Serf City Times - Let's start designing the Rail and Trail - Workers Not Protected in California

Volume 5, Issue 4, July 5, 2024 View as Webpage

The chart above highlights four principles that need to be considered to make a successful transportation system.

Let’s Get Started Designing the Rail Service We Want to See

BY FAINA SEGAL

Until July 18, the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is taking online public comments on the Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail that will run from the Westside of Santa Cruz to the Pajaro Station at their Virtual Open House. They are seeking input on the kinds of rail vehicles, alignments, and possible stops.

This preliminary look has been simplified to the point of providing almost no detail at all, however, it’s at this point when we can have the biggest impact on the design principles we want to see in this project. To that end, we, at Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail and Trail, have spent the time reading best practices in rail service design so you wouldn’t have too.

Knowing which design decisions will have the greatest impact in creating a rail system that has high ridership, customer satisfaction, and meets state and federal criteria for funding, has become an exact science. The data is in and experts agree prioritizing walkability, travel time, frequency, and reliability creates a system that’s used, loved, and easiest to fund.

These principles might seem simple and obvious, but our review of the initial designs show that not all of these best practices are being prioritized. This is especially true for pedestrian safety and accessibility, including where the rail trail is located. Additionally, key requirements for federal funding have not been disclosed to the public and only 11 stops are being proposed, with key neighborhoods in Live Oak, Watsonville, and Mid-County being skipped. Do you care about qualifying for federal funding programs? About whether accessibility or speed is prioritized? About how many bikes will fit on the train? Or about which neighborhoods will have stops? Now is the time to let your voice be heard. Click here Virtual Open House.

Rail Stops and Stations

The Virtual Open House includes 11 proposed stops for our rail service, including a special stop for Cabrillo College that includes a pedestrian bridge over Hwy 1 straight into campus.

Some of these important stops include passing sidings which will help our rail service have high frequency or at least 30 minute headways. Should we plan for even more frequency? Increasing frequency might involve ensuring that more stops have room for passing siding that will allow trains passing in the opposite direction to pass.

We can imagine we might want 16 - 18 stops to include every neighborhood that meets the federal density requirements, some of these additional stops are shown in the graphic below.

Kinds of Train

RTC offered three vehicle types but left out some key pros and cons for each. Only the Multiple Unit Vehicle, shown at left, passes all four criteria for providing level boading, accomodates wheelchairs and bikes, is fueled with electricity and/or hydrogen, and qualifies for federal and state funding.

The other two options were a locomotive hauled train and a light rail vehicle, but only the Mulltiple Unit Vehicle checked off all four criteria. Go to Virtual Open House and click on Rail Vehicle types to see other options.

Potential Solution Definitions and Trade-offs

Pedestrian Protections: This usually refers

fencing. In the few places where the rail line currently runs on city streets, fencing could be added to allow the trains to go faster. This would allow a faster (and perhaps) more reliable travel time for the train, but may affect the walkability of the area.

Limited Speeds: Limiting the speed of the train means there are fewer barriers that need to be placed between the trains and any other traffic, allowing for more open streets like we are used to. Slowing the train speeds down in these areas is unlikely to add more than a couple of minutes to the overall travel time, however should there be vehicle obstructions in these intersections, it could result in larger delays and unreliable service.

Create Transit Only Lanes: Although not mentioned by this report, a third solution would be to create transit only lanes on Walker Street in Watsonville and Beach Street in Santa Cruz. This would help reduce the risk of vehicle obstructions that could affect rail service, but may result in 30-60 second delays for private vehicle traffic.

Acquiring Right-of-Way (ROW): Judging the impacts of any ROW acquisitions is impossible without knowing which parcels are possibly needed. Not enough information has been provided to form an educated recommendation.

Moving trail outside of the ROW: Judging the impacts of moving the trail outside of the ROW is impossible without knowing which areas are being considered. Again, not enough information has been provided to form an educated recommendation.

Narrowing the Trail: In areas like the right-of-way between 38th and Jade Street Park where any ROW acquisition will affect several homes and where there is no access benefit to moving the trail outside the ROW, having a narrower trail is the best choice. The federal rail with trail design guide indicates ROW’s with widths as small as 15 feet have fit both a rail and trail in various places in the United States. However, this should also be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Create new alignment outside of ROW: A new alignment could allow the train to run straighter (i.e. faster) or to new destinations. It’s likely that a new alignment would require significant land acquisition and additional dollars. However the full impacts of creating a new ROW are almost impossible to judge without any details. Not enough information has been provided to form an educated recommendation.

Straighten Curves: This is being recommended to try and allow faster speeds. It’s likely to have smaller additional land acquisition required and may add additional cost to the project compared to leaving the line as it is today. A true analysis would need to be done to see if the additional speed allowed by straightening curves is worth the travel time savings gained.

As we give feedback on our most important expectations and objectives for rail service we will be able to refine the ridership models to ensure we are getting a system everyone will love and use. We hope we will see these full details in the next round of reviews for this project.

Even though we will have to make these important trade-off decisions because we already have a right-of-way with most neighborhoods meeting federal density requirements that also runs to all our most visited destinations we are already starting ahead of the curve. By continuing to follow best practice guidelines for high ridership and satisfaction we can maximize the walkability and access to each station and still achieve reliable and frequent service with travel times that beat traffic on Highway 1.

Do you have more questions? Please make sure to ask the Regional Transportation Commission any additional clarifying questions you may have.

There are many ways you can participate in designing rail service for Santa Cruz County.

Write an email: zeprt@sccrtc.org
Leave your comments on Virtual Open House website.

You can donate to Friends of the Rail and Trail HERE.

Editor's Note: Watsonville Community Members for Public Restrooms reminds everyone the We All Go. Public bathrooms and drinking water need to be part of this system.

PHOTO BY TARMO HANNULA

Kristich-Monterey Pipe Company in Pajaro makes giant concrete pipes.

Journalism and Justice - Workers Not Protected in California

By SARAH RINGLER

I first heard about this story on NewsBreak, an online open platform that scans the media, collates stories by regions and then publishes them. On June 26, they forwarded a Sacramento Bee article by Joe Rubin about Jairo Ramirez, an immigrant from El Salvador, who was crushed to death inside a cement mixer at Kristich-Monterey Pipe Company in Pajaro in 2021. His Cal-OSHA case was closed due to lack of staff but resurrected due to aggressive and timely journalism by Rubin. I have summarized his story but click on the green title to read it for yourself: "California worker died in a cement mixer. His case was dropped but is now heading to court."

On Jan. 21, 2021, Jairo Ezequiel Ramirez Ventura, a 24-year-old immigrant from El Salvador died when a large concrete mixing machine he was cleaning out at Kristich Monterey Pipe Company in Pajaro was remotely activated. According to Rubin who broke the story, “Jairo was eviscerated in seconds, with his brother about a hundred yards away and helpless.”

Jairo’s older brother Nilson was a witness to the event and contributed to the Cal-OSHA draft investigative report authored by Bureau of Investigator for Cal-OSHA, Chris Kuhns, in Apr. 2023. Nilson had previously refused to clean the machine because “he knew the safely interlock device had been altered so Kristich could turn on the machine remotely from a computer inside the plant.” The machine was outside and not visible from the office.

The company makes concrete pipes, some as large as 60-inches in diameter, the kind used in culverts, and storm and sewer drains. The large blades in the cement machine need to be scaped clean after each load. It is a very difficult job and made unsafe with the altered interlock device.

Nilson Ramirez at one point was so nervous about cleaning the machine that he refused. “Everyone knew the boss could turn on the machine with the doors open, we saw it happen,” Nilson said. He was fired but Kristich hired him back; he worked 100 hours and more each week, six days a week from 3am-7:30pm and never earned overtime.

Kuhn’s draft investigative report quoted Nilson as saying, “My brother had a bad feeling. But he had a 4-year old boy back in El Salvador, Saul de Jesus, and he felt like he had not choice. He needed the money. We prayed it would be OK.” Kuhns recommended manslaughter charges against Kristich.

The Government

Cal-OSHA mostly deals with civil cases and is responsible for 19 million workers and over a million workplaces in California. But, they had only one criminal investigator for the Bureau of Investigation. That individual is mandated to investigate “grievous” workplace injuries as well as the approximately 400 worker deaths that occur each year to determine whether criminal charges should be recommended.

Chris Kuhns, a 15-year veteran of the Bureau of Investigator for Cal-OSHA investigated Jairo’s case. He left his job in June 2023 but is still a criminal investigator, now with Cal Recycle that has 30 investigators.

Jairo's case was closed in October 2023 and the files were deleted. Julio Alfaro, another senior criminal investigator who no longer works for Cal-OSHA was quoted by Rubins in the Sacramento Bee story, “The official reason is always the same, dismissed ‘for lack of evidence,’” he said. “That’s what we always said. But the real reason was that the two investigators left at that time, we each had a backlog of over 120 cases. No one had time to finish the job. And the statute of limitations clock was ticking, so they just dropped it.”

Joe Rubin of The Sacramento Bee Saves the Day

In December, The Sacramento Bee talked to Jairo’s brother Nilson. At that point, the case had been dropped and the files were deleted. They also talked to Cal-OSHA. Doors started to open. Cal-OSHA’s Bureau of Investigation tried to resurrect Kuhn’s original deleted report. Luckily, Kuhn found he still had the files on a USB drive. Monterey District Attorney’s office was notified just hours before the three-year statute of limitations expired on Jan. 21, and felony charges were filed on Jan. 22. Hearings are ongoing.

Initially, Kristich was fined $61,000 for an accident. He is appealing the fines and has yet to pay. Now he faces prison time and a fine of up to $1.5 million.

Also, after an earlier Sacramento Bee story about staffing shortages at Cal-OSHA, by Maya Miller, “Overworked and Underprotected,” they are reportedly in the process of hiring eight more positions for their Bureau of Investigations.

There is so much wrong in this story from the unprosecuted deaths of working people, abuse of overworked and underpaid immigrant workers to a poorly functioning government agency. I've added some contacts below. At least thank Joe Rubin for his dedication during this time of shrinking budgets and dying newspapers. He is a true hero.

Joe Rubin - Emmy ward-winning investigative reporter for The Sacramento Bee

Robert Rivas

Gail Pellerin

John Laird

Californian State Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment:

Liz Ortega

Heath Flora

CARTOON BY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

San Francisco Mime Troupe's American Dreams

Coming to Santa Cruz, Sept. 7, 3pm at London Nelson, 301 Center St.,Santa Cruz. AMERICAN DREAMS features a four-person cast that includes veteran SF Mime Troupe collective members: Andre Amarotico* (Oliver, Harold) Michael Gene Sullivan* (Gabriel Pearse, Chancellor Quisling); and features Lizzie Calogero*(Meliae Higgins, Emma); and Mikki Johnson (Paine Pearse).

Letter 7 Generations in the Future

BY WOODY REHANEK

--for Edward Woodrow Rehanek, Sr.

January 21, 1921-July 7, 1984

on the 40th anniversary of his passing

The gray California sky spritzes again.

Our garden's an art installation

of living plants. The future is uncertain.

Still the sun will shine.

Warriors lost to torn ligaments

& Achilles tendons.

The same could be said for land,

nature, & the future. Looking ahead

7 generations, I cannot clearly see you,

my children, but I know that you, too,

will be warriors. You will have to be.

Here in our community

people shelter & age in place.

Tend their gardens & loved ones

among the 3 Heavenly Messengers:

old age, sickness, & death.

Let's be realistic. Sooner or later

old age gives way to death.

Sickness renders all things relative.

May we be strong & embrace the inevitable.

Now we fight for social justice

& sustainability. The fight goes on

as the gap between rich & poor widens.

Our country is now an oligarchy

run by the richest one percent.

We try to save something for tomorrow

because your world is endangered.

Nature's voices are drowned out

by too much consumption, white noise

& bandwidth in the Digital Age.

One can access the world's

"knowledge" via snake oil pitchmen

& big-time operators.

The dynamic's still the same:

the salt-of-the-earth bamboozled

by the rich-getting-richer.

Multinational corporations...

Of course they're not like you & me.

They have unbridled power

& a sense of entitlement.

The uber rich do not willingly

share power with the hoi polloi.

It has always been this way.

Now here's the deal:

You don't need billions

to live decently on mother Earth.

Everyone has a right

to decent food, clothing, & shelter,

health care, dignity, & respect.

Being poor is not a crime.

No one should go hungry.

Being houseless does not mean

that you are homeless.

The street people we see

really do live here, though

we pretend they are invisible.

We cannot wait for leftovers

from the rich to trickle down.

Money doesn't really move that way.

Meanwhile, climate change

is erratic, unpredictable, & disruptive.

Wall Street milks dirty technology,

trading Main Street's future for dollars.

Yet much of this will shift as power rises

insistently, persuasively, nonviolently

from the grassroots: teachers, blue collar

unions, farmworkers, artists, musicians,

hard-working people everywhere.

Together we'll solve monumental problems

with creative & innovative solutions:

renewable energy, regenerative farming,

healthy living soils, social & environmental

justice, compassionate governments,

equality for all: in race, gender, sexuality,

health care, education, immigration, income.

Habitats for humanity in the Global Village.

Technology & innovation in harmony

with human needs & imagination.

Reverence for the natural world: clean air

& fishable, swimmable, drinkable waters.

Abundant food for all species.

Climate, carbon & water cycles

matching the Earth's natural rhythms.

Sustainable economies in rural villages,

colonias, suburban & urban communities.

Real democracy of, by, & for the people

in a world without imaginary borders.

These are our intentions, pure & simple.

We will keep working to manifest this

fruitful future for all of Earth's inhabitants,

including the non-human: plants & animals.

We will keep fighting for la gente del futuro.

Then it will be your turn in the year 2150.

We love & wish you well. Remember us.

Know that we of the past are mindful

of our legacy to you of the future.

May you live in a peaceful world.

Juntos nos levantamos. Vayan con Dios.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Organic leeks thrive at Lakeside Organic Gardens on Holohan Road in Watsonville.

Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report - Rt drops below 1 for the First Time in 7 Weeks

By SARAH RINGLER

The California Department of Public Health and Santa Cruz County Health Department regularly release data on the current status of Covid-19 in the county as well as information on influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and Mpox. Since cases of Covid are still appearing, and there are still vulnerable people, I will continue reporting the graphs below.

At-home Covid-19 test kits are currently available at the Watsonville Public Library, Main St.

The three graphs below were updated on July 3.

The first graph is the Effective Reproductive Number. When the line rises above one, it shows that the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing.

The second graph below shows data that the Health Department collects for Covid from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county.

The third graph below shows hospitalizations.

Photo TARMO HANNULA

Fashion Street - This man keeps his fashion statement alive while strolling along Walker Street in Watsonville.

Labor History Calendar - July 5-11, 2024

a.k.a Know Our History Lest We Forget

July 5, 1888: 1,400 women strike at Bryant & May match factory in solidarity with fellow workers sacked for criticizing conditions win. London.

July 5, 1934: Battle of Rincon Hill, San Francisco, in longshoreman strike. ILWU.

July 5, 1935: National Labor Relations Act passes Congress.

July 6, 1892: Strikers battle Pinkertons in Homestead, Pennsylvania.

July 6, 1911: Joe Hill’s “The Preacher and the Slave” first appear in IWW’s Little Red Songbook.

July 6, 1916: IWW dock striker Thomas Kenney killed by scab in Philadelphia.

July 7, 1912: IWW lumberworkers shot at by company gunman, 2 Wobblies killed and many women and children wounded at Grabow, LA.

July 7, 1994: Nigerian soldiers replace striking oil workers on break strike against dictatorship.

July 8, 1842: First anthracite coal strike.

July 8, 1998: Two-day general strike against privatization of phone company ends in Puerto Rico.

July 9, 1917: Federal troops raid IWW hall in Yakima, WA.

July 9, 2018: General strike against austerity in Haiti.

July 9, 2021: 422 workers seize OKN auto parts factory to block shutdown; retool for green production in Italy.

July 10, 1917: Emma Goldman sentenced to two years for aiding draft resisters.

July 10, 2014: UK government workers strike and protest against austerity budget.

July 11, 1892: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho miners seize coal mines.

July 11, 1917: Jerome, Arizona deportation of striking IWW mine workers.

July 11, 2012, Tens of thousands join striking miners march in Madrid.

July 11, 2017: German court upholds law limiting rights of minority unions.

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

I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.

Ulysses S. Grant

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Sopapillas, sweet Fry Bread

By SARAH RINGLER

These little pillows, deep fried and dusted in sugar and cinnamon, are very similar to doughnuts, and are just as hard to resist. They are also easy to make but do require deep fat frying which, as always, needs extra attention. Under several names, from sopapillas to cachangas, they are made in kitchens all over the Spanish speaking world.

Also called fry bread, they are a staple of southwest Native American cuisine. This recipe is from the “Pueblo and Navajo Cookery” cookbook by Marcia Keegan. Although beans, squash and corn were the staple foods of Southwest native people going back thousands of years, in 1864 their lives were interrupted when the United States government forced the Navajo out of their native lands in Arizona - in what is known as the “Long Walk” - to walk 300 miles to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. The new land did not support their staple foods and the government provided flour, salt, sugar and lard to help them survive. Using those ingredients, fry bread was born and when served today, is a reminder of this painful past. According to Spokane-Coeur d’Alene-American writer and film maker Sherman Alexie, “Frybread is the story of our survival.”

It is also, according to Chaleen Brewer, a nutritionist at the Genesis Diabetes Prevention Program in Sacaton, Arizona, responsible for the diabetes epidemic in that area. Because of this, Suzan Shown Harjo, a Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee writer, led a crusade against fry bread in the newspaper “Indian Country Today.” She wrote, “If frybread were a movie, it would be hard-core porn. No redeeming qualities. Zero nutrition.”

On that note, I’d like to say that I cut the original recipe in half, but you will still have enough sweet treats to serve six people.

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter or shortening

2 eggs

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup water, approximately

Oil for deep fat frying – peanut, corn, avocado etc.

Honey or ½ cup of sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter or shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Beat eggs and sugar together until sugar dissolves. Add to the dry ingredients with enough water to make a soft dough. Knead for about 10 minutes on a floured board until smooth and elastic. Cover with a cloth and let stand for 30 minutes or more.

Roll out to an 1/8 inch thick rectangle. Cut into 3-inch squares.

Prepare to fry. These breads do not hold a lot of excess oil so some paper towels on a cookie sheet should be a good place to put them after frying. Heat oil to 385 to 400 degrees in a heavy, stable saucepan. When oil is hot enough, fry 2 or 3 at a time for 2-3 minutes on each each. Drain on paper towels. Serve with honey or dip into a bowl with sugar and cinnamon.

Send your story, poetry or art: 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

Send comments to coluyaki@gmail.com

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Thanks, Sarah Ringler