Ocean lovers around Santa Cruz County are gearing up for a busy weekend. This Saturday, volunteers at 64 sites around Monterey Bay will celebrate International Coastal Cleanup Day. And on Sunday, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary invites the public to celebrate its 30th anniversary at Sanctuary Fest, a free community event.
Local nonprofit Save Our Shores is spearheading the volunteer efforts; the organization, known for its beach cleanups and educational programs, will host 64 cleanups that stretch from Año Nuevo State Beach in Pescadero to Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur.
The event will also extend inland. Six groups will focus on the San Lorenzo River, from Boulder Creek to the river mouth. Other volunteers will meet at Watsonville Slough, and one group will meet even farther south at Arroyo Seco in Big Sur.
All cleanups start at 9am and end at noon. For those unable to make it on Sept. 17, Save Our Shores recommends downloading the Clean Swell App to do a self-guided cleanup anytime in September.
Volunteers can register for cleanups and learn more about the app on the Save Our Shores website, saveourshores.org.
After caring for the bay on Saturday, the public can celebrate it on Sunday. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary will commemorate its 30th anniversary as well as the 50th anniversary of the National Marine Sanctuary System on Sept. 18.
The Sanctuary Fest will take place from 10am to 3pm on the Santa Cruz Wharf, Cowell Beach and the Sanctuary Exploration Center.
The MBNMS Foundation, Save the Waves Coalition, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Save Our Shores and other partners will offer demonstrations and outreach activities at an exhibitor fair on the wharf.
Guests can also register on the Sanctuary Fest website to join kayak nature tours, stand-up paddleboarding lessons and wildlife tours.
The 30th annual Aloha Outrigger Races, hosted by the Pu Pu ‘O Hawai’i Outrigger Canoe Club and the City of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation, will start at 9am off the Santa Cruz Wharf.
On the shore, activities include sand sculpture-building on Cowell Beach, virtual scavenger hunts along the wharf and marine science talks and films at the Sanctuary Exploration Center across the street.For more information and to register for activities, visit the Sanctuary Fest webpage at montereybay.noaa.gov.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): My reader Monica Ballard has this advice for you Aries folks: “If you don’t vividly ask for and eagerly welcome the gifts the Universe has in store for you, you may have to settle for trinkets and baubles. So never settle.” That’s always useful counsel for you Rams. And in the coming weeks, you will be wise to heed it with extra intensity. Here’s a good metaphor to spur you on: Don’t fill up on junk snacks or glitzy hors d’oeuvres. Instead, hold out for gourmet feasts featuring healthy, delectable entrées.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I will remind you about a potential superpower that is your birthright to develop: You can help people to act in service to the deepest truths and strongest love. You can even teach them how to do it. Have you been ripening this talent in 2022? Have you been bringing it more to the forefront of your relationships? I hope so. The coming months will stir you to go further than ever before in expressing this gift. For best results, take a vow to nurture the deepest truths and strongest love in all your thoughts and dealings with others.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your mind is sometimes a lush and beautiful maze that you get lost in. Is that a problem? Now and then it is, yes. But just as often, it’s an entertaining blessing. As you wander around amidst the lavish finery, not quite sure of where you are or where you’re going, you often make discoveries that rouse your half-dormant potentials. You luckily stumble into unforeseen insights you didn’t realize you needed to know. I believe the description I just articulated fits your current ramble through the amazing maze. My advice: Don’t be in a mad rush to escape. Allow this dizzying but dazzling expedition to offer you all its rich teachings.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Poetry is a life-cherishing force,” said Pulitzer Prize-winner Mary Oliver, who published 33 volumes of poetry and read hundreds of other poets. Her statement isn’t true for everyone, of course. To reach the point where reading poetry provides our souls with nourishment, we may have to work hard to learn how to appreciate it. Some of us don’t have the leisure or temperament to do so. In any case, Cancerian, what are your life-cherishing forces? What influences inspire you to know and feel all that’s most precious about your time on earth? Now would be an excellent time to ruminate on those treasures—and take steps to nurture them with tender ingenuity.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Please promise me you will respect and revere your glorious star power in the coming weeks. I feel it’s important, both to you and those whose lives you touch, that you exalt and exult in your access to your magnificence. For everyone’s benefit, you should play freely with the art of being majestic and regal and sovereign. To do this right, you must refrain from indulging in trivial wishes, passing fancies and minor attractions. You must give yourself to what’s stellar. You must serve your holiest longings, your riveting dreams and your thrilling hopes.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It’s impossible to be perfect. It’s neither healthy nor productive to obsess on perfectionism. You know these things. You understand you can’t afford to get bogged down in overthinking and overreaching and overpolishing. And when you are at your best, you sublimate such manic urges. You transform them into the elegant intention to clarify and refine and refresh. With grace and care, you express useful beauty instead of aiming for hyper-immaculate precision. I believe that in the coming weeks, dear Virgo, you will be a master of these services—skilled at performing them for yourself and others.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to Libran poet T. S. Eliot, “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” Those are your guiding thoughts for the coming days, Libra. You’re almost ready to start fresh; you’re on the verge of being able to start planning your launch date or grand opening. Now all you have to do is create a big crisp emptiness where the next phase will have plenty of room to germinate. The best way to do that is to finish the old process as completely as possible.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Now and then, you slip into phases when you’re poised on the brink of either self-damage or self-discovery. You wobble and lurch on the borderline where self-undoing vies with self-creation. Whenever this situation arises, here are key questions to ask yourself: Is there a strategy you can implement to ensure that you glide into self-discovery and self-creation? Is there a homing thought that will lure you away from the perverse temptations of self-damage and self-undoing? The answers to these queries are always yes—if you regard love as your top priority and if you serve the cause of love over every other consideration.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked,” said Sagittarian author Elizabeth Berg. I suspect her theory will be true for you in the coming weeks. You have done an adroit job of formulating your intentions and collecting the information you need to carry out your intentions. What may be best now is to relax your focus as you make room for life to respond to your diligent preparations. “I’m a great believer in luck,” said my Uncle Ned. “I’ve found that the harder I work, the more luck I have.” He was correct, but it’s also true that luck sometimes surges your way when you’ve taken a break from your hard work.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Tips to get the most out of the next six weeks: 1. Be the cautiously optimistic voice of reason. Be the methodical motivator who prods and inspires. Organize as you uplift. Encourage others as you build efficiency. 2. Don’t take other people’s apparent stupidity or rudeness as personal affronts. Try to understand how the suffering they have endured may have led to their behavior. 3. Be your own father. Guide yourself as a wise and benevolent male elder would. 4. Seek new ways to experience euphoria and enchantment, with an emphasis on what pleasures will also make you healthier.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Richard Ford has advice for writers: “Find what causes a commotion in your heart. Find a way to write about that.” I will amend his counsel to apply to all of you non-writers, as well. By my reckoning, the coming weeks will be prime time to be gleefully honest as you identify what causes commotions in your heart. Why should you do that? Because it will lead you to the good decisions you need to make in the coming months. As you attend to this holy homework, I suggest you direct the following invitation to the universe: “Beguile me, mystify me, delight me, fascinate me and rouse me to feel deep, delicious feelings.”
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “I am lonely, yet not everybody will do,” observed Piscean author Anaïs Nin. “Some people fill the gaps, and others emphasize my loneliness,” she concluded. According to my reading of the astrological omens, Pisces, it’s your task right now to identify which people intensify your loneliness and which really do fill the gaps. And then devote yourself with extra care to cultivating your connections with the gap-fillers. Loneliness is sometimes a good thing—a state that helps you renew and deepen your communion with your deep self. But I don’t believe that’s your assignment these days. Instead, you’ll be wise to experience intimacy that enriches your sense of feeling at home in the world. You’ll thrive by consorting with allies who sweeten your love of life.
Homework: I invite you to send a blessing to someone you regard as challenging to bless. Testify: Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com.
Floral Rosé Brut is packaged so beautifully that it could put anyone in a festive mood. The taste—fragrant sparkling Rosé with hints of berries, cherries and roses—is just as stunning. The bottle is swathed in pink, red, orange and yellow flowers—thanks to a wrap-around plastic covering—and it’s available for around $20.
Produced in Italy by Valdo Spumanti, one could not ask for a more wallet-friendly bottle of bubbly. It is bright and fresh tasting with a blend of 75% Nerello Mascalese from Sicily and 25% Glera from Veneto, with flavors of ripe melon and strawberry.
Valdo was started in 1926 by the Societa Anonima Vini Superiori and purchased by the Bolla family in the 1940s. Even after 90-plus years of winemaking, the company continues its quest to make quality wines. Valdo has also been Italy’s No.1 Prosecco maker for over 15 years. us.valdo.com.
Wine Wednesdays
After a hiatus of more than a year, Wine Wednesdays at Seascape Beach Resort are returning. These popular weekly wine-tasting events, complete with music, take place in the Atrium on the main floor and consist of a small appetizer or charcuterie plate and four 2-ounce pours—with a different winery featured each week. The first Wine Wednesday is Sept. 21, 5:30-7pm, and will feature local winery favorites such as Storrs and Integrity.
$25 plus tax and gratuity. Seascape Beach Resort, 1 Seascape Resort Drive, Aptos. 866-867-0976; seascaperesort.com.
RED Makes Chocolate Without Sugar
I came across a chocolate brand made without sugar. It’s called RED, and it comes in varieties including dark; extra dark; hazelnut and macadamia; milk; orange and almond. Made in Europe by a Swiss-owned company, it’s gluten-free, non-GMO and made with the finest cocoa beans—the sweetness is derived from erythritol and stevia. red-chocolate.com.
Sergio Carrera and El Frijolito were both born in 1985; his parents pulled off the incredible feat of having a child and opening a restaurant in the same year. Carrera pretty much grew up in the popular Watsonville spot. He started working there at 15. Initially, Carrera went to music school—he was a prominent local musician for years, but says the restaurant life path ultimately won out. After several years as GM, he took part ownership of El Frijolito to help out the family due to pandemic-related stresses. Open every day from 10am-7pm, Carrera defines the spot as classic Mexican, with recipes from his grandparents who were born in Durango and Michoacan. He says the burrito is one of the most popular items—with over 200,000 sold yearly—and comes in wide varieties, including carne asada, al pastor, shrimp and chile relleno. Enchiladas, chile verde and hangover-busting menudo on Sundays are also favorites. But they’ve become known for their house salsa, which blends green and red and boasts chunks of fresh onions and bunches of cilantro. Carrera took a brief descanso with GT to talk about El Frijolito’s enchiladas, and how music and food overlap.
How are music and food similar?
SERGIO CARRERA: I’ve had individual thoughts on both, but now that I’m thinking about it, cooking food for people and serving it to them is a very intimate experience. Like, they’re going to eat your food. And music is also an intimate experience, and similar in the sense that a song can move you in a very personal way, just like a great meal can.
What makes your enchiladas unique?
With traditional enchiladas, they are first dipped in a chile and then fried on the comal (flat-top grill). But with ours, we fry the tortilla first, and then we smother them with our housemade enchilada sauce, so they are kind of swimming. Frying them first like this and then saucing them keeps them softer, which allows us to stuff them fuller of meat or cheese. Our sauce just has a little kick, and because there’s a lot of it, you can mix it with the rice and beans, and I love to eat it that way.
El Frijolito Restaurant, 11 Alexander St., Ste. B, Watsonville, 831-724-8823.
A diverse clientele—couples, families, visitors, regulars—were already in fine-dining mode when we arrived at Cafe Mare last week to enjoy the air-conditioned joys of a cool Italian meal. A landmark for several decades, this durable restaurant offers generous seating, a long and unpretentious menu, a full bar and attentive service. The menu reflects the sensibilities of its Calabrian owner, and last week we enjoyed test-driving some Italian with our waiter, a young man living the good life, soccer and surfing by day, waiting tables in this downtown establishment by night.
The all-organic menu inspired us to order a sprightly salad of arugula topped with thick rounds of pancetta, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese ($16.50). We chased the exceptionally fresh, peppery arugula with our glasses of Chianti Poggio Caponi 2019 ($10) while listening to Chet Baker providing the soundtrack to the U.S. Open visible above the very well-stocked bar. White tablecloths and a laidback urban atmosphere, thanks to the below-street-level dining room, make everyone feel welcome. The long daily opening hours also make Cafe Mare a go-to favorite.
My entree of gamberoni alla diavola absolutely hit the spot. The large plate arrived with a sizable cluster of large shrimp sauteed in a spicy tomato white wine sauce laced with capers. The shrimp were joined by excellent roast potatoes and perfectly al dente broccoli crowns. The broccoli ($27.50) really won us over. Not the usual after-thought, this pretty emerald vegetable had been given some care and retained both crispness and flavor intensity.
There were more of the addictive potatoes (why don’t people think of outstanding potatoes when they think of Italian food—they should) and crisp broccoli on Jack’s plate of classic Vitello scaloppini,done piccata-style in a light saucing of wine, butter and capers ($27.50). Sometimes you don’t need a wildly innovative, designer dining experience. You just want to enjoy a dinner that tastes exactly as you want it to taste.
Our generous pours of red wine (plus a half bottle of sparkling water) kept us company throughout our meal. This place is timeless, without need for any designer statements, just a few mid-century touches like the red rose in tableside vases and the black and white photos of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra in the hallways. Retro, yet with youthful energy. Definitely a nice place for dinner, even if you haven’t planned ahead.
For dessert, we split a glass bowl of tiramisu ($8) that my companion loved for its nice liquor-soaked lady fingers. I would have liked a thicker layer of mascarpone cream cheese, but it was a sweet finish to a lovely meal.
Cafe Mare, 740 Front St. #100, Santa Cruz. Open daily 11:30am-2pm, 5-9pm; 11:30am-10pm Saturday, 11:30am-9:30pm Sunday. cafemare.com.
LEFTOVERS PRO TIP
I’m one of those people who like to make a whole new dish out of leftovers. You know, shred last night’s chicken breast to top a bed of greens with some late-harvest, dry-farmed tomatoes. Add whatever else looks interesting and splash on some zesty salad dressing. From our Cafe Mare dinner we had leftover shrimp, so I picked up a couple of day boat petrale sole filets from New Leaf Market, sauteed them and topped them with the shrimp and the remaining spicy diavolo sauce. Major transformation. A whole new dinner experience. Added a salad of little gems and glasses of delicious Lubanzi South African GSM (now available in cans—very portable, easy to open and a mere $5.99 for a big 355ml picnic portion). And toasted the much-loved QEII, a remarkable woman for almost a century.
A teenager was arrested Thursday in the shooting death of a 19-year-old man on Sept. 4 on Sudden Street.
Watsonville Police Department spokesperson Michelle Pulido said officers arrested the 15-year-old male suspect on Waters Alley between Jefferson and Sudden streets, less than a block from where Adrian Ayala was shot multiple times.
As officers attempted to arrest him, he tossed a gun behind some garbage cans, Pulido said. A swarm of police, many with their guns drawn, captured the teen and located the gun, Pulido added.
Pulido said the suspect has ties to a local gang and is currently facing several charges, including murder, possession of a firearm, gang enhancements and probation violation. He was booked into Juvenile Hall.
As summer comes to a close, some Santa Cruz residents hope its conclusion will coincide with the repeal of a recently established ordinance prohibiting street vending along Beach Street.
Vendors are still allowed to sell their wares in the vicinity of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, including along Riverside Avenue and Cliff Street. But those areas are a much tighter squeeze for vendors, customers and visitors alike compared to along Beach Street, where thousands of people typically stroll through on their way to the coastal city’s largest tourist attraction.
Santa Cruz’s Director of Planning and Community Development Lee Butler says that the ordinance came about due to a few “unsafe” situations over the last few years, following the state’s 2019 passage of Senate Bill 946, which allows for sidewalk vending. Butler says, in the time since the city had seen issues of overcrowding and access issues on Beach and surrounding streets due to vending.
Vendors are still allowed to sell their wares in the vicinity of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk along Riverside Avenue and Cliff Street.
As such, the city looked at what options it had to fix the situation, leading to the current ordinance. The city requires vendors to have a sidewalk vending permit, and a business license, Butler says. Those cost $30 and $175-180, respectively, and are good for a year. Vendors selling food also need a county health department permit. Butler said that while there have been some questions and missteps, the city believes the process has been a bit smoother for vendors and community members alike.
Before the new rules went into effect, the city estimated more than 50 unpermitted vendors were operating around Cowell Beach, Beach Street and Pacific Avenue. Code Compliance Manager Laura Landry says the vast majority of vendors have gone through the process to get both required documents. She and Butler estimate that there are approximately seven vendors operating without licenses this summer.
By Butler’s estimates, the city currently has 57 permitted vendors, with 25 vendors working along Beach Street and 32 including Pacific Avenue downtown.
For vendors without the required permits and licenses, penalties can add up quickly. A first citation equals $250, a second citation within a year is $500 and a third will cost vendors $1,000.
“It’s cheaper for them to attain the permits than to get a first citation,” Landry said.
The city previously used a lottery system to award sidewalk vending permits, and, last summer, it approved six vendors to sell their products. Brent Forsyth, one of the six lottery winners, works both near the Boardwalk and downtown, where the city works with vendors via a reservation system operated by the Parks & Recreation Department. He says the last two years have been tough on street vendors.
“Vending is hard work—you’re dealing with some of the elements in [both locations], including the open container rules near the Boardwalk,” he says. “The city says it’s a ‘work in progress,’ and it takes time—but they haven’t done anything.”
Street Scene
This summer, Isaias Gebre has regularly gone out to connect with vendors at their tables and carts, and act as an intermediary and translator when Santa Cruz Police Department or city officials try to move or ticket the vendors. He says that many of the vendors he works with—most of whom are Mexican and primarily speak Spanish or other Mexican indigenous languages—have worked in this area for years, and the city’s new policy makes it that much tougher for the vendors to make a living.
“So many people have lost so much money,” he says, noting some vendors have had to decide between rent payments or kitchen license payments due to the discrepancies.
Recently, Gebre connected us with a few of the long-time vendors near the Beach Street area, selling food, handmade crafts, boogie boards and hats. Of the three vendors we spoke with, all shared they had lost anywhere from 50-80% of their earnings under the new ordinance this summer compared to years past.
Guillermina, who did not want to use her last name, believes she’s lost 70% of her income this summer. She says she’s worked by the beach since 2018 selling hot dogs, agua fresca, fresh fruit and other items. Because she’s selling food, she is also required to rent a spot at a commercial kitchen for food prep, which runs $3,500 a month.
“My only hope is that, this November, we can get back on Beach Street and make whatever revenue we can,” she says.
Imelda, who did not want to use her last name, sells shirts, ponchos, hats and blankets with her partner on Cliff Street. She says that on top of bringing in 50% less revenue this summer than in previous years many vendors also face issues related to the pandemic.
“We used to sell at the Flea Market, but it’s been closed since Covid,” she says.
These struggles convinced Gebre to begin filming vendors’ interactions with SCPD and city code enforcement officers as well as everyday residents. In videos posted to the TikTok account @Street_Vendors_Coalition, officers appear to take the vendors’ goods and write up tickets even for permitted sellers. In others, Gebre captures interactions between vendors and a person who he says is a code enforcement officer who constantly calls SCPD on the vendors. His TikTok account had more than 24,000 followers before it was banned a few months ago. Some of the videos are still available on his Instagram account, street_vendors_coalition_831.
Gebre has also launched a change.org petition, calling for the city to revoke its ban. So far, that petition has over 3,400 signatures.
“It’s so hard to talk about what’s happening down here without people seeing it,” he says. “We want to document these experiences, and make sure businesses and the Boardwalk don’t scapegoat the vendors.”
Butler and Landry say they understand the vendors’ frustrations and believe the city will assess what future changes they can establish with the ordinance.
“Vendors appreciate the fact that we did a lot of outreach in advance to let them know what was transpiring,” Landry says. “That communication aspect has definitely improved—they all have my cell number, and feel more comfortable calling me.”
To support the vendors and again speak out about the ordinance, Gebre says he will host a peaceful demonstration along Beach Street this coming weekend, in line with the Boardwalk’s Fiesta en la Playa Day, which, according to the Boardwalk’s website, will be a celebration of the “vibrant traditions of the Latino community with mariachi, folklorico dancers, and a free beach concert.”
Final touches are still being completed at the Fairgrounds as the 136th Santa Cruz County Fair approaches. From temporary livestock pens, art exhibits, collections, colorful flowers and fresh paint, the fairgrounds is abuzz with activity.
In the Codiga Center and Museum, Agricultural History Project CEO John Kegebein said volunteers have been working to brighten up the center with new displays and other additions, including a number of historic apple labels from prominent local families now hanging from the ceiling.
A new exhibit located near the center of the museum celebrates the contributions Croatian immigrants had to grow the robust agricultural industry in the Pajaro Valley.
Titled Slavic Community in the Pajaro Valley, the exhibit prominently displays a map of the Dubrovnik region of Croatia, historical photos of Croatian workers, and a list of family names from this region that reside in the Pajaro Valley.
Linda Pavlovich, president of the Slavic American Cultural Organization, worked with Donna Mekis and Kathryn Mekis Miller, co-authors of Blossoms Into Gold: The Croatians in the Pajaro Valley, on the exhibit.
Donna Mekis said the purpose of the fair is to display the rich agricultural history of the Pajaro Valley, and the new exhibit ties directly into that.
“The Croatians have played a huge part of that for close to 100 years,” she says.
According to history compiled by the exhibitors, by the 1920s, more than 20% of Watsonville’s population came from rural villages off the eastern Adriatic coast, which is now the southern portion of Croatia. The City of Watsonville solidified those historic ties in 2019 when it formed a sister city connection with Cavtat.
Many Croatians had immigrated to San Francisco at the height of the gold rush in the early 19th century, and used their backgrounds as traders to provide goods to the miners. A large population of these immigrants eventually landed in the Pajaro Valley, where they used their expertise to bring a fresh perspective to the local agricultural industry, Mekis Miller says.
Many of their innovations rooted in the Pajaro Valley eventually expanded nationwide, such as the onset of a vertical production chain that got fruit from tree to transportation within a day. They also encouraged Pajaro Valley growers to expand their orchards by offering “Blossom Contracts,” where they set a specific price and bought all future fruit from an orchard, according to the compiled history.
Watsonville’s Croatians were largely responsible for growing and shipping 2.5 million boxes of apples annually throughout the nation and world by 1903.
The exhibit’s organizers say they hope viewers come away with an understanding of the important role immigrants have played in forming the Pajaro Valley.
“I have always been intrigued by the diversity of workers in the Pajaro Valley,” Donna Mekis says. “It’s important for all of us to understand all the different histories and cultures of people who come from so many places.”
Pavlovich added that she hopes other immigrant groups will be inspired to research and present their own histories, as there are many other stories waiting to be told.
The Santa Cruz County Fair runs Wednesday, Sept. 14 through Sunday, Sept. 18 at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, 2601 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville. More information and tickets at santacruzcountyfair.com.
The Watsonville man who was shot and killed Sunday afternoon in downtown was working to turn his life around, his mother said.
On Wednesday, at a large makeshift altar at the site of where her son died, Roxanne Ortiz said Adrian Ayala, 19, “was making efforts to clean up his life and make positive changes,” as she tidied up the altar and set out fresh flowers.
Watsonville Police Department Sgt. Jarrod Pisturino said the shooting took place around 11:20am on the 100 block of Brennan Street. Police cordoned off a huge slice of downtown Watsonville after the shooting.
Officers combed the parking lot of the Watsonville Woman’s Club and the adjoining Brennan Medical Center where the victim was found.
A large crowd of people gathered, some sobbing and embracing one another outside the crime scene Sunday that was hemmed in with yellow crime tape. Ortiz, at one point, cried out loud, “My baby, my baby!” A man watching the drama unfold, said, “Someone shot and killed my family member.”
Ortiz said her son had been working out and playing basketball with friends at the nearby YMCA and that he was chased by several youths as he left the YMCA.
WPD officers say they retrieved at least four bullets that traveled through the front wall of Salon Hair We Are at 21 Brennan St., that same complex that houses the Good Times’ sister paper The Pajaronian.
Ortiz added that her son had recently been baptized, was attending church and had got a job at UPS, where he just received his first paycheck.
“People can make mistakes, but they can also turn their life around,” she said. “That is what he was doing: Trying to become a better person.”
The investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made.
Earlier this summer the City of Scotts Valley notched a major victory in its legal battle against a cop that got kicked off its police force after the City said—among other things—he sexually harassed a junior female officer he supervised.
Former Scotts Valley Police Department Sgt. David Ball has claimed he suffered age discrimination and that the appeal process was politicized by Chief Steve Walpole’s ties to Scotts Valley City Council members.
But on July 19, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Timothy Volkmann sided with Scotts Valley, in one of Ball’s three lawsuits.
After 26 years on the force, Ball was fired in October 2019 for discrimination, sexual harassment, misconduct as a supervisor, ethics issues and poor performance.
He tried to appeal the decision to the city manager the following month, and when that didn’t work, he went to the council to try to have this overturned.
He lost in a 2021 hearing.
In a bid to be reinstated by court order, Ball sued the City.
He also filed a defamation lawsuit against Chief Walpole and Pascale Wowak, the officer he reportedly harassed, as well as a wrongful termination suit against Scotts Valley.
In June, Ball’s lawyer Steven Welty faced off against attorney Rachel Balchum, who appeared on behalf of Scotts Valley and the council, in the civil action the plaintiff hoped would open the door to returning to work at SVPD.
But after considering the arguments, Volkmann found—in his July order—the evidence supported that, a few years back, while Ball was supervising Wowak, he acted inappropriately.
“Ball told her he’d better not ever be drunk around her because it would be too dangerous,” the judge noted, adding he began a series of flirtatious interactions. “Sometime in mid-September 2018, Petitioner then told Wowak that his marital problems related to their texting would have been worth it if Wowak had sent him nude photos of herself.”
The judge said Ball had been giving the novice cop good performance evaluations up until that point.
“Evidence before the City Council established that Petitioner retaliated against Wowak after she refused to send him nude pictures of herself,” Volkmann wrote.
Ball started giving her bad performance reviews, recommended management fire her, badmouthed her to other staff, improperly handled a citizen complaint from someone she’d arrested, failed to relieve her after a mental health call contrary to SVPD practice and claimed she’d been sleeping on-the-job when that wasn’t true, the judge said in his order.
“This Court finds that the City Council’s decision was supported by the weight of the evidence and on that basis denies the petition,” he wrote.
Ball’s battle with SVPD dovetails with a dark period for the force.
Scotts Valley saw the departure of several officers, with staff leaving for employers like the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department.
In a Dec. 2020 Facebook post, the Scotts Valley Police Officer’s Association said it could “no longer remain silent about a lack of transparency regarding the critical status of your police department,” pointing to the fact that just 50% of SVPD positions were filled.
Since then, the City, thanks to the passing of Measure Z, upped police pay and has successfully recruited a new slate of officers—and is now nearing full strength.
In court, Ball argued Wowak wasn’t credible, claiming after she’d lodged an official complaint, she’d altered the timeline of events.
But the judge agreed with Wowak, who said this was just a grammar mistake.
In fact, Volkmann found it was Ball who had provided an incomplete record to the court.
“He denied asking in August 2018 to keep Wowak on his team at shift change, yet other witnesses confirmed it,” he wrote, adding Ball failed to produce flirtations texts where he referred to Wowak as “sunshine,” said he had “nothing but love” for her and that he “would take all sides of her”—alongside a kiss emoji.
Plus, Ball’s testimony conflicted with multiple witnesses when it came to the citizen complaint, his claims that Wowak was insubordinate and that she was sleeping on duty, Volkmann added.
Ball had called the integrity of the appeals process into question, claiming the council wasn’t an impartial body because now-mayor Donna Lind is the godmother to Chief Walpole, because Vice Mayor Jim Reed was pulled over by Ball on multiple occasions over the years and because Councilmember Randy Johnson didn’t recuse himself until mid-way through the process.
But Volkmann wasn’t buying it.
Ball’s claim that they acted inappropriately “falls flat and he cites no legal authority that there was any unfair advantage provided to City,” the judge wrote. “The City Attorney provided both sides with the opportunity to submit their factual and legal bases for either overturning or affirming the personnel action; Petitioner failed to do so.”
Now Ball’s being sued by Wowak and Walpole, in an anti-SLAPP action, a type of civil case meant to prevent people from using the legal process to chill free speech.
As summer comes to a close, some Santa Cruz residents hope its conclusion will coincide with the repeal of a recently established ordinance prohibiting street vending along Beach Street.
In March, Santa Cruz City Council, in a split 4-3 vote, approved a seasonal prohibition on sidewalk vendors along Beach Street from Third Street and the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, from...
