After the CZU fires, a lot of noise was made about how easy local government agencies were going to make it for those who lost their homes to rebuild. That’s why most of us assumed those rebuilding efforts were surely on track—what could go wrong, right?
Well, once you read Aiyana Moya’s cover story this week, you’ll understand that the answer to that question is “everything.” She takes a deep dive into what’s happened in the tiny community of Last Chance to illustrate how the aftermath of the fires has been a nightmare for county residents who lost their homes, and what she finds is unsettling, to say the least.
There is plenty of blame to go around—just try to wrap your head around the mess that fire victims are going through with Anvil Builders Inc., which denied more than half of residents’ claims after doing millions of dollars in damage while removing debris. Or ask why CalFire won’t declare Last Chance Road fire-safe, which has effectively halted the community’s rebuilding efforts.
But other issues are a lot more nuanced than you might expect, and Moya’s story illuminates some surprising truths about just how hard it is to navigate a rebuilding effort. For instance, we all would think the county should waive permitting fees for fire victims, right? Wait until you read why that would be a disaster. In short, this story may very well change how you think of the CZU aftermath altogether; it’s absolutely a must-read.
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
ONLINE COMMENTS
RE: CASTRO ADOBE
As a descendent of the Rodriguez family, who arrived at the same time and married with the Castros, I love seeing the history of the area preserved and learned from. Our history is an important part of our story and our lives. Thank you for preserving it!
– Carrie Zeidman
As a descendant of Jose Joaquin Castro, our family heritage remains in this beautiful Adobe restoration. I and my siblings look forward to more programs and activities to participate and contribute to. Saludos to all of the collaborators.
– Julia Brooks
RE: SCOTTS VALLEY SCHOOLS
I have heard similar stories about Aptos (middle and high schools). I knew of kids who left Scotts Valley and Aptos due to their oppressive cultures of conformity. Santa Cruz High (where my kids went to school) always seemed to welcome and accept all types of kids. I’m sure there were exceptions, but this was my experience both as a medical provider and a parent.
Before spring starts this weekend, one last “winter nap,” which was the title of this submission. Photograph by Karen Jensen.
Submit to ph****@go*******.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.
GOOD IDEA
THIRST RESPONDERS
If you’re interested in drought response plans, Santa Cruz County has a job for you.
The county’s Water Advisory Commission is developing a Drought Response Working Group to create water conservation plans for small water systems and wells. The commission is looking for two representatives for the group, who are able to commit to 15-20 hours of meetings between late April through October. The deadline to apply is March 25. Find out more at scceh.com.
GOOD WORK
STAFFING UP
Senderos, a non-profit that celebrates Latinx culture and supports Latinx youth, hired its first staffer last week after 20 years of being an all-volunteer based organization. Gabriela Cruz—who immigrated from Mexico when she was 1, and has lived in Santa Cruz for the past 32 years—will serve as Senderos’ executive director. She has been involved in activism since the Trump administration ended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2017, and is excited to continue to serve Latinx families at Senderos.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”
Driving up the winding road that leads to Last Chance Road, I miss my left turn.
First, I’m distracted by the view in my rearview mirror as I ascend to the top of the hill. It’s a pristine, cloudless day, and I have a clear view of the hills that tumble into the expansive ocean. Second, I am out of service, so Google Maps fails to alert me that I passed the turn.
Luckily, I notice that I am veering off my blue line and driving into the gray, according to Google Maps, so I make a quick turn in the middle of the road—it’s the middle of the afternoon, and I haven’t seen another car since I turned onto the road up the the hill 20 minutes ago.
My eyes scan for a road sign labeled Last Chance, but I don’t see any indication that such a road exists. I do see a tractor, and construction workers dressed in bright orange vests pouring concrete onto a road that leads off into the direction Google Maps wants me to go, so I take a chance. Behind them, I see Creedence Shaw, who has organized my visit, talking with another man a few yards down the road.
“So secretive they even took down the road sign,” Shaw jokes.
The people who live on Last Chance Road have a reputation for being protective of their community. That’s why I, along with Good Times photographer Tarmo Hannula, hop into the jeep of former Last Chance resident Toni McAuliffe, who is our chauffeur for the day.
People living on Last Chance road can easily spot outsiders. “Tight-knit” is the phrase that every resident I interview uses to describe the community here. Every year before the CZU fires in 2020, the community held annual barn dances that every neighbor attended. The community had its own schoolhouse, and hired teachers to teach the kids living here; all three of McAuliffe’s kids went to school there at some point. Both of these structures burned during the wildfire.
Once, McAuliffe tells us as we drive, a car veered off the road and fell a few feet down into a ravine. Because the fire marshall can take nearly 40 minutes to drive out, McAuliffe, along with a dozen other residents, came to the rescue, lowering a rope for the woman trapped in the car to use to climb out.
Living out here, McAuliffe says, you have to rely on your neighbor to survive.
All that is to say that everyone who lives on this road knows everyone else who lives on it. Every car that we pass on our way into the heart of the community glides to stop, and Toni will roll down her window to say hello. More times than not, the cars will idle next to each other, the engines humming underneath the conversations.
“Our houses out here, they aren’t close together,” McAuliffe says after wrapping up another conversation with a passing driver. “But we’re close.”
McAuliffe moved to Last Chance with her husband 30 years ago. She and her husband loved living in the hills and amongst the towering trees so much, they would commute an hour each way into Davenport for work.
It was only after their home burned down during the CZU Lightening Complex Fires in 2020 that they were forced to move out of the community and into downtown Santa Cruz. Now, a trailer sits in a clearing where their two-story home used to be.
“We’re too old to be living like that,” says McAuliffe.
McAuliffe is, by her own admission, lucky to have the option to live someplace else. All the renters have moved, she says, but for most of the homeowners in Last Chance, moving isn’t financially viable.
The residents of Last Chance are not the only fire victims in the county stuck living in trailers and tents as they wait on building permits. Rural communities like Bonny Doon and Ben Lomand are also struggling to get cleared for permits: in Bonny Doon, the biggest hurdle is residents getting septic clearances, while in Ben Lomand people are struggling to receive geological clearances, according to Shaw and county officials.
Following the fires in Oct. of 2020, the county made multiple promises that CZU fire victims would be able to benefit from streamlined permitting processes and relaxed building codes. But the people I spoke with say a number of roadblocks are preventing residents from rebuilding.
The county even told Last Chance residents that they could be part of a pilot program that would streamline the building process, and allow them to use alternative means of construction, as long as the homes were found to be structurally sound and meet basic health and safety requirements. But because CalFire has not approved the road as fire safe, residents haven’t had a chance to put the pilot program into action. “The codes are killing us,” McAuliffe says.
Permitting Chaos
The CZU Complex fire burned 86,500 acres from the Santa Cruz Mountains into San Mateo County. More than 1,490 structures were lost, and 911 homes in Santa Cruz County burned—including every single structure on Last Chance Road.
After the fires ravished Santa Cruz County, California’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), hired San Francisco-based construction company Anvil Builders Inc. to help clear debris from the CZU fire, as part of a $225 million contract. But come last November, it became clear that in the debris removal process, Anvil had caused millions of dollars in damage to county and private roads, as well as to septic and storm drainage systems. To Last Chance Road alone, Anvil caused an estimated $2.7 million in damages down 7.8 miles of the road.
Creedence Shaw, who works with Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, has been everything from a mediator to an investigator in his work helping fire victims in Last Chance. PHOTO: TARMO HANNULA
That’s where Creedence Shaw comes in. Shaw works with Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, which is helping fire survivors relocate and supplement essential costs. His original job was to help homeowners with the documents and permits they need in order to start rebuilding, and this remains his guiding principle. But, he says, this has required him to do everything from being a mediator to a full-blown investigator.
“Neither Susan [True, executive director of Community Foundation] or I really could have predicted what this job would entail,” says Shaw.
Shaw has assumed a sort of liaison role, working as a mediator between residents seeking permits to rebuild after the fire and the county. But the more he learned about what happened in the Last Chance community, the more he realized that the road itself was the key to moving the building process forward.
Steve Barnes is the road manager for Last Chance Road. He is a licensed timber operator, and owns a construction company. He has maintained the road for decades, ensuring it was drivable, filling potholes and creating and caring for the culverts, which is one of the most critical components of maintaining the road.
Culverts are so crucial, Barnes says, because without them Last Chance Road would flood when it rains.
There were 34 culverts in the Last Chance community. Some, Barnes says, were burned in the fire. The others, he says, Anvil destroyed.
“The money to replace [the culverts] is coming out of our pockets. These culverts should have never been ripped out. We’ve had a tremendous amount of rain this year and before I got the critical culverts in, the roads were like creek beds,” says Barnes.
Anvil offered Last Chance $75,000 for repairs, despite county estimates that the cost of the damage was closer to $2.7 million. So when Shaw sought to help the people of Last Chance rebuild, he quickly realized that repairing their road would be an essential first step. Because Last Chance road is a private road, finding money for repairs would be the community’s responsibility.
So he set to work.
“I looked at the damage claims. I read through the contract (with Anvil). I made public access records requests. Anvil blatantly violated its contract,” says Shaw.
More than 70 damage claims were filed by residents or residential groups. 28 were approved. The county also filed claims and appeals for 17 public roads with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Shaw has submitted public access records from Anvil and Cal OES, hoping to understand why these damage claims were denied. Instead, Cal OES returned with general information on its practices, long email chains passing off Shaw’s requests and no supporting documentation specifying the reasons behind denying some residents’ damage claims.
Cal OES did not coordinate an interview in time for print.
Luckily for Last Chance, an anonymous donation is funding the cost of repaving the road, says Barnes. But CalFire Fire Marshal Chris Walters says it needs to be wider to be accessible for fire trucks, there needs to be a secondary egress, and it needs to be paved as an all-weather road before CalFire will clear it for a permit.
All of this will cost money.
The donation was a blessing, Barnes says, but that money went to recovering the culverts that Anvil damaged, and there is still work to be done on the road and no permit in sight.
Although Last Chance residents hope that CalFire might ease its road requirements, Walters says there are county-wide road standards that must be met in order for emergency responders to reach people in need of help.
“If someone called 911 during rainy conditions and it was muddy out there, more than likely we would not be able to get an actual fire engine out there,” says Walters. “We want to be able to get to their door and render aid, and an all-weather surface road is the way we do it.”
Driving on the road to interview Last Chance residents, both Tarmo and I remark on the condition of the road: we are both surprised by the fact that it actually looks to be in great condition. There are no potholes, it is wider than most back country roads I have driven, and although it’s not paved, it also is not just a dirt road.
We pull up onto Terra Barsonto’s property, she’s gardening next to a long, make-shift greenhouse structure that sits beside a modest yurt.
Barsonto has lived on the property for decades. She is a retired school teacher, and since the CZU fires decimated her two-story home and mother-in-law unit two years ago, she has been living in some form of a tent: originally, a camping tent, but recently she upgraded to the yurt. A few months ago, her son set up an outdoor kitchen station, a stove and a standalone sink, inside the greenhouse structure.
“It’s hard to live in a tent,” says Barsonto. “I was newly retired, and I thought I had the rest of my life planned, but everything was completely disrupted. Not knowing what to do, being traumatized … I only recently was able to think about getting a yurt.”
Right now, rebuilding, for Barsonto and the rest of the Last Chance community, isn’t legally possible without the green light from CalFire.
“That’s what’s holding us hostage,” says Barsonto. “If CalFire could somehow ease up on these regulations … they’re holding us to this high standard that we can’t reach, and so we don’t have the chance to rebuild.”
Struggles Across County
Last Chance Road isn’t the only community that is still trying to rebuild, two years later.
Ann McKenzie lives in Bonny Doon, where over 100 other homes were burned, according to Cal Fire estimates. McKenzie’s home was one of the houses included in that estimate.
McKenzie and her husband lived in their home for over 34 years. Now, they have two trailers on their property, one that McKenzie and her husband share and one that her son lives in, as they apply for the permits they need to rebuild.
“It gets kind of tight,” says McKenzie, “but there’s no other option for us. And honestly, it’s worth it to live here in Bonny Doon, in the mountains surrounded by trees, where we have so many memories.”
The biggest sticking point for them as they work with the county to acquire their permits is getting their septic cleared. In the past two years, McKenzie and her husband have sunk around $10,000 on the permitting process, but you wouldn’t have guessed that from looking at their land; they haven’t been able to start the building process at all, as they apply and reapply to get their septic clearance.
McKenzie doesn’t understand why this is the roadblock that is stopping them from rebuilding. For more than 34 years, she says, they have lived without issues with their septic tank; now, the county requires they move it further away from the creek that runs near her property. Already, she and her husband will have to adhere to new building codes, like indoor sprinkles, solar panels and a litany of other updates that their home that burned in the fire didn’t have. “It’s frustrating,” McKenzie says.
She’s not alone in her frustration. The Community Foundation’s True says that building to brand new codes has been the most challenging part of the process for fire survivors.
“It’s a mismatch. These people have been here for generations,” says True. “And to now be like, ‘We don’t have the right water pressure for our sprinkler system,’ it’s trying to match the need for public safety, and the overall assurance that your home will be rebuilt.”
Michael Renner is the Director of Development Recovery Services for 4Leaf Inc, the outside agency that the county hired to help residents get their permits. He explains that the California Building Code is revised and adopted every three years. That means that over the last decade or so, the state had three separate opportunities to update building requirements.
In a lot of ways, the county’s hands are tied when it comes to easing up on those codes, especially the ones that are handed down from the state. That’s because the state has certain building codes and requirements that the county has no authority to modify.
“What the state says goes,” says Renner. “I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of differences between county and state regulations, but when the state regulations are more restrictive, then the county doesn’t have an option but to defer to the state requirement. And there is no legal mechanism to allow people to build back to an old code.”
For many of the people I spoke with, the permitting fees themselves were also daunting. According to Renner, the county has tried to pare down costs to the absolute minimum, so the hard costs were covered.
According to data that Renner shares, the average cost for permitting a 1500-square-foot home is nearly $28,000. Even with certain fees waived by the county for CZU survivors, the cost is still nearly $11,000.
Renner says that he has been involved in fire recoveries ranging from Sonoma County to the town of Paradise to Oregon, and he has never seen a county completely waive permitting fees. In fact, the only jurisdiction that he knows of that actually promised to waive its fees had to retract that promise.
“The city of Malibu initially waived fees for wildfire victims,” says Renner. “And then FEMA came in and said, basically, ‘Great, if you have the ability to waive fees, you don’t need our assistance or money, and now you need to pass that money back.’”
What’s also difficult, Renner says, is that in these more rural communities, these homes might not have been up to code or permitted to begin with.
“I would say the biggest challenge I’ve seen in Santa Cruz County is getting the non-permitted structures to a point where we can get them to receive a permit,” says Renner. Especially, he says, because many unpermitted structures were also uninsured.
“We have to ensure that homes are safe, and built in a safe environment,” says Renner. “We also have to understand that people want to get back to their homes. So there’s a balance there.”
Wildfire Costs
How wildfires change a county are multifold, in ways that scientists and researchers are still trying to understand.
One study found that across the U.S., wildfires significantly lower per capita wage earnings across multiple sources of earnings data for up to two years after wildfire. But the California Council on Science and Technology found in a 2020 study that because there is no statewide, standardized methodology for identifying the costs of wildfires, it’s impossible to accurately collect data on wildfire costs. Not to mention, accurately quantifying societal losses will require substantial additional data collection and research in a number of disciplines.
Moreover, the costs associated with unquantified categories of loss (e.g., health impacts, loss of ecosystem services) may likely exceed the reported costs. For example, federal and state firefighting expenditures exceed $3 billion per year; utility wildfire prevention and mitigation costs are approximately $5 billion per year; whereas the insured property losses in three out of the past four years have exceeded $10 billion per year.
Jason Hoppin, communications director for the county, says it’s impossible to determine the cost of the wildfire across all sectors of the community, especially given that the pandemic is intrinsically tied into those costs. But on a county and city level, the wildfire wreaked havoc on budgets, and budget managers are now factoring in climate change and natural disasters when drawing up their budgets.
True has observed first-hand the ripple effect that CZU fires had economically and demographically.
“A lot of fire survivors that we helped right away after the fire were very small business owners,” says True. “Maybe they were painters, contractors, landscape architects, small farmers, massage therapists, photographers who lost their kind of tools of trade in the fire. We are losing these people.”
The residents I spoke with at Last Chance and Bonny Doon also confirmed this reality. Renters are forced to exchange the rural areas they were living in for the city. But True sees some renters leaving Santa Cruz County altogether, especially as rent continues to increase (in the past year, median rent is up 18.6% according to apartment rental agency Dwellsy).
“People who had carved out a way to live in Santa Cruz County, literally for generations, may not be able to make it here anymore,” says True. “I don’t even know what we’re gonna see yet in terms of homelessness.”
Some fire survivors know homeowners who left for other states because of wildfire concerns. Meanwhile, the homeowners who can’t afford to leave, remain. “I worry about future wildfires,” says McKenzie. “But this is my property, this is my home. Where would I go?”
‘Where would I go’ is a phrase that is echoed across many of the interviews I have with fire survivors who are rebuilding. Last Chance resident Terra Barsonto says nearly exactly that when we speak.
“This is my home, I don’t have the money to go someplace else,” Barsonto says. “Where else would I go?”
Looking Forward
Sarah Newkirk, the Executive Director at Land Trust of Santa Cruz County that aims to find sustainable ways to protect land and wildlife, says that creative solutions exist to ensure less damage from wildfires.
In a study Newkirk co-authored, she and her fellow researcher found that by creating a managed buffer of open space around a community, losses from wildfires could be reduced by up to 30%.
“One of the biggest challenges we’re facing again, there’s just tremendous demand for more housing right now,” says Newkirk. “And with that demand, comes pushing the limits of cities further and further out into what’s called the wildland urban interface. And in those areas, the fire risk is just simply greater.”
That’s why, in addition to land management, Newkirk hopes to see cities do everything they can to utilize urban space and meet state-set housing goals.
“I would encourage cities to be really focusing their planning on areas of infill development, and creating new housing,” says Newkirk. “I don’t think that it’s a reasonable long term solution to put people at risk in order to mitigate the housing problem.”
In the meantime, Shaw continues to fight for the Last Chance community and other survivors who sustained damage from Anvil.
At the county level, Michael Renner says that supervisors have been meeting to come up with solutions for the people who are still in the throes of the permitting process—especially, he says, people living on Last Chance Road.
“There’s some ideas being floated through the county council,” Renner says. “We’re not sure of the legalities of some of the ideas that have been spit-balled, but I do know those answers could be coming fairly quickly, even later this month.”
The Last Chance Residents I spoke with are cautiously optimistic that this is the case, but careful to not get their hopes up.
As I am wrapping up my interview with Barsonto, I ask what she hopes the future holds. She is silent for a while, looking at her makeshift kitchen, her yurt and lastly at her garden, where vegetables like chard and lettuce are unfolding and a few wildflowers push through the earth.
“My main dream is to have a legal home out here,” Barsonto says. “That one day, we will have another home, and I can watch everything that burned down regrow.”
Last year, the news that the UC Regents had approved UCSC’s 2021 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP)—a document which outlines the campus’s goal to swell enrollment to 28,000 students, and build housing for 100% of new enrollees and up to 25% of new faculty—sent a wave of anger through Santa Cruz County. Like water in Mad Max or spice in Dune, housing in Santa Cruz gets people justifiably riled up. Critics of the plan pointed out that since the university’s commitments are not legally binding, it could theoretically enroll all the students but build none of the new housing it envisions.
On Feb. 22, these concerns led to a new lawsuit filed by the City of Santa Cruz against UCSC, alongside a separate complaint by the County of Santa Cruz. The suit, which lists the UC Regents, UC President Michael Drake, UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive and UCSC as defendants, alleges that the 2021 LRDP and its accompanying Environmental Impact Report (EIR) don’t prepare for scenarios where the university fails to live up to its ambitious plans. In doing so, the university is in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the suit alleges.
As a result, the city says, the documents underestimate the impacts that enrolling a host of new students might have on its surrounding community, including displacement of other renters in Santa Cruz, worsening city traffic, increased water consumption and heightened risk for wildfires.
And in the city’s opinion, this scenario is much more likely than one where the university actually meets its commitments. The 2021 LRDP includes provisions to construct up to four new residential colleges over the campus’s current 10, swelling its housing space from 9,283 beds to 17,783. But these plans are relatively vague, mostly amounting to areas on a map where the campus could build these new colleges.
“It’s not just one of multiple scenarios that could play out,” says Santa Cruz’s Assistant City Attorney Catherine Bronson. “We really do view that as the most likely scenario. Because there really hasn’t been any indication that the housing is coming—that there’s a specific plan.”
But the university remains firm that it would provide housing for its new students without a legal mandate to do so. Campus spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason says that in recent years, the university has recognized an increasing need for affordable, on-campus housing options. If the university does not build housing to match its enrollment growth, he says, more students would be left to fend for themselves in an increasingly unaffordable off-campus housing market—guaranteeing that some will drop out of college entirely.
“It does nobody any good to have students come and leave the university without earning their degrees,” Hernandez-Jason says.
He added in an email that the school was “disappointed” by the city and county’s lawsuits, and that it had hoped to reach an out-of-court settlement agreement with the plaintiffs last fall, both before and after the 2021 LRDP’s approval.
Chancellor Larive declined to comment on the new litigation, citing its ongoing nature.
The More Things Change
The first discussion of a potential city and county lawsuit over the LRDP issue came back in September of last year, shortly after the UC Regents approved the final versions of the 2021 LRDP and EIR. At that point, the parties entered into a tolling agreement that put a freeze on the 30-day statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit against the university on CEQA grounds, promising to engage in mediated talks.
The outlook among local leaders, at the time, was comparatively rosy. County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty told Good Times last year he was optimistic that the local government could hash out an agreement with the university without fighting the sort of costly, years-long legal battle that followed the approval of the 2021 LRDP’s predecessor, the 2005 LRDP. In that agreement, the university was required to cap enrollment at 19,480 until the 2021-22 school year, and provide housing for 67% of the students it enrolled over 15,000.
By all accounts, says Coonerty, the university met the letter of that portion of the agreement. And it prevented the parties from engaging in any further litigation related to housing and enrollment for the span of time it was in effect.
“From my vantage point, it worked for both sides,” Coonerty says.
But meditated talks in December between the city, county and UCSC failed, putting the parties back on track for a repeat of the 2005 LRDP proceedings. At a Jan. 25 meeting, the Santa Cruz City Council quietly announced that it had greenlit the initiation of a lawsuit against UCSC alongside the county in the days prior.
“It’s incredibly frustrating, because the university made a bunch of promises, and all we’re asking is that they commit to those promises,” Coonerty says. “And because they’ve been unable to do so, now we have to spend time and money on lawyers instead of working collaboratively to create a path that will work for both UCSC and the community.”
The issue of building housing at UCSC is not just a question of will and dollars, though. The campus has a long history of environmental litigation and student protests that have scuppered numerous projects—particularly those proposed for its natural scenic and environmentally sensitive areas, of which there are many.
For example, three lawsuits have stalled groundbreaking on Student Housing West (SHW), a 2,700-bed housing project aimed toward upper-division undergraduates. There, the sticking point has been the project’s placement of a shared childcare and housing development for students with families on the East Meadow, a scenic field of grass that sits near the base of the UCSC campus.
Given the realistic possibility of new housing projects facing litigation, Coonerty says obtaining a binding commitment is all the more important.
“Because of budget challenges and development challenges, we know that unless it has a binding commitment, the university may not live up to its promises,” Coonerty says.
What is an LRDP?
Flipping through the 193-page 2021 LRDP and its 780-page EIR, one might be amazed at the sheer scope of development it envisions on the campus. Under it, the university would nearly double its housing capacity. All told, the plan calls for expanding the total accessible square footage of campus construction from 3.7 million square feet to 9.3 million square feet.
Ambitious as this vision may be, campus leaders are quick to point out that LRDPs, in general, are more vision than plan—a “what could and should be” instead of a “what shall be.”
Essentially, explains Frank Zwart, who was UCSC’s campus architect from 1988 to 2010, an LRDP is a map of what types of buildings can go where on the UCSC campus, providing guidance on how the campus should expand per a given enrollment level.
“For example, if the campus anticipates the need for a new science building—a new laboratory of some sort—typically in the back of the minds of the people who worry about this stuff like the campus architects or the campus planner, they know the LRDP designates a piece of the campus for what’s called the Academic Core,” Zwart says. “So that pretty much limits where one would look for sites for that sort of project.”
This means that in conceiving a new project, university planners look more to the immediate needs of the campus than the general needs laid out by the LRDP.
The reason for this, Hernandez-Jason points out, is that things change. Looking back to the campus’s previous five LRDPs, what the campus actually built on its grounds often diverged from the letter of these documents. For instance, the 1963 LRDP set UCSC’s target enrollment at 27,500 by 1990—which, due to the combination of Reagan-era budget cuts, the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 and other factors, never came close to materializing.
Hernandez-Jason says that the way the university has operated during the Covid-19 pandemic suggests ways it may detour from the 2021 LRDP: with Zoom instruction on the table, he says the campus may find itself needing fewer new academic buildings in the future.
“The LRDP, it’s not a to-do list,” Hernandez-Jason says. “It’s sort of a framework for how we would grow if that growth is needed and funded. And if it’s not, we don’t do it.”
But in some sense, the inherent vague qualities of LRDPs lie at the heart of the lawsuits. None of the new housing envisioned in the 2005 LRDP, for instance, was constructed. In fact, no new housing has been constructed on the UCSC campus since 2002, when College 10 (soon to be rechristened John R. Lewis College) was built.
Instead, the university has expanded its undergraduate bed capacity by subdividing its already-existing construction: refitting rooms that previously housed two students to house three, and converting lounge spaces into rooms housing four or five students.
Now, Hernandez-Jason says, the university has effectively hit a ceiling on the number of beds it can squeeze out of its current construction, both in terms of safety code limits and student comfort.
“The way to add more housing space for students is to build new housing,” Hernandez-Jason says. “Is there another lounge somewhere that could be converted? Maybe, but that’s not going to solve the problem.”
A Tale of Town and Gown
Running parallel to the city and county’s new litigation is a separate lawsuit filed last October by the Habitat and Watershed Caretakers (HAWC), a citizen group that has been involved in a number of environmental law cases against the university since its founding in 2008.
Like the city and county, the group alleges that the university failed to analyze the full scope of environmental impacts that could arise from the 2021 LRDP. They also argue that the university did not examine feasible alternatives to its plans, as mandated by CEQA, and that the LRDP’s consideration of drawing groundwater from beneath the campus to supplement water provided by the city could exceed the replenishment rate of its subterranean aquifers.
Don Stevens, one of HAWC’s leading members, says the Santa Cruz community has likely already hit its upper limit when it comes to accommodating campus growth. Unlike the city and county, Stevens says he would be in favor of placing lower caps on university enrollment, in addition to the stipulation that it houses all its new enrollees.
“The thing that the city and county are most adamant about is that the university make a commitment to house 100% of its new students,” Stevens says. “That would not mitigate all of the negative impacts.”
On the other side of the debate are housing activists like Zennon Ulyate-Crow, who point toward declining admissions numbers across the UC system as an indication that current Californians have less access to education than their predecessors—and that this issue stems from slowing growth at the campus level. Ulyate-Crow, a first-year at UCSC, leads the Student Housing Coalition (SHC), a campus organization involved in a wide range of housing policy initiatives in California.
Recently, the group successfully campaigned to bring a new piece of legislation that would streamline the approval process for student housing projects. Called the Student Housing Crisis Act, SB 886 would exempt such projects from completing certain time-intensive environmental review processes, so long as the environmental impacts of these projects are accounted for in a general planning document like an LRDP.
Still, Ulyate-Crow is skeptical about whether the campus can feasibly construct enough housing to meet its enrollment projections, with or without a city mandate. His organization, he says, is pushing for a “shared responsibility” model to handle the effects of campus growth, where both the university and local officials hold each other accountable for addressing these impacts.
“We need to advocate for a model where both the university and the city are stepping up to do as much as possible about the student housing crisis, because a crisis only happens when everything goes wrong,” Ulyate-Crow says.
Former Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin is running for the 28th Assembly District in the upcoming June 7 primary after receiving the nod from current representative Mark Stone, who is reportedly not seeking reelection.
That group’s goal aligned with Pellerin’s long-standing objective to get more women into positions of leadership throughout Santa Cruz County, and do something that has never been done before: have a woman from the county elected to the state legislature. Pellerin and other women-led groups had their eyes on preparing a candidate to run for the 28th Assembly District in 2024, when Assemblymember Stone would term out.
“We started talking to people about who was interested in running,” Pellerin says. “And the more we talked to people about ‘Who do you think [should run],’ the more people said, ‘How about you?’”
Pellerin, who retired from her position with the county in 2020, had planned to run for the seat then. But she says that a recent meeting with Stone, a Scotts Valley Democrat who was first voted into the legislature in 2012, accelerated that timeline.
“Stone came and talked to me, and he was very sweet and gracious, and said that he was not going to be running and he wanted me to be his representative,” Pellerin says.
Pellerin declined to say when the conversation with Stone happened.
Just before the March 11 deadline, Pellerin filed her intent to run for the new 28th Assembly District, which, in essence, replaces the current 29th District as a result of the recent decennial redistricting process. The new district still represents North Santa Cruz County, but no longer counts mid-county or the southern coastal region as part of its footprint. It now branches out to the east, covering Los Gatos, Morgan Hill and various communities around San Jose.
Pellerin says that she has already received the endorsement of State Senator John Laird and Assemblymember Robert Rivas—the representative for the Pajaro Valley in South County. She—and any other prospective candidate—has until March 16 to submit 40 signatures to officially get her name on the ballot. She says she is trying to collect signatures from “all throughout the district.”
“I have a lot more calls to make today,” she said on Saturday. “Just tracking people down and asking them that important question.”
As she said in an interview with this paper weeks before her retirement, Pellerin took a year off from public service before throwing her hat in the ring once again for an elected office. Her year away has been anything but a vacation. She joined the National Alliance on Mental Illness and has been active with women-serving organizations such as Girls Inc. and Women’s Educational Success at Cabrillo College. She has also spearheaded the creation of the Cabrillo College Local Government Fellows program, which aims to encourage students to get involved in local government by providing scholarships and paid internships and mentorships.
She has also worked with the California Democratic Party on its voter protection committee.
“Once an elections geek, always an elections geek—you just can’t stay away from elections stuff,” she says.
Stone did not respond to a request for comment.
The longtime representative started his career in politics on the Scotts Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees. He served two terms on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors before moving to the Assembly.
In a brief emailed statement to his supporters sent Saturday afternoon, Stone said that he endorsed Pellerin.
“In a time when Democracy is literally under attack, I cannot think of another person more qualified or more prepared to fight for our Democracy and protect voting rights,” the statement read. “I can’t wait to see what she will accomplish in the State Assembly … It has been my honor to serve in the State Assembly, and I cannot thank you enough for all the support I have received over the years.”
Pellerin is recognized as a leading voice in California elections. She previously served as president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials from 2010 to 2012, and she served on California’s Voting Accessibility Advisory Committee. She has also been a member of the Future of California Elections since 2011.
If elected, Pellerin says that she would focus on issues surrounding affordable housing, health care access, climate change and mental health services.
“I think that democracy works best when elected officials enlist the ideas of the constituency so I’m going to be doing exactly that,” she says. “I’m someone who has always built teams and get people to work together … I’m a helper, and I like impacting people’s lives in positive ways.”
In addition to elections and voter registration duties, the clerk’s office is also responsible for other services such as passports and marriage licenses.
After a brief career as a journalist and as a legislative staffer in Sacramento, Pellerin moved to Santa Cruz. From 1993 to 2004 she was elections manager under then-County Clerk Richard Bedal, and was eventually appointed to the permanent role after some of the duties of that office were split. She went on to win reelection four times, running unopposed each time.
The nightclub’s attorney Sam Phillips, of San Jose law firm Borton Petrini LLP, declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the firm does not comment on pending litigation.
But in their response to Apara’s Nov. 17 suit, the firm claims that she was a “mutual combatant,” that she was intoxicated during the altercation and that her actions constituted “unlawful, immoral, careless, negligent and other wrongful conduct.”
In fact, the filing states, the security guards acted in self-defense after Apara “willfully and maliciously and without provocation, threatened, assaulted and/or beat Defendant…”
The counterargument also calls Apara’s injuries an “unavoidable accident” which, had Apara cooperated, could have been avoided.
The filing also states that Apara’s lawsuit—filed two years after the incident—falls outside the statute of limitations.
It was there, Apara says, that she was approached by a security guard who, seeing she did not have a wristband, shoved her from behind and told her to “get your ass downstairs, now!” Apara, a Black woman, says that nobody else had such a wristband.
Apara refused and says the security guard soon returned with a female colleague, who kicked Apara repeatedly while he held her in a headlock.
Once outside, she says Santa Cruz Police Department officers “scoffed” at her, tried to discourage her from filing a report and accused her of being drunk despite her assertions that she is Muslim and therefore doesn’t consume alcohol.
Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell has said that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against anyone.
Apara is claiming long-lasting emotional and physical effects and is seeking $2 million in damages.
Apara’s attorneys Edi Kristopher and Bryan Harrison did not return a call seeking comment.
The Catalyst has declined to comment, but in a Facebook post, the club has stated that they are taking the allegations “very seriously.”
The Catalyst and Joel Nelson Productions, which promoted the concert that night, are named in the lawsuit.
The case is scheduled for a March 18 case management conference.
SCPD spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke says that the club hires its own security guards, but it remains unclear what training they undergo.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Singer, dancer and comedian Sammy Davis Jr. disliked the song “The Candy Man,” but he recorded it anyway, heeding his advisors. He spent just a brief time in the studio, finishing his vocals in two takes. “The song is going straight to the toilet,” he complained, “pulling my career down with it.” Surprise! It became the best-selling tune of his career, topping the Billboard charts for three weeks. I suspect there could be a similar phenomenon (or two!) in your life during the coming months, Aries. Don’t be too sure you know how or where your interesting accomplishments will arise.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I love author Maya Angelou’s definition of high accomplishment, and I recommend you take steps to make it your own in the coming weeks. She wrote, “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it.” Please note that in her view, success is not primarily about being popular, prestigious, powerful or prosperous. I’m sure she wouldn’t exclude those qualities from her formula, but the key point is that they are all less crucial than self-love. Please devote quality time to refining and upgrading this aspect of your drive for success.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “I’m not fake in any way,” declared Gemini actor Courteney Cox. On the face of it, that’s an amazing statement for a Gemini to make. After all, many in your tribe are masters of disguise and shapeshifting. Cox herself has won accolades for playing a wide variety of characters during her film and TV career, ranging from comedy to drama to horror. But let’s consider the possibility that, yes, you Geminis can be versatile, mutable and mercurial, yet also authentic and genuine. I think this specialty of yours could and should be extra prominent in the coming weeks.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Sometimes I prayed for Baby Jesus to make me good, but Baby Jesus didn’t,” wrote author Barbara Kingsolver about her childhood approach to self-improvement. Just because this method failed to work for her, however, doesn’t mean it won’t work for others. In saying that, I’m not implying you should send out appeals to Baby Jesus. But I suggest you call on your imagination to help you figure out what influences may, in fact, boost your goodness. It’s an excellent time to seek help as you elevate your integrity, expand your compassion and deepen your commitment to ethical behavior. It’s not that you’re deficient in those departments; just that now is your special time to do what we all need to do periodically: Make sure our actual behavior is in rapt alignment with our high ideals.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo classicist and author Edith Hamilton specialized in the history of ancient Greece. The poet Homer was one of the most influential voices of that world. Hamilton wrote, “An ancient writer said of Homer that he touched nothing without somehow honoring and glorifying it.” I love that about his work, and I invite you to match his energy in the coming weeks. I realize that’s a lot to ask. But according to my reading of the astrological omens, you will indeed have a knack for honoring and glorifying all you touch.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Starhawk, one of my favorite witches, reminds us that “sexuality is the expression of the creative life force of the universe. It is not dirty, nor is it merely ‘normal’; it is sacred. And sacred can also be affectionate, joyful, pleasurable, passionate, funny or purely animal.” I hope you enjoy an abundance of such lushness in the coming weeks, Virgo. It’s a favorable time in your astrological cycle for synergizing eros and spirituality. You have poetic license to express your delight about being alive with imaginative acts of sublime love.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In 1634, English poet John Milton coined the phrase “silver lining.” It has become an idiom referring to a redemptive aspect of an experience that falls short of expectations. Over 350 years later, American author Arthur Yorinks wrote, “Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold.” Now I’m relaying his message to you. Hopefully, my heads-up will ensure that you won’t miss the silver lining for any reason, including the possibility that you’re fixated on gold.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “This is the most profound spiritual truth I know,” declares author Anne Lamott. “That even when we’re most sure that love can’t conquer all, it seems to anyway. It goes down into the rat hole with us, in the guise of our friends, and there it swells and comforts. It gives us second winds, third winds, hundredth winds.” Lamott’s thoughts will be your wisdom to live by during the next eight weeks, Scorpio. Even if you think you already know everything there is to know about the powers of love to heal and transform, I urge you to be open to new powers that you have never before seen in action.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Witty Sagittarian author Ashleigh Brilliant has created thousands of cheerful yet often sardonic epigrams. In accordance with current astrological omens, I have chosen six that will be useful for you to treat as your own in the coming weeks. 1. “I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.” 2. “I have abandoned my search for truth and am now looking for a good fantasy.” 3. “All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power.” 4. “Do your best to satisfy me—that’s all I ask of everybody.” 5. “I’m just moving clouds today, tomorrow I’ll try mountains.” 6. “A terrible thing has happened. I have lost my will to suffer.”
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “All experience is an enrichment rather than an impoverishment,” wrote author Eudora Welty. That may seem like a simple and obvious statement, but in my view, it’s profound and revolutionary. Too often, we are inclined to conclude that a relatively unpleasant or inconvenient event has diminished us. And while it may indeed have drained some of our vitality or caused us angst, it has almost certainly taught us a lesson or given us insight that will serve us well in the long run—if only to help us avoid similar downers in the future. According to my analysis of your current astrological omens, these thoughts are of prime importance for you right now.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Life swarms with innocent monsters,” observed poet Charles Baudelaire. Who are the “innocent monsters”? I’ll suggest a few candidates. Boring people who waste your time but who aren’t inherently evil. Cute advertisements that subtly coax you to want stuff you don’t really need. Social media that seem like amusing diversions except for the fact that they suck your time and drain your energy. That’s the bad news, Aquarius. The good news is that the coming weeks will be a favorable time to eliminate from your life at least some of those innocent monsters. You’re entering a period when you’ll have a strong knack for purging “nice” influences that aren’t really very nice.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Never underestimate the wisdom of being easily satisfied,” wrote aphorist Marty Rubin. If you’re open to welcoming such a challenge, Pisces, I propose that you work on being very easily satisfied during the coming weeks. See if you can figure out how to enjoy even the smallest daily events with blissful gratitude. Exult in the details that make your daily rhythm so rich. Use your ingenuity to deepen your capacity for regarding life as an ongoing miracle. If you do this right, there will be no need to pretend you’re having fun. You will vividly enhance your sensitivity to the ordinary glories we all tend to take for granted.
Homework: What small change could you initiate that will make a big beneficial difference? Newsletter.freewillastrology.com
Frank Family Vineyards’ 2015 Blanc de Blancs is a delightfully delicious sparkling wine. Made in the Methode Champenoise style, it has everything a fine sparkler needs—festive bubbles, lots of flavor and great finesse and quality.
One always needs a bottle of bubbles on hand for special celebrations, and this 2015 Carneros Blanc de Blancs ($55) fits the bill. What would life be without a glass of sparkling wine? Frank Family Vineyards has a beautiful tasting room in the winery’s original yellow craftsman house. It was voted “Best Napa Winery” by the Bay Area A-List eight years in a row. On your next trip to Napa, don’t miss this one. Their motto is “Great wine happens every day,” and I wholeheartedly agree. Frank Family Vineyards, 1091 Larkmead Lane, Calistoga. 707-942-0859.
Steeped Coffee
Steeped Coffee, a Santa Cruz-based coffee-bag maker, is partnering with Emmy Award-winning chef Nick Stellino to launch his Fair Trade Certified Nick Stellino Italian Coffee—an organic medium/dark roast blend. “This coffee is to be tasted sip by sip and to be enjoyed with a smile on your face,” says Stellino. Steeped Coffee’s handy little bags of great-tasting coffee are perfect for travel, camping trips and more. I use them at home when I want a quick and hearty brew. All you need is a mug and hot water to pour over the bag. Voila! You have a terrific fresh cup of coffee! steepedcoffee.com.
La Selva Beach Spice Company
We have a spicy business right on our doorstep—the La Selva Beach Spice Company. I bought a big bag of turmeric powder recently and noticed it was packaged locally. The company also packages pure Himalayan ancient sea salt, ginger powder, chili flakes, peppercorns and other kinds of seasonings. This family-owned-and-operated business says they use “all natural ingredients—no yucky stuff.” Good to know, and spicy news, indeed! La Selva Beach Spice Company, 453 McQuaide Drive, Watsonville. 831-724-4500; laselvabeachspice.com.
After four years as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in the Live Oak School District, Evan Borthwick followed in his father’s footsteps and started his own business—his dad had an architecture firm. After all, Borthwick had a business degree from Cal Poly. At the time, Borthwick lived in Ben Lomond and noticed an untapped market: There weren’t any pizza joints beyond the usual, lackluster franchises in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In 2005, he opened Redwood Pizzeria in Felton. The independently-owned pizza spot offers options like handmade gluten-free crust and cashew cheese for vegan diners. More importantly, there’s a focus on supporting the community; most ingredients are locally sourced from organic farmers.
The pizzeria is known for its pizza and customer favorites, including baked nachos with pizza toppings, organic salads and homemade lasagna. There are eight beers on tap, including Discretion Shimmer Pilsner and Discretion Dave’s IPA, and Santa Cruz Scrumpy Cider, also on tap. Redwood is open Wednesday-Sunday, 4-9pm. Borthwick spoke about the restaurant’s pandemic-inspired changes and the challenge of opening a pizzeria without any industry experience.
What gave you the confidence to open Redwood Pizzeria?
EVAN BORTHWICK: I like challenges, and I bought an existing but struggling pizza place that I thought had potential. It had a great corner location with lots of windows, an open kitchen, and a private parking lot, so I felt like what I had to do was figure out how to improve the quality of the food and dining experience. So we remodeled, and through trial and error with my team, found a great pizza dough recipe and improved the quality of ingredients. It was a collaborative effort; I basically hired people who had worked with pizza before and deferred to their experience, and listened to them.
Did you make any pandemic-inspired changes that you’re going to keep in place?
We increased our outdoor seating significantly and added a covered outdoor bar area with several tables for large groups. We also added some family-friendly games like cornhole and ping-pong, as well as a full-length shuffleboard table in our former party room. Thanks to our dedicated and resilient staff, instead of just maintaining our business through the pandemic, we’ve actually improved it.
The fragrances coming from the carry-out containers had me racing to get home and dig into a bowl of Chicken Curry. Or Hoisin Pork. Actually, almost any dish from Charlie Hong Kong has me salivating with anticipation. I’ve loved this place from the first moment it opened, thanks to chef and former local food entrepreneur Charlie Deal (who now has three restaurants in North Carolina). Deal was the chef at Oswald, too, back in the day.
That’s been quite a few years ago now. But under the nurturing of Carolyn Rudolph, Charlie Hong Kong—inspired by the street food of an ethnically complex and colorful Asian city-state—has continued to flourish. The reason is simple: cheap, fast and tasty—the trifecta of accessible food. Add to that a well-honed menu with lots of dishes for vegans and gluten-free foodies, as well. Take it home, as we did last week, or scarf it down under the al fresco patio tent. If I lived in midtown I’d be there at least once a week.
We lunched on two classic CHK items, the green curry chicken rice bowl ($8.95), and the Szechuan mushroom medley rice bowl ($8.25), to which I added an aromatic side of Hoisin Pork ($4.75). I substituted the house brown rice—definitive brown rice—for the excellent jasmine white rice for an extra seventy-five cents. It was a feast, in both size (major!) and flavors. The cilantro-mint green curry sauce wrapped deliciously around plenty of succulent chicken, atop a mountain of jasmine rice. While I could have used more firepower in the curry, I tuned it up with a few sprinkles of tamari and sriracha. The mushrooms were incredible, a blend of crimini, portobello and white mushrooms marinated in black bean, tomato and chili garlic sauce. Nice and zippy! I moved back and forth from the mushrooms to the succulent braised pork, sweet and tart in homemade Hoisin sauce. There were some pickled veggies on the side that added crunch to this array of multi-dimensional flavors. The Charlie Hong Kong menu offers further temptation in the form of fresh salads, noodle dishes and classic Thai and Vietnamese soups (pho ga), in addition to the signature rice bowls. You can add sides and toppings, from wheat noodles and spicy gado gado sauce, to sweet tofu and teriyaki salmon. Intriguing beverages include black cherry pop, ginger lemonade and various craft beers. There are Pacific Cookie Company cookies and chocolate pudding, if you want something sweet. Open daily 11am-10pm, 1141 Soquel Ave & Seabright. charliehongkong.com.
Yes Ser!
Warrior/winemaker Nicole Walsh just announced a new line of canned wine from SerWinery in collaboration with Maker, a woman-owned and operated group that works with winemakers all over California canning their wines. The new Ser wines in cans include 2021 Sparkling Riesling and 2020 Cabernet Pfeffer. Look for canned 2021 Rosé of Grenache, Mourvedre and Cinsault later this month. The labels are beautiful! Meanwhile, stop by Ser’s spiffy tasting room in Aptos Village at 10 Parade St., Suite B, Thurs-Fri 3-7pm, Sat 2-7pm, Sun 1-6pm and discover your new favorite wine.
Dish of the Week
We’re loving the red wine braised chicken with creamy polenta and bitter greens ($26) from Avanti Restaurant on Mission Street. So succulent, with enough wonderful sauce to cover every bite of chicken and the polenta, too. It’s become one of our go-to weeknight dinners, along with the house Dinosaur kale salad with almonds, ricotta salata and citrus nuggets ($13) that is somehow addictive even though it’s … kale. Business is booming at this very reliable dinner house with a welcoming bar scene.
Fire broke out in the historic Bayview Hotel in Aptos Sunday afternoon.
Central Fire Battalion Chief Ryan Peters said a fast response from Central firefighters put a quick lid on the blaze inside the three-story landmark, which he described as a tinderbox.
“We kept it to one room where there was a lot of burned contents,” he said. “This had the potential to really take off.”
The fire erupted at 1:25pm on the ground floor. When firefighters arrived they reported smoke wafting from the upper floor windows. Peters said the hotel at 8041 Soquel Drive is currently not open for business.
He said he called in a fire investigator from Cal Fire to take over the investigation. No cause was readily mentioned.
Built in 1878 as part of the original railroad depot, the Italianate-style building, with its Mansard roof and elaborate decorative features, is on the Historical Trust Landmark denoted by a blue oval plaque beside the front door.
The fire came just over 90 minutes after a fire tore through the kitchen of a home on the 600 block of Nestora Avenue. in Aptos.
“We were still on the scene tackling that fire when the call came in for Bayview,” Peters said. “We’ve been busy lately and today is definitely real busy.”
Peters said no injuries were reported in either incident.
The American Red Cross was called in to help house around five people in the Nestora incident. The cause was undetermined as of late Sunday afternoon.
