Watsonville Community Hospital CEO Steven Salyer has left his post.
In a prepared statement, Salyer said he is leaving for “family reasons.”
“Know that I am incredibly proud of Watsonville Community Hospital and everything we have accomplished thus far,” he added.
The board that oversees the hospital will meet on March 22 to discuss how his replacement will be chosen.
In a letter to employees on Monday, Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Board President John Friel says that the hospital is on a positive financial path and is in “good hands and solid footing for a bright future.”
At the same meeting, the board will begin creating the hospital’s strategic plan—a roadmap of its long-range operational goals.
“The show must go on,” WCH spokeswoman June Ponce says. “It’s an opportunity for the community to put someone in that visionary role and take the hospital to the next level.”
Salyer was hired in July 2021, just before hospital administrators announced it was facing bankruptcy unless a buyer stepped forward.
Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Project formed to do so and, with the help of Sen. John Laird, made the purchase.
The hospital is now publicly owned and run by its own board, the Pajaro Valley Healthcare District.
A Brief History
Watsonville’s hospital was privately owned for nearly a century after its founding in 1895. But in 1993, it was sold to Community Health Systems, beginning almost three decades of corporate leadership.
CHS created a spinoff company called Quorum Health Corporation in 2016, which sold the hospital to Los Angeles-based Halsen Healthcare in 2019.
That company sold the physical building and grounds to Alabama-based Medical Properties Trust to lease it from them in a so-called sale/leaseback.
The hospital board ousted Halsen in January 2021, stating that the company could not meet “financial obligations to various stakeholders.” In its place, the board installed Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings.
Salyer was hired that same year.
The Hospital declared bankruptcy in July 2021, announcing it would close unless a buyer came forward.
Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Project, a group of nonprofit and community leaders, soon formed with the express purpose of making the purpose.
On Feb. 4, 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 418, allowing the group to form Pajaro Valley Healthcare District, giving back local control to the community.
The District appointed its first Board of Directors late last year.
Tears fill Marcelito Uribe’s eyes as he describes the night floodwaters from the Pajaro River inundated the car where he had been sleeping at Pajaro Rescue Mission and quickly rose above the windows.
Homeless, the 61-year-old had all his possessions in the car and a collection of tools he used for his one-person landscaping business. All of that, he says, is gone.
Uribe is staying in the Harvest Building at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, one of 300 people using two buildings as temporary evacuation shelters.
When a friend walked up, shook his hand and asked him how he was doing, Uribe answered briefly in Spanish.
“Triste,” he says: “Sad.”
Uribe had no time to drive away when the water started rushing like a river at about 4am on Saturday. Instead, he climbed onto the car’s roof and called for help. He called 911, and the National Guard rescued him in a giant truck.
Inside the Fairgrounds buildings, dozens of cots line the concrete floors, each piled with blankets, pillows and frequently, people who would generally be working in the region’s now-submerged agriculture fields.
People sit quietly, chatting in small groups, as children recently bussed from school run laughing through the aisles. Two boys play soccer in one corner designated as a play space, four folding chairs their makeshift goals.
The Saturday storm caused a 100-foot section of the Pajaro River levee to break away, sending water roaring into the town of Pajaro and nearby residential areas and farm fields. That gap quickly eroded, widening to more than 300 feet before work crews sealed the gap on Wednesday.
Over 1,000 people were forced to evacuate as the water quickly inundated the town and surrounding agricultural fields.
Monterey County officials on Thursday opened an additional building at the Fairgrounds, expanding capacity there to 400. Shelters at Cabrillo College and the Watsonville Veterans Memorial Building were placed on standby.
Still, many residents say they cannot find a place to stay. Nearly two dozen people on waiting lists for shelter space must double up with friends or family, their cars or worse.
And with Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies guarding the closed-off Main Street bridge leading to Pajaro, where evacuation orders remain, residents are told it could be another week before they can return.
San Jose Mexican Consul General Alejandra Bolonga Zubikarai visited the Fairgrounds to talk to the Mexican nationals and let them know what services were available, including access to important paperwork and connecting them with services.
“We have the interest to see how our community is doing with this unfortunate situation and see if they have special needs,” she said. “I ensured them that we are here, and if they need to contact us, they can contact us.”
Part of the problem, she said, is the uncertainty facing the evacuees, who still have not been allowed to return to their storm-damaged homes. With fields still flooded, man workers are unsure whether they will still be able to plant this year.
“They don’t know if they will have work,” she says. “They don’t know what they are going to find when they go back to their home.”
A few miles away in Pajaro, Gov. Gavin Newsom walked on the levee to see the repairs completed Wednesday and said that more rain could be on the forecast.
“If anyone has any doubt about mother nature and her fury—if anyone has any doubt about what this is all about in terms of what’s happening to the climate and the changes that we’re experiencing, come to the state of California,” Newsom said.
Newsom added that farmworkers affected by the storm would soon receive $600 debit cards from a $42 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant announced in October.
An official from Pajaro Valley Unified School District would hand out the cards at the Fairgrounds on Friday.
Newsom also questioned why permanent repairs to the levee had taken decades to make.
While those repairs will come within the next two years when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins a $400 million upgrade to give 100-year flood protection, Newsom pointed out that the project will take 5-7 years.
“No one has patience for five to seven years,” he said, adding that the state should consider how it prioritized its projects in low-income communities.
Hwy 1 is expected to reopen tonight, according to Caltrans.
Caltrans spokesperson Kevin Drabinski said the southbound lanes of the highway, between Salinas Road and Hwy 129 (Riverside Drive), are scheduled to open in the evening, while the northbound lanes should be reopened by Thursday morning.
Crews spent most of the past two days assessing possible damage to the bridge, where floodwaters eroded the dirt that surrounded the supports underneath.
The structural engineers determined that the bridge can safely accommodate regular traffic.
Delays and lane closures are expected over the coming months as crews reconstruct the eroded embankments around the supports.
Road closures throughout the area have caused hours-long traffic jams on the few roads that travel in and out of Watsonville, including Hwy 129 and Carpenteria Road in Aromas.
BOOKSHOP SANTA CRUZ PRESENTS JENNIFER EGAN Bestselling author Jennifer Egan—A Visit from the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award—is one of the most celebrated writers of our time. She will discuss The Candy House, her novel about the memory and quest for authenticity and human connection. In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters” who track and exploit desires, and there are “eluders” who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters using an array of narrative styles—from first person plural to omniscient; she even includes a chapter entirely comprised of Tweets. The Candy House is a “moving testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy and love.” $11.49-24.09. Wednesday, March 15, 7pm. Cowell Ranch Hay Barn, 94 Ranch View Road, Santa Cruz. jennifer-egan.eventbrite.com
KOLTON MOORE & THE CLEVER FEW WITH PALMER ANTHONY Kolton Moore & the Clever Few have been paying tribute to country rock’s timeless traditions since 2012, lending rootsy textures to songs about love and hard living.The outfit’s song “Peace in the Pines” was featured as the closing song in the season four finale of the hit television show “Yellowstone” and their songs have racked up more than 50 million streams on Spotify. Meanwhile, their tune “What Brings Life Also Kills” was introduced to the world by “American Idol” winner Chayce Beckham in 2021.$20/$24 plus fees. Wednesday, March 15, 8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton. feltonmusichall.com
DAMIEN JURADO WITH HANNAH FRANCES “Play on, there’s no such thing as better days,” Damien Jurado sings on “Roger,” the rousing opening track on Reggae Film Star, the singer-songwriter’s 18th full-length record. As Jurado enters his 25th year as a music maker, he continues to grow artistically. The 12 songs on Reggae Film Star “evoke half-recalled dreams and overheard conversations, the cosmic rushes headlong into the autobiographical and specific moments on the clock fade from past to future to scenes set only in the eternal now.” Multi-talented singer-songwriter-poet Hannah Frances is an artist of great appeal and distinctiveness. Her music weaves through the rough panoramas of the heart, intertwining her inner and outer life through tales of unrestrained susceptibility. Frances’ enveloping warmth has been likened to everyone from Joni Mitchell to Jeff Buckley.$35 plus fees. Friday, March 17, 7:30pm. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. folkyeah.com
REEL ROCK 17 The “World’s Best Climbing Films” features the year’s most significant climbing and adventure stories, including a wild expedition on the Nameless Tower in Pakistan, a new cutting-edge route in a massive limestone cave in France and a journey to Palestine’s West Bank to explore the power of climbing to change lives. Burning the Flame: Austrian climbers Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher attempt a coveted free ascent of the Nameless Tower in Pakistan. DNA:Seb Bouin tackles what may be the world’s most challenging sport climb in the Verdon Gorge of France. Resistance Climbing: In conflict-torn Palestine, a diverse group of climbers finds community, solace and redemption. $22 plus fees. Saturday, March 18, 7pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. riotheatre.com
AMADOU & MARIAM For over four decades, Amadou & Mariam have merged their love story with a musical career while becoming the most famous ambassadors for Malian music in the world, a golden status that they carry with brio and spiritedly challenge with every album. The duo has recorded with Damon Albarn of Blur, Santigold, TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. DJs/producers Jamie XX, Four Tet and Mike Snow have remixed their songs or mixed Afro and electronica sounds based on Amadou & Mariam’s music. They’ve played some of the world’s largest festivals, from Coachella to Glastonbury, and opened for everyone from Coldplay to the Scissor Sisters. The duo brings their brand of infectious Afro-pop music to the charts and the dance floor, and the world is continuously intrigued by the nuances of their music.$47.25/$63 plus fees. Monday, March 20, 7:30pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. kuumbwajazz.org
BONNIE RAITT WITH ROY ROGERS Bonnie Raitt might be the greatest underrated bottleneck slide guitar player. And she still uses the same wood grain Fender Strat, named “Brownie,” that she picked up in 1969 for $120. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s 18th full-length studio album, Just Like That, released in 2022, proves that after 50-plus years, the blueswoman is not finished. The follow-up to her 2016 album, Dig In Deep, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Americana Album in 2023. Its title track scored the Grammy for Song of the Year and Best American Roots Song—the single “Made Up Mind” also won Best Americana Performance. Raitt now has over a dozen Grammys to showcase on her mantle. Aside from the accolades, Just Like That shows Raitt’s ability to pen tunes as potent as ever. The fusion of soul, rock, blues and folk that powers the record recalls her greatest songs from the ’70s while embracing a more modern sound. “It all adds up to an album that slowly works its way into the subconscious, sounding deeper and richer with each successive play,” AllMusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes. Don’t miss Raitt’s Santa Cruz show. It’s one of just five she has scheduled for California.$65.25/$86.25/$111.40. Tuesday, March 21, 8pm. Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. cityofsantacruz.com
COMMUNITY
SPRING FAIRYTALE FUNDRAISER Featuring wild acrobatics, comedy and extreme skills, “Spring Fairytale” is an “original narrative circus.” The Pegasus, the Fairy and the Spring Sprite are just some intriguing characters you will meet. The heartwarming tale showcases an eclectic blend of multicultural folklore that’s a ray of sunshine breaking through the darkness. Enchanting and exciting, “Spring Fairytale” is something for the whole family to enjoy. Plus, 100% of proceeds will be donated to the Santa Cruz Community Foundation Disaster Fund. $18-185. Sunday, March 19, 4pm. Capitola Mall, 1855 41st Ave., Capitola. flynncreekcircus.com
Eccentric British songwriter Robyn Hitchcock is the master of the unexpected lyric. Take the opening lines of “The Man Who Loves the Rain” from his exceptional 2022 album, Shufflemania. Over gentle psychedelic guitar playing, he sings, “respect the dead,” followed by the sucker punch: “you will be joining them soon.”
When asked how those lyrics came about, Hitchcock, who is on the phone from London, credits them to an unknown force. “My thoughts, my ideas, my words come from my own head, but I don’t know what puts them there,” he says. “They may all be planted by an external agency.”
The prolific songwriter, whose career began in the late 1970s with English psychedelic rock band the Soft Boys and has released solo albums since 1981’s Black Snake Diamond Role, had an uncharacteristic dry spell of creativity the years after his 2017 self-titled release. “I was writing songs, but I wasn’t really ever finishing them,” he says of this period. “I wasn’t very convinced. I spent a long time working on a collection of piano songs, which I still haven’t finished.”
Thankfully, inspiration struck again after a trip to Mexico and a visit to the palace of Quetzalpapalotl. “I don’t know if I was brushed by the wings of Quetzalcoatl, the feathery serpent god, but I definitely felt some sort of charge when I was down there,” he says. “That actually got me finishing songs again, for which I’m very grateful.”
Hitchcock recorded his part of the album at his home in Nashville before sending it to various musician friends for their contributions at the start of the pandemic lockdown in 2020. The resulting 10-song Shufflemania is immediate sounding and a late-career highlight. It includes stellar special guests, including Johnny Marr, Sean Lennon, Pat Sansone (Wilco) and more.
It all begins with the rollicking opener “The Shuffle Man,” where Brendan Benson of The Raconteurs plays bass, drums, guitar and sings harmony vocals, while Hitchcock sings lead and plays guitar. From there, shadowy characters haunt the album, including a detective that pops up in the pleasing psychedelia of “The Inner Life of Scorpio” to the atmospheric “Noirer than Noir” and “The Man Who Loves the Rain,” which tips its fedora to the detective fiction of Raymond Chandler.
Another lurking presence in Shufflemania is death itself. It makes an appearance in “Socrates in Thin Air,” which recalls the solo work of John Lennon and the bluesy shuffle “Midnight Tram to Nowhere.” Hitchcock says the subject is not new to his work. “My songs have always had a fair amount of death in them,” he says. “Death is the last gift you open. Nobody really wants to open it, but everyone has to.”
The driving rocker “The Sir Tommy Shovell” was inspired by a simple wish during the Covid lockdowns. “‘Sir Tommy’ is definitely an imaginary pub,” he says. “I was sitting in Nashville thinking, wouldn’t it be lovely to be back in a British pub right now.”
The closing number on Shufflemania is Hitchcock’s own take on the hopeful rock ballad in the tradition of Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and Lennon’s “Imagine.” In it, there’s hope for a future when “bullies will not run the human race” and “the color of your skin won’t be the great divide.” “Some people think it is very optimistic, and other people think it is a despairing song,” Hitchcock says. “In a way, it shows what your own mindset is thinking.”
Longtime listeners may be surprised that Hitchcock has lived in Nashville since 2015. His songs are so distinctly British. “I may well have been rewired in a lot of ways to be American, but, at heart, I’m British,” he says. “I have to return to the underworld. I have to go back where it’s damp and dismal. I have to water my roots.”
Hitchcock will perform songs from Shufflemania and other albums from his storied career with a band by San Francisco songwriter Kelley Stoltz for his Santa Cruz show. Hitchcock is turning 70 in March and plans to keep writing songs, though he says he will most likely perform less frequently. “I don’t know how much more I’m going to be doing any of this,” he adds. “So, I would say if you want to see me with a band, this is a very good opportunity. I don’t think there will necessarily be another one.”
Robyn Hitchcock performs Wednesday, March 22, at 7:30pm. $36.75 plus fees. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. folkyeah.com
Officials have said it’ll be months before many homes in the area will be habitable again. Meanwhile, an entire community is under putrid water tainted by various chemicals. Even if residents can reach their homes, wading through the rancid standing water is unsafe. Oh, and the stretch of Hwy 1 that was closed off on Sunday, March 12, due to the breach makes it more difficult for Pajaro residents to navigate to safety. The flooding has also impacted the Pajaro Water System, which is likely contaminated. Pajaro residents have been advised to avoid tap water—even if boiled for cooking—until further notice.
If the area wasn’t made up of primarily low-income migrant farmworkers, would action have been taken to repair the levee? According to records and interviews spanning decades, the answer is “yes.”
In addition to constructing an adequate, permanent levee, which should have been done years ago, there’s a very costly mess that needs to be cleaned up and the possibility of a class action lawsuit. The multi-million dollar question: Who should be held accountable?
Those who wish to help are asked to direct gifts specifically to the Pajaro area by noting “Pajaro” in the comment field of the donation pages: cfmco.org/storm relief or cfscc.org/disaster
218 Main St. It is a hidden gem full of local artists for 47 years. They have 20 artists: painting artists, jewelry artists, potters, fiber artists, photographers and a mosaic artist. Sunday-Thursday: 11am-3pm; Friday: 11am-6pm; First Friday 5-8pm; Saturday: 10am-6pm. —Salinas Valley Art Gallery
Old town is our favorite place to be. I always say, “you could really be here all day and walk around trying new things, new cocktails!” I love every one of these new spots! —Calyssa, The Cheese Fairy Charcuterie
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
East Lake Avenue at Holohan Road in Watsonville on Friday, March 10. Photograph by Tarmo Hannula
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GOOD IDEA
Santa Cruz Community Health (SCCH) and Dientes Community Dental are celebrating their hundredth day of care at their new facility on Capitola Road. Since opening the new building, Dientes and SCCH have served 6,000 patients. The duo provides health services to low-income patients, with the care center staffed with dentists, pediatrics, family doctors and more. dientes.org
GOOD WORK
Shopper’s Corner, Santa Cruz’s oldest grocery store, is hitting a milestone: 85 years in the biz. The store, which features a hearty wine selection, a butcher and fresh produce on par with farmers markets, is a longtime local fave and winner of several Best of Santa Cruz County awards. Andre Beauregard is now at the helm, taking over for his recently retired father. Help keep Shopper’s Corner going for another 85 years! shopperscorner.com
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Low-income neighborhoods and communities have always historically been ignored by state and federal governments.”
The long-running controversy over UCSC’s Student Housing West project resurfaces this week, with UCSC taking a partially revised proposal back to the Regents for the third time in four years—they meet on March 15 and 16.
The latest proposal does not change what is planned—17 acres of the iconic East Meadow will still be torn up, which has long been the focus of the controversy—but it changes the financing so construction can begin before pending litigation is concluded.
This is risky business and, therefore, not usually done. The project will still destroy 17 acres of the East Meadow, but the financing plan has changed radically. That radical change is a desperate attempt to get this project out of the box. The proposal, as written, is designed to obscure what they are proposing, but here are the key facts: Trying to launch this revenue-bond-financed project before pending litigation is dealt with is a departure from standard revenue bond practice. The bond buyers will not accept that litigation risk, so UCSC is proposing to load that risk onto all its on-campus students, potentially at a high cost. The students would be made to bear that risk to pull this project out of the mess campus administrators drove it into. If the financing proceeded as proposed, and the project was not completed because of litigation outcome or any other reason, the project itself did not produce rent revenue. All the other students on-campus would increase their rents substantially to repay those bonds. The core mistake that the administration made on what was previously a widely supported project was not corrected. Instead, the original project site was cut in half, which wasn’t necessary. They were trying to avoid a six-month delay, causing at least a six-year delay; they’ve been trying to correct that mistake ever since. That would take this project out of the East Meadow and be the best path forward. They are still not willing to admit that mistake and correct it.
The portion of the project in the East Meadow, they now estimate, has risen by roughly 60%. Still, we estimate approximately a 50% increase to around a billion dollars, and students would ultimately pay for it plus financing costs as rent. This project started as a winner and should have remained a winner. The five-and-a-half-year history of mistakes, misinformation and missing information continues. [Edited for clarity and length].
Paul Schoellhamer, on behalf of the East Meadow Action Committee
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On Tuesday, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting companies from forcibly transporting children. Also, under the ordinance, families could sue transport companies that use force against their children for $10,000, plus legal costs.
The issue came to the attention of county officials on Oct. 20, 2022, when two children were forcibly removed from their grandmother’s Santa Cruz home as part of a contentious custody dispute and taken to a “reunification” program in Los Angeles with one of their parents.
Good Times is not naming the children by request of one of the parents.
The kids’ friends recorded the incident and depicted the children screaming as agents from New Jersey-based Assisted Interventions, Inc. dragged and carried them to a waiting car. Posted to social media, the video has garnered thousands of views.
Representatives from Assisted Interventions have not responded to multiple requests for comment.
Under reunification therapy—an intensive, court-ordered program that generally lasts four days—counselors help young people rebuild relationships with an alienated parent. But critics say the for-profit industry often ignores what the children want and can be used as a weapon by abusive parents who claim parental alienation to have a judge rule in their favor.
While the County has no jurisdiction in custody proceedings, Supervisor Ryan Coonerty said he wanted to give the county a way to protect the rights of young people. The Supervisors passed his resolution on Jan. 31 to urge state legislators to craft laws outlawing or regulating reunification programs.
That could happen this year with Assembly Bill 1019, which would regulate youth transportation in child custody cases involving reunification. It would also mandate training and education on youth trauma related to using force, said Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin, who authored the bill.
AB 1019 is expected to be published later this week and begin going through the legislative process soon.
“I’m proud of our County Board of Supervisors for stepping up and taking action,” Pellerin said. “I think we’re all interested in ensuring this never happens again. No child should be subjected to such trauma. Never.
Supervisor Justin Cummings, elected to fill Coonerty’s District 3 seat in November, called the ordinance a “good step forward” in addressing concerns raised from the October incident.
“If the courts are ordering a child to hand a child over to another parent, there needs to be some respect for that process,” he said. “But I think we need to find better ways for that to happen.”
Human Services Department Director Randy Morris told the Supervisors that the new rules do not allow the County to regulate private businesses, such as transport companies, or enforce the ordinance.
Instead, he says that it gives families the right to seek compensation for transport companies that violate the rules and cause possible trauma to the young people involved.
“We see this as a really nice balance in response to the direction, and honoring what happened to the family, and then really continuing our focus with our state legislative delegation to really push for state laws, which I think is the right place to make this a matter of law throughout the state,” Morris said.
It will return for a second reading and final adoption on March 28.
The Santa Cruz Warriors’ brand of basketball can be all kinds of crazy.
The occasion of their 10th anniversary season—which concludes a historic decade with a trio of home games happening this month—presents a timely opportunity to unlock that happy madness.
Here it is, played out in six parts:
Crazy fun.
It’s still early amid a midseason tilt against the Texas Legends when 7-foot-tall Jayce Johnson makes a nimble putback in traffic. That’s when PA announcer Brian Day yells, “Ice creeeeeeeam.”
It’s not your typical sports call. But when the Warriors score 100—and on this night, they explode for 130—everyone in attendance can get a free scoop from Penny Ice Creamery.
The moment presents one small taste of the Wave City Warriors’ festive traditions.
Fans stand until the team’s first bucket. Everybody loves the fundraiser ball toss between closing quarters. On this night, there are races on miniature bikes; a shooting contest a mohawked man wins; recognition for a local teacher of the month; dance-cam celebrations that get the gym grooving; and a chance for kids to take shots after the game.
Make no mistake: The main attraction is basketball, from some of the better players on the planet. A poll of team officials reveals that the biggest surprise for newcomers to the S.C. Warriors experience is the sheer quality of play.
But there’s other intrigue afoot, including price points on tickets, popcorn and craft beer that doesn’t require a second mortgage.
Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley is all about it. He rarely misses a home game and says the Sea Dubs are his favorite team in the world, tracking ahead of the San Francisco 49ers and perhaps his family.
Speaking of family, he believes that element is what makes the so-called “Sea Dubs,” and the wider experience, so special.
“It’s a family-friendly team, and that means ‘family’ any way you want to understand it,” he says. “It means the fans, the team, the vibe. Everyone checks their politics at the door, and we’re all part of something together.”
For this contest against the Texas Legends—who the Sea Dubs play to wrap up the season on March 25—he’s sporting a yellow shirt and blue tie (team colors), a leather jacket, pot leaf-rainbow socks and vintage Jordan sneakers.
From his midcourt seat, he greets the visiting players, coaches, staff and returning referees too: “Hey! Welcome back to Santa Cruz!”
Keeley’s in the moment, talking at length about how the team cultivates both good footwork and good citizen-athletes, which leads him to the past.
He was an early adopter in the push to build a stadium and was deployed by the City Council to lead a fiscal task force. He contends it would’ve been a no-brainer even when rounding down potential revenues by half.
But there was push-back.
“People said, ‘We’re an individual sports town—we surf, we climb, we mountain bike—is this really going to work?’” he recalls. “Not only do the finances work, but the wonderful relationship between team and the Warriors is unlike anything we have in town.”
The way the “Sea Dubs” play, any given possession can approach mystical flow or unravel, making them mad fun and maddening to watch simultaneously. PHOTO: Mark C. Anderson
Crazy chaotic.
On this and many nights, the Sea Dubs orchestrate a game like a symphony conductor on LSD.
One moment an errant Warrior pass flies into the front row of fans. A moment later, densely woven defense creates a turnover that leads to five laser-precision passes and a dunk.
The individual next to me at the press desk, who attends every game he can on behalf of UCSC’s City on a Hill Press, grunts in appreciation.
“They can be a little sloppy,” Nico Santiago says. “But take away the risk, and you take away the joy. They take risks and play with freedom.”
Following the win, head coach Seth Cooper describes how he cultivates that.
“Last year, we ran more [scripted] plays,” he says. “Now I focus more on moving the ball and playing for each other.”
Former Santa Cruz GM and current Golden State Executive Vice President Kirk Lacob calls coaching the G League as hard as any gig he knows. That’s because Cooper has to juggle competitive excellence with developing specific players and keeping everyone on the roster happy. And if his players succeed, they move on.
“There is no more challenging league to coach in,” Lacob says. “The better you do, the more likely you are to lose.”
Cooper handles that with his own form of Zen, not focusing on outcomes like wins or the playoffs (the Sea Dubs are in contention for the last playoff slot as the season concludes).
He’s about processes, not perfection.
“Can we avoid those little lapses and stack good days on top of good days?” he asks. “I want our players to play as hard as they can, play together and play with urgency. Let’s not worry about the score and just be good on every possession.”
Two main things they share with the parent club contribute to their on-court sizzle.
One, they use the same strategies as Golden State, so fans are treated to many quick decisions and zippy ball rotations.
“The goal is to play the right way,” Cooper says. “To play Warriors style of basketball.”
Versatile wingman Elijiah Pemberton adds big-league context: “We play this way because they can’t teach you everything the day they call you up.”
Thing number two comes written on the wall in Kaiser Arena (followed by other ideals like “compassion,” “competition” and “mindfulness”) and drips from franchise culture setter Steph Curry: joy.
“Joy comes first—it’s a pillar of Warriors basketball, something that permeates the organization,” Lacob says. “At the end of the day, it’s really about people. We try to bring in those who live the key characteristics. And Steph is the start and end of all of this. He plays basketball and lives his life with so much joy.”
For Coach Seth Cooper, sharing minutes without knowing who will be on the roster on a given night presents a unique challenge. PHOTO: Mark C. Anderson
Crazy competitive.
There are things to like about Bismarck, North Dakota, between the Missouri River, soaring Art Deco capitol building and retail mall complexes. That said, temperatures can dip below zero, and the beach scene isn’t exactly lit.
On June 27, 2011, then-new Golden State Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber purchased Bismarck’s Dakota Wizards and moved them to Monterey Bay, within a full-court shot of its Golden State parent club.
Like many Golden moves, it proved prescient. Back then, a sliver of NBA teams owned their farm team. Then-Santa Cruz president Jim Weyermann predicted once other organizations realized its benefits, they’d follow suit, telling me in 2012, “Every team in the NBA is going to want a development team. It only creates additional opportunities.”
A lot has happened to vindicate that and allow Golden State to be not just the best pro basketball team across that time but the best team in all of sports: The Warriors were named “Franchise of the Decade” by the Sports Business Journal in 2019, an award that encompasses all 123 teams in the NBA, National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League.
What mainstream fans might miss is how big a role Santa Cruz played in all of that. Team President Murphy is fond of pointing out that 10 of the 2022 world-champion Golden State Warriors played in Santa Cruz.
In addition, a strong case can be made that essential contributors to their playoff push, stalwart center Kevon Looney and sharpshooter Jordan Poole, wouldn’t have developed without extended time with the Sea Dubs. Two other key rotation players from the 2022 world champs, Juan Toscano Anderson and Damien Lee, represent more Santa Cruz successes.
“Take JTA, a local product who made the roster as a G leaguer, was a consummate professional in the community, and worked to be a glue guy—bringing defense, being a facilitator, being a great teammate,” Murphy says. “Now he can be an NBA player and change his life and the lives of others.”
Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz Warriors have earned their own awards, including G League Franchise of the Year honors three times.
Murphy was tabbed the NBA G League “Executive of the Year” in 2017-18 by the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce “Person of the Year” in 2022.
From 2016–22, Kaiser Permanente Arena sold out 110 straight games, which would’ve stretched longer without a global pandemic.
As Golden State racked up four world championships, Santa Cruz claimed one of its own in 2015. Kirk Lacob, then GM, celebrated the win by doing snow angels in the confetti on the Santa Cruz floor.
Chief Operating Officer David Kao—who started with the franchise selling tickets in Oakland—layers on more wow: Santa Cruz ranks number one in the G League in revenue, sponsorships, ticket sales and average ticket yield.
“The Warriors brand has gone from a Bay Area brand to a global brand,” Kao says. “That’s a change of landscape.”
Kevin Danna is well-suited to put it all in perspective. As Wave City’s pre-game, play-by-play and post-game announcer, he’s watched and analyzed every game in the team’s history.
“It’s a place where a lot of individuals have gotten their start, whether as a player, a coach or a front-office person,” he says. “It’s a launching pad for a lot of people.”
On the player side, Santa Cruz just promoted its 30th, Lester Quiñones, who happens to go bonkers in the game versus the Legends.
He works inside out, drilling four of six three-pointers and repeatedly finishing with force in the lane, scoring 30. After the game, he talks on the court with popular Santa Cruz Warriors sideline reporter Zena Keita—herself a rising star with potential to graduate to San Francisco and beyond.
“[I’m] just trying to make the right play,” Quiñones says. “Playing hard, making reads and finding the open guy.”
Dubs like Brazilian native Gui Santos leave to play for their country’s World Cup teams, making team chemistry that much trickier to engineer. But the fan chemistry stays constant. PHOTO: Mark C. Anderson
Crazy involved.
This whole endeavor goes bigger than basketball, which rings cliche but becomes more evident with every moment around Santa Cruz’s Warriors.
That involves 29,928 square feet, which makes Kaiser Permanente Arena the largest indoor sports venue in Santa Cruz, and the largest green-certified venue in the Monterey Bay Area. (Meanwhile, the city is in talks with the SCW about a new stadium nearby.)
Willie Nelson sold out the place in 2019. For the 2021-22 season, it hosted over 80 outside events, including UCSC men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball matches. But all that rises to small consequences compared to what else it provides.
When fires and floods ravage Santa Cruz communities, it provides a shelter and a resource recovery center; when Covid raged, it served as a vaccine site. When elections arrive, it becomes the largest polling place in the county.
“The Warriors are involved in a lot of things that people wouldn’t think about,” Murphy says.
Last month’s calendar of Black History Month community activities provides an example.
It included benefit auctions of player uniforms, a coaches’ surf session with Black Surf Santa Cruz, a book discussion with How to Be a (Young) Antiracist authors Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone and additional book readings at an area elementary school. It closed with a panel webinar featuring Golden State Warriors player development coach Anthony Vereen, two-time WNBA champion and Olympic gold medalist Jewell Loyd and aforementioned sideline star Keita.
“Our [team] is in the community all the time—in schools, working in different forums,” Murphy says. “They are part of the community and love living here, and their development off the court is important.”
Crazy futuristic.
Several bizarre things happen every single S.C. Warriors game, not including the antics of the sea turtle mascot Mav’Riks.
When a player is fouled in the act of shooting, he only takes one free throw, which is worth two points. If a game goes to overtime, the clock shuts off, and the teams play to seven points. At one point, players were allowed to commit offensive interference, which makes for more action around the rim.
The atypical regulations are designed to make the game more streamlined and entertaining while testing out rules to adopt in the NBA. Past trials have led to improvements in both leagues, including coaches’ challenges and shorter shot clocks. Insiders believe the G League midseason tournament will soon find traction in the big leagues.
Still, more future-focused plays are well-established. One subsidiary endeavor the Dubs invest in is a full-on eSports squad playing different video games professionally with a complement of coaches, trainers and scouts.
“Something we want to be is on the cutting edge of innovation to reach new fans,” Murphy says, “and eSports is a way to do that.”
Crazy existential.
Kirk Lacob cites an exciting conundrum the Wave City Ws encounter more often than teams based in Stockton or Sioux Falls. The launch-pad plan gets complicated.
“People say, ‘I want to stick in Santa Cruz!’” he says. “But it’s not supposed to be the end of your basketball journey. The whole point is to get you to the next level. It’s a testament to the city and the organization and a good problem to have: ‘I know you love it here, but this is not going to be your life.’”
The opposite can be true for players, which presents another existential challenge: Zero among them really want to be in Santa Cruz, even if they’re enjoying their stay.
According to Coach Cooper, navigating that sanely is only possible with the right group of players. He credits his GM, David Fatoki, with curating individuals who are cool with keeping personal dreams sacred while staying team-centric.
“[Fatoki] is really focused on trying to find these guys who will play a selfless style of basketball and not put their ego in it,” Cooper says. “That’s what we’ve found builds a successful team.”
At 25, Pemberton serves as a wise elder of sorts for the Sea Dubs, equally versatile on the floor and in the community.
Before the Legends game—Pemberton hits a huge three while getting knocked into the bench, only to rise smiling and high-fiving—he waxes poetic about his appreciation for his adopted home.
“I just stay ready to perform and try to enjoy a place that’s brought me a sense of peace,” he continues. “There are so many unique personalities here, and everyone’s free. When I think of Santa Cruz, I think of free. There are a lot of genuine people out here.”
With any other team and any other city, that type of thought—coming from an athlete talking basketball—might sound a little strange.
With Santa Cruz and its Warriors, it makes crazy good sense.
The Santa Cruz Warriors’ final regular season games happen on March 17, 18 and 25. More at santacruz.gleague.nba.com and @santacruzwarriors.
In January, Justin Cummings was sworn into office as the third district county supervisor, days after New Year’s Eve storms flooded the county, destroying homes and businesses.
Just over two months into the job, Cummings is committed to fulfilling his promise on the campaign trail: ensuring residents seeking rebuild permits from the CZU Lightening Complex Fires from 2020 are getting them. The commitment is even more daunting now that the county is still confronting damage from recent—and ongoing—storm damage.
The county budget is still in a recession, and the recent disaster damage is estimated to cost the county $76 million. That’s on top of the $67.7 million the county shelled out after the CZU fires, which it is still waiting to be reimbursed for from FEMA.
Good Times sat down with Cummings to discuss his plan for helping CZU fire victims, what it’s been like assuming this position during a natural disaster and how he will prioritize issues with a restricted county budget.
What will you focus on for your first year as a supervisor? Have the storms changed any of the initial goals that you had?
JUSTIN CUMMINGS: I’m committed to focusing on the issues in the mountains related to rebuilding, along with emergency response. A big part of my focus, and the storms definitely made this one of the top priorities, is communication. With the power outages in the mountains, just making sure that we can get people’s information ahead of time is a huge priority of mine.
In regards to rebuilding efforts after the CZU fires, we’ve been able to make some progress with 4Leaf—the outside agency that the county hired to help residents get their building permits— We reassigned a staff person who was in charge of septic permitting: there were a lot of disputes between residents and this staff member, so we had 4Leaf reassign that position to someone else. People are hoping that it might be easier for them to work with the new person, in terms of trying to get in the waivers for the enhanced septic systems.
We also provided direction to the staff to come up with a process for appealing decisions that 4Leaf makes. One of the things that did come up was a dispute, for example, between an individual and a leader, but how does that get resolved? And it wasn’t clear when I started what that process would be.
Permitting for septic or geological, there would be straightforward guidelines for what qualifies for permitting or not. How does the permitting process become subjective?
There are some state laws for new buildings, and then there are many different waivers if you’ve been a victim of a disaster. So, depending on who’s there, they can give different interpretations of if someone qualifies for those waivers or exemptions.
What kind of resources and support are you providing the CZU fire victims who have been without a house and unable to rebuild for the past two years?
Right now, for people without their homes, we are encouraging folks who are having issues to reach out to our office so we can try to help resolve some of these problems. We’ve been dealing a lot with the storms, so we haven’t been hearing those complaints come to our office. And so that’s why I’m just encouraging folks to let us know what challenges they’re running into.
The county recently had budget hearings and is still waiting on reimbursements from FEMA for the CZU fires. How do these substantial budget deficits play into what issues you prioritize in the county and your district?
I think to some degree, if we want to, for example, try to implement new programs that are going to cost money. It really puts us in a pretty bad spot. We need to be cautious because we have to maintain our general services. It’s a challenge, and I don’t think we’re the only ones facing those challenges.
That’s why I think it’s really important that we’re also working with our federally elected officials to make sure that we communicate with them, like, here’s where we’re at, and here are our needs. We need to make sure that FEMA will be able to process these types of reimbursements more quickly. We don’t want to find ourselves in a financially strained situation solely due to the fact we’re trying to help people during difficult times.
You became mayor at the start of the pandemic for the city of Santa Cruz. And now you’re a supervisor kind of in a natural disaster situation. Is this state of emergency that the county has been in since you assumed your role reminiscent of when you entered your position as mayor?
Yes. It’s a little different, but the common thread is communication and trying to get people resources. I think that’s the number one thing, whether you have a storm coming or whether it’s a virus threatening public health. The questions are the same: what are the things that we can put in place to keep people safe?
When my office heard that there was another atmospheric river, we immediately reached out to the county and public information officer and confirmed that with him. He sent me the link from the National Weather Service, and we put it online and sent out the photos. I think just having that connection and trying to get information to people so they can prepare as best as possible and just kind of be on the lookout for different types of ways of relaying information, whether it’s email or social media, or other forms.
You mentioned email and social media to communicate with folks in the mountains. What about those folks who have power outages, etc.? What do your on-the-ground efforts look like?
We should be looking at some low tech ways of communicating with folks. Because most people—and most of the time when I’ve been driving in the Third District—you can get radio signals. So one of the things that I suggested was that we try to find a radio station that we can work with that will be willing to help us get information out over the radio. I encourage folks to have backup radios in the house. So if power goes out and you don’t have access to the internet, at least we can get people’s information on the radio.
We’ve heard these accounts of people in the mountains who have gone without power or heat for weeks. I know your district doesn’t cover most of the San Lorenzo Valley, where many of these people live, but what efforts is your office making to ensure people in the mountains can resolve these issues of power or heat being out?
Because of the storms, we kind of have an opportunity to see where the gaps in the system are. After all these storms we will be in a position where we can start having those discussions around finding out how long people had to go without heat or power.
I know there’s been some issues with propane delivery and propane supply. So we need to talk to those companies as well to ensure that they’re going to be able to provide people with propane on a fairly regular basis, and also that there’s some confidence that they’re going to be able to get these resources when they need them most.
How much time have you had to do normal onboarding processes?
[Laughs] Yeah, none. It just keeps getting pushed off.
County Budget Breakdown
In late February, Santa Cruz County Budget Manager Marcus Pimentel presented what he described as a “doom-and-gloom” financial outlook, saying that a recession will last through 2024/25 years, after which the economy will recover.
In his mid-year report, during which he outlined the county’s $712 million general fund budget, Pimentel said that the triple disaster of the CZU fire, the January floods and the ongoing effects of climate change had taken a toll on county resources.
Pimentel said the county is “struggling, struggling, struggling” to get $67.7 million in unpaid FEMA claims, with just $5 million expected to come this year.
While the county will finish this year with a balanced budget and has a healthy 10% reserve, Pimentel predicts deficits over the next five years, topping out at $19.3 million in 2027/28.
Supervisor Bruce McPherson said that the county might have to look at ways of raising additional revenues soon.
“If we want to provide the services we do to the half of Santa Cruz County that’s in the unincorporated area—and throughout the county—we’re going to have to take some serious and not pleasant actions, I think, this year in our budget sessions,” he says.
