Cartoon by STEVEN DECINZO
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Martín Bernal's Executive Order: Close Down Lot 27
By SARAH RINGLER
People without a home have been congregating around Broadway and Laurel, called Parking Lot 27 by the city, in downtown Santa Cruz for around six months now. One reason is because Food Not Bombs, a volunteer organization that provides free food and services in over 1,000 cities in 65 countries, has been doing that same thing in Santa Cruz.
According to Jessica A. York in Thursday's Santa Cruz Sentinel, City Manager Martín Bernal signed an executive order Sept. 25 to close down Parking Lot 27 at the beginning of this week. Reasons given were mostly health and safety related like trash buildup, human waste, rodents, syringes, fires, and not following coronavirus protocols like social distancing. Also, "public nuisance conditions" were cited. Almost any large group of people without necessary services would create many of the same conditions.
Aware of the executive order, about forty community members have been monitoring the parking lot and up to this morning, have been slowing the process down. Today, police and city work crews descended and started to sweep the lot of people's belongings. Volunteers put pressure on the police to save people's more valuable possessions and police agreed to itemize all confiscations.
Dozens of campers on the levee were told they could stay until tree trimmers come through next week.
It's obvious by now, that if people are uprooted from one place, they just move on to another. The city seems to have no problem closing down public streets for businesses, but why not for people who need housing? According to Keith McHenry of Food Not Bombs and others, the homeless population here increased after the fires. This issue is not going away. Contact Santa Cruz City Council and your County Supervisor.
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Photo by TARMO HANNULA
Volunteers sort campers valuables in the foreground while Santa Cruz Police and Rangers haul away larger items from Parking Lot Twenty Seven at Broadway and Front Streets in Santa Cruz today.
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Abolition Fair
By SARAH RINGLER
The Abolition Fair was created by various groups in the county as an opportunity to learn about alternatives to policing that demonstrate care and respect for the community. Although the fair has already begun, there are some upcoming countywide events you may want to join. For more information on the events, contact Abolitious.org.
Oct. 1 -
4 PM – Abolition Orientation + Bike/Car Caravan by UCSC Cops off Campus
Oct. 2 -
5 PM – 7 PM – BIPOC Liberation Ride by BIPOC Liberation Collective
Oct. 3 -
11 AM to 1 PM – The River Composes Us in Concert Together by Ecosocialists of DSA Santa Cruz
1 PM (Virtual) – CAHOOTS Presentation by Alternative Emergency Response Working Group
Oct. 4 -
12 PM (Virtual) – Abolition & Mutual Aid in Watsonville + South County by Revolunas
7 PM (Virtual) – Surveilling the Surveillants by Science for the People SC
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ENTERTAINMENT
The Shrine of the Holy Hand Sanitizer
By SARAH RINGLER
Gretchen Regenhardt and Anastasia Torres-Gil have submitted the assemblage sculpture below, “The Shrine of the Holy Hand Sanitizer,” to MAH’s upcoming exhibit, “In These Uncertain Times.”
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"States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions."
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Sarah's 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. As of Oct. 1, there were 2,427 cases that tested positive, an 5% increase from Sept. 25. Twelve people have died, two more than last week.
Other than a 33% rise in deaths, there have not been other significant changes. The county's Effective Reproductive Number has risen to 1.5 since the beginning of September after sitting below 1 for most of August. Numbers above one shows 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. The testing clinic is at at Ramsay Park in Watsonville. Other testing sites that may have restricted access can be found here.
To visit the website for the Santa Cruz County Health Department:
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Known cases tested positive by age/% of population:
19 and under - 16%/25%
20-34 - 32%/22%
35-44 - 16%/12%
45-64 - 26%/27%
65 or older - 10%/15%
Under investigation - .4%
Tested positive by ethnicity/% of population:
Multi-Race - 1%/3%
White - 18%/58%
Latinx - 63%/34%
Black - .4%/1%
Asian - 1%/4%
Other - 2%/.4%
Unknown - 15%
Tested positive by gender/% of population:
Female - 52%/50%
Male - 48%/50%
Other - 0%
Unknown - 0%
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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%
Sept. 10-17- 8%
Sept. 17-24 - 7%
Tested positive by region/% of population:
Mid-county - 18%/12%
North county - 16%/60%
South county - 62%/29%
Under investigation - 4%
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Fire and Smoke - Make a clean room
By SARAH RINGLER
Smoke is back so I'm reprinting this section from Issue 14. Fortunately, we have had a reprieve since Sept. 15 when we had six days of air quality readings of over 150, in the unhealthy range. If you have a home, one way to reduce smoke exposure is to create a "Clean Room." The Environmental Protection Agency has suggestions:
- Choose a room large enough to fit everyone in your family. A bedroom with an attached bathroom is a good choice.
- Prevent smoke from coming inside. Close windows and doors in the room, but don’t block entryways, or make it difficult to leave.
- Stay cool. Run fans, window air conditioners or central air conditioning. If your HVAC or window air conditioner has a fresh air option, turn it off or close the intake.
- Filter the air in the room. Use a portable air cleaner continuously on the highest fan setting, if possible.
- Don’t do things that introduce smoke or other particles indoors. These include using gas, propane or wood-burning stoves and furnaces, spraying aerosol products, frying or broiling food, burning candles or incense, and vacuuming unless you use a vacuum with a HEPA filter.
- Spend as much time as you can in the Clean Room.
- Dust or mop surfaces in the Clean Room with a damp cloth as needed to keep settled particles from getting back into the air.
I closed all the indoor doors at my house and focused on keeping two closed doors between me and the open air. Often, while moving about the house, I could still smell smoke, while the clean room noticeably offered cooler, fresher air. For more information visit EPA.gov.
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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, 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 not a profit-making enterprise and all work is volunteer.
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