Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Rare Bird Appears in Santa Cruz
By TARMO HANNULA
A white wagtail is shown on the beach at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz. The small bird is extremely rare in our area, being that they largely breed in Asia. A top birder in Santa Cruz County, Clay Kemph, said that only five of the birds have ever been recorded in S.C. County. Recently, there have been groups of birders with spotting scopes, binoculars, bird books and notepads, following the bird around at Corcoran Lagoon, between Portola and East Cliff drives at 21st Ave. where the KSCO radio towers are, and at the San Lorenzo river mouth. A telltale sign of the little bird is its wagging tail that goes up and down, not back and forth.
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History in the Sky
By JOE JORDAN
Even though you might have been noticing bright orange Mars in our night skies, sometimes appearing near the moon, an historic, once in every 20 years, “grand conjuction,” will soon be upon us. As the evening twilight deepens into nightfall, the two biggest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, will move closer and closer together so that on the very night of our solstice, Dec. 21, these two planets will be 1/5 the diameter of our moon apart, the closest they have been together since the Dark Ages in the early 13th century. Watch them nightly as the two planets, a word that comes from the Greek word for wanderers, earn their name by coming noticeably together, a little closer each night.
Speaking of the upcoming winter solstice, the sun will appear directly overhead as far south as that ever happens in Santa Cruz at 12:06 pm, on Dec. 21.
Although many of us are hoping for plenty of rain, a few clear nights around Dec. 13 and 14 would be appreciated in order to see the best-of-the-year Geminid meteor showers, with one to two a minute shooting stars filling the sky all night long. These meteors are from an asteroid rather than from a comet like most other showers. They appear all over the sky but originate and fan out from the constellation Gemini. The reason various meteor showers appear to fan out from the constellations for which they're named, is that on the earth, we travel in changing directions as we orbit the sun, so those streams of dust particles we intercept are seen against different sky backgrounds at different times of year.
On earth, three days after the Geminids peak around the world, Dec. 16 will be Beethoven’s 250th birthday, one week after mine. Following will be the Earth’s birthday, Jan. 1, 4.6 billion, BCE.
Get thee to a nice dark place and for other essential observing tips, check out
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ECONOMY
Santa Cruz County Housing Report
Compiled by SARAH RINGLER
This the Housing Inventory Snapshot for our county from Raeid Farhat Real Estate Inc. as of Nov. 27.
Single Family homes: The average list price - $1,160,139 (0.44%, 30-day trend) and average sold price - $1,069,259 (-3.17%, 30-day trend).
Luxury Family homes: Average list price - $3,353,054 (-9.10%, 30-day trend) and average sold price - $2,588,333 (-8.57%, 30 day trend)
Condo/Townhomes: Average list price - $552,330 (-3.63%, 30-day trend), and average sold price - $574,996 (-2.96% 30-day trend)
According to Farhat, the number of Luxury Condo/Townhomes selling for $1million or more, "were minimal and got bulked together with all the Condos/Townhomes that sold in November."
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ACLU Webinar on Alternative Response to 911 Calls
By LEE BROKAW AND SCC ACLU
The Santa Cruz County Chapter of the ACLU of Northern California is pleased to announce an educational webinar on an alternative response to 911 calls on Dec. 17, 6:30-8:30 on Zoom. Law enforcement leaders and activists agree that many non-violent calls should be responded to by trained mental health and social worker professionals, instead of law enforcement officers. This webinar is designed to educate the public about the need and possibility for change and to move the county closer to making that change.
We will begin by discussing the mobile mental health services currently available to the community.
·Stephanie French, Operations Division Manager of the Santa Cruz Regional 911 system, will present how the 911 system works and will reflect on changes that could coordinate alternative responses.
·Sarah Leonard, Executive Director of the Mental Health Client Action Network, will discuss her experience with the current system of a case worker responding with law enforcement to people in crisis, and what change is needed
·Ashley Tran, Suicide Crisis Line Coordinator for Suicide Prevention Service of the Central Coast, will discuss her views about how the current system works for her clients, and what changes are needed.
·Ben Adam Climer, formerly of CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) in Eugene, Oregon, and now a CAHOOTS consultant working with California cities wishing to implement a similar program, will demonstrate how teams of EMTs and crisis counselors have responded to non-emergency calls for Eugene, saving that community millions of dollars per year. He will also present a financial model of how that kind of program would work in Santa Cruz.
After the presentations, the panelists will respond to questions posted by attendees.
Register here for the Dec. 17, 6:30-8:30 on Zoom.
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Our greatest glory is not in never
falling,
but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius, Kong Fuzi
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ECONOMY
U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey
Compiled by SARAH RINGLER
The U.S. Census Bureau created the Household Pulse Survey to document the impact on Covid-19 on the country's population and started to gather on August 19. Here is the most recent data from Nov. 11-23.
· 30.6% of American adults expect someone in their household to experience a loss in employment income in the next 4 weeks.
· 36.9% of adults live in households where at least one adult substituted some or all in-person work for telework because of the coronavirus pandemic.
· 11.9% of American adults lived in households where there was either sometimes or often not enough to eat in the previous 7 days.
· 7.9% of adults are either not current on their rent or mortgage payment or have slight or no confidence in making their next payment on time.
· 33.2% of adults living in households not current on rent or mortgage report eviction or foreclosure in the next two months is somewhat or very likely.
· 34.5% of adults live in households where it has been somewhat or very difficult to pay usual household expenses during the coronavirus pandemic.
· 82.8% of adults in households with post-secondary educational plans had those plans cancelled or changed significantly this fall.
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Sarah's County Covid-19 Report
By SARAH RINGLER
cases that tested positive. That is an increase of 16% from last Thursday. 50 people have now died.
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 has remained mostly stable over time. The county's Effective Reproductive Number continues to be above one but is dropping from last week. 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.
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Known cases tested positive by age/% of population:
19 and under - 18%/25%
20-34 - 31%/22%
35-44 - 16%/12%
45-64 - 24%/27%
65 or older - 11%/15%
Tested positive by ethnicity/% of population:
Multi-Race - 2%/3%
White - 17%/58%
Latinx - 55%/34%
Black - .5%/.9%
Asian - 1%/4%
Other - 8%/.4%
Unknown - 14%
Tested positive by gender/% of population:
Female - 52%/50%
Male - 46%/50%
Other - 0%
Unknown - 3%
Tested positive by region/% of population:
Mid-county - 20%/12%
North county - 17%/60%
South county - 6%/29%
Under investigation - 4%
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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%
Nov. 19-26 - holiday
Nov. 19-Dec. 3 - 29% 2 weeks of data for this week only
Dec. 3-10 - 16%
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Crispy cabbage leaf pancake
By SARAH RINGLER
Humorously, each pancake is one leaf of cabbage that has been dragged through a batter and fried until crisp. Spoon on a little vinegary sauce and eat. It’s pretty easy and very satisfying.
The recipe calls for Chinese cabbage, native to the area around Beijing in northwest China. It is commonly used in Chinese, Japanese and Korean cooking. It has a more delicate leaf and flavor than the more common cabbage found around here.
Chinese cabbage is called napa cabbage in California although I couldn’t find a reason for that; “nappa” is a Japanese word referring to leaves from edible vegetables. In Australia, it’s called wombok. The Korean word is baechu, so since this is a Korean recipe, these pancakes are called baechujeon. Baechu is also an essential ingredient in kimchi, a pickled salad common on Korean tables and would do well alongside these pancakes. The recipe is from maangchi.com/recipe/baechujeon.
Napa cabbage is available in various sizes and I recommend buying the smaller ones so you can cook more leaves at the same time. Large leaves need to be fried singularly so it takes longer to fry them and they lose their crispiness when they sit.
Some of the flavor of the pancake comes from the stock so try not to use just water. Japanese dried Hondashi powder added to water makes an excellent stock. Four to five leaves make a nice lunch or dinner for two.
Baechujeon
Vegetable oil for frying
Batter:
⅔ cup all purpose-flour
1 egg
Sauce:
½ teaspoon coarse ground chili pepper or gochu-garu
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 green onion, minced
Prepare the napa cabbage by cutting off one inch of the thick base, depending on the size of the cabbage you bought. Wash and dry the leaves. Use leaves that can fit into your large frying pan. Cut a slit about an inch or so into the thick stalk so the leaf lies flat when pressed down.
Make the sauce. Combine the soy sauce, ground chili pepper, vinegar, green onion, and sesame seeds in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.
Make the batter by combining the stock, salt, flour, and the egg in a large bowl. Mix together well with a whisk.
To fry the cabbage leaves, heat up some vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Swirl to coat pan evenly. When the pan is hot, dip a cabbage leaf into the batter, making sure to coat the whole leaf. Place it in the skillet. Repeat with another leaf if possible.
With a spatula, press down on the base of the leaves for about 10 seconds to flatten them out. Cook until lightly crisped on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Flip and add more oil if necessary. Cook another 2 minutes, until the other side is lightly crisp, too. Flip and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes, until both sides are crisp but not brown.
Transfer to a plate and serve right away with the dipping sauce. Work in batches with the rest of cabbage and the batter.
To eat, cut the pancake into bite size slices crosswise with a kitchen scissors. Add some dipping sauce and eat. Serves 2.
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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 © 2020 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved
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