Why I Voted No
By SANDY BROWN
Photo by TARMO HANNULA Sandy converses with a supporter at a fundraiser on Park Way.
On June 22nd I cast the lone “no” vote on the question of whether the City of Santa Cruz should declare a fiscal emergency, in order to put a half cent sales tax on the ballot for a special election later this year. As a council member who is pushing for things like: more low-income housing from developers who have built and are building thousands of new high end units; tenant protections; alternative emergency responses for people experiencing mental health crises; and sufficient staffing and living wages for frontline workers, I've become accustomed to being on the losing end of many votes. The difference this time? A unanimous vote was needed to move forward.
When I could not support moving forward until we apply the living wage to all city workers, the theoretical support I regularly feel from some of the other council members all but dissolved before my eyes. Because they could not object on substance, they spent hours deriding me for my position. The collective message was clear. My vote would “destroy democracy” (as if the voters have been clamoring for a chance to increase the sales tax). It would “only hurt the people I intend to help” (because apparently consultants and calling for more studies are a path to equity). Was I willing to “ruin my relationship with the labor movement”, and foreclose future endorsements (as if my fight for fair pay is transactional, not solidaristic)?
Here are the key reasons I cast that vote:
1) Sales taxes are regressive: they disproportionately hurt low-income people. Instead, the city should consider progressive revenue measures, such as a real estate transfer tax, windfall profit tax, and vacancy tax, any of which would require property investors and speculators to pay a share of the costs of public services. Instead, multi-million dollar vacation homes and apartments in multi-unit complexes sit empty and the hyperinflation in property markets enriches the few, with little benefit to the city and the majority of its residents.
2) The city lacks accountability for how it spends taxpayer dollars: The council regularly approves spending on new executive level and administrative positions, hiring consultants, and conducting costly studies, which are often archived and ignored. What evidence do we have that those investments are sound? We should hold ourselves to the evaluation standards and metrics required of community programs and other contractors. The council should receive regular reporting regarding what work is getting done with the money.
3) City leaders must shift budget priorities to be more in sync with the public interest: We need to go on an administrative and consultant diet. Workers who directly interface with the public and the cityscape should be paid a living wage and given the resources needed to safely do their work. Our failure to address these issues sends a message to these frontline workers who maintain our parks and open space, manage our trash, clean our public restrooms, and sit tower as lifeguards on our beaches, that we are okay with undervaluing their work, all of which happens to benefit both locals and tourists alike.
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Watch "PUSH" the film
By SARAH RINGLER
Housing is currently one the biggest human rights' issues in our country, and "PUSH," a film by Swedish documentary filmmaker Fredrik Gertten, reveals what is happening behind closed doors that is drastically driving up the cost of housing, and by extension, homelessness. It is not gentrification. Housing has become a financial asset and a way place to park money for the rich. The film is being shown Wednesday, July 14, at 7:30 at the Tabby Cat Cafe, 1101 Cedar St. in Santa Cruz.
A relatively new phenomenon, known as “dark buildings,” is the buying up or putting up of luxury residential mid and high-rise buildings that are intended to remain vacant, or “dark.” I saw this two years ago when I accompanied my granddaughter to New York to see "Kinky Boots," a play she was desperate to see. We stayed at a moderately priced hotel, for New York anyways, around the corner from Trump Towers on Fifth Ave. One night about nine pm, after having dinner, we returned to the hotel and walked by Trump Towers. Looking up, I was amazed to see that is was mostly dark with only six or seven apartments lit up. This, is in a city that supposedly never sleeps and in a building that has 58 stories and over 260 condos. I imagined that it was money laundering for people who lived somewhere else.
Fundamentally, the film "PUSH" advocates for the universal right to housing as enumerated by the United Nations 1948 Declaration of Human Rights, article 25. Home is a precondition to a safe, healthy, dignified life; and yet worldwide, proper housing is increasingly unaffordable for middle and working classes.
Filmmaker Gertten was sued by Dole Food Company in 2009 for making a film called BANANAS!* that followed a court case in Los Angeles by Nicaraguan workers who became sterile from Dole's use of poisonous pesticides. Dow Chemical even asked Dole to stop using the poison. Dole withdrew their suit after the Swedish government and activists stood behind Gertten and the case became public.
This event will also have local speakers who will speak on efforts to stop the Cruz Hotel, farmers market parking garage and other development projects.
At least 59 percent of Americans are a paycheck away from being homeless
according to a 2019 survey by Charles Schwab, and over 40 million Americans are now facing eviction because of the pandemic. Are luxury condos really a solution? Watch the trailer.
Watch "PUSH" the film
Wednesday, July 14, Bastille Day
7:30 pm
Tabby Cat Cafe
1101 Cedar St, Santa Cruz,
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
A hooded oriole looks out from a Cruzio tower near Salsipuedes Creek.
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t
"...those committed to social justice have a formidable task: articulating the value and rights of the immigrant without relying on anti-Black and pro-capitalist tropes."
Tamara K. Nopper
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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. The number of cases on Thursday totaled 16,317, up 48 from last Thursday's 16,269. There were no new deaths and the number remains at 207. There were no changes in all the categories.
Santa Cruz County issued a June 29th Press Release, on the Delta variant that is more highly transmissalble and more resistant to monoclonal antibody treatment. One individual, a male in his 50s has been identified. For updates from the state, go here.
The county's vaccination data is now available. 58% of the total population is fully vaccinated and 67% has had a least one dose.
The county's Effective Reproductive Number is staying 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 tested without a doctor’s request, call 1-888-634-1123 or go online at https://lhi.care/covidtesting. Other testing sites that may have restricted access can be found here.
For vaccine information in Santa Cruz County, click here.
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% deaths by ethnicity/% of population:
White - 55%/58%
Latinx - 36%/34%
Black - 0/1%
Asian - 7%/4%
American Native - 0.5%/not available
% deaths by gender/% of population:
Female - 51%/50%
Male - 49%/50%
Other - 0
Under Investigation - 0
Deaths by age/202:
30-39 - 2%
40-49 - 3%
50-59 - 2%
60-69 - 13%
70-79 - 21%
80-89 - 31%
90+ - 27%
Tested positive by region/% of population:
Mid-county - 21%/12%
North county - 20%/60%
South county - 58%/29%
Under investigation - 0%
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%
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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 - 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%
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Fashion Street - A Wandering Minstrel
By SARAH RINGLER
Strollling and playing his guitar, this travelling musician graces the streets of the Seabright neighborhood in Santa Cruz.
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Labor History Calendar for July 9-July 15:
July 9, 1917: Federal troops raid IWW hall in Yakima, Washington.
July 9, 2018: General Strike against austerity in Haiti.
July 10, 1917: Emma Goldman sentenced to two years for aiding draft dodgers.
July 10, 2014: UK gov't workers strike and protest against austerity.
July 11, 1892: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho miners seize coal mines.
July 11, 1917: Jerome, Arizona deportation of striking IWW miners.
July 11, 2012: Tens of thousands join striking miners march in Madrid.
July 11, 2017: German court upholds law limiting rights of minority unions.
July 12, 1917: Bisbee, Arizona, deportation of 1,186 striking copper miners,
July 12, 2012: 1,000 workers from 16 unions wildcat Newfoundland line construction job, winning on fifth day; four face contempt charges.
July 13, 1917: Strikes in police murder of worker spread in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
July 13, 1934: Southern Tenant Farmers' Union organized in Tyronza, Arkansas.
July 13, 1995: Detroit newspaper workers begin 19 month strike.
Bastille Day - July 14, 1877: General strike halts railroads.
July 14, 1912: Woody Guthrie born.
July 14, 1921: Sacco and Vanzetti convicted after two-month framed trial.
July 14, 2014: Los Angeles port truckers launch 5-day strike and dockworkers briefly honor the picket line.
July 15, 1917: 50,000 lumberjacks strike for 8-hour day.
July 15, 2012: 7,000 workers occupy state-owned Misr Spinning and Weaving Company plant in Egypt.
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The painting above is by an eye witness, Claude Cholat, who was a wine merchant and fought on the side of the revolutionaries.
Bastille Day
By SARAH RINGLER
What is now a national day in France, originally marked an important day in 1789 during the French Revolution when the medieval armory, fortress and political prison, La Bastille, a symbol of repression and royal tryanny, was stormed by around 1,000 attackers. It was the beginning of the end of French monarchy.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
The amazing cauliflower
By SARAH RINGLER
With a lot of texture but not a lot of flavor, cauliflower needs help in elevating it to a dish you could recommend. This recipe pours on the flavor with garlic, anchovies, onions, chili peppers and Parmesan cheese. Crunch is added with toasted buttered bread crumbs. Roasting the cauliflower keeps it firm. You can make the recipe vegetarian by substituting the anchovies for Kalamata olives.
This recipe is from Dabney Gough’s column in August 23, 2006’s San Francisco Chronicle. It’s one of the favorite recipes of Chef Donna Scala who with her husband Giovanni, was chef and owner of Scala's Bistro in San Francisco and Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa. The San Francisco location is still closed but the Napa one is open. Donna is no longer alive. It’s an authentic Neapolitan recipe from Giovanni's mother who named the recipe after him.
The cauliflower we eat today is thought by Andalusian Arab botanists, Ibn al-‘Awwam and Ibn al-Baltar, to be developed from a native variety that grows on the island of Cyprus. The famous Pliny the Elder, a Roman naturalist, philosopher and military commander in the first century ACE, favored the taste of cauliflower over other vegetables from the same family, Brassicaceae, like broccoli, cabbage and kale. It is truly a Mediterranean vegetable.
I usually think of cauliflowers as white but there are green, purple and orange varieties too. The orange variety contains beta-carotene like carrots and originated from a natural mutation that was found in a cauliflower field in Canada. Mathematicians have observed geometric fractal patterns, most noticeable in the Romanesco variety. Every little branch or floret, is similar to the entire cauliflower and the angle between forms a consistent ratio.
Pasta Alla Gianni
1 head cauliflower (about 2 cups florets)
6 tablespoons olive oil
¼ teaspoon dried chili flakes
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
¾ chopped onion, 1 cup
4 cloves garlic, smashed or coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons minced anchovies or Kalamata olives
1/2 pound spaghetti
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2/3 cup panko or breadcrumbs
Roast cauliflower first. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Break the head into florets and put in a large bowl. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle, salt, pepper and chili flakes over the florets and toss well. Spread the florets on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes until florets are golden brown but still firm and edible, not mushy or hard. Put in a bowl and set aside.
Make toasted breadcrumbs. Lower oven heat to 350 degrees. Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl and stir in 2 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well then spread onto the same baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, stirring and watching the crumbs so they don’t burn but turn golden brown. Set aside.
In a large sauté pan, heat 2 more tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until lightly golden and translucent. Add garlic and mix well. Add cauliflower to pan. With the back of a spoon or a heavy spatula, break the cauliflower into small bite sized pieces while stirring to coat. Add more salt and pepper to taste, then set pan aside.
Cook spaghetti in boiling, well-salted water according to package instructions. Before draining, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water and set aside.
Place frying pan with cauliflower back over medium heat. Add the cooked pasta. Combine and add some of pasta water to make a sauce. Add more if necessary. Add the chopped or sliced anchovies and mix. Put into a serving bowl and sprinkle with breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan and roughly chopped parsley.
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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 © 2021 Sarah Ringler - All rights reserved
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