Total Recall
After months of contentious arguing on social media (and sometimes in real life), the effort to collect signatures to put a recall measure to evict Chris Krohn and Drew Glover from the Santa Cruz city council on the ballot this spring is over. Did they get enough signatures? We’ll have to wait to find out. It could take up to a month to verify all of the signatures turned in. So we’ll have to just be patient for another month. But I have a feeling we’ll have a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving.
This week, Santa Cruz City officials finished an initial counting of the petition signatures. The official counts from the city were 11,465 for Krohn and 11,556 for Glover. The estimate needed to get the recall on the ballot was determined to be about 8000 signatures for each. So it appears they have more than enough signatures to cover any “margin for error” for invalid signatures. The signatures are now sent to the county to be validated. The county will have have 30 days to insure the signatures came from registered Santa Cruz voters. The March ballot would have a separate recall question for both Glover and Krohn if enough signatures are proven valid.
Imagine if they had just said they were sorry. Imagine if they had just shown some honest contrition.
It’s sad, so sad (so sad)
It’s a sad, sad situation
And it’s getting more and more absurd
It’s sad, so sad (so sad)
Why can’t we talk it over?
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word
Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word – Elton John
and this all dovetails nicely with my next topic………
It’s Time to Get Serious About District Elections
With the seemingly inevitable recall of both Glover and Krohn making the next election ballot almost a foregone conclusion at this point, it’s time to get serious about changing Santa Cruz city council member representation from an “at large” system to district elections, or a combination of district and “at large”. Here are my thoughts on how Santa Cruz should explore this.
Let’s just say Glover and Krohn both get recalled, likely next spring. I advocate not replacing their positions and continuing to run city business with a city council of 5 until the next election cycle in November of 2020. Three of the five remaining seats open up in November of 2020 (Mathews terms out, Watkins may or may not run again, Brown may or may not run again) and two (Meyers and Cummings) are on for another 2 years. So in November of 2020, the city could pretty easily switch at that time and convert a potential 5 open seats (the 3 that I previously mentioned and Glover and Krohn’s soon to be vacated seats) to district representation, and maintain Meyers and Cummings as “at large” seats. Eventually settle on a combination of 5 district elected seats and 2 “at large” seats.
So how would I assign districts? That’s the billion dollar question. Geographically. On a very basic level, likely “North, South, East, West, UCSC” or something along those lines. That can be worked out equitably. But the hard part of actual integration is being set up to be made easier if Glover and Krohn are recalled and NOT immediately replaced.
More info on how district elections are coming to California here.
San Lorenzo Valley High School Teacher Arrested For Sexual Misconduct
The Superintendent of the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District sent an email out to parents this week confirming a computer science teacher at San Lorenzo Valley High School has been arrested and charged with lewd and lascivious acts against a child under the age of 14. The teacher has been with the school since 2016, and school authorities said the incident happened at an after-school program made up of students from outside the district. It looks like he’s been charged with 5 counts, his bail was set at $150K, and he appears to still be in jail.
Downtown is a Dumpster Fire
Last Friday morning between 1AM and 6AM, SCPD responded to at least 5 fires that were intentionally set in garbage cans around downtown Santa Cruz, between Ocean Street and Church Street. During the investigation, a witness saw a 34 year old woman setting a garbage can on fire in the area of Church Street and Commerce Lane. The woman admitted to SCPD she also set the other fires after she was caught. She was booked into county jail for arson and having an outstanding warrant. She was also on Santa Cruz’s “most wanted” list. In 2015! 4 years later she’s still here, torching downtown. I wonder how many other local fires she’s started?
Nightmare at the Dream Inn
Tuesday night around 6PM, SCPD responded to the 100 block of West Cliff Drive for some kind of disturbance at the Dream Inn. There they arrested a 54 year old man on multiple felony counts, including burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism, and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He’s been arrested at least 11 times locally since 2014. Enabling! I heard from one person he was running around with a machete. I can imagine the tourist Yelp reviews they’ll get for that.
Transient Tarzan Arrested in Cave Above Pacific Avenue
Sunday morning, SCPD and the Santa Cruz Fire Department responded to the 2000 block fo North Pacific Avenue for a report of a transient living in a cave on the cliff behind the local businesses in that area. He was seen climbing on the roof of one of the businesses throwing rocks at police when they arrived. Officers tried to talk him down but he escaped through the brush after throwing more large rocks at them. None of the officers were hit by rocks. SCPD then made use of the fire department’s hook and ladder and rode it up the side of the cliff with a 40mm non-lethal projectile launcher. That seemed to get his attention and after a couple more hours of coddling this bum, he finally gave up peacefully in his panties. The 66 year old, WELL KNOWN TO POLICE, SERIAL RECIDIVIST, was arrested? I feel the need to phrase that in the form of a question here. Arrested 11 times since 2016. Based on his frequent mugshots, I’d say he enjoys his lifestyle and getting arrested over and over. How much money did this little sideshow cost the taxpayer this time? Too much. Transient Tarzan is also a convicted felon on “Post Release Community Supervision”, so he was SUPPOSEDLY being monitored by the county’s probation department after being released from state prison. He was arrested YET AGAIN on suspicion of assault and resisting arrest.
This is Why People are Reluctant to Shop Downtown
Tuesday afternoon around 2:30PM, a 31 year old man was arrested on the 1400 block of Pacific Avenue for battery, resisting arrest, and making criminal threats. He posted his $1K bail and he’s back on the streets already. Probably back on Pacific Avenue. A 58 year old man was also arrested at the same time and location for battery, I’m guessing they were fighting over a bottle or drugs or something they stole. He also bailed out on his $1K bond. Try to bring your kids shopping to Urban Outfitters downtown on a Tuesday afternoon and you gotta avoid the bum fight in front of the store.
It’s the Meth Fiesta Way!
Wednesday morning around 5:30AM, deputies from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s department executed a warrant on a residence on the 100 block of Fiesta Way in Watsonville. They found a large amount of methamphetamine and arrested a 38 year old woman at the scene. She’s been arrested 8 times locally since 2014. Enabling!
Picking Up Other County’s Trash
Tuesday afternoon around 1:30PM, Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 2800 block of 41st Avenue for an area check where they found a 32 year old transient woman who was wanted in Tuolumne County on 5 felony charges relating to drug possession and carrying a sawed off shotgun in public. She’s now in OUR county jail.
The Weekly Seen
Dirty needles and a jug of (likely meth infused) pee. “Tinkle Tweeking“.
Weekly Shoutouts and Thanks!
Thanks to everyone who worked so hard collecting signatures for the recall effort. Thanks to everyone who signed the recall petitions.
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!
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26 Responses
District elections is what we need. I like the way the police chief split up Santa Cruz. When we were going to have our own officer.
Great job to the City of Santa Cruz for coming together, we can work together. We proved that.
Never a dull moment here!!
Sawed off shot gun in public, oh my, not a local ?? Holy Mierda !!
If I wasn’t living here I wouldn’t believe it!!
Thanks so much for all you do !!
The last vote on district elections did have materials about the district boundaries and other details. It seems that they have vanished from online (is it time to go to the Internet Wayback Machine?). If I remember correctly they were fairly sanely drawn and would probably form a good place to start anew.
As for downtown – we avoid it. I got a lifetime supply of “street vibe” when I lived off off of Telegraph in Berkeley around 1970. I never felt at risk on Telegraph, but I can’t say the same about Pacific. We go to Los Gatos or Monterey/Pacific Grove rather than going to Pacific Ave.
By-the-way, can I make a suggestion for Santa Cruz urban beautification? – Can we get rid of that so-called “sculpture” that sits next to the clock tower?
I was on my way to work sunday morning and saw four cops around the clock tower. 2 were holding AR rifles, looking up at the cliff by the clock tower. I couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about…? (no cops were closing the area, i walked right through). Now that I know, I cant believe it took them hours to apprehend this guy. I swear the fear of not being “PC” is keeping our law enforcement from doing what could be over with in 5 minutes anywhere else.
Another billion dollar question, why, oh why, does this city have this looming social guilt to coddle these bums?
Has it really gotten so bad that simply walking down the street means getting consistantly harrassed for money, food, or no reason at all other than the bum is off his meds or drugged out? Has expecting to be punched in the face, shot, set fire to, or robbed become “the norm”?
And even if all that doesnt get you, you still have to hop scotch over discarded needles?
I think we need to make a new city “welcome” sign at the entrance of ocean st… “Welcome to Santa Cruz, home of the homeless, and land of the ‘get out of jail’ free”.
There’s already a slogan for S.C. “Santa Cruz FREE to drug addicts,homeless and criminals EXPENSIVE for everyone else. The cops were looking for a guy who ran towards the cemetery for what I don’t know. But I was walking around I saw and heard the fuss. When I have to “eject “ people from property’s I HAVE to take there picture for reference and to see who trespasses where and how often GROUNDHOGS DAY!! I’m telling you. But they usually get offended, mad or just wonder why I’m taking there pictures but it’s the first thing I do 1. Cause I have to and 2. For my safety all these late nite zombie drug addicts are a half a thought away from doing really violent things- like setting fires! Or stabbing people in there sleep!!!!!! So if I kept all the pics I’d have an exact count but there are just as many new faces as repeat faces. But it the ones that don’t want there pictures taken or get super aggressive that I did because they know there up to no good but since police don’t do anything to them and the only resistance these scum ever get is a average person,employee, business owner or security Gaurd so ya is Assbackwards as I’ve said before. Law enforcement should keep the scum in line and everyone else shouldn’t really have to. There’s always going to be riff raff but let’s try to keep it to a bare minimum:)
We need rather large tamper proof signs ALL OVER SC saying- Drugs and Criminal activity No Longer Tolerated HERE!
But so much change and Action is needed so those signs will have real meaning and be enforced 110%
I too have a “wall of shame” on my phone gallery. Perhaps we should make a book out of it and pass it out…
Walked by a group of half a dozen vagrants arguing over which County Jail had the best food. I realize it was “Dine Out” week in Santa Cruz but seriously? Spooky is spot-on. Stop guilt tripping and start enforcing the laws that are on the books already.
Thanks facts! 100% agree. What’s the point of Law Enforcement without the “law” and most important, the “enforcement”!
Thanks to those who volunteered their time to gather signatures. It’s encouraging to see our town band together to get the recall done.
Can anyone explain the process for switching to district elections for city council?
My sense of district elections is that there should be no “at-large” seats, except for possibly a separate city wide stand alone election for mayor. If we are going to solve the problems associated with at-large elections perhaps the best solution is to eliminate them.
Remember, the last time the city had district elections on the ballot, it was defeated narrowly by the UCSC precincts. Last time, the opponents claimed there was no racial voting discrimination in Santa Cruz that needed to be addressed, unlike Watsonville that lost a lawsuit to MALDEF.
This time, the city has already been sued, and the lawsuit was filed by an attorney who has never lost any similar suits across the State. So district elections are coming to Santa Cruz soon. The only question is whether progressives wake up and smell the coffee, or stonewall and lose another expensive lawsuit.
When I read about the $1,000 bail for battery’s+ it makes me furious. A friends son, age 17, good student, got drunk and was walking home. Picked up by police and arrested. Dad showed up at the hearing in sport jacket and tie – long term resident, owns home, volunteers extensively. Son – son had no priors, good grades, just a dumb ass move. $25,000 bail! I’ve seen armed robbery cases with less bail.
scz is just one of the most contradictory places ever. the middle class gets punished for actually bothering to follow the rules.. progressives seem to be calling the shots and claim to care about equal rights for race and gender but this place is so violent. how is a city this violent progressive?
did the moderates do this? the “moderates” statewide dont even sound balanced. i was talking with a friend about how obamacare is still thriving even though trump removed the mandate and she said yeah why didnt the rightwing just call it romneycare and get over it? we need to move forward with some balance.
idk if the communists are glad to enable this violence all over town because they feel they are shutting down the system? i mean this city makes it illegal to run a doggie daycare in your home but people who cook meth at home barely get punished? i still think meth should be classified as an illegal weapon.
the more i read about the ideas regarding cities metabolic rates… or the extreme ecology, the more i wonder if the progressives are purposefully sabotaging santa cruz. why else would they refuse to look at the data and confront the local widespread crime or abuse of the welfare system?
they view the middle class as the main criminals and just want to shut them down? make it impossible for people to go to work or shop downtown or use the parks etc? they just think america is the enemy and want to sabotage it any way possible? idk but why is this happening?
most of the middle class people i know are total workaholics. they just want a safe community to go about working and living. they dont want to be workaholics but that is the only way to tread water here if people want to follow the rules.
even during the local housing debate we were listening to communist arguments about farmers taking over the land they work. i randomly saw an article on farming in america the other day on msn. it said in the 1800s 70% of americans were farmers. it also said today, due to technology, only 1% of americans are farmers. yet the university of california professors are encouraging the farmers to unite and take over the land?
who are they talking to? why is this the narrative of our local and state government and public school system?! look what its doing to the community – encouraging people to totally drop out and mooch off of society and hate all social order. and the drugs are not expanding consciousness. just look at some of those mug shots if you need to see what the drugs are really doing to people. :0(
the progressive narrative seems to be encouraging people to avoid work and believe they are entitled to things that are only created through work. you reap what you sow… why are the progressives telling people they are entitled to abundance without any required effort?
maybe these social programs started out with altruistic intentions, but they have been sabotaged by career criminals. i dont know how things got to the current state but its at a boiling point and people need to confront reality. the data shows what we see with our own 2 eyes, massive drug abuse and widespread crime.
Kris, very inspiring to see you questioning the Official Narrative. It starts with seeing the fissures and cracks in the governing beliefs and philosophies that surround you. Have faith that you are not alone. Others are seeing what you see. Others are speaking out. There is a reason that there has been a huge push to silence all dissent in this country, smear people with all sort of slurs and push an unconstitutional notion of “hate speech”.
FIND THE OTHERS.
ASK QUESTIONS.
SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER.
thx. i think i rant too much sometimes but it is frustrating! even now its like trump wants to pull the plug on healthcare but then the whole plug is being pulled on the power here in california! pulling the plug at both ends it seems!
some of the conspiracy theory sites were predicting this shutdown over a year ago so… i try to listen to both sides of any debate. thx for the kind words and sorry for the times i rant too much, even that last one was a few too many paragraphs lol :0)
Ah, well for one thing the next generation is the dumbest ever. HS ACT’s have dropped every year for 15 years except twice they were even. Kind of a problem in a democratic society where 2/3’rds of the people can’t name all 3 branches of government (but can name the Kardasians).
The nuclear family is basically socialist, and a few generations have never quite graduated beyond that to self reliance, self actualization, and self-determination. They were coddled and are now afraid and want mommie to provide. Something like that. Teddy-bear safe spaces in all universities.
The Cato Institute says 47% of strong socialist sympathizers think violence against the rich is sometimes justified. Oh well, huh?
So a whole bunch of Bixby street tenants got vacate notices. It would appear they might have been advised by the Tenant Sanctuary types (rabid tenant activists the council never should have given money to) to instead of looking for new housing, decided the FIRST thin they should do is whine to the city council. We never hear the other side of the story but apparently that is enough for the council to enact Just Cause Eviction in a special meeting they can’t be bothered to post the agenda for so far.
Throw the bums out, throw their commission appointments out, throw their interns out and put the rest of the council on notice if they want a longer career in politics they better start treating everyone’s rights equally in the standard sense of American meta-philosophy and law. Maybe stop trying to turn Santa Cruz into a cesspool of government dependence on the homeowners dime.
OK, I don’t want to make Ben mad so I’ll stop here.
man those stats are depressing :/
well i finally bought rosa koires book. the local and state governments really arent listening to and representing the voters. she talks about that and the ngos who seem to be the only ones they listen to. creepy stuff but that is the whole reason the recall is happening- they arent representing the voters!!! this power shut off is too much thats why i bought the book
Lots of great info! I wish I understood the fine print. I guess I’m analog in a digital world, I just try to keep things simple and I don’t say things I’m not 100% on so that’s why I mainly put current events and my 2 cents here. NEW SECURITY COMPANY in town. From what I’ve gathered they patrol Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz and Monterey. They started this Saturday and I really hope they can reinforce the fact that most of the people in S.C want the Drugs,thieving and violence and the rest of the stuff to stop S.C has tolerated Mierda way to long. I believe the “ riff raff” can only be shoved along UNTIL the DRUG problems in our country can be truly put to a stop. We got ideas coming out our ears on how to “take back SC” so we are set there. Like I’ve been saying SC’s true powers that be need to do a HUGE 180 and take care of its working class and student and just honest good citizens and treat the “riff raff” accordingly-you know like Scotts Valley for example:)
Now don’t get me wrong I’m all for more security guards but without the ability to arrest or even ticket anyone I know from experience it’s beyond frustrating. I keep going back to thinking about SC as a neglectful Welfare scamming mother that only punished her kids if they do something REALLY bad but with only a half ass punishment and no lesson learned no follow thru and the bad SC welfare mom just gives enough to keep her “ kids” alive to put up a FRONT that she’s doing a good job to keep the MONEY and recognition in the right spots. There’s so much clean up and maintenance done almost every morning to keep up the front that this town is “ cool” and whatever. But the tenth time in a few hours your begged and or harassed by our lovely “street people “ it would not take a genius to figure out there’s something way off about this place and something needs to done about it ASAP!! And ya I still see the same crap EVERY NIGHT. Ya I wouldn’t mind sharing my pics maybe it will open some eyes
Thanks Dave. You keep it real.
You post the news nobody else bothers to cover, yet these incidents affect all of our lives because we live here. Thank goodness for Santa Mierda, keep it coming.
Komo news/Seattle has a new docu. out called “A tale of 3 cities”, it reports on the bum problems in Seattle, SF, and LA. LA is lost, really lost.
Komo news has a new documentary named “A Tale of 3 Cities.” Links the bum problems in Seattle, SF, and LA.
Not a single mention of the SECOND death at county jail?
https://response.ca.gov/fireincidents.html
this site has 2 places to sign up for safety alerts. just sharing with everyone who might want more alerts. thank god people near kinkade had better evacuation warnings than people in butte. :/
I never really know if I’m going to get in trouble for a bit of a rant, but this is a big deal.
October 29 is the day the American experiment in a free people failed in Santa Cruz. We saw Glover fist pumping and lots of cheering when the rent control ordinance was enacted early. What there seems never any time to say, never gets said, is that state/city mandated rent control is the state abdicating it’s role in welfare, and putting the burden of welfare arbitrarily onto one class of people arbitrarily benefiting another class of people, deserving or not, avoiding it’s role in government subsidy of poverty. The free market in housing died, housing provision incentive dealt a blow, longstanding individual sovereign rights probably forever removed, and the government is dividing the people. There may be some cheering by those who benefit at the expense of others rights, but be careful what you cheer for. It could be you next to be oppressed by the government.
Happy Halloween!! Be smart avoid down town today and TONIGHT it gets worse every year. Unless you like the drunken stuff that flies on every year. I have to work oh boy. Parking lots are looking empty more then I’ve seen since I’ve been down here so the new security company is doing its duties. Cold weather and rain I’m not looking forward to “street people “ mainly the criminals addicts ones use bad weather to settle “where they can”. Not my fault the Santa Cruz “help” is only available during business hours and not at night when it’s needed most. It’s not that I don’t care about people I’m just aware some people won’t,don’t want or wouldn’t know what to do with real help if they got it.
The drug fueled ramblings I get to hear are amazing-it’s always someone else fault but who put the drugs into these “peoples” pockets…… it’s not me.
I love S.C. It deserves do be treated better!!