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Santa Cruz Indymedia - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area
Union laborers, community representatives, and neighbors of La Bahia Hotel in Santa Cruz want to upgrade the distressed beachfront site with a hotel. But they all demand something better--and smaller--than the plan currently being proposed by Barry Swenson Builder and the Seaside Company.
According to Don Webber, a longtime neighbor of La Bahia, "There's a lot of support for building a hotel at La Bahia that is built in scale with the Beach Hill area, in conformance with the zoning law and more in line with community values." Neighbors have been asking city officials for story poles to demonstrate the height and placement of the 125-room luxury hotel up for approval by the City Council in September. Labor unions aren't happy with Swenson's plans since the company hasn't committed to building as a union shop or to a card count union election process for hotel staff. Historic preservationists are unhappy with the decision to totally demolish the aging landmark currently on the site instead of trying to restore even part of it. Community representatives don't like the City Council riding roughshod over the general plan, the zoning law, and a host of other city policies intended to protect the quality of life in Santa Cruz. But Swenson wants to demolish a city landmark and build 30 feet above the legal height limit, so he definitely needs to have the city change a number of important planning laws.
A rally was held in front of La Bahia on August 21st to protest the project as it is currently being proposed.   Read More with Video and Photos | More Photos
On Sunday, August 24th, starting at 3:00pm, the ACLU of Santa Cruz County will hold their 2008 Summer Awards Celebration and Fundraiser at the Long Marine Lab's Seymour Center. The local ACLU plans to present Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty with the 'Hammer of Justice' award. Meanwhile, homeless rights advocates hope to educate ACLU members about what they say is the true nature of Mayor Coonerty.
Attorney Kate Wells, who is on the ACLU's legal committee, but was not consulted in the ACLU's decision to award Coonerty, will be out of town, but has expressed amazement and outrage at the decision. She wrote the following in an email to the Board, "Having brought many civil rights lawsuits against the City of Santa Cruz over the years of my practice, I have had the unique opportunity to witness first hand the human rights stances of every mayor and councilmember for the past couple of decades. Ryan Coonerty, in my opinion, has not only not stood up for the principles espoused by the ALCU, but has instituted and supported political and legislative stances that are inimical to the goal of achieving those principles. And such behavior is even more egregious given his status as a civil rights instructor." Read More
previous coverage: Activists ask ACLU to help end sleeping ban || Ban on Public Assemblies in Public Parking Lots at City Council || Sleeping Ban Debate on Voices from the Village || Santa Cruz Sleeping Ban Struggle Persists as Ryan Coonerty Becomes Mayor || Mayor Coonerty's New Rules Ban Public Comment on Half of City Council Afternoon Agenda || Santa Cruz Mayor Ryan Coonerty Loses Bid to Become Obama Delegate in Denver
Glen Chase, a Professor of Systems Management, has released a second report identifying the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication program as a fraud. Professor Chase's first report revealed the falsehoods the CDFA delivered after June 19 when courts and public pressure stopped the CDFA from aerial spraying synthetic pheromone based pesticides directly on cities. This second report reveals the fraud and misinformation delivered by the CDFA from the fall of 2007 until June 19, 2008.
"CDFA has demonstrated that they will lie, cheat and even sacrifice the lives of California's children in order to steal $100's of millions of emergency funds, set aside for real emergencies."
"We are now into the third year after noticing the Light Brown Apple Moth in California and recognizing that LBAM has been living here about 30-50 years or more, while doing NO DAMAGE. The CDFA is getting more and more desperate to quickly implement fake emergency eradication methods, so they can access the emergency funds and pretend they are saving California by stopping the LBAM from doing damage. For emergency funding, it seems the CDFA would claim to save us from Lady Bugs, if we didn't know better."
The only real emergency is the CDFA. The CDFA is planning to expose children and adults to toxins by many methods and interfere with natural balances in nature in order that programs are ongoing that appear to be a legitimate eradication. CDFA is also threatening the existence of small farmers and nursery businesses by imposing quarantines on their products, without assisting them financially.
 Read More and Download the Report
According to a post by Stop Cal Vivisection, FBI agents showed up unannounced at an individual's workplace in Oakland. They seemed more obsessed with who they think her friends might be than anything. They made mention of Santa Cruz and some type of flyer. They wanted to know if she could lead them to two individuals. The FBI agents stated that they are going to have to keep investigating if two named individuals don't give them a call. The person made clear that she didn't know anything and was busy at work. Read More
see also: Know Your Rights
At their meeting on September 9th, the Santa Cruz City Council will decide whether to fund the initial design for a 5-story garage at Cedar/Cathcart. The garage will displace the Downtown Farmer's Market. The Campaign for Sensible Transportation is proposing that the City implement less costly and greener alternatives to building the garage. These alternatives are recommended in a 2003 report commissioned by the City called the Master Transportation Study. That study recommends that downtown employees be given incentives not to drive to work, including free bus passes, emergency taxi vouchers, credit at bike stores, and cash. The study cites examples from other cities in which such measures have substantially reduced car trips. To date, the City has not implemented the recommendations in the study.
On September 3rd, City Council candidates will face the garage issue at a Candidate Night on Sustainable Transportation, at Louden Nelson Center, 7-8:30pm. Read More
LRDP-Resistance Media writes, "It comes as no surprise to us that the city council and the Coalition to Limit University Expansion (CLUE) have settled their lawsuit with UCSC over the campus expansion under the 2005 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). But, despite the city's capitulation and Chancellor Blumenthal's speculation that the Tree Sitters 'have accomplished their goals,' we will not be coming out of the trees. The city does not speak for us, nor do they speak for the Coast Redwoods, the Mountain Manzanita, Burrowing Owls, Red-legged Frogs, Bobcats, Coyotes, Gray Foxes, California Myotis or any of the other living creatures who call the exceptional habitat of North Campus their home.
"The city's lawsuit was never intended to protect the unique ecosystem of North Campus that UCSC plans on destroying. The destruction of the forest was always the main issue behind us climbing into the Redwood trees at the site of the first proposed 2005 LRDP building. We look forward to working with the city and with CLUE on the legal battles that will be waged when the UC's plans are put before the Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation Commission. But we cannot rely on politicians and bureaucrats to protect the things that are truly important: clean air, clean water, animal habitats and the experience of being surrounded by the beautiful hundred-year old redwood and chaparral forest that are in danger of being destroyed forever. Those are the values that have called us into the trees, and those are things that cannot be quantified or litigated." Read More
see also: A Glimpse at UCSC's North Campus | Aug 13th and Sep 17th: Upper Campus Forest Walk
Radio Trabajadora escribe, "Este es un show de radio en Radio Libre Santa Cruz, escuchen a 101.1 FM o freakradio.org todos los martes de 6-7:30 pm. Durante este show hablamos sobre AFSCME Local 3299 y las ultimas noticias de la pelea por un contrato. Tambien hablamos de los trabajadores de la union UNITE HERE! en Oakland y la accion que el 8 de Agosto van a tener en el aeropuerto de Oakland. Y de la accion que los Teamsters tubieron hace como dos semanas en los Puertos de Oakland. Y finalmente tuvimos una entrevista con James sobre los trabajadores de El Balazo que fueron detenidos por la migra.  escuchen! Listen!"
On August 7th, police raided a home on the 700 block of Riverside Avenue in Santa Cruz. It is the same home that was raided on February 24th, 2008. In the February raid, police assert that the home, or the people who were inside of it, were somehow connected to what they proclaim are animal rights activists that held a protest that allegedly ended with a scuffle at a UC Santa Cruz researcher's house. The raid on August 7th was apparently carried out by at least the Department of Justice, FBI, and UCSC police.
While police removed belongings from the front house on the property, other people were loading their items into trucks parked in front of the house. The people in the back house happened to be moving out at the same time that the police decided to raid the house in the front. Apparently nobody was home at the front house during the raid. Read More and View Photos
"We don't need another parking lot" read one of over 30 stenciled cardboard signs erected on the evening of August 1st across the fences of various failed businesses in Santa Cruz by a group of bicyclists as part of a " Going Out of Business & Green Futures" community ride.
Part protest against car culture, part living art project, and part prank, the bicyclists visited the sites of former gas stations, drive thrus, auto-dealerships, and more, planting wild flower seeds, and other decorations depicting a deteriorating economy and hopes for a greener, wilder future. "Property is Theft", "My heroes carry guns in the their minds", and "Community Garden Coming Soon!" read some of the signs posted outside fenced off buildings and pavement cracking open with weeds. Read More and View Photos | More Photos
On the heels of May Day marches for immigrant rights around the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducted raids targeting El Balazo Taqueria chain in the Bay Area on May 2. ICE officers stormed 11 different chain locations in at least six cities. According to detainees, the agents came in and locked the doors. No one was allowed to leave as every taqueria employee on duty in all locations was interrogated.
ICE claimed to have had warrants for "wanted criminals" and insisted that it didn't do a haphazard sweep. But according to its own press statement, ICE arrested 62 people, all of them Latino. The detainees were taken to the ICE office in downtown San Francisco.
Immigrant workers across the country are facing the same type of repression—from Iowa and Texas to right here in Santa Cruz County. In San Francisco, politicians (including Mayor Gavin Newsom) and the corporate media are conducting a publicity campaign blaming immigrants for the problems of crime and poverty in Bay Area cities.
A forum took place on August 7th at the Beach Flats Community Center in Santa Cruz to hear El Balazo workers and movement activists talk about the impact of the raids and the progress of the defense campaign, and to discuss the way forward in the struggle for immigrant rights. Read More
Animal Liberation Press Office writes, "The home of one UC Santa Cruz vivisector and the automobile of another were burned early Saturday [August 2nd], in what local authorities are calling attacks by animal liberationists. No communiques claiming the actions have yet been received by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office as of Sunday afternoon [emphasis added]. According to a San Jose Mercury News reporter, the automobile of a vivisector whom police refused to name was completely destroyed, while the damage to the home of animal abuser David Feldheim was limited to a door frame and smoke damage. Feldheim is fond of terrorizing and killing mice in his research, which according to his website, involves the "viral introduction of genes into living mouse brains."
"The attacks occurred four days after a customer at Caffe Pergolesi, a downtown Santa Cruz coffeehouse, found fliers listing the names, home addresses, home phone numbers and photos of thirteen UC-Santa Cruz vivisectors. Police believe unidentified animal rights activists created the fliers, which were made to appear as "wanted posters." The fliers warned: "Animal abusers everywhere beware; we know where you live; we know where you work; we will never back down until you end your abuse." Read More
Will Potter, an independent journalist who focuses on how the “War on Terrorism” affects civil liberties, writes, "First, it should be noted that no animal rights group like the Animal Liberation Front has claimed responsibility. Yet the FBI has recklessly labeled this “eco-terrorism,” just like the recent Seattle arson, before the smoke had even cleared. We’ve seen plenty of instances when the government later says “oops, it wasn’t ‘eco-terrorism’ after all.” And we’ve seen other instances, like the attempted murder of Judi Bari, when the FBI framed activists. In short: reporters, activists, and the general public need to slow down, step back, and stop blindly trusting the “official” story provided by the FBI."
see also: Faculty Rally at UC Santa Cruz in Support of Firebombed Colleagues | Commentary by Will Potter, GreenIsTheNewRed.com | Corporate Coverage and Discussion
In Santa Cruz, a banner has been hung over Highway One expressing solidarity with the movement opposing Interstate 69, also known as the NAFTA Superhighway. Portions of the route in Indiana would run through wetlands, farmland, forests and karst terrain, threatening rare species and underground water systems. Urban planners predict the highway will require annual subsidies of $2 billion and accelerate suburban sprawl and automobile dependency. Others believe that by subsidizing trade, I-69 will further undercut union jobs in the United States.
Ominous Clouds of the Awaiting Storm writes, "In response to the call out for a national day of mobilization against the construction of I-69, we in Santa Cruz exhibit our solidarity with those in Indiana and throughout the country who are directly resisting this destructive expansion. Let our humble banner fly as a sentiment of our appreciation and love for all creatures alive enough to face the machines of industry that would bury us under their concrete." Read More
see also: Information on Interstate 69 || Stop I-69 (Roadblock Earth First!) || Issues One and Two of the "Roadblock Report" || Anti-I69 Protesters Storm Cato Institute in DC || Farcical, Militarized Groundbreaking for I-69
On the July 25th indynewswire on Freak Radio, danielsan spoke with Carmina Eliason, curator of the multimedia exhibit Remembering the Struggle, opening August 1st in Watsonville, which showcases art and history about the Watsonville Cannery Strike of 1985-87.
Carmina speaks about the strike itself, which put more than a thousand workers on the picket line for 18 months back in the mid-80's. She describes the end result as something like a tie, but talks about the lasting impact of the strike, where twenty years later there are still strong feelings on both sides. Carmina also discusses the roots, evolution and process of the upcoming exhibit and the ongoing gathering of materials to display and present at the Pajaro Valley Gallery to educate people about the strike and its impact. Read More and Listen to Audio
Viernes Cultural of Watsonville will be hosting a community celebration event to honor the former strikers, also on August 1st at 5pm at the Watsonville Downtown Plaza, with a procession from the Plaza to the Gallery at 6:30pm. Remembering the Struggle will run July 30th through September 21st and admission is free.
The Sprockettes, Portland's all female mini-bike dance team, rolled their veggie oil powered bus into Santa Cruz to give two free performances at the Bike Church on July 22nd. Operation Bike Nation 2008, stopping in bike-friendly towns from Santa Cruz to Seattle, features sex-positive club music while The Sprockettes dance in hot pink and black clothing and do tricks on mini-bikes.
The Sprockettes say their mission is to support and interact with the communities around them, advocate bicycle riding, promote positive self-image for all body types, encourage a healthly and physical lifestyle, and to organize and operate their dance troupe in a collective fashion. Read More and View Photos
see also: Introduction to Bicycles with Free Skool Santa Cruz, Summer 2008
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The 2008 Watsonville Gay Pride Parade Committee, a group of diverse volunteers, organized the first ever pride parade in Watsonville on August 24th. The celebration was a huge success, with 325 people marching through the streets and over 500 enjoying a party in the plaza.
