I spent last Friday night downtown surrounded by Santa Clauses. Hundreds of them.
It’s an annual event, also done in other towns, organized here by party domo Rupert Hart and it shows off our downtown in the best possible light.
We need things like that downtown to stave off the bad rap it gets from some suburbanites and if you don’t love the diversity and enthusiasm of a downtown celebration, you are really missing out.
The next day was the Holiday Parade, which packed downtown with spirit and floats and that night was the lighted boat parade in the harbor. There was also a giant holiday fest at the Watsonville Fairgrounds.
I’ve lived in a lot of places and nowhere does it better than Santa Cruz. We have the benefit of a small-town feel with big-time cultural events, a mix of Mayberry and Greenwich Village, plenty of down-to-earth folksiness with piercings and tatts and people of all ages.
And speaking of good ideas, it’s great to see Mayor Fred Keeley and County Supervisor Manu Koenig propose an alternative to the $4.5 billion rail/trail by temporarily covering the tracks and making it a bike/pedestrian trail until the county can afford or demonstrate a clear need for a train. Public agencies have spent tens of millions of dollars on the train proposal, much to out-of-town consultants, which has been hampered by affordability and logistical challenges from the start.
Sure, who wouldn’t want a train rolling across the county and preferably someday leading over the hill to Los Gatos, like it used to? But despite the claims made by proponents of the rail when we voted on the idea several years back, the actual costs didn’t come near matching the projections. There was some serious incompetence, ignorance or plain wishful thinking by those who claimed it would cost millions rather than billions of dollars.
A bike and pedestrian path for now will be one of the great local tourist attractions, as it is in Monterey, Davis or Santa Monica.
The next big issue we’ll have to figure out is whether we can or should build battery plants in light of the Moss Landing fire and the recent study that shows tons of hazardous metals in our fields. It’s a real balancing act: on one hand we want to move away from burning carbon for electricity and we need batteries to store the solar and wind energy that would replace gas and oil.
On the other hand, we see that lithium batteries cause fires that can’t be put out and that contaminate soil and air when they burn. The decisions we make now will have long-lasting effects.
OK. To lighten up a bit, check out the holiday festivities in this issues: a dozen new restaurants–yay!!—experiential gifts you can give rather than more stuff; the return of two great fun-packed performers, El Vez and the Beat Farmers; and Christina Waters’ picks for high-culture presentations.
Get out and enjoy and bring the family.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
JUST BEACHY A full moon night at the beach. Photograph by Steve McGuirk, ce*****************@***il.com
GOOD IDEA
Learn to paint your pet and take home a frameable piece of art. Sign up for Suzy Rad’s next Tails on Tap Pet Painting Class happening on Sunday, Dec. 15 from 1-4 pm at Steel Bonnet Brewing in Scotts Valley. Ten percent of the $75 ticket sales go back to the county’s animal shelter. Steel Bonnet is at 20 Victor Square, ext B. For more info: Suzyradarts.com
GOOD WORK
Internet radio station Santa Cruz Voice along with Think Local First Radio will produce interviews—listen live or on their archive—with local nonprofits that participate in the annual holiday fundraiser Santa Cruz Gives from December 7-21.
Listen live throughout December to learn about local nonprofit work. See the schedule of interviews at santacruzvoice.com/santa-cruz-gives-schedule. A link to the archive is posted after each show airs. Heaps of gratitude to program hosts Susan and Tam O’Connor Fraser for this generous offer. Make donations to local nonprofits now through Dec. 31 at santacruzgives.org.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘These metals bioaccumulate, building up through the food chain.’
—Ivano Aiello, SJS professor
about tests of Moss Landing after the fires
