Not enough housing: that's what's criminal
By SARAH RINGLER
Art by PAUL GERSHOWITZ 1929-2017 >
Criminalizing some nonviolent behavior is ineffective. Ben Adam Climer, from Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets presented on Monday to Santa Cruz City Council, an alternative way that the community can use to deal with nonviolent 911 calls. By using harm reduction techniques, situations can often be decriminalized and de-escalated. Calls that require conflict resolution, welfare checks, substance abuse, suicide threats, and mental health issues are often health issues, not criminal. Homelessness, another source of 911 calls according to the Santa Cruz Police Department, is a societal issue; there is just not enough affordable housing that fit the local wage scale.
CAHOOTS uses mobile units with two people, a medic that can be a nurse, paramedic or EMT, and a crisis worker who has been trained in mental health issues, to go out in the community and provide back up to the police when needed. They also are trained to handle non-emergent medical issues avoiding ambulance and emergency room costs.
They were created 31 years ago in Eugene, Oregon and now provide consultations to other communities who are interested in a similar model. Portland, Springfield, San Francisco, Olympia, and Denver have set up similar programs with their assistance. The mobile units are often run by a non-profit. Climer noted that CAHOOTS is a good way for beginning EMTs to get experience, but there is also high turnover at their Eugene center because of low pay. Rents in Eugene are less than here.
Mayor Justin Cummings and the Santa Cruz City Council called a Community Study Session to address the community's interest in reorganizing and improving local emergency and crisis response services as presented in the MoveOn petition, Re-imaging Public Safety: Establish an Alternative Emergency Response Program. The petition created by Amy Lebichuck has been signed by 462 residents.
Erik G. Riera from the County of Santa Cruz Behavioral Health Services, Kristie Brenda of the Downtown Outreach Program of Encompass Community Services, Santa Cruz Police Department and Crises Assistance Helping Out on the Streets all made presentations during the four and a half hour meeting. City Council asked important questions and the public also gave comments. It was clear that all of these agencies are devoting a lot of time and energy to addressing homelessness, mental illness and substance addiction. It is also clear they have a tremendous amount of expertise and knowledge. The documents and PowerPoints from the meeting illustrate that.
There was agreement among all that more housing and more resources were needed. The Downtown Outreach Program stated that their program is based on the idea that housing is ultimately the solution to homelessness. Research (Gulcer, et al. 2003) shows that Permanent Supportive Housing is cost effective, improves health outcomes and reduces the use of emergency services, including emergency psychiatric services. Others pointed out that constantly worrying about where you are going to find a place to rest, precludes the ability to address substance abuse issues. Both add to mental health issues.
Santa Cruz City Council at the end of the meeting voted to continue to discuss reorganizing and improving local emergency and crisis response, and to continue working with the county and CAHOOTS.
You can write to city and county leaders to give your feedback.
|
|
Our local mascot, the banana slug, is out in the wet woods in the Soquel Hills off Prescott Road.
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
|
|
New Federal Coronavirus Sick Leave Rights
By SARAH RINGLER
On Sept. 11, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division released revisions to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The new act expands paid sick leave, and family and medical leave requirements for all public and private employees.
Under the revised FFCRA, covered employers must provide:
- 2 weeks (up to 80 hours or a part-time employee’s 2-week equivalent) of paid sick leave dependent on qualifying reasons for leave related to COVID-19.
- Up to an additional 12 weeks of paid expanded family and medical leave for employees who are unable to work due to a bona fide need for leave to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.
|
|
Huge Savings
100% Off
Don't Shop
|
|
Sarah's 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. As of Nov. 19, there were 3,685 cases that tested positive, a 11% increase from Nov. 12. The death count is 27, one more than last week.
As of Nov. 16, we moved back into the most restrictive Purple Tier. For what that means to the county, click here. For information on the tiers, go here.
The distribution of the data remains stable despite the rise. The county's Effective Reproductive Number continues to rise above one. See chart below. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing.
To get tested without a doctor’s request, call 1-888-634-1123 or go online at https://lhi.care/covidtesting. The testing clinic is at at Ramsay Park in Watsonville. Other testing sites that may have restricted access can be found here.
To visit the website for the Santa Cruz County Health Department:
|
|
Known cases tested positive by age/% of population:
19 and under - 18%/25%
20-34 - 31%/22%
35-44 - 16%/12%
45-64 - 25%/27%
65 or older - 10%/15%
Tested positive by ethnicity/% of population:
Multi-Race - 2%/3%
White - 17%/58%
Latinx - 61%/34%
Black - .5%/1%
Asian - 1%/4%
Other - 6%/.4%
Unknown - 13%
Tested positive by gender/% of population:
Female - 52%/50%
Male - 47%/50%
Other - 0%
Unknown - 0%
Tested positive by region/% of population:
Mid-county - 1%/12%
North county - 17%/60%
South county - 62%/29%
Under investigation - 2%
|
|
Weekly increases in positive tests:
June 12-19 - 7%
June 19-26 - 23%
June 26 to July 3 - 22%
July 3-9 - 23%
July 9-16 - 40%
July 16-23 - 20%
July 23-30 - 27%
July 30-Aug. 6 - 13%
Aug. 6-13- 12%
Aug.14-20 - 16%
Aug.20-28 - 10%
Aug. 28-Sept. 3 - 10%
Sept. 3-10 - 6%
Sept. 10-17- 8%
Sept. 17-24 - 7%
Sept. 25- Oct.1 - 5%
Oct. 1 - 9 - 4%
Oct. 9-15 - 4%
Oct. 15-22 - 5%
Oct. 23-29 - 4%
Oct. 30-Nov. 5 - 6%
Nov. 5-12 - 10%
Nov. 12-19 - 11%
|
|
|
THE LEFT BURNER - RECIPES
The Biscotti Challenge - send in your recipe now
By SARAH RINGLER
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Italian cookies form their own category in the cookie world. They often have interesting shapes, are not quite as sweet, and usually are very lightweight and crunchy. One variety, biscotti, are unusual because they are baked twice. There are many variations but this is the easiest biscotti recipe I could find; and, it turned up in my mother’s recipe box under the heading, “from Dede.”
I'm aware that some of you may bake a biscotti that are better than these ones. I'm inviting you to a recipe bake off. Since we can't meet this year to taste test our biscottis, I invite you to send your recipe to Serf City Times. I will post them for bakers to try. Bakers can then send me responses from their eaters. The recipe with the best responses wins a 12 ounce package of Bob's Red Mill Premium Quality Wheat Germ. Don't laugh. Wheat germ is harder to find than toilet paper right now. Submit your recipe by Dec. 4 to qualify. Winner will be announced in January.
Originally, the traditional biscotti recipe that came from a Prato baker, Antonio Mattei, was only made out of flour, sugar, pine nuts and almonds. There were no eggs, butter or leavening. He brought them to the second world’s fair, the 1867 Exposition Universelle, held in Paris, where he won a prize and also introduced them to the rest of Europe.
Easy Biscotti
2 ¾ cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons anise seed
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla flavoring
1 tablespoon water
1 cup coarsely chopped almonds
3 eggs
Sift or whisk flour with baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Melt butter and cool. In a large mixing bowl beat the melted butter, sugar and anise seed. Beat in the eggs until smooth. Add the flavoring and water. Again, beat to mix well.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg and sugar mixture. Add the almonds and mix until completely blended. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a cookie tin. Divide the dough into three parts. Form each part into a long loaf the length of a shallow cookie pan, and about 2 inches wide by ½ inch high. Line them up side by side leaving space between them. They will expand and you don’t want them to touch. Bake for 20 minutes. Don’t overbake. I removed mine when I saw that the ends were turning slightly brown.
Using a long spatula, remove the loaves from the pan and put on a cutting board. With a sharp knife, cut the loaves diagonally into 5-6 inch long slices that are about ¾ inch wide. Put the slices, cut side up, back on the cookie sheet and bake another 10-15 minutes until they are solid like toast but not browned. Cool on racks and then store in airtight containers. Makes about 4 ½ dozen cookies.
|
|
YOUR STORY OR ART HERE: Please submit a story 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 possible. 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.
|
|
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 © 2020 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
