The Weekly Dump – 5.31.24

Santa Cruz Metro Bus Plows Into Slow Traffic on Highway 17

Image; Courtesy of Big Joe

Friday morning just after 7AM, a Santa Cruz Metro bus plowed into six cars on northbound Highway 17 near the Cats Restaurant in Los Gatos, catching the front of the bus on fire and sending four people to the hospital. The bus reportedly hit the back of the cars that were stopped in traffic after being unable to stop in time. The bus driver and three passengers were taken to a local hospital for their injuries, which are not life threatening. The Metro bus had nine passengers at the time of the crash. Anyone who has driven this stretch of Highway 17 knows how notoriously bad that section is near the Cats, with numerous blind corner turns, no room for error lanes, and the potential for a boulder or landslide to crash down and crush you on a moments notice. Hopefully everyone is ok and thank god nobody died. 

UCSC Campers Learn the Meaning of FAFO

Early Friday morning, a large group of law enforcement officers from all over the Bay Area descended up to UCSC to put an end to the little protest party going on at the entrance to the university at Bay and High Streets. Some of the kids could see the proverbial writing on the wall and left peacefully, while others linked arms in a circle before they were pulled apart like a sticky bun, layer by layer, zip tied, and marched off to a bus waiting to take them to jail. Hopefully the university (or the local courts) bill them for the mess they made, leaving all kinds of trash everywhere.

The drama all began about a month ago on the UC Santa Cruz campus, with students squatting in Quarry Plaza demanding a cease-fire in the war in Gaza and the divestment by the university from Israeli institutions. The university canceled in person classes and moved everything online, letting the air out of the protest ballon by taking away their audience. And since the kids weren’t getting enough attention, they moved their little campout to the entrance of the university at Bay and High streets. Then they still got ignored so they started blocking traffic. Ok the games are over! In an official statement put out by the university, they said:

“Following the continued intentional and dangerous blockade of campus entrances, UC Santa Cruz took action to remove the barricades and disband the unlawful encampment. Those actions started early this morning. For weeks, encampment participants were given repeated, clear direction to remove the encampment and cease blocking access to numerous campus resources and to the campus itself. They were notified that their actions were unlawful and unsafe. And this morning they were also given multiple warnings by law enforcement to leave the area and disperse to avoid arrest. Unfortunately, many refused to follow this directive and many individuals are being arrested.” .

Free speech doesn’t mean freedom to trash the place you’re protesting, it doesn’t mean you have the right to block traffic and prevent others from getting to where they need to go. These naive, entitled young narcissists have no idea why they are even there. It’s all just a party on Instagram for most of them. Party’s over kids! Here comes the hangover!

Watsonville Weed Dispensary Gets Smash and Grabbed

Saturday morning around 4AM, a group of thieves drove through the front door of a marijuana dispensary on the 100 block of Hangar Way in Watsonville, before making off with thousands of dollars of marijuana products and a safe from another nearby business. Surveillance footage showed multiple suspects using an SUV to ram and break open the dispensary’s door. The suspects then got into different vehicles and left the scene. Apparently, the California Highway Patrol chased the SUV to Hayward, but the suspects involved still remain outstanding per police.

City Council Denies Food Bin Housing Appeal

Tuesday night, the Santa Cruz city council unanimously denied an appeal to the mixed-use housing project at the corner of Laurel and Mission streets in Santa Cruz.  The public hearing concerned two appeals to the planning commission’s previous January 18th approval of the development proposal. Those appeals brought up concerns about parking, the environmental impact, and the overall size of the building. As part of their motion, the City Council also moved to prioritize tenants without cars to address some of the parking concerns. But otherwise, they basically told the neighbors “sorry too bad”. In addition to the 48 housing units, the project will also include additional commercial space to the current site of The Food Bin & Herb Room on Mission Street. So the Food Bin is getting housing. And we know where the real Herb Room is going. Across the street. 

Fentanyl Dealer Arrested on Coral Street

This past week, the new Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Fentanyl Crisis Response Team arrested a 39 year old drug dealing transient bum, as part of an operation where an undercover detective bought fentanyl from him on Coral Street. The dealer was arrested for a narcotics sale and had a probation hold placed on him. Over the past several months, the new response team has seized over 500 grams of fentanyl. Hey, good for the new “response team” and their haul of fentanyl. Can we just open a sub SCPD sub-station on Coral Street at the Homeless Industrial Complex “campus”, so that way they wouldn’t have to drive back and forth every day? I know this PR story from the sheriff’s department is basically a promotional nudge for their new response team, but I’m shocked that a drug dealer was actually arrested on Coral Street for dealing drugs. Barreled over by common sense!

Gang Shooting Driver Gets Out of Jail For Time Served

This week, the driver in a rolling shootout that took place along Mission Street back in 2020 got his get out of jail free card stamped by a local judge, after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter was sentenced to a “paper commitment” prison term. A “paper commitment”. Is that some kind of joke? Apparently not in Santa Cruz. The 26 year old Soquel man was driving down Mission Street near Almar, when his passenger leaned over and shot into another car, hitting that driver in the back of the head causing him to crash into a local Burger King. He pleaded no contest in October 2022 to additional charges including two felony counts of assault with great bodily injury and an enhancement for attempted felony with a firearm. He was released from jail in February 2023. Per terms of his plea deal, the driver was not to be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. The shooter also negotiated a plea deal in February and was sentenced to a 15-year-to-life prison term for a second-degree murder charge. Last week, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Syda Cogliati sentenced the driver to four years over arguments for a seven year term. Between his previously served jail time and good conduct credits, the man had completed his sentence and was released on parole. So he basically served 3 years for being involved in a local gun fight and shootout along Mission Street, maybe the busiest street in all of Santa Cruz, causing a death and a crash into a local business. That doesn’t scream punished to me. That screams “soft on crime” local judge to me. 

The Weekly Stroll

Guess who just got back today? Them wild goats that had been away. Haven’t changed and didn’t have much to say. But man I think them goats are crazy! The goats are back in town!

The Goats are Back in Town – Depot Park, Santa Cruz, California

Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

This week, some lucky person in Watsonville gets to be the latest millionaire. The lucky ticket was bought at the Quik Stop on Freedom Boulevard in Watsonville on Friday, May 24th. 

Anchor Steam Lives!

This week it was announced that Anchor Brewing was bought by the billionaire owner of Chobani, who is excited to relaunch the historic brand. Hamdi Ulukaya, billionaire founder and CEO of Chobani Yogurt, made it official on Instagram that he’s branching out into the beer business as Anchor’s new owner. He bought it all, the property, the IP, the recipes, everything. I saw an interview with him this week and he seemed genuinely excited to relaunch it. He’s a billionaire so he’s not gonna nickel and dime this investment. My favorite beer lives to see another day soon. 

In My Ear

The Meat Puppets are one of my all time favorite bands. Incredible live band too. Saw them at Slims in SF in the mid 90s. 

Meat Puppets – Paradise

New Santa Mierda YouTube Channel!

I started a new YouTube channel for the Weekly Dump. It will host all my videos going forward. I’ll also put the podcast over there too if I can ever get that going. Go check out some videos if you haven’t seen them yet, and thank you to all the subscribers! (you can subscribe over there)

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