Free Bus Rides for K-12 kids and Rail Trail Updates

By SARAH RINGLER

Improving our countywide bus system, METRO, can help everyone, not just people without a car, differently abled or students who make up over 50% of the users. METRO has reviewed its bus route network and is working to find ways to increase service. 

The Youth Cruz Free program now allows K-12 students to ride any route in the METRO system for free except for the Highway 17 Express. K-8 students just tell the driver their grade and school when they board. High school students can show their students ID card or get a Youth Cruz Free Pass. Some busses have some bike racks that can help kids get even closer to schools from the bus stops. Go HERE for information. 

METRO also has a campaign called One Ride at a Time where every ride on a METRO bus can be used to earn donations to the Bay of Life Fund or to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. You need to either set up an account online or download an app and then log your bus trips. After 25 rides, $10 will be donated to either of the funds above. For information click HERE.

Once rail service comes to Santa Cruz County, bus plus rail will make a complete sustainable transportation system. Coordinated bus service will provide the first and last mile options that will let riders easily get to and from rail stops without needing to drive. 

Local and regional agencies are still working to win state transit grants. The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) applied for grants to continue the Engineering and Design work for passenger Rail Service on the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. If successful, this grant will provide the remaining funding to complete the engineering and design of electric rail service that was approved in Dec. 2022 by the RTC. This application also includes engineering and design of the Coastal Rail Trail segments from Aptos to Watsonville.

The Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) applied for a grant for the Final Design and Construction of Pajaro Passenger Rail Station located across the Pajaro River from downtown Watsonville. This proposed station, see visual simulation below, is a full-service transit hub to connect passenger rail service on the Santa Cruz Branch Line with the Monterey County Rail Extension project running to Monterey, Salinas, Gilroy and San Jose - a stop on the Amtrak Coast Starlight line. The station will also serve connecting bus services between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

Santa Cruz METRO has also applied for a grant to increase service frequency, purchase more zero emission buses and build affordable housing at the SC METRO Watsonville Station.

Each of these projects provides independent benefits, but in combination they build towards a unified, efficient, full-service regional transportation network that both serves Santa Cruz County and connects us to our region. Together they will improve car-free access to our coastal resources and connect Santa Cruz and Monterey counties to the state and national rail network.

This campaign is building on the following recent successes. In June, our community defeated the deceptive initiative to tear out the tracks. In September, the RTC voted unanimously to get “back on track” by hiring a consultant to plan rail service for our county as well as design the trail segments connecting Watsonville to Aptos. And, in December the city and county of Santa Cruz were awarded $103 million grant to build the trail connecting the San Lorenzo River to Aptos.  

The accomplishments are impressive but support is needed. Friends of the Rail Trail is currently running a Spring Challenge that means, for a limited time, your donation to Friends of the Rail and Trail will be doubled! Click HERE.

This simulated image is a model of the proposed Pajaro Passenger Rail Station, a full-service transit hub that will connect passenger rail service on the Santa Cruz Branch Line with the Monterey County Rail Extension project running to Monterey, Salinas, Gilroy and San Jose - a stop on the Amtrak Coast Starlight line. The station will also serve connecting bus services between Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.

A Special Kind of Cruelty - Forcing the Homeless into the Harsh Torrents of the Atmospheric River

By KEITH MCHENRY - Co-founder Food Not Bombs

The city of Santa Cruz is forcing hundreds of people who are homeless to stand out in the atmospheric river. Just imagine standing day after day in these torrents of rain with no way to change into dry clothes. These people could be spared this suffering if the city opened empty public buildings like the Civic Auditorium, the Veterans Hall and the Warriors Stadium for 24 hours a day during these deadly storms but they have refused. The one emergency shelter in town is only open for 25 people from the hours of 8pm to 8am leaving those few lucky people to spend their days huddled against the rain in the doorways of failed businesses.

The city of Santa Cruz is not only failing to provide safe shelter during the atmospheric river on March 9, the city threatened to arrest Food Not Bombs if we shared our meal next to Parking Garage 10, forcing people to stand in the downpour to get the only daily hot meal provided to the homeless during three years of the pandemic lockdown. This sure is an odd way to honor the city’s one volunteer organization who shared food and survival gear every day since March 14, 2020.

On June 29, 2021, the City of Santa Cruz announced that they would receive $14.5M from the State to fund their “homelessness response.” So far there is little evidence that this has provided any assistance and it sure has not been used to provide emergency shelter from the brutal atmospheric river.

As has been the case during each of this winter’s storms hundreds of additional people have been made homeless. "There are about 1,700 people displaced from their homes in Pajaro, and the town is inundated with water throughout," Monterey County Communications Director Nick Pasculli told NPR. Food Not Bombs has been providing food and sleeping bags to those who lost their housing during these storms.

Adding to the crisis is the fact that hundreds of families have already had their food stamps reduced and there are additional cuts set for April.

“The average household on CalFresh will lose about $200 a month” said Becky Silva, government relations director at the California Association of Food Banks. A single-person household, for instance, could drop from $281 a month in food aid to as low as $23 in April.

Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed this week and a bank run on New Republic also started. Many area business who had deposits in Silicon Valley Bank may not be able to meet their payrolls. Over 150,000 tech workers were let go in 2022, many employed in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Another 68,500 tech workers were sacked in January this year.

By the time you read this the news might be much worse, making the need to respond to the crisis in homelessness even more dire.

Along with a failing economy we are faced with the very real possibility of a global war between nuclear armed nations. Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs has been preparing for the economic crisis by buying our first shipping container with a grant from Second Harvest. We held a benefit concert with David Rovics at London Nelson Community Center in September 2018 and a year later I shared a flyer pretending that the city had a plan to help the residents during the global economic crash. Well it looks like that time has come and still the city has no plan and it is up to volunteer groups like Food Not Bombs to provide for the community.

The pandemic was the first major event that showed we are on our own. The government has no intention of supporting anyone but themselves. News that it would only take a few weeks to “flatten the curve” gave us hope that the Little Red Church’s Monday night meal, the London Nelson Senior Meal and Saint Francis would reopen in a month or two. Our little crew sat at LuLu Carpenters on March 14, 2020, plotting out our COVID safety protocol believing that we could cover the void left by the shuttering of the indoor meals during the few months they would be closed.

A few days later the city asked us to lure our unhoused friends into their Triage Cages, fenced-in parking lots scattered around downtown but we refused. Second Harvest Food Bank delivered its first of many truck load of rice, beans and other dry goods. We were approached by Live Oak School District seeking groceries for their homebound families which we provided. We packed dry goods into an empty office and dining area at India Joze. Dozens of people stepped up to volunteer. People delivered homemade meals. Good hearted people dropped off handmade cloth masks. We connected parents with unhoused children, fixed vehicles saving their homes from the city tow trucks and helped charge their phones. We provided the only reliable hand washing station.

The CZU Lightning Complex fires sent more people to our meals and clothing distribution. After winning a federal lawsuit against sweeping the homeless from San Lorenzo Park, we began a weekly distribution of a pallet or more of food to Mama Shannon’s pantry and JP’s Kitchen in the Benchlands. Food Not Bombs bought two more 20 foot shipping containers to store our back stock of food and equipment moving them each time the city evicted us from one empty parking lot to another.

So at the third anniversary of Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs sharing hot meals and survival gear it is clear that we can’t depend on the city to provide life-saving services. But we can depend on them to implement the most brutal policies designed to inflict as much suffering as possible.

The violence of those at city hall is horrific and criminal. A very special kind of cruelty.

Contact the new mayor and city of Santa Cruz:

831-420-5010

Mayor Fred Keeley - fkeeley@cityofsantacruz.com

City Manager Matt Huffaker - mhuffaker@santacruzca.gov

Police Chief Bernie Escalante - bescalante@cityofsantacruz.com

Assistant City Manager Laura Schmit  lschmidt@cityofsantacruz.com

Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs, PO Box 422 - Santa Cruz, CA 95061 USA

santacruz.foodnotbombs.net

1-800-884-1136

PVUSD Trustees to Consider School Resource Officers Again

By PAM SEXTON - SHOWING UP FOR RACIAL JUSTICE

On Wed., March 22, at their next regular 7pm Pajaro Valley United School Board meeting, PVUSD Trustees will discuss the presence of School Resource Officers (SROs), armed law enforcement officers, on district high school campuses. 

Despite bravado on the part of local law enforcement leaders that SROs are the magic bullet for campus violence, there is, in fact, no conclusive evidence that SROs ensure safety. Let us not forget that there was an SRO on the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida during the 2018 mass killing of 17 students and teachers; there was also an SRO on the campus of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas during the 2022 mass killing of 21 students and teachers. 

Aside from there being no certainty that they will prevent the violence we most fear, there is ample evidence that there are real harms to having SROs on campuses. Their presence leads to increased policing of students for minor disciplinary infractions, a criminalization of normal teenage behavior, which evidence shows increases feelings of alienation, disengagement, distrust of authority, and lowers educational outcomes. And this collateral damage is experienced at a higher rate for students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ youth, groups already marginalized by the broader society. 

The current PVUSD SRO program has an added Mental Health Clinician hired to work alongside the SRO, the idea being that this will reduce the potential harms noted above. There is, however, no evidence to support that this pairing reduces harm, and there are concerns that students will be less likely to reach out for needed mental health services because of a perception that law enforcement may become involved. There is also concern that some interventions carried out by the team - grief and loss support, conflict resolution, restorative practice and repair of harm, and peer-to-peer support were all listed as interventions the team have taken.- fall outside the skill set or appropriate task list for an armed police officer.

Sadly, the district and trustees have not seemed overly concerned with data on this issue. Last year’s decision to approve the SRO program followed some district data which included the fact that at both Watsonville High and Aptos High, students with disabilities were referred to the SRO-MHC team at an extremely disproportionate rate, and at both schools, Latinx students were referred to the team at a disproportionate rate. Despite this local data, which mirrors national statistics, the decision was still made to continue the program. 

The district has pointed to the generalized results of rushed and awkwardly worded 2022 surveys of students, parents and staff at the two schools to justify the program. The survey had issues with the translation, offered no options to separate the SRO from the Mental Health Clinician, and allowed for no personal comments to explain answers or ask questions. This is not real “data” and we need to do better as a district. 

Finally, and significantly, there is the issue of funding. While early on, Sheriff Jim Hart seemed to indicate a willingness to fund SROs, he has since reneged and all funding for this program has come entirely from PVUSD. If the board decides to continue with SROs despite all the reasons not to, the funding for this should come from law enforcement agencies’ budgets, not from our funding-strapped schools. In addition, there should be independent community oversight for the program, not simply oversight by a few administrators. An oversight body could ensure reliable and trustworthy data be gathered, and that the process and parameters of the program are clear, transparent and responsive to data.

Where we put funding reflects our values and priorities. The School District has allocated up to $1.2 million dollars from the current year’s budget for the SRO-MHC program. Here are some alternative uses of that money which would support the safety and well-being of all students: 

· Staff raises, to keep up with inflation and retain teachers and other staff, adults that students already have a relationship with; 

· Additional socio-emotional counselors so that each one can give the attention needed to each of the students in their caseload;

· Programs with proven success that support healing and restorative justice in schools

· Additional campus supervisors, who like SROs, play a security and rule-enforcement role, but without guns and for a much more reasonable price 

If you have something to say about this matter, please come to the School Board meeting to raise your voice for schools that prioritize cost-effective and evidence-based violence prevention and safety measures. The School Board meeting will be on Wed., at 7pm in the BoardRoom at 294 Green Valley Road, Watsonville.  To email board members, click HERE.

Pam Sexton, SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) Santa Cruz County Member (surjscc@gmail.com)

"Inuit" Painting by Watsonville artist, Elizabeth Williams.

RosaAzul at El Vaquero, March 26

By SARAH RINGLER

RosaAzul is back and making their debut at El Vaquero Winery, 2901 Freedom Blvd. at the turn off to Corralitos Rd. 

Sun. March 26, 4pm

Tickets $20 

RSVP appreciated

RosaAzul features José Chuy Hernandez on Vocals/Guitar, Adam Bolaños Scow on violin, Jose Sanchez on trumpet and Dr. Russell Rodriguez joins on guitarron & vocals.

José Chuy Hernandez and Adam Bolaños-Scow founded RosaAzul as a performance-driven ensemble dedicated to honoring and presenting some of the best Mexican music. With their extensive musical backgrounds, RosaAzul performs pieces with a musicianship and taste that allows audiences to appreciate and discover the variety and beauty of Mexican mariachi, classical, and romantic music. The band has recently performed at Kuumbwaa Jazz in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara University, and Cal State University at Monterey Bay.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA 

A little gull, although it may be a little boy, sits on a fence on Jetty Rd. in Moss Landing.

Dear Editor,

Mayor Fred Keeley thinks that no one who is unhoused has gone without shelter in Santa Cruz during the recent storms. He thinks that going out and looking around for unhoused folks was enough to show him that no one wants shelter from the storms. He thinks that there is no reason to open the Civic Auditorium.

Those of us who spend time with people who are unhoused know Mayor Keeley is wrong. I personally spoke with many poor unsheltered people shivering in the cold a few days ago. I went out with a small group from the local Democratic Socialist of America Love Boat Working Group and walked around downtown. We handed out a few supplies.

But the people who are unhoused need so much more and we need the city to step up and do its part.

The shelter at Depot Park that only takes 25-27 people a night is routinely full with a line waiting - many are turned away because there isn't room for them. And, it’s only open and available from 8 pm to 8 am. Folks are kicked out into the rain during the day.

The 1220 River St. camp only allows folks who pass Jeremy Leonard's test, so the two available spaces will be filled when Jeremy wants to fill them.

And many people have trouble with the draconian rules at the Armory. They can't easily get there and back into town when they need to get to their jobs or appointments. 

Please help bring Mayor Fred Keely and the Santa Cruz City Council up to speed at fkeeley@cityofsantacruz.com  citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com or 831-420-5020.

Laura Chatham

Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report

By SARAH RINGLER

The Santa Cruz County Health Department regularly releases data on the current status of Covid-19 in the county. There were no new deaths in the county over the past week. The last death recorded was Dec. 15.

Active cases however are still appearing. The county's Effective Reproductive Number is below 1.0. See the second chart below. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing. To view the distribution of cases around the county, look here.

The Health Department is collecting data for Covid and Mpox from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county. See webpage HERE. The first chart below shows the latest county data. The fourth chart below shows wastewater projections.

The third graph below shows hospitalizations. Click to see more information on hospitalizations HERE.



The vaccination data for the county is divided the data into three categories with the percentages inoculated: Primary Series, 77.2%, Primary Series and Boosted, 68.7 from 61%, and Bivalent Boosters, up 33.2% from 32.3%. Vaccination rates are slowly climbing.

This webpage also has a link where you can get a digital copy and scannable QR code of your vaccination record. Keep track of your four-digit code because that is your access to the site.

To order free at-home COVID-19 test kits, go HERE. You can make an appointment for a Rapid Antigen Test HERE.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Fashion Street - Individual in a Mad Hatter hat walking the streets in Desert Hot Springs in February.

Labor History Calendar - March 17-23, 2023

a.k.a Know Your History Lest We Forget

March 17, 1921: Kronstadt Commune falls to Bolsheviks.

March 17, 1970: US postal wildcat strike.

March 17, 1994: Parisian workers riot protesting government’s labor policies.

March 17, 2020: Detroit bus drivers strike and win Covid protection.

March 18, 1871: Paris Commune.

March 18, 1885: Police attack Commune memorial sparking miners’ strike in the Liege district of Belgium.

March 18, 1937: Police evict clerks occupying NY Woolworth’s for 40-hour week.

March 19, 1948: 20,000 rally against government efforts to crush rail strike in Brisbane, Australia. 

March 20, 1960: Workers’ press shut down in Cuba.

March 21, 1960: The day that changed South African history - Sharpeville massacre when police opened fire on thousands of unarmed protesters killing 69.

March 22, 1995: Japanese phone workers strike to protest down-sizing and piece-work.

March 22, 2014: Spanish workers in massive protests against austerity schemes. 

March 23, 1903: Scab-herders open fire on striking beet workers in Oxnard, CA.

March 23, 1918: Trail of 101 IWWs begin.

March 23, 1932: Norris-La Guardia Act restricts injunctions against unions and bans yellow dog contracts. 

Labor History Calendar has been published yearly by the Hungarian Literature Fund since 1985.

"People were shot. We went there and found people lying all over the ground. But something amazing happened. There was a black cloud. For 15 minutes it rained heavily after the shooting. It washed all the blood......"

Ikabot Makiti after the Sharpeville massacre, March 21, 1960 in South Africa.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Dads Cook Too

By SARAH RINGLER

Laatikko is the Finnish version of scalloped potatoes. This particular one is from Tarmo Hannula's father, Walter, who although born in Akron, Ohio, later moved to Finland where he learned Finnish. He often cooked for the family and this was one of their favorite dishes. He returned to the States when the Finnish Army tried to draft him. Ironically, he ended up in the US Army in WW II. 

In Finnish, laatikko means casserole. There are sweet and savory versions made from just about anything that you could make a casserole out of but typically potatoes, noodles, and leftover fish and meat. 

It is important to choose the right potatoes. I think Russets are the best because they absorb the milk and bake evenly making a nice solid pie. I tried Yukon Golds, as shown in the photo above, but even after four hours, the potatoes were still firm. 

The Russet Burbank potato, or russet for short, was developed by Luther Burbank in the 1930s, as a disease resistant alternative to the Irish potato. Although unpopular at first, the invention of the frozen frenchfry in 1940s popularized the new variety because its large size made longer fries. Also it kept well over long periods of time, was resistant to disease and also was great baked. 

Burbank's experiments in raising potatoes earned him some money. He was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts on March 7, 1849 on a farm and was always interested in plants. When his father died, he used his inheritance, at age 21, to buy a farm where he developed the Russet Burbank. He later sold the rights to the potato for $150 and moved to Santa Rosa in 1875 where he bought four acres of land and began experiment with crossbreeding plants. You can currently go visit the city park, Luther Burbank Home and Gardens, in Santa Rosa. His most famous strains and varieties besides the Russet Burbank, are the Santa Rosa plum, the Shasta daisy, and the freestone peach. 

This dish bakes for four hours. I'm sure it comes from the days when people had wood or oil stoves so the cook just put it in warm corner of the stove. With PG&E latest increase, it is a little difficult to advocate for this recipe but, if it's a cold day, the oven heat can also heat the house. 

Laatikko

4-5 medium peeled and thinly sliced russets 

3/4 cup diced pancetta, or bacon 

3 cups whole milk more or less 

2-3 onions thinly sliced

3-4 tablespoons flour

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square pan. Peel and thinly slice 4 to 5 medium russet potatoes. Slice the onions. 

Whisk the milk, flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the onions, pancetta or bacon, and potatoes. Pour into the buttered pan and bake for four hours.

Welcome to Serf City Times Our county has problems and many people feel left out. Housing affordability, racism and low wages are the most obvious factors. However, many groups and individuals in Santa Cruz County work tirelessly to make our county a better place for everyone. These people work on the environment, housing, economic justice, health, criminal justice, disability rights, immigrant rights, racial justice, transportation, workers’ rights, education reform, gender issues, equity issues, electoral politics and more. Often, one group doesn’t know what another is doing. The Serf City Times is dedicated to serving as a clearinghouse for those issues by letting you know what is going on, what actions you can take and how you can support these groups.This is a self-funded enterprise and all work is volunteer. 

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