Man Shot in the Ear Downtown
Thursday night around 8:30PM, reports came in about a man who was shot in the ear near Outdoor World on River Street in downtown Santa Cruz. After medics responded, they found a victim bleeding from the ear and determined the man was likely shot with a BB or pellet gun and a piece of the pellet was lodged in his ear. The victim described his unknown assailants were driving a black car.
Santa Cruz City Council Tells Local Campers to Get Off Their Lawn
Can someone say Ben Dover?
At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, Santa Cruz city council members approved a new curfew for Main Beach in response to an explosion of homeless camping that has been taking place there over the past month. According to Parks and Recreation department staff, at least 40 tents have established themselves along Main Beach, infuriating adjacent businesses including the Mother of All Local Businesses (the Boardwalk), local residents, and tourists who are leaving town with a bad impression of Santa Cruz. After a number of fact based presentations, the community heard from many local residents about the impact and their frustration with the city’s lack of response and enforcement. When it was time to vote, ultimately only Glover voted against the curfew. Of course he did. It just further validates the need to recall him. They are also calling the documented conditions that led to this policy a “public nuisance”. The last declared “public nuisance” Glover wanted to keep open was Camp Bernal. Imagine that. How predictable. Glover seems to love keeping public nuisances open for business and for them to continue to be public nuisances. Time to recall the human public nuisance! The vote creates a “Main Beach Public Access” policy which would close the dry sand portion of Main Beach between midnight and “one hour before sunrise”. This new policy is effective immediately and will automatically retire in 6 months. A future public hearing and review could lead to a modified or extended policy as well. Policies don’t mean shit if they aren’t enforced, and we know how well this Chief of Police enforces existing ordinances. Subjectively. And not very often.
Man With Gun Reported Near Pogonip
Last Friday morning around 7AM, SCPD responded to the area near the entrance to the Pogonip after they got a report of a man with a gun near Golf Club Drive. They never found him despite sending lots of people out there to look for him.
The Pool is Closed
Last Thursday night, a man apparently broke into the Elk’s Club on Jewel Street and assaulted a woman working there with a skateboard. SCPD responded with multiple units and cleared the scene but nobody was detained or arrested.
Women Brawl Downtown
Last Thursday night around midnight, reports came in about a bunch of brawling women near Cedar and Lincoln. Witnesses reported seeing 6-12 women in a rumble. At least one apparently had a bat. By the time SCPD arrived with multiple units, most of the brawlers scattered but police detained two at the scene.
Burglar Arrested on Front Street
Monday morning around 8AM, SCPD arrested a 39 year old male from Dixon on the 100 block of Front Street for burglary. Last check he’s still in jail.
Getting in the Zone
Tuesday night around 5PM, a 36 year old male was arrested by SCPD on the 1100 block of Water Street in Santa Cruz and charged with 4 felonies and a misdemeanor, including drug possession, bringing drugs into jail, false identification, possession of a gun, and battery. Oh and he had his get out of jail free card (OR) revoked. Arrested 5 times locally in the past year. Blame the local judges and the DA for this hot mess.
Sleeping Car Thief Arrested on Highway 9
Tuesday around 4PM, SCPD responded to a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy who had come upon a male sleeping in what turned out to be a car stolen out of San Francisco along Highway 9 near Rincon. Further investigation found the vehicle had been stolen during a car jacking in San Francisco. Together, they executed a high risk stop on the sleeping car thief. He was arrested without incident.
Bumfight Downtown
Monday night around 9PM, SCPD responded with multiple units to Ocean and Water for a report of 3 people fighting with one of them beating the other 2 with his skateboard.
Bumfight on Skidmark Beach
Monday night around 9:30PM, SCPD got a call about a disturbance (fight) between a male and female with a dog on Main Beach. Gee, I wonder if they’re camping there? Multiple people called it in. SCPD is currently too busy to deal with it so it gets low priority. Welcome to your new reality Santa Cruz! Eventually, when it was convenient for them, SCPD arrested a 39 year old male for battery. He’s been 5 times since 2015.
Tourist Arrested for Rape and Attempted Homicide
Friday at around 6PM, police responded to Dominican Hospital for a sexual assault victim. During the investigation, SCPD determined that a 28 year old Hayward man assaulted his former girlfriend and caused serious injury while visiting Santa Cruz and staying at a local motel. With help from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, he was arrested at his Hayward home and charged with rape and attempted homicide.
Just Your Usual Friday Night Downtown
Friday night around 9:30PM, SCPD responded to the 900 block of Pacific for a report of a drunk transient who knocked a motorcycle over in front of Andy’s and took a helmet from the owner. He also broke and smashed a couple of car windows with the stolen helmet near the Metro as he fled drunk towards the levee with blood all over his face. SCPD caught up with him near the Taco Bell on Pacific and Laurel where he was arrested. The 48 year old man was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and felony vandalism.
Batteries Not Included
A Santa Cruz County Animal Control officer was on a service call on the westside of Santa Cruz on Saturday when they noticed smoke coming out of the front window of a parked vehicle. The officer blocked traffic, requested fire department response and upon exiting his vehicle observed flames. A concerned citizen began using a garden house to put out the flames. The Santa Cruz Fire Department arrived quickly and put out the fire before it could spread to other vehicles parked nearby. The driver apparently left some batteries on the dashboard which caught fire as they sat in the sun.
The Recall Petition Still Needs Your Signature!
If you’re a resident and registered voter within the city of Santa Cruz and you’re sick of the dysfunctional mess we’re getting from city hall, you signature is needed for change! It doesn’t mean you’re voting for anyone to actually be recalled. It just means you’re voting to let the people decide by voting on it. Here’s where you can sign the petition this weekend!
Sat/Sun 9-14, 9-15
Whole Foods
9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sat/Sun 9-14, 9-15
Surfer’s Statue on West Cliff
7:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sat 9-14
Westside Farmers Market
9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Sat 9-14
Harvey West Soccer Fields
10 am – 4 pm
Sat 9-14
Aldo’s Harbor Restaurant
616 Atlantic Ave
9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sun 9-15
Frederick at Broadway
9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Thanks to everyone helping to make the recall a success! This one’s for you!
Signed, Sealed, Delivered – Stevie Wonder
Weekly Shoutouts and Thanks!
I just want to thank Surf City Barber Shop, Stockwell Cellars, Central Coast Welding and Fabrication, Java Junction Coffee Roasting, KSCO, Bone-A-Fide Dog Care, Brooks Properties, Carolyn Livingston Campaign Services, Damon Bruder Construction, Biomarcommunications, Jane Becker, and all the other local businesses and business owners who are actively supporting the recall efforts. Please support these brave local businesses, who are being stalked and harassed by recall critics for simply exercising their first amendment freedom of speech rights. They deserve our ongoing support and our business.
Also thanks and kudos to David Plumlee, Terry Spodick, Don Reimann, Robert Stone, David Quesada, Scott Richards, Elizabeth Clifton, Carol Polhamus, and everyone else who has donated their time and money to the recall campaign. Your contributions are very much appreciated!
The Santa Mierda Podcast Network
Be sure to check out the Santa Mierda Podcast Network! We’ve got the latest “Unfiltered” by yours truly, as well as a new podcast, “Untreated” from Sharona. You can find the Santa Mierda Podcast Network on SoundCloud. And Apple Music. And Spotify. It’s free so check it out and give it a listen! Next new podcast should be coming this Sunday night!
Check Out Our Twitter Feed for More Mierda!
Be sure to check out and follow our Twitter feed for even more mierda! Even though the Dump only comes your way once a week, I try to post breaking news and updates on other days as well. So check us out and follow us on Twitter for even more updates about real time news in Santa Cruz you might not otherwise hear about.
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24 Responses
Is that Police Chief Andy Mills in the picture?
I hope not, but it sure looks like him.
Of course it’s him!
Of course it’s him Can’t pass up a photo op over crime prevention
He’s even barefoot to emphasize his lack of concern for stepping on a needle or a turd.
When did our Chief of Police become a poster boy for the Seaside Company?
When I heard camping was allowed on the beach, I thought it was a joke at first! After watching the 2 week long, hazmat-level clean up after Camp Bernal finally closed, I could only imagine the sh$t show occurring on our poor beaches. I thought Monterey Bay was a sanctuary? You know, “Pack your Trash”, “Keep our ocean and beaches clean”…? I guess needles and human waste dont count.
Just when you think this town cant get any worse, surprise, surprise.
At least most of the city council acted swiftly to put out the dumpster fire on Main Beach. Everyone but Glover acted in the best interests of everyone. Glover acted in the best interests for himself. He didn’t get what he wanted so he voted no to spite everyone else for not supporting him. It’s as simple as that. Diplomacy for him is finding someone or something to conveniently blame for his failures. It’s never his fault and he’s always the victim.
We really appreciate your news. I’m extremely saddened to hear about the assault at the elks lodge. We are elks members and everyone there works hard for the community. I feel this attack should receive more press as our members are mostly elderly and have dedicated their lives to service. I hope this guy gets the fullest extent of the law.
And what did this guy “break in” for anyway? Nothing of value worth those kinds of charges. Is this just another case of a methed-out nonsensical crime?
Thanks to our judges, I’m sure he’ll be out the revolving jail door soon enough just so some other poor soul to have to deal with. I pray not though.
Drew put on quite a show at the council meeting. Claiming he was “torn” on how to vote for the curfew and then bring out his Master Deflecting skills to try and lure the council into a rabbit hole of where shall the campers go. We all know his mind was made up and the only thing he was torn on was how long to drag his monologue on before voting no.
Main Beach, is just that. Not a camp, not a place to pitch a tent and live there. For quite awhile so many of us asked that this be stopped. We did not want another Camp Bernal to happen. With all the letters, emails, and phone calls from the public it felt like no one at the city or police department was listening, or reading. True meaning of fell on deaf ears come to mind.
I went to the CC meeting to see if we had made any type of difference with all the emails etc. The best part of the meeting was the businesses reading the comment cards. That was truly a divining moment in time. If we lose the tourist, we lose money, we lose money, we lose businesses and we lose the very people which makes this place run, more people who no longer have a job, no more businesses to help pay the salaries of CC, police, city workers etc. ! We then will have more issues then we do now. Of course this meeting was filled with theatrics and interruptions. Which truly do no good. It just makes the meeting that much longer. Thankfully clear minded, rational, people came together and said NO more camping on the beach.
Seems as though, this is a good turning point for Chief Mills and his staff to start enforcing the law !
Well said Paige! Thanks again for all you (and Damon) do.
I agree the most , well , sane/objective/civil part of the CC meeting was the reading of the comment cards by the Dream Inn manager. The best part, entertainment wise, is a bit of a tie between several candidates for that who must not have heard my comments when I said “I know compassion is not genuine when it is accompanied by self interest, assertiveness, rudeness, militancy, and disrespect. ” Now I wish I would have added true compassion is not accompanied by false narratives (my polite way of not having to say outrageous lies), or a copy of Sal Alinski’s “Rules for radicals” in one back pocket along with Das Kapital in the other. One candidate certainly has to be the captain of the love-peace truck who was showing quite a bit of near-hate, widespread prejudiced condemnation of every one but himself, with a potty-mouth for emphasis. However, the Singing Grannies gave him a run by giving civility a new meaning, and the anti-semite is a perennial favorite. I don’t think the bum-king can legally enter the competition after so many awards for grandstanding, so it now appears he attempts non-stop disrespect, disruption, and a kind of Slip-Fall begging for a lawsuit approach to every meeting. Of course there are so, so many others that deserve honorable mention, but space is limited. Ben if this is over the line, seriously, I need the rules for comments, email me and I will do my best.
So far you’re good! Just keep stuff like race, religion, sexual orientation, that kind of stuff out of the discussion and not make stuff personal by name. Those are my pet peeves.
Garrett Philipp:
I am your “anti-Semite,” who refrains from discussing such things here at Ben’s insistence.
Suffice it to say I’ve asked you to show me anything I’ve said that isn’t true. I’ll discuss this further at the next council meeting.
EDITOR:
Ben, this is a very brief response to the ad hominem directed at me, which you printed.
Fair enough. And I appreciate you keeping that discussion out of here. There’s plenty of other stuff to talk about. Thanks.
It’s going to get worse before it gets better or just worse. I saw one of these masked bike riders-[white mountain bike- guy wearing black hoody with a white circular logo] trying to open car doors on pacific ave and I’d imagine other streets. Needles still all over some uncapped!! A “ person “ I’m assuming was on the verge of a heroine over dose a few nights ago. He couldn’t stand or stay awake and there was a needle next to him so I called PD and they took over. I think a general curfew for SC especially for “homeless,criminals and addicts” is a great idea so they don’t get free range of SC while the regular folk sleep at night.
I still see all the crap I’ve mentioned before and it keeps getting worse. The places I Gaurd are getting less and less trespassing but all that means is there somewhere else I see the same faces all the time and new faces and vehicles as well. Let’s do all we can to maybe get some change happening!!!
Thanks Dave! Keep up the fine work and thanks again for sharing your unique insight.
Can’t believe I have been following “ The Dump” for so long and finally realized how appropriate your name is! Love it and all the local information is great! Thinking of selling all my property in Santa Cruz county and moving to Oregon.
Thanks Fran. Who could blame you?
The city should have included NOT having enclosed tents on the beach! Rumor has it that there are going to be a lot more tents during the day.
The city council should have noted “structures” can not be on the beach..just umbrellas…ready for Round 2?
Another informative and entertaining weekly. Thanks Ben. Last week I tried to google Dru glover, and his resume is pretty thin. He seems to have just popped up at the resource center and has taken off from there. No real job or skills or edu…just sort of a rolling stone…floated into SC on the tide…those CC meeting sound like real shit-shows and the crazies dominate. Must be sorta frightening to even attend. Poor SC. Everyone I know that is elibible is signing the recall petitions. Keep reporting! And thx to your “stringer” Dave the Gaurd for his input.
Thanks Leigh! I think Glover grew up here (so he claims).
He claims a lot of things…