It’s been 10 years this week since Good Times returned to local ownership. We’d been publishing Metro Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz Weekly for 20 years when the opportunity arose to purchase Good Times from the East Coast private equity firm that owned it and merge it with our weekly.
The move made sense from an economic and editorial standpoint, but it was risky nonetheless. We made a seven-figure investment at a time when others were fleeing the industry and demonstrated that not only is print journalism appreciated and viable, but it makes a difference in communities.
Despite the economic impacts of California’s increasing business costs, our highly subsidized competition, a pandemic and natural disasters, Good Times has grown. As the four-time winner of the California Journalism Awards’ top prize for weeklies, General Excellence, we have been able to deliver a product that is second to none in the state.
The success of Good Times has enabled us to keep jobs here and reinvest locally. We bought and restored a mid-century building on the San Lorenzo Riverwalk, purchased Watsonville’s 156-yearold Pajaronian newspaper and, more recently, the Press Banner, which serves Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley.
We were very pleased when the Pajaronian was recognized with a General Excellence award in its circulation category last year, giving the county two of the state’s top newspapers. We organize a number of community events, among them Santa Cruz Restaurant Week, Santa Cruz Burger Week, Best of Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz Gives, which has raised millions for local nonprofits.
We also support the efforts of others, such as First Friday and the upcoming TEDx Santa Cruz. We are grateful to the readers, advertisers and supporters who have kept Good Times the county’s best read publication. I am particularly thankful for the early efforts by Lee May, Jeanne Howard and Steve Palopoli, who shared the vision and the heavy lifting needed for its realization. After 10 years, it feels like we are just getting started and look forward to what’s ahead. Here’s to the future.
DAN PULCRANO | CEO/EXECUTIVE EDITOR.
PHOTO CONTEST
FUNKY REST KICKER A Trestle Lounge over Antonelli Pond. Photograph by Ross Levoy
GOOD IDEA
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved a new ordinance prohibiting E-bikes from most places where pedestrians walk, with some exceptions. Under the new rules, E-bike riders in the unincorporated parts of the county cannot use them on sidewalks, unless there is no bike lane and as long as there are no pedestrians. E-bikes are prohibited from park trails, unless the parks director makes specific exceptions. Scofflaws face a $100 fine for the first violation, $200 for a second violation within one year and $500 for each additional violation in the same year.
GOOD WORK
In a little more than a year, Ramsay Park in Watsonville will boast a new dog park, a new multi-use synthetic sports field, a new state-of-the-art nature center and new lights for its pathways, parking lots and athletic fields. Plans also include an all-inclusive playground, picnic areas and the Watsonville Slough Connector Trail Project, a connector trail between Main St. and Harkins Slough Road. The project is slated to kick off in May, and is expected to take 15 months at $24.5 million,
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people”
–JUSTICE LOUIS BRANDEIS
A wonderful quote from Justice Brandeis. thank you! i want to commend the Good Times for excellent, in depth reporting. it is the best newspaper in the county. Keep in mind my comments here are NOT official statements from the college, the campus president or the other members of the board of trustees of Cabrillo College, but my own views.
Getting back to the quote from Justice Brandeis, yes, an inert cult who worships an ex POTUS like trump without ever questioning his motives, his actions, his statements and his attitudes cause the public to believe this is “normal”. There is nothing normal about this. These are extraordinary times , and they demand that we question authority , support peaceful protest, and seek to hold our nation to the concepts it claims to uphold in our US Constitution. Not to do so makes our nation “inert”.
I am proud of our community college, despite the horrific genocidal person it is named for, as our college strives to live up to the finest traditions of an institution of higher learning. And we believe in diversity, equity and inclusion. You can witness this at our graduation in May. Graduation is the end of next month, and for those in the ceremony, I hope to see you in person there. It is a truly lovely occasion. I am proud to be part of it.