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Free Will Astrology

Astrology

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December 10, 2024

ARIES March 21-April 19

If you were walking down the street and spied a coin lying on the sidewalk, would you bend down to pick it up? If you’re like most people, you wouldn’t. It’s too much trouble to exert yourself for an object of such little value. But I advise you to adopt a different attitude during the coming weeks. Just for now, that stray coin might be something like an Umayyad gold dinar minted in the year 723 and worth over $7 million. Please also apply this counsel metaphorically, Aries. In other words, be alert for things of unexpected worth that would require you to expand your expectations or stretch your capacities.

TAURUS April 20-May 20

The Taurus writer Randall Jarrell compared poets to people who regularly stand in a meadow during a thunderstorm. If they are struck by the lightning of inspiration five or six times in the course of their careers, they are good poets. If they are hit a dozen times, they are great poets. A similar principle applies in many fields of endeavor. To be excellent at what you do, you must regularly go to where the energy is most electric. You’ve also got to keep working diligently on your skills so that when inspiration comes calling, you have a highly developed ability to capture it in a useful form. I’m bringing this up now, Taurus, because I suspect the coming weeks will bring you a slew of lightning bolts.

GEMINI May 21-June 20

My upcoming novels epitomize the literary genre known as magical realism. In many ways, the stories exhibit reverence for the details of our gritty destinies in the material world. But they are also replete with wondrous events like talking animals, helpful spirits and nightly dreams that provide radical healing. The characters are both practical and dreamy, earthy and wildly imaginative, well-grounded and alert for miracles. In accordance with your astrological potentials, I invite you to be like those characters in the coming months. You are primed to be both robustly pragmatic and primed for fairy-tale-style adventures.

CANCER June 21-July 22

In December 1903, the Wright Brothers flew a motorized vehicle through the sky for the first time in human history. It was a very modest achievement, really. On the first try, Orville Wright was in the air for just 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet. On the fourth attempt that day, Wilbur was aloft for 59 seconds and 852 feet. I believe you’re at a comparable stage in the evolution of your own innovation. Don’t minimize your incipient accomplishment. Keep the faith. It may take a while, but your efforts will ultimately lead to a meaningful advancement. (PS: Nine months later, the Wrights flew their vehicle for over five minutes and traveled 2.75 miles.)

LEO July 23-Aug. 22

During the rest of 2024, life’s generosity will stream your way more than usual. You will be on the receiving end of extra magnanimity from people, too. Even the spiritual realms might have extra goodies to bestow on you. How should you respond? My suggestion is to share the inflowing wealth with cheerful creativity. Boost your own generosity and magnanimity. Just assume that the more you give, the more you will get and the more you will have. (PS: Do you know that Emily Dickinson poem with the line “Why Floods be served to us—in Bowls”? I suggest you obtain some big bowls.)

VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22

The term “cognitive dissonance” refers to the agitation we feel while trying to hold conflicting ideas or values in our minds. For example, let’s say you love the music of a particular singer-songwriter, but they have opinions that offend you or they engage in behavior that repels you. Or maybe you share many positions with a certain political candidate, but they also have a few policies you dislike. Cognitive dissonance doesn’t have to be a bad or debilitating thing. In fact, the ability to harbor conflicting ideas with poise and equanimity is a sign of high intelligence. I suspect this will be one of your superpowers in the coming weeks.

LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22

“Amazing Grace” is a popular hymn recorded by many pop stars, including Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson. Created in 1773, it tells the story of a person who concludes that he has lived an awful life and now wants to repent for his sins and be a better human. The composer, John Newton, was a slave trader who had a religious epiphany during a storm that threatened to sink his ship in the Atlantic Ocean. God told him to reform his evil ways, and he did. I presume that none of you reading this horoscope has ever been as horrible a person as Newton. And yet you and I, like most people, are in regular need of conversion experiences that awaken us to higher truths and more expansive perspectives. I predict you will have at least three of those transformative illuminations in the coming months. One is available now, if you want it.

SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21

“Thinking outside the box” is an American idiom. It means escaping habitual parameters and traditional formulas so as to imagine fresh perspectives and novel approaches. While it’s an excellent practice, there is also a good alternative. We can sometimes accomplish marvels by staying inside the box and reshaping it from the inside. Another way to imagine this is to work within the system to transform the system—to accept some of the standard perspectives but play and experiment with others. For example, in my horoscope column, I partially adhere to the customs of the well-established genre, but also take radical liberties with it. I recommend this approach for you in 2025.

SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21

I don’t recommend burning wood to heat your home. Such fires generate noxious emissions harmful to human health. But hypothetically speaking, if you had no other way to get warm, I prefer burning ash and beech wood rather than, say, pine and cedar. The former two trees yield far more heat than the latter two, so you need less of them. Let’s apply this principle as we meditate on your quest for new metaphorical fuel, Sagittarius. In the coming months, you will be wise to search for resources that provide you with the most efficient and potent energy.

CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19

The world’s longest tunnel is over 35 miles long. It’s the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the Swiss Alps. I’m guessing the metaphorical tunnel you’ve been crawling your way through lately, Capricorn, may feel that extensive. But it’s really not. And here’s even better news: Your plodding travels will be finished sooner than you imagine. I expect that the light at the end of the tunnel will be visible any day now. Now here’s the best news: Your slow journey through the semi-darkness will ultimately yield rich benefits no later than your birthday.

AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18

Would you like to avoid wilting and fading away in January, Aquarius? If so, I recommend that during the coming weeks, you give your best and brightest gifts and express your wildest and most beautiful truths. In the new year, you will need some downtime to recharge and revitalize. But it will be a pleasantly relaxing interlude—not a wan, withered detour—if in the immediate future you unleash your unique genius in its full splendor.

PISCES Feb. 19-March 20

My treasured Piscean advisor, Letisha, believes it’s a shame so many of us try to motivate ourselves through abusive self-criticism. Are you guilty of that sin? I have done it myself on many occasions. Sadly, it rarely works as a motivational ploy. More often, it demoralizes and deflates. The good news, Pisces, is that you now have extra power and savvy to diminish your reliance on this ineffectual tactic. To launch the transformation, I hope you will engage in a focused campaign of inspiring yourself through self-praise and self-love.

Homework: What will you revive, rejuvenate and renovate in 2025? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

Street Talk

John Koenig

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December 10, 2024

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What is your favorite Santa Cruz holiday tradition?

SantaCon at Abbott Square on December’s First Friday. Jive Machine performed and there were hundreds of Santas. And the Lighted Boat Parade at the harbor is great—nighttime, people and families. This is what I love about Santa Cruz!

Ken Norton, 59, Audiologist/Musician

The Downtown Holiday Street Parade, that was great. Last night I missed the Boat Parade, but I really wanted to go. That’s something I’m looking forward to next year.

Rebecca Wright, 26, Barista @ Verve on Pacific

We live in Felton next to Roaring Camp and we do the Holiday Train—religiously—every year. They have the fake snow, Santas singing carols, and candy canes.

Dennis Patton, 54, Therapist

We’ve been riding the Holiday Lights Train since we were kids, then teenagers, and we still do it as a family every year. The other thing we like to do is the Santa Cruz Fairgrounds Holiday Lights in Watsonville.

Judy Patton, 46, Therapist

The one cool thing we do is Farley’s Christmas Wonderland house with a lot of the Santa’s Village decorations where you can actually walk through.

Jesse Tabar, 44, Santa Cruz School District

The lights at the Santa Cruz County Fair, the drive-through lights. It’s a newer tradition, but we always look forward to doing it to support the Fair. They started during Covid to keep the Fair going. Every year it gets better and better.

Micah Raburn, 30, Retail

Mindful Bites

Wellness

Elizabeth Borelli

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December 10, 2024

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The holidays tend to read like a love letter to food, with a serving of nostalgia on a fancy platter at every gathering. This season of cheer is also known to lure us into second helpings, extra cocktails and just one more Hershey’s Kiss.

Rather than a buzzkill plan to curb holiday fun, this is an invitation to reflect on how to savor these festive moments. Rather than swinging between all-out indulgence today and guilt-ridden resolutions come January, what if we embraced a more balanced relationship with food?

Enter mindful eating—a simple yet transformative practice that reshapes how you approach food and, more importantly, how you connect with yourself. Mindful eating isn’t about restriction; it’s about savoring every bite, every flavor and every tradition for maximum enjoyment without the holiday hangover.

Mindful eating can be defined as the act of paying attention to our food, on purpose, moment by moment, without judgment. It has little to do with calories, carbohydrates, fat or protein.

Santa Cruz Ayurveda’s Dr. Manish Chandra calls mindful eating “a practice of mediation in motion. It’s a state of being present at all times, especially eating food that has prana (life force energy).”

It’s an eating pattern associated with health benefits, from lower intake to better digestion—and most importantly, more pleasure and satisfaction.

Here are three simple tips to help you pause, enjoy and truly savor the holiday season.

1. Relish Every Bite

Have you ever sat down to enjoy a meal only to realize, halfway through, that you’re barely even tasting it? Between your newsfeed, inbox and Netflix, it’s easy to lose track of the fork.

Mindful eating asks us to slow down and savor the flavors of the season. Whether you’re dining solo or at a holiday table with friends, make it a point to sit down, pause and really experience what you’re eating, drinks and snacks included.

Dr. Chandra confirms, “Digestion starts in the mouth. Chewing food well while feeling all six tastes—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent, pungent—helps stimulate the digestion and assimilation.”

2. It’s a Zero-Cost Reset

One more benefit to mindful eating—it’s completely free. No gym memberships, fancy kitchen gadgets or pricey supplements required—just a willingness to slow down and be aware of the present moment.

When you sit down to eat (please do), start by noticing your physical state, and whether you’re holding tension. Are your shoulders tense? Fists or jaw clenched? Breath short and shallow? As local posture expert Rita Rivera reminds us, “Our bodies often assume our stress patterns in ways we’re often not aware of.”

Take a deep breath and fully let it go. Relax and focus on the flavor, scent and texture of the food. It might take a little extra time to eat without distractions, but the benefits far outweigh the effort. Studies show that practicing mindfulness, even in small doses, can improve digestion, reduce stress and encourage balanced food choices.

If you’re new to mindfulness, consider pairing mindful eating with a short breathwork practice, like box breathing. Even five minutes of deep breathing before a meal makes it easier to focus on food and natural hunger cues.

3. Outwit Holiday Food Traps

Let’s talk about the holiday food environment for a moment. From overflowing buffet tables to endless cookie trays at the office, the season is full of opportunities to eat—not out of hunger, but because food is everywhere!

Which is why stores like Costco are especially tricky this season. The big boxes and bargain prices are designed to send us home with way more goodies than we intended. Is overbuying really a sign of a bargain? Not when it ends in overindulgence.

So instead of spending more on…more, try opting for quality over quantity. Local makers like Ashby’s and Marini’s take confections to the next level, a sweet opportunity to buy less and enjoy more.

It can be hard to slow down, but start with the breath to help you decelerate, and get present before you take that first bite of chocolate-covered fig. You’ll enjoy it that much more.

The goal isn’t just to eat mindfully—it’s to live mindfully. By bringing awareness and intention to your meals, you’re setting the stage for a year filled with balance, vitality and joy.

Here’s to slowing down, cherishing every flavor and truly savoring the magic of the holiday season—one mindful bite at a time.

Tsunami warning retracted

News

Brad Kava

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December 5, 2024

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The Santa Cruz emergency services issued a tsunami warning for Thursday afternoon and retracted it hours later.

“Tsunami Warning Cancelled / Alerta de Tsunami Cancelada
This is the Santa Cruz County Office of Response, Recovery & Resilience.

The tsunami warning issued for northern coastal areas in Santa Cruz County has been cancelled.

For more information, please visit: www.tsunami.gov

Tsunami Warning: Avoid the Coast
This is the Santa Cruz County Office of Response, Recovery & Resilience.

In light of the earthquake off the coast of Eureka, a tsunami warning has been issued for northern coastal areas in California to Oregon. As a precaution, please stay away from all beaches until the tsunami warning is no longer in effect.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will provide updates as needed.

For more information, please visit: https://bit.ly/3CZHWCx

Thank you for your cooperation!”

Street Talk

Street Talk

John Koenig

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December 4, 2024

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Can you recall a favorite holiday memory?

I’m thinking about being in Hawaii and decorating a little tree with popcorn, and I wanted to eat the popcorn, and I wondered, “The popcorn will go bad, won’t it? We’d better eat it, it’s gonna start smelling weird or something!” It seemed really strange putting popcorn on a tree.

Emily Krueger, 26, Music Artist @Velvettica

I remember a Christmas when my brothers and I all got paintball guns, and that was really exciting, because we were all really into that.

Ross Strome, 33, Artist Manager

I was petrified of Santa, people dressed as Santa, all of my childhood. I didn’t like the Easter bunny either.

Judith Manning, 51½, Freelancer

One Christmas my dad brought home three ornaments, pure black, with etched faces on one side, and the other side they have quotes from Camus and Sartre, like “Hell is other people,” like existential Christmas. Now we have those hung every year. We also have an ornament of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We have a weird Christmas tree.

Dina Lusztig-Noyes, 17, Santa Cruz Youth Poet Laureate

I had wanted a dog for a long time, and when I was 7, I got a little puppy for Christmas, a Lakeland terrier.

Kai Thomas-Nasef, 17, Jazz Drummer

Advent calendars have always been my favorite thing, with small gifts every day leading up to Christmas. We have our own invention, and it’s like a TV show. We open a bag and inside is a piece of paper with a riddle about where that day’s present is, and we have to find it. It’s really fun.

Avel Gonzalez, 13, Student

Seniors Helping Seniors

Sean Rusev

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December 4, 2024

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Strangers helping strangers may seem like a curious business model. But it’s worked for Grey Bears for 50 years. The company’s credo is “seniors helping seniors.”

Sprouting from a harvest festival in 1973 put on by UCSC graduates Kristina Mailliard and Gary Denny, who sought to share people’s backyard bounty with the elderly poor, this local nonprofit has become many things to that community: a food distribution hub, recycling center, thrift store, internet café and a locus for connection, especially around the holidays. The exciting purchase of adjoining property to their current midtown location means they are about to expand their capabilities.

The administrators I met with—Development Manager Kayla Traber, and Executive Director Jennifer Merchant—see Grey Bears as a source of nourishment for the senior community in all the myriad ways they need it.

Their Healthy Food Program provides bagged produce and pantry staples via door-to-door delivery for homebound clients or on-site distro at their 2710 Chanticleer campus, where they also serve daily hot meals.

“This past fiscal year, we served a record 58,622 meals,” Traber beams proudly.

These grocery bags and meals are paid for by grants, generous monetary donations or asset donation through a popular drop-off station, which restores and resells at their 7,000-square-foot thrift store, feeding all proceeds back into the program. Through relationships with local farms, grocery stores and food pantries such as Second Harvest Food Bank, Grey Bears volunteers do food rescue, saving “culled” produce from the landfill.

“We love distributing those imperfect crops because we find them to be really great quality,” Traber says.

There is a shameful amount of waste in the food industry, with perfectly usable fruits and vegetables never making it into the supply chain or being tossed by overscrupulous supermarkets for the slightest crease or dimple. Grey Bears is a corrective to that.

Seniors, who often face impossible choices like paying a mounting medical bill vs putting food on the table, “don’t care if something isn’t aesthetically pleasing,” says Merchant.

She sees the organization as a self-sustaining zero waste habitat. It all begins at their drop-off center and thrift store.

“Household goods get discarded by one family, then purchased by another,” she says. “Reused and living another life.”

The produce they save from the farms and stores populates their grocery bags. Any “unclaimed or undelivered” surplus from that is cooked into the on-site meals, and any waste from those has another destination.

“We have six earth tubs, huge composting bins that volunteers maintain and churn on a weekly basis. Then we sell that compost in our thrift store.”

Senior volunteers may one day require the services they provide for others. Today they bag groceries in an assembly line; tomorrow they may need those groceries.

Loops within loops.

Of Grey Bears’ more than 500 volunteers, 67% are seniors. They get the opportunity for cross-generational connections with the other 33% as they work side-by-side. For some of the less ambulatory Healthy Food Program recipients, their grocery delivery driver may be their only social contact that day.

In this way, Grey Bears battles another deadly form of starvation: isolation.

It’s a word repeated often during our interview. Traber and Merchant mention it in context of Covid, when Grey Bears was declared an essential service by the County of Santa Cruz, and they reorganized the property to allow masked volunteers to perform their duties outside, including packaging nearly 1,000 meals for CZU Complex Fire evacuees, and bagging for 4,400 seniors suddenly unable to pick up groceries or do on-site meals.

“Twenty percent of the meals we serve are to people who are unhoused or on the edge of being unhoused,” Merchant says. After opening up their kitchen and meal service during the 2020 fires, they were heartened to see it blossom from volunteers lunching together to “a substantial growth in the number of people taking advantage of that. People find new friends and new ways to connect that they didn’t have before.”

“That community is building its own community.”

But isolation remains an ongoing concern, with seniors feeling this most acutely during the holidays.

Grey Bears is taking measures to ensure no senior’s table or mailbox is empty this holiday season. They have launched a card drive from now until Dec. 17, asking for donations of non-religious cards with sweet inscriptions that show our elders, especially those without family, someone is thinking of them. Someday the new space at 2606 Chanticleer may host the annual holiday dinner, but on Dec. 7, all are invited to gather where it’s been hosted since the first one in 1974: the Civic Auditorium. And if anyone wants to be part of the sustainability cycle detailed here, Nov. 29 is “Grey Friday,” when all potential gifting materials at their thrift store will be 50% storewide.

“People donating to Grey Bears for Santa Cruz Gives can be confident that our dollars stretch a long way,” Merchant says. “They can feel good knowing they are helping a vulnerable population put healthy food on their plate, extend their ability to care for themselves, and develop social connections they might not otherwise find in their golden years.”

Giving Time

From now through Dec. 31, readers of Good Times can donate to local nonprofits at SantaCruzGives.org. These are some of the participating groups that have specific missions to provide food and/or housing to Santa Cruz County residents, as well as care and shelter for local animals in need.

Association of Faith Communities—Adding shelter beds in South County.

Families in Transition—Providing support to the organization’s Housing Services Fund.

Farm Discovery at Live Earth—Growing healthy communities through organic food distribution and education.

Habitat for Humanity—Building 13 affordable homes in Watsonville.

Homeless Garden Project—Providing free, organic produce to more individuals battling food insecurity.

Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes—Filling grocery bags for families and individuals experiencing homelessness in South County.

Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation—Rebooting the Planned Pethood program, which subsidizes even more high-quality spay/neuter surgeries for companion pets.

Santa Cruz SPCA and Humane Society—More Than Shelter program covers care for animals in foster homes, from medical treatments to behavioral training.

Santa Cruz Welcoming Network—Providing affordable housing for asylum seekers and refugees who are trying to secure legal status through the court system.

Second Harvest Food Band—Helping to provide food to more than 73,000 community members via partner agencies.

Santa Cruz Gives is funded by the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, Applewood Foundation, Joe Collins, Driscoll’s, Inc., Monterey Peninsula Foundation, 1440 Foundation, Santa Cruz County Bank, and Wynn Capital Management, as well as the generosity of the readers of Good Times, Pajaronian and Press Banner.

A Shore Thing

DNA

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December 4, 2024

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When one is driving up or down Highway One, every sense is informed by the majestic, staggering, rugged beauty of our coastline. But where some see beauty that should be left untouched, others see potential profits—or, worse, a dumping ground for garbage.

Local nonprofit Save Our Shores has been involved in the conservation of the Monterey Bay Area since 1978.

From its grassroots beginnings, Save Our Shores has been an integral part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary—a geological wonder, with its deepest canyon being two and half miles deep. Home to gray whales, orcas, elephant seals, dolphins, brown pelicans, sharks, rays and leatherback turtles, the Monterey Bay is a stunning ecosystem.

Back in the 1970s, there was a nationwide movement to combat pollution. A lone owl, named Woodsy, had a battle cry: “Give a hoot. Don’t pollute.” But things never slowed down. In 2024, the U.S. is set to produce 300 million pounds of garbage. And much of that garbage ends up in the ocean.

Who are the stewards of the planet? Who is looking out for the Central Coast? Where is our Woodsy? The answer: Save Our Shores, along with all the like-minded organizations they partner with, forming a Justice League who battle enemies as innocuous (yet toxic) as plastic.

Plastics are poisoning our bodies and the planet. Millions of tons of plastic wash up on beaches around the world, yearly. Save Our Shores leads the way on Coastal Clean Up Day, and throughout the year, all along the Central Coast. Hundreds of volunteers wander our beaches and coastline, picking up garbage and plastic debris.

One third of all plastic picked up is cigarette butts. Over a 10-year period, Save Our Shores gathered half a million butts. This year, Save Our Shores helped pass a ban on selling filtered cigarettes in the unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County. While this sounds harsh to those, like myself, addicted to filtered cigarettes, it’s time to make a change.

And the kind of concentrated, educated choices that Save Our Shores makes ensures that our coastline can stay pristine into the 21st century. From preventing offshore drilling, to educational programs, to literally walking the coastline and picking up garbage, this is a worthy Santa Cruz nonprofit.

Now through the end of the year, Good Times readers can support Save Our Shores through Santa Cruz Gives. This fundraising initiative—its website is SantaCruzGives.org—makes philanthropy fun, with 63 different groups participating as a leaderboard tallies up the money they’ve raised.

Think about how often you’ve gone to the beach, driven up the coast or pulled over to marvel at the surfers, skating across the rippling emerald-green waves. Or maybe you found a wise old tree on the Coast, a secret spot that you go to to heal your mind. For all those reasons, It’s time to give.

Workers in the UC System Remain Without a New Contract

Mark Kreidler

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December 4, 2024

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Workers in the UC System Remain Without a New Contract

This article was produced by CapitalandMain.com. It is co-published here with permission.

On one hand, last month’s massive two-day strike by nearly 40,000 University of California workers at campuses around the state was exactly what it appeared to be. Employees are falling further behind the skyrocketing cost of living in many areas where UC campuses are located, and they are pressuring UC officials to resolve months-long contract negotiations.

But behind that basic negotiating tactic lies a harder truth: Across multiple unions over the past several years, bargaining sessions with the massive University of California system have consistently reached toxic levels of conflict before they’ve really moved. And there’s no sense that that system is about to change.

The walkout was called by workers affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME. AFSCME Local 3299 says it represents more than 37,000 University of California workers in the service and patient care sectors.

The union and UC have been in talks for nearly a year on new contracts. The hospital group’s most current deal expired July 31, while the service sector—including custodial, transportation, food and other workers—saw its contract end Oct. 31.

But an unfair labor practice charge filed by the union in October with the state Public Employment Relations Board claims the university has taken a baffling approach to negotiating that has stymied talks for months. University officials dismiss the charge as meritless.

The labor practice charge is illuminating. It lays out a pattern of delay and obfuscation by the university, everything from slow-walking the sharing of critical negotiating information—such as job vacancy numbers—to the University of California abruptly changing its lead negotiator after months of talks and functionally trying to re-start them from the beginning.

Further, the union’s filing said, the university announced unilateral increases in health care costs for all union employees in the UC system beginning next year. (By the university’s own count, that would take in roughly 138,000 workers.) The AFSCME said the hikes, including 9%-11% raises in monthly premiums, along with increased co-pays and pharmacy costs, are being implemented “without advance notice or opportunity to bargain.”

Such a filing isn’t proof in itself, and the Public Employment Relations Board is ultimately tasked with deciding whether the union’s claims amount to unfair labor practice by the University of California. But the union holds up the examples as proof that the university is trying to squeeze workers in the middle of a negotiation—one definition of bad-faith bargaining.

“Instead of being a constructive and transparent partner seeking to bring us closer to agreement, UC has sought to drive us farther apart by withholding critical information,” AFSCME Local 3299 president Michael Avant said in a statement. Avant accused the university’s negotiators of “showing up unprepared and without authority to compromise, and seeking to unilaterally impose healthcare cost increases that will function as a wage cut on workers already struggling to survive.”

In a statement, the university said it has had “a robust economic proposal on the table for months,” noting that the union hasn’t made a counterproposal to UC since May. Coincidentally, that was the month that the University of California replaced its original lead negotiator, David Tuttle, with current chief negotiator Guillermo Santucci, according to the union’s unfair labor practice filing. Santucci, the union said, began by attempting to establish new ground rules for the negotiations—even though they’d been ongoing since January.

University of California officials say they’ve offered a deal that would give union workers an average 26% pay raise spread over five years. The union counters with research showing a decline in real wages and a rapid increase in the percentage of UC workers who would qualify as “low” or “very low” income earners as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with inadequate construction of affordable housing for campus workers.

In the meantime, jobs continue to go unfilled. In an appearance before the University of California Board of Regents last year, the system’s chief financial officer noted that staff vacancy rates had tripled since the pandemic, meaning that “even though we are running paper deficits, oftentimes we have a cash surplus” because jobs haven’t been filled. (AFSCME says the university repeatedly ducked the union’s request to know more about the number of vacant jobs throughout the UC system.)

If this grinding negotiation feels familiar, it should. Just two years ago, 48,000 academic workers, most of them student graduate assistants, slogged through a 40-day strike before reaching agreement with University of California negotiators. Their new contract raised wages for the workers, some of whom made as little as $24,000 while trying to live near UC campuses in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and Berkeley. The agreement expires next year, setting the stage for another battle.

AFSCME’s own members staged a three-day strike in 2018 over many of these same issues. The UC system’s librarians, meanwhile, needed 22 bargaining sessions spread over 12 months to come to recent agreement on a new contract after years of budget cuts and crippling staff reductions.

Whether November’s action by AFSCME alters the course of negotiations remains to be seen. The university’s missives so far have been strident in tone. “Negotiations require both sides to work together,” the UC said in one statement. “We are disappointed it seems that AFSCME remains unwilling to do so.”

That is on brand for a university system that, increasingly, appears to prefer war to peace when it comes to its employees. What it doesn’t do is get UC any closer to agreement with tens of thousands of workers—and it’s not the first time.

This article was produced by CapitalandMain.com. It is co-published here with permission.

Extra Sauce

Dining Reviews

John Koenig

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December 3, 2024

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Change is good, but not in every instance.

At least that’s what many Seabright locals are thinking with new ownership in place at neighborhood anchor Seabreeze Café (542 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz).

Here, tweaking the legendary cinnamon rolls would be treasonous. Messing with the house Hollandaise would approximate madness. Tinkering with the service team that extends the feeling of comfort from the food would transcend ignorance.

Blessedly none of that is happening, because new owner Marcie Bei Magdaleno…

1) Has been going to Seabreeze with her family since she was tiny, and knew the Linda the cafe was named for (and most still know it as);

2) Has been part of a restaurant family herself (at The Grille at DeLaveaga) for four decades, from busing tables as a pre-teen to running the kitchen post culinary school;

3) Has the understanding that nothing here needs fixing, so she can focus on supporting the team with errand-running and value-enhancing.

“It is a gem in Santa Cruz, this little ma-and-pa place,” says Magdaleno, who lives in the neighborhood, next door to her parents. “Why change a good thing?”

An instance of her supplementary powers arrives as this hits newsstands (Wednesday, Dec. 4): From 3-6pm, Seabreeze hosts a holiday market starring a variety of area artisans—some on staff—tabling inside with everything from jewelry to textiles to photography to children’s books.

Outside will materialize appetizers (think tasty with a chance of cinnamon rolls) and holiday punch.

Meanwhile the entire team remains in place, stove-side to table-side. So do popular plates like house-made corned beef hash, three-egg Florentine omelets, “Seabreeze spuds” with loaded home fries and melted cheese, and “Turkey in the Garden” sandwiches with homemade soup.

Old-school, unchanged—mostly.

“I want to keep [Seabreeze] like it is and add to it,” Magdaleno says. “We’ll just see where it goes. The sky’s the limit!”

More at Linda’s Seabreeze Cafe on Facebook.

WATER WORLD

Three doses of oceanfront news, in descending order of enjoyment: One, Save Our Shores hosts an open house (345 Lake Ave., Suite A, Santa Cruz) during the Lighted Boat Parade 4:30–6:30pm this Saturday, Dec. 7, with great views of the festive flotilla, light snacks and hot beverages, fundraising games, ocean-style face painting, a “sweet swag” silent auction, and mingling with the staff and exec director Katie Thompson, saveourshores.org. Two, Barack Obama swung by Monterey Bay Aquarium recently, meeting up with a squad of Girl Scouts and filming scenes for Our Oceans, now available on Netflix. Three, California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently stalled the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season in the state until (at least) Dec. 15, and all the experts I’ve talked to—CDFW officials and fisherfolk alike—would be surprised if it opened before Jan. 1, so plan holiday appetites (and emotions) accordingly…

VITAL VITTLES

Aptos Wine Wander flows this Sunday, Dec. 8, with dozens of Santa Cruz Mountains vintners pouring and a bunch more businesses providing snacks ($45/advance, $50/door), winesofthesantacruzmountains.com…Love to two flavor-focused sponsors of the Dec. 7 Downtown Holiday Parade, Pacific Avenue institutions Penny Ice Creamery and Kianti’s Pizza & Pasta Bar, now let’s float (!), downtownsantacruz.com…Santa Cruz Holiday Lights has begun at Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, rolling three-quarters of a mile long, with literally millions of lights decorating tractors, trees, lawns and celebratory buildings. Santas, reindeer, snowmen and lighted tunnels too, fairgrounds-foundation.org/holiday-lights…Gloria Steinem: “The first problem for all of us is not to learn, but to unlearn.”

LETTERS

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

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December 3, 2024

2

ONLINE COMMENTS

RE: NEW RAIL TRAIL DETAILS

Correction to this reporter’s article: It is not residents who petition the RTC for Quiet Zones (QZ). Residents can petition their City or County jurisdiction and it is those jurisdictions (aka taxpayers) that must petition the RTC. It is also those jurisdictions (aka taxpayers) that will be financially responsible for the extra infrastructure of the QZs and for liability at the QZ crossings. Question: how much will all of this cost? In 2022, when voters thought they were voting for a train, no one had a clue what the total cost of such a project would be. The only figure that has been proffered so far is about $1.3 billion. Wanna bet it will be more?!

Jean Brocklebank

Jack Brown and his failed friends at “Greenway” (LOL!) are going to forever crush any other type of motorized transportation in our county. Pity. Thankfully, many of us support the rail line.

As a Cabrillo trustee, speaking ONLY for myself ( not the campus president, the other trustees or the college), I am delighted to welcome either a bridge or a tunnel onto the Cabrillo Aptos campus to facilitate student and employee traffic to and from the campus. it will complement the new dorm we hope to have finished by mid 2027. Time marches on, folks. The Census Bureau reports CA population is now growing again, up to and past 40 million. It is NOT 1959 anymore, and we will have to live with growth in population. That means dorms on the campuses and electric trains to transport people. We can make it quite livable and see the beauty in it.

Steve L Trujillo

So, this pipe dream group gave a commercial rail license to Progressive Rail. We are now 6 years into that 10-year contract, and not a single freight shipment has been made. How’s this all going to work out for you?

There is not enough population to support this. The entire Bay Area train system runs at a deficit, but at least there’s millions of people that can use it! The population density here is far, far too low. And your estimates to build it? Triple or quadruple them, because nobody building these things seems to be able to predict a budget. And the trail system that could have been on the east side is slowed down by this idiocracy.

Jeff

Good TimesGood Times

Good TimesGood Times

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The Editor’s Desk

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Family and Feast

Free Will Astrology

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Mindful Bites

Tsunami warning retracted

Street Talk

Seniors Helping Seniors

Giving Time

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Workers in the UC System Remain Without a New Contract

Extra Sauce

LETTERS

Free Will Astrology

Street Talk

Mindful Bites

Tsunami warning retracted

Street Talk

Seniors Helping Seniors

A Shore Thing

Workers in the UC System Remain Without a New Contract

Extra Sauce

LETTERS