Light and crisp, this dry wine comes with tropical aromas of white peach, lychee and honeysuckle. Delightfully creamy, “the mid-palate brims with zesty citrus and minerality, balanced by flavors of pink grapefruit, mango, kumquat zest, and yuzu curd.” It is recommended that you enjoy this bright and lovely sauvignon blanc ($55) with lighter foods and exotic cuisine.
“We hope you enjoy this wine over several hours with good food and those you love,” says the winery’s proprietor, Tom Gamble.
Produced by Gamble Family Vineyards in Napa Valley, this summer wine is one not to miss. More than 1,000 cases were produced, so there’s no fear of running out anytime soon.
Visit gamblefamilyvineyards.com for info or call 707-944-2999.
Summer Lineup at Lester
Lester Estate Wines offers lots of fun at their summer wine and food-truck events, held at their Deer Park Ranch in Aptos:
June 7—SambaDá & The Pesce Veggie
July 5—Alex Lucero Band & Casas de Humo Barbecue
Aug. 2—Dylan Rose Band & SC Eatery
Sept. 6—Flor de Caña & Fonda Felix
Oct. 13—Carolyn Sills Combo & Cococ the Food Truck
Admission is $15 and includes a Lester Estate Wines logo govino glass. The govino company makes shatterproof, BPA-free, reusable wine glasses, thereby reducing the waste caused by single-use vessels.
These music and dancing events take place 5-8pm. Oct. 13 is 2-5pm. Visit deerparkranch.com for info.
Vine to View at Chaminade
Chaminade has a fine lineup of special alfresco dinners through October. Participating wineries are John Anthony Vineyards (June 7), Byington Winery (July 19), Caymus Vineyards (Aug. 16) Alfaro Vineyards (Sept. 13) and Beauregard Vineyards (Oct. 11). Stay overnight at Chaminade on an offered package that includes a Vine to View dinner. Visit Chaminade.com for info.
The best thing about Santa Cruz in the summer is also the worst thing. There’s just too much going on.
No matter what you choose, you are going to miss other great things. And what if you want to take a day off and like, hang on the beach or in the forest? Regrets abound.
Last weekend was a great example: the great Pride Parade was up against the Redwood Mountain Faire. Not fair. Other cities settle for one or the other. We have both and then throw in a hidden adult rave; bands playing at all of our clubs; the great group Thievery Corporation at the Mountain Winery and more.
It’s an abundance of riches.
More of the same this coming weekend. The 20th anniversary of First Friday is, duh, Friday night all over town, as explained in our cover story and an inserted guide in our weekly. The same night over in Felton there’s reggae from Boostive.
Saturday there’s the one symphony kids really love, the greatest movie hits of John Williams, the last show of the season. There’s also a hugely celebrated sax player, Kamasi Washington, at Kuumbwa; psych rock from Habibi at Moe’s and a Mariachi Festival at Cabrillo Sunday.
What do you do? Try to go to it all or make your best choice based on the tips we curate in this issue and hit one or two a day?
On the news front, we are covering the protests at UCSC and disappointingly, our reporters had to sneak past police to get pictures and photos. Since when do police shut down the free press’s ability to gather news? We are not happy about that and you shouldn’t be either.
We are also troubled by new construction projects like the Food Bin complex on Mission Street not only not supplying parking but banning residents from owning cars. Is this really the way toward an environmentally friendly future? What do you think?
Let us know what you think at ed****@*****ys.com.
Thanks for reading.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
BEE-HAVING Macro photographer specializes in shots of native insects/flowers and critters in our local neighborhoods and tide pools. Photograph by Gabriella “Bria” Nathan.
GOOD IDEA
How cool is the nature artwork on the RTC buses you see all over? Our local seals, whales and birds photographed by Frans Lanting show how taking a bus saves the environment. The art has won an important national recognition:
One Ride at a Time, the Transit District’s campaign to showcase the environmental benefits of transit, has earned four Hermes Creative Awards, including three Platinum and one Gold Award. These annual marketing awards, sponsored by the Association of Communications and Marketing Professionals, are one of the oldest and largest creative competitions in the world.
GOOD WORK
Aptos High School students have spent two years building a tiny home on wheels and debuted it this week. The Aptos project is 8 feet by 20 feet and fully ready for utilities. These are legally acceptable as Accessory Dwelling Units in the county.
Granite Construction donated funds for the construction. The Pajaro Valley Education Foundation headed up the project and the goal is to sell the unit and encourage others like it.
Watsonville High School is also working on a similar project. “Students not only learn skills they may use later in life, but they are helping solve the housing shortage,” says Les Forster, of the county’s Office of Education.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“This will be overturned, guys, there’s no question about it.” —House Speaker Mike Johnson
My team and I are running a civic engagement program based at UCSC called Stars over Streetlights, which aims to empower minority populations to advocate against light pollution through interactive talks and stargazing events for elementary school children. We have successfully visited classes at Westlake Elementary School, which have been superbly received! We’d love to expand our network, and were curious as to whether we could have an article or blurb published in order to widen our reach. Specifically, we are going to be hosting a star party in early fall, and we would love to get the Santa Cruz community involved. Please let us know if this is possible!
We’d love to get a chance to work with you
Darshika Ravulapalli,
UCSC Stars over Streetlights
PRIDE AND DEPUTIES
We had a successful Pride 2024 celebration this past weekend where the Santa Cruz community celebrated who they are through our parade, festival and entertainment.
In addition, we as the Santa Cruz Pride Board appreciated the input from many people about our decision to not allow uniformed law enforcement contingents in our Pride Parade. We spent considerable time discussing this topic before coming to this decision. We appreciated including the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department with a booth as part of our Pride Festival.
We received more than 50 letters and comments in response to our decision.
One writer referenced the Stonewall Riots, which Pride celebrations commemorate: “The statement ‘The first Pride was a riot’ references the Stonewall Riots of 1969, a pivotal event in the LGBTQ+ rights movement where the community stood up against police harassment and brutality. However, it is crucial to remember that this movement aimed to end discrimination and build bridges, not erect new barriers.”
The topic of law enforcement and treatment of the LGBTQ+ community has been festering within Santa Cruz County for many years. Therefore, we are choosing to engage with the community to discuss this topic in the coming months.
Santa Cruz Pride is convening a task force to begin this work to determine the best actions to engage the community in a conversation about law enforcement and the LGBTQ+ community.
We invite you to be part of this important community conversation and welcome your thoughts and comments at: In**@************de.org
Santa Cruz Pride Board Members
Rob Darrow, Chair
Reflections from a Veteran Law Enforcement Officer
With over 21 years of dedicated service as an openly gay law enforcement officer in Santa Cruz County, my career has been both a testament to personal resilience and a mission to bridge understanding within the community. My actions have not only upheld the law but also fostered greater awareness and sensitivity among fellow officers toward the LGBTQ+ community.
However, the recent decision to exclude police from the 2024 Santa Cruz Pride festival was a significant blow. Learning about a parade contingent bearing the message “Queers Hate Cops” left me devastated and defeated. Then I saw a video of people surrounding the Sheriff’s Office booth chanting about genocide. As a gay senior male who survived the AIDS crisis, having attended over 40 funerals of friends and loved ones who succumbed to the disease, this exclusion felt like a betrayal.
There’s a lot going on in the world today, and mainstream media isn’t exactly the harbinger of good news. In the ever-changing face of modern society, building mental resilience is more important than ever. Lucky for us we also live in a place of great beauty and creativity, and now new research uncovers how nature, music and art have the power to shift mental states and lead us out of the quagmire.
Think back to a time before deadlines rolled in relentlessly and smartphones kept us tied to an arm’s-length to-do list. Is it possible to remember having space and time to explore the world? To make art just for fun, to forest bathe (aka spend time in nature)? To literally stop and smell the roses?
In our busy world, it takes a week away from work (or family!) to slow down long enough to take in the scenery. But does it have to? What if stress relief was as easy as a stroll through the MAH, or a sipping chamomile tea at the Flower Bar on Cedar Street?
According to a new field of research called neuroaesthenics, the call to the arts and creativity is hard-wired, encoded in our DNA as an essential part of our humanity. It’s not a case of self-indulgence: Making time for these everyday experiences is important for keeping burnout at bay.
Neuroaesthetics, a term coined by neuroscientist Semir Zeki in the late 1990s, explores the intersection of brain science and the arts. Initially, the field focused on how we perceive and judge art. Today’s neuroaesthetics explores the direct impact of visual arts, including those perennial roses, architecture, design, digital media and music on the human brain and behavior.
Evolutionary biologists point out that the arts help us connect and communicate, a primal function that has stood the test of time. From the sacred chants of Gregorian monks to the colorful halls of the Tannery, art has been a healing tool throughout history.
Your Brain on Art
Experiencing art is a complex mental tango. We perceive the world through data from our senses, leaving our brains to translate it into an image unique to each of us. It’s why one person appreciates an abstract painting while another is convinced their five-year-old could do it better.
But when you love it, it’s all good! Scientists studying neuroaesthetics are discovering how the brain’s reward system is prone to light up in the face of an exquisitely painted landscape, just like when we lose ourselves in a garage band jam. These systems release dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, chemicals that make us feel good and trigger positive emotions.
Using new technologies like wearable sensors, scientists can measure real-time changes in respiration, temperature, heart rate and skin responses during art experiences.
Poster Child for Neuroaesthetics
Artists have always understood the deep connection between their work and well-being, and our vibrant community is a prime example.
The Santa Cruz Art League (scal.org) was founded in 1919 by a group of local artists looking for a place to meet in order to share their art, to teach and to motivate one another. Over the last 100 years the Santa Cruz Art League has been consistently committed and supportive of local artists by encouraging visual and performing arts in an environment that is supportive not only to the artist, but also to students, and to the community.
Since 2001, a spiritual dance jam has occurred every Sunday morning in Santa Cruz. Dance Church (dolphindancing.com) creates sacred and safe containers to encourage physical and emotional healing, liberate individual expression and nourish community through dance.
Watsonville artist Judy Gittelsohn (studiojudyg.com) has spent more than 20 years teaching art to people with special needs in individual and group settings.
Beyond the four walls, one might take a Richard Stockton hike, a First Friday art walk or stop to appreciate the colorful array of flora lining the tiny streets of Capitola Village, one of my personal favorites.
Stopping long enough to appreciate beauty, to stay in the moment, sends a signal to the brain that everything is okay. Call it neuroaesthetics, mindfulness or art appreciation—losing oneself in the beauty of the moment is a powerful way to uplift spirits and shift perspective.
If neuroaesthetics sounds intriguing, try this before-and-after test:
Gauge your mood for the next several days with a 1-10 ranking charted on a sticky note placed somewhere obvious, like on the bathroom mirror.
After Day 3, schedule at least five minutes each morning for the next seven days for a neuroaesthetic fix. Longer is great, but don’t make it a dealbreaker. It doesn’t have to be the same thing each day, but doing it at the same time makes it easier to stay on track.
On Day 7, start a new sticky note for the next three days. What do you notice?
Feel free to share what you did and how it went: el*******@**************li.com.
Because it’s Pride, it’s a safe space for everybody to express who they are, including myself. It feels good to go where I can be authentic, and I love just connecting with random strangers.
Sveet Cheeks, 34, Circus Performer
YONATHAN
I love the booths and the street fair, the dancing and the cheerleading teams, and just the energy.
Yonathan Tesfaye, 20, UCSC Student
ELLA
I really love everyone’s outfits—how what people are feeling on the inside, they’re wearing on the outside—and everyone loves each other for it.
Ella McHenry, 18, UCSC Student
ANTHONY
As an ally, to come together with love and support, and we all are one love. With all the chaos everywhere, it’s one day without any incident when people are coming together as one, as a family, all races, creeds and colors.
Anthony Michael Sloan, 55, Retired
JULIANNA
I love that especially in Santa Cruz everybody’s so open to it. It’s amazing just to be able to express yourself, even if you’re just an ally. Everybody goes all out, and I love it.
The community. I love seeing how Pride Weekend brings schools together from all the different cities, from as far away as San Francisco. Sammy the Slug (through his handler, Julianna)
Elaine Johnson was 15 before she realized that the “aunt” who lived with her grandmother was actually her grandmother’s partner of four decades.
In those days, LGBTQ largely had to live in the shadows, lest they draw scorn from a society not yet evolved enough to accept them.
Now, with a widespread societal acceptance of people’s sexual preferences and identities, events like the Pride parade are held across the U.S.
Johnson, who is Executive Director for Housing Santa Cruz County and is active in several areas of the county, served as grand Marshal for this year’s Santa Cruz Pride parade, which took place Sunday in Santa Cruz.
“I know that, me being the Grand Marshall, they would be so proud,” she said. “So I’m standing on their shoulders today.”
Kaden Lee, 9, who attends Green Acres Elementary wanted to march in the parade, but an ankle fracture sidelined those hopes. Not to be deterred, Kaden and her mother hired a pedi-cab festooned with rainbow fringe.
Kaden Lee, right, with her mother Shelia McNeese (Todd Guild/The Pajaronian)
“I think everyone should accept the people who they are,” Kaden said. “It’s a good day because it’s Pride and every day is pride.”
Hundreds of people lined Pacific Avenue to watch the festivities, which included costumes from run-of-the-mill street wear to elaborate, rainbow-covered fabulosity.
Two parade participants danced along the route, handing out stichers that said, “You’re Beautiful.”
This included Sandy Rosen and Cobra Teal, who in flowing, flowered purple finery called themselves “The Radical Fairies.”
Sandy Rosen, left, and Cobra Teal—otherwise known as The Radical Fairies—were among the parade participants.
In addition, several elected officials joined the parade.
If elected in November to the Fifth District seat on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, Monica Martinez would be the first openly LGBTQ supervisor in the history of the county.
“So I’m working really hard to break that glass ceiling,” she said.
“I’m here celebrating the diversity of our community,” Martinez said. “Inclusion and equity is a pillar of my campaign as a candidate for county supervisor.”
Adam Spickler, who is the first transgender man to serve on the Cabrillo College Board of Directors, also joined the parade, representing the college.
“The more visible we remain, the more we continue to send the message that love and identity matter, and should be celebrated everywhere,” he said.
(Photo by Todd Guild/The Pajaronian)
Joelle Mulligan, who works at Joby Aviation, came with her family, including her 4-year-old and 2-year-old kids.
“We have two young kids, and it’s important that they learn about loving everybody and accepting everybody,” she said. “There’s this whole thing right now where we need to walk the walk in terms of showing up for everybody.”
Emerick Panda drove from San Jose to attend the event.
“I’m here just to represent,” he said. “There are other places where people can’t be out in public, and this shows them that they can be who they want.”
Bria Nathan from Santa Cruz said she was there to celebrate, but also to send a message in a time of increasing acts of violence against black and transgender people.
“So all the conservatives and right-wingers don’t think they can scare us away from anything,” she said.
Standing nearby, Jett Bartolo agreed.
“We want to represent all of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer alphabet gang, and just show our pride and celebrate,” she said.
After a major police crackdown on a pro-Palestine campus protest last Friday, UC Santa Cruz has resumed in-person classes this week for the last stretch of the academic quarter after being held online for weeks due to the actions.
Access to campus—which was temporarily blockaded by students and, later, by police—has been restored. The upcoming commencement ceremonies, which are scheduled to take place next week, are also on track.
Law enforcement agencies from across the state were called in to dismantle a pro-Palestine encampment at the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus in the early hours of May 31. Several hundred demonstrators had joined a blockade in protest of the Gaza-Israel war, a blockade which began earlier that week. Vehicle access had been intermittently cut off, and University administration officials cited this as the reason for the crackdown.
The lines of police officers and students drew nearer as the incident dragged on. PHOTO: Todd Guild.
University officials said over 100 protesters were arrested as of May 31, but organizers said that number could be higher than 100. The University also issued a two-week campus ban for students who were detained at the protest. The ban extends until June 14, which marks the beginning of UCSC’s commencement week.
UCSC Police did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the numbers of demonstrators the agency detained. According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office arrest log, over 25 people were processed and released through the main jail.
The number of demonstrators at the base of campus swelled late Thursday night, after the UCSC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine made a call for support through its Instagram page in response to the deployment of hundreds of police.
The intersection of Bay and High had been the site of an ongoing picket by graduate student workers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) 4811. The union voted to strike in support of UC students who were cleared out of UCLA’s pro-Palestine encampment.
Earlier in May, UCSC SJP began its own encampment at the University’s Quarry Plaza echoing other campus protesters’ demands that colleges nationwide divest from companies with ties to Israel.
A hard closure was enforced by police on High Street at Moore Street on Thursday, as well as at other campus entrances, and the public—as well as members of the press—were blocked by Santa Cruz Police from entering the area for several hours.
Around midnight, police began dismantling the tents by smashing them to the ground, students said.
“They ripped through the camp and destroyed whatever tents and belongings they could find,” said a media liaison from the encampment who called herself “Savvy.”
“We are peaceful protestors, but still they feel the need to be in complete riot gear with guns and batons pointed at us,” Savvy said. “We will hold here for as long as we can and show the police and the university that we are not backing down and there is nothing they can do to scare us away from this movement.”
Protestors and police face-off in the early morning hours before mass arrests and the dismantling of the protest camp. PHOTO: Todd Guild.
One protester was seen spitting at a police officer, according to a freelance photographer on the scene. The protestor was pulled to the ground by multiple officers and a bag was placed on his head, seemingly to prevent him from spitting. He was arrested on suspicion of assault.
Police ordered protesters to disperse over a loudspeaker, telling them that their occupation of the parking lot was unauthorized and that they risked arrest by remaining.
Sophia Azeb, a professor in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, posted on her X account a picture of her wrist in a bandage and said that she had bruises on her neck from being choked by police.
“THE HONOR OF PROTECTING MY STUDENTS WAS WORTH IT,” she wrote in a post on June 1.
A Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office bus is seen at the intersection of Bay and High streets near the UCSC entrance on Friday, May 31. PHOTO: William S. Woodhams.
Two arrested protesters said they were held on a bus operated by the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office for over two hours early Friday. They allege police blared loud music inside the bus as an intimidation tactic.
“They parked in the parking lot of the Santa Cruz County Jail and left us there and they were just outside talking,” said a third-year student who goes by the name “Ginko.” “There were people that needed to pee. There were people who were bleeding through their pants because they needed to change tampons.”
University representatives did not respond to a request for comment about the allegations by print deadline.
Detained protestors waiting to be loaded onto vans look on as police dismantle their encampment. PHOTO: William S. Woodhams.
University of California President Michael V. Drake released a statement on May 31 giving the administration’s reasoning for the crackdown.
“For the past week, individuals including UC employees represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and others protesting the war in Israel and Gaza have intermittently blocked the only two campus entrances and exits at UC Santa Cruz. At various points, members of the campus community have been prevented from entering campus and significantly impeded from exiting it. This resulted in delayed access for emergency personnel and vehicles; childcare challenges for staff, faculty, and students; missed medical appointments; and difficulty accessing jobs, classes, and other educational, health care, and student support facilities and services on campus. In one especially disturbing case, on Tuesday an emergency medical vehicle was prevented from accessing a facility in which a toddler was in distress,” Drake said.
Savvy said that the law enforcement action came as no surprise, and will not dissuade the ongoing protest.
“We are not going to be giving up, giving up our camp or giving in to police pressure,” she said. “It’s definitely a great loss losing this community, but that doesn’t mean that this fight is over.”
After a night of arrests and chaos, the last of student protesters chain arms and attempt to stand their ground as California Highway Patrol officers close in, yanking out individuals to be arrested Friday May 31. PHOTO: Marcello Hutchinson-Trujillo
College campus protests in support of Gaza and Palestine have erupted nationwide, calling for a ceasefire and that universities divest from companies with ties to Israel. As Israel’s response to the October 7 attack continues, the death toll has risen to over 36,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Hamas officials. The attack left 1,200 dead and over 200 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
University spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said in a statement that restoring full access to the campus is “imperative,” and that the demonstrators have delayed access of emergency vehicles.
“It was impossible to do so without law enforcement intervention,” he said. “These actions could have been avoided if the encampment participants heeded the many previous directives that were given by campus officials, fire marshals and law enforcement.”
By late Friday morning, protesters who were booked into Santa Cruz County Jail began to be released from the downtown facility.
By 11am, UAW members and supporters had set up food and water stations on tables outside the main jail, surrounded by yellow caution tape strung by jail officials. The Water Street vehicle entrance was also cordoned off.
By noon on Friday, most of the detainees booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail had been released. The rest were being held across town at the UCSC Westside Research Park.
At around 1pm, the premises near the back entrance of the research park on Natural Bridges Drive were filled with supporters waiting for detainees to be released. Various tents with medical supplies, food and water were erected, and one tent was blasting anti-police themed music, including hip hop group N.W.A’s song “F*ck Tha Police.”
Dozens of supporters surrounded the doors to the building, waiting for arrested protestors as they were released one by one. Every time someone walked out through the doors, the crowd erupted in cheers.
A student who did wish to be named because of legal concerns said she was forced to live with her friends after she was banned from campus.
“I am really hoping that they can potentially overturn or give an exception for on-campus students to pack up their apartments,” she said.
Rebecca Gross, UCSC UAW-head, said that the UAW supports amnesty for protestors. Members of the UAW are facilitating legal help for 12 of those arrested.
“We also want them [protestors] to know that workers on this campus are very much invested in striking until amnesty is achieved for protestors,” Gross said.
We had heard about the brown pelicans getting sick, that they’re not getting enough to eat. Russ Curtis, a spokesperson for International Bird Rescue, told KQED, “One pelican in Santa Cruz attempted to walk into a bar.”
A pelican walks into Brady’s Yacht Club and orders a shot of whiskey.
The bartender says, “I don’t see how you’re going to drink from a shot glass, much less pay for it.”
“Put it on my bill.”
Sleepy John Sandidge, Laurence Bedford and I rendezvous at the end of Beach Road, where it dead ends at the Pajaro Dunes. Sleepy John looks worried: “Did you bring weed?”
Laurence rummages through the cab of Sleepy’s truck and I search my Prius, and lo and behold, I be holding! A marginally famous local businesswoman had given me a baggie of Blue Dream, with crazy high sativa content, perfect for hiking. I pull it out from under the passenger seat, and hold it aloft as the boys whoop and holler.
Pajaro Dunes beach gives long, sensational, unobstructed views north and south. The ocean rolls in gentle waves that Sleepy John says would be good for boogie boarding, or for a beginning surfer. We walk up to a dead pelican on the beach.
Laurence says, “If we built a fire, we could cremate him.”
Sleepy John says, “My uncle was cremated. At least we think that’s what killed him.”
Gentle boogie board waves on Pajaro Dunes Beach.
We walk south, toward the smokestacks of Moss Landing. Sleepy John asks me how my search for a place in Santa Cruz is going.
“I don’t make enough money to apply for affordable housing.”
We come upon a sand excavation next to the cliff rocks. Someone had dug a circular living room out of the firm sand, replete with chairs, tables for beverages and a fireplace in the middle. I’ve never sat in a more comfortable living room in my life.
Tough old birds.
We sit in our sand living room for an hour, photographing the flocks of pelicans flying north, flying over us on their northern migration. We shoot video of them in slow motion. They just keep coming. Two, three, then maybe 20 at a time, in perfect V formation. They fly low, just inches over the tops of rocks.
Pelicans live up to 30 years, sometimes to 40. Sleepy John turns 85 on Nov. 1; that’s about 30 in pelican years. Pelicans are tough old birds, much like my friends. Laurence and Sleepy John talk about their annual winter trips to Mexico. That is where the pelicans are returning from.
We load the kombucha can pipe with the Blue Dream and pass it to the left as we watch the stream of migrating pelicans fly over our heads. Laurence Googles pelicans on his phone and reads to us.
View from our sand-room: nine pelicans winding through the sky, one far behind, the Moss Landing smokestacks a mile out.
“In the winter they migrate in groups, fleeing cold winters to congregate at the edge of the ocean from California south to Nicaragua, where they breed. In the spring they migrate north, as far as British Columbia. Pelicans are seasonally monogamous, meaning that every breeding season they pair up with a mate and then stay with that mate for the rest of the season.”
“So, a pelican who lives to 30 has probably had at least 25 one-season relationships.”
Sleepy John says, “Serial monogamy. I used to have friends like that but those are the ones who died. Pelicans have 25 exes? No wonder they’re expiring.”
I say, “I’ve been married for 32 years.”
Laurence looks at me and frowns.
“Well, not in a row.”
Sleepy John and Laurence wait for their tacos.
The three-mile walk and the Blue Dream smoke makes us jones for authentic Mexican and a Watsonville food truck is about as real as a taco gets.
Pajaro Dunes Beach is a magnificent beach walk. Or maybe we just had a magnificent day. It is easy to get to, a stunning beach whether you turn north or south, and this time of year you will have hundreds of pelicans swoop down and sail just over your head.
How to get there: Take Highway 1 to Watsonville. Exit Beach Road, follow Beach Road west, all the way to the trailhead on Parajo Dunes Beach.
In the wake of a May 25 burglary at his Watsonville cannabis dispensary, Bryce Berryessa installed several new features designed to deter similar crimes from occurring again.
According to Watsonville Police Department, 12 armed suspects used an SUV to ram and break open the dispensary’s door at around 4am Saturday. In a matter of minutes, the suspects stole thousands of dollars of marijuana products and a safe from another nearby business, said police spokeswoman Michelle Pulido.
The Hook dispensary at 11 Hangar Way also has a state-of-the-art security system that uses artificial intelligence, which alerted him before the burglary even began, Berryessa said.
That system was triggered when more than one person came onto the property.
“I was actually on the phone with 911 a full two minutes before the assailants actually got to 11 Hangar Way,” he said. “Our remote monitoring and alarm systems worked really well and alerted us in enough time that they were able to actually engage these guys.”
After the thieves were done, they sped away in a BMW, a Porsche, a Mercedes Benz and a Jeep, beginning a chase north on Highway 1 by WPD, California Highway Patrol, Scotts Valley Police Department and other agencies over Highway 17 and into Hayward. A spike strip placed near Mount Hermon was unsuccessful, and no arrests were made.
Berryessa said that one of the suspects’ vehicles was recovered.
“We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the police department,” he said. “Hopefully they can bring these guys to justice.”
If Pajaro Valley Unified School District performed all the upgrades, repairs and construction projects that are needed at its 33 schools, it would cost more than $1.2 billion.
A large part of that estimate is $400 million to replace the district’s array of portable classrooms
That’s according to a report by 19-6 Architects, a consultancy firm hired by the district to perform a needs assessment survey.
While that number is vastly out of reach, PVUSD officials are looking to prioritize the more urgent projects, and pay for them with a general obligation bond.
Toward that goal, the PVUSD Board of Trustees approved a $315 million bond to be placed on the ballot for the November presidential election, when it will require a two-thirds majority vote.
The motion passed 6-0, with Trustee Oscar Soto absent.
If the bond passes muster at the voting booth, it would place $60 per $100,000 of assessed value on properties within the district. That number would drop to $30 per $100,000 after four years, said financial advisor Dale Scott, who also helped prepare the report.
Voters in 2012 approved Measure L, a $150 million bond which, after funding projects throughout the district, is coming to the end of its life, with most of the money spent.
That bond has allowed for numerous projects such as the long-awaited sports complex at Pajaro Valley High School.
People living within the boundaries of PVUSD are still paying off that measure, in addition to Measure J, a $58.2 million bond from 2002.
If the new bond passes, voters would be paying $120 per $100,000 of assessed value on their annual property tax bills, Scott said, which would continue to decline as the bonds are paid.
The additional property tax will be in addition to Measure N, which voters passed in March to fund upgrades at Watsonville Community Hospital. That measure places $24 per $100,000 of assessed value on properties in Pajaro Valley Health Care District.
Trustee Jen Holm said that the need within the vast district requires drastic action.
“Given the scope of our needs, I don’t see how we can ask for less,” she said. “We’re already asking for less than we need.”
Trustee Kim De Serpa said that she wants to prioritize projects at Pajaro Valley High School, most notably a performing arts center, which was promised under Measure L but was not delivered after construction costs increased.
“I want to make sure that those projects get done first if this bond passes,” she said
The trustees had three bond options to choose from in addition to the $350 million–one for $195 million and another for $295 million.
Trustee Daniel Dodge, Jr., who made the motion to support the larger amount, said he wants to make sure the projects promised under the previous measure are delivered.
According to a new field of research called neuroaesthenics, the call to the arts and creativity is hard-wired, encoded in our DNA as an essential part of our humanity.
Elaine Johnson was 15 before she realized that the “aunt” who lived with her grandmother was actually her grandmother’s partner of four decades.
In those days, LGBTQ largely had to live in the shadows, lest they draw scorn from a society not yet evolved enough to accept them.
Now, with a widespread societal acceptance of people’s sexual preferences and identities, events...
