What? Were They Thinking?
By RICK LONGINOTTI
When future generations reflect on our generation's response to climate change, and ask, "What were they thinking?", they can study the record of Thursday's Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission meeting. The SCCRTC needed to decide how they would respond to our lawsuit that successfully invalidated the Environmental Impact Report on a plan for an 8-lane Highway 1, the HOV Lane Project. We, the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation, advocated that they drop the HOV Project, which their own study estimates will be unfunded until "after 2035".
Instead, the Commission voted to take money from discretionary local transportation projects and give it to the HOV Project. Commission staff anticipated community push-back if the RTC tried to take the money from Measure D, since the HOV Lane Project is not on the voter-approved expenditure list. Sandy Brown and Mike Rotkin voted no.
For me the highlight was when Sandy Brown asserted that "climate change is real" and that "induced travel is real." Nobody on the Commission contested this view — but their actions didn't reflect an understanding of this reality. We have our work cut out for us.
Several Commissioners acknowledged that the HOV Project will probably never get funded, even as they voted money for it.
Now CFST and our co-plaintiff, Sierra Club, need to figure out whether we want to appeal the court's decision to allow the auxiliary lanes to move forward. The EIR on the next auxiliary lane segment, Soquel Dr. to 41st Ave. estimates it will "slightly worsen traffic operations in the peak hour."
The RTC also voted at the Aug. 4 meeting to advance engineering and environmental study of electric transit on the rail corridor. Something we need to point out is that expanding highways undermines transit ridership (and sucks funds away from transit). We can't serve two masters.
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The map above shows a possible Light Rail schedule for Santa Cruz County. It is from the March 2021 Draft Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis and Rail Network Integration Study conducted by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, SCCRTC. Click HERE to see various models of electric trains from around the world, maps that could integrate our county rail to the rest of California, station designs and much, much more.
Friends of the Rail Trail Hail Progress Toward Electric Rail Service in Santa Cruz County
By FAINA SEGAL
Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail & Trail (FORT) yesterday released the following statement by Board President Faina Segal in reaction to Aug. 4's Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) meeting and discussion of future electric rail service in Santa Cruz County:
“Today’s unanimous vote by the Regional Transportation Commission represents a historic moment in the effort to bring passenger rail service to Santa Cruz County. The decision to issue a Request For Proposals to start the Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Documentation for electric light rail service on the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line will also bring 32 miles of the Coastal Rail Trail into design and construction mode. This represents a clear win for both the Rail and Trail projects.
We’re excited to see that the Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Documentation for the rail transit project will also include designing Coastal Rail Trail segments 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20, from Rio Del Mar Boulevard to Pajaro.
Yesterday’s action builds on momentum created by the defeat of Measure D, as well as the upcoming start of construction on Segment 7b of the Rail Trail in Santa Cruz. The RTC is once again on track toward completing a community-wide vision for our future. FORT thanks the RTC Commissioners, staff, and the Santa Cruz City and County Public Works Departments for their hard work putting these projects together. ”
What This Means for Rail Service
The first planning and design task for actually implementing passenger rail is developing the Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Documentation, often called the "30% Design & EIR." We took a deep dive into the Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis and Rail Network Integration Business Plan (Rail Business Plan) to see what goes into creating the 30% Design & EIR. Wondering where will the rail stops be? Want to know how long the commute will be and how often trains will come? All these decisions and so much more are a necessary part of this process. Click here to read our blog post about what goes into the work. See map above.
Adding More Coastal Rail Trail is Included
We’re pleased to see that the staff proposal for the 30% Design & EIR for the rail project also includes designing Coastal Rail Trail segments 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20, from Rio Del Mar Boulevard to Pajaro. This means that the full 32 miles of trail is now in progress.
More Westside Trail Construction Underway
The City of Santa Cruz started construction on Coastal Rail Trail Segment 7 Phase II on July 25. It is expected to be finished in late summer of 2023. The project is a 0.8 miles long paved bicycle/pedestrian path between Bay/California streets and Pacific Avenue/Beach Street. It will be 12-16 feet wide and run along the coastal side of the existing rail line. It is designed for pedestrians and bicyclists of all ages and abilities, with running slopes and curb ramps designed to be ADA compliant. It will provide a safer active transportation corridor linking the West Side to the popular Beach Street bikeway and favorite public destinations like the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and the Municipal Wharf on the east end, as well as the River Path connecting to downtown.
Celebration and T-Shirt Giveaway August 11
The City of Santa Cruz is hosting a Groundbreaking celebration! Come join FORT as we cheer at this event. We will be giving Rail & Trail supporters t-shirts that celebrate FORT’s 20th Anniversary! Please click here to RSVP if you would like us to bring a shirt for you.
When: Thursday, Aug. 11 - 12:15 -12:45pm at La Barranca Park,
Where: 700 Bay Street, near the intersection of California Avenue.
Click Here to RSVP and reserve your free t-shirt.
Let’s celebrate! The RTC is on track again towards completing the community-wide Rail & Trail vision for our future. I hope to see you at the Groundbreaking!
About Friends of the Rail & Trail
Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail & Trail (FORT) is a local, all-volunteer, nonprofit organization founded in 2002. FORT was founded to advocate for the purchase of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line in order to use it for both an inclusive 32-mile bike and pedestrian trail and a 22-mile passenger rail transit system. Rail and Trail together will serve and connect the entire county, from Watsonville to Davenport, with a variety of transportation modes that meet the needs of the greatest number of residents.
In 2020, FORT launched the Coast Connect campaign for a robust, modern, and efficient transportation system in Santa Cruz County. Learn more at www.railandtrail.org and www.coastconnect.org, as well as on social media.
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Support Secret Garden Women's Shelter
Summertime Salads, First Anniversary Party -
6pm Sunday, August 7
150 Felker St.
By BRENT ADAMS
WarmingCenter/Footbridge is a main source of clothing, blankets, shoes and tents. Since we're open 7 days a week, our stock of donation materials needs constant replenishment.
You'll be happy to know that our donation center is a function of our ability to encourage people to take better care of themselves and their belongings. When paired with our storage and laundry programs, people are better able to keep and maintain their belongings.Needed items include pants, t-shirts, dresses, shoes, hoodies, jackets, blankets, and tents, etc.
We have added new locations for your convenience. We are also introducing our new Donation Center at REI Sports, 1662 Commercial Way, across from Moe's Alley in the old Toys R'Us building. We rely on our community to help us maintain these important services. Paypal: warmingcenterprogram.com
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Join the community at 1pm at the Town Clock in Santa Cruz on Saturday, August 6th to call for opposition to World War III and the global nuclear conflict |
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Back to the Way Things Were
by the San Francisco Mime Troupe
Saturday, August 20, 2:30 PM
London Nelson Center (outside)
301 Center Street, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is one of the few places where the Mime Troupe offers a free show.
"In a country where we can finally stop wearing masks to get pizza and go to the movies, and where we again have a President who isn’t dumb as a two dollar ham, hard-working, middle-aged liberals Ralph and Alice wistfully yearn for The Before Times, when things seemed normal. But for Zoe - their twenty-something daughter who grew up in a world of climate change, housing crashes, student debt, the rise of dictatorships and the fall of democracies - there is no “better” to go back to. For her the purgatory of the last two years was just a pause from life in Hell. So, what’s the point? Isn’t it easier to just give up"
Written by Michael Gene Sullivan with Marie Cartier
Music & Lyrics by Daniel Savio
Directed by Velina Brown
Musical Direction by Daniel Savio
The Cast: Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, Andre Amarotico,Lizzie Calogero, Norman Gee, & Alicia M. P. Nelson.
The Band: Will Durkee (Guitars), Daniel Savio (Keyboards), & Jason Young (Drums).
All Actors and the Stage Manager appears through the courtesy of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
A redwinged blackbird studies the cracks in a signpost at Pinto Lake City Park in Watsonville.
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Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report - New Covid Tracking Uses Wastewater Data
By SARAH RINGLER
Because of the availability of home testing, I will no longer be reporting on changes in the active cases in the county. The Health Department is now collecting data 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 county data.
There were no new deaths this week.
Click to view a graph of hospitalizations here.
I will no longer be reporting on vaccinations because two boosters, with probably more on the way, are not factored into the the county's vaccination data. Besides, there has been little change in the last seven months. Here are more details on the county's vaccination data.
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.
The county's Effective Reproductive Number is now below one. See the second chart below. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing. The chart, released from the California Department of Public Health below shows several predictions from different agencies. For information, click here.
To get information of COVID-19 testing locations around the county visit this site. You can make an apppointment for a Rapid Antigen Test here. The government is issuing four free Antigen Rapid Tests here.
Any Californian, ages six months and older can get vaccinated for free. For information on getting vaccinated, click here.
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Deaths by age/268:
25-34 - 5/268
35-44 - 8/268
45-54 - 10/268
55-59 - 4/268
60-64 - 15/268
65-74 - 47/268
75-84 - 62/268
85+ - 117/268
Deaths by gender:
Female - 131/268
Male - 137/268
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Deaths by vaccination status:
vaccinated - 34/268
unvaccinated - 234/268
Deaths by ethnicity:
White - 155/268
Latinx - 90/268
Black - 3/268
Asian - 16/268
American Native - 1/268
Unknown - 0
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Fashion Street - A well-dressed recycler patrols the streets of Sacramento.
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Labor History Calendar July 22-29, 2022
Aug. 5, 1929: Start of 2-day strike by Transylvanian coal miners for 8-hour day and end to child labor. Strike was crushed when troops open fire, killing two.
April 6, 1945: Hiroshima A-bombed by US.
April 6, 2017: Death of farmworker forced to stay on the job until he collapsed. Event sparks strike of immigrant blue berry pickers in Sumas, WA.
April 7, 1890: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, IWW organizer, born.
April 7, 1931: IWW strike begins at Boulder Canyon Project, Utah.
April 8, 1845: UK Enclosure Act privatizes common lands.
April 8, 1903: Cripple Creek, Colorado miners' strike begins.
April 8, 1995: 700,000 public workers old one-day sit-in strike across Turkey.
April 8, 2019: 80 part-time Amazon warehouse workers strike in Eagan, Minnesota.
Aug. 9, 1890: Knights of Labor strike New York Central railroad, defeated by union scabbing.
Aug. 9 1945: Nagasaki A-bombed by US.
Aug. 10, 1914: Australian IWW run front page declaring: "War! What for? [....] War is hell! Send the capitalists to hell and wars are impossible."
Aug. 10, 1933: Boss press laments women pickets' effectiveness in 4th day of California beet strike - many arrests.
Aug. 11, 1833: Robert Ingersoll born.
Aug. 11, 1894: Troops drive 1,200 in Kelley's Army of unemployed from Washington DC; Jack London, Big Bill Haywood among the deported.
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"The genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima."
Pablo Picasso
April 6, 1945 - US dropped the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Pájaro Valley Berry Cake
By SARAH RINGLER
Here is a modest cake that is pretty and provocative. Not too many sweet cakes call for basil and cornmeal. Make sure you have sweet berries. Test them first and add a little extra sugar if necessary. After all, this is a cake.
Initially, all plants began as wild plants. Early humans must have really relished the seasonal berries and fruits since they were only source of sweetness other than honey extracted under risk from beehives.
Blackberries grow wild along the roadsides and fields. Depending on where you live, they are starting to ripen.
Berries freeze well and can be kept in the freezer for several months. That way you can take advantage of good prices during the season. However, they are never better than picked and eaten right off the plant on a warm day.
2 to 2 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and/or strawberries - save 1cup of the berries for decoration after you bake the cake
1 1/3 cups flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon fresh basil, finely chopped
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
1 teaspoons lemon zest
Fresh basil for decoration
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of an 8-inch round cakepan with parchment paper or wax paper. Grease the sides of the pan and the paper. Arrange 1 ½ cup berries in the bottom of the pan. If you use strawberries, cut into thin slices. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, cornmeal, basil, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, milk, lemon zest and oil/butter. Quickly stir this mixture into the dry ingredients. Do not over mix. Pour over the berries in the cake pan. Spread evenly.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick that in inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the sides. Invert onto a serving plate. Remove the paper.
Carefully drip the frosting over the cake and spread it evenly letting some drip down the sides. Decorate with the rest of the berries and the basil or mint.
This cake can be refrigerated and is also good the next day.
Frosting
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 teaspoons milk
Mix the ingredients together. Spread on the warm cake as noted above.
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Send your story, poetry or art here: Please submit a story, poem or photo of your art that you think would be of interest to the people of Santa Cruz County. Try and keep the word count to around 400. Also, there should be suggested actions if this is a political issue. Submit to coluyaki@gmail.com
If you are enjoying the Serf City Times, forward it on to others. We need readers, artists, photographers and writers.
Thanks, Sarah Ringler
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Welcome to Serf City Times Over time, our county has grown more stratified and divided with many people feeling 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.
Copyright © 2022 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved
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