Russell Brutsché is up to his usual poignant visuals and talented song writing with his Youtube rendition of "Save the Last Dance For Me." It's a lovely paean to Santa Cruz called, "The Soul of Santa Cruz."

Rail & Trail Action Alerts

BY FAINA SEGAL

Democracy was at work at the last Regional Transportation Commission meeting. We heard Rail & Trail supporters stand up and tell the RTC we’re ready for some better transportation options in Santa Cruz County. The Rail & Trail projects are needed today. We’re all anxious to have the option of a traffic-free commute, access to schools and internships, and equitable access to our parks and beaches.

We often get asked, “How can we speed-up this process?”

Today we have two really important actions that will have a very tangible effect on the speed at which our projects are designed and completed.

Action 1: The Regional Transportation Plan Survey must be taken by March 1st. Take the survey HERE.

The Regional Transportation Plan Survey is the list of proposed transportation projects that will be planned and funded over the next 5 to 30 years. Every two years, the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) updates this list, and this year they’re also updating the criteria on how projects will be selected and funded.

Action 2: Join us to Rock the Vote!

Just like in June 2022, Rail & Trail supporters are definitely showing up to vote in this election. Voting is the most important action we take to support Rail & Trail progressing as fast as possible. 

Early on, we asked the candidates about their views on Rail & Trail. District 1 Supervisor candidate Lani Faulkner supported implementing electric passenger rail on the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, building a trail next to the tracks from Davenport to Watsonville, improved street infrastructure to protect pedestrians and cyclists as well as preserving freight rail capacity on the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. Her opponent, Manu Koenig didn’t respond. 

Who Has the Money?

BY SARAH RINGLER

Every year before the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland occurs in January, Oxfam releases an annual report on global wealth inequality. 

The World Economic Forum, WEF, was founded Jan. 24, 1971 by a German business professor from the University of Geneva, Klaus Schwab with the goal of "improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas." It calls itself an International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation with a Board of Trustees made up of leaders from business, politics, academia and civil society. There are currently 29 board members who range from one queen, HM Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdon of Jordan, one artist, Yoyo Ma, two politicians, Chrystia Freeland of Canada and Paula Ingabire of Rwanda, and the rest are involved in banking, investment and business of some kind. Al Gore was Vice-President of the US and a politician of course, but currently chairs the Generation Investment Corporation, a financial services and investment firm, and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, a venture capital firm. 

At their January meeting, the WEF releases their yearly Global Risks Report. The risks are compiled from a survey of 1,490 experts across academia, business, government, the international community and civil society collected from Sept. 4 to Oct. 9, 2023. This surveyed group saw the greatest risks in these areas, from high to low: 66% thought extreme weather, 53% thought AI generated misinformation and disinformation, 46% thought societal and/or political polarization, 42% cost-of-living costs and 39% thought cyberattacks. For their Global Risks Report 2024, 19^th Edition, click HERE to download.

Oxfam is composed and funded by a group of 21 independent non-governmental organizations in England whose goal is call attention to poverty around the world. It also has shops around the world and sponsors fund-raising campaigns. They are also the largest vendor of second-hand books in Europe. They began in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief working to help with hunger that followed WW II. By 1970, they spread out internationally. They work on many issues such as fair trade, famine relief, farming, labor rights, women’s issues, patents and more. One of their yearly projects is to release their world inequality figures just before the beginning of The World Economic Forum. 

Oxfam, in their 2024 report Survival of the Richest, cite that worldwide, huge increases in extreme wealth have been matched by huge increases in poverty. For the poorest, mostly women and racially marginalized people, the gap between the Global North, where only 21% of humans live, and the Global South has grown for the first time in 25 years. 

Here are some more anecdotes from the Oxfam report:

The five richest men in the world today are, in order of wealth, Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Jeff Besos, Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg. If each of the five billionaires spent a million US dollars a day, it would take 476 years to spend all their combined wealth. 

The wealthiest have seen their fortunes more than double since 2020, while around five billion have seen their wealth decrease. 

Seven out of ten of the world’s biggest corporations have a billionaire CEO or principal shareholder. Over the last two decades, the biggest corporations saw an 89% growth in profits in 2021-2022, and expectations show that profits in 2023, when numbers are released, will be even greater. Food and energy companies have more than doubled their profits in 2022 paying out $257billion to wealthy shareholders, while over 800 million went hungry.

The world’s richest 1% own 43% of all global assets. Since 2020, they have accumulated almost two-thirds of all new wealth, nearly twice as much money as the bottom 99% of the world’s population.

Men own US$105 trillion more wealth around the world than women. The difference is equal to four times the size of the US economy. 

The richest 1% emit globally as much carbon pollution as the poorest two-thirds.

The Oxfam report cites that global progress in ending extreme poverty has come to a halt according to the World Bank in 2022 and predicts the largest increase in global inequality and the largest setback in addressing global poverty since World War II. It also cites the The International Monetary Fund as predicting that one-third of the global economy will be in recession in 2023. 

Only 4 cents out of every dollar of tax revenue comes from wealth taxes and half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax. Even taxing the world’s multi-millionaires 5% could take 2 billion people out of poverty by raising $1.7 trillion a year. 

The Oxfam report recommends that governments need to step in to correct the imbalance. Monopolies need to be broken up, taxes need to be implemented on excess profit and wealth, and alternativess like employee-ownership or co-ops, as opposed to shareholder control, need to be encouraged. "Corporate power is used to drive inequality: by squeezing workers and enriching wealthy shareholders, dodging taxes, and privatizing the state," Oxfam said.

The two reports, WEF’s Global Risks Report and Oxfam’s Survival of the Richest, give us insight into two world views. The WEF is from the wealthiest and most powerful, who view global extreme weather as the biggest risk to our world. If you connect extreme weather to climate change, and climate change to global warming, it is ironic that the richest 1% emit as much carbon pollution as the poorest two-thirds. The poorest aren’t flying private jets and owning multiple residences and vehicles, all that need carbon guzzling fuel. They're using fuel to eat, stay warm and maybe travel short distances. 

And while food and energy companies saw their profits double in 2022, and the wealthiest saw their wealth double since 2020, the rest of us are in a downward spiral, the proverbial “race to the bottom” that was predicted in the Battle of Seattle in I999. Demonstrators made up of unionists, environmentalists, anarchists and concerned individuals surrounded the WTO Ministerial Conference at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle to protest economic globalization, the loss of decent paying jobs and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that were seen as instruments of exploitation by expanding the reach of wealthy corporations at the expense of workers in the US and leaving the poor countries in debt worsening their ability to take care of their poeple.

The IMF and World Bank loans had restrictions that allowed the money to only be used to bring wealthy corporations into their country; it could not be used for infrastructure or social programs. Rick Desimone, once a principal at Rolling Hills Middle School in Watsonville in the 90s, has a father-in-law who was positive at first about the North America Free Trade Act. He had a factory in Mexico that made appliances and was enthusiastic that he could broaden his market to the US and Canada. He quickly became disillusioned and lost his busniess. He found that the trade only went one way — American appliances went to Mexico, not the other way.

The "race to the bottom" referred to the world-wide search by corporations for the cheapest labor, but the result is that it has brought all but the most-wealthy a lower standard of living, the economic reality described by the Oxfam report and what most of us are living today.

How do these extremely wealthy billionaires feel about their priviledge? A Dec. 14, 2023 story in Wired magazine by Phil Jung titled “Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Top-Secret Hawaii Compound” features the construction of a 5,700 square-foot underground shelter, constructed like bunkers out of metal filled in with concrete with blast resistant doors, with its own energy and food supplies, water tank, escape hatches, guard towers and cameras everywhere on a 1,400 acre compound in northeast Kauai on property known at Koolau Ranch.  Plans viewed by Wired show at least 30 bedrooms and bathrooms, elevators, offices conference rooms, an industrial kitchen and outbuildings with two mansions, pools, gyms, tennis courts and more. Jung posits that the property and the buildings will cost Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, over $270 million, maybe one of the most expensive properties in the world. They are facing backlash from nearby residents because of high fences blocking views, more noise and traffic because of construction and concerns about stewardship of beaches on the property. 

The Zuckerbergs have responded in the usual way that the wealthy do, by giving money away. They have given over $20 million to various nonprofits in Kauai since 2018. Often referred to as philanthropy, it is a misuse of the word that comes from the Greek, roughly meaning, “to love fellow man” and commonly refers to private initiatives for the public good. Although the money may go to public good, the motivation is not benevolent, in my opinion, but self-serving. They also hired various local politicians including the chair of Kauai County Council Arryl Kaneshiro, as an agricultural consultant.  

I usually like to close with some action items so readers are not left with a gray sense of doom after reading such a dismal article. Oxfam’s recommendations that governments get involved in breaking up monopolies, taxing the rich, and encouraging employee-owned business are laudable. California has had some success with taxing the rich to fund schools and has made some attempts to constrain corporations. Maybe that is where our hope lies. 

The photo below is of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, the largest imperial palace in the world with 178 acres. Surrounded by high walls and a moat, it is where 26 emperors sequestered themselves and their famillies from the masses for almost 500 years from 1420 until 1912 when the Republic of China was established. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party took over China and formed the People's Republic of China. It has been a museum since 1925 and is open to everyone now.

PHOTO BY TARMO HANNULA

Vote by March 5 - Santa Cruz for Bernie Endorsements

SantaCruz4Bernie - Important Voter Information

BY JEFFREY SMEDBERG

California's Open Primary disregards political party affiliation and puts all candidates on everyone's ballot — except for President — and party Central Committees.

For the office of US President, March 5 is actually a party primary. The Primary allows each political party to choose its favorite to appear on the November ballot. So you must be registered in a specific party to get a ballot with their candidates' names on it. (The Democratic Party is one of the few that allows No Party Preference voters to choose a crossover ballot at any in-person Vote Center without re-registering.) If you want to vote your conscience and choose Jill Stein or Cornell West, for example, you will need to be registered with the Green Party or Peace and Freedom Party, respectively. Marianne Wiliamson is on the Democratic ballot. Changing your registration is quick and easy at any in-person Vote Center. 

Find Vote Center locations, dates and hours at VotesCount.us. If you have not chosen a party, as a No Party Preference voter you will not see any Presidential candidate on your ballot. In November, everyone's ballot will include one candidate for President from each party. But in heavily blue California, I can already predict the November outcome.

I would offer a caution to registered Democrats who want to support Jill Stein or Cornell West. I, like you, wish them success in their primaries. But if you change your party registration, you will not be able to vote for Santa Cruz County Democratic Party Central Committee candidates. Your vote in these local elections can really make a difference.

What's the Democratic Party Central Committee? People elected to the DCC manage the local Democratic Party, organize voter registration drives, and endorse candidates. SC4B has endorsed DCC candidates in Supervisor Districts 3, 4 and 5 who are committed to moving the Party to the left. This vote for the Central Committee only occurs during Primary Elections with no runoff, and you must be registered as a Democrat to get a ballot that has the candidates' names on it. See recommendations in the poster above.

Please note that links in the flyer above aren't activated. Click HERE to register to vote or check your registration status. Same day registration and voting at Vote Centers located around the the county from Feb. 2-March 5. Find locations HERE. Click HERE to see recommendations from Progressive Santa Cruz. This article is a rerun.

Film and Concert with Nicaraguan Musician and Poet Carlos Mejía Godoy at Watsonville Film Festival

BY JON SILVER

My short film Living in Exile was postponed at last year’s Watsonville Film Festival when the Pajaro River Levee failed and hundreds of Farmworker families were flooded out of their homes in Pajaro and many people lost their jobs in the nearby strawberry fields which were underwater.

I’m pleased to announce that Living in Exile is scheduled to screen in this year’s film festival, and that Carlos Mejía Godoy will treat the audience to a musical performance after the screenings. The event is co-sponsored by Palenque Arts and takes place at the Oldenmeyer Center at 986 Hilby Ave., in Seaside on March 15 at 6:30pm. 

And a shout out to Consuelo Alba and John Speyer for building the Watsonville Film Festival into a vital community institution over the last 12 years! Check out the entire Festival lineup HERE: 

About Living In Exile:

Legendary musician and poet of Nicaragua’s Sandinista Revolution, Carlos Mejía Godoy shares his music, poetry and paintings, while reflecting on Nicaragua’s current and historic fight for liberty. Through his art and music he takes us to his hometown– Somoto, Nicaragua, from where he draws hope and inspiration.

"For over half a century Nicaraguan singer, songwriter and poet Carlos Mejía Godoy brought to peoples around the world Nicaragua’s cry for freedom, first in their struggle against the Somoza dictatorship, then against U.S. counterrevolutionary intervention, and now against the Ortega dictatorship.This urgent new documentary, Living in Exile, gives us a homegrown account of the dark night that has once again descended on Nicaragua. Yet it is also full of love for his people and his country and of hope for the future. Don’t miss it!" William I. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Global Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara.

Caltrans Whistleblower Reveals Misuse of Re-paving Funds

BY RICK LONGINOTTI

The Campaign for Sustainable Transportation is hosting a Zoom interview with Jeanie Ward-Waller, who was removed from her job as Deputy Director of Caltrans, because she blew the whistle on Caltrans diversion of repaving money to widen a highway. Contributions are accepted for CFST’s fight against the expansion of Highway 1.

Register for the Zoom webinar HERE.

Please share the Facebook event HERE. 

We Need More Readers

If you know of people who might be interested in receiving the Serf City Times, forward this issue to them. Add this link https://serf-city-times.constantcontactsites.com/home and have them click on Home in the menu bars at the upper right to subscribe.

Survey on Aging Well in Santa Cruz County

By SARAH RINGLER

From now to March 31, the County of Santa Cruz's Human Services Department has opened an online survey that hopes to collect feedback on aging and living with disabilities in our county. That information may be used to develop the county's Master Plan for Aging. The goal is to ensure that people of all ages and abilities can be active and engaged in their community. For information and to take the survey, click HERE. Be sure and advocate for more public restrooms.

Help the Warming Center

By SARAH RINGLER

The Warming Center operates from 12-3pm at the levee-side of 150 Felker St. in Santa Cruz. People can access blankets, jackets, tents, clothing, shoes, hygiene supplies, as well as cold and wet weather support gear. The Homeless Emergency Information Hotline 246-1234 will be updated with weather news and info regarding emergency shelters and how to access them.  

Donations are needed from money to street clothing, shoes, all rain and cold-weather gear, blankets, tents, etc. Donation Barrels are located at:

• REI Sports, on Commercial Way (next to Marshall's)
• 150 Felker St., Santa Cruz

To donate money online: Click Here. Mail money to: Warming Center Program, PO Box 462, Santa Cruz, 95061 Office is at 150 Felker St. Santa Cruz. Our Website.

The Cat Was Cattywampus

By WOODY REHANEK

The dog spouted doggerel

the horse was a neigh-sayer

a sheep was wholly sheepish

The hens were playing chicken

a pig was full of himself

the mule was being stubborn

a mockingbird was mocking

The cow was being holy

a snake was in the grass

the fox watched the henhouse

a bear was giving hugs

Bugs snuggled in rugs

angels were angelic

coyotes sure were tricksters

birds sang like canaries.

Humans monkeyed around, 

fishing for meaning, leapfrogging 

& breaking things, ruffling 

feathers, gobsmacked by cyberspace,  

laughing like hyenas.



************

Photo by TARMO HANNULA 

A great egret gingerly steps through the shallows of the duck pond in San Lorenzo Park in Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report - Rt Numbers Rise Above 1

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 that were sent free from the government earlier are now expiring. The program that started in Jan. 2022 has distributed 600 million test kits. If you still have those tests, before using, check the date on your box or go HERE to get information. Go HERE for free tests.

The three graphs below were updated on Feb. 28. The first graph below shows the Rt Number. Numbers above one show 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.



The vaccination data for the county has stayed fairly constant increasing very little over time. Go HERE for new information on vaccination records, treatments, vaccines, tests, safety in the workplace and more.

Photo Tarmo Hannula

Fashion Street - Insane Graffiti Family graffiti on Struve Road off of Highway 1 north of Moss Landing. Note the image of the family on the left.

Labor History Calendar - March 1-7, 2024

a.k.a Know Our History Lest We Forget

March 1, 1907: IWW strikes Portland, Oregon sawmills.

March 1, 1921: Kronstadt rises, demanding workers’ rule in Russia.

March 2, 1911: IWW wins Fresno free-speech fight.

March 2, 1937: US Steel, now USX, begins to bargain with CIO.

March 3, 1903: Colorado City free speech fight begins.

March 4, 1019: IWW wins Spokane free speech fight.

March 4, 1937: UAW sit-down victory in Flint, Michigan.

March 5, 1871: Birth of Rosa Luxemburg, Marxist economist.

March 5, 1917: IWW Everett workers’ trial for defending union hall begins.

March 6, 1903 Japanese and Mexican beet workers launch successful fight against pay cut in Oxnard. 

March 6, 1984: Year-long British coal strike begins. 

March 7, 1860: 6,000 shoemakers and 20,000 other New England workers strike in Lynn, Mass.

March 7, 1932: Detroit police fire at hunger march, killing 4.

March 7, 1942: IWW co-founder and labor organizer Lucy Parsons dies.

International Woman’s Day March 8, 1908: Thousands in New York needle trades demand higher wages, shorter hours and end to child labor.

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

"War is rich old men protecting their

property by sending middle class

and lower-class men off to die."

George Carlin

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

The Philosophy of Burnt Food - Argentinian Potato Dominos

By SARAH RINGLER 

Potatoes are very versatile; these baked potato dominos are really cute, too. 

Argentina is famous for its beef. Like the Pájaro Valley, when the Spanish came to Argentina, they found that the land was good for grazing cattle. Most restaurants and cafes serve many cuts of beef and grilling is the most common style. Many of these places have an employee, the “asadero”, whose job is to grill the meat. The meat tends to be cooked longer and is rarely, “rare” as some Americans like. 

Also, black or burnt is seen as another flavor and texture in Argentinean cooking. During my visit there years ago, I ordered flan, a custard dish that is baked over caramelized sugar. I happily spooned through the custard only to find a thick crust of burnt sugar and egg at the bottom. I was shocked because everything else at that restaurant was excellent, including the service. I was surprised and just left it in the bowl. A few days later at a café in a very touristy area, I ordered a cup of coffee that came with a packaged cookie. The bottom of the cookie had a burnt rim. 

I was puzzled at this point. I remember a Scottish Canadian woman I knew who took her cooking and baking very seriously. She mocked the sound of scraping a knife across toasted bread as the sign of a new wife who hasn’t learned how to toast bread properly and had to scrape off the burned parts before she served it to her new husband. 

Later I read about the “taste of burnt” in an Argentinean cookbook, “Seven Fires” by Francis Mallmann, the source of the recipe below. Señor Mallmann explains the power of creating dissonance rather than harmony in your cooking. His explanation made me regret not going farther in eating the flan: 

“I believe that many chefs and cookbooks make entirely too much of harmony,” Mallmann writes.  “Frankly, it can be boring. If you sleep in a very comfortable bed but sometimes take a siesta on the warm ground in the shade of a tree, you know that the experience of the one highlights the virtues of the other. In the same way, disharmony in cuisine calls attention to the basic nature of the ingredients. I’m not talking about some silly combinations attempted by novelty-seeking chefs – there’s a difference between dissonance and a hopeless mismatch. What appeals to me is the element of danger and excitement in creating a burnt taste. Take the burning too far, and it destroys the dish. Stay just this side of the line, and it is lovely.” 

When you buy the potatoes, try and get them as long and rectangular as you can. This will make for less waste. I saved the remains in a plastic bag and cooked them up to make Potato Bread a week later.

Potato Dominos

4 Lakeside Organic Gardens long and rectangular shaped baking potatoes

4 tablespoons clarified butter

Coarse salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large rimmed baking pan with a little cooking oil or some of the clarified butter. 

Clarify the butter by placing it in a saucepan and melt over medium low heat. When the butter is melted, raise the heat if necessary to separate the oily liquid from the white, foamy particles. Use a metal spoon to skim off the white, foamy particles and discard. 

Cut off the two ends of the potato. Save the ends. Next, trim off the four sides making a perfect rectangular block. It should be about 11/2” by 1½” square at the ends and about 5” to 6” long. 

Using a sharp knife or mandoline, cut the block into 1/8 inch thin slices. Try to keep them in order in a stack. Place the stack with the edges upright on the baking pan. Use the two potato ends to hold up the stack. Continue with the other 3 potatoes. 

When you have finished cutting and lining up the blocks of slices, pour the clarified butter over them and sprinkle with salt. 

Bake for 40 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown on the top and soft in the middle. Don’t worry if they are a little burned on the edges. Just read the passage above. Test the middle with a skewer. Serve immediately. Serves four. 

You may also prepare this dish a few hours in advance. Prepare and bake for about 20 minutes. Finish baking for 20 to 30 minutes just before serving time. Make sure that the inside slices are done. Serves four. 

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

Send comments to coluyaki@gmail.com

If you are enjoying the Serf City Times, forward it on to others. We need readers, artists, photographers and writers.

Subscribe, contact or find back issues at the website https://serf-city-times.constantcontactsites.com

Thanks, Sarah Ringler

Welcome to Serf City Times Our county has problems and many people feel 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 © 2024 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved