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DATELINE September 19, 2016
CAMBRIA REPORT ON COTONI. Ted Benhari from Friends of The North Coast and The Rural Binny Doon Association has been a leading voice pleading for planning and more thinking before making the Cotoni Coast Dairies land into a National Monument. I’ve lifted Ted’s entire Facebook message…he states
| EDDIE PEABODY AND STRUM FUN. One of the finest strummers ever. Check out his Harp/banjo |
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COAST DAIRIES STATE PARK. It’s a few years old but take a look at the area around the proposed National Monument threat. |
| BARBARA DANE SINGS. Listen to Barbara sing a Girl of Constant Sorrow |
“Thanks to all who went down to Cambria last Friday to voice our concerns about Coast Dairies being proclaimed a national monument. It was our only opportunity to talk directly to Neil Kornze, head of the BLM, who will be reporting back to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell about whether to recommend that Pres. Obama issue the proclamation under the National Antiquities Act.
Sempervirens Fund bused a load of people down, and there was another busload of Amah Mutsun Indians, presumably paid for by Sempervirens. People who wanted to speak had to put in a request, identifying which of the 6 properties included in the Eshoo/Boxer bill they were going to talk about. Since we comprised perhaps 10% of the audience, we thought many of us might not get called on to speak, even for the scant 1 minute allowed each speaker.
However, and happily, everyone who asked to speak got their minute. The pro-monument crowd parroted the false claims that Sempervirens has trumpeted from the beginning of the campaign: 1. that there would be more “protection” – we know it is already secured from development, mining, and motorized recreation, etc. by very specific deed restrictions and a Coastal Development Permit – and of course, no one specified what the additional protections might be. 2. That it would save 500 acres of redwood forest. There is no “redwood” forest. The redwoods were all logged over 100 years ago. The 500-forested acres are a mix of oak, fir, madrone and some stands of redwood, much like the canyons in the rest of Bonny Doon.
3. That monument status would bring more funding for stewardship. The only money guaranteed by monument status is $3 an acre, or about $18,000 a year; BLM would have to compete for more funds annually out of a shrinking Park Service budget with the other 50 or so national monuments.
However, Sempervirens board member Fred Keeley said at the meeting that they would donate an unspecified amount of volunteer labor and money annually to help out. BLM certainly will need it to deal with the additional crowds lured by the worldwide publicity monument status will bring. He also said he recognized our concerns and that the difference between our positions was that Sempervirens wants monument status first and planning afterward, while we want planning first and then, if it seems like the best way to manage Coast Dairies, monument status. Isn’t the definition of planning that it’s something you do BEFORE you act?
Given Sempervirens’ political connections and the repeated downplaying of our concerns by Sen. Boxer and Rep. Eshoo we expect that the presidential proclamation will occur within the next two months. So we are also working hard to try to get the Board of Supervisors conditions of support – regarding traffic, funds for law enforcement and emergency response, etc. – written directly into the proclamation language so it is legally binding in perpetuity”.
WIDENING WON’T WORK. To get all the details on why auxillary lanes, and widening highways has never worked go to the Widening Won’t Work website… https://wideningwontwork.org Over and over again, transportation and traffic experts tell us that there isn’t one case where auxillary lanes or widening freeways/highways has not only NOT eased the traffic problem BUT those new lanes increased the traffic problem. If you’re keeping track of which Santa Cruz City Council candidates are supporting Measure D, the highway widening – 30 year- $500, 000, 000 tax we’ll be paying, Sandy Brown is supporting it. Please note…no comment on her decision. Also note that …
Community forum on Measure D, hosted by Santa Cruz Sierra Club Group – 9/29/2016
Thursday, September 22, 7-9pm Live Oak Senior Center, 1777 Capitola Road, Santa Cruz.
Pros and Cons on Sales Tax to Fund Local Transportation Projects, sponsored by League of Women Voters of Santa Cruz County – 9/22/2016 Hosted by Santa Cruz Sierra Club Group.
Thursday, September 29, 2016, 7:00 – 8:30 PM Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz,
BERKELEY’S TELEGRAPH AVENUE’S NEW IDEA. Judi Grunstra sent this link. Telegraph has parklets, pedestrian plazas, solar trash cans and cars share the street with the walkers. Take a look…I’m on the fence about Santa Cruz’s Pacific Avenue killing cars.
INFAMOUS ROPE TRICK. It doesn’t matter how many times you watch this, it’s still great magic. Ralph Davila sent it. |
HISTORICAL PHOTO CAPTION CORRECTION. Linda Rosewood corrected my historical photo caption from last week (scroll down to check it out ) She says “The Kerrick Laundry was at 616 Front, which is around where CVS is now, at the corner of Soquel and Front, not Front and Cathcart. The laundry business was purchased by the Bariteau brothers in 1957, when the property became part of the urban renewal and flood control projects of that era. The photo was probably taken because those buildings were about to be torn down. Santa Cruz Sentinel, Sept 11, 1957 page 1.
HISTORICAL PHOTO CAPTION ADDITION. Ray Ginghoffer saw the photo of the two Yellow Cab guys in front of trhe City Hall two columns ago (scroll way down) . He says…” I think the man on the left is Joe Basso, the father of Jim Basso, current owner of Yellow cab. I think. Ray”. Now we can wonder was it “Basso” or “Bosso”?
NEW CABRILLO CONDUCTOR. I received a few negative comments and questions about Cristian Macelaru the new man that the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music hired to conduct the Festival. I said that he has been conducting dead composers such as Dvorak, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, as well as Copland, Bartok, Faure, Bruchner, Enescu and Orff. I have no idea of what age or vintage musics he’ll be conducting once he gets here. I’m betting that the Festival and Cristian are well aware of the new kid composers Marin Alsop made so popular over her 25 years here. Lets wait and see what Cristian does when he has such an accepting Santa Cruz audience.
Mr. Paul Elerick of Aptos has returned and writes…
SUMMERS IN MICHIGAN
After spending six of the last eight weeks in Michigan, I like to share a few highlights. For those who aren’t aware of it, the western part of Michigan’s lower peninsula is one long string of sandy beaches, lakes and golf courses. And many 1st class wineries especially in the Traverse City area. I plan to spend lots more summer months there along with a wonderful friend that I’ve known for 50 years. Here are a few “must sees” if you’re ever there. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, State Park Beaches at Pentwater, Holland, Grand Haven and all up and down the coast of Lake Michigan. They’re all clean and well managed. The coastal towns of Pentwater, Saugatuck, Holland, Silver Lake Dunes… the list is lots longer. Hard to beat in the summer.
I’ll also make a pitch for the excellent health care that I received at Spectrum hospital in Grand Rapids when I needed emergency care. This organization has ultra-modern facilities and took over the older hospitals like the one I was born in and the one our son was born in.
It’s always nice to be home to Aptos though. Glad to see PDC running smoothly with endorsement forums!
(Paul Elerick is a member of, and former co-chair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org . He’s a current member of Nisene to Sea, a group of mid-county citizens committed to maintaining an open hiking trail from Cabrillo College to Nisene Marks State Park
How many rapes and attempted rapes committed within the city of Santa Cruz have been reported to the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) this year? You don’t know? Not surprising since the usual sources of information such as the daily Sentinel, police alerts and neighborhood alerts have been silent on this issue.
As of July 2016, the latest data entry on the SCPD website for this year, there have been twenty-nine rapes and attempted rapes reported. That is one rape or attempted rape reported each week. And reported rapes are a fraction of those committed. Do you recall any rapes included in the Sentinel crime report this year? In theory, rape is a felony, one of the most serious of crimes and yet it rates no mention in the usual channels of public communication. I think it naive to conclude that this is an oversight. And if it is, that is revealing.
This attempt to bury the high incidence of reported rape in the city of Santa Cruz has a long history. In the early 1980’s, I compiled a document detailing the problems within the SCPD regarding their mostly poor handling of rape. The city council shelved the report. Some changes were recommended by the city Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women but few were adopted. I quit the Commission out of frustration. Twenty years later, I reapplied to be a member of the Commission. With new membership and great energy, we embarked on an updated report on rape within the city and a review of police handling of rape, which constituted one of the Commissions charges under the Ordinance that created it in 1981. The 2003 Report on Rape used data from that submitted by SCPD to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. We contracted with Applied Survey Research to analyze the data and draw some correlations. The results were not pretty. The incidence of reported rape in Santa Cruz city was one of the highest in the state and most significantly, the percentage committed by strangers as compared with non-strangers (sometimes referred to as acquaintances) was out of all proportion to the national average. In some police beats it was over 50% of the total while the national average is 15%. The rate of arrest was also off the charts on the low end of the scale. Before we could even submit the report to council, SCPD heads went on the attack, providing council with misleading data, debunking the report and discrediting the commission, especially its chair. By the time I was up for reappointment, the word was that I intimidated staff (staff shielded the police) and was too difficult to work with. During the same time I received an award for leadership from the Commission at its 25th anniversary but no mind, then councilmember Mike Rotkin refused to reappoint me while current Mayor Cynthia Mathews is reported to have said that she will block any attempt by any councilmember to ever appoint me to the Commission. No council member has since supported my numerous applications to be appointed. In the meantime the Commission has revised its charge from an oversight body of SCPD for their handling of rape and domestic violence to one of working with the SCPD to address the issues. It meets only 6 times a year and has vastly reduced the scope of its work.
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~Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association http://darksky.org Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild).
#262 / Inspiring To Millions
There was an article in The New Yorker, dated September 23, 2015. The article, by Allyson Hobbs, was titled, “Why Aren’t We Inspired By Hillary Clinton?” In fact, millions of people (including millions of voters) ARE inspired by Hillary Clinton. A letter published in “The Mail” section of the most recent edition of The New Yorker comments on this topic with respect to a different New Yorker article, not the Allyson Hobbs’ article, but a commentary by Steve Coll.
Sharona Muir, of Perrysburg, Ohio (a “swing state, incidentally), complains about a “hold your nose and vote” tone of voice in commentaries about Clinton and her candidacy. Here is what she says about Clinton: The possibilities that Clinton’s nomination holds for our society’s greater freedom are tremendous. It’s time that Coll and The New Yorker understand the fact that, and the reasons that, Secretary Clinton’s nomination is actually inspiring to millions of voters.
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~Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds at www.gapatton.net )
CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo adds Helen Keller to our water problem. Scroll down.
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Eagan deplores today’s current political scene…see below just a bit…
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Discover another reason to love vintage books, as we discover a treasure in our rafters, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (ljo-express.blogspot.com). Also, head over immediately to the Del Mar to see The Light Between Oceans — quick, while it’s still on a big screen! You don’t see such a beautifully made movie for grown-ups often enough!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
SNOWDEN. A genuine Oliver Stone film. If you think you know everything about the Edward Snowden Wikileaks international extravaganza you’ll learn even more watching this film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Wilkinson, Rhys Ifans, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, and even a tubby Nicolas Cage in a bit part make this into a tight thriller . We don’t know the ending yet, and won’t until Snowden leaves Russia or Obama changes his ethics and morals and guarantees this true patriot some semblence of freedom. I think Edward Snowden should be given medals, trophys, and a place in our national security system.
LITTLE MEN. NOT a sequel to Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women”. That movie was last done in a 1940 version with Sterling Holloway and Kay Francis. This is a “New York City” movie about two 13 year old boys, their problems with their families, their schooling, and how they grew. It lacks a statement, point of view, or some big reason to go see it.
IXCANUL. Filmed in Guatemala, with all non-actors, a serious drama about a 17 year old local coffee farm daughter and the desperate way she tries to leave her peasant life. She gets pregnant, her baby is probably sold by the hospital to someone and the story is slow and confusing. With beautiful photography. It’s like a National Geographic saga. Nope, I have no idea how to pronounce the title and everybody in the film speaks either Spanish or native Mayan or Kaqchikel, as we call it.
THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS. Critics and most folks are calling this a romantic melodrama, I say that’s cheapening it. And gives it the wrong image I call it a contemporary Greek Tradegy. Those classic tradegies were meant to stir your emotions, cause you to think about your deepest values, to help us learn about love, sacrifice, and morals. Wikipedia says, “Tragedy (from the Greek: tragoidia[a]) is a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in audiences”. This film does all of that and more. We aren’t used to “deep” films like this anymore so we dilute them and call them weepers or melodramas. Stunning actors like Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Rachel Weisz bring this highly emotional film into near legendary status. It’s from a book about a lighthouse keeper and his wife who can’t have children and find a baby. Please see it, if you like serious films.
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC.Viggo Mortensen, the lead in this family saga, has never been better, and he’s almost always excellent. The older you are the more you’ll appreciate this extension of our 1950 & 60’s belief system. A film that has Noam Chomsky’s philosophy as a driver, Jesse Jackson, Joy of Sex book, Lolita, Glen Gould’s Bach Variations and some non-christian beliefs added, has to take you back just a bit. And in a good way. Viggo raises his family in the total wilds and later they have to face modern life and society. It’s as much fun as it is moving, sensitive , and well made. Frank Langella and Steve Zahn add to this hit film. Go for/to it!!
SULLY. Tom Hanks, Laura Linney and Aaron Eckhardt do their dependable, professional jobs in this formulac Hollywood treu life drama. Plenty of tension, a great true story that we knew most of already. It’s how airplane Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger landed that passenger plane in the Hudson river and saved everybody’s lives. Speaking of airplanes, you might think about right wing director of the film Clint Eastwood and that the executive producer of Suicide Squad and Sully is Steven Mnuchin who is Donald Trump’s finance director, if it matters who you give money to!
COMPLETE UNKNOWN. Just 44 on Rotten Tomatoes !! Rachel Weisz and Michael Shannon take the leads in this complex puzzle of a film. Rachel Weisz plays a woman who has chenged her identity and continues to do so much to the deep anguish it has caused Shannon her former lover. Exactly why she keeps changing identities and moving around the world is weird, unexplained and psychotic. Danny Glover and Kathy Bates almost sneak into bit parts. The movie is missing something but it’s slow moving and I fell asleep a few times. If you do go send me your explanation…please??
HELL OR HIGH WATER. Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster and Chris Pine make this one wonderful, exciting, involving, and well acted film. Go see it ASAP. Cops and bank robbers in Texas, internal conflicts, evil bank laws and practices, and ethics and morals are all integrated. It’s hard t o believe that “Hollywood” could still make a film this good after all these years of junk.
CAFÉ SOCIETY.Woody Allen’s newest starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Parker Posey and Steve Carell. Woody narates the film and he’s older and his voice has lost that whiney, confused, contradictory warble that we’ve grown to love so much. This film doesn’t rank in his top 4 or 5 films. The story is original, the acting is perfunctory, Kristen Stewart is above reproach, but it’s no Midnight in Paris, Annie Hall, Blue Jasmine, Hannah and Her Sisters or Purple Rose of Cairo.
FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS. The ever-popular, award winning Meryl Streep mugs , struts and acts her way through this odd portrait of an eccentric totally tone deaf New York socialite in the early 1940’s, Florence Foster Jenkins caught syphilis from her first husband, divorced him, kept his name and married another rich fellow socialite. She loved music, was friends with Arturo Toscanni but because of the tertiary stages of the disease, was unable to accurately hear her own singing voice. She gave concerts and recorded records and made millions laugh at her bizzarre off key voice. It’s a cute, somewhat serious comedy…and again Meryl Srreep has the lead with Hugh Grant playing a good older version of Hugh Grant, and you know what that means.
DON’T BREATHE. This film has all the makings of a very scary horror flick. Timing, characters, kids locked in a house with a blind army veteran who wants to kill them because they tried to rob him. Yet, it lacks something and I’ve been thinking about it for three days and I still can’t figure why it doesn’t work. Great tension, fine acting, plenty of surprises, and yet it doesn’t add up. Maybe it’s because the blind veteran is also evil, and focused on killing. Maybe it’s because the kids were wrong in the first place in trying to rob him. But if you’ve seen everything else in town…this one won’t bore you, I promise.
SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU. This is worse than a Hallmark greeting card! Cloying, genuflecting, dull, and an unjustified view of how Barack wooed Michelle back in their Chicago days. Aside from the apparent facts that Obama smokes a lot and doesn’t like ice cream and that Michelle doesn’t like pie, there’s nothing to gain from seeing this trite mess. It’s genuinely boring too. You’ll keep waiting for something of substance, or conflict, or some kind of problem might be dealt with…nope, all sugar and spice. Well, not even spice actually.
JASON BOURNE.The minute you leave the theatre this movie will seem like a dream you had. It’s fuzzy, unclear, random scenes in random order, no real meaning…just like a dream. The director tried to make some new kind of spy killing, car chase, fie, explosion movie. Edits, cuts, dialogue are all mixed up and mixed together…it makes little or no sense at all. Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Cassell, Alicia Vikander, and Riz Ahmed from “The Night Of” all do their best, but it’s all the director’s fault. Well, Matt Damon just phoned in his part and he’s terrible. And it’s still better than Mechanic: Resurrection
DON’T THINK TWICE. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 99 % I give it about 4!!! I’ve always hated Improv Comedy, that’s why. This movie is totally about Improv Comedy and the internal combustion within a group calling them selves the Commune. I can’t tell you how many times I watched San Francisco’s The Committee throughout most of the 1960’s. A lot of the Nickelodeon audience laughed a lot when I watched it…go warned.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Santa Cruz’s only Kim Luke unveils the latest crazes and styles in the Fashion Art Show on Sept.20, then UCSC professor Jonathan Kahana talks about Film Criticism and Documentaries. Michel Singher previews The Espressivo Orchestra’s next concert on September 27. Joan Van Antwerp talks about The Sidereal Theatre on Oct. 18, followed by former County Supervisor Neal Coonerty talking about the new Bookshop Santa Cruz book.. Then October 25 has Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick talking about our court system. After Paul, Jinx Deruisa and Polly Malan talk about The Santa Cruz Chamber Players new season. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome, so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always (and only) at bratton@cruzio.com
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I love me some magic. Penn & Teller have a show called “Fool Us”, which is a lot of fun. |
NEW UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVE FEATURE. Stuff changes at KZSC a lot. If you missed either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go here… http://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts. Such a wide range of folks such as Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.
GUEST QUOTE. Leigh Hill sent this one and added…”my personal favorite: “Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause.” Mohandas K. Gandhi (Made for TrumpTheFraud)
QUOTES. “FASHION”
“You can never be overdressed or overeducated”, Oscar Wilde
“I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot!”, Marilyn Monroe
“The most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy”. Yves Saint-Laurent
“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn”, Orson Welles
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Snail Mail: Bratton Online
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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.
