the fantasy. The acting is ok but there’s not much screen time for it to happen. Big dissapointment.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA. Casey Affleck single handidly sustains this deep, emotional film. It’s on the way to several awards and should win them all. It’s an intelligent, beautifically acted in depth portrait of people going through trauma and relationships. Along with Affleck there’s Michelle Williams, Gretchen Mol, even Mathew Broderick in a bit part and especially the 16 year old Lucas Hedges. It’s a cold and unrelenting film that demands your attention especially since you’ve gone through tradegies too. I’m going again, ther;s just so much to watch and think about.

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS. Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon and Laura Linney are simply perfect in their lead roles in this intelligent, puzzling, tense thriller. It wowed them at the Cannes Film Fest and it’s an impressive job of film making by director Tom Ford who knows what he’s doing. Jake and Amy are divorced, he writes a book based on their relationship that’s only half true. Plenty of violence, suspense, and a plot that will keep you 100% involved…that’s rare nowadays. Go see it…ends this Thursday 12/22.

ALLIED. Gee, I thought that Brad Pitt was leaving Angelina Jolie because he fell in love with Marion Cotillard his co-star in this 1942 Casablanca war and spy semi-thriller. Other than that, not many thrills or mystery or surprises…it’s mostly just a pretty WWII Casablanca wanna- be Hollywood movie. After I found out that Brad and Angelina are really splitting up there was no way to remember anything else about this movie. 😉

OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY. This gross, sexist, not-funny attempt at comedy should be banned from the industry except that it’ll make millions from the morons who like this genitalia- filled flick. It’s a perfect example of how low Hollywood will sink to make millions. Do NOT take the kids or allow them to even peek at this mess. I went because I couldn’t believe the bad reviews!!!

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 December 20, author Lois Watson talks about her popular book, “Growing Up In Santa Cruz.” UCSC retiree Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz follow Lois and tell us about their new book, “Flora Unveiled” (plant sex). I’ll be on vacation Dec. 27 and Sylvanna Falcon from UCSC’s Latin American and Latino Studies will interview UCSC Sociology professor Hillary Angelo. Starting the New Year properly on Jan. 3 Patricia Rain will be my guest telling us all about Vanilla. Then newly elected Santa Cruz City Council members Chris Krohn and Sandy Brown will give us previews of the future City Council issues. Dr. Rachel Abrams guests on Jan. 10 talking about her new Rodale Book, “Body Wise”. It is about our “Body’s Intelligence” and health & healing. 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 middle one isn’t super exciting; it’s a bit silly, but the other ones (and these things in general) just make me want to sweep everything off my kitchen table and find a glue gun or two.

QUOTES. “HOLIDAYS”

“I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up – they have no holidays,” Henny Youngman
“I felt overstuffed and dull and disappointed, the way I always do the day after Christmas, as if whatever it was the pine boughs and the candles and the silver and gilt-ribboned presents and the birch-log fires and the Christmas turkey and the carols at the piano promised….. never came to pass.” Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
“I think holidays create so much pressure because people feel they should be having a good time. But you shouldn’t. ” Craig Ferguson
“Nothing says holidays, like a cheese log”, Ellen DeGeneres

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

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

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

December 14 – 20, 2016

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Bruce

PACIFIC AND COOPER STREETS. 7:50 am WINTER 1957. That’s of course the Cooper House on the right and Leask’s Department Store on the far left. Also on the right had side as we’re looking at it….Santa Cruz County Bank, Montgomery Ward Catalog Store, Saddle Back Coffee Shop, Hotel St. George, Sportsmens Shop, Pet Shop, The Tea Cup Bar and restaurant. Then on the left, after Leask’s is Melvin’s Drugs, The Hardware Store and Cigar Store, Bubble Bakery and to sum it up…back then locals had plenty of reasons to shop downtown.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE December 12, 2016

CHANGING OF THE CITY COUNCIL. Wouldn’t you think that with the farewell and last night of our recent City Council changeover that they would at least have had their proudly acquired “Lenco Bearcat” (Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck) in front of the City Hall with a lighted Christmas tree on top? That way we’d never forget who was in office when our City acquired that so called and sneaky “Peacemaker”??

STRANGE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT INVENTIONS. Absolutely amazing and a tribute to our minds and love of music.

FLUORIDE IN SAN JOSE For the 22,438 Santa Cruz County Voters who voted for Trump the news that San Jose is finally going for fluoridating their City Water must be devastating. Trump hates fluoridated water and as we know the oft backward Santa Cruz has also successfully fought against our City water being fluoridated for decades. Here’s an excerpt from Dana Milbank (frequent Santa Cruz Sentinel columnist) from the Washington Post Nov. 25, 2016 in an article titled …

“TRUMP’S “NEWS SOURCE : ALIEN LIZARDS, FLUORIDE MIND CONTROL AND VOTER FRAUD”.

“As the Right Wing Watch website has documented, Jones has alleged that the U.S. government was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks (Jones posted an old video Monday in which Trump appeared to suggest that aircraft alone couldn’t have brought down the towers), the Oklahoma City bombings and mass shootings such as Sandy Hook. Jones has said that ““chemtrails” from airplanes spread a “weaponized flu,” that juice boxes are part of a chemical-warfare operation to make children gay, that Justin Bieber is brainwashing children to create an American police state, that Obama murdered publisher Andrew Breitbart, that an “alien force not of this world” is targeting Trump, that intergalactic shape-shifting reptilian humanoids secretly control the world, and, of course, that water fluoridation is mass mind control”.

Personally, I’ve fought FOR fluoridating city water since the 1960’s and my KGO days when the John Birch Society worked so hard to convince us that Russian Communists were behind the fluoride plot. Every one of my dentists and all professional dental associations and doctors everywhere know how much good fluoride can do for age folks. But this is Santa Cruz; folks fight fluoride here…I’ve never figured it out.

COTONI – COAST DAIRIES NATIONAL MONUMENTAL DISASTER.”

You have to wonder why Traci Hukill and Eric Johnson (noted “Hill Trompers“) would say in Sunday’s (Dec. 11) issue that Coast Dairies still needs protection. They wrote…”Well then, what about the property itself? It’s fully protected, right? From oil and gas drilling, yes. From development, no. When the 5,800-acre Coast Dairies property was officially transferred to the Bureau of Land Management in 2014, its deed came with it. The deed prohibits commercial timber harvest and off-road vehicles, and it leaves the mineral rights safely with the Trust for Public Land, a conservation nonprofit. On the subject of development, though — houses, golf courses, stables — nothing. It’s time to protect the Coast Dairies property once and for all with national monument designation”. Yet we should all know that completely contradicts the deed restrictions that are in that editorial itself. It quotes the deed restrictions: One more thing about that deed: The first thing it says — before the ban on logging, before the ban on ATVs and dirt bikes — is that the property “shall be used and managed for open space and public recreation in a manner consistent with the protection and preservation of natural habitats.” That’s the very first thing. How does a golf course, housing, whatever development is envisaged, not violate the deed language of “protection and preservation of natural habitats.”? The deed restrictions and language are binding on any owner of the property, the federal government or anyone they might decide to sell it to (which is highly unlikely anyway.) As one friend stated and I agree… “That the Sentinel published this self-contradictory propaganda is shameful”.

WILLIAM MANDEL DIED. William Mandel was a personal hero of mine. He was also a very long time broadcaster on KPFA in Berkeley. He was most known as the courageous guy who told the House Un-American Activities Committee is San Francisco… Addressing the committee members as “honorable beaters of children and sadists,” Mr. Mandel condemned their actions and motives at length. “If you think,” he said, “that I’m going to cooperate with this collection of Judases, of men who sit there in violation of the United States Constitution, if you think I will cooperate with you in any way, you are insane.” He lived to the ripe age of 99. He and Jessica Mitford* and her husband Bob Truehaft* guested on quite a few of the programs I produced at KCBS and KGO. The three of them also attended on of my wedding receptions!”

MORE ABOUT JESSICA MITFORD AND BOB TRUEHAFT. Jessica Mitford wrote “The American Way of Death”. Treuhaft worked for “labor union” and “radical left” causes much of his life. From the early-to-mid-1940s to 1958 he and Mitford were members of the “Communist Party USA”, leaving the party after Khrushchev’s revelations about the Stalin era.” Hillary Clinton” worked as a summer intern with Truehaft’s Oakland law firm in 1971. In 1964, Treuhaft represented more than 700 “Free Speech Movement” students arrested during a two-day sit-in at the University of California in Berkeley. He and his firm also represented anti-Vietnam War protesters, “Black Panther Party”, the “Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee” (SNCC), the “Congress of Racial Equality” (CORE).

MUSICAL SAW AND THEREMIN. Don’t go away, these two actually play on key and it’s not that bad.”

WINTERGATAN… a marble machine like you’ve never seen before. [Webmistress piping in with a Sweden connection: Wintergatan (or Vintergatan) is Swedish for The Milky Way! It literally means “Winter Street”.]

CASUAL SAX ON PACIFIC. Next Sunday(Dec.18) we’ll all get a rare chance to hear the saxophone quartet Casual Sax play on Pacific Avenure in front of O’Neills. They tell us , “We like to say it’s a sax quartet with a math problem since there are actually five of us in the group (two baritone saxes). Pro’s and amateurs together they consist of Clark Baldwin, our band leader, plays soprano and alto saxes, Ralph Boroff, plays alto sax, David Shoaf, tenor sax, Sandra Whalen, baritone sax and their titular head Ken Koenig, plays baritone sax. They’ll be there from 11:30am to 1:30pm . And yes they even got a permit to play!!!

KROHN AND SANDY BROWN ON UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. We all know that the results of our Santa Cruz City Council race will produce some “interesting” results. To that end we’re starting the new year off properly. Chris Krohn and Sandy Brown will be on my first of the New Year’s Universal Grapevine on Tuesday January 3. Tune in KZSC 88.1 fm or online at KZSC.org the program starts at 7 with Patricia Rain talking about her favorite topic Vanilla. Then it’s Chris and Sandy from 7:30-8 p.m. Nope, we don’t take phone calls..not ever!!

DON MacCASLIN at 90 !!! The Sentinel’s Wallace Baine ran a grand tribute to Don McCaslin who turns 90 this week in Monday’s Sentinel. Wallace didn’t know any of the details behind McCaslin’s first warmth gig. Here’s what I wrote in the Metro Weekly back in November 2001.

“DEMOCRAT POLITICS IN SANTA CRUZ 1972”. The photo above was taken early in the morning at the front door of the original Cooper House*. That’s Julian Camacho praying on the left; he was running for state Senate. In the middle is Henry Faitz, a local attorney who ran for state Assembly against incumbent Frank Murphy. Next is Alan Cranston also praying, who ran for state controller. Right behind Cranston is old friend and near-legendary late jazz musician Phil Yost, who was there to play with Don McCaslin’s new group, premiering that day: Warmth. (Full disclosure: I ran Faitz’s campaign against Murphy; we lost.)

(* PS. The Cooper House was NOT destroyed by the ’89 earthquake..it had been retrofitted and withstood the quake. It was torn down by its new owner to get the FEMA money).

PAVING PARADISE
Top-level city management staff and city council members would do well to heed the words of Nina Simon, executive director of the Museum of Art and History. At a recent Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Simon as invited speaker shared these words: “Instead of creating a program and selling it, start with the community and figure out how to do what they want.”

What a wonderful and novel concept! Think how much money, time and effort could have been saved if the city had first turned to the community and asked a simple question: “What changes, if any, would you like to see done to your wharf?” Judging by the recent outpouring of sentiment opposed to the Wharf Master Plan, the resounding answer would most likely have been, “Change very little! Keep it as close as possible to what it is now.” But the city ignored the community, substituting for it, “stakeholders,” a small group who by definition has an interest, usually monetary, in the outcome. Lacking a firm community base of support, the city then proceeded down a slippery slope to “sell” its program, with false claims of tsunami damage to the wharf to gain federal funds for its SF urban design team, by skirting the required full environmental review for expediency, by keeping the project out of the public eye as much as possible until it could be slid under the sleepy eyes of the council close to midnight for final approval. Fortunately, this plan failed due to community vigilance and action. However the project is just postponed. There has been no change of heart; no self-examination of how to serve the community better by “starting with the community.”

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Another example of this top down, non-community based “selling” is the proposed relocation of the downtown library to the bottom floor of a planned 5 story parking garage, 6 stories in total, thereby displacing the Farmers’ Market and the Antique Faire. Of course it’s currently just a concept we are assured by management staff. And committees have been set up to explore “permanent homes” for the highly popular Farmers Market and Antique Faire, should this project pass future council vote. Here we go again! Instead of upper management in closed meetings hatching their visions of dramatic changes to our town’s iconic buildings and landmarks, they would serve the community better by asking a simple question: “Do you want the downtown library displaced and a new library built on the ground floor of a 6 story building with 5 stories of parking on top? I think the answer would be a resounding NO WAY!! But I could be wrong. Only the community can supply the answer. “No way!” was certainly the sentiment from those who caught wind of this topic and attended the city council meeting on December 6th to share their opinions. Nobody liked the idea of an expensive huge parking structure plumb in the middle of town. Perhaps the city should reconsider its current plan proposing to allow developers to provide only 50% of the required parking for new mixed use, high density construction downtown?”

“It was apparent from the council meeting that the newly hired director of libraries, Susan Nemitz, who spoke enthusiastically in favor of the new location, is highly skilled” in modern library design and woefully out of touch with her new community. Hailing from Minnesota, she urged us to review wonderful new libraries in other places, citing Los Gatos as an example. I checked it out and was struck how similar in appearance it is to our current downtown library. Two stories like ours. Obviously newly built with good floor flow and modern amenities such as ours could be with careful renovation, which was the stated plan for the past few years until last September when someone in the inner circle had the not so bright idea of a new location underneath a new 5 story parking lot. Once that decision was made at the top, then came the “sell” for the new location. “It’s less expensive; it’s easier to move than renovate; there’s plenty of parking; it’s close to downtown” and my all time favorite, “it will make tourists feel comfortable.” I’d love to see the market research that shows one of the top draws for tourists is a downtown library. Of course if the idea is to make the library unrecognizable and reframe it as a community center with belly dance classes, ceramics and cider making, anything is possible. Personally I go to check out and return books. But my opinion is not the point. This needed to be a community discussion and a widely publicized one prior to any concept being voted on by council. Since we are now past that point, it seems wide community opposition is the only option to have the community’s voices heard. In the meantime, pay attention to how the current downtown library will be deliberately allowed to decay with peeling paint and bodies in various states of drug overdose blocking the entrance. Just like La Bahia, which was deliberately allowed to decay to better “sell” its replacement. Such are the tactics of those at the top when they ignore the wise advice to “start with the community and figure out how to do what they want.”

~( 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).

THE OLDEST HOUSE IN APTOS HIHN SUBDIVISION IS GONE

It was hard to watch the demolition crew operator smash the last wall of the 140-year-old little yellow house at 8057 Valencia Street in Aptos Village recently. Other than the mudsill wood directly on the soil, the virgin redwood timbers of the house were solid.

But that is not the picture that a local structural engineer gave to the County Historic Resources Commission last April when that group approved a demolition permit for the oldest house remaining in the historic Hihn Subdivision. The new owner had visited the Commission about two years ago just after buying the historic NR-3 (very significant and eligible for the State Historic Registry) and assured that group that he would preserve the little yellow house.

Then he hired a local architect who happens to be a friend and neighbor of the structural engineer who helped the Aptos Village Project developers convince the Historic Resources Commissioners that the NR-5 (a lower level of historic significance due to structural alterations) Aptos Firehouse/VFW Hall was too hazardous and decrepit to try to relocate, as was promised to the public throughout the planning process. The bulk of the photos showing rot and termite damage were from the porch area. The Commissioners approved the demolition without any cost comparison of preservation vs. demolition. A County building inspector red-tagged the structure. And then….the developer, Pete Testorff, moved in his construction business office and ran it from the red-tagged, “hazardous” Aptos Firehouse for over three years until last February when I pointed out this interesting little situation to Assistant Planning Director Ms. Wanda Williams, who is overseeing the compliance issues of the Aptos Village Project. She seemed surprised to hear that Testorff Construction was operating in a red-tagged building scheduled for demolition by the Historic Resources Commission due to extremely unsafe and hazardous condition, even though records show that she had attended several site meetings there (along with Supervisor Zach Friend). Hmmmm…. Well, Testorff Construction moved out quickly, cut down the two heritage trees, and began demolition before acquiring a permit to do so. My, my.

But I digress….the little yellow house on Valencia was posted as a “PARTIAL demolition” with addition of 20SF new construction. So, most residents did not feel it necessary to take the morning off work to attend the public hearing on the issue in April, 2016. I did, and was shocked to hear Planner Ms. Annie Murphy describe the project as a FULL DEMOLITION and re-build of similar structure. It seemed very deceptive to me, and I testified that many people were under the impression that only a wall would be removed for an addition, that the wording on the notices did not explain that “partial demolition” really meant complete destruction. I asked for an extension of time and re-hearing.

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The Commission refused. I asked why the house could not be preserved instead of demolished. The Commissioner for the area said “It would cost too much!” I wondered how she knew that because I saw no cost comparison in the agenda packet. I asked for the Commissioners to visit the site. They refused, and approved the demolition.

None of the Commissioners even asked how this would affect the NR-3 historic status. When I asked the question, Ms. Murphy nervously shuffled her papers and said she did not think it would affect anything.

I protested the demolition approval, but Ms. Murphy replied that I had missed the appeal window. That information was not included on the agenda or discussed. I gathered over 60 names on a petition to the Board of Supervisors to preserve the little yellow house. None of them responded.

The Historic Resources Commission did not meet for another six months, but when they finally did (October 21, 2016), I recounted the scenario with the Aptos Firehouse/VFW Hall. I asked for the Commissioners to reconsider their approval to demolish the house, to visit the site and determine themselves if the structural engineer’s report photos matched the conditions inside the house (because they did not…having looked in through the windows myself). The Commissioners refused and again stated approval of the demolition.

Under Santa Cruz County Code 16.42.060 B(c), historic buildings approved for demolition must be offered to the public free of charge and advertised two times in a local paper with a 1/8 page ad. I suppose the owner of this 140-year-old house did that, but I never saw it. Neither did the man who lives across the street from the little yellow house and is in the business of carpentry and preservation. He and I sadly watched the excavator grab the solid virgin redwood timbers and splinter them. The demolition crew mixed in metal, plumbing, glass, sheet rock and even concrete with the wood as it was all loaded into the truck. It all went to the dump….nothing was salvaged.

The man said he visited the site a number of times when he saw the owner and architect at the house, and tried to offer his expertise at preservation and, if need be, salvage work. He said they did not want to talk with him and would not offer any information about the proposed plans for the structure. Another man drove by and stopped to watch, in shock that the house was being demolished. “That house was solid! I know because I painted it!” he said. “That is the stupidest thing the County has ever done!” he yelled as he drove away.

SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE. If the Historic Resources Commission and County Planning Department are going to rubber-stamp the destruction of our cultural and historic resources, as it seems they are happy to do to oblige developers, the people must insist that all notices be transparent. “Partial demolition”, in this case, was fraudulent and deceptive. The Code needs to change to clear that up.

Any demolition of historic structures needs to be noticed to the public for salvage in lumber yards, hardware stores and with local unions and guilds. Many people no longer read the Santa Cruz Sentinel, so any ad there has limited audience. Would it be so hard for the Planning Department to issue an e-mail notice to all construction tradespeople? So, the 140-year-old little yellow house at 8057 Valencia Street is gone…and all to the dump.

SPEAKING OF THINGS THAT MUST CHANGE…..

Soquel Creek Water District held it’s two public meetings last Wednesday at Twin Lakes Church to gather public input on the scoping for the Environmental Impact Report required for the Pure Water Soquel project. You may remember that is the (deceptive) name for the proposed project to inject treated sewage water directly into the aquifer that supplies drinking water for all residents of La Selva Beach, Aptos, Capitola, Soquel and parts of Live Oak.

I attended both sessions because I thought that I would learn different pieces of information based on the public’s question and answer times in the meeting. What a surprise to hear people shut down by Soquel Creek Water Distric General Manager Mr. Ron Duncan. No information regarding the many significant negative impacts of project was presented. Instead, people were directed to go to individual tables and talk with District staff. There were two court reporters available to take people’s oral comments, and another table had forms for written comments to submit. There were no copies of the 48-page study for people to take home and read…we were instructed to “go online”.

Many people who signed my petition outside, asking that the project be put to ballot vote for all in the Mid County Groundwater Basin to consider, felt the meeting had been a real exercise in crowd control and felt they were given no real information about the plans. Several residents who live adjacent to the District headquarters, where it is proposed to build a waste treatment plant, were upset that the District had sent them letters at the time of acquiring the property, that the plans were for office expansion and parking for employees. Now, those residents wonder what will happen to their property values if a sewage treatment plant gets built in their backyard.

SPEAK UP BY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21. Insist all other alternatives be considered that would ensure safe drinking water is maintained. What about all the pharmaceuticals that get flushed down the toilets at homes, hospitals and convalescent centers? Can the District really guarantee consistently reliable testing and removal of all those drugs and hormone interuptors? All private well owners and small water company customers/owners need to be able to vote on this…Soquel Creek Water District’s actions will affect us all. Visit www.soquelcreekwater.org and register your opinion now.

SO, WHY IS SOQUEL CREEK WATER DISTRICT WASTING SO MUCH WATER?????

Recently, the District’s new Granite Way Well has been pumping, non-stop, an enormous amount of water from a 12″ pipe going to the storm drain. That’s right, to the storm drain. District engineer Mr. Taj Dufour recently told me the well has to be pumped for various reasons and has been sending about 168,000 gallons of precious groundwater EACH DAY, and it will require about five days of non-stop 24-hour pumping. That totals 840,000 gallons, nearly 3 acre feet. That is about 75% of the water demand offset credits for an entire year of applicants, under the new District policy. Wow.

When I asked Mr. Dufour why the water could not be trucked somewhere locally for groundwater recharge, such as Valencia Elementary School’s grass area, he said it would not be cost-effective. I pointed out that General Manager Mr. Duncan had just told the audience at the Twin Lakes Church public meeting that “we must all do whatever it takes to heal the aquifer” and stop salt water intrusion, Mr. Dufour had no comment other than flooding the grass at Valencia Elementary would make a swamp for the kids. I pointed out it could have been a valuable teaching lesson for the kids about the importance of groundwater recharge….and demonstrate the District’s commitment to healing the aquifer that has been defined by the State as in “critically overdraft”.

WILL WE HAVE A SAY ON THE APTOS VILLAGE PHASE II TRAFFIC PROJECT?

Any day now, the Department of Public Works will be sending their recommendations for the second phase of the Aptos Village Traffic Improvement Project. Will the people be given a voice in this?

Contact Supervisor Zach Friend and insist on an evening community meeting before this happens. Call 454-2200 or e-mail Zach.Friend@santacruzcounty.us I recently went to such a meeting that Supervisor John Leopold held for his constituents to discuss possible solutions for the Soquel Village Traffic Project. I was happy to see that, because of public opinion, Supervisor Leopold and Director of Public Works, Mr. John Presleigh,decided NOT to put in a traffic light at the three-way stop intersection near 41st Avenue. Gee, it must be nice to have a Supervisor who actually seems to care about and respond to constituent opinions.

Well, folks, I hope you are enjoying the rain and the Holiday events around town.

Keep in mind, though….Write one letter. Make one call. Make a difference locally and beyond. 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).”

PATTON’S PROGRAM. From Gary’s Two Worlds website…from December 9, 2016.”

#344. DISRUPTION, POLITICS AND DONALD TRUMP.

If you have been following politics in the Silicon Valley, you will know about Congress Member “Mike Honda”. Honda has represented “California’s 17th Congressional District” in the Congress since 2001. The 17th Congressional District includes all or part of Santa Clara, San Jose, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Fremont, Milpitas, and Newark. It is, in other words, a Congressional District that is at the very heart of the Silicon Valley.

Honda is a member of the “Democratic Party”, and has done a workmanlike job for voters in what is the only Asian American-majority district in the continental United States. In this November’s election, Honda was replaced by “Ro Khanna”, also a Democrat.

Reliable, hard working, and well-liked incumbents (like Honda) are not usually replaced by someone from their own party. Recent changes in California’s election laws have made this a bit easier, since the “Top Two” system, in a heavily Democratic District like the 17th Congressional District, will now usually pit two Democrats against each other in the general election, giving non-Democratic Party voters an increased chance to decide which Democrat will represent the District. Running against a Republican, Honda would almost certainly have won handily. Running against another Democrat, “Honda lost with about 40% of the vote, to Khanna’s 60%”.”

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At the time Khanna first challenged Honda, in 2014 (unsuccessfully that time), CNN reported on the Honda-Khanna race under the following headline: “”Can Silicon Valley Disrupt The Democratic Party”?” The headline echoed Khanna’s comment in the article. He was quoted as saying, “we have to disrupt the system.””

“Disruption” is, in many ways, what the Silicon Valley thinks life should be all about. “I have complained about this before”. The Silicon Valley idea that “disruption” is per se desirable, and that “disruption” should be an end in and of itself, is quite ill-considered. Experience has always taught us that stability and certainty should be the “base case.” If our traditional value system is going to be turned on its head, and the values of stability and certainty are to be rejected in favor of “disruption” as an always desirable objective, the only logical basis for such a preference would be proof that “newer” is always “better.”

That is a proposition that strikes me as implausible, but maybe we ought to ask the question, “better for whom?” Driving taxi companies out of business, and putting taxi drivers out on the street, is certainly not good news for the taxi drivers, but venture capitalists make massive profits from just this sort of “disruption.” Disruption works for the wealthy, at least if we use Silicon Valley as the measure. How is it going to work for politics?

In the case of importing the “disruption” model into our politics, using the Honda-Khanna race as an example, “a blogger called “snipy,” on the “Wonkette” blog”, “captures the essence of what this means”: They’re always talking about how they’re going to “disrupt” things when really all they are doing is ordering lunch from Seamless or something. But they are at their very super duper exxxxtreme worst when they decide to take their thought leadering disruption making brains and run for office. Exhibit eleventy: “tech evangelist” Ro Khanna, who is primarying incumbent Democratic Representative Mike Honda in, of course, Silicon Valley.

First, a little bit about Mike Honda. We are not tech-loving Valley dwellers, but from what we can ascertain, Mr. Honda looks to be a perfectly likable and adequate Democrat who likes things like honoring Japanese-Americans who were incarcerated in World War II and providing affordable housing in Silicon Valley. You might think these are good things, and think to yourself “hey, I would vote for Mike Honda!” but that is because you do not have a big disruptive brain like Ro Khanna…[Disruption] is not a platform … People can disrupt your face by punching it, but that does not make it a desirable course of action, particularly for your face. Indeed, it doesn’t appear that Khanna has any particular reason to want to be in Congress except that he wants to be in Congress, which is also … not a platform.

The biggest “disruption” in politics this year, of course, was not the defeat of Mike Honda by Ro Khanna. The biggest disruption to our politics occurred in our presidential race. I think we all should ask ourselves whether the spirit of the Silicon Valley – disruption will be good for us – didn’t, in fact, give us Donald Trump as our next president.

I kind of think it did. As least as measured by electoral votes, our nation voted for the less-experienced, less-qualified, and most emotionally unsuitable candidate, but certainly the candidate who we knew would be the most “disruptive.” Hey, disruption; that’s a good thing, right? That seems to be the question we asked, and collectively, we went for “disruption”.

I guess we are going to find out whether the political disruption we chose in November is going to “make American great again,” or whether it’s going to be like that punch in the face that snipy is talking about”.

~(Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, “Two Worlds at” “www.gapatton.net”

THAT VIDEO CLIP OF HIGHWAY ONE. If you scroll back a week you’ll see the You Tube clip of a racing, roaring trip soutrh on Highway One. I wondered in print, where it was filmed

Dan Dickmayer a relatively new Canadian emailed, “I still have not gotten(pardon my Nebraska vocabulary) to drive through the new Devil’s slide tunnel before Pacifica but its on my bucket list. That youtube is the next best thing. I think it is heading south”. Eric Rice stated, “The youTube video in this week’s column is of San Mateo County, starting at the southern end of Ocean Beach and traveling south through Pacifica, Devil’s Slide, Half Moon Bay, and ending just before Martin’s Beach south of Half Moon Bay”. Now we know, and it’s still good fun to watch.”

MUNCHING WITH MOZART. Every third Thursday (as per this Thursday December 15) there’s a free concert upstairs in the Main Library. Carol Panofsky creates and manages these. This Thursday there’ll be music by Schubert, Dvorak and Persichetti plus Moszkowski and Nystrom. Players include; Carol Panofsky, John Orlando, Ellen Khayat, Lynn Kidder, Stephanie Malone, Nicki Kerns, Dorothy Brown and Cheryl Dougan. It goes from 12:10 to 12:50. So get there early and munch amongst yourselves, but quietly.”

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Takes an upper view of Christmas in those Monster Homes. See downwards.”

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Tweets” 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: “The Oscar season is in full swing, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express. The characters may not talk much, but their feelings run deep in the poignant, much-lauded Manchester by the Sea. Up next week: “La La Land!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA. Casey Affleck single handidly sustains this deep, emotional film. It’s on the way to several awards and should win them all. It’s an intelligent, beautifically acted in depth portrait of people going through trauma and relationships. Along with Affleck there’s Michelle Williams, Gretchen Mol, even Mathew Broderick in a bit part” and especially the 16 year old Lucas Hedges. It’s a” cold and unrelenting film that demands your attention especially since you’ve gone through tradegies too. I’m going again, ther;s just so much to watch and think about.”

MOONLIGHT. For starters Moonlight has a 98 % on Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s not just me who really not only enjoyed this tale of drugs, gangs, and love, but people who like deep, serious films loved it too. Set in Miami, this sharp, delicate, brilliant story of a Black man’s life is told in three parts. It’s best not to read too much about the plot and just watch with wonder as it unfolds. You’ve never seen a film like this one. Please go and go quickly. Landmark may not keep it too long if we don’t support it.”

HACKSAW RIDGE. Another extra bloody, super hero film from Mel Gibson. A World War II Okinawa battle film about a Seventh Day Adventist (true story) who wouldn’t touch or carry a gun and rescued 75 wounded soldiers under extra heavy gunfire. Maybe too bloody, probably too goofy a hero, and yet…the battle scenes are some of the best I’ve ever seen onscreen. Go only if you like well made films that are over the top violent.”

ALLIED. Gee, I thought that Brad Pitt was leaving Angelina Jolie because he fell in love with Marion Cotillard his co-star in this 1942 Casablanca war and spy semi-thriller. Not many thrills or mystery or surprises…it’s mostly just a pretty WWII Casablanca wanna- be Hollywood movie. After I found out that Brad and Angelina are really splitting up there was no way to remember anything else about this movie. 😉

LOVING. A great and inspiring true story of Richard and Mildred Loving and how and why their racially mixed marriage were convicted in 1958 and went all the way to the Supreme Court in 1967 and won!! Ruth Negga plays the Black American wife and Joel Edgerton is the dull, stoic, mechanic husband. It’s a fine film, and it’s sterile, lacking human-ness, or reasons why they love each other. It’s even inspiring, involves two well meaning jerk attorneys from the ACLU and once again…it’s just not very heart-felt.

DOCTOR STRANGE. I had to work very hard all through this latest Marvel Comic special effects spectacular to remind myself….it’s a comic book, it’s a comic book. etc. It doesn’t make any sense, there’s little logic in any character’s role and We get to see Benedict Cumberbatch do his American accent (it’s flawless). Not only does Cumbarbatch play Dr. Strange but Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, and the always wonderful Tilda Swinton all do their damndest to out do any/all previous Marvel Comic special effects silliness. Dr. Stephen Strange’s hands are ruined in a car accident and he goes to Kathmandu and tons of mysticism to repair his surgeon’s hands. Go only if you truly believe in comic books…then you’ll love it.”

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM. The first Harry Potter spinoff from J.K. Rowling, and it’s only the first of four more Beast movies planned!! Eddie Redmayne and Colin Farrell are the only actors we know of. In this very dark, depressing, beast filled mistake.” Set in New York City in 1926 it lacks any semblence of the charm, magic, character or even cuteness of Harry Potter’s world of Hogwarts and vicinity. Special effects produced beast like snakes, octopii, Dragons, Hydras, and more than 85 different types according to Rowland’s book. Redmayne and Farrell aren’t given a chance to be likable or empathetic. You probably catch my drift…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 13 has Jennifer Horne from UCSC’s Film Dept. discussing The National Film Registry choices” . PAMF’s Dr. Paul Ware follows Jennifer to tell us some of his theories about health and the role food plays. On December 20, author Lois Watson talks about her popular book, “Growing Up In Santa Cruz”. UCSC retiree Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz follow Lois and tell us about their new book, “Flora Unveiled” (plant” sex). I’ll be on vacation Dec. 27 and Sylvanna Falcon from UCSC’s Latin American and Latino Studies will interview UCSC Sociology professor Hillary Angelo. Starting the New Year properly on Jan. 3 Patricia Rain will be my guest telling us all about Vanilla. Then newly elected Santa Cruz City Council members Chris Krohn and Sandy Brown will give us previews of the future City Council issues. 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 think I’ve shown you before that I like beatboxing. This guy is from Australia, and he’s amazing 🙂

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. 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. “CHRISTMAS”

“Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling”, Edna Ferber

“In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!”, Dave Barry

“The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live”, George Carlin

“Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer….Who’d have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously?” Bill Watterson, “The Essential Calvin and Hobbes”

“If my Valentine you won’t be,
I’ll hang myself on your Christmas tree”. Ernest Hemingway, “88 Poems”

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

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

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

December 7 – 13, 2016

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Bruce

SNOW ON PACIFIC AVENUE 1957. 7:46 am. A long time tradition of printing snow and Christmas scene photos this month. As you can almost see this is Church street and Pacific Avenue. It’s about in front of the Regal’s Cinema 9 across from O’Neil’s Surf Shop.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE December 5, 2016

SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL VOTES CRY FOR CHANGE. Just seeing Martine Watkins outdraw Cynthia Mathews is an indication that folks want to change the way our city is governed. A much bigger sign of wanting change is the election of progressives Chris Krohn back onto the City council and especially Sandy Brown‘s election to the council. Drew Glover came in at only 604 votes (as of Monday 12/05) behind Sandy. I think Bernie Sanders cry for a “Brand New Council” was certainly heard and acted on. Let’s hope this signals the ending of Cynthia Mathews control over the downward spiral of growth and meaness. There’s going to be a huge party to celebrate all the work and dedication that went into those victories. It’ll be Friday, December 9th from 6-9pm at the 418 Project on Front Street along with laughs and fun there’ll be music by the marimba band, Kazunga and food by India Joze. This will be the start of something big!!!

HYPER DRIVE DOWN CABRILLO HIGHWAY. Not all that sure where this was shot but watch it and drive slowly.

COAST DAIRIES, A TOUR. Only a few weeks left before we learn about this possible loss of aready protected land into National monument status.

NEW LIBRARY AND PARKING LOT & STOP THE FARMERS MARKET??? Rick Longinotti sent an important message about the second attempt in just a few years to build a huge new parking structure downtown. It’s another example of Cynthia Mathews ongoing belief that all development and growth are wonderful, or even necessary. Rick stated, ” there is/ was a staff proposal for a 5-story parking garage at the lot where the Downtown Farmers Market meets. Before taking action, the Council would benefit from reviewing advice that it received from expert parking consultants.

On October 15, 2015, a joint meeting of the Downtown Commission and Planning Commission heard a presentation from three different consultants on how to address parking demand Downtown. It’s worth watching the video of this session. Go to this page and enter Santa Cruz Planning Commission in the search box.

The consultants all agreed that the cost of building new parking capacity is so high that it is cost-effective to implement “demand management” measures that provide incentives for people who work downtown to commute to work by means other than a car. Janis Rhodes told the Commissioners that the cost of parking spaces in a new garage is so high that, “No agency will make enough on user fees to pay for that space. We’ve become very conservative—maximizing existing inventories before we step out into that arena of financing new resources.”

The Nelson-Nygaard company estimated the cost of building a new parking garage in Berkeley, “The cost to construct new parking garages in Downtown can be expected to be in the range of $40,000 per space. This equates to a total cost to build, operate and maintain new spaces of approximately $280 per month per space, every month for the expected 35-year lifetime of the typical garage.” The City of Santa Cruz estimate for the cost of new spaces is even higher. The 489 net new spaces in the proposed garage (632 new spaces minus 143 space in the existing lot) would cost $33-$37 million. That’s $67,000 -$75,000 per space.

The good news is that there is a lot of potential to provide more customer parking without building a single new space. Many parking spaces are occupied by people with monthly parking permits. The City has 2916 parking spaces Downtown and sells 1831 monthly parking permits. These permits cost $30-$35 per month. The City would save a lot of money by paying downtown employees not to park, offering free bus passes, and credit at bike stores. And the City could run a shuttle from Downtown to the enormous parking lots at the Boardwalk, which lay empty a large part of the year.

The consultants offered the City a valuable message: Implement parking demand management incentives before you consider building new parking capacity. Rick concluded by saying “On Tuesday (Dec. 6 when the Council heard this) , let’s remind the City Council that our priorities are to reduce automobile use and greenhouse gases. You can’t get there by building new parking, then subsidizing it for users”.

108 SYCAMORE PROJECT. Down at the end of Pacific Avenue across from Lott’s Audio and right next to that Barry Swenson apartment complex (that has that too much water problem) is 108 Sycamore street. Reed Searle brings us some facts, data and ideas that demand attention. He states …

If you go look at the building you will see it is surely decrepit, but so was the historic La Bahia. There is an anomaly in the applicable code: if tenants are evicted so the building can be remodeled, then the tenants must be replaced or rehoused. But if the building is deemed dangerous by the authorities (without thought of whether it could be economically repaired) then there is no obligation to spare the house. So all a landlord would have to do is to let the building become a safety hazard, opt to tear it down—-and in this case to change a 5 unit apartment building (the oldest concrete structure in the city) into a somewhat larger hotel. And this could set one hell of a precedent for developing the whole beach area.

Then there’s a question of why this project wasn’t referred to the Santa Cruz Historic Commission. It is evident from the reference below (to the city attorney) that there is a problem with the code section; But the code section is clear as is, even though I’m sure that wasn’t intended.

The first question involves the purview of the Zoning Administration (ZA). If that purview is only to see whether a proposed project meets the technical requirements of the code, even if to allow the project involves shoe-horning, that is one thing—-it is pretty much a mechanical exercise. On the other hand, if the ZA may determine issues related to policy, we are in a different ballpark.

We all know that we have a serious housing problem. This application does present a policy issue that should be resolved by the City Council. If this app is granted, we will have a precedent applicable to the entire area and will gradually exclude residents in favor of commercial interests. If this is what we want there should be a clear statement by the Council. We do not help that by removing rental units and converting the property to visitor services. Current use in the area is multi-family residential uses as well as commercial. “Hotel uses are principally permitted” but so are multi-family residential. The General Plan encourages a mix of uses in his area.

Replacement housing is normally required when housing units are being demolished. But # 24.08.1380 grants exceptions and DN apply when the building people or fire marshal decides it is dangerous and needs to be replaced. Why should it make any difference as to later use if

a building is demolished because the building is dangerous. “This code section was reviewed by the City Attorney’s office in regards to this project and determined to be applicable. Therefore replacement housing is not required as part of this application.” says the report . About the possible height: whatever can be done to build a hotel can also be done with residential units.

The hotel plans call for an eleven (11) parking space garage. The hotel rooms rooms, at 600 square feet with two bedrooms, bathrooms, living room and kitchenette, are completely compatible with long term rental housing. What this means is that its use as a hotel is intended to be more economically rewarding than it would be possible as rental units. It is basically the same issue as with vacation rentals. The plans also include 20 bike storage spaces on the roof deck—-not a nice view and it reduces the space on the roof for anyone desiring a view”. ( Reed Searle is a former attorney, a member of The Community Water Commission and other activist activities).

RACIAL HATRED NEVER WENT AWAY. Sandy Lydon guesting on my Universal Grapevine radio program last Tuesday 11/29, (archived at KZSC.org) had a special segment titled, “What The Hell Is Happening” (also available online now at Sandy’s Central Coast Secrets). He talked about how we repatriated over 1,000,000 Mexican/Mexican Americans between 1929 and 1936. He spoke of the torch light mobs chanting “The Chinese must go” in downtown Santa Cruz in 1879 and the cross-burnings by the Ku Klux Klan at Lighthouse Point in the 1920’s. Then there was the anti-Filipino murder of a farm worker in the Pajaro Valley in 1930. There are photos of the Ku Klux Klan marching on Pacific Avenue, and more photos of the double lynching of Francisco Arias and Jose Chamales under our Water Street bridge in 1877. We do have an embarassing history, and with a revival looming in our very near future we need to be extra aware and sensitive.

BEST BUY BEGETS BITTER BACKSTABBING BATTLE. If you ever wondered why the sales staff at Best Buy loves you so much the instant you walk in the door you won’t be surprised to learn that any and all the regular salesfolk must meet a $300 (three hundred dollars) PER HOUR minimum sales quota!!! Salespeople in the computer and Television departments must meet an even higher quota PER HOUR. If they don’t meet it they are soon placed behind the checkout counter. That’s also why they aren’t too eager to turn you over to another clerk who might know more about your wishes.

FISH STORIES

I was struck by the front -page Sentinel article and photograph (12/4/16) of the couple fishing from the Santa Cruz Municipal wharf. They travel from Salinas twice a month to fish and grew up fishing from the wharf since they were kids. Fishing from the very same spot that her Dad fished, Jeri Gile was quoted as saying that “just being here I sense his presence.” Such sentiment apparently has no place in the hearts of the city’s economic developers. They point out that people will still be able to fish from the wharf under the expensive make-over should it ever become reality. True, but there are essential differences that matter. It’s obvious that the vast majority of folks who fish from the current wharf are working -class, of modest means. They park their vehicle next to their favorite fishing spot, open the trunk of the car for handy access to supplies, set up a couple of seats and spend the day with rod and reel and for many, childhood memories. Under the Wharf Master Plan this will not be possible. The design from the San Francisco based firm, ROMA, has the fishing area thirty feet away from the parked cars, separated by a 24 foot wide multi-use pathway for bikes, pedestrians, segways, whatever. Try casting in that confusion. The old weathered wooden railings replaced by stainless steel. Try drumming up childhood memories on those surfaces.

I grew up fishing with my Dad in an area north of Sydney, Australia, known as Pittwater. An area of singular beauty, it has undergone a similar transition as Santa Cruz from a place where working class folks could afford a modest home and drop a mooring for a small boat, to a place where the same houses sell for millions of dollars and the area is nick-named, “The Golden Triangle.” While I could never afford to live there now, when I return for a visit, I can walk on the same piers, fish from the same spots, enjoy the same trees only bigger and feel the presence of my Dad. In other words, the community and its elected council have preserved the essential feel and nature of the place despite its shift into upper class price range. They don’t hire urban planners from Sydney to come and design makeovers that would change the essential character of the place just to squeeze out more money. If they ever did, I guarantee there would be swift and stiff opposition as there has been to the Santa Cruz city’s Wharf Master Plan.

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

That the city of Santa Cruz and its economic planners did not anticipate such opposition reveals how out of touch they are. It reveals that the wharf is not in their hearts. I doubt many of them ever visit the wharf and I doubt many grew up fishing from the wharf with their Moms or Dads. This disconnect was evident in the comments made by Norm Daly, the city’s Development Project Manager and wharf property manager when he presented the Wharf Master Plan to council on November 22nd. In describing the advantages of one of the three, 40 feet high, proposed new buildings for the wharf, he remarked that it can get cold and windy out there; even in summer it can be foggy and it would be nice to have a covered building instead of being open to the elements. Excuse me? The magic of the wharf is that it juts a half-mile into the Pacific Ocean, exposed to the elements, with the wind and salt spray in your face and the cries from calling gulls and a variety of marine mammals that most people experience only in virtual reality. Those who prefer to be protected from this natural world have many options short of transforming the wharf into a Disneyland experience.

Now that the city has been forced to undergo an Environmental Impact Report for this project, not out of their own wisdom as they would like to have us believe but because they were forced to acknowledge the inadequacy of their environmental preparation, the question remains whether the Wharf Master Plan is a viable alternative to consider? My opinion is that the Plan should be scrapped. Folks far and wide, and yes, most of the out of state petition signers either grew up in Santa Cruz or have visited the wharf, have made it clear that this Plan is a bad fit. That’s what you get when you hire SF urban planners who don’t involve the community and mistakenly believe that a few stakeholders are its equivalent. Mayor Mathews at the end of the council meeting made a comment implying that the alternative to the Wharf Master Plan was doing nothing and letting the wharf rot. Far from it! A full-time wharf maintenance crew keeps the wharf in top shape structurally and they are largely responsible for its longevity. The wharf suffered no damage from the tsunami. According to the city’s Engineering Report, ninety one percent of the 4,400 pilings are in excellent shape. The 5% that need replacing are mostly under the Miramar Restaurant that is slated to be demolished and rebuilt, allowing for easier piling replacement. While the community could consider small changes, the boondoggle that is the Wharf Master Plan should find a place on a dusty top shelf. Chalk it up to experience although one would expect the city should have learned that lesson from the ill-fated desalination Plan, which similarly wasted millions of dollars. It’s not too late for the city to avoid wasting more.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. From Gary’s Two Worlds website…Monday December 5, 2016 #340 / OCEAN SCORES AND DARK POSTS ON FACEBOOK

On November 20, 2016, the Sunday New York Times printed an opinion piece titled, “The Secret Agenda of a Facebook Quiz.” The article was of interest to me, as someone who is an active participant on Facebook, where this Two Worlds blog is routinely republished. I have, from time to time, taken such quizzes, offered on Facebook – as perhaps some of my readers have, too.

McKenzie Funk, the author of the Times‘ opinion piece, is a reporter who works on global environmental issues. He has an impressive resume that you can review by clicking the link. Funk’s article tells us that various “quizzes” found on Facebook are, actually, efforts by Cambridge Analytica, a Republican Party political consulting firm, to amass a psychological profile of Facebook users.

According to Funk, the company now has a database of some 230 million adult Americans, and this database was mobilized during the Trump presidential campaign, and may well have played a part in helping Trump to win the election.

The profiles being amassed by Cambridge Analytica are based on so-called “OCEAN” scores – psychological profiles that evaluate “how you rate according to the big five psychological traits of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.”

In the future (and probably already), Facebook advertisers, including political advertisers, can use the Cambridge Analytica system of OCEAN scores to send you “dark posts,” which are fine-tuned to appeal to a very restricted group, all of whom have the same psychological profile. Those with different profiles will get different ads.

Read all about it by clicking this link. Then, watch out! As Funk says, if you don’t understand what’s going on here, “you may … be responsible the next time America is shocked by an election upset.” Hey, the last time was bad enough!!

(Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds at www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Santa Cruz’s “Holiday Carriage Rides”, as viewed by DeCinzo see below just a few scrolls.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Student Driver” 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: “The best girl-power stories are true. Meet the 13-year-old heroine of the stunningly beautiful documentary The Eagle Huntress, a daughter of Mongolian nomads who defies tradition to master the male-dominated art of hunting with eagles, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express http://ljo-express.blogspot.com Also, I am hourly expecting an update of the progress of my Beast book, so please stand by! ” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

A MAN NAMED OVE. A Swedish film with subtitles. Whew…93 on Rotten Tomatoes!!! It’s worth every tomato too. The film centers on 59 year old Ove and his attempts at suicide. He fails many times and dreams back to his near perfect and lovely wife who died, and why he wants to join her. He’s beyond crabby, he’s angry, mean and yet, and yet, there’s something so magnetic and powerful and redeeming in him that you’ll watch and wait for his every move. It’s a wonderful film…and I think he’s older than 59, and I remember 59 fairly well. Rolf Lassgard who plays Ove is actually 61 and has been in many films and even played Puck in a production of Midsummer Night’s Dream!!

ALLIED. Gee, I thought that Brad Pitt was leaving Angelina Jolie because he fell in love with Marion Cotillard his co-star in this 1942 Casablanca war and spy semi-thriller. Not many thrills or mystery or surprises…it’s mostly just a pretty WWII Casablanca wanna be Hollywood movie. After I found out that Brad and Angelina were still together there was no way to remember anything about this movie. 😉

THE ACCOUNTANT & DONALD TRUMP MONEY. For some mysterious reason this lousy, nearly insane movie is back again playing in several chain and independent theatres. We should all remember that Steven Mnuchin of Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs is one of the film’s producers, is now Donald Trumps pick as our next Secretary of the Treasury!!! It’s just if you care where your money goes…that’s all. The movie??? Well… Ben Affleck plays an autistic criminal bookeeper who is also a ruthless killer, and yes, that makes as little sense as does 98 % of this murder filled mess of a movie. Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jeffrey Tambor and even John Lithgow all do what they can in such a miscast cast that makes you feel like you’re watching an audition session, that nobody cares if they get the parts or not. You won’t believe the plot, or the acting, or the fact that you paid money to see this flick. ps. Jack Reacher is better…if you like these type flicks

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. Keeping traditional, the winners of Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers Contest read their entries the full hour on December 6. December 13 has Jennifer Horne from UCSC’s Film Dept. discussing changing techniques in film development. PAMF’s Dr. Paul Ware follows Jennifer to tell us some of his theories about health and the role food plays. On December 20, author Lois Watson talks about her popular book, “Growing Up In Santa Cruz”. UCSC retiree Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz follow Lois and tell us about their new book, “Flora Unveiled” (plant sex). 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

Here’s what they have in Canada…

NEW UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVE FEATURE. Stuff changes at KZSC a lot. If you missed 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.

QUOTES. “WHARVES AND PIERS”

“Often undecided whether to desert a sinking ship for one that might not float, he would make up his mind to sit on the wharf for a day”, Lord Beaverbrook

“A life spent at the edge of the pier is a life full of regret, a life full of fear.”
Ryan Lilly

“Voyage upon life’s sea, to your own self be true, And, whatever your lot may be, Paddle your own canoe”, Anon.

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

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

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

November 30 – December 6, 2016

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Bruce

SANTA CRUZ WHARF AND RAILROAD WHARF 1913. The railroad wharf shown here was gone by 1922. Wharves were a necessity back then for shipping and receiving goods and products by sea. It’s all part of our rich Santa Cruz History that the POW (Protect Our Wharf) group is trying to preserve.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

Breaking news!

(Or rather, a piece the Webmistress missed – sorry about that! -G)

THE BIG HOLIDAY PARADE…SATURDAY AT 10 AM.

I’ve been asked to co-emcee the umpteenth annual Santa Cruz Holiday Parade this Saturday morning (Dec. 3) with the ever popular-effervescent Kim Luke. The Downtown Association creates this great celebration. Together Kim and I will be telling just about everybody about the biggest community parade of the year. It’ll be videotaped by Peter McGettigan and will go on Facebook. Starting at 10am on Pacific Avenue, Kim and I will be at the reviewing stand in front of Forever 21. The traditional holiday parade is the official kickoff for the winter holidays celebration. Bands, Dancers, Classic Cars, Synchronized Librarians, perhaps even a “Rootbeer Float” one never knows exactly what to expect at the Parade, but you can be sure to expect the whole community to show up and have a great time, and of course, at the end of the parade, Sitting in a horse drawn Victorian Carriage, the man of the hour is…(you know).

Meet you there, stop by and say hello.

DATELINE November 28, 2016

LOCAL CHANGES. Thanks in no small way to the hard work of Gillian Greensite our Santa Cruz City Council has backed off from approving the Pier 23- Disneyland tourist plans for our municipal wharf. If you want real details on Gillian’s long involvement, check out her BrattonOnline articles in the April 14, 2016, October 24, 2016 and November 11, 2016 editions of BrattonOnline. Just go to the right hand margin and click on the proper archives. It’s a wonderful example of what Gary Patton and other activists always say about getting involved in your government’s actions. POW (Protect Our Wharf)

BEFORE THE FLOOD FILM. This Leonardo DeCaprio film is showing for free at Cabrilho College Thursday Dec 1st at 5 p.m. in the 450 Forum Building. There’ll be a discussion after the screening.

NEW ZEALAND EARTHQUAKE. This one just happened November 14, 2016. I’m still not quite sure how our elected officials have prepared us for OUR next one?

Because those crazy making election results aren’t final yet and because it looks like Measure D will barely pass there is a MEASURE D meeting of the Campaign For Sensible Transportation group on Saturday December 3rd at 10:30 a.m. to plan future actions. Get in touch with them for the location. Ted Benhari of FRIENDS OF THE NORTH COAST is concerned that President Obama will proclaim Cotoni – Coast Dairies just in the nick of his time as president. But just maybe the Friends ONC worries and concerns have gotten through to those powers that be? Watch that space. Richard Gladstone sends us a great and alternative concept of dealing with the President-elect Check it out. Gene Sharp talks about humor, ridicule and the world changing effects tactics not involve turning the other cheek work best.

SANTA CRUZ & SAN JOSE EAST? John Koster and Jeffrey Smedberg sent this emergency warning…

Stop Outsider Big Money speculator/developers from their continuing takeover of the Westside! Our City Council already granted the Patel dynasty a Marriot brand hotel but they’re not satisfied and are now proposing to tear down the hacienda style Sunset Inn motel at Mission & Swift to put up a Hilton franchise highrise – just 2 blocks away from their other coup!! Santa Cruz is being turned into San Jose East before our very eyes. The working class locals don’t need it and don’t want it. There is nothing in it for residents but a rapidly eroding quality of life. STAND UP AND FIGHT BACK by attending the public hearing at 7pm on Thursday, December 1st in the City Council Chambers, 809 Center St. Come prepared to talk it down in responsible civic fashion!

EXEUNT GREY BEARS. This is the 43rd year that the Grey Bears has created the Holiday Dinner at the Civic Auditorium. I arranged, staged and supervised the entertainment and emceed the event for the next 42 years. Aside from getting mass produced, pre-packaged dinners from The Santa Cruz Diner instead of making each dish by hand with care and taste the present management has become too much to bear. I quit this year. Thinking back to Marcia Margolin, Thelma Dalman, Gary Denny, Kristina Mailliard, and especially Lynda Francis the ol’ Grey Bears just ain’t what it usta be. I miss them.

WESTERN SERVICE WORKERS BACK AGAIN. It’s holiday time and that means that the Western Service Workers Association is on Pacific Avenue trying to entice possible joiners and soliciting money. The WSWA has a very shady history look them up here and see what you think. From Local Wiki … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Labor_Federation . It says, “Western Service Workers Association (WSWA) is an organization dedicated to providing cooperative assistance and networking for low-income workers. They always welcome donations and volunteers. The group is an entity of The National Labor Federation (NATLFED), and the credibility of the WSWA has been called into question locally. While many volunteers for the organization will describe the help they have given members of the community, citing food donations to individuals and various ‘counseling’ services offered, critics of the organization question the manner in which the WSWA is funded, and how efficiently their services are carried out. One blog lists the organization as a political cult“. If you want to help the less fortunate go for The Salvation Army or better yet support and of the huge list of our local non-profits that work so hard.

“AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION.”

You can fight city hall but it takes effort and training. Close to the witching hour on Tuesday November 22nd. the Santa Cruz city council voted unanimously to send the Wharf Master Plan (WMP) back to staff for a complete Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Such a process could take up to a year. One question of interest is what did it take to achieve such a reversal of plans? A more important question in my mind is why does the city council not do the legal and right thing in the first place? Citizens have to go to extraordinary lengths to force staff and city council to follow the rules.

Indicative of a desire to get the WMP approved and out of the way as quickly as possible, mayor Cynthia Mathews and city Manager Martin Bernal had placed the item last on a packed evening agenda. Those of us waiting to speak sat through 3 hours of public testimony and council deliberation on cuts to publicly funded social services such as child-care and another hour on the proposal to eliminate parking for Accessory Dwelling Units if they are built within a half mile of a bus stop. Both are serious and weighty issues. Around 11 pm, staff switched seats and the Wharf Master Plan deliberations began. Noting the late hour, senior economic development staff, Norm Daly offered to deliver a shortened version of his presentation. The Mayor urged him to deliver the long version. When that was over and the time had moved to around 11:30 the Mayor addressed the public and asked how many wanted to speak. Seeing about ten hands, she informed us we could have a minute and a half each. A few groans of protest at this short shrift for public comment were registered and ignored. We kept to our time limits and all expressed opposition to the WMP and urged council to send it back for an EIR. The last speaker was the Wharf manager who waxed enthusiastic support for the Plan. When his buzzer sounded signaling the end of his allotted time the Mayor urged him to finish his thought. Which he did, adding many more thoughts for many more minutes until some of us in exasperation called out “unfair!” Such is the bias at city hall.

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

The planning director, Juliana Rebagliati and city attorney Tony Condotti then spoke recommending that “out of an abundance of caution” the council can defer consideration of adopting the WMP after an EIR has been prepared and circulated. It took a letter from attorney Susan Brandt-Hawley, citing the Public Resources Code that a public EIR process is required when a project may have a significant effect on the environment; 2,400 signatures on an online petition developed by Valley Women’s Club member Robin Brune; letters from the Sierra Club and the Santa Cruz Bird Club; scores of individual letters and emails from environmental activists; biologists and long-time locals who love the wharf plus coverage finally by the Sentinel to produce this result. Without such effort, the city council would predictably have thrown caution to the winds and we would be embarking on a $40 million commercial makeover of the wharf complete with high-rise buildings that apparently the community does not want.

A few lessons can be learned if a new council is to work with rather than against the community on projects that have significant environmental and social impacts. One is to reverse the years of incremental role reversal between staff and elected officials. It is council’s duty to set policies in the community’s interest. Staff carries out those policies. Many of us who have been involved in local politics for decades have noticed the subtle power shift as council frequently defers to staff, asks for direction or apologizes if an opinion is held that is contrary to that of staff. This trend was most noticeable at the planning commission level for consideration of the Wharf Master Plan (WMP), which was accepted and approved unanimously by the commission. Two commissioners had serious misgivings about the mitigated negative declaration’s legitimacy and the commercial, big building aspects of the Plan. They apologized profusely for having misgivings and eventually voted against their misgivings in an apparent crisis of confidence for opposing staff’s recommendations. That is not good public policy.

Another lesson is that this massive project impacting one of Santa Cruz’s iconic landmarks never reached public awareness until the final days. City council and staff need to change the way they spread the word, or fail to spread the word. Slick consultants with focus groups and carefully selected stakeholders does not equate to public awareness. Those of us who have ever attended one of these pseudo public forums see how carefully they are manipulated to produce the desired outcome. When was the last time you could actually raise your hand and ask a question so that all present can hear the question and answer?

An obvious lesson is that council and staff have a duty to follow all environmental laws. Trying to circumvent the law, thereby forcing the community into an adversarial stance is not acceptable. Wasting public monies by trying to circumvent environmental law is not acceptable. The bias towards commercialism and tourism and pretending that this is for the public good is not why we elect council members nor why we pay such high salaries for top level city staff, many of whom live in more bucolic areas than the town formerly known as Santa Cruz”.

TREATED WASTEWATER INTO OUR WATER SUPPLY…IT’S WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE THAT CAN BE DANGEROUS

It bothered me recently when Soquel Creek Water District Project Leader, Ms. Schumacher held up a clear glass bottle of transparent advanced treated sewage water and claimed it was pure. “Pure Water Soquel” is the name for the proposed project by the District to inject treated sewage water directly into the area’s drinking water supply to stop salt water advancing inland, due to over 30 years of overdraft. The water in the bottle was clear…but as we all know, it’s what you CAN’T see that is dangerous.

I have been thinking alot about Soquel Creek Water District’s preferred plan to solve the critical groundwater overdraft problem in our area. I have recently spent a couple of Saturday mornings at the Cabrillo College Farmer’s Market talking with people about the idea of pressure injecting treated sewage water directly into the aquifer….and asking them to sign a petition to the Santa Cruz MidCounty Groundwater Agency to put the matter to ballot vote before all who depend on the Purisima Aquifer for safe drinking water.

Many people are concerned about the issue of removing a myriad of pharmaceuticals from the water before it gets injected into the aquifer and potentially contaminating everyone’s water. Many people who are not customers of Soquel Creek Water District and therefore are unable to vote on the Board of Directors for that agency would very much like to have a say in what Soquel Creek Water District proposes to do that will affect the entire region’s water supply.

We all need to contact Soquel Creek Water District (www.soquelcreekwater.org) with our concerns and insist that all users of the aquifer be allowed to vote by ballot on whether or not the District should be allowed to inject the treated sewage water directly into our water supply. In my opinion, we also need to insist on a temporary moratorium to reduce the rate of advancing seawater inland that will cause irreversible damage to the aquifer and destroy the area’s water supply. Other area municipalities are taking this responsible action, as was reported in “The Mercury News” July 21, 2016 (page B1).

There are many reasons to question the wisdom of the injection quick-fix. Various sources cite problems with advanced tertiary wastewater treatment, mostly concerning pharmaceuticals in the waste stream. There is an excellent list of research abstracts on the matter here, showing some of the research results. The print is small, but you can get a good overview of what the current research shows. In terms of pharmaceuticals, we need to be cautious.

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

Any water treatment facility must have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Soquel Creek Water District had to get one for the new Granite Way Well, and will also need one for the proposed auxiliary station in the treated sewage water injection plan. This permit spells out the type and amount of contaminants that can be discharged into local water. Contaminants such as metals, pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors may or may not be included in NPDES permits. Some of the contaminants are just now being studied and their effects on the environment, humans and water re-use are unknown. Hospitals, nursing homes and citizen households often flush unused medications down the toilet and sometimes, little can be done to remove them. What would happen to the concentrated contaminant effluent that would result from the treatments that Soquel Creek Water District is proposing? Is that the “brine” that would travel in 8″ pipes alongside the sewage water to the auxiliary treatment plant near the three proposed injection wells in Aptos?

So, what could be done to re-use the 8-9 million gallons of treated wastewater that gets pumped into the Monterey Bay Sanctuary DAILY? In Watsonville, the sea water is moving inland at the rate of nine inches every day. The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency has been grappling with this issue for years. Under the direction of Ms. Mary Bannister (who, by the way is retiring December 31), the Watsonville City partnered to get $50 million in state and federal grants to develop a recycled water facility at the wastewater treatment plant that provides 4,000 acre feet/year to irrigate coastal farmland, using over 20 miles of purple delivery pipe. The difference here is that the water is being spread onto the soil, not injected directly into the drinking water supply.

The ability of soil microbes to digest and decompose pollutants was highlighted in the November 19, 2016 “Santa Cruz Sentinel” article (page A2):

‘Castroville: Using nature’s filters, Wetland restoration project to help clean agricultural water’. The retention pond system, funded by the California State Water Resources Control Board through a Proposition 84 grant, will filter agricultural runoff from about 600 acres. PG&E donated some of the land necessary for the ponds that will filter water naturally with plants and bacteria. Why can’t the sewage water that Soquel Creek Water District wants to treat and inject be instead be put into a series of constructed wetlands, and allow the water to be cleaned naturally as the groundwater is recharged? HMMM…..

Soquel Creek Water District also is exploring the possibility of partnering with the City of Santa Cruz for water transfers from the San Lorenzo River and north coast creeks. The District has done some preliminary studies and found that the chemistry of those surface waters differs from that of the Purisima Aquifer groundwater. Mixing the sources could potentially cause scaling in pipes and possible corrosion. After consulting with the cities of Davis, Woodland and Fresno, the District is moving more cautiously and will continue to study the effects in a closed loop pipe system this winter.

According to a series of articles in the “Fresno Bee” last summer, the City of Fresno was not so cautious when, in 2004, changed their water supply from 100% groundwater to include surface water. There were differences in pH and hardness, and preliminary studies showed that those differences would necessarily change the corrosion process within the pipes. Customers started to complain of discolored water later in 2004. The City gave out bottled water to customers who complained, but did not report the problems to State Water Quality agencies. In 2010, the City hired two contractors to install new water meters. The contractors failed to install dielectric connections to remedy the metal differences in brass meters and galvanized pipe. Consequently, lead levels increased in the water supply at violation levels. There appears to be a class action lawsuit in progress.

In most matters involving public health and safety, it is wise to be cautious. Let us all urge Soquel Creek Water District to be cautious regarding their preferred plan to inject treated sewage water into the aquifer for a supplemental water source.

ALL ABOARD!!

I enjoyed seeing a locomotive on the tracks in Aptos Village last week. I remember when the train used to go through twice daily. I stopped to ask the engineer (talking with a fellow in front of Aptos BBQ) if he were assessing the tracks for the upcoming Aptos Village Phase I Traffic Improvements, which includes replacing 200′ of track at the Trout Gulch Road crossing? He nervously told me he was just removing brush and improving clearance along the track, and assured me he would not be there long. I assured him that I was happy to see a train on the tracks again.

I think he may have been clearing the tracks for the delivery of the Polar Express cars. The rides will begin at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk this year, and travel to Jade Street Park in Capitola. If the train were to cross the Capitola trestle, it might be worth the admission of $54/Adult and $44/child 2-12 years old. To sweeten the necessary approval agreement from the RTC, the train company gave all Supervisors free tickets for their families. Supervisor Caput refused to accept his and registered protest that the event was being taken away from Watsonville.

Well, Roaring Camp and Big Trees Railroad also has a nice Holiday Lights Train departing from the Boardwalk and goes the opposite direction. It’s worth the $31/Adult and $25/children 2-12 years of age to wave at the motorists stopped on Highway One at River Street. I like the old-fashioned caroling along the way better than the excited dancing and singing chipmunks and elves on the Polar Express, too. But I’m old fashioned…..

Speaking of old fashioned, watch for news of the Golden Gate Rail Museum coming to Santa Cruz to make it’s new home. Steam locomotives taking passengers through the County for special events such as the Begonia Festival? Hmmmm…that would be something. I just wonder where any rail passengers boarding in the Aptos Village area would park? Barry Swenson Builder’s Aptos Village Project, if built, will eliminate all but 9 spots for the Nisene Marks State Park runners and cyclists, so there will be virtually no parking available for passenger train riders. Most of the parking within the Project will be limited to 90 minutes…if you can find a spot at all.

I hope you are enjoying the rain. As you splash through the puddles, think about what one letter or one phone call you will make this week to local government officials. Get educated. Get active. Make a difference in your community. Cheers, Becky Steinbruner

PATTON’S PROGRAM. From Gary’s Two Worlds website… November 27,2016

#332 INSTEAD OF TYPING, TALK

Otis R. Taylor, Jr., who writes an “East Bay” column for the San Francisco Chronicle, has this advice for all of us:

“This is a shorthand way to make an important point about our politics today – and the politics we need to return to in days to come. Politics, Taylor is saying, properly understood, is not something we can practice in a “virtual” world. Politics is the way we create a “real” world, the world in which we most immediately reside, and that’s where our political activities need to take place. We need actually to talk to people, not just sign petitions and send messages over the Internet. To be an effective political participant, in other words, it is not enough to post to Facebook (or to sign a MoveOn petition, or to write a blog – and I do take Taylor’s advice personally).

What is required is real action in the real world:

Get drenched by the water cannons at Standing Rock.
Show up personally on the Capitol Mall, at the Inauguration protest.
Hit the streets with those protesting the next U.S. military adventure.
Actually attend the meetings of the City Council and the Board of Supervisors during which our elected representatives are making the crucial decisions about the future shape and character of our local community. Speak up! Watching it all go down on the government channel, and firing off an email to the Board or Council is not sufficient.
Organize or join a political group. Meet each week!

A genuine and healthy politics takes place in the real world, and involves actual human beings.

Taylor’s column is worth reading – and maybe you can get through the Chronicle’s paywall and actually read it. The link I have provided will get you to the full text, providing you aren’t stopped for being a Chronicle non-subscriber. But if you do get blocked by the pay wall, one line sums it up: INSTEAD OF TYPING, TALK!”

Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds at www.gapatton.net

HIDDEN VALLEY ORCHESTRA. The Hidden Valley String Orchestra lives in Panetta’s valley near Carmel. All strings and no conductor!! Artistic Directors are Stewart Robertson and Roy Malan. They’ll be playing a concert here titled “Rule, Britannia!” . It’s a matinee of English Music by Parry, Elgar, Vaughn Williams, & Ireland featuring the Hidden Valley String Orchestra. It’ll happen Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 2:30pm with an afternoon Tea Reception to Follow. It’ll be at the Peace United Church at 900 High Street, Santa Cruz. Tickets Available at HiddenValleyMusic.org it’s a rare chance to hear them in our neck of the woods.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo takes a look at this country’s original immigration issues. Look down below a screen or two.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Climate Warming Hoax” 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: “Set sail for adventure this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), with Disney’s newest girl-powered cartoon feature, Moana. (Just don’t call her “Princess.”) Sunny, beachy, and full of the tropical colors, mythology, and folklore of the Pacific Islands, it’s the perfect antidote to the winter blahs!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

ALLIED. Gee, I thought that Brad Pitt was leaving Angelina Jolie because he fell in love with Marion Cotillard his co-star in this 1942 Casablanca war and spy semi-thriller. Not many thrills or mystery or surprises…it’s mostly just a pretty WWII Casablanca wanna be Hollywood movie. After I found out that Brad and Angelina were still together there was no way to remember anything about this movie. 😉

BLEED FOR THIS. An almost exact copy of a Sylvester Stallone Hollywood boxing movie…except most of this movie is true. Miles Teller who was great in Whiplash can only go so far portraying a real human who was nothing like him. Poor and young boxer gets in a car accident, wears a halo neck brace and is told he’ll never walk or fight again. Well of course he does just that. And being a boxing movie,(and real life) he even wins the fight. Only if you’re a boxing fan should you go see this. And how about that Andre Ward decision over Sergey Kovalev???

AMERICAN PASTORAL. A very, very poor adaption of Philip Roth’s Pulitzer winning book. Save your money and time, and read the book again. A fine cast with Ewan McGregor (also directed it) Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning (now older and much less entrancing) and a stiff, unfeeling naration by David Strathairn. The acting by all concerned is shockingly bad. The fake accents don’t work. Too many lines are shouted not emoted, the entire film lacks believable love or feelings.

THE ACCOUNTANT & DONALD TRUMP MONEY. For some mysterious reason this lousy, nearly insane movie is back again playing in several chain and independent theatres. We should all remember that Steven Mnuchin one of the film’s producers, is now and has been Finance Chair of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. It’s just if you care where your money goes…that’s all. The movie??? Well… Ben Affleck plays an autistic criminal bookeeper who is also a ruthless killer, and yes, that makes as little sense as does 98 % of this murder filled mess of a movie. Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jeffrey Tambor and even John Lithgow all do what they can in such a miscast cast that makes you feel like you’re watching an audition session, that nobody cares if they get the parts or not. You won’t believe the plot, or the acting, or the fact that you paid money to see this flick. ps. Jack Reacher is better…if you like these type flicks.

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. Sean Van Sommeran emerges on Nov. 29 to tell us about the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation. Minutes after that, author and historian Sandy Lydon returns to talk about his future historical adventures. Keeping traditional, the winners of Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers Contest read their entries the full hour on December 6. December 13 has Jennifer Horne from UCSC’s Film Dept. discussing changing techniques in film development. PAMF’s Dr. Paul Ware follows Jennifer to tell us some of his theories about health and the role food plays. On December 20, author Lois Watson talks about her popular book, “Growing Up In Santa Cruz”. UCSC retiree Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz follow Lois and tell us about their new book, “Flora Unveiled” (plant sex) 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

So, lately I’ve been binge watching all these DIY tips and tricks, how to get organized, genius life hacks, etc. At some point, these will start happening by osmosis, right? Right?!

QUOTES. ‘EARTHQUAKES”

“Revolution is as unpredictable as an earthquake and as beautiful as spring. It’s coming is always a surprise, but its nature should not be”, Rebecca Solnit
“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake”, Jeannette Rankin
“Playing polo is like trying to play golf during an earthquake”, Sylvester Stallone
“Stupidity is an elemental force for which no earthquake is a match”, Karl Kraus

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

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

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

November 22 – 28, 2016

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Bruce

SANTA CRUZ MUNICIPAL WHARF. Taken about 1910, this great photo shows just how much our wharf was used and needed by our early Italian residents. It’s only part of the wharf’s history that would be erased forever if our City Council succeeds in modernizing and “going tourist” with it.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE November 21, 2016

KLAUS NONI – TOTAL ECLIPSE. Tom Louagie sent this clip. Sort of a mix of Hedwig meeting Joel Grey from Cabaret.

FLYING KARAMAZOV BROTHERS & MR. ROGERS. Good thing the Karamazov’s aren’t still performing on Pacific Avenue, Cynthia Mathews and her trained clubbies would have them arrested.

OUR HISTORIC WHARF, SOCIAL SERVICES CUTBACK & OUR CITY COUNCIL.

It’s too late now but I hope everyone notices that our City Council decisions on making our historic wharf into another San Francisco’s Pier 23 and the secretly planned cutbacks to our social services are happening just AFTER the City Council elections. It’s another maneuever by Mathews and her sycophants to avoid these cruel and unusual political moves. We need to support Martine Watkins and help her avoid Mathews covert manipulations. And of course keep hoping that Sandy Brown’s lead as of “press time” grows and becomes permanent. Chris Krohn and Sandy Brown are wonderfully qualified, intelligent and independent people. Let’s also hope that Chris and Sandy can re-awaken Cynthia Chase’s sense of civic responsibility that she showed so vividly when she was with the Gemma Program helping the very folks who have been so poorly mistreated by the council these last years.

ORGANIZE THE RESISTENCE. Everybody including Community members from many organizations are invited. Especially those that are working for progressive social change with a goal of building a broad coalition to ensure the safety of our targeted populations and take action on the people’s priority issues. The meeting will be Tuesday, December 6, 6:30 pm at the London Nelson Community Center. The Santa Cruz for Bernie committee is organizing it. If you want to get involved…now’s the chance!!! Bernie’s Rousing Address last Wednesday at George Washington University was about the future of our country under a Trump administration. There were technical difficulties with the live video broadcast, but now you can watch Bernie’s 18 minute speech.”Happy Trump Won” is a 4 minute video by Prince Ea that offers his unusual and ultimately positive perspective on the election. Click to watch Why I’m Happy Trump Won. To The Students: Keep Marching! We’re proud of you! For more info. contact Jeffrey Smedberg: santacruz4bernie@gmail.com

TRUMP JOKE. Ralph Davila while looking for an excuse to laugh, found this…

Ok ..Trump is up late in the White House pacing the halls; the ghost of George Washington appears “Always tell the truth”; Trump feels better and a couple weeks later He is up late at night pacing and the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt appears and says “speak softly and carry a big stick” and Trump feels better for a month but then he’s up late pacing again and this time it’s the ghost of Abraham Lincoln and he says “Relax go see a play”.

WOLFGANG ROSENBERG, JIM FERRIS and MIKE FELIX. Mike Felix was an old friend from my 1960 KCBS days in San Francisco. Jim Ferris was a film veteran, longtime friend and also co-creator of UCSC’s Lifelong Learning community. Wolfgang Rosenberg goes way back in progressive local politics…SCAN, SCRAP, and many more He also gave me his own piece of the Berlin Wall. He was born in Berlin. Their passing leaves much to be missed.

LEE TAIZ QUOTE…Lee points out that here’s a political slogan that needs to be retired immediately: “Love Trumps Hate.” Presumably, most people waving this around mean that love is in some sense more powerful than hate. Unfortunately, the slogan can also be read as a endorsement of what, in fact, motivates many people, as demonstrated in the last election. They really DO love Trump’s hate. That is…”We love Trumps Hate” They don’t need to be admonished to keep it up.

ON BECOMING A CITIZEN.

Six months ago I decided to apply for American citizenship. After 41 years living in Santa Cruz as a permanent resident, there was no compelling reason to apply. My green card could be renewed every decade and folks seem to enjoy my Australian identity. “I just love your accent, where are you from?” I hear frequently and have fun responding, “I’m from Santa Cruz. I love your accent too!” No person of Mexican heritage ever hears that compliment.

So why apply to be a citizen after so long? The reasons built gradually. At first it was a simple choice between renewing my green card and applying for citizenship. Both involve filling out long forms, paying money and driving to an unpleasant Immigration office. The advantages of citizenship are few but significant. As a permanent resident I am unable to vote despite paying taxes for 41 years (wasn’t there a revolution over that?), am unable to run for local political office, cannot serve on a jury although I can join the Armed Forces and can be deported if I am arrested. And then there was Trump. Despite the unlikely scenario at the time of his ever being elected President, citizenship would be a protection against the unimaginable.

Being a life-long procrastinator, I left it until the last day to fill out the 21-page application. That done, I sat back to wait for the USCIS (United States Citizen and Immigration Services) wheels to turn. When I had to go to Salinas to have fingerprints taken for a background check, I was given a CD and booklet to study for the civics part of the future interview. That sparked a keen interest in American history. I checked out many books from the Garfield Park library on the revolutionary war period. White Australia had convicts but white America had men with the crazy notion that they could defeat the British Navy! And who pretended slavery didn’t exist as they fought for the rights of all men.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Jefferson being told to go away and draft the Declaration of Independence, who sulked when it was edited to “we hold these truths to be self-evident.” I started to view citizenship as something more significant.

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Six months later, the letter arrived with the date for my interview in San Jose. I had passed the background check, which is exhaustive. They still ask about membership in the communist party and one assumes that is not considered a plus. The UCSIS officer who interviewed me noted that my file was slim which is a very good thing. I had been wise enough to avoid being arrested during the anti-Apartheid demonstrations at UCSC in the late 1970’s when 401 occupiers of the Hahn Student Services building were arrested and taken to jail. I was part of the demonstration but did not occupy the building, aware of the deportation consequences for non-citizens.

I aced the oral civics test but really wanted to add a lot more detail about Jefferson et al.

And so I was instructed to appear at the Campbell Heritage Theater on November 17th, along with 297 other US residents who had weathered the naturalization process. We came from 48 different countries. We waited in line outside the theater in the morning sun. I looked around and saw the faces of America’s future and felt at home.(The Campbell Heritage Theater designed by William Weeks in 1938 is in Campbell, CA. and is often used for citizenship ceremonies).

I had not expected much of the ceremony, assuming it would be the usual “America is the greatest county on earth and you are lucky to be accepted here” sort of thing. I was wrong. The introductory remarks were delivered from five speakers in 5 different languages. They stressed the importance of voting and why. Other speakers spoke to the heritage of immigrants. We were asked to stand as each of our 48 countries’ names was called. Noting the hesitancy to clap that had accompanied the names, the closing speaker encouraged us to clap loudly for all of our countries and the applause was energetic. We then swore the oath to become citizens. Prior to the event I had sworn to myself that I would not include “under God” in the pledge since I find that 1953 addition obnoxious. We could argue the whole pledge thing is a problem however I was saved from that dilemma since the oath of allegiance is different from the pledge of allegiance. I had no trouble with swearing to take up arms to defend my new country especially if those rude Aussies ever make a move. We next pledged allegiance to the flag. As a newly minted citizen I exercised my First Amendment rights by substituting “under nature” for “under god.” All was well. The final speaker now welcomed us as new citizens. He spoke to the protests against the President-elect as an example of our rights as citizens and encouraged us to exercise our right to peaceful protest. The finale was a video of President Barrack Obama welcoming us. His measured words warmly embraced us new immigrants as the backbone of this country. I felt an era slipping away”.

THE TOWER IS GONE BUT THE WALL REMAINS…NEW WELL FOR APTOS VILLAGE IN 10 MONTHS.

Pacific Engineering completed drilling work on Soquel Creek Water District’s new Granite Way Well at the Aptos Village Project this week, and the drilling tower is now gone. That was fast. District engineer Mr. Taj Dufour told the Board last Tuesday that the drilling was complete at about 625′, roughly 100′ less than had been planned due to unanticipated dense geologic material that did not bear water. The 20′-high sound wall remains. Residents are really glad those walls were there during the drilling process. According to District staff, their e-blast features a time-lapse documentation of the drilling process, but I have been unable to access that information. Maybe you can. The new well will come online, supplying water for the District at about the same time that the Aptos Village Project Phase I New Leaf Market opens…a coincidence? HMMMMM…..

Well, last week’s Soquel Creek Water District Board meeting saw a new policy enacted regarding Water Demand Offset credits for new development. Now, anyone wanting a new service connection will have to wait in a queu for the District’s limited number of offset credits available via toilet replacements and fee payments. Now, each developer may purchase 0.5 Acre foot credit (that will be what most single family dwellings require) when their project comes to the head of the list of applicants, at which time they pay $27,500 (that is at the $55,000/Acrefoot offset fee rate), and half of that will go to toilet rebates (replacing toilets with newer 0.8 gal/flush models) and half to long-term conservation projects that the District will come up with later. There are not any right now. If a project is larger than 0.5 Acre feet, the developer can go solicit toilet replacements or come up with another creative project to save water. Sounds complicated? Maybe…and it will require considerable District staff verification, which staff admits has been a problem in the past. I still vote for a moratorium until a reliable supplemental water supply gets put in place, but the Board doesn’t like hearing that. By the way, the Stanford geo-physical imaging researcher who mapped the saltwater intrusion of the area also recommends a moratorium.

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Speaking of not liking what the public says, the Santa Cruz MidCounty Groundwater Agency (SCMGA) met Thursday, November 17 in the evening. It was well-attended, complete with the new California Department of Water Resources Regional Office Senior Engineer, Ms. Amanda Peisch-Derby. I am still trying to understand why the SCMGA group refused to let Ms. Peisch-Derby correct inaccurate information in their draft minutes from the previous meeting. Maybe we can all contact her (559-230-3307 or Amanda.Peisch@water.ca.gov) and find out what she would correct.

The SCGMA group also did not want to allow any public comment on the Soquel Creek Water District update on the plan to inject treated sewage water directly into the drinking water supply. This project, dubbed “Pure Water Soquel” is in the process of undergoing environmental impact review, and the public comment period on the scope of the Environmental Impact Report is NOW THROUGH DECEMBER 21. You can examine the 48-page document online or take a look at a hard copy available at most branches of the public library.

In glancing over the document, I have questions about where the pipe lines would go, what is meant by “brine concentrate” that will also be transported in 8″ diameter pipelines, and where are the tribal cultural resources that will be disturbed/damaged? There are three proposed injection well sites: Willowbrook Park, Cabrillo College, and Monterey Street/Kennedy Drive area. I did not see how deep into the aquifer the three proposed injection wells would place the treated sewage water, but the mention of “liquefaction” and “seismic shaking” got my attention, and made me consider a recent article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel correlating wastewater injection in Oklahoma to a burst of earthquakes in that region.

There are many other reasons why we all need to review this document and attend the Public Hearing for Environmental Impact Report Intention and Scoping scheduled for WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7 at Twin Lakes Baptist Church Building 700, 2pm-4pm and 6pm-8pm. You can also send written comments online to purewatersoquel@soquelcreekwater.org or via US Mail to Soquel Creek Water District, P.O. Box 1550, Capitola, CA 95010, attention Ms. Melanie Mow Schumacher. Again, the deadline is December 21.

So, it seems to me that all who depend on the Purisima Aquifer, where this treated sewage water is proposed to be injected, ought to have a say in whether this all happens or not. After considerable insistence on my part, I was allowed to present a petition with 50 signatures to the SCGMA group, asking that the issue be placed on a ballot for approval/disapproval by all in the Mid-County Groundwater Basin…that’s private well owners and small water companies who also rely upon the aquifer for safe, pharmacuetical-free drinking water in the area roughly between Corralitos to just beyond Pleasure Point. If you agree, please contact Soquel Creek Water District and let them know. You can also contact the MidCounty Ground Water Agency at www.midcountygroundwater.org. If you’re a private well owner, you might also ask that the by-laws for that group be changed to allow private well and small water company owners to collectively choose their own representatives that serve on the SCGMA board. Currently, Soquel Creek Water District, Central Water District, Santa Cruz City Water Department and Santa Cruz County staff choose the three people who represent your interests.

APTOS VILLAGE TRAFFIC WOES…ASK SUPERVISOR ZACH FRIEND FOR A COMMUNITY MEETING

Last week, I discussed the terms of the Phase I Aptos Village Traffic Improvements that the County Board of Supervisors approved and will most likely begin next February or March. If you depend on this area for access to your home, schools and work, please contact Supervisor Zach Friend to demand a community meeting. How will the traffic be managed when the Trout Gulch Road railroad crossing is closed for 48 hours? How will we be notified regarding construction updates and time lines? Please call 454-2200 or e-mail Zach.Friend@santacruzcounty.us and ask for a community meeting to give us all a public forum for asking our questions regarding the project. And he should tell us again why taxpayers are picking up the tab for Barry Swenson Builder to move the westbound Metro bus stop to a more dangerous area for the drivers and will violate utility setbacks from the rail lines, just to help Swenson have the Soquel Drive gateway to the Aptos Village Project? HMMMMM……

And while you are on the phone with Zach Friend, ask for a public meeting to work out the details of the Phase II Aptos Village Traffic Improvements. I would like to know why taxpayers will be asked to pay $2 million for that project, which will include paying for the Aptos Village Project gateway’s new rail crossing, which includes the illegal closure of the Bayview Hotel’s main ingress/egress onto Soquel Drive. The 1878 deed that Hotel owner Mr. Jose Arano signed with the Santa Cruz Railroad (the Hotel land extends under the railroad bed and up to the edge of Soquel Drive) stipulated that the ingress/egress must forever remain open and clear, and that the Hotel owner has the right to put up a fence to obstruct traffic on the railroad at any time the agreement was not upheld. HMMM…what would the passenger rail do then? Stay tuned, get educated and ask questions. Write one letter. Make one call….make a difference in your community. Cheers, Becky.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. From Gary’s Two Worlds website…

#318 SEALE OF APPROVAL.

Bobby Seale was a cofounder of the Black Panther Party. For many political activists of the 1960s and 1970s, and I am including myself in that number, Seale was (and remains) an inspiring figure. It’s strange to find an interview with Bobby Seale on a website whose www internet address is “modern luxury,” but so I did. The interview was printed in San Francisco magazine, which is one of those semi-glossy items handed out to visitors to San Francisco who stay at one or another of the City’s upscale hotels.

Bobby Seale is still giving out good advice. Particularly good advice, I’d say, for those who do not routinely stay in upscale hotels, and whose lives cannot fairly be called ones of “modern luxury.” What should we do about politics? That is what the interview was really all about. And Bobby Seale has a pretty simple answer, referencing what he and other members of the Black Panther Party were trying to do way back when:

So the next move is to become part of the government? My objective was to get thousands of people across the country elected into political office to replace the right-wingers or racists in those seats. There was an objective behind the idea of getting elected: to change the racist laws manifested in city charters. That’s where I was coming from when I created the Black Panther Party. The young Black Lives Matter movement people have got to see this: You’re not going to get community control of the police until you get more and more control of some of these political seats.

Do you think BLM activists should run as mainstream candidates or in third parties? You should run as whatever the heck you want. You just need a relevant agenda to the people’s needs. You have to be there where the laws are made. Starting at the city level, then the county level, and, as much as possible, at the state level and all the way to the federal level.

Bobby Seale’s advice is easy to sum up. Run as “whatever the heck you want,” as long as you have a “relevant agenda to the people’s needs.” The basic concept is really basic. Take over the government! Get more and more control of some of these political seats…”

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Big Turkey Day!!! Scroll below and chack it out!!

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “moral victory” 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: “It’s not the kind of musical that comes with show tunes and a chorus line. But Jewel Theatre Company, and a great cast of singers, make an exhilarating show out of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next To Normal, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). The exuberance of this production is what live theatre is all about.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

ARRIVAL. Amy Adams has always been an excellent actor and she’s even better in this pretty sophisticated science fiction spellbinder. 11 alien speceships hover around earth just a few feet above ground while Amy and Jeremy Renner attempt to communicate with them. It’s a thoughtful film and it’ll make you wonder just how would anybody relate to aliens (and vice versa) Like the Trump victory the world is in a state of shock over these visitors. No killings, violence or cheap cliches…a fine film. I forgot to add that like so many Special effects films nowadays it is photographed in a very dark style. (Saves money I guess)

THE ACCOUNTANT & DONALD TRUMP MONEY. For some mysterious reason this lousy, nearly insane movie is back again playing in several chain and independent theatres. We should all remember that Steven Mnuchin one of the film’s producers, is now and has been Finance Chair of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. It’s just if you care where your money goes…that’s all. The movie??? Well… Ben Affleck plays an autistic criminal bookeeper who is also a ruthless killer, and yes, that makes as little sense as does 98 % of this murder filled mess of a movie. Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jeffrey Tambor and even John Lithgow all do what they can in such a miscast cast that makes you feel like you’re watching an audition session, that nobody cares if they get the parts or not. You won’t believe the plot, or the acting, or the fact that you paid money to see this flick. ps. Jack Reacher is better…if you like these type flicks.

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. Christina Waters guests November 22 talking about her new book, “inside the flame“. After Christina, Sean Michael Conley discusses genealogy and their local chapter functions. Sean Van Sommeran emerges on Nov. 29 to tell us about the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation. Minutes after that, author and historian Sandy Lydon returns to talk about his future historical adventures. Keeping traditional, the winners of Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers Contest read their entries the full hour on December 6. December 13 has Jennifer Horne from UCSC’s Film Dept. discussing changing techniques in film development. PAMF’s Dr. Paul Ware follows Jennifer to tell us some of his theories about health and the role food plays. On December 20, author Lois Watson talks about her popular book, “Growing Up In Santa Cruz”. UCSC retiree Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz follow Lois and tell us about their new book, “Flora Unveiled” (plant sex) 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 brilliant! I can’t stop laughing at some of these 🙂

QUOTES. “REPUBLICANS”

“In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican”, H. L. Mencken

“I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them”, Adlai E. Stevenson

“Coming to terms with Donald Trump as the Republican nominee is like being told you have Stage 1 or Stage 2 cancer. You know you’ll probably survive, but one way or the other, there’s going to be a lot of throwing up”, Christopher Buckley

“The only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties is the velocities with which their knees hit the floor when corporations knock on their door. That’s the only difference”, Ralph Nader

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
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Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off

November 14 – 20, 2016

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Bruce

TIM EAGAN’S PROFOUND STATEMENT.

Tim Eagan has been drawing cartoons for over 30 years. His Deep Cover cartoon SUCH AS THIS ONE (see above) have ripped our politics apart since 1994. This “Slinkin’ Monument” (my title) is one of his very best. BrattonOnline is very proud and happy to carry every Eagan cartoon possible, every week.

DATELINE November 14, 2016

WHAT NOW? Hours and hours watching most of the news channels secretly hoping and believing that something was wrong. There had been a mistake, or maybe something big and positive would happen…but NO. We have to live with the fact that all the hopes we had when Obama was elected are dead, over with, finished and America is in reality, just the way we never like to admit. Looks like Chris Krohn was elected to serve with Cynthia Mathews on the City Council, what’s that about? That’s a genuine tough job he has and he’s got a lot of support and he’s is one of our few citizens who can do it. Keeping the death penalty in California…why? There’s 14,500 Trump supporters in Santa Cruz, and we have to admit that too. Rick Longinotti tells us there are 10’s of thousands of votes still to be counted and not until November 14 will we know the final count on Widening Highway 1.

PAUL McCARTNEY AT THE WHITE HOUSE. Watch this awe-inspiring 2010 performance at the White House. Stay with it to the end…it’s a touching tribute to the Barack Obama presidency we won’t forget!

BOYCOTT TRUMP SUPPORTING BUSINESSES. If you care about whether you support businesses that support Donald Trump, and in case you believe boycotting sends a message check out this list. Coors, Home Depot, Pep Boys, Nascar, Hobby Lobby, Fairmont Hotels, Formula One, Bally’s Casino, UFC, Icahn, Swissotel, and plenty more

Go here to read the Arbiter News about boycotting… and also.. Boycott Trump: A list of businesses to avoid

HAPPY HAPPENING!!! Leaving the Del Mar theatre after seeing Moonlight (you should too!) I heard a nutty street duo calling themselves the Kangaroo Rat Music. They consist of only an accordion and xylophone and are just excellent. What really drew me to listen and watch them for a very long time was the first number I heard them playing….drove me crazy, I knew that “tune” I’d heard it a million times, and could almost sing along. What was it? Where’d I heard it before? I had to ask them…’ twas the theme from “Game Of Thrones”!!! Jeez. I could say only in Santa Cruz would you hear a street group playing “Game Of Thrones” but they probably tour a lot.

SELF PUBLISHED BOOKS. Ny REVIEW. “More than half of the books published annually in this country are self- published (400,000)” says a letter in the latest issue of New York Review of Books. The letter goes on to complain that the self published books are rarely given any Library of Congress numbering or cataloging. They are also rarely reviewed by main American reviewing journals. It says that the “houses” that help these self publishers should offer that official cataloging, and the Library Of Congress should pursue these books and make them universally accessible. Just a thought, because I’m almost ready to write my book!

GENOCIDE OF OUR LOCAL NATIVE INDIAN POPULATION. The latest issue of the New York Review of Books (Nov. 24) has a review of a new book “An American Genocide: The United States and The California Indian Catastrophe 1846-1873” by UCSC Historian Benjamin Madley. Details of times, places, names and statistics on the murder/genocide killing of native peoples in Northern Central California between 1846 and 1873. Mass killings by Gold miners, U.S Military State Militia, small town posses and ordinary citizens who hunted natives on weekends. UCSC Historian Martin Rizzo knows Benjamin Madley and is trying to get him to come to Santa Cruz. Maybe we can create a book signing and a guest shot on Universal Grapevine. Even Berkeley’s famed historian Alfred L. Kroeber (Ishi’s “friend” ) had a hand in this tragedy. Amazon books says, “Between 1846 and 1873, California’s Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Benjamin Madley is the first historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars that supported the violence, indigenous resistance, who did the killing, and why the killings ended. This deeply researched book is a comprehensive and chilling history of an American genocide”.

LEAF BLOWERS & MORE INFO. Jim Elmore sent this link to give us some info and statistics re the dangers of living near and using gas leaf blowers. http://www.nonoise.org/quietnet/cqs/home.htm . Back in 2009 Jim sent a letter to Cynthia Mathews our nearly permanent mayor, and all of our then City Council … it said…

10 October 2009
City of Santa Cruz
809 Center Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Attn: Cynthia Matthews, Mayor
Re: Noise and Air Pollution – Leaf Blowers

Dear Ms. Matthews:

As a thirty-four year resident of the city, I am dismayed by the noise and air pollution that has overtaken us in the form of gas powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers. I am now retired and one of the projects I am working on is a book: peace and quiet enhances my productivity yet almost every day and sometimes several times a day, that peace is disturbed by gas-powered noise and pollution makers. So, my ox is being gored, but in the bigger picture, this is what is happening to all of us.

Bad for the environment, bad for people, bad for the landscape, bad for the community. My Santa Cruz is a leader in so many ways; we need to act on this pollution problem.

I’m sure you’re knowledgeable regarding this subject but I would appreciate it if you would bring up the matter at a council meeting if it hasn’t already been mentioned.

Following is something I found on the net—Citizens for a Quieter Sacramento—which gives so many reasons for abolishing leaf blowers. Ref: http://www.nonoise.org/quietnet/cqs/leafblow.htm. Please read the section where: Grandmother Proves Rake and Broom as Fast as Leaf Blowers.

We re-landscaped our front yard four years ago and I found that the landscaping crew that we hired to maintain our yard used a blower which did nothing but blow the leaves elsewhere and remove the “gorilla hair” that was protecting the plants and kept the moisture in the ground. We asked them to stop using it; if they needed to clean the walkway, please use a broom.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, James R. Ellmore.

As we can guess nothing was done or has been done by our city council. Jim added last week… “Maybe something will happen this time. In our case, we have not allowed them ever since we started having had periodic gardeners; they use brooms and rakes. I did buy an battery-powered leaf blower but they ended up not using it. There was resistance at first; “I like to do a great job and leave it very clean and without using a blower, it is not as efficient and will take more time.” My answer was that everything does not have to be perfect, nature is messy.

“DON’T MORPH THE WHARF!”

The Wharf Master Plan is headed to council. Next Tuesday, November 22nd, the current council will vote on whether to approve the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) which the city had to revise and re-circulate for a month due to the failure of its original MND to adequately study the impact of this massive project on nesting birds at the wharf. This inadequacy had to be pointed out by members of the public.

The revision acknowledges that some nesting birds exist and others perch on the wharf but vastly understates the documented 117 bird species that have been sighted at the wharf, 69 species in the past 4 months alone. Similarly lacking is a comprehensive study of marine mammals and only a sketchy mitigation for their protection. For example, if no marine mammals are sighted for 15 minutes then pile driving can commence. The MND makes no mention of Humpback whales which a group of us watched breach and spout within a few hundred yards of the wharf last week. The inadequacy of the MND to study the environmental impacts of the planned construction and changes is clear. What is less clear is how the city council will vote. Why is it that the city of Santa Cruz stands out like a sore thumb when it comes to proper environmental review of its major proposed projects? The city of Santa Cruz also stands out in its dismissive attitude towards the public. Consider that the city of Capitola, also poised to make changes to its wharf, reassured the public that they will be listened to before any changes are proposed and that no major changes are contemplated. By contrast, the city of Santa Cruz obtained federal funds to the tune of a million dollars from the Department of Commerce for tsunami relief (the tsunami had no impact on the wharf) and gave that to a San Francisco design firm that developed the Wharf Master Plan in exchange for the million dollars. Only the inside circle had input. The public was and is still largely unaware of how dramatically the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf will be changed if this project is approved.

With little if any publicity, responses to the original MND were few. By contrast a petition opposing the makeover of the wharf and calling for an EIR has gathered 631 signatures in just 3 days. This seems a more reliable measure of public sentiment than the responses from insider stakeholders. You can find the petition and sign it here.

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Although the comment period for the revised MND will likely have ended by the time you are reading this (Nov. 16 is the deadline) it is not too late to send in your comments for the city council meeting on the 22nd. citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com

Even a short email will help. Council needs to hear that we the public love our wharf and we demand that any major changes be properly evaluated for environmental impacts. That beyond a few clean-ups and better pedestrian access on the eastern side (facing the river), we do not favor the installation of 3 massive buildings, a nearly doubling of commercial space and berthing space for 200 ton ships and a lowered walkway under the current restaurants with no storm wave study; that we care about the marine mammals and birds and their protection; that we feel overwhelmed by the number of visitors right now and cannot fathom how many thousands more can be accommodated; that searching for one of twelve parking pay stations along the wharf will not be public-friendly especially for elder patrons; that relocating the parking kiosk midway along the wharf will likely make the lane changes at the roundabout more dangerous due to higher speeds as motorists head full bore along the wharf rather than being required to slow down to enter the wharf as now is the case; that we do not want to see our favorite old-time restaurants squeezed out for modern, higher priced eating spots or take-outs. The city denied Andy’s Bait Shop a lease renewal and we can expect more of the same to come. This is already happening in Monterey at Fisherman’s Wharf. There are favorites in this race. The inner business circle and the city’s Economic Development Department are holding the reins and the public isn’t even along for the ride. Despite the fact that this huge project is coming up for council vote in a few days, it is not listed on the city’s homepage; city council page; the planning department page, or the economic development department page. You have to hunt for it. We voted for a council to represent the community, not special interests. Let them know where you stand!”

~ 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.

WATER AND TRAFFIC…..GET EDUCATED AND GET ACTIVE!

Well, last week brought many surprises to us all, but the upshot is that citizens simply must wake up and get active in community issues. That’s what Ms. Medea Benjamin said as well, at her inspiring talk last Saturday at Louden Nelson Center. Many thanks to the local organizations that made her visit possible. So, what about water issues in our beautiful Santa Cruz County? The state has declared our area “Critical Overdraft”, meaning that the local water suppliers have been pumping out more water than is being replenished in the Purisima Aquifer, and now the salt water of the ocean is creeping inland and potentially destroying the water supply. Does that make you nervous? It should.

Last week, Soquel Creek Water District officials Mr. Ron Duncan and Mr. Bruce Daniels made a presentation to the Santa Cruz County Planning Commission to help them understand the critical problem the District faces in supplying new development with water. They hold great hope for the plan to inject treated sewage water into the aquifer to push back the advancement of salt water. They also talked a bit about the possible river water transfers from Santa Cruz to the District’s areas of Capitola, Aptos and Soquel.

Well, I have many questions about those plans and maybe you do, as well. How will the injection sites be monitored? It is, afterall, against state law to pump the treated sewage water back out of the aquifer any sooner than two months after injection. What about pharmaceuticals in the waste stream that cannot be tested for or removed? What about the difference in chemistry between the treated water (hydrogen peroxide is typically used as a disinfectant but is extremely reactive and was responsible for the arsenic spikes in the water Orange County supplied to customers after injecting treated sewage water). What about the difference in water chemistry between the north coast creeks and San Lorenzo River water that would, the District’s studies show, potentially cause problems within the supply pipes and possibly customer plumbing? Fresno is in serious trouble right now, said Soquel Creek Water District Engineer Mr. Taj Dufour at a recent Board meeting, because of this very issue (he was surprised it had not hit the media).

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HMMMMMM….. Well, I urge all water users in the County to get educated on these issues and get active. Attend the Santa Cruz Mid County Groundwater Agency meeting THIS THURSDAY, November 17, 7pm at Simpkins Swim Center. If you are a private well owner, you need to voice your opinion on how that agency will select a new private well alternate representative to represent you on this board. We all need to insist that more information be made public about the process moving quickly forward to inject treated sewage water directly into our drinking water supply. I THINK THIS SHOULD GO TO A VOTE BY BALLOT OF ALL WATER USERS IN THE AREA SERVED BY THIS AQUIFER.

Here is another opportunity for all water users to learn more about this and get active in insisting that the process be more transparent and public: Soquel Creek Water District will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, December 7, at Twin Lakes Baptist Church (near Cabrillo College) to discuss the scope of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) study the District is commissioning for the injection of treated sewage water directly into the public drinking water supply. There will be two sessions: 2pm-4pm and 6pm-8pm. Spread the word because we all need to be heard there….

APTOS VILLAGE TRAFFIC PHASE I MONEY APPEARS MAGICALLY OUT OF THE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION’S HAT…..

Well, folks, the bids for the Phase I Aptos Village Transportation “Improvements” came in during the second round of bidding that the County Department of Public Works scheduled. Three bids were submitted, and the low bidder is John Madonna Construction Co., Inc. from San Luis Obispo, winning the low bid by just $656 over local Graniterock Construction. Local contractor Don Chapin also submitted a bid. So… there you go, no jobs for local people.

What I find interesting is that the low bid of $1,801,546.65 is still $300,000 over the County Engineer’s estimate, which is what caused the first round of bidding to be rejected and sent back to the drawing board. Well, what is different this time is that the RTC magically came up with $650.000 to donate to the project that will, let’s face it, greatly benefit Aptos Village Project developers, especially Barry Swenson Builder. So, how can the RTC find such a big chunk of money suddenly for this project when we were all told in the “Yes on Measure D” campaign that there was no money for local infrastructure improvements?

I paid a visit to the RTC office to ask for an explanation. I was referred to Mr. Luis Mendez (lmendez@sccrtc.org) to ask when and why the County Board of Supervisors will be voting to accept the “unanticipated revenue of $650,000 for the Aptos Village Phase I improvements when they approve the bid of John Maddona Construction? Mr. Mendez was not in the office, but I phoned him (408-838-2392 cell) to ask. He said he thought the money came from the RTC approval in October of state money for the Phase II of Aptos Village Improvements, and that the County had asked for “flexibility” of how the money would be used. He is going to research the issue a bit for me, and I will report to you next week. Curiouser and curioser, don’t you think?

JUST IN, OR PERHAPS, JUST OVER AND UP….THE APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT…And finally, one quick update about the Aptos Village Project area. Anyone passing through the area last week saw two BIG changes:

1) The second half of the historic Hihn Apple Barn got moved from it’s 125-year-old home and off to the west to join the other half, which was relocated last month. Kelly Brother House Movers is doing an incredibly careful job, and we all need to thank them for their diligence. The first half now has beginnings of a foundation in the process of construction.

2) The Great Wall of Soquel Creek Water District’s well drilling operation went up, and up, and up. A massive 20-foot-high green sound wall now encircles the drilling site on the corner of Cathedral Drive and Trout Gulch Road, directly across from the Aptos Post Office. The 50+foot tall drilling rig, sporting an American flag at the top, is also in place, but no work has yet begun. When it does, Soquel Creek Water District engineer Mr. Taj Dufour reports the loud noise and high-intensity lights will be operational 24/7 for about three weeks. It really is too bad, and a bit of a puzzle, that the District has NO signage whatsoever on the soundwall or chain link fence at the construction site to let the Community know what is happening there. What a change from the highly-publicized O’Neill Well at the end of 41st Avenue, don’t you think? At least the District’s “What’s On Tap” newsletter has some information about the project…for the very first time. Maybe the well drilling rig needs to add a lighted “Peace on Earth” sign on top of their tower…..Well, put in your ear plugs and stay tuned. Cheers!”

~(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.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. From Gary’s Two Worlds website… Saturday, November 12, 2016

#317… A FACEBOOK FIASCO.

The San Jose Mercury News ran a story in its Sunday, November 6, 2016 edition that was titled, “Facebook expansion approved.” Here is a brief excerpt from the article:

Menlo Park has approved Facebook expansion plans that will add 6,550 employees, roughly 1 million square feet of office space and a 200-room hotel along the Bayfront Expressway.

While some residents and city officials expressed concern about the toll on housing and traffic such a large expansion could take, the City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the 301-309 Constitution Drive project. It also approved an agreement that calls for Facebook to either build 20 below-market-rate units or pay $6.5 million in fees into a city fund dedicated for such housing. So, 6,550 new employees and 20 new housing units that an average or below-average income person could afford.

This is happening everywhere, including in my own home town of Santa Cruz, where ordinary income people are being driven out of their housing because they are outcompeted by persons with Facebook-level salaries. In fact, this decision in Menlo Park will make housing prices worse in Santa Cruz, because some of those new 6,500 Facebook employees will locate here. The Facebook fiasco in Menlo Park will increase the likelihood that the so-called “Corridor Plan,” in Santa Cruz, which proposes to put high-rise housing along every major transportation corridor in the City, will in fact go through. When elected officials try to increase city revenues, without paying any attention to what that means for their existing residents, the result is a disaster for the community.

Based on the election results in Santa Cruz, on Tuesday, voters in my city haven’t gotten the message”.

OUR STATE PARKS. Julie Sidel, Interpreter 1 for our Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park wrote BrattonOnline… “Let’s revisit that train stop and straighten out our parks history! “Teddy Roosevelt did take the train up to the redwoods. The location was the grove that is the center of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park today. But at that time it was privately owned Welch’s Grove. His comments congratulating Californians on our first state park were directed at California Redwoods State Park, which we know today as Big Basin Redwoods State Park. That is our oldest state park (1902), and the first California state park purchased by tax dollars via legislative authority. (Yosemite had been signed over to California as a park by president Lincoln in 1864. By 1906, it was a National Park, no longer in the state.) Thanks for your photos, your history, and for doing what you do!” Julie Sidel. Thanks Julie.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Ever alert DeCinzo exposes the secrets behind shopping for food in Santa Cruz….see below a page or two.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See Eagan’s “Slinkin Memorial” at the top of the column this special week. And the webmistress snuck in a favorite from the vaults – this one is from November 2012, just after the previous election. 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. These free concerts happen the third Thursday of every month. This Thursday 11/17 features…

VIOLIN WITH PIANO. That’s Brian Johnston on Violin and Ben Dorfan playing Piano.

They’ll play…
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Sonata in B-flat, K. 378. Allegro moderato, Andantino sostenuto e cantabile, Rondeau–Allegro
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) The Lark Ascending
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Sicilienne op. 78

Again that’s Thursday, November 17th. 12:10 – 12:50. Santa Cruz Main Library Downtown Branch – Meeting Room

SANTA CRUZ CHAMBER PLAYERS CONCERT NOVEMBER 19, 20. The next concert in their 2016-2017 series is titled “Music That Elevates the Soul“. It features The Black Cedar Trio playing flute, cello and guitar. You’ll hear musics by Bach, Haydn, Takemitsu, Cowell, Gardel, Tan Mi Zi and Hsieh. It happens this SaturdayNov. 19 at 7:30 and Sunday Nov. 20 at 3 p.m. These are good, fun concerts to attend (I’ve been going for decades) informal, all great seating , lus music not often heard around these parts. It’s at the Christ Lutheran Church, 10707 Soquel Dr, In Aptos. Go here for a map and info… http://www.scchamberplayers.org

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Black lives matter in Moonlight, an eloquent coming-of-age drama that explores issues of race, culture, and love in unexpected ways, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). Also, join me in a fond farewell to the one and only Leon Russell, whose rockin’ boogie-woogie piano provided much of the soundtrack to my misspent youth. Rock on, Leon!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

ARRIVAL. Amy Adams has always been an excellent actor and she’s even better in this pretty sophisticated science fiction spellbinder. 11 alien speceships hover around earth just a few feet above ground while Amy and Jeremy Renner attempt to communicate with them. It’s a thoughtful film and it’ll make you wonder just how would anybody relate to aliens (and vice versa) Like the Trump victory the world is in a state of shock over these visitors. No killings, violence or cheap cliches…a fine film. I forgot to add that like so many Special effects films nowadays it is photographed in a very dark style. (Saves money I guess)

THE ACCOUNTANT & DONALD TRUMP MONEY. For some mysterious reason this lousy, nearly insane movie is back again playing in several chain and independent theatres. We should all remember that Steven Mnuchin one of the film’s producers, is now and has been Finance Chair of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. It’s just if you care where your money goes…that’s all. The movie??? Well… Ben Affleck plays an autistic criminal bookeeper who is also a ruthless killer, and yes, that makes as little sense as does 98 % of this murder filled mess of a movie. Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jeffrey Tambor and even John Lithgow all do what they can in such a miscast cast that makes you feel like you’re watching an audition session, that nobody cares if they get the parts or not. You won’t believe the plot, or the acting, or the fact that you paid money to see this flick. ps. Jack Reacher is better…if you like these type flicks.

THE HANDMAIDEN….warning…you have to love Asian/Korean subtitled films especially ones directed by Chan-Wook Park before you can enjoy this one. Ever since taking three or more years of film classes from UCSC’s Earl Jackson (now teaching in Korea)I am a complete devotee of films by Chan-Wook Park. The sex, violence, even murder in his films are so unique, so subtle,and sensitive that they take on different meanings. Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengence and Snowpiercer must be seen to be hallowed. This latest masterpiece contains three versions of the same plot. Con-artists out to cheat a wealthy woman of her estate. It has a 94 on Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s not just me.

CERTAIN WOMEN. A genuine women’s film with three separate stories going deep inside the frustrations of three or four women as they deal with our society. Laura Dern is a Montana attorney frustrated by the lack of respect in her taking the case of a potentially suididal man. Michelle Williams keeps her family frustrations hidden as she tries to add life, love and a future to her husband and daughter. Kristen Stewart floats and drifts through an insecure part of her life while new actor Lily Gladstone tries to add love, respect and friendship to their tenous relationship. Slow moving, intense, even boring at times, you’ll think about this delicate film lang after it’s over. Kelly Reichardt directed it and once again proves she creates great films unlike any other director.

DOCTOR STRANGE. I had to work very hard all through this latest Marvel Comic special effects spectacular to remind myself….it’s a comic book, it’s a comic book. etc. It doesn’t make any sense, there’s little logic in any character’s role and we get to see Benedict Cumberbatch do his American accent (it’s flawless). Not only does Cumbarbatch play Dr. Strange but Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, and the always wonderful Tilda Swinton all do their damndest to out do any/all previous Marvel Comic special effects silliness. Dr. Stephen Strange’s hands are ruined in a car accident and he goes to Kathmandu and tons of mysticism to repair his surgeon’s hands. Go only if you truly believe in comic books…then you’ll love it.

DENIAL. A subject like denying the holocaust has about as much relevance as alien kidnappings, the earth is flat, and denying climate change. And this is a very serious film starring Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson (one of his very best roles), and the evil and believable Timothy Spall. Courtroom, Auschwitz, anti-semitism, Adolf Hitler, and it’s all true. It’s full of suspense, and you’ll think a lot about a Trump- run USA.

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK. It’s actually one of the better action –merciless- blood filled- escapist movies. There’s a semblence of a plot that makes even Tom Cruise seem human at times!!! It only got a 39 on Rotten Tomatoes so maybe Cruise’s Scientology friends haven’t gone yet!!! The skimpy plot has maybe a daughter for Cruise, several incredibly manic mindless, brutal killings BUT some scenes are very exciting. But you must really this type of film before paying to see it.

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. . Nov. 15 has Deborah Muth talking about her new book on Scotts Valley history. Attorney Bob Taren returns that same November 15 to share views on THAT election. Christina Waters guests November 22 talking about her new book. After Christina, Sean Michael Conley discusses genealogy and their local chapter functions. Sean Van Sommeran emerges on Nov. 29 to tell us about the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation. Minutes after author and historian Sandy Lydon returns to talk about his future historical adventures. Keeping traditional, The winners of Bookshop Santa Cruz Young Writers Contest read their entries the full hour on December 6. Jennifer Horne from UCSC’s Film Dept. discusses changing techniques in film development. PAMF’s Dr. Paul Ware follows Jennifer to tell us some of his theories about health and the role food plays. On December 20, author Lois Watson talks about her popular book, “Growing Up In Santa Cruz”. 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

Distraction and entertainment. That’s what I’m up for at the moment – how about you?

QUOTES. “ELECTIONS”

“Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves”, Herbert Marcuse

“Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half”, Gore Vidal.

“When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state”, Euripides, Orestes

“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters”, Abraham Lincoln

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

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

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

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(Or rather, a piece the Webmistress missed – sorry about that! -G)

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

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