The Weekly Dump 9.30.16

Another Murder Downtown That the City Doesn’t Want to Talk About

The big story this week (not involving a fire) involves a murder that took place sometime probably over last weekend at the St. George residence hotel on Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz. It’s a really tragic story from what I’ve heard from my contacts at the St. George. And as usual, the city has been less than forthcoming about any news here. They didn’t even alert the community that the killer was loose (and still is) out in the community somewhere until at least 36 hours after the body was found with a stab wound to the neck.

The basic story is this. A woman was stabbed to death by her son at the St. George hotel on Pacific Ave sometime last weekend. The body was found early Monday morning, but apparently the woman had been dead for at least a couple days. SCPD finds the body around 6am on Monday. They don’t release news to the public about this until Tuesday evening. Why the delay? She was found in his room. He was gone. She’s dead. They knew his name. Why wasn’t the community informed right away so they could help try to locate the suspect? And in the first press release on this murder, the suspects name and photo were still not shared with the public until much later that day.

City dysfunction at it’s best here. I’m sure the city really didn’t want the bad publicity of ANOTHER MURDER DOWNTOWN. And the “optics” on this one are just awful. Son stabs his mother in the neck and kills her, still out in the community somewhere. And this comes right after Bernal & Company’s press conference announcing how safe the Riverwalk (and downtown) now are. Who could blame the city for wanting to bury this story. And the Loma fire makes it easy to bury it. So be aware folks. This guy is still loose.

Oh by the way, the city council had a meeting the day after this happened (and before the public was made aware of it). None of this ever came up at their meeting. Never mentioned. But they knew all about it. They just decided not to talk about it (or much of anything for that matter). They weren’t oblivious. They chose not to talk about it.

SWAT Team Shuts Down Seabright Neighborhood

Monday afternoon there was some kind of incident on Pennsylvania street, not far from where the recent murder took place. SCPD and SCSO had multiple units on scene, including a SWAT team. The area was shut down for hours. Witnesses described the house in question as a “problem” house, with a history of domestic violence taking place at that location. The incident ended peacefully when a man and woman were arrested and taken into custody.

Where Have All the Vagrants Gone?

I know I’ve been broken record critical on the Riverwalk lately, and the city’s non response “reaction” to dealing with the public safety issues on it. But I’m also gonna give credit where credit is due. I’ve been telling Martin Bernal to STFU and just impress me, and that’s what he did this week! Color my ass impressed (and I’m not easily impressed). Whatever the city decided to do here seems to be working (for now). Since that city sponsored press conference about a week and a half ago, I’ve walked the Riverwalk 3 different times from Trader Joe’s to the Broadway bridge. All 3 times the Riverwalk was completely BUM FREE! All the nasty camps they set up behind the businesses on Front street? CLEAN! Not a bum in sight. Nobody hiding under umbrellas to shoot heroin in their foot. No groups of bums hanging out under the bridges. Somebody got read the riot act here, and word got out on the street. That’s the only explanation I can come up with here. It wasn’t the rain, or the cold, or both. It was solid work enforcing existing rules. WOW. How about that. If we actually enforce the rules (as in law ENFORCEMENT), we get positive results back. Go figure.

Fast Moving Wildfire Strikes the Santa Cruz Mountains on Hottest Day of the Year

A fast moving wildfire struck the Loma Prieta area of the Santa Cruz mountains on Monday morning, and quickly escalated to almost 500 acres in a matter of hours. And of course this has to happen on the hottest day of the year, when temperatures along the coast in Santa Cruz cracked a hundred degrees. It’s been all over the news, including the national news. The saddest part for me is the stories of missing or lost animals and pets. Just heartbreaking. Last I heard on Friday it had reached almost 2500 acres burned with about 20% containment. With the fog back and the marine layer expected to help, Cal Fire expects full containment some time next week.

Pedestrian Hit By Car on Wednesday Night

Wednesday night around 11PM, a male pedestrian was hit by a car at the intersection of Highway 9 and 1. The driver stopped at the scene. Word is the victim’s injuries were pretty serious and the victim was taken to a trauma unit over the hill. This intersection is NOTORIOUS for transients crossing back and forth here between the Harvey West Park area (where many of them now camp) and downtown. Never mind there’s a nice footbridge that crosses the river and safely allows access across the freeway to the Tannery. It seems like at least once a month someone gets hit here, and it’s almost always a transient that tries to cross against the light and traffic. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what happened here. Almost midnight? Nothing in that area is open. No reason to be out walking in that intersection unless you’re homeless and moving back and forth between HWP and downtown. It’s just a very dangerous intersection. You’ve got cars coming off 17 at high rates of speed (especially if they have a green light at that intersection) and you’ve got serial inebriates and the mentally ill randomly and unpredictably wandering out into that intersection. And you’ve got panhandlers standing on a tiny median as cars whiz by at high rates of speed. It’s not a good mix. It’s a terrible location for a homeless services center.

Fireworks on Main Beach Tomorrow Night

We’ll have fireworks going off on Main Beach tomorrow night (the official kind, not the “unsafe and insane” type). It’s a part of the city of Santa Cruz’s 150th anniversary celebration. I’m guessing it will start after dark. I’d also avoid driving. It will be a mess.

Food Truck Event a Success at Lighthouse Field

The Ocean’s Edge food truck and craft fair was recently hosted in the parking lot of Lighthouse Field State Park, and it featured five food trucks and 11 craft booths. It had the underlying theme of creating greener, more eco-friendly food events in Santa Cruz County. Many of the food trucks were happy to comply with the green standards set by organizers. Similar standards are set to take place in the county beginning in January. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is set to require restaurants and food vendors in unincorporated parts of the county to use compostable utensils, containers and cups that are biodegradable or recyclable. While organizers wanted to test the event’s popularity with locals, they also tested the waters for food vendors looking to comply with the new rules. Nice to see another positive food truck event, and I’ve been screaming for the city to try a food truck parklet program on West Cliff. This shows what kind of positive use of that space is possible.

Don Lane Still Struggles With Basic Math

Has anyone else noticed that Don Lane has endorsed 6 candidates in a 4 seat city council race? Talk about hedging your bets here! Don is just WORKING IT. Both sides. He’s making sure he works every angle of this election on his way out the door to forced retirement and irrelevance (but he also knows he’s auditioning for his next job and building his black book of “you owe me” chips in the process). So far (and I repeat SO FAR, as he’s likely to not stop at 6 here), Don has officially endorsed:

• Cynthia Mathews
• Martine Watkins
• JM Brown
• Robert Singleton
• Steve Schnaar
• Sandy Brown

Well that’s quite the odd group I’d say! He’s endorsed the full “slate” of “moderate” candidates, but then he also endorses Schnaar and Sandy Brown who are running on the opposite “slate”. Why not Krohn and Glover too there Don? Maybe he can’t make up his mind here? Maybe he just wants to insure he can say he endorsed someone on the winning side? Maybe he just can’t count for mierda. No idea, but it’s certainly suspect. Just like his math skills.

More analysis of candidate endorsements below.

Sheriff Jim Hart Doesn’t Want to Make the Same Mistake Twice

Sheriff Jim Hart came out in favor of both Prop 47 and AB109. He’s also been getting crucified in the court of public opinion here. So when Prop 57 came up on the ballot this year, many people expected him to support it as well.

He proved us WRONG. He just came out publicly against Prop 57. Go figure.

“In November, California voters will be asked to decide another initiative. If approved by voters, Proposition 57 will lead to the early release of state prison inmates convicted of serious crimes including assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse, child abduction, human trafficking, elder abuse, gang crimes, hate crimes, arson and specified sexual assault related offenses.” Hart states. “Proposition 57 is titled, “Public Safety and Rehabilitation Initiative”, but it has little to do with public safety and much to do with prison overcrowding and the state’s ability to comply with the United States Supreme Court’s order to reduce the prison population. As your county sheriff and the chief law enforcement officer of Santa Cruz County, I have a duty to keep our communities safe. This proposed law goes too far. I urge you to vote against Proposition 57”.

Read more in the Senile.

Battle for the 20th District Congressional Seat Heats Up

The battle for the 20th District Congressional seat, currently held by the soon to be retiring Sam Farr, has been heating up. The 2 candidates running here are Jimmy Panetta and Casey Lucius. We haven’t really heard much from them. One reason it’s an interesting race to watch is Panetta is a Democrat and Lucius is a Republican. Monterey County is much more conservative than Santa Cruz County, yet Panetta is the son of local Monterey hero Leon Panetta. Both candidates are veterans. Locally, Panetta is far more popular in Santa Cruz. He’s been seen at many of the fundraisers for city council candidates (at least those endorsed by someone named Coonerty). From 1942 until 1990, this office was held by a Republican every single year without a break. In 1992, a Democrat won the seat and the Democrats have held this seat consistently since then.

Who’s Endorsing Who?

I think you can learn a lot about people by the friends they keep. Or the endorsements they seek. Let’s take a look at who is endorsing who in the city council election. When you crunch the data, you see some interesting things.

First, let’s take a look at who the current city council endorses individually:

Cynthia Chase:

• Singleton
• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins

Pamela Comstock:

• Singleton
• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins

David Terrazas:

• Singleton
• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins

Richelle Noroyan:

• Singleton
• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins

Cynthia Mathews:

• Nobody

Micah Posner:

• Krohn
• Schnaar
• Glover
• Sandy Brown

Don Lane:

• Singleton
• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins
• Schnaar
• Sandy Brown

Observations: Yes, Don Lane endorsed 6 candidates for 4 seats. Yes, he’s obviously pandering to those 6 or he can’t count for mierda. 5/7 current city council members (Chase, Comstock, Terrazas, Noroyan, and Don Lane of course) all endorse the exact same 4 candidates (Singleton, Mathews, Watkins, JM Brown). Only Micah Posner endorses the “alternate slate” (Krohn, Glover, Schnaar, and Sandy Brown). Cynthia Mathews doesn’t endorse anyone she’s competing with.

Here’s how the County Board of Supervisors has individually endorsed the city council candidates:

Ryan Coonerty:

• Singleton
• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins

Zach Friend:

• Singleton
• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins

Bruce McPherson:

• Singleton
• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins

John Leopold:

• Mathews
• JM Brown
• Watkins

Observations: I didn’t include Caput here (he’s based in Watsonville). Notice how 3/4 of the other active Supervisors (Coonerty, Friend, and McPherson) all support the same 4 candidates, while even Leopold, arguably the most “progressive” supervisor still supports 3/4 CC candidates (Mathews, Watkins, and JM Brown) but not Singleton (likely because Singleton has been publicly critical of Leopold’s pet vanity project, the county free needles for all program). None of the active Board of Supervisors endorse anyone on the “progressive” slate.

City Council Election Watch

About 6 weeks to go. Many of the candidates have been seen walking the hoods, knocking on doors wanting to chat. None of them bite. Chat them up. Ask them why public safety isn’t their top priority? Because really, what’s more important than being safe? Nothing. I think being alive and healthy tops my personal wish list.

You’ll start seeing their signs popping up everywhere all over town. You’ll see them at community forums debating local topics. I’ll share what I know. It’s mostly opinion. I’m also going to rate them on what I’m calling my “Progress-o-meter”. With a 1 being a Trump Republican and a 10 being Don Lane. And I’ll add casual observations overall every now and then. This week, I’m also adding what I’m calling “Ryan or Micah?” (as in Ryan Coonerty or Micah Posner). If one of them endorses a candidate, I’ll let you know.

CANDIDATES ENDORSED BY THE WEEKLY DUMP!

MARTINE WATKINS:

I’m endorsing her for a number of reasons. She has a masters degree in public policy so she’s not just someone with a bunch of grand ideas with no substance and no ability to make it happen. She seems pragmatic. She works for the County Office of Education so she’s already doing public service work that really does benefit not only the community but the less fortunate as well. I realize she’s not actively selling “public safety” as part of her campaign, and that’s a concern for me. But I think she understands what needs to be done there without the need to spell it out yet. I really like what I saw at the first candidate forum. I think she was the best speaker. She didn’t read from a script but seemed to be very well prepared. She’s raising 2 young kids. I’m sure she can handle the kindergarten atmosphere of most city council meetings like the adult in the room. I have little doubt that she’d do a fine job on the city council. I might not agree with all of her positions, and I’m fine with that. I’m not always right. Just most of the time.
Progressometer Rating: 7
Ryan or Micah?: Ryan

ROBERT SINGLETON:

I’m endorsing him for a number of reasons. He’s smart, ambitious, and idealistic. And perhaps more importantly he’s fresh. He’s not a retread. He’s also not afraid to tackle sensitive subjects and try to identify better solutions. He’s not married to an ideology. He seems both progressive and pragmatic. I think he understands the challenges of improving public safety in Santa Cruz, a town easily frightened by a rescue vehicle named after a cute little animal. One thing I feel he does understand is the red-line level of dysfunction within the city government. I don’t think he can fix it (at least not by himself) but I don’t think he’ll perpetuate it either. I think he’s a break from the status quo, despite being endorsed by the status quo. He serves on the Downtown Commission, so I’m sure he’d represent their interests better than some of the others on the city council do or will. And perhaps his biggest strength is he’s smart enough to understand the nuances of data driven analytics and how to apply that to improving the way our city government “does business”, especially with social service based non-profits looking for handouts in perpetuity.
Progressometer Rating: 7
Ryan or Micah?: Ryan

CYNTHIA MATHEWS:

I know I’ve been pretty hard on her here at the Dump, and it’s really not personal. She’s the Mayor. She means well. I never doubt that. It’s kind of a reflection right now of her job performance. But the truth is I blame City Manager Martin Bernal MUCH more for the local public safety issues than Cynthia or any other person on the city council. If anything, I’ve been disappointed that she didn’t do more this year as Mayor, but she hasn’t done a bad job, and given the fact that she has to deal with both Don AND Micah pontificating and basically derailing every single meeting, and the local circus from the public, and the fact that she’s still doing it and seems to enjoy doing it! Now that’s hard to find. What she does bring is obvious wisdom, knowledge of history, and perspective. She is status quo, and I know I complain A LOT about that. But we should be careful to not toss the baby (Cynthia) out with the bathwater (Don and Micah). You can have a variety of opinion about Cynthia but she is definitely pragmatic, and that’s pretty high on my checklist. Yes she panders. It’s an election! They all do. Some more than others. But she has shown an ability to actually deliver. At least when she doesn’t have a circus to deal with. Hopefully the next city council will be less circus and less circuitous. The new members can learn a lot from her experience in navigating city government.
Progressometer Rating: 7
Ryan or Micah?: Ryan

Other Candidate Profiles:

J.M. Brown:
Nothing he says really stands out or differentiates him from anyone else. He’s vanilla ice cream. Nothing offensive. It’s like he’s trying to be a safe bet for the most people. You know what they say. If you’re not pissing someone off, you probably aren’t doing anything important. He’s a safe bet for extreme Progressives like Katherine Beiers. She endorses him. Photo ops with John Leopold? Check. The more I learn about him, the more I see him for what he really is. A progressive posing as a moderate. Or maybe it’s a moderate posing as a progressive. Who knows. It changes depending on the audience. He just feels like Don Lane Lite. Don Lane even endorses him! (go figure). He’s really not that “progressively” different from Glover or Schnaar. He just has better name endorsements.
Progressometer Rating: 9
Ryan or Micah?: Ryan

Sandy Brown:
Sandy Brown is an assistant professor at the University of San Francisco and University of the Pacific. She previously worked for the local Community Action Board, and has taken part in the city’s Living Wage Advisory Committee, the Citizens’ Police Advisory Board and Santa Cruz County Women’s Commission. She also doesn’t like city hall. She doesn’t seem to have any real plan here but he unions love her anyways. Terrible performances at the forums so far, no website, but she has solid backing from the “sheeple” so far (unions and SCAN).
Progressometer Rating: 9
Ryan or Micah?: Micah maybe?

Jim Davis:
Jim writes jingles for KPIG radio. And he likes cool hats. He looks every bit like a rock star. I’d call him the “Average Joe” candidate but his name is Jim. I know he thinks the city doesn’t do nearly enough for the homeless and he’s disgusted by all the needles found in public spaces. So he’s a definite wild card. He can be BOTH very progressive and very moderate. Now that’s an anomaly in Santa Cruz. Was recently busted for a DUI (after the black eye). The forums haven’t been his friend, he just seems either lost or incoherent, no website, no endorsements, sinking like a rock. He can be very entertaining but I’m not sure what we need is an “entertaining” city council member. He’s colorful for sure.
Progressometer Rating: 8
Ryan or Micah?: Neither

Dru Glover:
Founder of “Project Pollinate”, a community activism group that likes to throw parties 4 times a year in San Lorenzo Park. Works for the resource center for non-violence. Has never held public office before. Good speaker but talks really fast to fit all his ideas in. Seems to really love the color purple. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called “life”. He’s done pretty good in the progressive friendly forums so far but that’s his crowd. He’s lacking in “name” endorsements, but he’s doing pretty good on the social media and event circuit.
Progressometer Rating: 8
Ryan or Micah?: Micah

Nate Kennedy:
Hard to take Nate seriously. No website. Sometimes he has a few good ideas, and I think he really cares. In reality, he has little to no chance of winning a seat. He did bring color and laughs (no flair, that would be Jim Davis) to the first forum. He’s skipped a couple forums since the first forum (or maybe they didn’t invite him) and the air is quickly leaving his balloon here. I really felt like Nate was using this as an opportunity to hear his ideas and now that he’s been given the chance, he’s missing in action. Maybe he got bored. Maybe the whole thing was too overwhelming for him. Maybe he smartened up and someone talked some sense into him. I haven’t seen him on Pacific lately. Still has no website, no endorsements, no chance.
Progressometer Rating: 9
Ryan or Micah?: Neither

Chris Krohn:
Another former mayor and city council person comes back to try to haunt us. He is the Internship Director for the Environmental Studies Department at UCSC. He was elected to the Santa Cruz City Council in 1998 and was mayor of Santa Cruz in 2002. He’s been out of city politics for 14 years. The Santa Cruz Weekly actually described him as “one of Santa Cruz’s most famously leftist former mayors”. He gets the Perfect 10 on the Progress-o-meter. Even Mike Rotkin, notorious local socialist who previously served with Krohn on the city council, said “If you ask my opinion, I don’t think he’d make a great council member”. I guess that rules out his endorsement here. He’s done very well at the forums and he works the crowd well. He’s using his “experience” as the “alternate leader” of the progressive “slate” so he’s getting some benefit by association from the moderate acceptance of Glover & Schnaar so far. He’s basically a hot mess but let’s face it, the old SCAN crowd loves a hot mess.
Progressometer Rating: 10
Ryan or Micah?: Micah

Steve Pleich:
Steve seems to be everywhere now that the campaign season is in full swing. He’s all over social media. Every photo-op you can likely find Steve ready to photobomb it. He loves attention. He loves the limelight. He loves to hear himself talk. He is running mostly on what I’ll call the “homeless” platform, bent on repealing the sleeping ban and other homeless issues. I’m sure he’s hoping to tap the old SCAN crowd once again but how many times can they go to the well and find it empty yet again. He couldn’t even get an endorsement from the world’s oldest progressive city council candidate forum audience. That hurts. He hasn’t really done anything wrong, he’s just done it all before many times. And the “New Progressives” (led by 16 year absentee relic Krohn) have kind of decided he’s not one of the cool kids in their clique anymore. Go Independent Steve! Don’t let the “progressive” tail wag YOU!
Progressometer Rating: 9.9
Ryan or Micah?: Neither

Steve Schnaar:
Founder and director of the Santa Cruz Fruit Tree project, and a volunteer mechanic for the Bike Church. I really like both of these groups, although the Bike Church has had a stigma for supporting bike thieves. Long time social activist. Has had previous issues with SCPD and the city council (mostly related to the Bike Church). Married to Stacy Falls, longtime progressive advocate for homeless issues and co-founder with Brent Adams of the sanctuary camp project. I know he comes across as pretty soft spoken but his positions can be pretty extreme (and he seemingly has a tendency to take rejection personally when it comes to dealing with the city, much like Micah does now). Schnaar has actually done well at each forum, and was endorsed by the PDC (beating Pleich). I think his calm demeanor works well for him. Newly anointed part of the “New Progressives” ticket (with AARP member Krohn, Glover, and of all people the woman without a plan Sandy Brown!). He’s in, Pleich is out.
Progressometer Rating: 9
Ryan or Micah?: Micah

Weekly Shoutouts!

Weekly shoutouts to all the amazing volunteers who were willing to risk their lives to help evacuate animals and livestock off the mountain during the Loma fire. And of course shoutouts to all of the firefighters risking their lives here. Weekly shoutout to Martin Bernal (bet you never thought you’d hear me say that!) for doing whatever it is you’re doing to clean up the Riverwalk (Super Whac-a-Troll? Overreacting?). I said STFU and impress me and you are so far. Keep it up.

The Weekly Seen

“Morning Glory”

That’s What Friends Are For

Keep smiling. Keep shining. Knowing you can always count on me for sure. That’s what friends are for. For good times. And bad times. I’ll be on your side forever more. That’s what friends are for!

Bar Mitzvah Karaoke – That’s What Friends are For from Jonah Detofsky on Vimeo.

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