PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Renewing the Timeline for Watsonville’s Urban Limit Line
By SAM EARNSHAW
The Committee for Planned Growth and Farmland Protection, a coalition of local leaders, farmers and environmentalists, was formed in 2018 to renew the Urban Limit Line, a major part of which is set to expire in 2022. Tuesday night, March 8, at the Watsonville City Council meeting, another milestone was passed in this new effort to save our valuable coastal farmland and protect our sensitive wetlands. At that meeting, the council “called the election” to put this issue on the Nov. 8 ballot, to let the citizens of Watsonville vote on this issue.
In 2002, Watsonville voters passed Measure U with a 60% majority to establish Watsonville's Urban Limit Line, ULL. It was a historic compromise between farmers, businesses and residents to protect Pajaro Valley farmland and wetlands, and direct growth to stay within the city limits. In 2013, with a 77% vote, Watsonville voters overwhelmingly affirmed the ULL by defeating Measure T, a developer-backed effort to change the ULL.
Last December, the committee turned in to the city over 3,000 signatures of registered voters, which qualified the initiative for the ballot. But the city ordered what is called a 9212 Impact Report, analyzing the effects of the initiative on economic, environmental and other categories. At Tuesday's meeting, the city presented the report, which supporters of the initiative charged was deeply flawed, biased, and possibly illegal since it contained nothing but negative impacts.
The committee itself prepared its own impact report, which contained nothing but positive impacts! This report can be seen on our website. While the city council chose to completely ignore our document, they nevertheless were required by the law to “call the election,” which they did.
In a previously administered city-based survey, over 95% of city residents who filled out the survey said that the city should create additional jobs and housing near already existing infrastructure in order to help preserve natural and agricultural land. And when we spent six months walking the streets of Watsonville collecting signatures, we found that almost everyone was overwhelmingly in favor of preventing sprawl and not having us turn piece-by-piece into San Jose.
So now, there are seven months to work with our communities to build support for this important and historical election. To learn more about the initiative and stay informed, go to our website.
|
|
Prepare Now for the June 7 Primary
By JEFFREY SMEDBERG AND SC4BERNIE
Voting starts in just 2 months for the June 7 California Primary Election. Conscientious voters are now studying candidates and ballot measures. Public forums are a great source of information.
Santa Cruz for Bernie, SC4B, in collaboration with the People's Democratic Club and the Sierra Club - Santa Cruz Group, will hold a joint forum on Santa Cruz County Supervisor Candidates on March 24, 6:30pm. Mark your calendar. Candidates for District 3, Santa Cruz & North Coast, and District 4, South County, are invited to speak to us and answer questions. After candidates are dismissed, each group may vote to endorse. Zoom details: Register at bit.ly/SC4Bforum.
There are also five local measures on the June ballots. The online forum by the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party was held on March 9 but their website contains information on the measures.
|
|
You're invited to a Titans of Transportation fundraiser for the No Way Greenway Campaign
By FRIENDS OF THE RAIL & TRAIL
The Friends of the Rail & Trail is pleased to pass along an invitation from the No Way Greenway Campaign inviting all rail and trail supporters to attend a Titans of Transportation fundraiser, hosted by the honorable Fred Keeley. Fred has served the Central Coast for decades, as a supervisor, assembly member, treasurer and environmental leader, and is just one example of the the large, diverse community coalition that supports the No Way Greenway Campaign.
Enjoy an evening together and hear from speakers Carl Guardino, the chair of the California Transportation Commission, and Richard Katz, the author of Prop 116, the Rail Transportation Bond Initiative.
Can you join us? Please click to RSVP. Can't Make it? Please consider showing your support with a donation or endorsement.
At Friends of the Rail and Trail, we believe in coming together as a community for solutions that serve everyone. To see how our community is united against the Deceptive Greenway measure, take look at the large and diverse list of endorsements of the NWGW Campaign on the No Way Greenway website.
|
|
Thank you Santa Cruz, We Couldn't Have Done it Without You
By KEITH MCHENRY
The all volunteer group Food Not Bombs thanks the people of Santa Cruz for two years of support during the pandemic. We could not have done it without you!
On March 14, 2020, we learned that all the indoor food programs would be closed because of the COVID-19 crisis. So we stepped in to take their place and started to share our meals seven days a week thinking we would return to our weekend schedule as soon as the pandemic was over in a month or two. Two years on and those programs are still not able to provide the hot meals they had before the lockdowns.
Thankfully our community stepped up. Hundreds of local people have helped bring donations of food, clothing and survival gear to help us meet the needs of those who live outside or are struggling to maintain housing. Others have chipped in $5, $10 and $20 donations to help us buy pup tents, car batteries and repair to support our effort to save people’s vehicular homes from being seized by the city.
Our unhoused friends help us set up and break down every day. College students from Cabrillo and UCSC join our team to help serve our seven to ten course meal. Local herbalists have provided tea. Area farmers truck in fresh harvests. Second Harvest, Trader Joe's, Gayle's Bakery, Beckmann’s, Grey Bears and local farmer’s markets are among those who provided our food.
Musicians perform at our meals. The drivers at Meals on Wheels drop off their extra food. Encompass social workers help us calm the emotionally distressed. Our friends at the Court Community Service Program send us waves of volunteers. Church people deliver cases of socks. A small army of supporters share our messages on line.
We even get clandestine help from city and county workers. The number of ways the people of Santa Cruz have helped us provide the most reliable source of support for the communities poor and unhoused cannot be detailed in one short article. You can thank them for saving downtown Santa Cruz from suffering the damage that would result if people had no other way to get food became so desperate that they had to resort to extra-legal means to eat.
We have a dedicated core of volunteers who know what is required to provide healthy hot meals, groceries, drinking water and survival gear to hundreds of people everyday.
We haven’t been sitting at computers collecting $100k+ salaries like those at city hall and the county buildings who spend their time evicting us from one location after another in their campaign to attract hedge-fund property speculators to ravage our community.
We have been volunteering for free on the streets of Santa Cruz everyday of this pandemic responding to the hunger and emotional stress of those living outside.
While the city is busy facilitating the wishes of global hedge funds and out-of-county property speculators, we have been preparing for the unfolding crisis of evictions and the dramatic increase in hunger. We raised money to buy three shipping containers to stockpile dry goods and equipment. We have invested in reliable sources of fresh water. Our group, working in teams, has organized systems to maintain a daily response to the escalating disaster .
One team coordinates the preparation and cooking of 150 to 200 hot meals a day. Another team recovers our scraps to compost at the Homeless Garden and that team also takes the cardboard to Grey Bears.
We have two shifts of drivers. The opening shift starts by bringing the hot water for our hand-washing station, sanitizing buckets to clean our tables, serving equipment and the first round of coffee. They open one of our shipping containers and set up the canopies, tables, social distancing cones, signs and banners. Yesterday’s bread and the survival gear that was not distributed the day before is brought to the sanitized tables along with our pre-meal snacks, creamer, sugar and paper products.
A team of servers complete the setup and the madness of four hours of food service and compassion begins.
That opening driver returns to the kitchen to collect six to eight five-gallon hotel trays of that day’s hot meal, another five gallons of tossed salad and fruit salad.
Another team orders two or three pallets of food from Second Harvest and recovers food from the farmers markets, local grocery stores and bakeries. Then much of this food is taken to one of our three shipping containers and our kitchen. At least one pallet is taken to the people at the Benchlands along with our five gallons of drinking water and another load is distributed to undocumented families.
Yet another team orders the paper products, cooking oil and coffee, receives the deliveries and packs them into our rented storage units, the kitchen or one of our Conex boxes.
Finally the closing team sanitizes the tables, packs the empty hotel trays and coffee urns into the van. The tables, canopies, signs, banners, unused paper products, left over bread and survival gear were packed into the shipping container, or as of late, into our rented U-Haul trailer. That team also picks up all the trash left around the area during the day, sweeps up the site and scrubs the food stains off the pavement. That team bags all the garbage and takes it to the dumpster we rent at the Little Red Church. Then they return to the kitchen to wash and sanitize our serving equipment and hotel trays ending the day by giving the kitchen a thorough cleaning. We also pay a cleaning company to do a deep clean of the kitchen at the first of each month.
This all repeats again day in and day out for nearly 730 days now.
Please join us on Sunday to accept our thanks to the people of Santa Cruz for making all this possible.
Celebrating 2 years of Sharing Food Everyday
with live music by Johnny and the Free Thinkers
Sunday, March 13
Noon - 4pm
At the Town Clock where it all began
Pacific Avenue and Water Streets, Santa Cruz
Sharing food is always an unregulated gift of love. Please write and call the City of Santa Cruz and let them know you support the daily meals provided by Food Not Bombs. (831) 420-5020 • citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com
Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs can be contacted at:
PO Box 422
Santa Cruz, CA 95061 USA
|
|
The 10th Annual Watsonville Film Festival starts today!
By CONSUELO ALBA AND THE WFF TEAM
We celebrate our first decade by bringing you outstanding films by amazing filmmakers. Watch more than 30 award-winning international and local films from March 11-20, for free (donations welcome). Click here, not on the banner above.
|
|
"Better to starve fighting than to starve working."
"Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for roses too."
Slogans from the Lawrence, Massachusetts "Bread and Roses" strike of 1912
|
|
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Marbled godwits groom the shore of Moss Landing State Beach for a meal.
|
|
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. Total known cases as of March 10 were 47,006, up 1% from last week's 46,443. There was one new death.
The government is issuing four free Antigen Rapid Tests for free here.
Because of all the home tests currently available, these numbers are underestimates according to Corinne Hyland, County Health Services Agency spokesperson. She recommends people with minor symptoms stay home, isolate and rest.
Hospitalizations rose by one to 648 this week. Click to view a graph of hospitalizations here.
There have been few changes in the last week. Active cases in south county dropped by 10%, north county increased by 2% and and mid county rose by 2%. See details in the chart below.
On the county's vaccination webpage, the vaccination rate has not changed since Feb. 6; 80% of the county have had at least one dose and 74% have had two doses. 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 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 information of COVID-19 testing locations around the county visit this site. Click here to make an appointment to get tested.
Any Californian age 12 or up can get vaccinated for free. For information on getting vaccinated, click here.
|
|
 |
% deaths by ethnicity:
White - 57%
Latinx - 35%
Black - 1%
Asian - 7%
American Native - 0%
Unknown - 0%
% deaths by gender/% of population:
Female - 49%/50%
Male - 51%/50%
Deaths by age/228:
25-34 - 2%
35-44 - 3%
45-54 - 4%
55-59 - 2%
60-64 - 6%
65-74 - 17%
75-84 - 24%
85+ - 43%
% active cases testing positive by region/% of population:
Mid-county - 9%/12%
North county - 50%/56%
South county - 40%/32%
Under investigation - 1%
Deaths by vaccination status:
vaccinated - 25/255 = 10%
unvaccinated - 229/255 = 90%
Weekly increases in positive tests:
June 12-19, 2020 - 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%
Dec. 10-17 - 17%
Dec. 17-24 - 14%
|
|
|
|
Dec. 24-31 - 19%
Jan. 1-7, 2021 - 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%
July 16-22 - .5%
July 23-29 - 1.2%
July 30-Aug. 5 - 2%
Aug. 6-12 - .7%
Aug.13-19 - 4%
Aug. 20-26 - .7%
Aug. 26-Sept. 2 - 3%
Sept. 2-9 - 2%
Sept. 10-16 - 1%
Sept. 17-22 - 1%
Sept. 23-30 - 2%
Oct. 1-7 - 0%
Oct. 8-14 - 1%
Oct. 15-21 - 1%
Oct. 22-28 - 1%
Oct. 29-Nov. 4 - 1%
Nov. 5-11 - 1%
Nov. 12-18 - 2%
Nov. 19 - Dec. 2 - 2 weeks 2%
Dec. 2-9 - 2%
Dec. 9-16 - 1%
Dec. 16-23 - 1%
Dec. 24-30 - 2%
Dec. 31 - Jan. 6, 2022 - 5% Growth of home tests underestimates cases below. See above .
Jan. 7-13 - 9%
Jan. 14-20 - 15%
Jan. 21-27 - 9%
Jan. 28 - Feb. 3 - 31%
Feb. 3-10 - 3%
Feb. 11-24 (2 weeks) - 5%
Feb. 25- March 3 - 1%
March 4-10 - 1%
|
|
|
|
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Fashion Street - This man is delighted to be handed a free quilt and matching pillow, thanks to Watsonville resident Sam Earnshaw during the Bridge Street homeless encampment.
|
|
Labor History Calendar for March 11-17, 2022
Mill workers in the Bread and Roses strike of 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts.>
Photo BY PINTEREST
March 11, 1811: Luddites smash 63 looms.
March 11, 1930: Gandhi begins Salt March to Delhi.
March 11, 2010: Greek general strike demands bosses, not workers, pay for crisis.
March 12, 1912: IWW wins Lawrence, Massachusetts Bread and Roses strike.
March, 12, 1982: 300 women workers slow down at Control Data Corporation in Korea to protest firing of union president.
March 12, 2011: 100,000 rally in Madison, Wisconsin to support workers' rights.
March 13, 1938: Labor attorney Clarence Darrow dies.
March 13, 2015: General strike against austerity in Northern Ireland.
March 13, 2020: Strikes seeking Covid protection sweep across Italy, forcing bosses to agree to safety measures.
March 14, 1988: 8 million strike against austerity in Spain.
March 14, 1991: Brazil government workers unpaid since November seize the governor's palace.
March 15, 1877: Birth of Ben Fletcher, black IWW organizer of longshoremen in Philadelphia, Penn.
March 15, 1917: Supreme Court approves 8-Hour Act under threat of a national rail strike.
March 16, 1899: Lake City, Louisiana free speech fight.
March 17, 1921: Kronstadt Commune falls to Bolsheviks.
March 17, 1970: US postal wildcat strike.
March 17, 1994: Parisian workers riot, protesting government labor policies.
March 17, 2020: Detroit bus drivers strike and win Covid protection.
|
|
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Rosy Cinnamon Bread
By SARAH RINGLER
Take the rolled rope of dough that has been cut in half the long way and twist the two halves around each other as seen on the right. Then coil the braid into a tight circle in a cake pan and bake.>
Gertrude Stein might have written, “a rose is a rose is a sweet cinnamon bread,” if Alice B. Toklas had served her this for a special morning brunch. Baked bread is the physical embodiment of love and this one, sweet and shaped like a rose, combines these three symbols of love. The recipe is adapted from one by Rohan Shearer, the Step-by-Step Gourmet.
There are many ways to make yeast bread. Use the way that is most comfortable for you. I usually use the sponge method where you make a soupy flour and yeast mixture and let it rise for a short while before adding salt and the rest of the flour. It adds flavor to the bread and also lets you check to ensure your yeast is fresh. The salt slows the rising.
Dough:
½ cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 egg
¾ cup room temperature milk
½ cup sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour, more for rolling out dough
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted butter, cooled
Filling:
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Glaze:
4 tablespoons water
3/4 cup sugar
In a small bowl, combine ½ cup warm water, 1 teaspoon sugar and 2 ¼ teaspoons of dry active yeast. Mix with a fork and let sit 10 minutes until foamy. Put it into a large bowl. Add the egg, ¾ cup room temperature milk, sugar and 1 cup of the flour. Beat with a spoon or mixer until well smooth. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes until it rises.
Melt the butter and set aside to cool. Save a little butter to grease the bread bowl.
After dough has doubled, beat in salt and cooled melted butter. When well mixed, add flour a half cup at a time. When the dough is too stiff to stir with a spoon, scrape it out onto a floured board and knead for 3 minutes with your hands until you can form a smooth ball. This is a soft dough so don’t add more than 4 cups of flour, but add enough until you can form a ball using all the bits of dough you have. If you press your finger into the dough, it should bounce back.
Butter your bread bowl. Put the ball of dough in the bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let it sit in a warm place until it has doubled in size in about an hour.
Butter a 10-inch round cake pan. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in another small bowl. Set up an area to roll out the dough and form the rose. Toss ½ cup of flour onto the board. Gradually roll out the dough into a 12” by 24” rectangle. Spread melted butter with a spatula or brush. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture on the rectangle leaving a ½ inch border.
Roll up the rectangle the long way so you have a 24-inch-long roll. Pinch the seams to seal.
With a sharp knife, carefully cut the roll in half the long way so you have two 24-inch strips. With the cut sides up, lay one over the other in an X. Then, gently twist the two strips over each other keeping the cut sides up. Form a braid with about 6 twists.
Coil the braid into a tight round and place in the buttered cake pan. Tuck in loose ends. Cover with a damp towel and set in a warm place to double in about 30-60 minutes.
When dough has nearly doubled, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake bread for 10 minutes then lower heat to 360 degrees. Bake for about 25-30 minutes more until golden. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. When bread has partially cooled, remove it from the pan and put on a serving plate.
Make the glaze by mixing water and sugar in a small pan and boil over high heat for one minute. Brush or pour glaze over the bread and let sit until cool. Serve.
|
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
