Opened a year ago Mad Yolks is the brainchild of Peter Wong and his twin brother, Henry. Peter says the restaurant was born from their collective love of breakfast. Their father opened several restaurants, which Peter says nurtured a keen sense in him for food.
Mad Yolks is a marriage between American and Japanese/Taiwanese influences. The breakfast/brunch menu includes the BAE sandwich (bacon, avocado, egg), the Mad Chick (juicy fried chicken under an over-easy egg) and the Bello (tempura portobello mushroom with an egg and Fontina cheese. The Curry Moco is a half-pound beef patty with white rice, Japanese-style curry, crispy fried egg and furikake. Open daily 8am-3pm (until 4pm Friday and Saturday).
What inspires you about eggs? PETER WONG: They are comforting to me; I’ve eaten them for breakfast since I was a small child. I’ve always liked them on their own, but I’m most inspired by how they complement other ingredients. We take a lot of pride in how we cook our eggs here, such as our soft scramble, which we take care to keep fluffy, light and creamy. It’s a very diverse ingredient and is used throughout many cultures, and really represents a common denominator. Eggs can connect people.
What isyour vision for Mad Yolks? PW: We wanted to couple our passion for food with creating an environment where people can create genuine connection and happy moments over good food and drinks. I really love seeing our guests come in and enjoy their time here and our food. We strive to continue to provide welcoming service, and our menu favorites combined with new ideas that we continue to explore and curate onto our menu. We also love our downtown location and the community we’ve become a part of.
1411 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, 831-291-3686, madyolks.com
We’re number one. The California per capita homeless population is the largest in the country and last June a grand jury report found that Santa Cruz has the most homeless people per capita in the state.
Fully employed Santa Cruzans and UCSC students live in their cars. You can’t afford to live here even if your job is being an elected member of the Santa Cruz City Council.
I’m checking out of Grocery Outlet Bargain Market on Morrissey Boulevard. I recognize the cashier.
“Hi, Asita. You used to work at Staff of Life, right?”
“I still do.”
She gestures to the other cashiers, “They all do.”
After the cashiers at Staff of Life Natural Food Market do their eight-hour shift, they cross Soquel Avenue to do a second eight-hour shift at Grocery Outlet.
Asita came from the Dominican Republic to Santa Cruz when she was 21, to learn English and get an education. She got pregnant.
I ask Asita how long she’s working today. “14 hours today. 16 tomorrow.”
“Do you live close by?”
“I cannot afford to live here. I’m raising my daughter in Seaside.”
I speak to one of the other cashiers who also works as a substitute teacher. She can’t afford to live in Santa Cruz either. After teaching all day, she goes to Grocery Outlet and works into the night. She says, “It’s hard to keep my eyes open.”
When did it become OK to ask exhausted people to count our money and teach our children? You know you’re from Santa Cruz if you have a child who built a house out of Legos and the Planning Department gave it a red tag.
To many of us, Santa Cruz is irresistible. We see the beauty of a community that takes responsibility for its own happiness, a people who believe in their own magic.
For 50 16> years the Santa Cruz housing crisis has been left to those local decision makers who are trying to protect the status quo. It worked for the few, and now it’s destroying Santa Cruz for everyone.
As housing costs rise nationwide, homes and apartments have become big tools for investors. Santa Cruz home prices have risen 4% year after year, while remaining stagnant in other parts of the country, according to the website, Fast Expert. They jumped fiercely during the pandemic when Silicon Valley workers were allowed to work from home, with the average price jumping 16 percent.
Although they dropped some, prices today are still 30 percent higher than they were in 2020, with the average single-family home price at $1,301,294, and the median is $1,175,000. How much do you have to earn to afford a house worth $1 million?
Between $269,000 and $366,000, according to the website, Pacaso. It’s an Everest of a climb for a couple with each making what Zip Recruiter lists as the county’s average annual salary of $61,894, or $29.76 an hour or $5,157 a month.
And, lest you think at least you can comfortably rent, the average rent here is $3,319 for a 717-squarefoot apartment, not much bigger than your Lego home.
A SANTA CRUZ ENTREPRENEUR TRIES A NEW IDEA
I’m talking to Sibley Simon, founder and president of New Way Homes, a nonprofit social enterprise that creates new, affordable housing while providing investors with a fair return. And create affordable housing he does, all over the Bay Area, a frontline warrior against NIMBYism.
“I grew up on the Canadian border in eastern Washington State, a very rural area, in an entrepreneurial family of apple farmers and teachers,” says Simon. “After college I got into tech, doing inventive things with software. I founded two startups, but they were value neutral, and weren’t making the world a better place.
“I just started volunteering more in my own community of Santa Cruz. At Housing Matters I worked on chronic homelessness in San Cruz County. I had conversations on a weekly basis with people who were experiencing homelessness and realized that didn’t define who they were and that their paths were as varied as everyone else’s path.
But lack of housing became the bottleneck. I knew we needed more permanent supportive housing. I want to figure out how I can help create that.”
He founded the nonprofit New Way Homes in 2015 and partnered with developer Workbench. Their goal: to build housing that’s more affordable with less or no public funding. Foundations, businesses, individuals can invest money by loaning to New Way Homes and get a modest return while funding affordable housing development.
“I wanted the money to be anchored at a nonprofit so that projects say, ‘affordability is our core mission, and the returns to investors are set,” he says. In 2019, California passed Senate Bill 330, the Housing Crisis Act SB 330 prohibits local jurisdictions from enacting new laws that would have the effect of reducing the legal limit on new housing within their borders or delay new housing via regulatory barriers.
“SB 330 really changed the speed and risk in most multi-family housing developments in California, as long as you’re following the city’s general plan,” he says. “That’s a huge game changer. It’s part of what gives us hope that we can show that our type of development has a level of risk that’s appropriate for a lower financial return.”
RIDING TO THE FUTURE Sibley Simon, who is married to author and museum director Nina Simon, is changing how we see housing. Photo: Josh Bootz
JESUS SAVES…COMMUNITIES!
Like many of my Santa Cruz heathen brethren, churches have always pissed me off for owning the best land, the biggest acreage, and somehow usurped separation of church and state to be able to pay no taxes on this incredibly valuable property.
But in the most ironic turnaround since Chinese alchemists invented gunpowder to seek an elixir of immortality, churches, with their cache of largely debt-free property, are coming to our rescue by using their land for affordable housing. It saves their struggling community and consequently saves their church. The irony is perfected to salvation.
Using their ownership of huge properties and their willingness to use it for the good of the community, churches are providing the land that is the keystone for most of Sibley Simon’s affordable housing developments.
YES IN GOD’S BACKYARD LANDS ON CALIFORNIA
Governor Gavin Newsom signed California Senate Bill 4 on Oct. 11, 2023, and many call it Yes In God’s Backyard.
Officially, it’s the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act. It says church land and nonprofit colleges don’t have to be zoned for housing to build affordable housing on their land.
Many faith-based groups and nonprofit colleges are currently located on lands where multifamily housing is expressly prohibited by local zoning rules. SB4 allows them to bypass most local permitting and environmental review standards that can take years to complete.
State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) authored the bill. Wiener says, “Neither CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] nor local political processes can be misused to stop these affordable housing projects.”
And so, it is written… The Lord doth smite the NIMBYs! Behold, all ye who sue to delay the development of affordable housing. Jesus hath entered the temple, made a whip out of Senate Bill 4 and chased ye NIMBYs out. Our Lord Jesus hath opened a can of whoop-ass!
“Churches say, ‘We want to keep our assets. We don’t have the cash, the large amount of cash, it takes just to even design and permit housing, let alone build it. We don’t want to risk our other assets.’ And these are most churches. They don’t want to take on a lot of debt where they could lose some other asset. But they’re patient and they’re willing to make use of their land for a project that is very mission driven. They may want a long-term income stream. It could be to pay for services they want to provide, even to those living in the housing. Or all over the country, you know, there’s hundreds of thousands of churches where the buildings have a lot of deferred maintenance. It’s been estimated that in the next decade, 100,000 church buildings across the United States are going to sell. I’d like to see those properties used to help the community.”
“We need housing development that generates a modest return. Our society will not succeed if we only have a choice between charitable housing or very high investment return. We’re not going to make it that way.” –Sibley Simon
“There are billions and billions of dollars out there that want a 4% to 6% return with relatively low risk. We’ll keep growing our track record, offer investors safe investments, and if we bring down the risk and get close to market rate investment, that’s how we can scale this model.
“I started working with churches and met a pastor, Raymond Langford, who’s worked for decades trying to bring resources to church communities in Oakland. I was like, ‘I am not going to be the white guy from Santa Cruz who is a developer in East Oakland.’ That’s not a story that ends well or seems appropriate. “But Raymond, he was adamant. ‘No, you’re working with churches. We have churches who want to do this.’
He said, ‘Follow me. We’re going to do it together. We’re going to build trust.’
So, five years later, he’s still involved with connecting New Way Homes in Oakland.
“It’s not us going in, buying property and developing what we want in the neighborhood. It’s with partnerships. We’re providing a service to that neighborhood and that organization that’s embedded in that neighborhood. We have expertise about development and capital. They have expertise about their own community and neighborhood.”
NEW WAY FLIPS THE SCRIPT
New Way Homes flips the typical construction model by only taking money from investors and lenders who will take a set, capped, modest return. Putting the brakes on profits and risk creates housing that is affordable, he explains. “We did one project in partnership with Housing Matters where we did just take on that earlier role of permitting and design. That’s the big Harvey West Studios project that’s going to go into construction this year, 121 units of permanent supportive housing. Super exciting. Permanent supported housing: that’s housing for chronically homeless individuals who need supportive services. That was my motivation for starting to be a housing developer; can we in Santa Cruz create significant permanent supportive housing?” His great accomplishment has been in finding investors and lenders who are taking a below-market-rate return and believe in this mission to the point where they’re providing the capital for the mission more than for profit. They still get a return, but not the jacked-up one many for-profit developers want. A lot of churches have bought into the promise. They have land and a mission of helping.
WE NEED BOTH MARKET RATE AND AFFORDABLE HOMES
Simon doesn’t believe in mandatory percentages for affordable housing, saying it makes housing harder to build.
“What we need to do is roll up our sleeves and get more mixed-income projects actually done,” he says. “Most people, including lower-income households, are continuing to live in market-rate housing. We need enough market-rate housing to keep prices from going up, and we need to find other ways to make affordable housing using less or no public dollars.
“That’s the goal. St. Stephen’s was completed several years ago, as a publicly funded senior affordable housing, publicly funded tax credit type project. And then right downtown, the Red Church, or Calvary Episcopal Church, that’s just finishing construction now. Great projects, all affordable housing. We need more of them.”
His plans for the future include growing the project across the country. He’s launched a crowdfunding offering on the Equityvest platform where anyone can invest in an Affordable Housing Impact Investment Fund that has paid investors of all levels of wealth over the past seven years.
Talking with Sibley Simon gives me hope for Santa Cruz, hope for our youth. There’s a lot of smart people, Mayor Fred Keeley, former mayor Don Lane and many dozens more, who tirelessly work with the new mandates from the state of California to stop our NIMBY-culture ways. State legislation, like Senate Bill 4, gives churches the power to bypass local NIMBYism and provides developers like Sibley Simon new paths to affordable housing.
For a devout atheist like me, it’s awesome to have God on our side.
A large portion of the Coastal Rail Trail project is at risk after the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday failed to approve staff recommendations to move forward with the work.
While the supervisors did approve the environmental impact report after an hours-long discussion and public comment period, they balked at approving segments 10 and 11, a 4.5-mile stretch of the project that runs from 17th Avenue in Live Oak, through Capitola to State Park Drive in Aptos.
Supervisor Felipe Hernandez made a motion to approve all staff recommendations—which included the Ultimate Trail proposal—a trail running alongside the existing rail line. But that motion, which was seconded by Supervisor Justin Cummings—failed 2-2.
Supervisor Zach Friend abstained from the vote, saying his property near the project in question presented a conflict of interest.
Supervisor Bruce McPherson made a motion to pass only the environmental impact report for the project, which he said included additional direction for staff to come back with more detailed financial information, including how to reduce engineering costs.
McPherson also said he wants to have discussions with Roaring Camp Railroad about sharing the $8 million cost of moving sections of the track.
He also reckons that there will be cost overrun, which could leave the remaining portions of the overall Coastal Rail Trail project without funding for portions of the trail in South County.
“There’s an overall $68 million Measure D active transportation program, and there is a $28 million hole,” he said. “It’s a huge money question mark in how we implement this, and I think everyone would agree that this is going to cost much more than what has been put out there to date.”
County spokesman Jason Hoppin said that the vote could jeopardize a $67.6 million grant from the California Transportation Commission (CTC) awarded in 2022, which was contingent on county approval of the project.
“If we don’t have that money, we can’t move forward,” he said. “The project is dead.”
That problem comes down to a matter of timing, since the county must approve the plans and present them to the CTC this summer, or risk the agency pulling the funding.
Hoppin acknowledged that there is a funding gap in the overall project, but said that the county was planning on looking for ways to cut costs.
“But if we cut that funding off now, we’re making that decision ourselves,” he said.
Gine Johnson, an analyst in McPherson’s office, said those concerns are overblown, and said that he is doing his “due diligence” in asking for a one-to-two-month delay to get more information.
“A slight delay to get information regarding costs is not going to lose the grant,” she said.
Supervisor Manu Koenig also said his concerns centered on the cost of the project.
With about $38 million left over in the Active Transportation Trail Fund from Measure D, and with sections 10 and 11 requiring for $28 million of that, it could leave South County with no money for its portion of the project, Koenig said.
“We need to get some real answers as far as how we’re going to mitigate cost overruns, whether that’s through value engineering, or through working with Roaring Camp,” he said.
Koenig also expressed concern about the environmental impact of the plan, which calls for cutting down from 200-1,000 trees, which he called,”an alarming amount of environmental damage.”
Koenig dismissed concerns that the vote will tank the overall project, and pointed out that it is not scheduled to go to construction until 2026–2030.
“There is still enough time that we get this right,” he said. “The notion that this is the end of the rail trail project is ridiculous. This is just saying, ‘let’s try to get these costs under control, so the whole county gets a project.’”
Suspected sunglass thieves flee, cause crash that causes traffic nightmare
By TODD GUILD
Staff Report
Law enforcement officials from two counties are looking for a trio of suspected thieves who allegedly stole $30,000 worth of sunglasses from a Monterey store on Thursday, and later led police on a chase that ended in a crash on Highway 1 that snarled traffic for several hours.
According to the Monterey Police Department, officers responded to a report of an organized retail theft in progress at the Sunglass Hat at 750 Cannery Row at 3:57pm.
Employees reported three suspects entered the store wearing masks and stole dozens of pairs of sunglasses, then ran out.
Investigators viewed security footage and saw a silver Chrysler 300 sedan speeding away and driving recklessly just after the crime was committed.
After a be-on-the-lookout was broadcast, neighboring jurisdictions notified MPD that a similar vehicle was captured on an Automated License Plate Reader camera shortly after the crime.
At 4:31pm, neighboring jurisdictions again notified MPD the suspect vehicle was seen traveling on General Jim Moore Boulevard.
Officers from the CSU Monterey Bay and Marina police departments located the vehicle and performed a traffic stop in the 3000 block of Del Monte Avenue in Marina.
The vehicle stopped, and the driver, identified as 22-year-old Shawn Morita of Hayward was arrested.
When officers tried to detain the other occupants in the vehicle, one of them entered the driver’s seat and fled in the vehicle.
As officers chased the vehicle to Reservation Road and Highway 1 north, one of the occupants threw out a bag of sunglasses that was later recovered.
Morita was charged with burglary, organized retail theft and conspiracy. He was booked into Monterey County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.
At 4:53 P.M., California Highway Patrol officers responded to a multi-vehicle hit-and-run collision on Highway 1 North at State Park Drive.
Officers located the suspect vehicle, and determined it had rear-ended another vehicle, causing the car to collide with another car in front of it.
Parties in both vehicles were injured. Witnesses said that three subjects fled the suspect vehicle on foot. They were not located.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. Greg Galin at 646. 3872, or anonymously at 646.3840.
What is your favorite place to hear live music in Santa Cruz?
Raven
I love Felton Music Hall SO much. The energy there is always incredible. Cory, the owner, is the sweetest person. I also love SubRosa, they do smaller, more local shows. It’s so fun to be in a little room with big music.
Raven, 21, Barista at Cat and Cloud, Abbott Square
DARIUS
I’d say The Veteran’s Hall. I heard Toxic Holocaust was playing there and it was pretty exciting. I got to meet the lead singer and guitarist. I like the energy and the people that come there.
Darius Moog, 18, Musician
MALACHI
Right here, on the streets Downtown. When I leave on Friday night sometimes, I walk around the corner here at Cathcart, toward Front Street, and there be a band and they be up there jammin’!
Malachi, 50, Entrepreneur
OLIVIA
The Ugly Mug. I go to the Open Mic night—it’s very intimate and has a family vibe. I like the Catalyst because it’s small and kinda dingy and loud and crazy. I saw George Clinton there recently.
Olivia Walker, 24, UCSC Community Studies Major
GEORGE
Felton Music Hall. My favorite show was Fleetwood Macrame, the Fleetwood Mac tribute band. I like the ambiance, the food, the sound, they have a full bar—and sometimes you can dance.
George Peabody, 79, Retired NYPD Forensic Photographer
DENNIS
Henflings of Ben Lomond, the Bar and Grill. They have live music, and I like the variety that they offer. On Sundays they have a jam where different local musicians come and play.
Walking up Madrone Street by the Sash Mill, you can hear a faint bass rumble. It’s late afternoon on a chilly Sunday in March and Woodhouse Brewery is hosting Soul Good Sundays, a Black and Brown artist showcase. On a small stage, Yendis Kane pumps up the crowd of around 50 people inside the taproom. DJ itsdannyboysun plays their backing tracks through a sound system as the crowd cheers. They just can’t be too loud—and there can’t be any dancing.
Last summer, an anonymous complaint shut down the outdoor music events the brewery held for three years. For weeks after, the business suffered.
“People just stopped coming,” says Will Moxham, one of the owners. “There was a solid month there where nothing happened. And people were like ‘Are you open?’” The shuttering of live outdoor events led some patrons to believe the business was done for good, Moxham explains.
Over the past year, multiple Santa Cruz establishments were forced to cease their live music or entertainment events for operating without proper permitting. Woodhouse, The Apéro Club, 11th Hour Coffee and even local nonprofit Barrios Unidos have felt the sting.
In all the cases, confidential complaints led to a crackdown by the City of Santa Cruz. As businesses struggle to bounce back from Covid-19 restrictions, some owners feel that the city is not applying the rules fairly and hurting local entrepreneurs. Others feel that the city is stifling live music and entertainment, and compare it to prohibition-era restrictions.
We Don’t Want Another Nightclub
Moxham and his business partner, Tug Newett, sit down in their taproom on a weekday afternoon in front of their small stage. They have resumed hosting smaller events since October 2023. After the anonymous complaint in July, the pair were able to obtain an incidental entertainment permit from the city, which allowed Woodhouse to operate an “indoor stage/performance area [that] does not exceed 80 square feet and customer dancing does not occur,” according to a city zoning ordinance regarding live music in eating and drinking establishments.
The brewery opened its doors in November 2020, at the height of Covid-19 and just like many other businesses, began operating outside in its parking lot. Soon after, the owners incorporated live entertainment, including DJs and musicians. For three years they went unnoticed and were mindful of the businesses around them—the area is zoned for commercial use and not residential.
“I rode my bike to every single business in this area [and] gave them our number. I saw how loud it was. I was like ‘Does this bother you?’ They [said] ‘No’, and so we went for three years. Nobody said a word,” Moxham says.
“One person complains and puts you out of business,” he adds.
Nancy Concepcion, Associate Planner and Code Compliance Specialist for the city’s Planning and Community Development Department, says in an email that all it takes is one complaint for enforcement to occur.
“The city does not conduct proactive enforcement on these uses, so it wasn’t until we received a complaint that we conducted an investigation into the use,” Concepcion says.
Moxham and Newett say that due to the live music component of some of their events, the city compared their operation to a nightclub, like downtown’s Motiv. They reject that characterization, and point to the various community fundraisers and cultural events they host. Soul Good Sundays, for example, seeks to bring Black and Brown artists together in community.
“It’s not until they shut you down and compare you to a nightclub that you start thinking about what they [perceive] we’re actually doing here” Moxham says.
The business has lost tens of thousands of dollars in revenue, he estimates.
The city’s current entertainment ordinance, which dates back to 1972, requires any establishment that has live music and “any form of dancing upon the premises by patrons thereof” to obtain a permit similar to that of The Catalyst or Motiv.
Other business owners who have also had their live entertainment shut down say the city’s ordinance resembles prohibition-era laws and hurts businesses trying to survive.
‘It’s the Footloose town’
Aran and Hannah Healey opened The Apéro Club on the Westside in August 2020. The natural wine bar occupies a small space at the end of an alley dotted with other similar shops. To boost business, they began to host local DJs and other entertainment. Patrons would dance to the music on the outdoor patio. Then, in January 2023 a complaint was made to the city citing the outdoor entertainment and that the business was operating past 10 p.m.
“I feel like I’m a criminal in my own town,” says Hannah.
The city’s entertainment ordinance stifles the ability to foster community and has affected their business, she adds. Aran says that since the enforcement, their revenue has decreased by about 35%. This was due in part because the city initially limited Apéro’s hours of operation to end at 8 pm after the complaint, which was what they were permitted for, according to the planning department. Previously, they were open until midnight on some nights.
“I’m not running a nightclub or a concert hall. To play music and have some people dancing while drinking wine, that just seems kind of normal,” Aran says.
In order to extend hours until midnight, Aran applied for a “minor modification” to their use permit. It cost him over $3,000 for the city application on top of another $550 to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. However, he was only allowed to stay open until 10:00 pm. He says planning department staff have told them they are “being watched” on social media to make sure they are following the rules.
His ultimate goal is to be open until midnight, but according to city regulations, a conditional use permit can only be modified once every five years.
“It’s like they pick and choose where to enforce it, how to handle it, […] we’re at an impasse,” Aran says.
“We live in the ‘Footloose’ town,” Hannah says, referring to the 1984 movie in which a small town bans rock music and dancing.
City officials recognize that in light of these shut downs—which they say are purely coincidental— the city’s ordinances around the issue need to be revisited.
City’s Compromise
Rebecca Unitt, the City of Santa Cruz’s Business Development Manager, says that her team, alongside city planning staff, have worked out a temporary solution for The Apéro Club. As of last week, the hours will be extended to midnight as a sign of “good faith” by the city at no additional cost to the business. The informal agreement leaves open the possibility of permanent extended hours after Apéro passes a probationary period.
“We discussed internally that if [they] want to be open until midnight, we could provide this sort of temporarily since he had just gone through the modification,” Unitt says.
As part of that agreement, there will be no karaoke, no DJs—other than a laptop connected to a small speaker—and definitely no dancing. “Some movement can’t be helped, but the space should not become a dance venue” reads part of an email outlining the terms.
Over at Woodhouse, Moxham and Newett are working within the parameters of their current permit, but are also exploring getting a special use permit to have outdoor music again. Moxham says that a required acoustical study may cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
“So basically they almost put you out of business, and I think in the end the simple solution could be to just have a city hearing,” Moxham says.
Nancy Concepcion estimates that the process for a special use permit may take up to six months and cost over $5,000. A public hearing and approval by the city’s planning commission is also required. Moxham says that figure is on top of the cost of a required acoustical study that is ambiguous in its nature.
In response to these business owners’ feeling that the city is making it hard for them to run successful establishments, Concepcion acknowledges that changes might be underway.
“It is anticipated that the city will undertake [a] review [of] the entertainment and alcohol ordinance in conjunction with the Police Department, to determine potential modernization amendments,” she says.
Unitt agrees.
“We’ve realized, from these examples, that the current system for entertainment permits is not working optimally,” Unitt says. “Looking at making those changes in the city can be a slow process […] because they have a big impact.”
The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday voted to close the crosswind runway at the airport, a move city officials say will open up more of the city for development of housing and commercial space.
Airport Director Rayvon Williams told the council that closing the shorter runway—officially called deactivating it—will take about four years, and will involve numerous steps.
This includes coordinating with the Federal Aviation Administration, amending the Airport Master Plan, conducting environmental review and studying the potential impact on the pilot community, among other things.
After that, he said, it can still be used for purposes such as staging emergency services during disasters such as earthquakes and fires. But pilots will be prohibited from using it for takeoff and landing.
Future plans for the airport include lengthening the main runway, which among other things will allow larger aircraft to land. Moreover, the closure will have a “marginal” overall effect on the airport, Williams said.
Still, the 4-3 vote—with council members Ari Parker, Jimmy Dutra and Casey Clark dissenting—was an unwelcome decision for many in the crowd of more than 50 people who packed the Council Chambers, most of them pilots and others who spoke against closing the runway.
Justin White, who owns K&D landscaping, said he recently received his pilot’s license and frequently flies to meetings.
White acknowledged that the city needs to find space to develop housing and commercial space, but said he wants to see more investment in Watsonville Airport.
“The airport has been an asset to myself, to my business, to the community, and I think we should be investing into that community, not taking away from it,” he said.
Malcom Jack, Chief Information Officer at Granite Construction, said the airport could one day be a tech hub for companies such as Joby Aviation to offer air taxi services.
He warned that taking away the runway could diminish the future potential of the airport.
“We’re on the precipice of self-flying electric automated aviation,” he said. “Is Watsonville going to be in a place to support that as it comes, or are you going to take those opportunities off the table for future generations?”
Pilot Ryan Ramirez, who serves as president of the Watsonville Pilots Association, said that the crosswind runway was built to give pilots a safe option when the marine layer rolls in.
“When you’re coming in for a landing and you see that marine layer there, if the crosswind runway was not there. you’re landing into the marine layer, and if anything happens and you have to go around, or you can’t land, you’re basically flying into the clouds, and that’s instant death.”
That happened in 2011, he said, when a family of four was killed when their plane crashed into Watsonville Community Hospital.
But the council seemed to agree with the handful of other speakers who urged them to close the runway, nearly eliminating the airport safety zones that lie on either end and opening up more development potential in the Buena Vista and North Freedom areas.
According to Community Development Director Suzi Merriam, closing the runway will allow for anywhere from 2,745 to 3,534 new homes to be built and from 80,000 to 540,000 square feet of commercial space.
Community Bridges spokesman and Pajaro Valley Health Care District Board President Tony Nuñez said that the city is on an upswing, with the hospital set to be expanded and the levee system about to receive a major upgrade.
He said that the decision will still preserve the airport while balancing future housing needs.
“When you look at the future, if they move forward with deactivation, it’s going to open up potential for housing that this city desperately needs,” he said.
Councilman Eduardo Montesino said his vote in favor of deactivation came because the city needs housing options for low-income residents.
“They deserve options for housing and commercial,” he said. “Currently they have none.”
Councilwoman Kristal Salcedo said she has seen instances of multiple families living in garages, which points to a need for more housing options.
“It’s one of the only areas of land that we have to develop potentially multi-family attached homes, or any type of housing, and we have to give ourselves the opportunities,” she said.
Dutra said the decision will be irrevocable, and could limit future potential at the airport for businesses and for people who want to learn to fly.
“If we start closing down the airport, we are really going to take away an opportunity for the future here in this community,” he said. “This airport is an opportunity for everybody.”
Mayor Vanessa Quiroz-Carter said that the city is already landlocked in its development potential, using its infill and constrained by Measure Q, which restricts farmland from being used.
“To me this is an opportunity,” she said. “I am so tired of being in a scarcity mindset. I am so tired of getting the scraps of everything from the county. I am so tired of scrimping and saving and not investing. and to me this is an investment.”
The question of shortening the runway arose in 2018, when the Federal Aviation Administration told Airport Director Rayvon Williams that a row of hangars hinder the ability of pilots using the opposing runways to see each other.
Since the airport does not have a control tower to direct operations, the intersecting runways require visual line of sight for takeoffs and landings to ensure safety.
The solution, they said, was a “threshold relocation,” or a shortening of the usable portion of the runway.
The FAA denied Williams’ request for an exception, but agreed to fund $500,000 to help the airport shorten the threshold.
The federal agency later pulled the funding for economic reasons, leaving Watsonville with the responsibility of fixing the visibility problem.
ARIESMarch 21-April 19 In the coming days, your hunger will be so inexhaustible that you may feel driven to devour extravagant amounts of food and drink. It’s possible you will gain ten pounds in a very short time. Who knows? You might even enter an extreme eating contest and devour 46 dozen oysters in ten minutes! APRIL FOOL! Although what I just said is remotely plausible, I foresee that you will sublimate your exorbitant hunger. You will realize it is spiritual in nature and can’t be gratified by eating food. As you explore your voracious longings, you will hopefully discover a half-hidden psychological need you have been suppressing. And then you will liberate that need and feed it what it craves!
TAURUSApril 20-May 20 Taurus novelist Lionel Shriver writes, “There’s a freedom in apathy, a wild, dizzying liberation on which you can almost get drunk.” In accordance with astrological omens, I recommend you experiment with Shriver’s strategy in the coming weeks. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, Lionel Shriver’s comment is one of the dumbest thoughts I have ever heard. Why would anyone want the cheap, damaged liberation that comes from feeling indifferent, numb and passionless? Please do all you can to disrupt and dissolve any attraction you may have to that state, Taurus. In my opinion, you now have a sacred duty to cultivate extra helpings of enthusiasm, zeal, liveliness and ambition.
GEMINIMay 21-June 20 At enormous cost and after years of study, I have finally figured out the meaning of life, at least as it applies to you Geminis. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to reveal it to you unless you send me $1,000 and a case of Veuve Clicquot champagne. I’ve got to recoup my investment, right?! APRIL FOOL! Most of what I just said was a dirty lie. It’s true that I have worked hard to uncover the meaning of life for you Geminis. But I haven’t found it yet. And even if I did, I would of course provide it to you for free. Luckily, you are now in a prime position to make dramatic progress in deciphering the meaning of life for yourself.
CANCERJune 21-July 22 For a limited time only, you have permission from the cosmos to be a wildly charismatic egomaniac who brags incessantly and insists on getting your selfish needs met at all times and in all places. Please feel free to have maximum amounts of narcissistic fun, Cancerian! APRIL FOOL! I was exaggerating a bit, hoping to offer you medicinal encouragement so you will stop being so damn humble and self-effacing all the time. But the truth is, now is indeed an excellent time to assert your authority, expand your clout, and flaunt your potency and sovereignty.
LEOJuly 23-Aug. 22 Michael Scott was a character in the TV sitcom The Office. He was the boss of a paper company. Played by Leo actor Steve Carell, he was notoriously self-centered and obnoxious. However, there was one famous scene I will urge you to emulate. He was asked if he would rather be feared or loved. He replied, “Um, easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.” Be like Michael Scott, Leo! APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. It’s true I’m quite excited by the likelihood that you will receive floods of love in the coming weeks. It’s also true that I think you should do everything possible to boost this likelihood. But I would rather that people be amazed and pleased at how much they love you, not afraid.
VIRGOAug. 23-Sept. 22 Now would be an excellent time for you to snag a Sugar Daddy or Sugar Momma or Sugar NonBinary Nurturer. The astrological omens are telling me that life is expanding its willingness and capacity to provide you with help, support, and maybe even extra cash. I dare you to dangle yourself as bait and sell your soul to the highest bidder. APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. While I do believe it’s prime time to ask for and receive more help, support and extra cash, I don’t believe you will have to sell your soul to get any of it. Just be yourself!
LIBRASept. 23-Oct. 22 Happy Unbirthday, Libra! It’s that time halfway between your last birthday and your next. Here are the presents I plan to give you: a boost in your receptivity to be loved and needed; a constructive relationship with obsession; more power to accomplish the half-right thing when it’s hard to do the totally right thing; the disposal of 85 percent of the psychic trash left over from the time between 2018 and 2023; and a provocative new invitation to transcend an outworn old taboo. APRIL FOOL! The truth is, I can’t possibly supply every one of you with these fine offerings, so please bestow them on yourself. Luckily, the cosmic currents will conspire with you to make these things happen.
SCORPIOOct. 23-Nov. 21 Now would be an excellent time to seek liposuction, a facelift, Botox, buttocks augmentation or hair transplants. Cosmic rhythms will be on your side if you change how you look. APRIL FOOL! Everything I just said was a lie. I’ve got nothing against cosmetic surgery, but now is not the right time to alter your appearance. Here’s the correct oracle: Shed your disguises, stop hiding anything about who you really are, and show how proud you are of your idiosyncrasies.
SAGITTARIUSNov. 22-Dec. 21 I command you to love Jesus and Buddha! If you don’t, you will burn in Hell! APRIL FOOL! I was just kidding. I was being sensationalistic to grab your attention. Here’s my real, true oracle for you: Love everybody, including Jesus and Buddha. And I mean love them all twice as strong and wild and tender. The cosmic powers ask it of you! The health of your immortal soul depends on it! Yes, Sagittarius, for your own selfish sake, you need to pour out more adoration and care and compassion than you ever have before. I’m not exaggerating! Be a lavish Fountain of Love!
CAPRICORNDec. 22-Jan. 19 If you gave me permission, I would cast a spell to arouse in you a case of ergophobia, i.e., an aversion to work. I think you need to take a sweet sabbatical from doing business as usual. APRIL FOOL! I was just joking about casting a spell on you. But I do wish you would indulge in a lazy, do-nothing retreat. If you want your ambitions to thrive later, you will be wise to enjoy a brief period of delightful emptiness and relaxing dormancy. As Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein recommends, “Don’t just do something! Sit there!”
AQUARIUSJan. 20-Feb. 18 In accordance with current astrological omens, I suggest you get the book Brain Surgery for Beginners by Steven Parker and David West. You now have the power to learn and even master complex new skills, and this would be an excellent place to start. APRIL FOOL! I was half-kidding. I don’t really think you should take a scalpel to the gray matter of your friends and family members—or yourself, for that matter. But I am quite certain that you currently have an enhanced power to learn and even master new skills. It’s time to raise your educational ambitions to a higher octave. Find out what lessons and training you need most, then make plans to get them.
PISCESFeb. 19-March 20 In the religious beliefs of Louisiana Voodoo, one God presides over the universe but never meddles in the details of life. There are also many spirits who are always intervening and tinkering, intimately involved in the daily rhythm. They might do nice things for people or play tricks on them—and everything in between. In alignment with current astrological omens, I urge you to convert to the Louisiana Voodoo religion and try ingenious strategies to get the spirits to do your bidding. APRIL FOOL! I don’t really think you should convert. However, I believe it would be fun and righteous for you to proceed as if spirits are everywhere—and assume that you have the power to harness them to work on your behalf. Homework: Speak aloud as you tell yourself the many ways you are wonderful. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
It was a mission appointed with celestial redwoods and misty coastline, small-batch Pinots and big-value seafood, river canoeing, beach bluff hiking and quirky art hunting too.
It was also inspired by one of Santa Cruz’s cooler lodges, West Cliff Inn, where they’re masters of the bygone art of a real-deal bed and breakfast. That means a historic property, house-baked cookies, indulgent hors d’ oeuvres-wine hour and brekkie-to-your-door service.
Locally owned Four Sisters Inns, which owns and/or operates around 20 inns in unique destinations across California, wanted me to check out one of its sibling properties, which span from Sonoma Valley to Dana Point.
So, thanks to that and an invite from Visit Mendocino County, I was off to the JD House B-and-B in little Mendocino (population 707), where our stylish one-bedroom jacuzzi suite overlooked Mendocino Headlands State Park and the Pacific Ocean.
The trip unlocked too much wonder to explore in depth here. (Visit Mendocino has details there.) But there’s room enough to tap a few highlights among many.
Anderson Valley unlocks a small but mighty roster of world-class winemakers like Goldeneye, Husch and Navarro vineyards. Fresh cracked crab, oysters and Philly fish sandwiches star at spots like Princess Seafood in Noyo Harbor. Fort Bragg taps a wonderland of quirky shops, magnetic art studios and murals with outsize personality, and from there the Skunk Train rumbles off into the woods for exclusive views of the wilderness. A proliferation of adjacent state parks—Russian Gulch, Van Damme, Point Cabrillo Light Station—conjure pygmy forests, fern canyons, sea caves and canoe adventures up Big River where the harbor seals lounge on shore in the sun.
It’s the type of place that renews as it astounds (the B&B helps big there), where you feel a world away just several hours north, and you can pack in a lot of life without a lot of logistics.
For Four Sisters CEO Tamara Mims, that’s part of the point.
“Travel is being able to get away and explore,” she says. “California is so amazing with all the different and unique experiences it offers. There’s a lot of adventure in that.”
NOURISHING NEWS
Homeless Garden Project, the growers behind Santa Cruz County’s first community supported agriculture, is readying for its 2024 season May 17-October 18. Reminder: Purchasing a HGP CSA share supports its work employing, training and transitioning individuals experiencing homelessness into meaningful roles in the community. Meanwhile HGP’s annual Cesar Chavez Day of Service is coming up quick, 9:30am-2pm Saturday, March 30, with lunch provided and a presentation by Dr. Ann López, executive director of Center for Farmworker Families too, at the HGP Farm. homelessgardenproject.org
NIBBLE ME THIS
Pebble Beach Food & Wine hits April 4-7, with 25% off for the Tasting Pavilion event on Sunday, April 7, discount code LOCALS, pebblebeachfoodandwine.com…The schedule for Outstanding in the Field’s al fresco spectaculars is out, including June 1 at Everett Family Farm in Soquel with dinner by chef Santos Majano, outstandinginthefield.com…After a roller coaster ride that started in 2018, Alderwood executive chef Jeffrey Wall quit via Instagram this month to focus on private projects, chefjeffreywall.com…Yes, it’s true: San Francisco’s Dogue does pastries and “dogguccinos” during the week and a $75 three-course tasting menu on Sundays when it transforms into Bone Appetit Cafe. Woof.
An Instagram page turned pop-up turned restaurant, The Pizza Series in Scotts Valley specializes in Detroit-style and New York-style pizzas. Founder Matt Driscoll opened the spot over a year ago with his fiancée Maddy, the culmination of a longtime dream.
The Detroit-style pies, with signature focaccia crust juxtaposed against crispy cheesy edges and corners, include the Pep & More with pepperoni, spicy Italian sausage, caramelized onion, whipped ricotta and basil.
The Maple Special comes loaded with chicken, sausage, Applewood-smoked bacon, serrano peppers and sweet, spicy and savory Maple Special Sauce. The NY-style pizzas feature the classic thin crust, with options like Sweet Sweet Heat with pepperoni, sausage, bacon and Calabrian honey. Open Wednesday-Sunday 12-8pm ( 7pm on Sundays).
Tell me The Pizza Series origin story?
MATT DRISCOLL: It was a documentation of my pizza creations that I compiled throughout my career, starting as an Instagram page using my photos from all the various pizza places at which I had worked. A few months in, we had gotten a lot of following, support and positive feedback. It took on a path of its own and over the years, inspired my fiancée and I to open our own brick-and-mortar restaurant based on that brand and concept.
What’s unique about The Pizza Series?
MD: We take pride in every pizza we make, starting with our dough which is scratch-made on-site, fermented for two to three days and then hand-tossed to order. We have a Maple Special Sauce that differentiates us. It starts with a maple syrup mixed with special seasonings. It sounds strange, but it’s delicious and we get a ton of great feedback.226 Mount Hermon Road, Scotts Valley, 831-600-8318; thepizzaseries.com
Opened a year ago Mad Yolks is the brainchild of Peter Wong and his twin brother, Henry. Peter says the restaurant was born from their collective love of breakfast. Their father opened several restaurants, which Peter says nurtured a keen sense inhim for food.
Mad Yolks is a marriage between American and Japanese/Taiwanese influences. The breakfast/brunch menu includes the BAE...
We’re number one. The California per capita homeless population is the largest in the country and last June a grand jury report found that Santa Cruz has the most homeless people per capita in the state.
Fully employed Santa Cruzans and UCSC students live in their cars. You can’t afford to live here even if your job is being...
A large portion of the Coastal Rail Trail project is at risk after the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday failed to approve staff recommendations to move forward with the work.
While the supervisors did approve the environmental impact report after an hours-long discussion and public comment period, they balked at approving segments 10 and 11, a 4.5-mile...
Suspected sunglass thieves flee, cause crash that causes traffic nightmare
By TODD GUILD
Staff Report
Law enforcement officials from two counties are looking for a trio of suspected thieves who allegedly stole $30,000 worth of sunglasses from a Monterey store on Thursday, and later led police on a chase that ended in a crash on Highway 1 that snarled traffic for several...
What is your favorite place to hear live music in Santa Cruz?
I love Felton Music Hall SO much. The energy there is always incredible. Cory, the owner, is the sweetest person. I also love SubRosa, they do smaller, more local shows. It’s so fun to be in a little room with big music.
Raven, 21, Barista at Cat and Cloud,...
ARIES March 21-April 19In the coming days, your hunger will be so inexhaustible that you may feel driven to devour extravagant amounts of food and drink. It’s possible you will gain ten pounds in a very short time. Who knows? You might even enter an extreme eating contest and devour 46 dozen oysters in ten minutes! APRIL FOOL! Although...
Anderson Valley unlocks a small but mighty roster of world-class winemakers ... fresh cracked crab, oysters and Philly fish sandwiches star at spots like Princess Seafood...
The Pizza Series in Scotts Valley specializes in Detroit-style and New York-style pizzas... with signature focaccia crust juxtaposed against crispy cheesy edges and corners
