CH CH CH CHANGES It’s disheartening our community has wasted so much energy enraged over a name change. San Franciscans didn’t go into such a tizzy when their International Airport’s name became ‘Harvey Milk’. Nor was there an uproar when UCSC’s College 8 become Rachel Carson College. Those in a snit should take a breath and consider that northern California was the most populated area in all of USA.
Removing Cabrillo’s name will benefit everyone. Names are powerful. This is especially true for names of colleges, team mascots, and institutions of higher learning. Clearly those riled up fear historical record. The very land you stand, live, and work on was stolen by force from biodiversity experts who had miraculously learned to live in harmony with nature for over 15 thousand years. This acknowledgement must deeply embarrasses the naysayers.
Indigenous people engaged in commerce, travel, politics, botany, healthcare, economies, artistry, drama and more. Much of our Declaration of Independence came from Iroquois people. The greed of white male leadership has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Encouraging students and teachers to celebrate the past, present, and future of Native Americans is key. We teach one another by removing from prominence “Cabrillo”, a known “murderer, slaver and a sex trafficker,” according to many historians.
The trustees are elected and they should alone determine this issue. A public vote would cost more than a name change. At a recent public gathering with Cabrillo Trustees, a man stood claiming he would pay the school a million dollars not to change it. I suggest he move to Florida where his ignorance and inability to acknowledge and heal from his ancestor’s actions are welcome. Ann Simonton
OIL RIGGED We could blame the big oil companies but the truth is they wouldn’t be drilling for oil if they didn’t have a market for it. The big V8 Ford F150 pick up is the best selling vehicle in the US. People refuse to “Look Up.” The day will come when our children/grandchildren will come to us and say, “But you knew. Before it was too late to do something you knew and you did nothing. Why?” All we be able to say is something like, well there were some very wealthy people who didn’t want us to do anything so we didn’t. No extra credit for me. Michel Funari
WOKE Jim, as one of the leaders to rename our community college, I am honored when my detractors call me “woke”. I am proud to be woke; better woke than comatose, being aware of local history means I do not have to say I am sorry because I did not know. Why? I did some reading and talked to people about local history. Having lived in this county since 1998, and having also served on the Santa Cruz city school district board of trustees in the last decade, I feel I know this place pretty well. Doing research about Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo has paid off. That is why people get so pissed off at me: as a former history teacher of 36 years, I did my research. Try it, Jim. Steve Trujillo
I think it’s ruining some of the charm of Santa Cruz. But then again, I like “old.” Maybe they should figure out a way to do it on the outer limits. The people should definitely have a say-so, that’s how it should work.
Maya B, 17, student
They should find another place to do it. Taking out small personal businesses for a big building is not that cool. It’s our city, so we should have an opinion and vote to approve it.
Kaleo Kaluhiwa, 60, psychotherapist
My initial opinion is to take it to the voters. This town is changing so much, and the rate of change is accelerating, it’s massive. Given the way parking and traffic already is Downtown, how is it even possible?
Marissa Arslan, 44, Restaurateur, Arslan’s Turkish Street Food
I support affordable housing, so if gets people off the streets where they can live peacefully, I support that. But it’s a matter of infrastructure, and how it will impact the quality of life in the area. In general, I want people to vote, but will it really sway things? Can we get the population to vote as it should?
Ron Castellon, 39, Business owner, Hammydownz vintage retro and funky finds
If there’s a limit of 5 to 8 stories high, they should stay with that. The problem is that they will build up but it still doesn’t make housing more affordable. It’s good in theory to put more people in a taller building, but where are you going to park all those cars?
Amy Krauss, 40, Asst Professor Feminist Studies, UCSC
The most important thing is affordable housing, so maybe 25% isn’t enough to warrant building so tall. My thing isn’t to keep things the way they are necessarily, but that we take care of each other better. I was surprised that the Empty Homes Tax failed, so I’m not sure I trust Santa Cruz voters to do what they need to do.
Vito Dettore pulls his car up next to the Boulder Creek Pharmacy on a hot mountain afternoon—but he’s not here to pick up a prescription.
Dettore, like many area residents, has stopped to stock up on clean water from a tank next door to the pharmacy.
He pulls out two gallon-size jugs from his back seat and walks up to a four-spigot fill station set up like an outdoor water bar. The service is being provided by the San Lorenzo Valley Water District free of charge.
“My wife’s got some issues with her health, and, yeah, nobody wants to get sick from bad water, right,” Dettore said.
Big Basin Water Company (BBWC) customers have relied on this water for weeks after having their drinking water service interrupted. While some of the supply has been restored, there are ongoing concerns about the water’s quality and of recurring interruptions throughout BBWC’s service area.
The private utility company’s ongoing infrastructure problems have created a water and sewer service crisis for its roughly 1,200 customers. Most of these customers live in the Big Basin Redwoods Subdivision, about three miles from downtown Boulder Creek.
Earlier this year, the State Water Resources Control Board (water board) stepped in to refer BBWC to a public receiver—a court-appointed official charged with handling the company’s finances and operations–-due to its multiple violations spanning years. The issues with the company’s sewer plant forced Santa Cruz County’s Department of Community Development and Infrastructure to enact a moratorium on building permits within BBWC’s service area in April 2023.
Since then, the company partnered with a potential buyer, Missouri-based Central States Water Services (CSWS), to help upgrade and manage the plant. CSWS then subcontracted Cypress Water Services to run operations at BBWC. Cypress is based out of Prunedale in Monterey County.
Local media outlets reported on Aug. 17 that BBWC’s sewer plant was close to being operational. New homeowners and residents rebuilding after the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire ravaged the area seemed one step closer to returning.
However, the latest struggle in the community’s ongoing fight for a safe and consistent supply of drinking water has residents feeling like they’ve been hung out to dry.
Boiling Point
On Aug. 8, the owners of BBWC notified the state water board’s Division of Drinking Water of a break in the main line supplying water to customers.
BBWC distributed a precautionary boil notice and the leak was reported fixed on Aug. 9, according to the water board. Boil notices are common for customers due to the deteriorated state of the system’s supply pipes.
Since then, water outages have persisted and on Aug. 25, Cypress Water Services issued a system-wide boil notice.
Shandra Hunt is a customer of BBWC and member of the group Customers of Big Basin Water. The group is composed of customers and residents frustrated with the condition of the water and sewer service. They run a website and Facebook group to keep each other informed, and have been sharing photos of discolored water coming out of their kitchen faucets and bathtubs.
“I’ve got several pictures of dirty water and cloudy water. People are being told to boil it to make it safe. They’re not even willing to boil it because it looks so bad,” Hunt said.
Residents have complained that, in the past, BBWC’s boil notices did not reach everyone and some customers were still using potentially contaminated water. In response, some neighbors have taken to putting up handwritten roadside signs all over to inform the community of an active boil notice.
“Several people didn’t know for weeks that they were supposed to be boiling their water,” Hunt explained.
Vito Dettore said BBWC needs to do a better job of notifying customers so they don’t have to resort to handmade signs.
“I had to physically get out of my car, walk up and go ‘What does that say there?’” Dettore said. “You mean I’ve been drinking the water for a week?”
While some customers are getting at least limited service—even if they have to boil water—others are struggling to get any service at all.
TAKING ACTION: Residents are informing each other through social media and homemade signs about ongoing water issues.
Feeling the Pressure
The BBWC system is made up of an array of pumps that service different swaths of its service area. Residents hooked up to the China Grade pump have complained of getting low-pressure, discolored water.
On China Grade Road, just a few miles from Highway 236, a wooden shed houses one of the pumps that helps provide water service to the neighborhood. A rudimentary line of PVC piping stretches from the pump house, across the creek below, and continues on the opposite bank towards nearby homes.
Hunt said that this setup has been in place since the winter storms earlier this year washed out part of BBWC’s supply line. The problem now, she said, is that the pump is leaking and may be contributing to some of the water outages.
“The main concern is that it’s leaking, because they’re telling us that these leaks are what’s causing the outages. Because it doesn’t pressurize the system,” Hunt said.
According to a state water board compliance report from 2019, the existing sedimentation tank for the system is in poor condition and shows signs of corrosion. This tank, which fills all auxiliary tanks, was drained due to the leak in mid-August.
According to Hunt, she was told by an official that, as of Sept. 7, the Jamison tank had drained again after having been supplied with water over the Labor Day weekend.
Tapped Out
Damian Moore, former BBWC operations manager and son of owner Thomas J. Moore, said on Sept. 8 that the leaks have been repaired and that the system’s water quality will be tested in the coming days.
“These leaks have been repaired, service restored and storage is recovering,” Moore said.”A system wide boil water notice was issued as it is for any and all outages in all public water systems. Testing will begin [the week of 9/11] to confirm water quality so we can lift the boil water notice.”
Moore went on to say that dating back to before the 2020 CZU fire, BBWC’s water had not tested positive for the presence of bacteria after issuing boil notices and that he expects the upcoming tests to come back clean as well.
The CZU fire severely damaged BBWC’s infrastructure, accelerating the deterioration of the aging system.
According to a previous statement Thomas J. Moore made to the state water board, upgrading the drinking water distribution system would cost an estimated $2,877,900.00.
Public documents show that BBWC received $497.924.29 from its insurer for damages from the fire. Damian Moore said that the money received has already been used up for various repairs to tanks, pipes and valves within the company’s distribution system.
Moore also emphasized that the company was “making no money during the and after the evacuation period [for the CZU fire]” and that it had to rebuild its customer base since.
In December of 2022, BBWC requested a 55.59% water rate increase to customers to offset its lack of profit.
Water Rescue
On July 10 2023, the state water board’s Division of Drinking Water filed a lawsuit in Santa Cruz County Superior Court to bring BBWC into a public receivership. A court-appointed receiver would then manage BBWC until its drinking water and sewer systems are in compliance with state water quality regulations.
At this time, Central States Water Resources is intending to purchase BBWC, pending approval from state entities.
According to the water board, a new owner must receive approval from both its Division of Drinking Water and the California Public Utilities Commission. They must also demonstrate the “technical, managerial and financial capacity to sustainably own and operate a drinking water system.”
The next hearing for the receivership lawsuit is scheduled for Sept. 29 at the Santa Cruz County Courthouse.
The receivership process may take months—or years—and there is no interim solution in place for the customers’ water woes at this time.
“[Customers] were left literally high and dry, not knowing what to do. So I think that’s the summary of the entire thing,” Hunt said.
This is the second installment of GT’s coverage of the Second District supervisor seat race.
This week’s featured District 2 candidates are political newcomers ready to shake things up.
Tony Crane is an Aptos mortgage broker who is battling against what he sees as county corruption for decisions on a residential mental health facility.
Doug Deitch founded Monterey Bay Conservancy and sees water issues as tantamount among the county’s many responsibilities.
The Second District includes Aptos, La Selva Beach, Seacliff and Rio Del Mar, in addition to parts of Watsonville and Freedom. The candidate who fills the seat will oversee a mix of rural and urban neighborhoods, representing a range of residents from low-income agricultural areas to wealthier enclaves in mid-county and the Aptos area.
Tony Crane
Aptos mortgage broker Tony Crane was inspired to run to help fix a system he says is broken.
Crane holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Humboldt State University. He is also a licensed General Contractor.
In a recent interview, Crane touched on homeless services, transportation, water supply and the housing shortage plaguing the state as key issues he plans to focus on.
The catalyst for his candidacy centers around Second Story Peer Respite, a six-bed residential facility for people with serious mental health problems in his Estates Drive neighborhood.
He says that county leaders and Encompass Community Services, which runs the facility, accepted a state grant for an expansion of the facility they knew was illegal and kept it from the public.
Crane says the facility was already inappropriate for his family-centric neighborhood when it opened in 2010. He claims there have been several incidents that include drunken, violent behavior and residents peering into neighbors windows.
“It’s dangerous,” he says. “It’s a crisis mental health facility. They’re not functioning well in their neighborhood, in their home, and they’re bringing them to our neighborhood.”
The problem worsened in 2017, when Encompass applied for and received a $1.12 million grant from the California Health Facilities Finance Authority (CHFFA) to expand the facility to eight beds.
What followed, he says, was collusion by county officials and Encompass to keep their plans from the public, including not holding a public hearing on the proposed changes.
“This is what drives me,” he says. “I’ve been dealing with this for six years, and it kind of overshadows all the things this county can do as long as this kind of stuff is allowed.”
Crane calls the county’s homeless response “a complete debacle,” saying that he supports the idea of Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Courts, a program supported by a vast majority of the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year.
Under the CARE program, people with untreated severe mental illness can be compelled into housing and treatment.
“You have to manage this,” he says. “You can’t just let people roam the streets. For some people, that’s the last thing they want, but they also are kind of a danger to society.”
Crane also says that the county needs to balance its future housing against potential water use.
With 4,634 housing units mandated under the state’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment, the county faces penalties such as financial sanctions, loss of permitting authority and court receivership if it doesn’t create 4,634 affordable housing units by 2031.
But building that many new housing units, he says, is untenable for already overcrowded Santa Cruz County.
“Why are we succumbing to that level of pressure,” he says.
What is the solution?
“Don’t build,” he says. “There is a maximum number of people that can live here comfortably. I just don’t see how they justify agreeing to 4,000 more units, which is going to completely change the complexion of Santa Cruz County.”
Crane says he supports bike lane expansion, but expressed doubt about the ongoing work on Highway 1.
“They can expand the freeway all they want, it’s still going to be backed up traffic I am fairly sure of that,” he says.
Douglas Deitch
Douglas Deitch describes himself as “the best money can’t buy.” He says that he accepts no political contributions.
Deitch, 74, ran unsuccessfully for the Second District seat in 1996, 2000 and 2012. He also mounted a campaign to unseat fellow Democrat Rep. Jimmy Panetta in the 2022 election, where with 5,700 votes he garnered just 3% of the statewide take. He received just over 4% in a 2018 run for the 20th Congressional seat.
An Aptos resident since 1974, Dietch lists community safety, fiscal responsibility, water resources, community development and transportation as his his key priorities.
The founder of Monterey Bay Conservancy, Deitch says that water supply and quality issues are the most important issues facing the Central Coast.
He hopes to use $2.28 billion in state and federal funds to repurpose 22,800 acres of coastal land as wetlands, where both treated wastewater and water from the Pajaro and Salinas rivers would flow, be naturally filtered and then recharge the aquifer.
He also says that the county should utilize a rarely-enforced ordinance prohibiting new well permits when saltwater intrusion is present.
“If they would enforce this law, we would never have any problem,” he says.
An Aptos resident since 1974, Dietch lists community safety, fiscal responsibility, water resources, community development and transportation as his other key priorities.
He also wants to expand UC Santa Cruz into Watsonville.
“We need to be able to maintain water supply in our fire hydrants and our fire system in case the power goes off,” he says.
Deitch would also cap pay for county employees at the level Superior Court judges earn, roughly $195,000.
“I don’t think that anybody in the county should be paid more than a Superior Court judge,” he said.
Deitch attended Stanford University, for both undergraduate and law school, where earned a juris master.
He was also co-chair of the curriculum committee for Pajaro Valley High School.
He says he opposes changing Cabrillo College’s name.
“It’s inappropriate,” he says. “The most important thing about a school is that we should do what’s in the best interest of the kids, and I don’t see anything that compels me to think this in their best interest.”
Zeke Frazier has a lot on his desk, both figuratively and literally.
The new CEO of the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, Frazier briefly stepped away from his paperwork-lined desk to chat about the upcoming fair, which opens on Wednesday.
Last Wednesday, as vendors and performers were arriving, workers were bustling about in equipment-laden golf carts to assemble tents and food booths.
This frenetic bustle is typical in the lead-up to the event, which draws thousands of people to the Watsonville venue.
Frazier was hired as CEO in June and says that everything is on track.
“The biggest thing we want people to know is that we are here and we are ready to do the fair,” he says.
Frazier says that visitors will see beloved favorites such as the All Alaskan Racing Pigs, the cinnamon roll booth and camel rides.
New this year is an exotic bird show featuring condors with 10-foot wingspans, colorful macaws, hornbills and cranes. Also new is “Cartoon Poodles,” a show featuring 11 pink-dyed poodles trained to jump, dance and otherwise clown around for their audience.
“It’s a complete 20-minute show,” says Isabel Abuhadba, whose family has been doing the performances for six generations. “It’s wonderful when we present the show and hear the audience cheering.”
Throughout the fairgrounds, preparations are underway, with art being hung for display and people setting up their entries.
One of these was Jackie Cameron who last year, after a lifetime of attending the fair—and telling herself she would enter the garden competition she loved to see—took the plunge, designing her own garden for entry.
“I thought, you know what? I’m 52 and I’m going to do a gosh darn garden,” she says.
Her entry earned her a best-in-show ribbon and she is hoping to repeat that victory in this year’s fair.
Visitors to the Home Arts display in the J.J. Crosetti Hall can feast their eyes on dozens of different genres, from knotting to sewing to jewelry to quilts.
In the Fine Arts Building, Donna Giubbini, who heads up the art exhibit for the fair, says a new category will highlight professional commercial illustration. Works include locally produced posters, business signs and banners.
“We wanted to make room for this category because there is so much talent in this kind of illustration,” Giubbini says.
Moving forward
Frazier took the reins as CEO in the wake of the termination of former CEO Dave Kegebein. The Fair Board alleged that many expenditures on a state-issued credit card were for unauthorized purchases, including gasoline for his truck.
Kegebein maintains that all his purchases were for work related to the fair. He also paid back $30,000 to the Fairgrounds.
The move angered many community members, who criticized the board for, among other things, not giving Kegebein a chance to ameliorate the situation.
Frazier, who had no involvement in the termination or in the subsequent approval of three interim CEOs, says he wants to focus on this fair and on those in the future.
“It’s in the past,” he says. “I’d love to leave it in the past and move forward. Everyone’s come together to get this fair done, and hopefully it will help us as a community to heal, that’s my hope.”
Santa Cruz County Fair Board Chair Michael Pruger Agrees.
“It’s been a tough year for the fair,” he says. “However I think we’ve gotten past our roughest patch, we’ve hired a great new CEO and we believe we are going to be able to provide a great fair for years to come.
Pruger also tipped his hat to the people who help out every year to help keep the fair going and the fairgrounds running.
“If it wasn’t for the great volunteers that come out every single year we would be in trouble,” he says. “We appreciate their commitment to the fair. We have had nothing but great turnout again, the fairgrounds are in beautiful condition.”
The Santa Cruz County Fair runs from Sept. 13-15. For information, visit santacruzcountyfair.com.
On Monday night, the Cabrillo Board of Trustees voted 6 to 1 to approve a resolution that defers renaming the college until 2028.
The decision ends a process that included years of advice, research, consideration, and conflict stemming from a petition to replace the name Cabrillo with one unassociated with conquest, colonization and exploitation.
The Name Exploration Subcommittee that wrote the recommendation and has overseen the process from the outset—whose members included Cabrillo College President Matt Weinstein, trustees Christina Cuevas and Adam Spickler—will be dissolved. It will be replaced in October by a subcommittee tasked with implementing the other recommendations approved by the vote.
Some of the recommendations include: making the college’s disassociation from Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo more explicit, developing an annual Native American Studies lecture series, creating a faculty position in Indigenous and Native American Studies, establishing scholarships for students majoring in Indigenous and Native American Studies, to name a few.
Prior to the deciding vote, two trustees offered competing recommendations.
Trustee Steve Trujillo, representing his Watsonville constituency, wanted to delay the name change by only eleven months, a time he believed as sufficient for garnering the necessary funding.
Trustee Rachel Spencer, a name-change supporter but an outspoken critic of the process, wanted to amend the recommendation to rescind the original vote to replace the college name, thereby starting with a blank slate.
Neither suggestion was met with any approval from the other trustees.
Held in Cabrillo’s historic Sesnon House, the meeting attracted more than a dozen members of the public.
Most who came to share their opinion of the resolution were against delaying the change, with some accusing the trustees of caving to moneyed interests. Some, like faculty member John Govsky, conceded that the community could benefit from a delay, though he called five years “excessive.”
“There’s fear here, I recognize that,” Govsky said. “Maybe it makes sense to take a pause.”.
Fewer of the anti-name change community showed up. Their statements were greeted with smatterings of polite applause, while the advocates of the name change were cheered on loudly.
In conversation with members of the press following the meeting, Trustees Adam Spickler and Christina Cuevas stressed that their decision to delay renaming the college is based on legitimate concerns over the need to fully involve and inform the community. They explained that the length of time chosen for the deferred name choice is somewhat arbitrary and could be changed at a future time.
Cuevas explained that the message the Committee wants to convey is that they listen to the concerns of those who felt excluded from the discussion.
“We need to rethink how this works, and what the timing should be and what the approach would be,” she said. “So let’s go back to the drawing board and figure out an approach that’s more engaging.”
“What we didn’t want to convey is that we caved in,” said Cuevas.
Spickler specifically said he refuses to back down from his belief that a name change is inevitable.
Both are insistent the decision to rename Cabrillo remains, as was shown in the night’s voting.
Trustee Dan Rothwell stated he remained firmly in favor of the change, though he voted for the five-year postponement mainly because the funds needed to implement the change were not yet in-hand.
Cuevas was forthright that money did play some part in the decision to delay, explaining the trustees financial responsibility to acknowledge that the loss of funding is harmful to the students.
By devoting attention to goals like hiring Indigenous faculty and building greater cross-cultural interaction, the trustees expect a growing understanding of what is termed “colonial naming.”
They point to the change in opinions that they witnessed in attendees of the various forums and lectures as proof that views toward the name-change can evolve over time with enough dialog and education.
Spickler looks forward to the coming months and years as time for learning and growing and engaging.
“Invite people in to talk about it, have a dialogue about it, not get entrenched in a yes-no over a college name, where you dig in your heels and that’s the only thing you see,” he said. “That was never our intent. We’re a community that cares about people. Let’s get back to that.”
At tonight’s meeting of the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees, member Steve Trujillo will ask the board to review a recent study by Boston University and the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research that raises the need to eliminate tackle football from all schools.
The study discovered a 41% increase in chronic traumatic encephalopathy for those who play tackle football and a 61% greater risk for Parkinson’s Disease or disease-related symptoms for those who play 3 years tackle football as youth.
Trujillo notes that the San Jose Mercury News called for an end to tackle football at all California public schools in an Aug. 16th editorial. Boxing has already been banned from all high school sports in the U.S. because of head injuries.
Tonight’s meeting is notable for the presentation of the board’s Name Exploration Subcommittee’s recommendation to defer renaming the college until 2028, during which time the focus will shift to creating Indigenous studies curriculum and scholarships for Native American students.
The Board of Trustees meeting is open to the public and will be held Monday Sept. 11 at Sesnon House on the Aptos Campus, beginning at 6:15 pm.
On Monday, Cabrillo Board of Trustees will vote whether to delay renaming Cabrillo College until 2028. In a report published Thursday afternoon, the board’s Name Exploration Subcommittee suggests deferring changing the college’s name until 2028, in favor of addressing the need for greater inclusion of Native American studies, students, and faculty.
“We recommend postponing further investigation and discussion on renaming the college until at least 2028 and potentially longer,” the report states.
The report acknowledges the conflicting opinions over the name-change, which have proved to be divisive, and recommends a plan that “reduces the divisions…and helps unify the community.”
The report suggests expanding the focus beyond the institution’s name-change to include the other needs presented in the original faculty petition that began the name-change process in 2020, with “emphasis on social justice, anti-racism principles, and improvement…beyond the mere changing of a name.”
Other suggestions included in the subcommittee’s report include:
making the college’s disassociation from Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo more explicit
developing an annual Native American Studies lecture series research symposium
establishing a faculty position in Indigenous and Native American Studies
establishing endowed scholarships for students majoring in Indigenous and Native American Studies
exploration of the creation of a Multi-Cultural Center for the college, which would include Indigenous and Native American Studies
including Indigenous and tribal leaders in consultation on recommended actions
Repatriation of any Indigenous archaeological artifacts in the College’s possession
A previous board meeting on Aug. 7 ended with the Cabrillo name-change being delayed until the subcommittee could make a revised recommendation. Factors including the effects of the COVID lockdown, recent floods and fires, and inadequate funding for scientific polling led to a consensus that the process had failed to unite the community around an acceptable decision.
The seven possible names that had been selected by an appointed committee failed to attract enough support from the community and fears that a name-change could jeopardize future college funding doomed the original plan.
IF YOU GO: Cabrillo College Board of Trustees meeting at Sesnon House,Cabrillo CollegeAptos campus Monday, September 11, 5:30 p.m.
The Painted Cork Art Studio in Santa Cruz will hold a Maui Relief Fundraiser Luau at their westside location Friday from 5-8:30pm.
“We are expecting about 150-200 people,” said Kimberly Godinho, founder/operator of The Painted Cork.
All funds and donations go directly to the cause of helping the people in the town of Lāhainā, Hawaii that was hit by a catastrophic fire in early August on the island of Maui. The fires caused widespread damage, killing at least 115 people with close to 400 missing.
Those donating at the event include Food from Pono, Beer from Wood House, Hula dancing by Kay and the Tahitian Dancers, Lei making by Sangita of Redwood Leis, Music by Ben and Friends, Community Art Projects by The Painted Cork, and donations for our silent auction including Chaminade, Paradox, Seascape Resort, Core Santa Cruz, Artwork from dozens of Artists such as Yeshi Jackson and Cindy Morie, and items such as a surfboard, and handmade Hawaiian quilts.
Tickets are $30 and go to Direct Maui Relief.
The event is at 2100 Delaware Ave. Donations can also be made at ki*@pa*********.com.
In an August 30 virtual town hall hosted by the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency (SCHSA), officials presented the results of two different surveys taken by community members and service providers dealing with the allocation of a nearly $26 million opioid settlement awarded to Santa Cruz County. The $26 million is Santa Cruz County’s share of a national $31 billion settlement from opioid manufacturers and distributors.
The $26 million will be paid out in yearly increments of $1.4 million over the next 18 years.
The national opioid crisis has not spared Santa Cruz County. Deaths from drug-related causes are forecasted to exceed 2022 when 111 people died in Santa Cruz County. Total Narcan use soared in 2023 to over 1200 mg, a single dose being 4 mg.
185 community members took a countywide survey, ranking matching funds for Substance Use Disorder (SUD) facilities and addressing the needs of communities of color and vulnerable populations as top priorities.
Local health care professionals who responded to the survey indicated that funding for crisis stabilization centers as alternatives to emergency rooms and peer support specialists or recovery coaches in emergency departments was of high importance.
The consultation process is designed to “make sure we are intentional and that we are spending the dollars in a way that allows for the greatest collective impact across our communities,” said Casey Swank, director of substance abuse services for SCHSA. An intra-agency committee is coordinating the effort, and local municipalities will be consulted quarterly to stay abreast of their changing needs.
Only 185 community members were consulted for the community survey, which was lower participation than they wanted according to SCHSA senior health educator Julia Anderson.
“We’ll try to get more individuals to take the survey so that it is more representative.” More outreach and surveys are planned Anderson said.
Swank said the committee would focus on the most flexible and cost-effective means to disburse of the yearly payouts
An idea that was dismissed during the town hall was paying for hotel rooms for people with SUD while they get sober. Additionally, big infrastructure projects like building new SUD and out-patient houses were ruled out as too pricey.
A few attendees pressed when the money would be dispersed. Casey Swank reminded the audience that the money will be spent over many years and will be subject to more community input.
“Hopefully by the first of the year we should be able to spend the first of the dollars,” Swank said.
The town hall last week coincided with heightened community engagement around the opioid crisis. August 31 was International Overdose Awareness Day and Watsonville Community Hospital held its first ever “End Overdose” event.
“We hope this will become an annual event. As the opioid epidemic has grown in our area, we’ve increased our support services for patients,” said Nancy Gere, the hospital’s public information officer.
The event hosted speakers from county health staff as well as 17-year-old overdose survivor Aiden Fuller and Lisa Marquez, who lost her teenage son to an opioid overdose in 2020. Marquez’s son, Fernando, died after taking fentanyl-laced counterfeit Xanax.
Attendees of the End Overdose event were given free Narcan and hospital nurses walked them through how to determine the signs of an opioid overdose and how to administer the Narcan in an emergency.
I think it's ruining some of the charm of Santa Cruz. But then again, I like "old." Maybe they should figure out a way to do it on the outer limits. The people should definitely have a say-so, that's how it should work.
They should find another place to do it. Taking out small personal businesses for a big building...
