View from the sky over the Pajaro Valley where land use is a critical issue.
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Let's Stick with Measure U
By AMY NEWELL
A look-back at how we got the Urban Limit Line for Watsonville and where we stand now.
I graduated from Watsonville High in 1965. For the next 30 years I lived and worked in many different parts of the U.S. When I arrived back in Watsonville in 1995, I was astonished by the intensity of civic disagreement over land use issues. The City Council and city staff were determined to annex farmland and open space for city growth. This was opposed by community members, farmers, environmentalists, and open space advocates. Pitched battles raged at City Council meetings and LAFCO hearings. The city was at war with itself and going nowhere.
I jumped right into the fray and joined the Campaign to Save the Pajaro Valley Farmlands and Wetlands. In my years of moving around the country, I had seen too many communities with dying downtowns surrounded by sprawling subdivisions, suburban shopping malls and Big Box chain stores. I was turned off by this turn toward homogenization, in which everyplace starts to look and feel just like everyplace else. I thought we should find ways to preserve the character and uniqueness of the Pajaro Valley – this jewel of a city surrounded by world-class farmland and the Watsonville freshwater slough system -- while finding other ways to accommodate the need for growth.
The land use wars of the 1990s culminated in a LAFCO hearing in 1999 over the city’s request to annex the Manabe-Ow parcel for development. The hearing went on and on over two separate nights in the gymnasium of the middle school on Arthur Road. At the end of the second night, LAFCO voted to reject the city’s annexation proposal.
Out of this stalemate was born Action Pajaro Valley, a coming together of the warring sides to see if a truce could be achieved. After 3 years of community outreach and thousands of hours of volunteer work on a long-term “visioning process” for the Pajaro Valley, the effort to reach agreement on an Urban Limit Line (ULL) succeeded. The anti-sprawl forces agreed that hundreds of acres of farmland, wildlife habitat and open space could be annexed by the city in specific locations for specific purposes. In return, the city agreed not to seek further annexations until after the expirations of the ULL (20 years for some city boundaries and 25 years for others). This was codified in Measure U, which Watsonville voters approved in 2002. It was endorsed by the City of Watsonville, the Farm Bureau, the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey, Watsonville Wetlands Watch, The Central Labor Council, the PV Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture, and all the organizations that had previously been on opposing sides of the land use wars. At the 2006 LAFCO hearing on the city’s renewed request to annex the Manabe-Ow parcel, every single speaker supported it except for one guy who drove down from Santa Cruz to oppose it. LAFCO gave it the green light and the big FedEx warehouse now sits on that property.
Peace reigned in Pajaro Valley on land use issues until 2013. Tune in to Serf City News next week for the latest chapters…….
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Calling residents of the San Lorenzo Riverbanks, Housie Comrades, Mutual Aid and Community Groups
San Lorenzo Riverbanks Cleanup Sessions
First session: Saturday, July 17, 11am-1pm. Meet in San Lorenzo Park, Dakota St. entrance, near the Duck Pond and pedestrian bridge
Second session: Friday, July 23, after the 5pm. Meet in San Lorenzo Park, near the picnic tables behind the Courthouse. Team starting points: Felker St. footbridge, Soquel St. underpass. Water St. underpass, Laurel St. underpass
Dress in layers and wear sturdy closed-toe shoes, prepare for sun/heat, BYO water bottle, garden gloves, and trash picker/rake/shovel if you have them
We will have supplies available: water and snacks, disposable and reusable gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, some tools, sharps and used battery containers, and lots of garbage bags
Participants who are not residents of the riverbanks are requested to sign up in advance and will be expected to follow a community code of conduct. Please sign up here: https://forms.gle/bCHaPgBdpj5cEsYA6
Coordinated by: Benchlands Camp Council, Sanitation for the People, Food Not Bombs, SC Homeless Union and supported by: DSA Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Cares, and H.U.F.F
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Free Commander X aka Christopher Doyon - Nonviolent cyber activist defending the rights of the homeless
By KEITH MCHENRY - COFOUNDER OF GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOOD NOT BOMBS
He risked his freedom to free me from the Orange County Jail in Orlando in 2011 so I am asking you to help us free Chris.
Christopher Doyon was captured at his home outside Mexico City on June
12, extradited to the United States and is being held in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California. The Mexican government had granted him political asylum. There is some concern that his status may have changed at the request of the United States during Kamala Harris’s June 9th visit to Mexico City.
Christopher Doyon’s campaigns of cyber nonviolent direct action in defense of the poor and oppressed is commendable. He not only supported the rights of the homeless and Food Not Bombs here in the United States, he also joined Anonymous in providing cyber support for activists in the Middle East and Northern Africa during the Arab Spring and contributed to the campaign to defend WikiLeaks when Visa and MasterCard cut off access to funding.
Christopher Doyon should be free.
When I was locked up in the Orange County Jail in Orlando in 2011 for the crime of sharing food with the hungry I did three interviews. TV reporters asked if it bothered me that local websites had been disrupted possibly costing the Orlando tourist industry tens of thousands of dollars.
I responded, “Nobody is falling off a tree or anything or dying because someone can't read a website about an attraction or something are they? Don’t they still have phones? It just doesn't seem that serious to me.’”
Doyon also has a second case from Santa Cruz, California where he had
been homeless and was participating in a protest against the city's policy of dehumanizing those who live outside. According to the 2011 Federal indictment, a December 16, 2010, DDoS attack was orchestrated as part of “Operation Peace Camp 2010” in retaliation for the enforcement of the camping ban. The City of Santa Cruz enacted Section 6.36.010 of its Municipal Code, entitled “Camping Prohibited,” which contained restrictions and definitions on camping within Santa Cruz City.
This sleeping ban law was made even more repressive in early June
changing its title to “Camping Services and Standards Ordinance.” The law officially took effect on July 9 and could be used to justify the relocation of all unhoused to some as not yet defined facilities that could include a dusk to dawn “safe sleeping site” in a parking lot.
To support Chris, join the protest outside the Robert F. Peckham Federal Court House, 280 S. 1st Street, San Jose, California on on the day of his court appearance, Tuesday, July 20 at noon.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Black Skimmers are flying around the Monterey Bay foraging by dipping their beaks into the water and scooping up food. On the Atlantic coast, they're returning from near extinction from the commercial harvesting of their eggs and feathers in the late 19th century.
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"The best protection any woman can have..... is courage."
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
1815- 1902
One of the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention in 1848.
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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. The number of cases on Thursday totaled 16,351, up 34 from last Thursday's 16,317. There were no new deaths and the number remains at 207. There were no changes in all the categories.
Santa Cruz County issued a July 13th Press Release annoucing the county has funding for businesses and organizations who can promote vaccine education, outreach and enrollment for priority groups.
June 29th Press Release, on the Delta variant that is more highly transmissalble and more resistant to monoclonal antibody treatment. One individual, a male in his 50s has been identified. For updates from the state, go here.
The county's vaccination data is now available. 59% of the total population is fully vaccinated and 68% has had a least one dose. These numbers have not changed much over the last week.
The county's Effective Reproductive Number is staying below 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. Other testing sites that may have restricted access can be found here.
For vaccine information in Santa Cruz County, click here.
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% deaths by ethnicity/% of population:
White - 55%/58%
Latinx - 36%/34%
Black - 0/1%
Asian - 7%/4%
American Native - 0.5%/not available
% deaths by gender/% of population:
Female - 51%/50%
Male - 49%/50%
Other - 0
Under Investigation - 0
Deaths by age/202:
30-39 - 2%
40-49 - 3%
50-59 - 2%
60-69 - 13%
70-79 - 21%
80-89 - 31%
90+ - 27%
Tested positive by region/% of population:
Mid-county - 21%/12%
North county - 20%/60%
South county - 58%/29%
Under investigation - 0%
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%
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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%
Nov. 19-26 - holiday
Nov. 19-Dec. 3 - 29% 2 weeks of data for this week only
Dec. 3-10 - 16%
Dec. 10-17 - 17%
Dec. 17-24 - 14%
Dec. 24-31 - 19%
Jan. 1-7 - 13%
Jan. 7-14 - 14%
Jan. 15-21 - 11%
Jan. 21-28 - 5%
Jan. 28-Feb. 4 - 5%
Feb. 5-11 - 2%
Feb. 11-18 - 2%
Feb. 18-25 - 1%
Feb. 25-March 5 - 1%
March 5-11 - 1%
March 11-18 - 2%
March 18-25 - .5%
March 25 - Apr. 1 - .7%
Apr. 1-8 - 0.1%
Apr. 9-15 - 1%
Apr. 16-22 - 2%
Apr. 22-30 - 2%
Apr. 30 - May 6 - .3%
May 6-13 - 2%
May 13-20 - 0%
May 24 - Data readjustment by county means percentages cannot be calculated this week.
May 27 - June 3 - 0%
June 3-10 - 0%
June 11-17 - .25%
June 18-24 - 0%
June 25-July 1 - 0%
July 2-8 - .3%
July 9-15 - .2%
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Fashion Street - VWs on parade
By SARAH RINGLER
Cute cars in this photo taken on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz.
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Labor History Calendar for July 16-22:
July 16, 1876: Birth of Vincent St. John, leader of the WFM and IWW.
July 16, 1877: Great Uprising, nationwide railway strike.
July 16, 1913: IWW cigar workers strike in Pittsburgh, PA.
July 17, 1936: Spanish Civil War begins
July 18, 1969: Hospital workers end 113 day strike that saw united efforts by strikers, students and civil rights groups in Charleston, SC.
July 19, 1848: Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY
July 19, 1877: Pittburgh strikers drive soldiers out of town.
July 20, 1934: 67 strikers wounded in Minneapolis truckers' strike.
July 20, 2020: Strikes, protests across US support Black Lives Matter fight.
July 21, 1878: Publication of "Eight Hours," most popular labor song until "Solidarity Forever."
July 21, 1964: IWW bluebery pickers strike befins near Gand Junction, Mich.
July 21, 1978: Wildcat postal strike begins in Jersey City for safety and the right to strike.
July 22, 1877: General strike in St. Louis
July 22, 1817: IWW and Casa de Obrero Mundial sponsored general strike closes, Mexico oil industry.
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A Women’s Moral Monday March on Washington - July 19
One hundred women from all over the country will lead a Moral Monday march in Washington DC on the anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848— the first women’s rights convention in the US. The nonviolent direct action demands on this day are:
1. End the filibuster
2. Pass all provisions of the For the People Act
3. Fully restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act
4. Raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hr.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Savory Mushroom Empanadas
By SARAH RINGLER
The recipe is from a book that was part of cookbook series of the kind that was commonly sold in grocery store that had lofty titles like "The Best of" followed by all the countries of the world. In fact, the name of the book is, "The Best of Mexico," by Evie Righter and Kathi J. Long published in 1992. You never know where you are going to find some inspirational ideas that turn out to taste great.
Along with garlic and jalapeños, the dominating flavors are either cilantro or epazote. You can use either but not both, because each has very strong dissimilar flavors. I usually use cilantro because it is fresh, readily available around here and I love the flavor.
Cilantro, also called coriander or Chinese parsley, is an herb native to an area that covers southern Europe, northern Africa, and then east to southwestern Asia. Both the seed, which is ground, and the leaf are used in cooking. Most people find that the leaf has a lemony tart taste but there is a small percentage of the population, 4-14% according to a Huffington Post website story called "Science Explains Why Cilantro Tastes Like Soap for Certain People," who carry a gene called OR6A2, that causes them to detect the flavor of aldehyde chemicals that are in both cilantro and soap.
Since cilantro is not native to the Americas, if you want to make a more authentically Mexican empanada, you would use epazote, also called wormseed, Jesuit's tea, payqu, mastruz or herba sancta Maria. I also like epazote and it can usually be found dried in packages in Mexican markets. It is native to southern Mexico, Central and South America and the name is derived from the Nahuatl word "epazotl." It has an unusual flavor that when chemically analyzed by Texas A and M University in 2013, was revealed to contain this partial list of flavors: lemon, pine, myrrh, thyme and camphor. It is often added when cooking black beans and is suppose to lessen the gaseous effects that some people get from eating beans. I brought some seeds back a few years when I was in Oaxaca but have not had good luck in turning them into plants. Staff of Life sold the plants in their herb section during the summer and mine is now going to seed so I hope to grow the plants in the future if all goes well.
These tarts are good for parties or potlucks and can be served warm or room temperature. They go well with sweet mango salsa, yogurt or by themselves. The recipe calls for white onions which are similar to yellow onions except they are milder. These tarts will be deep fried, so as always, never leave the stove while frying.
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt, half for dough and half for filling
3 tablespoons lard or vegetable shortening
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup ice water
3 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus another 1 1/2- 2 cups for deep frying
2 cups slivered white onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
6 ounces mushrooms, washed, dried and sliced
3-4 jalapeños, seeded, stemmed and chopped
1/4 cup chopped epazote or cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
In a large bowl combine flour and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Cut in lard with a pastry blender or use you hands to rub the mixture into like coarse cornmeal. Beat the egg yolk and ice water. Add to the flour mixture and mix with a fork until you can form a ball. Knead dough for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide and shape into 12 balls about the size of golf balls. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for about 1 hour.
Prepare the mushrooms, onions, jalapeños, garlic and herbs. To make filling, heat 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium high heat in a medium frying pan. Add the onions and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and fry for about 5 minutes until brown and tender. Add the jalapeños, garlic, cilantro or epazote, the other 1 teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Stir and cook. If there is too much liquid, turn up heat until liquid dries up.
On a floured board, roll out a ball of dough with a rolling pin and add about 2 tablespoons of filling in the middle. Brush some water over half of the edge. Fold over and seal with fork tines.
After all the balls are rolled out and filled, bring the deep fat frying oil over medium high heat to about 375 degrees. Watch carefully. Fry each empanada for about 2-3 minutes until golden. Drain on paper towers. Keep warm in 200-degree oven. Serve.
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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 © 2021 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved
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