|
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Housing For People at Dec. 3 Downtown Holiday Parade in Santa Cruz.
Measure M for More Affordable Housing and More Direct Democracy
By SARAH RINGLER
Housing For People's quest to give Santa Cruzans the right to vote on housing issues secured enough signatures, nearly 7,000 in three months, to now have a ballot designation for the March 5, 2024 election, Measure M.
If passed, the community will have the right to vote on proposals that involve major changes to buildings that exceed the city's General Plan and neighborhood height limits, which are already very high and allow for dense housing downtown. The measure also call for an increase in affordable housing, to include 25% of all new, large buildings with over 30 units.
This is a grassroots group and is not funded by wealthy, out of town developers. The campaign needs to buy promotional materials like signs, door-hangers and flyers. For information, to help or donate, go HERE.
| |
|
Food? Cooking!
BY LARRY BENSKY - DEC. 5
I first tasted food in the crowded but livable Brooklyn neighborhood where my parents rented a small, dark one-bedroom apartment.
My mother didn’t have to buy or cook the food since it came directly from her body. When little me outgrew that, he was placed in a “high chair,” for a very different kind of nutritional experience.
Into his little mouth, a “baby spoon” with tepid gooey glop was placed. If he didn’t like the store-bought Cream of Wheat or Cream of Rice, Larry spit it out, or just turned his head away.
Eventually store-bought “baby foods” in sturdy little jars appeared at the tips of those spoons. Having no words yet, and not yet understanding the meaning of sounds directed to me as language, I nevertheless quickly let whoever was trying to feed me know my preference: bananas.
Traditional families from the “old country” knew that you could mash up bananas, and save the cost of the jars. But little me could tell the difference between store bought and homemade.
The difference was sugar.
It made a crucial difference for the growing mega-bucks factories (eventually to be mega-bucks multi-national corporations) who manufactured the little jars. They soon tore down forests in tropical countries to plant sugar cane. They had already torn down forests to plant fruit trees.
Add steamship lines, fueled by non-renewable heavily polluting coal, and a lot more things for production and distribution.
But at the bottom of the vast enterprise were humans. Clearing the land, planting and harvesting it. Rowing the ships, then loading the coal and working the hot, dangerous engine rooms. Unloading the vessels. Loading the trains that met the ships and tore up more fertile lands and natural streams and rivers to deliver food related cargo that eventually wound up in our homes.
My mother, who presided over our end of the food chain (my father neither shopped nor cooked) was the last link.
I was fed an “American” diet until adolescence. At breakfast, eggs (usually scrambled), toast (usually white with salted butter), store bought (sugared) cereal. Milk delivered by a…milkman!
Later in the day sandwiches (more white toast) with cheese or salami and maybe an apple for lunch. Meat (lamb chops or hamburger) for dinner, with mashed steamed potatoes and boiled peas or carrots. And more milk, soon bought at newly appearing supermarkets, replacing milkmen. Condiments, on the table only at dinner, were limited. Mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup.
I think about my long ago feeding years when I am bombarded with TV and newspaper advertising about food and cooking. No recognition in those ads that most of the food products rely on real, mostly low paid, humans.
Now it’s getting even worse. Our isolation from the realities of our nutrition advances apace. Take “Venba,” for example. Never heard of it? Keep reading.
“Venba” is a video game that arrives at a time when we are already saturated with fake “facts” from actors on television who seem happy that a fat-drenched sandwich or pizza is in their hands and mouths.
Men, women, cute kids, babies, all ethnicities. We pause from such horrors as death in the Middle East to bring you Subway and Pizza Hut.
Most of us interface with food workers only in the checkout lines of supermarkets where they stand like automatons, pushing items over scanners.
For this they are usually not paid enough to afford rents anywhere near where they work. Or to feed their families.
My mother’s principal means of interfacing was to go shopping on the convenient local street, where there were small stores selling fruits, vegetables, cheese, eggs, “notions,” fish and meat. It was where I got my education about food.
My mother knew all of store owners and they all knew her. “Feared” her would be more accurate. If a store clerk made a mistake adding up numbers on the paper bags they all used, she would spot it immediately. If there was an error calculating or reading the scale weight for fruit she caught that, too.
But the height of her tyranny took place in the butcher store.
When she was seen approaching there was a visible bustle inside. The two brothers who owned it scampered to put bloody piles of flesh on the low counter in front of us. “Two sirloins, five lamb chops, one pound chopped sirloin, trim ALL the fat!” she would command. Knives (an amazing variety, all razor sharp) flashed, blood and guts were swept to the sawdust on the floor.
Very occasionally a piece of flesh caught her eye that she thought inferior.
Perhaps you can imagine the ensuing turmoil.
For me, a slow process had begun.
First I began to spurn lamb chops, which looked like pieces of an animal. Then steak, which resembled human wounds. Then hamburgers and hot dogs. Who knew what was in them? Then meatballs that got transformed into falafel.
As I ate my way through life, even in tummy heavens like Paris, London, and San Francisco, being a “foodie,” or even a wine snob, never appealed to me. Taste and flavor are great. So are comfortable clothes, books, and travel, which are much more rewarding an expenditure, at least for the few I have tried.
Which brings me to “Venba.” “The Food is Virtual. The Feeling is Real.” (NYT 11/26/2023).
“A touchingly diasporic story,” writes Lewis Gordon, who specializes in the world of video games. “Venba is interested in food’s emotional resonance…putting it in conversation with other video games and memoirs.”
Just what the world’s been waiting for, right? A food battle between virtual entities, not a flesh and blood food fight between my mother and her butchers!
Pass the veggies, brown rice, and soy sauce please. Maybe a glass of inexpensive Medoc or Malbec or Merlot.
You can look up Venba for yourself, if you’re interested in yet another way to substitute a tasteless screen for a real meal. And to add a few more charges to your monthly bill.
Me, I’d rather take a walk or look at the moon or fall asleep thinking about days gone by and to come. Many that there have been, few that remain.
Larry Bensky welcomes comments. Lbensky@igc.org
| |
|
Big Leaps for Local Rail Transit Include Bus Route Changes
By FAINA SEGAL
Two transformative projects, Zero-emission Rail and Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District's Wave Service pilot program, gained funding at last Thursday's Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) meeting. The RTC allocated $2 million for Zero-emission Passenger Rail as a down payment on the project Environmental Impact Report (EIR). We would have liked to see a bigger investment. However, this action shows the state that Santa Cruz County is committed to keeping the Zero-emission Rail project moving along, as the initial design work is being done.
At the same meeting, the RTC allocated $32 million to fund an ambitious Santa Cruz METRO 3-year Wave Service pilot program. The program intends to double annual bus ridership to at least 7 million by 2028. To get all these new riders, METRO is planning unlimited fare-free access for all, a redesigned route map, 15-minute frequency on all major routes, and bus priority at traffic signals on Soquel Drive. The free fares are being subsidized by a state grant. On Dec. 21, METRO is launching the first phase of the plan with new clearer and simpler ROUTES and increased frequency on some key routes. Phase 2 will begin this summer, in 2024.
METRO service improvements will have a direct impact on the Rail Transit project. Rail transit must be integrated with high-quality METRO service to achieve maximum ridership and usefulness. State planners know this, and they will factor in METRO ridership numbers when the time comes for rail to compete for grants. We're excited to see METRO start building a world-class public transportation system in Santa Cruz County. Congratulations to METRO and thank you to the RTC staff and to the commissioners who supported funding for both rail and for bus public transit.
Santa Cruz County is a leader in public support for investing in public transportation, and has one of the highest voter approval rates for funding public transportation projects. In 2023, Friends of the Rail & Trail stepped up our advocacy game and contributed to the efforts of a statewide coalition pushing California to invest more in public transportation. And it worked. Governor Newsom signed a new budget with more funding for public transportation than ever before. The Transit Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) and Zero-Emission Transit Capital Program (ZETC) are bringing 34.6 million of Senate Bill 125 taxpayer money back to Santa Cruz County over the next four years. These programs are the sources of the Rail and METRO funding that was allocated on Thursday. Thank you to our state Assembly and Senate representatives Speaker Rivas, Senator Laird, and Assemblymembers Addis and Pellerin who support us moving forward into a cleaner and more equitable future.
The Central Coast Rail Corridor, which includes the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, was recently identified as a new passenger rail project by the Federal Railroad Administration. This is the first step that qualifies our project for Federal construction grants that can range from $300 million to $3 billion and more. Thank you to the California Department of Transportation planners who submitted our project for Federal recognition.
The Transportation Agency of Monterey Country allocated almost $26 million to four rail projects serving Monterey, Salinas, and Gilroy, that will connect with our rail line at Pajaro Junction - Watsonville Station. The Pajaro-Gilroy extension will connect passenger rail service from Santa Cruz to the Amtrak Coast Starlight, Caltrain, BART and the Capitol Corridor, giving us traffic-free access to the rest of the state and to the nation.
This level of state and federal support for our rail project shows us there is a clear path forward for funding. It’s time for the RTC to listen to our community and start fast-tracking our Zero-emission Rail project. With RTC staff and commissioner support, we can have rail service running on the Santa Cruz Branch Line in 10 years. Tell your elected officials on the Board of Supervisors and the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission that it's time to move forward with the project. Be sure to watch for our Candidate Survey results to see which candidates support rail transit.
Editor's Note: Be sure and check the changes in the bus route schedule. Where I live, in southeast Watsonville, the bus that used to come once an hour now will come twice an hour and is scheduled to be timed to connect with others in the around the town. Taking the bus may be easier than it seems.
| |
|
Candidates Forum for Santa Cruz City Council District 2 and Democratic Central Committee
By JEFFREY SMEDBERG
Santa Cruz for Bernie is holding its third and final Candidates' Forum for Santa Cruz City Council District 2 and for Santa Cruz County Democratic Central Committee District 3, 4 and 5 on Dec. 19, 6pm. It's a virtual online event open to all. Sign Up for Zoom Meeting.
Santa Cruz City Council District 2 candidates are Sonja Brunner and Hector Marin.
Santa Cruz County Democratic Central Committee District 3 candidates for five seats are Diane Alfaro, Akin Babatola, Ayo Banjo, Justin Cummings, Ami Chen Mills, and Bodie Shargel. Candidates for two District 4 seats are Ed Acosta, Celeste Gutierrez, Martha Vega, and Jennni Veitch-Olson. Candidates for five District 5 seats are Lou Chiaramonte Jr., Glenn Glazer, Wendy Harris, Amanda Harris Altice, Linda Garner, Coco Raner-Walter, Rachael "Rat" Spencer-Hill and Joe Thompson.
| |
|
By FOOD NOT BOMBS, SANTA CRUZ HOMELESS UNION AND FRIENDS OF CHRISTMAS
Once again this year, the Friends of Christmas are partnering with Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs to serve a hot, delicious holiday meal with vegan options to our houseless friends and neighbors and those in our community of low or very modest means. Please join us in helping to turn a time of want and need into a celebration of joy and generosity.
Go HERE to donate. Go HERE to volunteer. Drop off clothing at the Town Clock on Dec. 25, 11am-1pm. For information go HERE.
Happy Holidays!
From Food Not Bombs & Friends of Christmas
| |
|
Help the Warming Center
By SARAH RINGLER
The Warming Center is back in action with Warming Wednesdays. 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
Our 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.
| |
|
Six Ways from Christmas for Gil Rehanek
By WOODY REHANEK
Once you spoke a secret language
only I could understand.
Now creatures are stirring.
Moving out from inside lands.
Every night the streetlight
sluices through our lattice window.
Threads marigolds in Nahuatl.
Wraps ravens in mercury vapor.
Patterns lace a bamboo mat
where they dealt the dead man's hand.
Black calligraphy on gold tiles.
2 black aces, 2 black 8s, jokers wild.
At the corner of Suncrest & Cloudview
bamboo trumps a broken string.
Ana's lanterns flicker
like phantoms on borrowed time.
These strings attach to everything:
Inhabit hills & black lagoons.
Splice together scattered dreams.
Follow the crows six ways from Christmas.
On the edge of the wild
Paradise is burnt to hell.
Carbon, cinnamon, ebony, umber.
Jaki's Cafe the rare survivor.
In Magalia most all went under.
The whole kit & caboodle
distilled to grit & gristle.
No bones were left unturned.
No twinkle in the dead cat's eye.
The hungry ghosts they came to town.
Day of the Dead endures.
******
Deep in morning dew six dead dreamers
Sift through rubble, light as liquid amber…
Trace ruby-throated hummingbirds
with dazzling Spanish names:
Zunzun, picaflor, colibri, chuparosa...
Set rosequartz ablaze in warm December sun...
And laugh at the elasticity of time.
Brother, what became of your four great loves.
And where do we scatter your ashes.
| |
|
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Marbled godwits along the coast in Moss Landing this week.
| |
|
Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report - Rt Numbers Increasing
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. Since cases are still appearing, and there are still vulnerable people, I will continue reporting the graphs below.
There have been some changes in how the state and county report data. The California Department of Public Health now reports data on Covid 19 as well as other respiratory viruses like influenza (flu) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). With the changes, I have not yet been able to find the county's current Covid-19 deaths.
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 more information. Over a month ago, the Biden administration announced that it will provide four free tests per household that will be delivered by the US Postal Service. Go HERE to order.
The three graphs below give a picture of what is happening as of Dec. 13. 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 - A man works his tuba at Pinto Lake County Park during an informal band practice of banda music.
| |
|
Labor History Calendar - Dec. 15-21, 2023
a.k.a Know Our History Lest We Forget
Dec. 15, 1890: Oglala Sioux chief Sitting Bull killed.
Dec. 15, 1918: Textile workers strike for 8-hour day in Lima, Peru.
Dec. 16, 1970: Polish workers rebel against high prices; over 50 are killed.
Dec. 17, 1985: UFCW blocks picketing of non-striking Hormel plants.
Dec. 17, 2010: Tunisian worker sets self on fire, touching off 28 days of strikes and protest that topple government.
Dec. 18, 1830: Trial of Swing Rioters, peasants and workers who fought for minimum wage.
Dec. 19, 1884: 27 miners killed by speed-up in Orangeville, Utah mine disaster.
Dec. 19, 2015: Amazon warehouse workers begin strike demanding company honor labor standards in Germany.
Dec. 20, 1905: 11-day strike in Russia.
Dec. 20, 1960: Five-week “Winter Strike” begins – 2,000 arrested in Belgium.
Dec. 20, 1995: ACL agrees to stop using scab port after Newark, NJ dockers honor picket by locked-out Liverpool workers for third day.
Dec. 21,1916: IWW outlawed in Australia.
Dec. 21, 1995: Police turn water cannons on 2,000 Belgium strikers trying to occupy airport terminal.
Labor History Calendar has been published yearly by the Hungarian Literature Fund since 1985.
| |
 | |
Photo by TARMO HANNULA
First Cookbooks and Betty Crocker, the Feminist
By SARAH RINGLER
For any success I have as a cook, I have to give most of the credit to my mom who came from a family of women who took it very seriously. But I also went to school to learn how to cook - Compton Junior High School, Bakersfield, California, 1960-1963. It was part of the standard curriculum before No Child Left Behind came along and put all the emphasis on reading and math. And, it wasn’t like we weren’t reading and doing math in our cooking class.
My first cookbook, “The Storyland Cook Book” – copyright 1948, had about 20 illustrated recipes accompanied by senseless, rhyming fairy stories. But, all the recipes were made from scratch and the illustrations imprinted on my mind the preference for cookbooks with pictures.
My second childhood cookbook was called “Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls” copyright 1957. In a way, it was probably my first subliminal introduction to feminism.
At the time, only girls were allowed to take cooking and sewing classes at Compton Junior High. We also could only wear skirts or dresses to school and as pre-teens, we were also getting introduced to wearing training bras, slips, garters, high heels and nylons. Only boys could wear pants and only boys could take metal and wood shop.
Therefore it seems rather radical that Betty Crocker would publish this book about Ricky, Eileen, Eric, Bette Anne, Peter, Lucy and others, all making these recipes themselves. It has great quotes like the one for Italian Spaghetti, “Aren’t you glad you don’t have to go to Italy to get this favorite dish? And, Eric who says, “Baking is as much fun as my chemistry set. And you an eat what you mix up.”
The recipe that I have made the most often from this book is Macaroni and Cheese. As I progressed beyond the 1950’s into the 70’s natural and healthier style food, I added the wheat germ with a few dots of butter to make a crispy and tasty crust. Also, the best tasting cheddar is aged the longest.
Macaroni and Cheese
8-ounces dried macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups cubed aged sharp cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
Topping:
1/2 cup raw wheat germ
2 tablespoons butter cut into small bits.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Boil dried macaroni in a large pot of salted and boiling water until it is done. Drain. While the macaroni is still hot, put in a large bowl and mix in 2 tablespoons of butter.
In another bowl, mix the eggs, milk, salt and cheese. Pour over the macaroni.
Grease a 1 and 1/2 quart baking dish. Add the macaroni mixture. Sprinkle the wheat germ over the top and then dot with the butter.
Bake for about 70 minutes.
| |
|
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 © 2023 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved
| | | | |
