A VERY WIDE PACIFIC AVENUE IN 1910. Look this over carefully, note the two way traffic, note the two trolley car lines, note the cars and carriages parked at the curbs. Yet the stores were exactly as far apart as they are today. That would be at Lincoln Street on the left and Soquel Avenue on the right. Or New Leaf Market where the UniqueTheatre sign is and The Om Gallery and Pacific Cookie Company are on the right. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

DATELINE SEPTEMBER 21, 2015
and DATELINE SEPTEMBER 28, 2015
UPDATE: OCTOBER 9, 2015

[Note: This column has had a couple of updates, including the “To see or not to see”. New column Tuesday the 13th! -Gunilla]

SENTINEL OUSTS DECINZO!!!. This news just in….Steven DeCinzo’s cartoons will no longer appear in the Sentinel. First, they were going to cut him back to just one cartoon on Sundays then Don Miller decided that the free lancers money could be “better utilized elsewhere” and fired him completely!!!!. Steven said the Sentinel was “a nice run” and it lasted longer than he expected. It’s another financial and dissapointing cut and slash at the Sentinel. Of course you’ll always be able to read both classic and some new DeCinzos at the end of every BrattonOnline.com check below.

16,000 UCSC ALUMNI LIVE IN SANTA CRUZ. UCSC Chancellor stated in a column in the Sentinel a week or os ago that 16, 000 UCSC Alumni now live in Santa Cruz. We really have to think about that! That’s about four percent of our permanent population. Add to that the number of UC students living in Santa Cruz and we have some idea of UCSC’s influence on our city. Personally, I like almost all of that influence except their demands for water when they start building their North Campus.

SANTA CRUZ COP LINGO. In last week’s column I mentioned that Santa Cruz police refer to “incidents” (trouble) happening on Pacific Avenue as being on the “Oakland” end (Lincoln Avenue going South) or on the “Los Gatos” end (Lincoln Avenue going North). I’ve since been informed the police also call “incidents” happening in Harvey West Park as being in “Middle Earth”. Now we know.

MY SPECIAL RADIO GUEST. It is obviously with great pride that I’m having my daughter, Hillary Bratton (pictured right), as my interview guest on Universal Grapevine Tuesday, October 13 from 7-7:30 pm. Hillary’s brand new album, “Tears on My Pillow but the rest of the bed’s OK” is her first, and was just released and is available at iTunes and other such places as Amazon. We’ll be talking about her really interesting and illustrious past and living and working in Paris, New York, and Los Angeles. Her career with Sony, Rhino Records, and Apple…and a probably a bunch of surprises for both of us…don’t miss it!

Also, while waiting for the radio show, you can read this interview with Hillary!

SANTA CRUZ WATER ISSUE. Lynda Francis sent this out a couple of weeks ago…it’s must reading.

“We need to include a movement in demanding climate action locally…that is, we can bevery effective here in Santa Cruz. The current council has taken countless actions that go against our own climate action plan and defy reasonable alternatives to counter climate change. Most are not “climate deniers,” but they carry on with business as usual in the face of mounting evidence that we really do need to change old habits—planning, water, public works projects, and transportation.

The current Santa Cruz City Council has:
1) Approved over 500 new hotel rooms in the past year without identifying any newsources of water, and this during a water emergency;
2) Discouraged electric car use by rescinding the “free parking in SC” for all electric cars ordinance;
3) Allowed trees to be cut down randomly, tall trees/shade producing trees, at anunprecedented rate…we need a city wide tree count now, and we also need to know howmany trees have been planted;
4) Continued to pave the old way…even though we know this is a major source ofradiating heat, the city continues to use old technology asphalt in the face of newways of resurfacing.
5) Is standing by passively and allowing the current Beach Flats garden to close…itwill be the loss of yet another green space;
6) Continued to encourage a car-centric city center…no discussion about a Pacific Ave pedestrian mall, but a two-way pro-car approach that was shot down by the fire dept., but now they want to make it one way all the way to the wharf.

We must standup and say most people want a pedestrian mall complete with movable street furnitureon Pacific Ave. AND the opening to peds and bikes only of other large thoroughfares(W. Cliff, Front Street, Soquel, Center Street) on a rotating Sunday basis like NYC, LA, Bogota and Mexico City now do with some of their large streets.

The city council can require:
— Shade trees for any new parking lots
— A bus pass fee for all new housing, that is, a bus pass be included for all residents of new housing paid for in developer fees
— Rainwater catchment and grey water systems in all new construction— significant solar subsidies
— Water from all yearly water main flushing has to be captured and given to local residents for use in their gardens
— Moratorium on new construction until new guidelines are put in place
— The city can only buy electric and hybrid vehicles
— Set a clear goal of 250 drought tolerant planted lawns each year for the next five years
— Begin the Santa Cruz version of the “ice bucket challenge” that only uses waterfrom the ocean Santa Cruz might not solve the global lurch toward climate change ourselves BUT, we can act locally and our actions are important and will effect other cities…five million people visit here each year and they will see that making positive change is possible. There is so much to be done locally. Maybe we need a follow up to the Climate Action Plan, or a plan with teeth: deadlines and fines and new policies”. Thank Lynda Francis for all of that.

VANISHING VIDEO STORES. After Sami Abed closed his three video rental stores…Cedar Street Video, East Cliff Video and Video 9 in Boulder Creek, I checked and according to a recent article in the S.F. Chronicle, there aren’t many left in San Francisco either. Remember the days of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video Stores? Well do check out DVD 2 Go at 5171 Scotts Valley Drive across from the turnoff to Scarborough Lumber. Linda runs this amazingly neat and well organized DVD store and it’s been there for 12 years!!!

THE RETURN OF LEON PANETTA. Lois and Bert Muhly had an almost infinite number of friends. Lois’s funeral last Saturday (9/26) was a very fitting tribute to both of them. John Laird officiated and about mid way through the friendly and informal tribute introduced Leon Panetta. Leon had appeared at Bert’s funeral a while back. Leon was in fine fettle and had us all laughing over some wonderfully shared memories.

KUSP NEWS. LIVE COVERAGE AND FIRINGS. Seems like the troubles never end at KUSP. Now that station manager Terry Green has left the building and some board members have resigned let’s hope that IF the station survives they’ll bring back all the live broadcasts that they cut in the last year. Many, many live classical and other musical events went by the wayside, with no notice to or from anyone.

WRENCHED, THE FILM. Here’s what I said last week…

Join the Ventana Wilderness Alliance at the Del Mar Theatre (10/01) for a special screening of “Wrenched: how Edward Abbey lit the flame of environmental activism and gave the movement its soul”. This film captures the passing of the monkey wrench from the pioneers of eco-activism to a new generation carrying Edward Abbey’s legacy into the 21st century. How far are you willing to go in defense of wilderness? At 7pm there’ll be a special live introduction by Edward Abbey’s sister, activist and educator Nancy Abbey. This will be a night to remember but sell-out of the small upstairs venue is almost guaranteed. Advance tickets are strongly advised. Thursday, October 1: Doors open at 6:00 pm and show starts at 7:00 pm. Location Address: 1124 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz
Ticket Prices: $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Tickets can be purchased here. For more information: Call 831-423-3191 or go to ventanawild.org http://wrenched-themovie.com/

MORE ABOUT “WRENCHED”. I’ve seen the film since last week and need to tell you what an important film it is. It’s almost a primer on Anarchy and the real meaning and practice of Anarchy, and how historically it has changed communities for the better. It’s also a “how to” lesson on blocking traffic, using chains and barrels and arrests for achieving victory. Maybe more than all of that… it’s how greed, money and the establishment (Land Trust) cries for GROWTH ruin wilderness (The proposed Cotoni National Monument) . All we have to do is see what development has done to the wilderness that was once Wilder Ranch. See this film. I’ll meet you there.

WHICH HOMELESS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT??? We really need to be more careful with labels. Far too many well-minded folks use “Homeless” to describe who they mean instead of “travelers” or some such word. Any thinking person knows that there are true homeless by the hundred of thousands in the USA and around the world today. The “travelers” (as Mayor Don Lane suggested) that apparently hang out on Pacific Avenue at both Los Gatos and Oakland ends are there by their choice of lifestyle.

MARIN ALSOP’S LAST YEAR!!! So just one more season with Marin Alsop leading the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. That’ll be an exciting change. I go back so far with the Festival that I was on the Board when they let Carlos Chavez go, Marion Taylor and I think it was Bud Kretschmer went on a long time search and found Dennis Russell Davies back in St. Paul, Minnesota to lead the Fest for many more years. He made great opening appearances by riding his Harley Motorcycle and having hair down his shoulders!!! Maybe, just maybe they’ll ask composer John Adams (“The Death of Klinghoffer”, “Nixon in China”) to give us another try?? There was some awkward exchanges when he almost joined us just before Marin did.

PACIFIC AVENUE—WHICH WAY. Reed Searle sent this letter to the City Council Monday 9/28…

It is more than slightly ironic (and of course hypocritical) that the Council is asked to do something designed and intended to increase traffic—-precisely the opposite of our stated intention to reduce traffic. But this is probably nothing more than standard procedures that have brought us to where we are now. Should the Council be inclined to accede to the request of the Downtown Commission, I have three suggestions:
1. Investigate (a pilot project along with the requested change) a two way bicycle path from the Town Clock to the intersection with Front St . This would probably necessitate elimination of some parking spaces but would be consistent with stated Council goals of reducing, not increasing, auto traffic. In any event, bicycles will undoubtedly continue to go two ways on Pacific regardless of legality and safety.
2. Consider eliminating all two way sections in this area. I cannot see why retaining these is reasonable. This may also assist in the desired development of the lower part (Oakland end) of what we used to call the Mall.
3. Consider an occasional, perhaps one Sunday a month, closure of Pacific so there may be a trial pedestrian mall. I know this is very controversial but that surely does not mean it is unreasonable. There are malls that are highly successful and others that have flopped. Careful planning and policing would be essential and might make the Mall as desirable as those in, say, Burlington, Vt, or more recently Times Square and a number of European cities. This also is consistent with Council global warming policies.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary states on his weekday (endangered?) KUSP report…

City Councilmember Richelle Noroyan will be sponsoring a Pacific Avenue One-Way Traffic Project that will be presented to the City Council by the City’s Public Works and Economic Development Departments during the September 29, 2015 City Council meeting. The proposal is to convert a one-block segment between Walnut Avenue and Lincoln Street to the opposite direction, and to convert a three-block segment between Church Street and Cathcart Street to a continuous one-way southbound direction. If approved by the Council, the proposed construction date is after the first of the year in 2016. Last Thursday (9/17), the City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission held an important public hearing, and voted to support a proposed development at 1800 Soquel Avenue, consisting of two three-story mixed use buildings. The site is located at the corner of Soquel Avenue and Hagemann Avenue, right across the street from Walgreens, for those who know the Soquel Avenue corridor, and who would like to be able to picture exactly where the development would be.

An article in the Santa Cruz Sentinelcalled the proposed project “controversial.” The meeting took four hours, and the Sentinel says two dozen speakers expressed concerns, with both traffic and parking being the big issues. The “Nextdoor” online bulletin board for the Eastside/Branciforte neighborhood carried a report from a resident who attended the meeting. That person said that the Commission’s logic was that<quote> “if they make parking bad enough, people will be forced to use other transportation.”` The commenter made clear that he wasn’t advocating that approach, only reporting what he had heard from the Commission.

The project still has to go before the City Council, so if you care, you can still weigh in. In addition, this project is a good example of what the City is planning for the Soquel Avenue, Water Street, Mission Street, and Ocean Street corridors. As I’ve reported before, a planning process is underway. Plans govern specific projects, so get involved early, not late!

Gary then writes (and reads on 9/28)…

The “market” system is supposed to make things affordable. The price of peanuts is set at a point at which the demand for peanuts and the supply of peanuts is in balance. If there isn’t enough supply, the price will rise, and more peanuts will be produced. If there is more supply than demand, the price will fall. The housing market is not like the market for peanuts. Demand comes not just from people who need to have a house to shelter themselves, but also from those who want to invest in the real estate market. Investors don’t want housing for its own sake, and they price ordinary people out of the market. Consider Carmel. Something like fifty percent of the housing in Carmel has been purchased by people who don’t even live in our region, and who have out-competed local workers and their families, in terms of price.

One partial solution is to require new developments to sell a certain percentage of new units at a price below market, and to restrict that below market price for resales. The system is called “inclusionary housing,” and it has worked well in Santa Cruz County, though the Board of Supervisors recently changed the system, so that developers don’t have to build affordable housing anymore, and can just pay a fee instead. Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo and the cyclists..go head on. See below just a bit.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Freedom by any other name would smell… etc. See Tim’s weekly aside, scroll downwards..

PENINSULA REVIEWS. I met Lyn Bronson at Anna Dmytrenko’s excellent piano concert Sunday (9/20) that was presented by The Aptos Keyboard Series. Lyn produces and edits Peninsula Reviews. It’s a free newsletter with maybe a dozen critics who review and discuss music events on and around the Monterey Peninsula “and neighboring communities”. Check it out. http://www.peninsulareviews.com

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Every word counts this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), as I consider the art and craft of the final book edit. Also, author Kate Forsyth delves deeper into fairy tales in The Wild Girl, Captain Hook invades Project Runway, and Alias Hook tops a list of recommended reading in Entertainment Weekly!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Jinx Deruisa from The Santa Cruz Chamber Players and Rebecca Jackson take the stage on Sept. 29, after which Robert Stayton will talk about solar energy and his new book “Power Shift” On October 6 Patrice Vecchione returns with news of her newest workshop. After which Amber Duncan and Courtney Castanos from the Ramblin’ Adventure Club talk about their kid’s programs.

My daughter Hillary Bratton opens on October 13 talking about her brand new album, “Tears On My Pillow” to be released Oct. 2. Then Lee Taiz and Nancy Howe talk about The Santa Cruz Watercolor Society’s Blitzer gallery show. On October 20 Becky Steinbruner returns to tell us what she thinks about developing Aptos. Phil Collins then tells us all the new season plans for The New Music Works. County Supervisor John Leopold and I co host the bi-annual KZSC Pledge Drive on Oct. 27. Davis Banta and April Bennett from Sidereal Theatre discuss their new play on October 27. Shmuel Thaler and Wallace Baine discuss their new Gail Rich Awards book on November 17. The winners from Bookshop Santa Cruz’s Young Writers Contest read their entries on Dec.1^st. Later on UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal talks about being Chancellor on December 15. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com

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

QUOTES. “The geeks shall inherit the earth”, unknown. “A plagiarist is a writer of plays”, Oscar Wilde. ” I got all the schooling an actress needs—I learned to write enough to sign contracts”, Hermione Gingold

EARLY PACIFIC AVENUE. Car collectors should inform me exactly when in the 1960’s this photo was taken. It’s just before Chuck and Esther Abbott changed the Avenue so completely with their “Mall” ideas. This is of course Pacific and Cooper Streets with Leask’s Deaprtment store on the left where The Regal Cinema 9 now sits. This is, as you’ll read, what the Santa Cruz police refer to as “The Los Gatos” end of Pacific Avenue. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

EARLY PACIFIC AVENUE. Car collectors should inform me exactly when in the 1960’s this photo was taken. It’s just before Chuck and Esther Abbott changed the Avenue so completely with their “Mall” ideas. This is of course Pacific and Cooper Streets with Leask’s Deaprtment store on the left where The Regal Cinema 9 now sits. This is, as you’ll read, what the Santa Cruz police refer to as “The Los Gatos” end of Pacific Avenue.

DATELINE AUGUST 31, 2015
AND DATELINE SEPTEMBER 7, 2015
AND DATELINE SEPTEMBER 14, 2015

Dear Readers,

Yes, three columns worth of stuff this week. Sorry about the delays and missed events. Gunilla is doing all she can to get us back on a regular schedule. Stop by her “Golden Fleece Emporium of Wonderment and Yarn” over at 317 Potrero Street by the Sashmill and say hello, and check out the latest yarn bargains.

PACIFIC AVENUE’S DIVIDING LINE. It isn’t too widely known but our Santa Cruz Police have for many years divided Pacific Avenue when they refer to incidents needing attention. From Lincoln Street going north it’s called, “LOS GATOS”. From Lincoln Street going south it’s known as “OAKLAND”. We should just reflect on that a minute or two. For any and all newcomers trying to determine North and South in this bay- surrounded County…just remember that both Pacific Avenue and Forty-First avenue in Capitola run almost perfectly North and South. Check your compasses.

PACIFIC AVENUE – CLOSING IT TO CARS. In a New York Times article today, (August 31) it tells how Retail Space values went up after Times Square was closed to vehicles. …among other relevant ideas it says, “The kneejerk reaction of some city officials — to tackle the issue by returning Times Square to its old car-centric, traffic-first self — is unsurprising: We know how to manage traffic, with curbs, signals, crosswalks and signposting. But the answer to this topless crisis is not to act in haste and go back to a Times Square gridlocked with yellow cabs and black S.U.V.s. Instead, the lesson is that painting the pavement blue and closing it to cars is a start, but reclaiming space alone is not sufficient to create the sort of vibrant public plaza we’d all like. That requires real stewardship. Civic culture needs cultivating and curating. Unless we do so, public space can become a public nuisance. Urban space develops organically and in sync with a city’s communities if it’s nurtured properly, but we’ve learned that this requires cities to keep reviewing how that space is designed and regulated. There must be mechanisms for maintaining a balance of activities, to avoid one particular group of users, like panhandling performers, dominating. Sometimes, that means regulating activities that are a nuisance or offensive. But imposing conditions or constraints is only part of the solution”.

FIGHTING CHAIN STORES LIKE HAYES VALLEY (San Francisco). The San Francisco Chronicle (Friday, August 28) tells how the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association lost out in their fight to stopping more chain stores opening in their neighborhood. Our Pacific Avenue with Jamba Juice at one end The Los Gatos end and Taco Bell at The Oakland end and Rip Curl, Urban Outfitters, Gap and Forever 21in the middle, our Pacific Avenue is almost the perfect version of any tourist trap in the world. (Think Fisherman’s Wharf). More than a tourist trap it’s becoming just another anonymous shopping mall experience. As that Chron article quotes, “local merchants can’t afford to pay the type of rent those chain guys can pay”. When was the last time we heard anything from our Downtown Neighborhood Association???

THE BEARCAT’S LOCATION??? When will Mayor Don Lane be rolling out his pride and joyride??? We are taking all bets on just where that pride of the City Council be parked during Halloween (just weeks from now). Many times our cops park such vehicles across from the Vet’s Hall on Front street…until needed.

TEEN AGE BOY’S BRAIN DEVELOPMENT.In the New Yorker (Aug. 31^st) there’s an article titled “The Terrible Teens” (no links allowed from the New Yorker). It’s another piece of the Tannery Tragedy puzzle. The article tells and gives scientific proof that there’s somethhing wrong with teen age boy’s brains. “They are not quite firing on all cylinders when it comes to the frontal lobes”. The frontal lobes are where planning, self-awareness and judgement happen. Parents need to be ever protective and watchful. They do crazy, insane things with little or no thought of any consequences. Those seemingly insane thoughts include what seems to us like planning, plotting for seconds, days or months according to professionals who have studied recent teen age behavior. More information is out there on the unknown effects of various tranquilizers and behavior modifers that have been prescribed for teen agers. Those effects are often monstrous and yet subtle…and largely unexplored. Who is the guilty party when prescribed medicines are given teen agers who then act spontaneously or carry out “evil” plans???

NO EL NINO …AGAIN??? Grey Hayes, ecologist and teacher at Elkhorn Slough told me last week that we really shoudn’t get too excited about all the predictions of El Nino coming this year. He reminded me that exactly one year ago (last August) weather people were jumping crazily about the big rains and a huge El Grande heading our way. Then a few weeks later nope, no such rains/water. All predictions were off. Grey says he’s betting it’ll happen again….be warned!!!

COTONI NATIONAL MONUMENT. Some of author Ed Abbey’s quotes really ring true when we’re facing the wilderness- killing involved with the Cotoni National Monument proposal. One especially…”The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.” Then, when we look at the politicians who support this money making destruction there’s “Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.” Looking at the much lauded and hyped development of our city by the Chamber and its types there’s “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” I miss Ed and his wisdom and his foresight.

PYNCHON MYSTERY LINGERS ON. There’s a new novel on the market, “Cow Country”. The author is listed as Adrian Jones Pearson. Many folks are saying it’s none other than our one-time Aptos resident Thomas Pynchon. Now someone has to figure out if the bizarre and dysfunctional Cow Eye Community College (the focus of the book) is none other than our Cabrillo Community College!!! Some literary “experts” are claiming it’s not Pynchon, but others like of the New York Times say it’s another trick by Pynchon, who seldom misses a chance to mess up, fool, baffle and hide from the public. Here’s a link to Alexandra Alter’s New York Times piece from Sept.11, 2015.

As I’ve mentioned a few times I actually did meet Thomas Pynchon while he lived here. A long time friend of mine visited with Pynchon frequently and introduced us.

FREEDOM FROM FIREWORKS. Jean Brocklebank long time activist, environmentalist and neighbor of Arana Gulch writes…

“Residents all over the County of Santa Cruz have had it with fireworks explosions, not just on July 4th but throughout the year. They are fed up with the problems caused to people, pets and wildlife. A new campaign has been formed, appropriately called Freedom From Fireworks. “The FFF campaign was introduced to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors during oral communications at their August 18 meeting. Six of us stood at the podium, representing 83 others who could not be there. The supervisors listened carefully. There was some applause from the audience after I finished reading our statement. Now the big work begins, to educate the BOSupes, so that we can get their help in making enforcement of the existing ordinance prohibiting all fireworks a priority health & safety issue. This will take some specific policies and we are going to share our ideas for said policies with the BOS in the coming months. We’ll be meeting the County Sheriff, the Santa Cruz Police, Veterans, Animal Services, Native Animal Rescue, City and County Fire Chiefs, CalFire and NOAA officials (Monterey Bay Sanctuary), to name a few.
“Meanwhile, if anyone wants to add their name as Supporters of what we are doing, they can use the Contact Us form at the web site. They can also add the name of their neighborhood by using the same form found on the Neighborhoods page. The more names the better to show supervisors that this is an issue of concern all over Santa Cruz! We also have a Facebook page.” http://freedomfromfireworks.weebly.com

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary reports Mon-Fri on his KUSP program…

There are definitely two schools of thought about the proposal to ask President Obama to establish the Coast Dairies land on the Santa Cruz County North Coast as a National Monument. Supporters say that this will confer a status and recognition for these and other lands on the North Coast that can’t help but be positive. Skeptics point out that the lands are already protected and preserved, and that the main impact of the Monument designation, if such a designation is made, will likely be to bring hundreds of thousands of additional tourists to the North Coast, causing environmental damage to the very lands that all agree are worthy of protection. Monument skeptics also point out that there are already significant parking, traffic, littering, and law enforcement problems on the North Coast, and that a Monument designation would probably make the existing bad situation even worse. You can get more information on both sides of the controversy at kusp.org/landuse, and if you’d like to register your personal feelings, consider attending a Town Hall Meeting to be conducted by Congress Member Anna Eshoo and Congress Member Sam Farr. That meeting will take place on Monday, September 21^st, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, at the Davenport Volunteer Fire Department. The purpose of the meeting is to address North Coast concerns regarding the National Monument proposal.

If you live in the unincorporated area of Santa Cruz County, and if you care about the future of your community, please get involved in the so-called “Code Modernization” project. It will have a major impact. By the way, the “unincorporated area” means any area in Santa Cruz County that is not located in the City of Santa Cruz, the City of Watsonville, the City of Capitola, or the City of Scotts Valley. The zoning ordinance is the set of rules that restricts what you (and maybe more important, what your neighbors) can do. Don’t underestimate its importance!

As a matter of pure logic, and basic economics, if our communities want affordable housing, they must either use public funds to build it, and/or find a mechanism to impose price controls. Just to say it again, if maintaining a “free market” in real estate is our society’s highest priority, then prices will be set by those with the most money. In Monterey County, huge numbers of homes formerly available for residential use by local residents are now second homes, the owners living elsewhere and only using the homes infrequently. They have the money to do that, and that’s what they do. In Santa Cruz County, higher-paid people who work in the Silicon Valley buy up homes that are then not available for local workers. Then he talks about a proposed evelopment in Live Oak… The Board is probably going to set Tuesday, September 29^th, at 1:30 p.m., as the time to make a decision on a 20-unit residential subdivision proposed at 1000 Rodriguez Street, at the corner of Jose Avenue. If you care about this proposed development, you should plan to attend the hearing. Originally, the developer, City Ventures, wanted to build more units, and there is an argument, of course, that developments within designated urban areas should be “dense” developments, to help prevent future urban sprawl. To me, one of the issues of most significance is that the developer will not produce ANY affordable units. That’s because the Board changed its policies within the last year to allow developers the right to pay fees instead. Significant neighborhood impacts; no affordable units. You decide!

He closes with a huge development named The Monterey Downs…

LandWatch Monterey County has announced some guided hikes, to show the public the proposed Monterey Downs development site.Participants will be able to see the size of the one mile race track, the 6,500-seat arena, the grandstands proposed, and all the area that will be developed into homes and commercial areas if the Monterey Downs project is approved. There are also coastal oak trees covering the land, many of which would be cut down to carry out the project.

I want to mention another federal agency with a hugely important environmental assignment; this is an agency that I bet listeners and readers may think about quite frequently. I mean the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Again, this federal agency has oversight responsibilities for natural resources that are critically important to our Central Coast Region

I want to alert all of you to the Sanctuary’s pending review of its management plan. There will be a meeting on this topic on September 23^rd, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Louden Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz. This is a “scoping meeting” for the Environmental Impact Statement that will accompany the management plan revision. My comment is that the health of our marine environment depends on good land use practices. If you want to make a comment, visit kusp.org/landuse to find out how you can do that! (Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net

SANDY LYDON’S SANTA CRUZ HISTORY CLASS & CENTRAL COAST SECRETS.

This is the guaranteed last time forever and ever that Sandy will teach his much respected and community changing Santa Cruz History class. It began September 11 and goes through December 18. Go here.. http://www.sandylydon.com to see how to enroll and check out his newest travel and tour news. There’s new news and data on the past and very present anti-Chinese sentiment in San Francisco now!!!

EXEUNT PETER DEMMA. Peter Demma died a couple of weeks ago…on August 28. He added greatly to the color of our county. He was part owner with Ron Bevert of the Hip Pocket Bookstore once located in the older St. George Hotel. He ran for sheriff and walked naked down the street to draw attention to his cause. He was born in Oakland and grew up in Berkeley and in various towns like Menlo Park and Atherton. His daughter Melyssa sends this…Please join his life celebration ceremonies as follows: Sunday, September 27th, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at Veterans Hall, Front Street, Santa Cruz. The ceremony will Include; photos, stand up speeches (please feel free to contribute), Honored Guards, Taps performance and a 21 gun salute.

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. The Best of Times, the Worst of Times and Good Times too…scroll a few pages downward.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER.
Look below a page or two..see Eagan’s newest target..

ARTHUR MILLERS “THE PRICE”. One of Arthur Miller’s finest and most rarely performed plays runs now through October 4 at The Jewel Theatre at 1001 Center Street Downtown Santa Cruz. Joy Carlin directs it, and Nancy Carlin stars in it. It was the absolute hit of their theatre season. The complete cast of four actors was probably the finest ensemble I’ve seen in years. The touching, demending, family disecting plot is excellent Arthur Miller. (Death of A Salesman, All My Sons, The Crucible, After The Fall) This’ll be the Jewel’s last show in the Center Stage. Artistic Director Julie James tells me the Tannery’s Colligan Theatre will open on time and that the Jewel Theatre will open with Guys and Dolls in November!!! Tickets at www.JewelTheatre.net or call 425-7506

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “All quiet on the blog this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), while I hunker down to hammer out the final revision on my next novel. But you never know when something cool is going to pop up, so keep checking back!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

WRENCHED, THE FILM. Join the Ventana Wilderness Alliance at the Del Mar Theatre (10/01) for a special screening of “Wrenched: how Edward Abbey lit the flame of environmental activism and gave the movement its soul”. This film captures the passing of the monkey wrench from the pioneers of eco-activism to a new generation carrying Edward Abbey’s legacy into the 21st century. How far are you willing to go in defense of wilderness? At 7pm there’ll be a special live introduction by Edward Abbey’s sister, activist and educator Nancy Abbey. This will be a night to remember but sell-out of the small upstairs venue is almost guaranteed. Advance tickets are strongly advised. Thursday, October 1: Doors open at 6:00 pm and show starts at 7:00 pm.Location Address: 1124 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz
Ticket Prices: $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Tickets can be purchased here For more information: Call 831-423-3191 or go to ventanawild.org http://wrenched-themovie.com/

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only and we now have two weeks worth of archives!!!)… Composer, teacher Joseph Sekon guests on September 15 to talk about an upcoming concert. After Joseph, Jewel Theatre’s Julie James returns to reveal their 2015-16 season. September 22 has emcee and Santa Cruz Voice Kim Luke discussing this years FashionArt Show happening September 26. Then Rachel Kippen program director of Save Our Shores talks about their Beach Clean-up program. Jinx Deruisa from The Santa Cruz Chamber Players and Rebecca Jackson take the stage on Sept. 29, after which Robert Stayton will talk about solar energy and his new book “Power Shift” On October 6 Patrice Vecchione returns with news of her newest workshop. After which Amber Duncan and Courtney Castanos from the Ramblin’ Adventure Club talk about their kid’s programs. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com .

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, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, 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. “I could never trust a man unless I’ve got his pecker in my pocket“, Lyndon Baynes Johnson. “Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance”, H.L.Mencken. “I never vote for anyone—I always vote against“, W.C. Fields.

THE OLD PACIFIC AVENUE 1960. This is the Hotel St. George originally built in 1893. There were many versions of this hotel due to fires and earthquakes. The one we know today is a Barry Swenson Builders creation. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE AUGUST 17, 2015
COMBINED WITH DATELINE AUGUST 24, 2015

COLUMN CONFUSION. Once again Gunilla Leavitt and I are forced to combine the weekly columns which are always written every Monday. Hopefully next week there we can get back to a regular new column online as soon as possible each week on or after Mondays.

[Gunilla speaks: It is ALL MY FAULT, please don’t fault Bruce for this. And bear with me, I *will* get back on a normal schedule. I’m just going through some stuff. Thank you for your patience.]

FAREWELL FRED KEELEY. There may be a farewll party at the Highway 17 Santa Cruz County Boundary for Fred Keeley by folks who offer to pay his gas fare… one way. We’ll have to wait and see. Then again others have started calling him the Man From Unctuous, but that isn’t kind.

Fred’s giving up his push and pull job working as the Sempervirens Fund President and his connection with the proposed National Monument campaign. As The Sentinel (8/6) said “As a contract democracy consultant for Santa Clara, Keeley, a former California assemblyman and former Santa Cruz County Supervisor, will help expand the city’s award-winning Community Outreach/Vote Ethics Program, which puts ethical campaign strategies at the forefront of elections, asking voters to pay attention to the candidates’ conduct. He also will teach a graduate seminar in the Public Administration Department at San Jose State University and continue serving as chair a special task force, commissioned by State Treasurer John Chiang, to develop best practices on the fiduciary care and use of state and local bond proceeds”. Local subterranean voices are saying he was advised to switch jobs, and even get something out of the county due to some near –totally- unproven rumors. I’ll remain poised to add to all of this…stay in position.

MORE ABOUT TEEN AGERS, LIFE IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH SENTENCES!!!

Last time I wrote in this space…”THE TANNERY MURDER, A THOUGHT. Now that we know that 15 year old teenager will be tried and sentenced as a adult doesn’t it seem “strange” that at 15 we don’t believe he’s mature enough to drink, he’s too young to know how to vote, and he certainly can’t think fast enough to drive a car…but he is definitely qualified to face life imprisonment for that one decision???” Whew, lots of reactions to what I just meant as something to think about. Well it turns out some folks think that stuffing the body in the dumpster closest to your house and then hanging out near it and bugging the police is adult thinking!!! Others think that because that 15 year old kid killed somebody that we should hire prison staff to kill him. It’s really hard to justify this killing thing. Then again we all know what happens to young boys/men in prison especially if they were sick enough to murder a child.

It’s another slower version of a death sentence. There are many articles lately on youths and solitary confinement. A reader sent this link..

The New York Times had an editorial Sunday (8/16) titled “Indefinite Imprisonment, on a Hunch”. I can’t get a link to it, but it says, “despite the public perception that all sex offenders are recidivists sex re-offense rates are in fact lower than those for other crimes”. It concludes, ” Public Safety would be better served if resources were directed toward community supervision and other services for those leaving prison, rather than skirting the Constitution to keep locked away”. One reader/writer wrote, “What bothers me about the crimes that took Maddy Middleton’s life was that AJ Gonzalez was let down by so many systems in his life: familial, social, educational. Somewhere throughout his young life there had to have been many warnings signs that should have been detected and not ignored”.

FAREWELL LOIS MUHLY. Lois and Bert Muhly were among my earliest Santa Cruz friends when I moved here in 1970. For nearly 45 years we worked on an infinite number of causes, campaigns, fund raisers, musicals, and protests. Davenports Nuclear Power Plant, stopping 10,000 homes onto Wilder Ranch…and on and on. Bert and Lois defined what it means to be a beautiful, giving and very loving couple. We will fell the loss for decades. Services will be held September 26, 2015, at 3:00pm at the Peace United Church of Christ (formerly First Congregational Church), 900 High St, Santa Cruz, Ca In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Resource Center for Non-Violence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, Ca, 95060 or Three Americas, Inc. PO Box 711, Santa Cruz, Ca 95061-0711

KUSP HISTORY. For a completely different reason some readers searched online for some of my old columns in Metro Weekly. I happened to find this from JANUARY 22, 2003 Metro Weekly…

“As listeners probably know, KUSP-FM is starting its biggest schedule change in 20 years on Feb. 3, 2003. There’s a new lineup of programs from 9am to 9:30 pm weekdays, including the canceling of the seniors’ Prime Time program. (Full disclosure: that show contained my little eight-minute movie critiques that used to be aired every other week.) The station is cutting out Johnny Simmons’ Lost Highway and Wallace Baine’s Talking Pictures on Sundays. It’s adding Pacifica’s Democracy Now at 3pm on weekdays and expanding a lot of NPR programming, such as All Things Considered and Fresh Air. Changes in any medium (even newspapers) are rarely taken lightly, and KUSP’s changes have caused a near civil war among programmers, supporters and volunteers. Station manager Peter Troxell, who has seven months left (if he leaves on schedule), says these are tough financial times for the station. Along with KAZU’s recent switch to NPR programming, which cost some amount of KUSP listeners, the debt from an expensive station remodeling has also hurt KUSP’s budget. So KUSP has reduced staff hours, not replaced some staff members who’ve left and even gotten a discount on NPR’s program costs. Grants and station-sponsoring clients have dwindled, and now program director Howard Feldstein and Troxell say the station’s healthy. “We’re not going away; we’ll stay here. Membership is OK; these are just program changes that were overdue,” Troxell and Feldstein add. What you need to do is go online to www.kusp.org and see the complete new schedule”. So much for KUSP history and that “expensive remodeling” plus the $6500 monthly rent that seldom gets talked about.

CLOSING PACIFIC AVENUE FOR $800. It’s a good thing Mayor Don Lane and The Santa Cruz City Council approved the closing down of Pacific Avenue and Lincoln Streets last Friday morning for a Helmann’s Mayonnaise commercial. We learned that to cover the cost of blocking all traffic, bringing in extra police and preventing the use of all the parking meters for FOUR HOURS on Pacific Avenue and Lincoln streets costs only $800. That’s the amount that Helmann’s Mayonaise had to pay. As most of us know, Hellmann’s is owned by Unilever, probably the largest commercial institution of its kind in the world. If you go to Unilever’s website you’ll read such stuff as…”On any given day, two billion people use Unilever products to look good, feel good and get more out of life” and, “With more than 400 brands focused on health and wellbeing, no company touches so many people’s lives in so many different ways”. Still more, “Our portfolio ranges from nutritionally balanced foods to indulgent ice creams, affordable soaps, luxurious shampoos and everyday household care products. We produce world-leading brands including Lipton, Knorr, Dove, Axe, Hellmann’s and Omo, alongside trusted local names such as Mazola, Ben & Jerry’s, Popsicle, Rinso and Suave. With the generosity shown to UNILEVER by our City Council we should surely see a more honest appraisal when any local residents disrupt traffic hereabouts. As The Sentinel article says, “There’s a flat fee of $100 to shut down any street”. We can only assume that anarchists and others would pay that same fee.

CABRILLO FESTIVAL SAYS GOODBYE TO MISSION CONCERTS. Marin Alsop has decreed No more San Juan Bautista Mission concerts! Besides all the problems with traffic, weather, cramped space, bad acoustics, and rigid church officials, the Mission gigs cost the Festival an extra $20,000 to move all their gear there.

FOOD TRUCKS & WHAT TRUCKS?? Restaurateur Ted Burke swears a friend sent this to him… “There should be a margarita truck that plays Mariachi music as it drives around the neighborhood in the evening. And we would hear it and run out with our money and stand on the curb, waiting for it. Like an ice cream truck, but, you know, with margaritas”. We’d probably have to vote on that.

TESLA MURAL PLANS. Nikola Tesla can get some much needed publicity and recognition here in our enlightened city. Peter Bartczak noted muralist says, “My latest public art project is a 22’x12′ mural featuring Nikola Tesla, your favorite cult hero/genius inventor/visionary. I hope to put paint to the wall at a local longtime (35 years) Santa Cruz institution – John’s Electric Motor Service on May Street. That’s over off Water and Orielly’s Auto Parts and near where the old DMV offices used to be , remember? The mural will depict Tesla as an electrical magician and shows a few of his inventions – A.C. Current, broadcast power, fluorescent lights, remote controls, and, of course, the Tesla coil. Peter is a long time Santa Cruzan and is responsible for murals on the west side’s Upper Crust Pizza on Mission St., the dancing figures downtown by the clock tower, and the portraits that used to grace the wall of the Silver Spur restaurant on Soquel Drive. He has also done work for such companies as Disney, Universal Studio Tours, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Dell Publishing, Annieglass, and many local businesses. You can see more of his work at www.clownbankstudio.com

Funding is thru the Indiegogo crowd funding website All sorts of goodies are given to contributors, including postcards, fine art prints, keychains, and original art, depending on how much you contribute. Please contribute whatever you can to this project so we can inspire more people with Tesla’s genius and vision.

PETER McGETTIGAN SAYS GOODBYE TO COMMUNITY TV. After decades of erstwhile camera work at Santa Cruz Community Television these two entities said goodbye to each other under circumstances which aren’t entirely clear. But Peter is now available to do any and all video work. mcgettiganfilms@gmail.com or 831 469-9501.

HIGHWAY 6 Benefit Dinner August 29, 5:30-8:30 p.m. London Nelson Center. The invitation reads, “There’s a time when you can’t even passively take part! And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus — and you’ve got to make it stop!” – Mario Savio, UC Berkeley Sproul Plaza, 1964.

Please join us for an evening of delicious food and inspiring music in a benefit dinner for the UCSC Highway 6. Members of the UCSC Highway 6 and the Santa Cruz community are organizing to raise funds to further the fight against UC political repression of student activism, at a time when students all over the country are rising against police brutality and inequality in education. We would love to have you be a part of this important movement-building event!The six students who took the highway on March 3rd have met unprecedented repression by the state and the university, including several violations of constitutional rights by the UC administration during the judicial process. The Hwy 6 will be filing a civil suit against the university with the goal of minimizing further repression of student activists across the UC system. This event is also an opportunity for you to connect with other community activists, to learn more about recent student activism at UCSC and why things have escalated to the point that they have. There will be a catered dinner, a silent auction, and several inspiring performances. Please RSVP with your name/s and the number of people attending in your party to: <ucschwy6@gmail.com>

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary states on his KUSP broadcasts…August 24-28. He talks about plans to vibrate Salinas and developing CSUMB. Then he talks about Cal-Am and their control of the Monterey Peninsula’s water supply. Hard to believe but there’s a “Canine Sports Center,” proposed to be located on a 43-acre site near Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley. Gary mentions that too. Fort Ord development will be dealt with by the City Of Marina Planning Commission. Like Santa Cruz, he says, “There is a more Marina-specific item on the agenda, too; namely, the proposal by Shea Homes to cut down two healthy cypress trees. The Planning Director said that was “ok.” The Marinatacrifice

Tree Committee said it was “ok,” and now the Planning Commission will consider the issue on an appeal. From the City of Santa Cruz to the City of Marina, public officials are usually willing to sacrifice trees to aid the desires of the developers. ficials are usually

ABOUT PLACING WIRELESS TOWERS AND SUCH…to aid the desires of the developers”. He closes telling us about the placement of Wireless Facilities…

As listeners may know, federal law has largely preempted the field of wireless regulation, and this federal preemption has made it quite difficult for local governments to have any say on the location of these facilities. For instance, while the health impacts of wireless facilities are of concern to many local residents, federal legislation has pretty much made it impossible for local governments to regulate wireless facilities based on health concerns.The visual impacts of such facilities, and other land use impacts, are still a basis for local regulation. However, there is a bill now being considered in the California State Legislature that might undermine such local regulation. Assembly Bill 57, now in the State Senate, would provide that proposed wireless facilities will be “deemed approved” if not acted upon within either 90 or 150 days. I note that Assembly Member Mark Stone voted “no” on this bill in the Assembly. Assembly Member Alejo is recorded as “not voting.” Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opions expressed are Mr. Patton’s \. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. A National Monument by any other name would smell… etc. etc scroll downwards!!!

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Tim Eagan looks at the many sides of Trump…see below.

MACBETH. I wrote on my Facebook page last week…”I’ve been urging everybody to go see Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s “The Liar”,. It’s the best and funniest play I’ve ever seen them perform. I saw Macbeth last night(8/13). It’s the worst, most poorly acted Macbeth I’ve seen in a long lifetime. Macbeth forgets his lines, the audience laughs at every tragic scene, it’s so poorly performed. The Equity actors must be from the bottom of the barrel. Macbeth got more laughs than their production of Much Ado About Nothing!!!” I got many thnk-yous for that but UCSC’s Patty Gallagher who is an EQUITY Actor and a witch in Macbeth felt bad. Patty’s consistently one of the best actors I’ve seen, even though this production plays the witches as bar maids/whores instead of powerful demons from hell. I should have said that 99% of all the actors were all bad and never mind about Equity.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: Lisa writes: “This is the last season for Santa Cruz Shakespeare in the fabulous Sinsheimer-Stanley Festival Glen at UCSC. So if you want to bask one more time in this unique playgoing experience, make plans to see a play (or two) before the season ends on August 30. I recommend the rambunctious, hysterically funny comedy, The Liar, the absolute jewel in the crown of this year’s SCS season, and there are only a few performances left! Read all about it this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com).” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton August 25 has Bruce Van Allen talking about UCSC’s Highway 6 and a fund raiser on 8/29 as a very hot topic. After that Sharon D. Payne and Kosher Assault tell us inside secrets about the Santa Cruz Derby Girls. Sept. 1^st Tom Karwin talking about The UCSC Friends of the Arboretum after which environmentalist Grey Hayes discusses new nature issues that need attention. On Sept 8 Kimberly Perm from the Pajaro Valley Shelter Services talks about their programs and their successes. Then Julie Callahan returns with Rosemarie Alles discussing The March For Elephants. Joseph Sekon guests on September 15 to talk about an upcoming concert. After Josef, Jewel Theatre’s Julie James returns to reveal their 2015-16 season. September 22 has emcee and Santa Cruz Voice Kim Luke discussing this years FashionArt Show happening September 26. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com .

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

QUOTES. “The preface is the most important part of a book. Even reviewers read the preface”, Philip Guedalla. “I did so enjoy your book, darling. Everything that everybody writes in it is so good”, Mrs. Patrick Campbell. “It was a book to kill time for those who like it better dead”, Rose MacAulay.

TOM SCRIBNER October 28 1964, Davenport CA. Here’s a photo of Tom doing what he loved the most, editing and creating the Redwood Ripsaw Review. The Review was a hard hitting opinion generated “newspaper” . Known mostly as the subject of the Musical Saw player in front of the Bookshop Santa Cruz which was placed there in 1978. Tom was a staunch member of the Industrial Workers of the World (The Wobblies). He fought for labor and labor unions all his life. The Musical Saw was barely a hobby for him. He did play on Pacific Avenue when he lived in the St. George Hotel…but he never “busked” (played for money). He died in 1982. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE August 3, 2015
DATELINE August 10, 2015

RACIST SANTA CRUZ. Preparing for and Interviewing Ann Lopez, Executive Director of The Center For Farmworker Families last week (July 28) on Universal Grapevine taught me a lot about the problems our neighbors, the Farmworkers in South County have to live with. I learned that California is the deadliest state in the USA for Mexican workers. 2 billion pounds of LICENSED pesticides are used in the USA every year . The average life expectancy of farmowrkers is only 49 years. Mexicans are 80% more likely to die on the job than any native workers. With all those dangers Farmworking is still the SECOND most dangerous job….construction is number one!!! More than that, researchers have found that farmworkers would e be healthier over the long run if they stayed in Mexico. There are an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 cases of physician-diagnosed pestcide poinioning among USA farmworkers. Anyone trying to help our Santa Cruz farmowrkers gets a more positive and frequent response from outside our county. These helpers, organizations, agencies, usually blame local racism for our lack of caring!! They wonder how and why so many Santa Cruzans will work for assistance to starving and suffering populations in Cuba, India, Iraq and around the world and turn a blind eye to Watsonville and South County, what is that other than RACISM?? The Center for Farmworkers is offering Farmworker Reality Tours of local farmworker farms, “homes” this Sunday (8/08) and Sunday 8/16 at 3 p.m. Go to their website http://www.farmworkerfamily.org and enroll.

MARIN ALSOP GOING TO CUBA. In addition to conducting the annual Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music that’s closing this week (August 12-16) was the announcemnet that Marin Alsop is going to conduct Cuba’s Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional for Havana’s 500th Anniversary. One of her websites I went to said…”Perhaps this is one more piece of evidence to support the mended relationship between the United States and Cuba. Marin Alsop, music director of both the Baltimore and São Paulo Symphony Orchestras, will conduct the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba in celebration of Havana’s quincentenary”.That’s a real big deal. Better get your tickets quickly, even at the Civic Aud. box office!!

“12” AN UNIQUE RUSSIAN MOVIE. Remember that 1997 film “12 Angry Men” starring Henry Fonda, and Lee’J. Cobb?? Russian film director Mikhalkov created a new version in 2007 (available at Westside Video next to Omei Rstaurant). It’s still 12 men trying to agree on how to sentence a teenager who commited a murder. It’s got ethnic hatred, great insight into human reasoning, even humor. Rent it, think about where a teenage boy’s real reasons and problems lead him. Then give a moment to think what you’d do and decide if you were on that jury.

THE TANNERY MURDER, A THOUGHT. Now that we know that 15 year old teenager will be tried and sentenced as a adult doesn’t it seem “strange” that at 15 we don’t believe he’s mature enough to drink, he’s too young to know how to vote, and he certainly can’t think fast enough to drive a car…but he is definitely qualified to face life imprisonment for that one decision???

McPHERSON EVENT CENTER. Oddly enough some readers (also writers) have come up with what sounds like a great idea. Why not simply re-name it The McPherson Event Center? The center has had many proven successful events, and it looks likely it’ll continue that way. Then folks who expect to see or visit a genuine Art and History location won’t be so disapointed.

CRUZIO’S POWER PLANS. As you know by now Windows 10 is out and has been getting good reviews. What this means is obvious… we’ll all need more computer power. Cruzio has been working with the City Of Santa Cruz on a partnership to bring in optical fiber cable that will carry an almost infinite power load. Go to Cruzio.com and take their GIGABIT FIBER survey to illustrate where the power lines (buried) should go. And don’t worry, the list of subscription choices at the survey’s end isn’t binding.

A reader writes… Imagine if Santa Cruz motel owners restored some of the funky beach hotels to a chic “retro” look instead of having them modernized in a nondescript way. (I’m not talking about LaBahia, however) Check this out…http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/mark-havens-photos-new-jersey-motels

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary speaks about Mobile Home park resident rights, “If you happen to be a mobile home park resident, worried that you may be ousted from your mobilehome by the conversion of the park from a rental park to an ownership park, a recent decision of the Second District Court of Appeal is good news. In Carson Harbor Village v. City of Carson the court held that the General Plan policies of the City of Carson trumped the desire of the mobilehome park owners to convert their park, which would probably have displaced many lower income tenants. This decision strongly affirms what I have often said about the local community General Plan. Here’s the court speaking: Cities must have general plans governing development, including the protection of open space, and must also deny proposed subdivisions that are inconsistent with their general plans. Then he talks about the WSAC (Water Supply Advisory Committee) and their presentation to the City Council on 8/11.

The Water Supply Advisory Committee is going to hold two sessions this week. The first session is scheduled for Thursday August 13^th, at 5:00 p.m. A second session will be held on Friday, August 14^th, at 2:00 p.m. Both sessions will be held at the City’s Police Community Room, located at 155 Center Street. All members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend.

The Water Supply Advisory Committee is due to present their recommendations to the City Council in October. Currently, WSAC members are working as individuals and in groups to put together portfolios of solutions to address the City’s water supply challenges. These proposals will be presented and discussed at the two meetings I just mentioned. These meetings, in other words, are quite likely going to be both interesting and lively, as WSAC works on strategies for decision-making around implementation of the final proposal. He closes with local territory lesson…. There are four cities in Santa Cruz County, and the City of Capitola is one of them, though everyone should note that at least half the population of Santa Cruz County doesn’t live in any city at all. Sometimes, people get confused, and think that the various “place names” we know, and use, mean that the designated locations are cities, but that’s not true. Aptos, Soquel, Boulder Creek, Live Oak, Freedom, Bonny Doon, and Davenport (to name a few) are not cities at all. Those unincorporated areas are under the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors. There are only four cities, with their own city councils, and Capitola is the smallest. Size, however, does not equate to importance! Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opions expressed are Mr. Patton’s \. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Those pesky South County students…see below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Tim Eagan shows us the Circus Circuit…scroll down.

More than that, Tim’s website has two new cartoons posted at TimEagan.com: http://www.timeagan.com/?deepcover http://www.timeagan.com/?subconscious_comics And the latest EaganBlog, Prime Suspects: http://www.timeagan.com/?eagabnlog LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Put down that hand-held device! High summer is high time to dive into a real book, and this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), I share some of my all-time favorite summer reads!” Then she reviews Macbeth. Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

“THE LIAR” BY SANTA CRUZ SHAKESPEARE. I sent out a Facebook alert Sunday (8/9) saying, “Any Santa Cruzans who need a laugh should go see Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s The Liar…now playing. I’ve seen every production in their history and never have I heard such audience applause and such laughs from any of their plays. It is clever, bawdy, easy to follow…bring your friends.. ” I meant exactly that!!! It reminded me of the early San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Commedia Del Arte days. Fast, raucous, well timed, nicely acted. Go for it, especially if you’ve never seen/heard a play in the UCSC Stanley-Sinshimer Glen.

SAN FRANCISCO MIME TROUPE.(August 15 & 16) San Lorenzo Park.

“Are the police out of control? What happened to “innocent until proven guilty”? IsMalcolm’s neighbor Luis (an undocumented immigrant,) actually a SNORF-lord? And canMalcolm convince his grandson that it is safer to re-up and fight overseas than totry to survive here at home, in Freedomland?” That’s the plot…it continues…”A door is blown off its hinges! Into a blasted room of scarred walls and shattered windows, armed with M-16’s, America’s bravest duck and dodge for cover, finally training their deadly gunsights on… an old black man watching TV on his couch?”. SPECIAL ADDED SANTA CRUZ ATTRACTIONS…Post Show discussions associated with SF Mime Troupe’s production of FREEDOMLANDAfter several shows, the Mime Troupe has invited guest speakers to participate in a post-show talkback about the militarization of police and police targeting of people of color. Our invited guests will join Freedomland’s playwright Michael Gene Sullivan for a 30 minute post-show talkback for each of the performances: Pietro Calogero, Lecturer in Planning and Policy, University of California, Berkeley and Willow Katz from Sin Barras and Keith McHenry, SCRAM! (Santa Cruz Resistance Against Militarization). Don’t miss the wild, wooly, bizarre and incredible Mime Troupe 2:30 for the music and 3 p.m. for the show.

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 sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Patrice Vecchione talks about her new book, “Step Into Nature” on August 11^th followed by Food Not Bombs member Abbi Samuels talking about their Sleep-in happening that same night. Mireya Gomez-Contreras program director of The Day Worker Center on 7^th Avenue tells about the newest accomplishments at the Center, then Willy Elliott McCrea discusses The Second Harvest Food Bank. August 25 has the Highway 6 and a fund raiser as hot topic. After that Sharon D. Payne and Kosher Assault tell us inside secrets about the Santa Cruz Derby Girls. September 1^st has Tom Karwin talking about The UCSC Friends of the Arboretum after which environmentalist Grey Hayes discusses new nature issues that need attention. Joseph Sekon guests on September 15 to talk about an upcoming concert. Jewel Theatre’s Julie James returns after Sekon to reveal their 2015-16 season. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com

NEW UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVE FEATURE. Stuff changes at KZSC a lot. Right now you can listen to the last two weeks of Grapevines 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 last 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, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, 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. “Divorce is the sacrament of adultery”, Jean Guichard. “Niagara Falls is the bride’s second great disappointment”, Oscar Wilde. “My love life is terrible. The last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty”, Woody Allen.

THE FABLED SEA BEACH HOTEL circa 1898. This lovely hotel was yet a another attempt to compete with Monterey and Carmel for the overnight tourist trade. It stood over near where our municipal wharf is today. It burned down on June 12, 1912. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DOUBLE COLUMN AGAIN. This week contains both July 20, 2015 column material and stuff from July 27, 2015

DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF STEVE CLARK. If you didn’t read John Malkin’s June 24 th Good Times article about the misadventures of Santa Cruz Deputy Chief of police Steve Clark then go here to read “Blurred Blue Lines”.

It’s important that all Santa Cruzans know as much as possible about Steve Clark. John Malkin was a guest on my July 14^th Universal Grapevine and he talked about his research and personal experiences in writing this article. When you know just how many times officer Clark had bad experiences with City Officials, office seekers, murder investigations, it makes you wonder just how this city is run…and who’s responsible. Clark was the Police department’s PR spokesman and he was also the Police Manager’s union representative. That’s been changed for obvious reasons. John Malkin and I talked about the fact that Steve Clark was making $167,268 per year in 2011 and we don’t know what he makes now. What is equally interesting (after you read the Good Times Article) is that there has been no reaction to it. None from the Police Department, none from the City Council. It’s probably the only “safe” way to react to something as important as his misconduct. As Malkin said, it’s also vacation time and city employees are taking time off. John Malkin also said that some of the people he interviewed want to ask questions of the Mayor and the police…and that “it’s definitely not over”.

I think we should take bets on how gutsy or relevant a statement we can ever expect from Mayor Don Lane.

MIKE ROTKIN NOT RUNNING AGAIN. Being a man of his word, many of us were thrilled when he told a questioner that “NO WAY” was he running again for City Council. Just as he’s kept his devotion to the City investing in a de-sal plant, we can be sure he’ll not be back. Some may wonder why he’s making all those televised speeches at the City Council meetings acting like a former Mayor etc., so ask him when you see him.

FLOURIDE IN OUR DRINKING WATER…UPDATE. This is an update from the Center For Disease Control …”The number of communities and people who benefit from water fluoridation is continuing to grow. This effective public health intervention was initiated in the United States in 1945. In 2012, 74.6% of the U.S. population on public water systems, or a total of 210,655,401 people, had access to fluoridated water”. Community water fluoridation is recommended by nearly all public health, medical, and dental organizations including the American Dental Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, US Public Health Service, and World Health Organization. Because of its contribution to the dramatic decline in tooth decay in the United States since the 1960s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) named community water fluoridation one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century. Still, many poorly informed Santa Cruzans can’t see the future…or can’t understand statistics.

LOCAL VIDEO STORE SITUATION. I just got news that Video 9 in Boulder Creek is closing….and they are having a big and final sale of all their DVD’s right now. That’s a shame, I like browsing through stacks of videos and being surprised by ones I never knew existed. Ashlyn Adams, owner of Westside Video (out by Omei Restaurant) the last Video Store in Santa Cruz says that Capitola Video, Video USA in Aptos, and Beacon Video in Felton are still in existence.

COAST DAIRIES NATIONAL MONUMENTAL PROBLEMS. Ted Benhari of The Rural Bonny Doon Association writes… We learned last week that there is strong evidence of a Native American settlement on the Coast Dairies land. Almost certainly Cotoni (CHUH-ton-ee), which were the sub-group of Ohlone that lived on the north end of Monterey Bay for thousands of years. And who will be commemorated with the renaming of Coast Dairies to “Cotoni-Coast Dairies”. The need to protect and study this possible settlement site is another big reason National Monument status, which certainly brings many additional visitors, needs to be put off.

National Monument status could result in monumental overuse, impacting the fauna and flora of Coast Dairies, and the surrounding communities, because of the worldwide promotion that such status will surely bring, while additional funding for facilities and management is uncertain. Animals may no longer find suitable habitat, and creeks, lagoons, wetlands and special status plants could be seriously harmed. The existing strong and irrevocable protections are all we need because the Deed Restrictions governing the federal Bureau of Land Management and the California Coastal Development Permit require maximized coastal resource protection, limit use of Coast Dairies to open space, agriculture, and public recreation, and preclude motorized off-road vehicles, commercial logging, mining, and resource extraction, including fracking. After a regional management plan is developed and the detailed environmental study certified it may be reasonable to seek National Monument status for the Cotoni-Coast Dairies public lands.

The area will be opened to public use whether designated as a National Monument or not. Funding for infrastructure and management is not guaranteed for National Monuments, other than an extra $3 per acre, or only about $18,000 a year, about enough for a quarter-time ranger. Current protections give us the luxury to take the time for a proper review of all the ways that the National Monument designation will affect the Coast Dairies property and our communities. The current plan is to do this review after the site is designated a National Monument. Consequently there would be no review of the wisdom of the designation itself, and no review of locally controlled alternatives for opening up the area for public use. There are very high downside risks of inviting the world to visit: fragile soils, multiple salmonid streams, and steep cliffs will make public access very tricky. The size of this property supports mammals such as puma, gray fox, and badger. These species will not remain in areas with high public use. If trails are not sited well, or if too many are opened up, we could lose these species. If hundreds of thousands of additional visitors descend upon the area, choke Mission Street and Highways 1, 92 and 17, and overwhelm the small town of Davenport, we could lose much more.

To learn more about this issue and follow developments, go to http://www.friendsofthenorthcoast.org and join the Facebook group, Friends of the North Coast https://www.facebook.com/groups/846372308752865/.

Ted added this week: Over 400 signatures now on the petition, but we’d like a lot more. Please keep pumping your friends and contacts to consider signing. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/coast-dairies-national-monument-not-so-fast

COLLATERAL DAMAGE TRIBUTE. Mathilde Rand announces…Please Join Us at the Collateral Damage Statue for “A Coming Together”. 70 years ago, the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Today, in a time of increasing tensions between the U.S., its NATO allies, and Russia, there are nearly 16,000 nuclear weapons, 94% held by the U.S. and Russia.

The two sides are brandishing nuclear weapons on the borders of the Ukraine, posingan intolerable threat to humanity and the global environment. On Sunday, August 2nd, starting at 6 pm, we will hold a Coming Together next to the Statue at the Town Clock Park in downtown Santa Cruz to say: No to Nuclear Weapons, No to War! We will begin the evening with a brushing, waxing and buffing of the Collateral Damage Statue. Starting at 6:30, Aileen Vance, Gail Swain, Louis LaFortune, Russell Brutsche, Victor Aguiar, the Raging Grannies and others will share their music with us. The music will be followed by a quiet candlelight circle during which all participants are invited to offer short personal reflections, songs and poems. Let us recommit ourselves to a world without nuclear weapons and without war. Please bring symbols for peace, flowers, candles in containers, and chairs.

SAVE L.A.’S ANGEL’S FLIGHT. Pat Matecjek informs us that L.A’s famed Angel’s Flight is in danger. There’s a petition out there to save it. The online newspaper “LAist” said…”Downtown’s historic Angel’s Flight railway has been gathering dust for two years, but a new petition from fans of the funicular might help get the vintage trolley moving again. Richard Schave and Kim Cooper, local historians and operators of the unique Esotouric tour-company, launched a petition earlier this week, asking the city to reopen the railway at S. Hill St. between Third and Fourth streets. A bright orange vestige of the city’s past, the block-long, two-car railway was shut down two years ago for safety reasons. The petition asks Mayor Garcetti to “help cut the red tape in Sacramento and San Francisco” so that the nearly 115-year-old railway, also known as a funicular, can operate once again. The railway has closed and reopened a number of times in its long history, but the petitioners claim the safety issues have been resolved”.

ROBERT KRAFT TRIBUTE. Paul Elerick emailed to say…Robert Kraft’s family and friends met Saturday July 18 in memory of this great man. I met Bob and Rosalie Kraft at the beginning of the campaign to keep the Wingspread Development from being built on one of the last open spaces on our mid-county coast I was lucky to be able to know these two great people. One of the highlights of the memorial was a rendition of that Lennon/-McCartney classic “She’s Leaving Home” by Bob’s two son’s, Kevin and Ken Kraft, both talented musicians. Bob Kraft’s long time friend John Faulkner described him best as “Warm Friend, Great Astronomer and Modest Human Being”. You can read lots more about Bob Kraft here.

TIM EAGAN BLOG. Artist, cartoonist (“Deep Cover” & “Subconscious Comics”)Tim Eagan guested on my Universal Grapevine last Tuesday. After a thirty + year friendship I still learned that night he was a member of and lived in the original Dartmouth “Animal House”. More than that I learned that he has a weekly blog. Go here about Animal House and go here about “A Freakin’ Genius” to read his weekly musings and meanderings.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary says this week on his KUSP Land Use Report…

Santa Cruz County residents may remember that there has been a lively discussion before the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on medical marijuana cultivation, with an initiative measure having been circulated to overturn the regulatory system adopted in Santa Cruz County. When the Santa Cruz County Board returns from its summer break, we will probably hear more about this issue in Santa Cruz County. Last Monday, the City of Santa Cruz opened up its Resource Recovery Facility for a public tour. I missed it, and I bet you did, too! However, you will have a couple more chances to see how the City of Santa Cruz handles its recycling operations if you make a reservation for tours being offered on Friday, August 21^st, from 10:00 to 11:30 in the morning, and from 1:00 to 2:30 in the afternoon. The City’s Resource Recovery Facility is located at 605 Dimeo Lane, on the County’s North Coast, and it’s a pretty impressive facility. If you are interested, you can make a reservation in advance. Naturally, I have provided you with the information you need in today’s Land Use Report blog.

Santa Cruz residents (City residents, I am talking about) generate about thirty to fifty tons of recyclable materials each day. These are the materials that go into the “blue bins” that residents push to the curb on their assigned pick up day. If you take the tour, you’ll see how the City’s recycling workers, in just one week, can bale as much as forty-nine tons of mixed paper, twenty-one tons of plastic, and about seventy-one tons of cardboard. Those on the tour will visit the scrap metal facility, too, and even the so-called “Second Chance Store,” where recycled materials are offered to the public free of charge. Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opions expressed are Mr. Patton’s \. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net

HIGHWAY SIX PARTY AND FUN RAISER. Bruce Van Allen informs us…I’m working with the student activists known as the UCSC Highway 6 after they temporarily blocked the freeway as part of a statewide “96 Hours of Action” last March to express outrage against police brutality and excessive student fee increases. The 6 have been the target of severe repression by the University and the courts, as well as vicious attacks by our own “Take Back Santa Cruz” right-wing extremists. We are having a benefit dinner to help them raise funds to pay restitution stemming from their civil disobedience and to fight for the rights of student activists in the future.

Concretely, please SAVE THE DATE for an evening of delicious food, music, an auction, and opportunities to connect campus and community activists: UCSC Highway 6 Benefit Dinner Saturday, August 29, 5:30 – 8:30 PM London Nelson Community Center Requested Donation: $25 (sliding scale – no one turned away). You can RSVP to <ucscHWY6@gmail.com>. You can also make a direct contribution at: <http://www.gofundme.com/oee2do>. Please include a note if you plan to attend the dinner on August 29.

SANDY LYDON’S SANTA CRUZ COUNTY HISTORY CLASS. Sandy tells us… we’re doing the second semester — History 25B — from 1880 to the present — this coming fall semester at Carbilho — Crabilho? — The schedule is in the Cabrillo class schedule and will be on my website. We’re working very hard to make the registration process easier — particularly for those who have taken it before –it was first taught in 1974 — we’ve made 41 more years of history since then…Also, of course, registrants can take the vaunted Certified Local exam at the end of it all, and become CERTIFIED LOCALS! (Don’t have to have taken History 25A, but the test will cover the pre 1880 period…) Check out His website at http://sandylydon.com/index.html

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Hatred in Santa Cruz??? DeCinzo has a point…scroll down.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. There are puns and there are classic puns. Check out a classic Subconscious Comic from August 1988 see below….

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Behold Beast”, the hero of my next novel, ready for his first close-up, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). Also, take a new look at a venerable old detective in the often lyrical Mr. Holmes.“ Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Ann Lopez talks about the Center for Farmworker Families on July 28 then Chris Neklason of Cruzio relates their latest projects. On Tuesday August 4 Kristal Caballero Exec. dir. Of Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes talks about their events. Then area attorney Bob Taren discusses his ideas on what’s happening in our county. Patrice Vecchione talks about her new book, “Step Into Nature” on August 11^th. Mireya Gomez-Contreras program director of The Day Worker Center on 7^th Avenue tells about the newest accomplishments at the Center. Environmentalist Grey Hayes returns on September 1^st discussing new nature issues that need attention. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com

NEW GRAPEVINE ARCHIVE FEATURE. Stuff changes at KZSC a lot. Right now you can listen to the last two weeks of Grapevines if you …go to KZSC.org, click on the “TWO WEEK ARCHIVE” box on the right hand side. Scroll down the station DJ’s circles past “Bruce” and click on the circle that says “Bruce Bratton” then you have your choice of the last two week’s programs. You have to listen to about 4 minutes of KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, 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.

“My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July”, Rick Bass. “August in sub-Saharan Los Angeles is one of the great and awful tests of one’s endurance, sanity and stamina”, Henry Rollins. “Sunset Boulevard opened in August 1950, and it was pronounced the best movie ever made about Hollywood”, Gloria Swanson.

DOWNTOWN BOULDER CREEK, circa 1890’s. That’s of course Central Avenue with The Alpine House on the right. Do note how very wide the Avenue is, and with all the flags flying we can assume it must be a Fourth Of July Parade. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE July 6, 2015
and
DATELINE July 13, 2015

HALTING THE COAST DAIRIES NATIONAL MONUMENT. As the petition says, “National Monument status will not add any legal protections that do not already exist, and the resulting overuse could seriously harm the land’s unique and fragile eco-system, its resources, and public safety. We and the property need Development of a regional approach to manage the many preserved properties in northern Santa Cruz County and southern San Mateo County, which must include the various public agencies and private organizations that own and manage them, as well as the surrounding communities; and Completion and approval of a detailed environmental study conforming to National Environmental Protection Act specifications to determine the level and locations of public access that can be accommodated at Coast Dairies while minimizing impacts to the environment and neighboring communities. Some of the most important reasons for “halting” the Monument designation and Fred Keeley’s maneuvers are;

National Monument status could result in monumental overuse, impacting the fauna and flora of Coast Dairies, and the surrounding communities, because of the worldwide promotion that such status will surely bring, while additional funding for facilities and management is uncertain. Animals may no longer find suitable habitat, and creeks, lagoons, wetlands and special status plants could be seriously harmed.

The existing strong and irrevocable protections are all we need because the Deed Restrictions governing the federal Bureau of Land Management and the California Coastal Development Permit require The petition to delay the monument campaign is now available for signing, here. Spread the word! Ask everyone you know to sign it, too!

JADE HELM HAPPENING? THOSE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED TANKS IN TEHACHAPI. Jeannine Bonstelle was kind enough to send us a link and what looks like an explanation for all the brand new tanks I saw being trucked east on the Tehacapis on June 17. My sister and her daughter also saw hundreds of brand new tanks being railroaded toward Las Vegas a few days before that. From all reports there is a huge military “exercise” happening right now July 15- September 15. Conspiracy theorys are going and growing like crazy. There are maps showing the seven western states that are involved. There are supposedly hostile states, friendly states….all sorts of plots like using closed down Wal Marts and their secret tunnels!!!!

The Washington Post says Jade Helm isn’t aimed at starting “martial Law” check here… I could link 20 sites like Wikipedia to give you more data and rumors…just Google “Jade Helm” and see for yourselves.

WAMM FEATURED IN/ON HUFFINGTON POST. Valerie Corral and WAMM

( Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana) have an excellent article in Huffington Post.It’s about their history, their battles, and the amazing amount of courage and patience its taken even to maintain the benefits and status they now have. Most importantly, it says why they are doing a very critical and timely Indie GoGo crowdfunding fund raiser. We should all chip in…as the article states WAMM is the heart of the medical marijuana movement. (p.s. Yes I know, when you see
the Huffington article, the photo says Santa Cruz City Hall, we all know it’s really the county building).

SACRED MAUNA KEA AND THE EIGHT ACRE, 18 STORIES HIGH TELESCOPE.

It’s great that The Santa Cruz Sentinel picked up on this Hawaiian protest(July 6). What their story didn’t tell you is that the proposed 30 meter telescope (TMT)is 18 stories high and will occupy eight (8) acres of land. Dan Ahuna the Vice Chair and trustee from Ni’ihau and Kaua’i makes it very clear in the May 2015 issue of Ka Wa Ola the official newspaper of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that Hawaiians are not against science. They protest the process the telescope has been pushed through, and he also announced that Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) has rescinded their 2009 support of this 30 meter telescope. He goes on to say that it’s the management and decommissioning processes of the 13 telescope site has been terrible and adds that the many nations operating telescopes there pay only $1 per year lease-rent to the University of Hawaii. Then Rowena Akana OHA Trustee says that the University subleases the lands for millions, perhaps billions of dollars. She then asks where does that money go? Is it going to science? She says there is no accountability for that money. Ahuna closes by saying that even the resulting jobs which have not been promised to Hawaiians would only be a few hundred temporary construction jobs and less than 150 permanent jobs.

NEW LEAF MARKETS NOT LOCALLY OWNED. The oft – mentioneds Jesse Nickell and Supervisor Zach Friend have both boasted and claimed that the reason New Leaf Markets are supposed to open in the APTOS VILLAGE PROJECT is because New Leaf is locally owned. It certainly is not locally owned. Even The Sentinel reported on Nov. 12 2013…

SANTA CRUZ — New Leaf Community Markets, a local leader in organic and natural foods, announced Tuesday its acquisition by New Seasons Market, a growing grocery chain based in Portland, Ore. The price was not disclosed. New Seasons, founded in 2000, has 13 stores and is one of the largest private employers in the Portland area with nearly 2,700 workers.

New Leaf, founded in 1985, has eight stores, including five in Santa Cruz County, and 600 employees. New Leaf’s founders will have an ownership share in New Seasons Market and Scott Roseman, founder and co-owner of New Leaf Community Markets, will join the New Seasons Market board of directors. The combined company will be based in Portland, Ore., with New Seasons operating from Portland and New Leaf operating from Santa Cruz as a wholly owned subsidiary with the current management team running New Leaf’s stores”.

GOODBYE CHARLIE PHILLIPS. Charlie Phillips of “Voices From The Village” and numerous good community battles died and all of us will miss his eternal energy and good spirits. Paul Elerick forwarded Tim Fitzmaurice’s statement about Charlie. “Charlie Phillips passed away. He was an unrelenting peaceful progressive and the host of Voices From The Village on Community TV, a good friend to me and to our community. He was very brave in his final struggle with illness but undaunted and continued to be present in our town, His devoted partner Betsy is in my thoughts and in our hearts”.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks more about his favorite topic Land Use…

I often use three different “P” words when I talk about land use. Land use “policy” is at the top of the list. Using the powers granted to local government, we have the ability to set “policies” in place that will govern future land use. Zoning ordinances, for instance, set policies that govern the details of future developments. “Project” is a second “P” word. “Projects” are proposals by individuals to use the land, and approval or rejection of these proposed ” projects” is supposed to conform to those “policies” established by the community. A community has “plenary” authority to make decisions about land use projects and policies. There is my third “P” word. “Plenary” means “full.” Local communities have full authority to make decisions about land use, and the decisions that the community makes can have a very significant impact on three “E” words I also frequently mention: the “Environment,” our “Economy,” and social “Equity.”

He says there are many cases in which a property owners with a project in mind don’t want to follow the policies that the County has set for a proposed development. Will “policy” or “politics” prevail? That “politics” “P” word has a lot to do with land use decision making. He talks about development of tall buildings in lower Pacific Avenue.Then he discusses Cal Am and the Monterey de-sal proposal. Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opions expressed are Mr. Patton’s \. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net

SANTA CRUZ SHAKESPEARE AND OUR CITY COUNCIL. Mike Ryan talked about Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s possible move to De La Veaga Park for their next season on last week’s Universal Grapevine. He said it would be close to the former Stroke Center on a long rolling meadow. And he said it would be much closer to where we park!!! The main point is that the move isn’t a done deal yet. Our Santa Cruz City Council has to approve the move. So if you know anyone on the council tell them to support and approve Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s big move. Some wags who have noted the sex-changes and script changes in this year’s season have emailed to ask if in the future we’ll be seeing such plays as “Romeo and George”, “King Laura”, “Julia Caesar”, or “Hamletina” ??

LISA JENSEN LINKS…Lisa writes: “Break out the bubbly, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), as I finally sign the contract for my next book! Also, Wallace Baine fools around with history in his entertaining new collection of stories, and I bid a heartfelt farewell to one of my favorite actors, the wonderful Roger Rees.“ (Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975).

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. De Cinzo creates a subtle view of station KSCO. Scroll below.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Tim Eagan clowns around with the G.O.P.see downwards a few pages.

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 sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG July 14 Gillian Greensite talks about Vacation rentals and some water issues. Then activist, commentator John Malkin discusses his recent Good Times article about SC Policeman Steve Clark. Cartoonist, artist, and philosopher Tim Eagan talks about The Bonny Doon Art Tour on July 21. Ellen Primack executive director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music follows Tim on July 21^st. Ann Lopez talks about the Center for Farmworker Families on July 28 then Chris Neklason of Cruzio relates their latest projects. Patrice Vecchione talks about her new book, “Step Into Nature” on August 11^th. Environmentalist Grey Hayes returns on September 1^st discussing new nature issues that need attention. . Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, 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. Hear them all!!!

QUOTES. “My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July”.Rick Bass.

“The Summer looks out from her brazen tower,
Through the flashing bars of July.” Francis Thompson, A Corymbus for Autumn

“Many public-school children seem to know only two dates: 1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don’t know what happened on either occasion.” Mark Twain

“An onion can make people cry but there’s never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.”Will Rogers.

ROMANCE OF ROSY RIDGE, part 2. Same young women as pictured last week (scroll down) only with Guy Kibbee who co-starred with Van Johnson and Janet Leigh while they filmed here in Santa Cruz in 1947. That would be an unknown seated left of Guy Kibbee and Joanne Neilsen seated on his right. Standing (Lto R) is Jolene Brogdan, Bunty Braun Pettibone, and somebody else. Guy Kibbee was mostly famous for his film role as Scattergood Baines Watch this tribute to him. Guy died in 1956. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE June 29, 2015

ON THE ROAD or CALIFORNIA GOING TO WAR??? I saw some interesting stuff on my vacation…. driving down highway 101, taking the good old 99 over to Bakersfield, and then over the Tehachapi mountains. Traffic was going nicely through the Tehachapis…then whammo!! it stopped and we crawled, stopped and crawled for more miles. What stopped us was surprising. Dozens, probably 50 or more brand new, sand colored, army tanks being trucked eastward somewhere. No camouflage on them, and I’m guessing plain sand color is better and more invisible than moving camouflaged weapons. That was nothing!!! My sister in Victorville reported that she and her daughter were driving on their way to Utah via Las Vegas in May when they saw 100’s (hundreds) of the new sand colored tanks being hauled by train northward toward Barstow or Fort Irwin or Nevada. You have to wonder about this. What’s going on? When was the last time we ever heard about who’s manufacturing these tanks, who’s making the war profit? Who makes all the guns and armaments? On the way back home from daughter Jennifer’s home in Mar Vista (Santa Monica) I passed lots of new sand colored desert-looking buildings on the US. Army’s Camp Roberts property along Highway 101. What a war and military oriented nation we are. And not to be funny, but that has to include putting Santa Cruz mayor Don Lane in the history books as the first Santa Cruz mayor to bring in and buy tanks.

HIGHWAY 101 IS ALL DOWNHILL. Drought is busting out all over and driving back up highway 101 the only green to be seen for dozens of miles is the 1000’s of acres of grape vineyards on one side of the highway and total tans, browns, dirt and sand as far as your eye can see on the other side. Before all those green lush watered grape crops I drove past Refugio Beach where the oilspill happened and there was at least a mile of volunteer cars parked alonside the highway trying to clean up that horrendous spill. Give them all a BRAVO!!!

KUSP HASSLE. Messages are certainly mixed but as we know KUSP was (and is) in the red. The Board of Directors wanted to sell it to CPRN. Then a bunch of listeners/ supporters formed KUSP Forward to see what else could be done….and that group is still moving forward. But now the game has changed. The CPRN Classical Public Radio Network offer to buy KUSP has been rescinded as of June 24^th. Then some anonymous donor offered to donate $100,000, but other than that plans are very much up in the air. Meanwhile KUSP continues to pay over $6000 per month rent. But late news says the station is giving up some of their rental space to cut rent costs. Stay tuned…if possible.

KUSP’S FUTURE SURVEY. Former Santa Cruz City Councilman Ed Porter has been very active in KUSP Forward. He created a survey to gauge the potential support from the community for keeping KUSP alive…and well. Ed adds, “The ideas expressed here are solely those of the author and do not reflect any policy or statement of KUSP, its Board of Directors, or its management..Go here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3N9W7NJ to check it out AND fill it out. There’s a lot riding on these decisions.

MIKE ROTKIN’S TV SHOW!!! One way of telling about Mike Rotkin’s political plans is to watch the Santa Cruz City Council’s televised meetings. Right there center screen sits Mike looking all attentive and relevant. That takes planning, he could have sat off screen or watched at home but nope, he’s running again. You can also tell by the number of recent times he attends meetings and speaks. Cynthia Mathews does the same thing when she’s going to run. Not the TV audience show but the amount of organizations and speeches she gives.

ZACH FRIEND’S RE-CALL!!! The folks in Aptos are totally serious about the recall of Zach Friend as supervisor. Anyone who follows politics at all knows that this is, and will be, a large “blemish” on his political career. And if you follow Zach’s manuevers you know he’s dreaming at least of a Sacramento and beyond future. The re-call people have contacted Zach and the County Elections department and are getting all the legal requirements worked through. They needed 20 signatures just to file the first document and got 40 in no time at all. They need 6000 signatures and will be holding “Town Hall” type meetings to alert the rest of the Aptosians about Zach’s nearly total ignoring of the people he represents. See DeCinzo’s cartoon in last Sunday’s (6/28) Santa Cruz Sentinel, to your left.

SANTA CRUZ DOWNTOWN COMMISSION CORRECTION. Ron Slack emailed to inform me (and us) that Barry Swenson’s main plot point man Jesse Nickell is no longer the chair, as I said he was in the last column. As you can see from the stupid Santa Cruz City website as of today (June 29) Jesse is still listed as chair. Ron told me the new chair’s name but I lost his email and as I mentioned, you can’t find out from the City website.

CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC. Wonderful relationships have formed over the decades of residents housing the musicians from the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. New insights into the music, live music in the homes, it’s worked beautifully over the many years and returning musicians and their hosts look forward to the arrangement every year. It’s time again, and especially if you live in or know a suitable room that’s available for this year festival that happens August 2-16 get in touch with the fectival by calling 831 426-6966 or going to the website.

SANDY LYDON’S SANTA CRUZ COUNTY HISTORY CLASSES. Sandy Lydon’s Santa Cruz County History Classes are really history themselves. Over many, many years thousands of people (me included) have not just taken the class but have gained a deep and meaningful connection with our county. He’s teaching it again September 11-December 4. It’s History 25B and Sandy and Cabrillo figured out easy ways to enroll. There are 8 Friday evening classes and 3 Saturday Field Trips. As he says and guarantees “you can become a certified local” with a genuine certificate. Go here to check up on his History Dude website and get details on his other near-legendary offerings.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary says about the Brown Act…. “The Brown Act is intended to guarantee the right of the public to know what’s happening. There are very definite rules that government agencies must follow. Normally, they must meet on a regular schedule, but if there is a need for a meeting outside that normal schedule, special notices have to be provided”. Then he talks about a campaign sponsored by Global Population Speakout. Go here to read his plugging for their book . Then he talks about cock-fights in Monterey County and chicken rules!! After that he speaks about the difference between Same Sex marriage laws and environmental-land use legislation. He closes the week with a quick view of what’s happening to the development of Fort Ord. Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . 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/365” – www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Sharks off Pleasure Point? Impossible. DeCinzo gives us the sharks point of view…see downwards a few pages.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Tim Eagan creates another high caliber comment on what’s happening….scroll below.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “If you think historical fiction is just asmuch fun as historical fact, go see “A Little Chaos”. Read all about it, andfind out why it takes a village for some writers (me) to edit a book, thisweek at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com).” Lisahas been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Frank Perry unveils The Capitola Museum’s summer attractions on June 30 followed by Becky Steinbruner who’ll bring news about The Aptos Village problems. Actor, director Mike Ryan talks about Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s season on July 7, then author, reporter, editor Wallace Baine talks about his new book, ” The Last Temptation of Lincoln“. July 14 has activist, commentator John Malkin discussing his Good Times article about SC Policeman Steve Clark. Cartoonist, artist, and philosopher Tim Eagan talks about The Bonny Doon Art Tour on July 21. Environmentalist Grey Hayes returns on September 1^st discussing new nature issues that need attention. . Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, 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. Hear them all!!!

QUOTES. “My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July”. Rick Bass. “The Summer looks out from her brazen tower, Through the flashing bars of July.” Francis Thompson, A Corymbus for Autumn. “Many public-school children seem to know only two dates: 1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don’t know what happened on either occasion.” Mark Twain. “An onion can make people cry but there’s never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.”Will Rogers.

MGM Star Van Johnson on the Graham Hill Road set for the film “The Romance Of Rosy Ridge”. The young women are Santa Cruz High School winners in the ticket selling contest for Miss Santa Cruz County of 1947. They are (L to R) Bunty Braun Pettibone, Joanne Nielsen, “unknown” and Julene Brogden. This film also starred Janet Leigh in her very first screen role, Marshall Thompson and comedian Guy Kibbee. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE JUNE 8, 2015
DATELINE JUNE 15, 2015

VACATION TIME IN VICTORVILLE. Just about every six months I need to get away….and go visit my sister Jerrie in Victorville and daughter Jennifer in Mar Vista which is near Santa Monica, and Victorville isn’t near anything. I have no way of knowing just when BrattonOnline will hit the internet again but I’ll be doing a new column June 29. Thank you so very much for your patience with the erractic online dates.

MAH. Mostly Attendance and Hot Dogs. I’ve messaged (as in don’t shoot the messenger) before a few times about the changes Nina Simon has made to our former Museum of Art and History. In addition to my own opinions of this severe downgrading of our traditional museum that featured famed art with traveling and local art exhibits, I’ve been the messenger for an untold number of artists and historians who weep at the cheap looking Side Show that goes on and on. There’s no doubt that Nina has been doing the job she was hired for and that she has raised attendance and a few grants, it’s just a shame that so far no-one has been serious about dropping the Art and History words from the title. It’s become a community center, way out doing London Nelson Community Center, at least in attendance, if not in appeal or purpose. As we predicted, Nina has succeeded in scaring almost everyone who has to “keep living here” from speaking out and now with all the press coverage…she’s even creating more supporters and creating still more dejected, rejected artists and historians. It’s all part of a much larger “Dumbing Down” of Santa Cruz, as well as the rest of the country.

We’ve seen it in the Warriors Kaiser Permanente inflatable arena. We see it in library attendance, in fewer foreign & art films, and even closer in AnnieGlass and Vinocruz leaving the MAH area. The new Mirrors and Red buoys décor went out with 1950s artistic taste, but we’ll have to live with it. We’ve seen how the temporary decorations to the Red Ball logo next to the M statue at Front and Cooper have been very successful and have kept 100’s of children from playing on it. The proposed food court and Nina’s festivals will attract folks for awhile but many friends and I predict it won’t be enough to make it the community space she’s calling it. I’ve also mentioned before that noticeably missing in all those words painted on the Trader Joe’s Front Street side is the simple word “ART”. That’s important, lets drop the words “ART” and “HISTORY” and admit that it’s now just our community center.

ABSOLUTELY VICIOUS RUMOR. It’s been said before, “I hate repeating rumors, but what else can you do with them?” We won’t have to wait long for this one but inside sources say that Santa Cruz City Manager Martin Bernal isn’t strong enough for his job and he’s on his way out. No word on his replacement…yet. As per usual I’ll save space next week for any retractions.

LUIS ALEJO AND HIS FRACKING BILL COPOUT. Once again sourcing Gary Patton’s Facebook page I found… AB 356 failed last week 6/4 in the State Assembly. Had it passed, the bill would have provided some additional tools to prevent the contamination of groundwater from fracking operations. Residents in the Monterey Bay Region should be happy to know that Assembly Member Mark Stone co-authored the bill and voted “AYE,” in favor of the bill. Assembly Member Luis Alejo was “not voting,” equivalent to a “NO” vote, against the bill. Click here to read the bill. AB 356 – “A Bill To Protect Groundwater From Fracking Contamination”. Now we get to wonder just how much agriculture farming money Alejo has in his camp. We also get to wonder if Luis Alejo’s wife Karina who is now running for Luis’ Assembly seat in 2016 has any-all of that farming money in her campaign?? Ask her at one of her kick-offs this month!!! We can safely assume that the farmer organizations are in favor of making vast fortunes by ALLOWING Fracking on their acreage.

SWENSON’S DOWNTOWN COMMISSION. Somehow the fact that Jesse Nickell is the chair of the Santa Cruz Downtown Commission completely slipped my attention, or I’d forgotten completely. Jesse Nickell is the Senior Vice President of Barry Swenson Builder. As such he’s mostly in command of Santa Cruz County projects like the Aptos Village Steamroller. Swenson’s headquarters are in San Jose but they have made millions building such Santa Cruz Downtown structures as the Galleria, The St. George Hotel, the Taqueria Vallarta building (partnering with Charlie Canfield and the Seaside Corp.), and on and on. Doesn’t the “conflict of interest” principle bother anybody else? I was a member of the Downtown Commission back in 2001 when Tim Fitzmaurice was mayor, we had no such money making members back then. Commission’s like these can only recommend stuff to the City Council, but all the same..Barry Swenson Builders advising the City Council?

ALL ABOUT TOM LEHRER. Here’s a link to all you’ll ever need to know about Tom Lehrer. His history with Cambridge, his decades with UCSC and lots more.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/tom-lehrer#.tcjDA82O8P

APTOS VILLAGE SUBDIVISION STATUS REPORT. In addition to Paul Elerick’s up to date report on the last meeting of the Aptos Neighbors who are very concerned over the Barry Swenson / Zach Friend developments taking place in the expanding Aptos Village, Becky Steinbruner sent out a great status report on where the Aptos Plan was before the meeting. Becky stated… We, as citizens, need to organize and become involved in what is being proposed to the Board of Supervisors. If passed, it will drastically change the nature of our County and virtually eliminate our ability to have a voice in developments and their environmental effects.

On May 19, County Planning Director Ms. Kathy Previsich proposed a number of sweeping changes to the Board of Supervisors that will virtually eliminate public hearings on developments and seeks to change zoning codes for agricultural, residential and commercial uses. Many critical decisions, such as determining land use charts, definition of “agricultural use”, and “sensitive habitat”, will all be at the discretion of the planner. It will allow “agricultural use” to include 12 events/year with 100 people to occur, with no public hearing. It will violate the 1979 voter-approved Measure J that set County growth at .5%/year, protects agricultural lands for agricultural use, and protects the County’s natural resources while specifying that any changes to these ordinances must be approved by the voters. When land use attorney Mr. Bill Parkin pointed out to the Board that the proposed changes violate the language of Measure J, Ms. Previsich said, “We will comply but we will re-define what ‘ag use’ is.” As Mr. Parkin stated at the Sierra Club Conservation Committee meeting “This is the greatest and worst change for the County in 20 years”. The problem is, the general public is not aware of what is about to potentially take place: large developments within the unincorporated area will be even easier to accomplish, and the public will have no say. It is very alarming that, with the exception of Supervisor Leopold, none of the Supervisors questioned the implications of the proposals. In fact, Supervisor Friend stated that Measure J is old and that zoning changes need to be updated. “We are moving in the correct direction,” he said”. Becky also added that she is “contemplating a recall effort against Supervisor Friend”.

LOUIS CAVIGLIA & CLOUDS. I ran into Louis Caviglia of Clouds, Louie’s Cajun Kitchen and Seacloud fame and notoriety last week. He said there were more than one reason, besides the rent for closing Louie’s Cajun Kitchen it was that there was a requirement that he sign a ten year lease and ” I’m getting too old” he explained. Louie added that a Monterey restaurant owner is opening a bar/restaurant in the same space and if all goes well Louis will be the bartender!! Being an authority on old age (by default) I asked him if he remembers John Tuck and I buying the very first drinks at the original Clouds when it opened about 20 years ago…he remembered!!

BEARCAT AND PROPER HONORS. Our ever-tearful, apologizing, do gooder mayor Don Lane has written so many pages of heart rendering explanation about why we need THE BEARCAT in the City of Santa Cruz that I propose when that damned military killer of a vehicle does get here that the least we can do for our ever watchful, loving, peaceful Santa Cruz City Council is paint all their names on both sides of the tank as a tribute. And their names should be painted in a sort of Hells Angels type font to further prevent any violence hereabouts!!!

A VERY FINE BIRTHDAY WISH. Long time friend, political ally, former County
Supervisor Gary Patton said some very kind things about me in his daily “Two Worlds” blog.
http://www.gapatton.net/2015/06/159-salute-to-bruce.html . Subscribe to his blog with Google Friend Connect if you want to keep up with the land use battles in the Monterey Bay Area.

SANTA CRUZ COMMUNITY TELEVISION MOVING. Becca King Reed just happened to mention on Universal Grapevine Tuesday (June 2) that finally after years of trying…the Santa Cruz Community Television station is moving in a few weeks. Somewhere on Soquel Avenue, but that’s all I know.

SAD NEWS FROM SCOTLAND’S LOCH LOMOND. Way back in 1963 when they were damming Newell Creek and building our local Loch Lomond reservoir someone had the brilliant idea of getting some water from Scotland’s real Loch Lomond. Bill Findlay lived near that source and he sent a dram or two. His daughter Elaine Docherty sent this to me last week. ” I wanted to let you know that my dad died on the 26th April peacefully at home. The funeral was 10 days later on the 6th of May. He was very ill with cardiac failure near the end and a hospital bed was brought into the living room for him to remain at home for his last few days. I know the two of you were in close contact and as a family we wanted you to know. Kind regards, Elaine Docherty. Bill Findlay and I emailed and “lettered” each other for at least 15 years. We never met, although I came close when I went to England in 2003. He had a grand sense of humor, and even sent me a photo of himself in kilts alongside his wife. I’ll miss his happy exchanges, and his history.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about Monterey’s Deep Watter De-Sal and says, “A good description of the proposed project can be found in a recent article in the Monterey County Weekly. The proposal is to build a reverse-osmosis desal facility, drawing 55,000 acre feet of seawater per year from the Monterey Submarine Canyon, to produce up to 25,000 acre-feet per year of drinkable water. This is enough water to allow the construction of up to 50,000 new homes, which could be growth inducing! The project is being proposed by a for-profit business partnership, and the idea is to co locate the desal plant with a major “server farm.” He then tells us ….” If you are a City of Santa Cruz resident, and have thoughts about what sort of park and recreation facilities the City should be providing, I think it’s probably worth a few minutes of your time to go through the survey questions, and I recommend that you do that! As you do that, and take the survey, it’s probably worthwhile to keep in mind that the survey seems mostly aimed at finding out what sort of new, physical amenities people might like. Do you think we need more ball fields, or skate parks, or tot lots?

All these are most important questions, but what about open space? One of the great things about the City of Santa Cruz is its open space Greenbelt. Unless you are thinking about open space as you take the survey, you may not think to mention it. If you value the open space resources of the City of Santa Cruz, and would like to make sure that our open space areas remain natural, keep that objective in mind as you go through the online questionnaire. You can sign up to get further information, too!” Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365″ – www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo is spot on, as always. Scroll down and see for yourself!

EAGAN’S “SUBCONSCIOUS COMICS”. Another rare re-print of the Classic series Tim created years ago. See below.

LISA JENSEN writes: “Going through Game of Thrones withdrawal? This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), check out a very funny video of Game of Thrones: The Musical!, and explore the show’s notorious history of fan abuse.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. On June 16 the annual Bookshop Santa Cruz three “Short Story Winners” read their winning entries. I’m on a Victorville vacation June 23 so you can hear a re-play of Art marketing expert Aletta DeWal giving great advice to amateur artists. Then Golden Fleece owner and BrattonOnline partner Gunilla Leavitt talks all about yarn and knitting. Frank Perry unveils The Capitola Museum’s summer attractions on June 30 followed by Becky Steinbruner who’ll bring news about The Aptos Village problems, Actor, director Mike Ryan talks about Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s season on July 7. Cartoonist, artist, and philosopher Tim Eagan talks about The Bonny Doon Art Tour on July 21. Environmentalist Grey Hayes returns on September 1st discussing new nature issues that need attention. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome, so tune in and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com .

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click here http://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, 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. Hear them all!!!

QUOTES. “God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools”, John Muir. “Any party which takes credit for the rain must not be surprised if its opponents blame it for the drought”, Dwight Morrow. “The Athenians regularly maintained a number of degraded and useless beings at the public expense; and when any calamity, such as plague, drought, or famine, befell the city, they sacrificed two of these outcast scapegoats”, James Frazer .

SANTA CRUZ POST OFFICE. July 1, 1911. As the writing on the photo says, “looking Southwest”. You can see many of the still standing structures along Front Street and over on Pacific Avenue. It was the Plaza Land Office there where Jamba Juice is now located. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE May 4, 2015
DATELINE May 11, 2015
DATELINE May 18, 2015

IS KUSP BURNING??? I was part of a weekly Seniors Program on KUSP in the 1990’s, and part of a comedy troupe along with Tim Eagan, Michael Gant, Patty Free and John Tuck before that. John Laird talked me into being on KAZU’s board of directors a couple of years before they sold out to CSUMB. Way earlier than that, my KUSP attachment goes back to October of 1972 when I was running/managing a California State Assembly campaign and my candidate Henry Faitz and I did an appearance on KUSP. It was located in a large closet in the Babbling Brook Inn on Laurel Street and David Freedman ran the whole thing. Great days!!! Now there’s a complex money and ownership battle going on with all sorts of plots and possible plans. Some well informed sources say that if a large enough percentage of the membership get it together the possible sale could be stopped…and a very long overdue re-organizing could take place. The fear amongst many is that the blah, bland MUZAC type middle of the road classical format that CNPR foists upon all the stations it buys out/conquers will succeed. Meetings are being held, a growing number of folks are getting involved…it’s entirely possible that our community could go back to the days when we had a genuine locally owned and locally themed radio station.

KUSP OPINION. I asked Dr. Mark Bernhard, a long time friend and chiropracter to give us his opinion. He was president of the KUSP board when KAZU “merged” with CSUMB. He wrote…

“As president of the KUSP board at the time, my opinion is that it began to go wrong when KAZU was going under 15 years ago and the KAZU board chose to be taken over by CSUMB, despite repeated, loud warnings from us and others that CSUMB’s assurances that they “wouldn’t change anything” was a pack of lies. KUSP brought out a “merger specialist” from public radio to warn KAZU about CSUMB, outlining the history of what happens when a college acquires a station. It’s never pretty for the one being taken over. Then station manager, Peter Troxell, made an eloquent and strong presentation, to no avail. The KAZU board didn’t like KUSP—they thought WE were too corporate and slick! They wanted to keep their little radio station the way it was and CSUMB lied and told them they could. The KAZU board thought KUSP was the big fish that would swallow them but it was the wolf in sheep’s clothing that devoured them. Our plan was to create a single entity with two frequencies, one overhead/staff/underwriting department, etc. and provide one eclectic all-music station and one all-news/info/talk station offering local, national, and international content. It would have been a fabulous, sustainable, financially strong, aesthetically great arts organization for the entire Monterey Bay and would have prevented these 15years of inane, repetitive, overlapping programming and competition between an entirely publicly-funded, largely volunteer entity (KUSP) and one that receives funding from CSUMB’s (nearly bottomless) coffers plus public fundraising to present what is a mindless, unoriginal pipeline,with minimal local content, directly from NPR to the Central Coast (whoopee!). But they are able to undercut the cost of on-air underwriting vs. KUSP because of the subsidy from CSUMB, assuring that much of the underwriting money that could go to KUSP goes to KAZU because it’s cheaper and a lot of people love NPR and equate that with “public radio.” I often shake my head in dismay at what could have been vs what has been. The original KAZU board was suffering mightily from myopic provincialism. That’s what I called it at the time and I stand by that description to this day.

The imminent “sale” of KUSP is, so far, rumor. I don’t see that happening, at least not how it’s currently being portrayed by many. But KUSP is deeply in debt despite having already sold several repeater frequencies and much connected equipment. It is not the fault of management. I have the utmost respect for the insight, intelligence,eloquence, foresight,and dedication of Terry Green as Station Manager, and KellyO’Brien as Board President and John Morrison, Treasurer (both with superhuman, unbelievable volunteer dedication) as well as all the other unpaid board and under-paid staff. The whole media landscape is changing, as we all know. KAZU will probably have to change or go down as well in the next 5 years because they have their head in the sand regarding that landscape. We’ve been trying to convince them of the benefits of a merger for the last several years but they don’t get it. Most people, especially the young (i.e. current/futuremedia consumers) don’t listen to the radio anymore.They listen to their “device.” And they stream that content from the internet. Who needs a radio station that relies on an antenna anymore? Things will definitely change at KUSP, but the direction and ultimate organization remains to be seen. I was out of town for the big meeting on May 6 but I’m confident that everyone involved is dedicated to preserving the original mission of the station. As Terry Green said in a recent email: “As a group, we hold the public trust here, and we need to work from what is true, not what we are afraid might be true. We have a collective responsibility to work this out… and to do that in a way that will inspire, and not diminish, the confidence of the many thousands of people who support us now, and thousands more that may support what we do in the future.” Mark also sent two websites with further historical details. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAZU and http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/12.15.99/kusp-9950.html

HAWAII—MAUNA KEA & THE 14 TELESCOPES. Hawaii – the big Island – is home to Mauna Kea the dormant volcano that stands 13,796 feet above sea level. There’s an even bigger issue going on there than KUSP!!! Mauna Kea is a sacred place and Universities and observatories from around the world are developing telescope sites there against the native Hawaiians protests. Go here to read the developers side. I’m trying to connect with some Office of Hawaiian Affairs officials to get their side. It’s a very sad and disrespectful saga…much like our treatment of the “American” Indians. More later.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary alerts us to our county supes re-writing our Land-Use Policies on 5/19. He says, “In essence, the County’s Planning Director and County Administrative Officer are asking the Board to change the rules for developers in Santa Cruz County, with a significant possibility that the protection of agricultural land, the protection of neighborhoods, and the protection of the natural environment will all be diminished”. Then he states about the KUSP confusion, “The KUSP Board and station management have signed a “Letter of Intent” to sell KUSP’s frequency and transmitters to the Classical Public Radio Network. If that deal goes through, you will have to start doing your own investigation on upcoming land use related items, since I’ll be off the air. And frankly, doing research on your own would be a good idea no matter what! At any rate, there are some upcoming meetings about the proposed sale of KUSP. The first meeting is May 21^st, in Monterey” About our water issue Gary reports, “In the next few months, the City of Santa Cruz will be adopting a new Water Conservation Plan, and the event this evening is intended to stimulate some public input into that process. As the event organizers say, “among Santa Cruz residents, water conservation comes right after Mom and apple pie, or maybe ahead of apple pie, but there is [still] work to do to ensure that the new plan matches the community’s sentiment.” Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Very early “DeCinzo guide to Santa Cruz”….see downward just a bit.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Once again, we are gifted with a classic “Subconscious Comic”…see how Eagan sheds light on our darkest thoughts…scroll below.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “How romantic is the new film version of Far From the Madding Crowd? Find out this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com.” Also, please note my blog will be on hiatus until May 25, so talk among yourselves until I get back!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE RADIO PROGRAM
KZSC 88.1 FM or live online at
www.KZSC.ORG TUESDAYS 7-8 P.M.

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 sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. May 19 Elizabeth Romanini and Attny. Bill Parkin talk about the success of NOPOC (Neighbors Organized to Protect our Community) and then Tash Nguyen and Courtney Hanson discuss UCSC’s Sin Barras.. . . May 26 Rachel Goodman and Ed Porter bring us up to date on the KUSP confusion. They are followed by UCSC Prof. Mathew Lasar talking about the future of radio and online “radio” type stuff. Veterans advocate Dean Kaufman talks about benefits and programs for vets on June 2. Becca Reed King discusses our Community Television station news after Dean. On June 16 the annual Bookshop Santa Cruz “Short Story Winners” read their winning entries. Frank Perry unveils The Capitola Museum’s summer attractions on June 30. Actor, director Mike Ryan talks about Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s season on July 7. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome, so tune in and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com .

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years, here’s a partial list of some of the 900 broadcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “`listen here” to hear what’s still available. The list includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Ted Benhari, 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. 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 June 2006.

QUOTES.

“There’s too much nudity on TV, and not enough on the radio,” Jarod Kintz. “Television, radio, and all the sources of amusement and information that surround us in our daily lives are also artificial props. They can give us the impression that our minds are active, because we are required to react to stimuli from the outside. But the power of those external stimuli to keep us going is limited. They are like drugs. We grow used to them, and we continuously need more and more of them. Eventually, they have little or no effect. Then, if we lack resources within ourselves, we cease to grow intellectually, morally, and spiritually. And we we cease to grow, we begin to die.” Mortimer J. Adler, How to Read a Book “As early as 1930 Schoenberg wrote: “Radio is an enemy, a ruthless enemy marching irresistibly forward, and any resistance is hopeless”; it “force-feeds us music . . . regardless of whether we want to hear it, or whether we can grasp it,” with the result that music becomes just noise, a noise among other noises. Radio was the tiny stream it all began with. Milan Kundera, Ignorance

PACIFIC AVENUE December 22, 1955. Remember rain and floods? This was one of our biggest. The photo shows just about where that stupid looking Rittenhouse Building with the empty store front windows sits and sits and sits. That’s where the Rittenhouse murder took place upstairs a few decades ago. Near the corner of Church and Pacific. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection. Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE May 4, 2015

WHY A NATIONAL MONUMENT IN DAVENPORT? Here’s an article from the front page of the May/June 2015 Bonny Doon Highlander newsletter…

On April 21 the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution supporting the designation of Coast Dairies as a national monument. Apparently they think it will bring added protection for the 5,800 acre property, and more money for stewardship, management and construction of trails and visitor facilities. We do not share that opinion. We are strongly concerned that monument status might attract so many more hikers, cyclists and equestrians that it could actually harm the plants and the animals living in and moving through the area. And it will certainly negatively impact the North Coast beaches, roads and neighboring communities. And what is the point?

Coast Dairies is already strongly protected from adverse activities like mining, logging, development and off-road recreational vehicle use by deed restrictions on the property, made even stiffer by the terms of a Coastal Development Permit (CDP). The monument campaign backers have raised the red herring of a recent Congressional vote by Republicans to sell off federal lands that are not national monuments or parks. The terms of the deed restrictions and the CDP are valid in perpetuity, regardless of future ownership of the land. Would anyone pay many millions of dollars for something they can’t build anything on?”. The article has many, many more concerns that we should all be informed on. Example…how can Sempervirens claim that the number of visitors won’t be as high as Fort Ord? What will the impacts be on the surrounding communities like Davenport and Bonny Doon? How much volunteer work will be needed to maintain the park…and will it materialize? How about law enforcement in “the Monument” . This is truly a monumental decision. Check out many more questions that need to be asked here.

COAST DAIRIES MONUMENT PLANNING TO USE WILDER RANCH??? Ted Benhari from The Rural Bonny Doon Association entered this on The “FRIENDS OF THE NORTH COAST” page on Facebook.

“I Had a little debate tonight with Steve Reed, head of the Santa Cruz Redwoods National Monument campaign, at the Conservation Committee of the Santa Cruz Chapter of the Sierra Club, who are considering whether to recommend support for the monument designation. The most interesting thing to come out of it was Reed’s remark that the power players behind the campaign are now thinking that a visitor center should be at Wilder Ranch State Park! What are the implications of THAT? Wilder is separated from Coast Dairies by about a mile of private properties surrounding Laguna Creek canyon. A visitor center at Wilder presumably would be at the ranch house area, which is 2+ miles from Coast Dairies. Wilder, of course, is a State Park. What are the legal roadblocks to using it as a visitor center for a federal national monument? What would be the effect on Wilder? What legal process would be required? CEQA ramifications? What would that mean for the old cement plant property in Davenport, which many assumed would eventually become the visitor center? Lots of questions…and again, as with so much about this monument campaign, decisions being made or at least considered out of the public eye”. Then Ted Benhari added, “Sempervirens Executive Director Shelley Ratay says she doesn’t know what Steve Reed is talking about, but she’ll ask him and get back to me. Interesting…” As of press time she hadn’t gotten back to Mr. Benhari. What kind of internal Sempervirens communications is that? Are we (and the North Coast) going to be subject to more of their internal problems?? Be sure to keep up on issues and topics involved with this gigantic change to our precious North Coast, go to Friends of The North Coast page on Facebook.

THE WARRIORS PARADE DOWN PACIFIC. A reader writes, “I know I’m totally out of touch, bit I really miss the Santa Cruz I’ve loved over the past close to 40 years. As I walked from the Farmer’s Market today towards New Leaf, Pacific Avenue was suddenly closed to traffic for the Warriors Parade. Jeeze, I didn’t even know I was watching James Durbin sing 15′ away (and I actually like him on American Idol), but I found myself totally pissed at watching my town go down the sports tube. Of course, Santa Cruz council woman Cynthia Mathews was there with a big grin, which didn’t help. We won! We won! What I want to know is, how come stopping traffic with loud, amplified music for a basketball team gets full support from the cops (and the City), but that black guy Curtis Relliford who parks his truck down there with a boom box playing to raise money for the poor gets busted by the cops?”.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary says that the Board of Supes may allow the developer to build either 63 or 69 residential units, and up to 75,000 square feet of commercial space in the new Aptos Village. He then talks about the Monterey County General Plan and how their Board of Supervisors sided with the abricultural industry over a better land use proposal. Gary then “details” a Santa Cruz City Planning Commission session happening Thursday May 7. First, the Commission is going to hold a public hearing, and then decide whether the City’s Capital Improvements Program is consistent with the City General Plan and the City’s Climate Action Plan. The General Plan is the community’s “constitution for land use.” All project level decisions must be “consistent” with the General Plan. That “consistency” requirement is the way that the community can hold its elected officials accountable, and can ensure that the City’s long terms goals, adopted in the General Plan, are in fact followed. If you live in a residential area, for instance, and the General Plan says it is supposed to remain residential, a developer cannot get approval for a used car lot. The “consistency” requirement applies to the City’s own projects, too, and whether the City’s proposed road, bike lane, and other projects are consistent with the General Plan is what is up for discussion this evening. The second item on the Commission’s agenda is about legalizing multi-family residential units, to address the City’s housing crisis. The recommendation is to change the rules to allow more units to be recognized. As you can see, this will be an important meeting. Get more information at kusp.org/landuse”. Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmenatl issues. The opions expressed are Mr. Patton’s \. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net

CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo and our wonderful marine wild life and our rangers!!!Look below a few pages.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Tim Eagan’s “Subconscious Comics” were an enormous hit a few years ago. Tim has loaned us the use of a few of the classics. Scroll down and gaze in awe!!!

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Take a peek inside the publishing biz as an author receives her first (dreaded) editorial letter from a new editor, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). And don’t forget, folks: my novel, Alias Hook comes out in paperback this week!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or sometimes old programs are archived… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. May 12 has Ted Benhari telling us of some of the problems and issues that the proposed National Monument will bring. After Ted, Anita Monga visits from the San Francisco Silent Film Festival to tell about this years full schedule. May 19 Elizabeth Romanini and Attny. Bill Parkin talk about the success of NOPOC (Neighbors Organized to Protect our Community) and Tash Nguyen discusses UCSC’s Sin Barras.. . . On June 16 the annual Bookshop Santa Cruz “Short Story Winners” read their winning entries. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome, so tune in and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson-Darrow, 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. Hear them all!!!

QUOTES. “Congress (and the public which elects it) can always be expected to hesitate longer over an appropriation to acquire or protect a national park than over one to build a highway into it. Yet there is nothing which so rapidly turns a wilderness into a reserve and a reserve into a resort.” — Joseph Wood Krutch, 1957. “In Yellowstone National Park, there are more ‘do not feed the animals’ signs than there are animals you might wish to feed”, Natalie Jeremijenko. “In fact, at Olympic National Park in my district, they 3 years ago had 130 summer employees they brought in for temporary work. This summer they have 25 because they cannot afford more”, Norm Dicks.