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Volume 3, Issue 31, Feb. 3, 2023 View as Webpage


Transit Equity Day with Free Metro Rides and Rosa Parks's Pancakes in Watsonville

By LANI FAULKNER - Edited by SARAH RINGLER

National Transit Equity Day, Sat., Feb. 4, was chosen to honor the birthday of Rosa Parks, and her pivotal role in combating racial segregation on public buses, trains and trolleys. Santa Cruz County's Transit Equity Week is Jan. 30 to Feb. 4. Santa Cruz Metro is offering free fares on all routes Feb. 4. Check out the Metro Route Map HERE. Note other events below.


Safe Streets Bike Party in Downtown Santa Cruz on Friday, Feb. 3, starting at the Bike Church at 3 and going to 5pm.


Transit Equity/Rosa Parks’ Day Family Fair in Downtown Watsonville Plaza on Sat., Feb. 4, from 10-3pm. Free Rosa Park's Pancakes until they run out. Test out e-bicycles with Royal Dutch Gazelle e-Bicycles! Meet local organizations like Regeneracion, the Community Bike Collective, Ecology Action, and Friends of the Rail & Trail. Get some tasty bites at My Mom’s Mole Food Truck.


There will also be free bike tune-ups and repairs, organizations providing bike lights, bike equipment, environmental information, help for fixed income families to get signed up for a free bike, and much more. Learn about new trails in Watsonville and throughout the county. Join us in making our streets safe for everyone, our kids walking and biking to school, our elderly, our community members with disabilities — all of us.


A lack of robust, equitable transportation is a major barrier to education, jobs and opportunity, and is a top predictor of future poverty. Prior to the 1940-50s, the United States had one of the world’s greatest public transit networks, made up of trolleys and trains that were clean and energy efficient. Then, in one decade, over a century of efforts by civil rights leaders was undone as U.S. transit systems were destroyed by industries keen to remove competition in order to support their automobile-centric vision. Tracks were torn out, and ever-widening highways were laid down through the bedrooms and backyards of Black and Brown communities. Suddenly, access to opportunity, jobs, education and vital community-business connections were cut off to anyone who could not drive or afford a car.


Safe streets, a key component of Transit Equity Day, are integral to accessing public transit as well as ensuring that children can bike safely to school and that the most vulnerable members of the community, including elderly and disabled, can walk and roll safely through our streets.


“Transit Equity is acknowledging that everyone deserves safe, reliable and affordable transportation options,” said Faina Segal of Friends of the Rail & Trail, one of the co-sponsors of the event. “Whether traveling to school, work or the beach, everyone deserves to be able to get around our county. We need to invest in building a more reliable and frequent transportation service.”


The scarcity of safe bike and pedestrian spaces also disproportionately harms people of color. In 2017, a report from the Community Traffic Safety Coalition found that Santa Cruz County ranked as one of the worst cities in California for pedestrian and bicycle deaths, and serious injuries due to traffic violence.


“Traffic violence has escalated over 51% in just a few years,” Faulkner said. “Safe and walkable communities are a key component of access to public transit. Nationwide and locally, the rate of pedestrian and bicycle deaths from car crashes has skyrocketed more than 30% just during the pandemic.”


About Equity Transit

Representing the underserved voices vital to the community, Equity Transit advocates for a robust and affordable public transportation system, a clean environment, affordable housing, safe walkable streets and access to work, school and everyday life. Learn more HERE.


Transit Equity Week is supported by Santa Cruz County Friends of the Rail and Trail, The Sierra Club, Royal Dutch Gazelle Bicycles, Santa Cruz NAACP, Santa Cruz Black, Regeneración, Youth For Climate Justice, GO Santa Cruz County and the Regional Transportation Commission, Ecology Action, Santa Cruz Climate Action Network, Santa Cruz for Bernie, Roaring Camp Railroads, Eat for the Earth, Citizens Climate Lobby, the Cabrillo College Federation of Teachers, Campaign for Sustainable Transportation, UCSC College Dems, Slugs for Coast Connect and others.

So, You Are Still at This?

By DENISE ELERICK


A few weeks ago, the Harm Reduction Coalition welcomed a phone call from a returning participant to our regular Sunday night outreach pop-up. 


Harm Reduction staff member: "Hello there? What can we do for you?"


Anonymous caller: "So, you are still at this? You came to our house and delivered to us a couple years ago. So glad you are still here. Do you still deliver? 


HR: "We sure do, here is our number. We deliver Monday, Wednesday and Fridays between 10 and 6."


AC: "When the program at the laundromat shut down it go so much harder to get syringes. I ended up in the hospital with endocarditis from reusing. I have not had any issues since you have been around. It is great we can depend on you guys when we cannot get to the County SSP." 

                        

This is why we do what we do. We recognize drug use as fact: not right or wrong or good or bad. We recognize the often complex relationship with drug use as a means to deal with trauma and pain, in search of feeling good. We don't judge, we don't coerce, and we don't shame people who deserve safety and access to life saving supplies and connection. 


Syringe services are evidence-based. The evidence has revealed over and over that access reduces death, reduces the spread of HIV, Hepatitis C and sexually transmitted infections, reduces syringe litter, increases access to Medication Assisted Treatment and low barrier health care services when trust and rapport is built over time. Harm Reduction Programs like ours, save lives and millions of dollars in medical care across the state. There is beauty in witnessing people become empowered to make healthier decisions when given the space to do so. 


We have a goal of growing our sustainable-donor base in 2023. In our donation portal there is an option to make monthly, automatic donations. Fundraising to create a sustainable, permanent nonprofit that serves the county of Santa Cruz will require we build on our current efforts. We deeply appreciate and need our grant funding however, grants have restrictions, limitations and sometimes delayed disbursement schedules. Having unrestricted resources is vital. Donate here 

 

We have stickers! Shout out to Broprints for great local printshop and graphic arts. How to get stickers? They are free with a donation of any amount. 

We are sending them out with all T-shirt purchases at our Merch shop 

Surprise! You Are Under Criminal Investigation for Buying Hotel Rooms for the Homeless

By KEITH MCHENRY - CO-FOUNDER FOOD NOT BOMBS


The pheromones of fear swept Californians indoors from the chilly mist of March 2020. News of death haunted the media. The streets were silent of all but the unsheltered, police and the hardy volunteers at the Santa Cruz Homeless Union COVID-19 Relief Center and Food Not Bombs meal.


The CDC announced that every effort should be made to provide hotel rooms to the homeless to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Governor Newsom also announced that the State would provide millions of dollars in funding for what he would call Operation Room Key.


The Santa Cruz Sentinel’s March 19, 2020 article, “Santa Cruz coronavirus ‘triage centers’ in the works for city’s unsheltered population,” reported that the state would be “setting aside $50 million to convert hotel and motel rooms into quarantine options for those who are infected, plus more than 1,300 trailers statewide for the same use.”


“Newsom said one of his experts’ health models predicted that 56% — some 60,000 — of California’s estimated 108,000 unsheltered residents may contract the coronavirus in the next eight weeks.”


The article goes on to report the Santa Cruz City Manager’s program: “The city plans to open as many as seven outdoor city triage centers on an as-needed basis, temporarily housing between 10 to 15 people per site for about as long as 72 hours, O’Hara said."


Mayor Justin Cummings visited our relief center at the Town Clock that same morning begging Food Not Bombs to help lure the homeless into their triage cages. I refused to cooperate with their demeaning program. With millions of dollars in the pipeline the city could place every unhoused person in a hotel room but the homeless were not worthy of a warm place to lay their heads. Reward them now and people would think it was possible to house everyone.


I was not willing to destroy my reputation by endorsing such a degrading plan. I did let the Mayor know I would be happy to work with the city if they made an effort to provide hotel rooms for those who lived outside.


At about 10 am on March 23, 2020, I visited the Oceana Inn, 525 Ocean St., Santa Cruz and asked to rent 8 rooms for the homeless showing the manager a sample voucher I had designed that morning. They would not agree because the guests would be homeless people.


I crossed the street and spoke with the family managing The Islander Motel. After some back and forth they agreed to rent 8 rooms. I agreed to place an officer of the Santa Cruz Homeless Union in one of the rooms and that if there was any trouble we would remove that person. I gave them my credit card and paid for 8 rooms plus a damage deposit. The bill, of course, included the city’s 11% tax on hotel rooms.


The Motel Santa Cruz was not willing to rent any rooms but I was able to rent rooms at Ocean Gate Inn, Budget Inn Motel, Riverside Inn & Suites and Aqua Breeze Inn. The Aqua Breeze Inn reconsidered.


By lunch time I had paid for about 40 rooms using money I had from the sale of my farmland in New Mexico and an award I had received for my work supporting a vegan diet.


I let the volunteers at the relief center know the homeless union would be issuing hotel vouchers at 6pm at the Town Clock. We already had prepared social distancing marks for the food line and had surrounded the relief center in crates and caution tape to help maintain safety.


A volunteer started to add social distancing marks for the voucher distribution but she was arrested for marking the street; so we stopped. News of a warm bed and shower raced through the community. Dozens showed up for a chance at a coveted night indoors. By 5pm over 100 people had come for the chance to spend the evening in a bed. People were desperate to get a room and it was difficult to keep the crowd from swarming us.


Homeless Union officers arched behind me prepared to welcome their hotel mates. Those desperate faces of hope will never leave my memory. It was crushing to announce we had exhausted our vouchers. “If we show the hotels that there won't be any problems, this will help us get another round of rooms tomorrow.”


The next morning Sgt. Jones and his patrol ordered us to shut down the relief center, handing us a letter from Chief Andy Mills who was across the street lording over a sweep of our friends who were camping next to the Post Office.


“Last night, March 23, 2020, you held a rally at the Clock Tower, where dozens of people gathered close to one another. Under the current pandemic conditions and order from public health officials at the federal, state and local levels, you must immediately cease and desist from operating in an environment where people are forced to abandon safe social distancing.”


A frosty rain encouraged us to move our next voucher distribution to Garage 10 next to Wells Fargo. Our success the night before made it possible to rent rooms at Pacific Inn Santa Cruz, the Ocean Lodge and the Mission Inn & Suites making the total of 180 beds for the night of March 25.


I painted about 100 social distancing dots at six-foot intervals in the Parking Garage 10 at 24 River St. The community cooperated with our request and stood on their dot. We passed out 180 vouchers and officers of the union lead their guests to the assigned hotel.


On March 27, Salvation Army employee Jeremy Anthony came to me at the County Building and asked if I could place half of the 60 people at the Laurel Street Shelter into hotels. He said his guests were still sleeping eight inches apart on gym mats.


I drove to the hotels and rented another 125 beds reserving 30 for those crowded into the Laurel Street Shelter. I asked Jeremy if the Salvation Army would be willing to pay for two more weeks but he thought that was impossible and we agreed it would be better to give the rooms to people who couldn’t get into the shelter.


That same day, 911 dispatchers called to ask if we had more vouchers. A social worker at Dominican Hospital asks if she could place her discharged patient into one of our beds. We are the reality the old system never was.


It’s day four of the great hotel voucher crusade. Thirty-six of our communities proud and unhoused stand at six-foot intervals in the wet mud of the Santa Cruz Benchlands. We are operating by the street lights behind the County Court House. Cold drizzle, COVID-19, and the uncertain future drape us in sorrow.


Jake is a refugee of Police Chief Andy Mills’ morning of the lockdown sweep of the Post Office. But even though he lost his shoes in the day-long police action and stands barefoot for our rice and beans, he is one of the lucky twelve who the city has placed in a hotel room for a week’s stay.


Sandra clutches our pink plastic clipboard and signs up for a room at the Riverside adding a cursive “God Bless You, Keith” below her signature. We share a smile of relief.


Lauren shivers in a beautiful lacy brown dress. It is her turn for the sacred hotel voucher for that one night at the inn. Tears cascade across her cheeks. She hasn’t bathed in days and she whispers and sobs gripping her voucher for dear life with moist eyes of thanks as she joins her hotel mates.


I run out of rooms. My heart breaks as I report the desperate news and hand out blue tarps to the unfortunate. Melissa suggests I ask for their names and put them first in line for Friday’s warm showers and soft bed; I hope their wish comes true.


A young Venessa finds a seat on the sliver of pavement next to her boyfriend Seth, looks up towards me, and tells me not to worry. You did your best, they cheerfully add.


Mark grumbles the truth, what everyone on the streets knows. The governor passed out $500 million to place those without housing in California’s hotels. That bought Chief Mills a week for twelve at the Motel Santa Cruz and his half dozen abandoned chain-link cages at the city’s parking lot, gulags of triage. Maybe it was a psychological preparation for that final solution to the problem of our town’s useless eaters?


I leave ten of us to the frost.


Nearly three years after those first frightening days, the activists at Food Not Bombs were still comforting the unhoused every day. Twenty-five mph winds and shards of rain soaked us on the one thousandth afternoon of providing daily meals, driving us from the Town Clock into the dry cavern of Garage 10. Frantic volunteers grab at a flying red canopy as it snaps into a twisted web of trash while others stuff my car with tables. Father Joel arrived with his donation of survival gear. Local students struggled to save our equipment from the gales.


After we had started setting up in a secluded corner of the garage, two bedraggled Santa Cruz police officers arrived to our chaos of relocation, objecting to our safe haven. But we ignore their pleas to retreat back into the deadly atmospheric river and by 3 pm that afternoon, all are fed. I felt so blessed that I was able to peel off my drenched clothing in the warmth of my girlfriend’s home. Those thousands of others forced to live in the storm would not have such luxury.


A crispy sun greeted our Santa Cruz Community Christmas Dinner. City hoisted wreaths gently sway from the Clock Tower on Dec. 25, 2022. Volunteers glow with holiday joy as they spoon out blobs of stuffing, mashed potatoes and slices of ham provided by Veterans for Peace. A friend sits against the empty Light House Bank gate, his sad face reflecting the pain of Christmas separation and family regret. For others we are family.


A second drenching storm crashes against our Pacific coast two days after the holiday festivities. Timbers bounce against the bridges crossing the San Lorenzo River. I will learn that many of my friends had rushed to scale the muddy slopes of the Pogonip to escape the rising torrents.


I get a call that police are swarming the garage area and I see two police officers forcing a cold camper out from under the sheltering overhang at the Wells Fargo ATMs into the drenching sheets of rain.


A secluded area of Garage 10 marked ‘No Parking” is a perfect location for our operation. Friends place our six new folding tables in our daily pattern. Drew strategically places the two remaining garbage cans saved from the winds of December 10.


Ten or more Santa Cruz Police officers amble up. Sgt. Denise Cockrum orders us to return to the ravages of the atmospheric river. I let her know we would be out of the garage at 3pm and invited her to join us for lunch. It wasn’t long before she clamped on the metal cuffs and had me carted off to the county jail for an eleven hour visit and the promise of an arraignment for two misdemeanors on Jan. 30, 2023.


I arrived early to court on the appointed day. I couldn’t find my name on the docket. The window woman at room 120 sent me to the second floor District Attorney’s office.


"Do I have a case today?” I ask sliding my driver’s license into the trough under the plexiglass screen. She investigates her computer listings. “No, but you do have another case from March 2020.”


I ask her if she could print out the information. She can’t but she can write out the charges and this is what she marks down in blue ink and slides back to me with my identification.


22S-07279 DCL

20S - 01888

518 a - extortion induced by wrongful use of force

472 - counterfeit seal

532A - false financial statement

182A - conspiracy to commit a crime

120275 - violation to comply with shelter in place


The first line, 222S-07279 DCL, indicates that the case of my alleged counterfeit vouchers did not disappear in March 2021 as I had thought,

and more charges were added in 2022.


Why am I under investigation on felony charges and a violation to comply with shelter- in-place nearly three years after I spent close to $20,000 on hotel rooms for the homeless?

David Hammons's Flag

By JON SILVER


The photo above is from my 2022 trip to the National Museum of African History and Culture at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.


The flag is designed by David Hammons. It takes the stars and stripes design of the United States flag and replaces the red, white, and blue with green, red, and black, the colors of the Pan African flag. The canton, in the upper left corner, is green with 50 black stars, while the thirteen stripes alternate between red and black.

 

The colors all hold significant meanings. The colors represent blood, skin tone and the wealth that the ancestors of the African-Americans forced into slavery were made to leave behind. Over time, the flag has become an identity to Harlem connecting it to contemporary Arts and the diaspora. The flag is recognized as a strong political statement for the black community.

Sun Moon Me You 

By BOB GOMEZ


Sol que tú eres 

tan parejo 

para repartir tu luz 

habías de enseñarle al amo 

a ser lo mismo que tú  


Water Rabbit Moon 

you shine upon this new year 

fertile, bright and soft 


Me junté con la protesta 

Vidas Negras apoyando 

Unidad entre las razas 

Y justicia demandando  


Nineteen sixty three: 

a black man smiles, strokes my hair 

and I am not afraid 


Sol que tú eres 

tan parejo 

para repartir tu luz 

habías de enseñarle al amo 

a ser lo mismo que tú  

 

January 31, 2023

Photo by TARMO HANNULA 

A black Phoebe, a member of the fly catcher family, maintains a lookout spot atop a drainage pipe.

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. There were no new deaths in the county over the past week.


Because of the availability of home testing I don't report on changes in the active cases in the county. The Health Department is now collecting data for Covid and Mpox from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county. See webpage HERE. The first chart below shows the latest county data. The fourth chart below shows wastewater projections.


The county's Effective Reproductive Number is way below 1.0. See the second chart below. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing. The chart, released from the California Department of Public Health below shows several predictions from different agencies. For information, click here.


The third graph below shows hospitalizations. Click to see more information on hospitalizations HERE.



Here are details on the county's vaccination data. Vaccination data has not changed in months and doesn't include the boosters.


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.


To get information on COVID-19 testing locations around the county visit this site. You can make an appointment for a Rapid Antigen Test here.

2/3/23 

Deaths by age/276:

25-34 - 5/276

35-44 - 8/276

45-54 - 10/276

55-59 - 4/276

60-64 - 15/276

65-74 - 49/276

75-84 - 64/276

85+ - 121/276


Deaths by gender:

Female - 136/276 

Male - 140/276 

Deaths by vaccination status: 

vaccinated - 39/276

unvaccinated - 237/276


Deaths by ethnicity:

White - 163/276 

Latinx - 90/276

Black - 3/276

Asian - 16/276

American Native - 1/276

Unknown - 0

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Fashion Street - Community members take on roles of famous people in Mexican history during a stage performance at the Youth Center in Watsonville as part of 2022 Day of the Dead celebrations.

Labor History Calendar - Jan. 20-26, 2023

a.k.a Know Your History Lest We Forget


Feb. 3, 1919: 32,000 textile workers strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. 

Feb. 4, 1869: Birth of Big Bill Haywood

Feb. 5, 1830: First daily labor paper, N.Y. Daily Sentinel, begins publication.

Feb. 5, 1846: Birth of Johann Most.

Feb. 6, 1919: Seattle, Washington shipyard strike of 32,000 workers sparks general strike as workers take control of the city.

Feb. 7, 1919: Seattle mayor threatens to crush strike with 3,000 police and soldiers; workers are defiant.

Feb. 7, 1946: 3-week general strike wins union rights and higher pay in Senegal.

Feb. 7, 2012: General strike as Greek politicians promise more austerity.

Feb. 7, 2016: China Labor Bulletin reports 2,741 strikes across the country in 2015.

Feb. 8, 2010: 400 Egyptian textile workers begin 16-day sit-in demanding reinstatement of fired workers and payment of back wages owed by their recently privatized firm.

Feb. 8, 2011: General strike across Egypt. 

Feb. 9, 2011: Riot police attack students protesting higher fees with 28 arrested. Faculty and staff respond with 72-hour solidarity strike that closes the University of Puerto Rico. 


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


"But I'll tell you more about that later... or maybe I won't, because some wounds just don't heal even if you talk them out. On the contrary, the more you dress them up in words, the more they bleed.” 

― Subcomandante Marcos



Photo by TARMO HANNULA

Eggs In-a-Nest Rancheros

By SARAH RINGLER


Here is a different way to serve Huevos Rancheros. The egg sits in a nest of curly, fried tortilla strips with salsa and cheese sprinkled over. Lay a few slices of avocado on the side, and a small spoonful of beans, and you have the special birthday breakfast. As you cut into the egg, the yellow yolk drips over the tortilla strips. Stir in the salsa and cheese and you have a perfect taste combination. It goes without saying, the better the salsa, the better the flavor.


Tortilla translates into Spanish as “little cake” but can refer to different foods depending upon the Spanish speaking country. In Spain, it refers to a thick omelet dish or a fried pancake made out of chickpea or garbanzo flour. It is the latter use, which historians believed caused the Spanish to call the little cakes they saw in what they were soon to call, Nuevo España, tortillas.


These tortillas, made out of a native grain called corn or maize in English, dates back at least 10,000 years. Even today, Mexico grows 42 types of corn, each which has several different varieties resulting in 3,000 different kinds of tortillas that differ in how and where they are grown, as well as color, use, and flavor. On the road between Mexico City and Oaxaca City, there are tortillas that are a rich turquoise color.


Tortillas are very healthy because they are low in fat and salt as well as contain important ingredients for your health like calcium, niacin, potassium and fiber. 

The corn and flour versions of tortillas are now a staple food in the U.S., surpassing bagels and muffins but still behind sliced bread according to the Tortilla Industry Association.


4 poached eggs

5-6 corn tortillas

1 cup of your favorite green or red salsa

1 cup grated Monterey jack

1 avocado

salt and pepper

1/2 cup peanut oil or any high-heat vegetable oil

1 cup of cooked and drained beans of your choice.


Cut the tortillas into thin strips about 1/8 inch wide. Add one half inch of the high heat vegetable oil in a heavy fry pan. Turn on the burner to just below high heat. At this point, never leave the stove. When the oil is shiny, add a sample piece of tortilla. The oil should sizzle and the tortilla should start to turn golden in a minute or two. Adjust the heat. Fry the tortilla strips in batches and drain on paper towels.


Warm the salsa in a small saucepan then set aside. Grate the cheese and set aside. Then cut the avocado into thin boat shaped strips. 


Place the fried tortillas strips in low shallow bowls or pile onto a plate. Keep them warm in the oven.


Poach the eggs in an egg poacher or fill a shallow pan 2/3 full with water and bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to a simmer and carefully break the four eggs into the water. Cook for about 3 minutes until the whites are firm but the yellow in still liquid. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and drain on towels. 


Take the plates of tortillas strips from the oven and place an egg on the top of each pile. Add a little salt and pepper. Pour salsa over the eggs and then sprinkle with the grated cheese. Place the avocado slices on the edge. Serves 4. 

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

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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. 

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