The number one issue that our community members bring up to me is homelessness. This was echoed in a recent city poll. No matter how old or young, or where people are on the political spectrum, homelessness is at the top of people’s minds and touches the heart of nearly every resident.
The realities of street homelessness grow harsher as the scourge of fentanyl and methamphetamine continue to ravage our community, literally killing people on our streets and impacting those who are unhoused, housed, in our neighborhoods and in our open spaces.
As a member of the Santa Cruz City Council, I hear the cries for help. They are compassionate about helping those in need and frustrated by the lack of response. I am writing to celebrate that recently we demonstrated a significant shift in how we as a community are approaching this complex and growing issue.
The current council majority of five including myself, Mayor Brunner, Vice Mayor Watkins, Former Mayor Meyers and Councilmember Golder, embarked on an ambitious effort to find effective responses to homelessness that emphasize balancing accountability, management and response to truly address the problems.
Our past approach of pointing fingers and playing the blame game, waiting for the perfect solution—and simply being paralyzed by the enormity of the issue—has done nothing to address the problem. For far too long, our inaction has allowed human suffering and public health and safety impacts to continue unabated for both the housed and unhoused community members.
We are now approaching our work collaboratively with the county and community-based organization partners. As former Mayor and Councilmember Don Lane said during his public comment at this week’s council meeting, this approach demonstrates “an unprecedented sea change.”
Instead of a piecemeal approach, we have embarked on a deeply collaborative citywide effort to create a holistic roadmap. The passing of the Camping Services and Standards Ordinance as well as the Oversized Vehicle Ordinance were the impetus that shaped the now unanimously approved and adopted Santa Cruz City Homeless Response Action Plan. The leadership of our Former Mayor Donna Meyers and our State representatives Senator Laird and Assembly Member Stone have brought in $14.5 million to help us with these efforts. We are also grateful for the tremendous effort put forth by our City staff from across all departments.
These ordinances and the solutions that accompany them are accomplishing the following: fewer people on the streets; fewer large encampments; more people sheltering and receiving basic services; safe parking; fewer vehicles overnight on city streets and neighborhoods; restored parks, including San Lorenzo Park; and ultimately more people housed and in treatment and a greater sense of health and safety for all community members.
We are no longer frozen by the scope of the problem. We are no longer on a path of inactivity that pretends having unhoused people on our streets is humane for the unhoused or the community at large. We are taking action.
I am under no false pretenses that these ordinances and this Homeless Response Action Plan will “solve” our homelessness challenges. But it is a significant effort in the right direction. It is our commitment. It is a “sea change.”
Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson | Santa Cruz City Councilmember
These letters do not necessarily reflect the views of Good Times.To submit a letter to the editor of Good Times: Letters should be originals—not copies of letters sent to other publications. Please include your name and email address to help us verify your submission (email address will not be published). Please be brief. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and to correct factual inaccuracies known to us. Send letters to le*****@*******es.sc
Ryan Masters’ previous cover story for GT, about the rigors of firefighter training, got a huge positive response from readers. He returns this week with a completely different type of story, focusing on maverick Santa Cruz artist Casey Sonnabend. Sonnabend has been connected to so many underground movements over the last several decades—in the right place at a crazy time—that he’s like the Forrest Gump of the American counterculture. And yet, that description doesn’t do justice to his career as an artist, which he’s approached with passion and integrity. It’s an engrossing tale of a truly unique local figure.
Elsewhere in this issue, in honor of the upcoming 420 you’ll find an insert edition of our Cannabis Chronicle. The cover features an interview by Adam Joseph with weed icon Tommy Chong, who returns to Santa Cruz this week, and Richard Stockton also has an update on his story of heritage Santa Cruz skunk seeds that started a bit of a movement when he wrote about them in our last issue of Cannabis Chronicle.
Lastly, congrats to the Santa Cruz Chorale and its Artistic Director, Christian Grube, who received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Rep. Anna Eshoo, after she read about their benefit work for Ukraine in Christina Water’s GT story last month.
SIGN LANGUAGE An appeal for peace in Ukraine’s colors at Murray and Seabright in Santa Cruz. Photograph by Ali Eppy.
Submit to ph****@*******es.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
Kuumbwa Jazz, Santa Cruz’s historic jazz center that’s been helping Santa Cruz residents get groovy since 1975, will now be offering discounted student ticket prices. The jazz center presents around 130 concerts annually, bringing world-class musicians to Santa Cruz. Students and community members can find tickets here: www.kuumbwajazz.org/ticket-policies.
GOOD WORK
SMART, PERIOD
The County of Santa Cruz launched a free menstrual products program last week; in select county restrooms, you can find menstrual products for those moments when you most desperately need them. The program is intended to especially help low-income residents, and products will be offered at 1080 Emeline Ave., Santa Cruz; 1020 Emeline Ave., Santa Cruz; 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz; and 1430 Freedom Blvd., Watsonville.
“I consider myself responsible to the coming generations, which are left stranded in a blitzed world, unaware of the soul trembling in awe before the mystery of life.” — Oskar Kokoschka
Casey Sonnabend’s name might sound familiar. You’ve seen his work. He might even be a genuinely important American artist. Yet, outside of certain lofty circles, he’s totally unknown. And that’s by design. Like a prankster bullfighter, the longtime Santa Cruz resident has dramatically sidestepped success for 65 years. And in a world where metrics are tied to everything, the 88-year-old still refuses to be counted or labeled.
Sonnabend jammed with North Beach jazz bands in San Francisco, backed up the Kingston Trio and served as the Quicksilver Messenger Service’s first drummer—yet insists he’s neither beatnik nor folkie nor hippie. He studied under the legendary German Expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka and has consistently painted for 65 years, yet refuses to show his work in public. His one-man photography show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was critically acclaimed in 1963, but he fled to India before it ended, leery of the recognition—only to capture one of the most iconic, enduring images of the Summer of Love.
Sonnabend loathes name-dropping, yet his personal stories are rife with famous musicians, writers, artists and academics. He also despises money. Other than a stint in the U.S. Navy and a few years behind the counter of the Tides Book Store in Sausalito, Sonnabend has never “lifted a finger for a dime.” That’s not saying he hasn’t worked—65 years of paintings, photos, writings and mementos packed into 2,500 square feet of a Marin warehouse space say otherwise. This mammoth, untapped repository represents Sonnabend’s life’s work.
Sonnabend’s self-imposed path of “purity and obscurity” hasn’t been easy. He spent 25 years living in a van parked outside his ex-wife’s Westside Santa Cruz house. He had to watch another man raise his kids with the woman he never stopped loving. He swallowed his pride again and again, a thousand times over, yet stubbornly stuck to his guns, refusing to get a job or sell artwork or memorabilia from his trove in Marin.
Casey Sonnabend has suffered “great heartache and hunger” for his art, but he’s lucky to have friends who respect and love him for who he is and how he’s lived his life. Until her death on Dec. 11, 2021, for example, Sonnabend received regular payments from Interview with a Vampire author Anne Rice to keep him fed and in art supplies. Yes, Sonnabend says, he’s been very, very lucky.
Questionable Beginnings
Sonnabend was born in 1933 to Herman and Katherine Sonnabend. The two bohemians had recently moved back to Buffalo, New York from Paris, where they’d been living as artists with Herman’s brother Isaac. (Isaac, or Izzy, would invert and alter the spelling of his name to Casey before eventually changing it to Michael). Katherine was in a sexual relationship with both brothers, according to family lore, but Herman won her because he was willing to get a job.
“There’s always been some question who my father was,” says Sonnabend, pulling a boyish rubbery grin and knitting his dark eyebrows. “But they named me after my Uncle Casey.”
Sonnabend grew up immersed in art, literature and music. Uncle Casey would take his young nephew through the museums, providing a running monologue on art history while gesturing at small details on the canvas with a pinkie. “The first two paintings that killed me were ‘Hide-and-Seek’ by Pavel Tchelitchew and ‘The Sleeping Gypsy’ by Henri Rousseau,” he says. “Both of those were magic paintings. They just glowed.”
Sonnabend’s father worked as a style magazine editor, but aspired to fabric entrepreneur. Seeing opportunity on the West Coast, he moved the family from New York to Los Angeles in 1945. While Sonnabend worshipped Samuel Beckett and continued to haunt art museums as a teenager, music consumed him. He’d begun playing drums at the age of five, so by the time he was a student at Fairfax High School, he could read music and confidently play most styles. “I didn’t have jazz chops, but I could play just about anything else. I wanted to have fun with music,” he says. “My dream was to play in Spike Jones’ band.”
Sonnabend with David Crosby in the 1960s, a decade when Sonnabend drummed for Quicksilver Messenger Service and collaborated with Yoko Ono.
Missing the Beats
After graduating from high school in 1951, Sonnabend went to L.A. City College for a time. “I hated it. There was nothing there for me,” he says. So, he joined the U.S. Navy in 1953. “I volunteered so I’d get assigned to the band,” he says. “I was going to get drafted anyway, and guys I knew were shooting off their toes to avoid Korea.”
From 1953 to 1957, Sonnabend played drums for the U.S. Navy, performing for historical dignitaries like Chiang Kai-shek and Haile Selassie while traveling the world with his Rolleiflex camera. Stationed at Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sonnabend haunted the North Beach jazz clubs and began painting. He gave the first painting he ever created to a fellow sailor, then decided he wanted the nude portrait of his “red-headed, epileptic girlfriend” back. “I left him 30 bucks for the frame he’d bought for it, but they still tried to give me a Captain’s Mast,” he says. “Instead of booting me out, [the Navy] just kicked me off the base and made me go live with that red-headed, epileptic girlfriend.”
As he finished out his time in the service, Sonnabend absorbed what remained of the fading Beat scene. He soaked up the frenetic poetry and sat in on pyrotechnic bebop sessions. “God, I tried to swing with them, but it was too fast for me. I was this uptight white boy. They left me in a cloud of dust. I always felt like I had to go home and woodshed afterwards,” he says. “The truth is, I missed out on all the real Beat years. It was all over by the time I got out of the Navy.”
The Great Kokoschka
Honorably discharged, Sonnabend studied painting at the University of Italy in Florence on the G.I. Bill. “My uncle wanted me to go to the Sorbonne,” he says. In Florence, Sonnabend continued to play drums, sitting in with local Italian jazz musicians. The jams coalesced into a formal group and, in 1958, they represented the city of Florence at the International Jazz Festival in Rome. He began dating a “serious Australian painter” who was furious when his “red-headed, epileptic girlfriend” painting was accepted into a juried show called American Painters in Florence. “She said the only reason I was in the show was because I was American, which was true,” he laughs. “Man, was she pissed.” When the great Austrian painter and writer Oskar Kokoschka admitted Sonnabend as a student into his summer workshop in Salzburg, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
“That’s when I got spinal meningitis,” says Sonnabend. “No joke.” Without rapid treatment, meningitis could cause brain damage or death. Fortunately, Italian doctors had recently developed an effective serum, and Sonnabend received it quickly. The young artist remained determined to study under Kokoschka, but the meningitis had taken a toll on his body. The workshop began a week after his release from the hospital. “I was the only student in the class allowed to sit, so he made fun of me. On the first day, he asked me if I had measles. After that he’d always ask, ‘Ach, what new disease do we have today?’ The whole class would be laughing,” says Sonnabend. “But he was a great, inspirational teacher. In the beginning, I was his worst student—by the end, maybe his best.”
Kokoschka is remembered as a pioneer of expressionism and a self-proclaimed “martyr of the arts.” Disdainful of the rules and norms of art, the wildly talented Kokoschka’s work provoked and shocked throughout his career. His early nude drawings were deemed sexually violent; his depiction of the Holy Virgin, savage and dark. A short play, “Murderer, the Hope of Women” is considered the first Expressionist drama. His private life proved to be as dark as his work. Obsessed with Gustav Mahler’s widow, Kokoschka created a life-sized doll in her image. When the manufacturer couldn’t get details such as pubic hair to his exact specification, he destroyed the doll in frustration. The Nazi Party officially deemed Kokoschka a degenerate in 1934 and he was forced to flee to Prague.
By the time Sonnabend encountered the great artist in Salzburg, Austria, Kokoschka had been a naturalized British citizen for more than a decade, but continued to paint, write and teach. While some of Sonnabend’s paintings are reminiscent of his mentor’s style, the most important thing he gleaned from Kokoschka was a lifelong dedication to art. “He took us to a 300-painting retrospective of his work,” says Sonnabend. “It was such a major inspiration to see his whole lifetime of art in one place.”
Before returning to the U.S., Sonnabend happened upon Kokoschka sitting by himself, watching girls playing tennis. “Someday you’ll be sitting here just like me at 73 watching the girls play tennis,” Kokoschka told him. The moment has stuck with Sonnabend. “Now I’m 15 years older than Kokoschka watching girls play tennis,” he says in disbelief. “Incredible.”
Art Not Money
In 1961, the great artist Marcel Duchamp bemoaned the rampant commercialization of art. In his essay “Where Do We Go From Here?” Duchamp wrote that the great artists of tomorrow will have to live like ascetics and “go underground” to preserve the purity of their art. Sonnabend took Duchamp’s words to heart. “There is more artistic freedom in obscurity. Being criticized, shrunk or defined just slows you down,” he says. “The freedom to pursue art isn’t something any business or critic or fame can give you. You have to reach out and grab that for yourself. Protect it.”
Even Uncle Casey had betrayed the muse. He’d married a Romanian-American art dealer named Ileana Castelli. In 1962, the couple had opened the first Sonnabend Gallery in Paris to champion contemporary American art in Europe. By 1970, they would move the gallery to New York City, where it would remain at the center of the art world throughout the 1990s. Ileana and Michael Sonnabend have long been associated with an infamous art world conspiracy theory, according to Sonnabend. “They were paid by the CIA to open galleries and promote certain American artists in order to shift the center of the art world from Paris to New York,” says Sonnabend. “It’s well-documented.”
In 1962, the San Francisco Museum of Art gave Sonnabend a one-man photography show. The exhibit featured dreamy, poetic images of people he’d captured with his Rolleiflex around the world. “It was a huge honor for someone as young and unknown as me,” he says. “Other photographers would have cut off their nose for the opportunity.” Although some critics were skeptical of his technical skill, most responded with hearty acclaim. The critic John Coplans wrote, “Here is the work of a man with a poet’s eye. Intensely aware of human suffering, his photographs, skillfully composed, are without sentimentality. Quietly and with care they isolate and record a moment of penetrating vision.”
It should have been a triumph for the 29-year-old artist, but the experience left Sonnabend cold. “When my parents asked me if I’d ‘sold anything yet,’ it turned me off. It took the joy out of it,” he says. “So, I left while the show was still up. I didn’t want to bask in any of it.” Disenchanted, Sonnabend lit out on a spiritual quest with his camera, traveling through India, Pakistan, Turkey and Nepal with his camera. “I half-heartedly looked for a guru while taking some really good photos of gurus,” he says.
When Sonnabend returned to San Francisco from his travels, the “hippie thing was starting to happen.” He met a promising young poet named Stan Rice who’d married his high school sweetheart, Anne, and the three became fast friends, drunk on the power of words. Sonnabend continued to write and paint, but found himself drawn back to the drums. He still wanted to play jazz, but now rock was king. “I could play rock ’n’ roll in my sleep. It was so simple, like Dixieland,” he says. He backed up friends like the Kingston Trio and jammed with a litany of musicians, many destined for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He played drums for Quicksilver Messenger Service in 1964, but found their rock ambitions frustrating. “They’d have these endless band meetings. If they didn’t want to jam, fuck it. I was out of there,” he says. His stories from these years are endless and wildly entertaining. He jammed with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield (“They were doing two-foot lines of coke at my pad,” he says.), collaborated with Yoko Ono in absentia, pissed off Janis Joplin by turning down her Ripple wine on Mount Tamalpais, jammed for Ravi Shankar and listened to David Crosby confess. “He said, ‘Casey, you’re not going to like the music I’m going to make, but I really want to buy a boat,’” Sonnabend remembers.
Sonnabend took this photo of Janis Joplin on Mt. Tamalpais. He says she left angry that he wouldn’t share her bottle of Ripple—“I should have just drank her damn wine.”
Meanwhile, Sonnabend’s own reputation among the countercultural cognoscenti was growing. In 1967, a photo of a sadhu he’d taken on the banks of the Ganges was used to promote the Human Be-In, the iconic outdoor gathering at San Francisco’s Polo Fields. Later that year, his work was prominently displayed at the Monterey Pop Festival, where Sonnabend watched rock bands bend over backwards for record deals. The hippies were as hypocritical as the rest, he concluded. The Monterey Pop Festival would be his last formal art show.
Pure Obscurity
Sonnabend went underground for good in the 1970s. He moved to Big Sur, grew weed, started playing “outside” jazz on piano and churned out artwork in complete anonymity. And then, in 1985, he met the love of his life, Anne—a woman 30 years his junior. The couple spent eight years together and had two children, but financial stress broke them apart.
“I understood. I didn’t hold it against Anne and Rick. She ended up having a 25-year marriage to a good buddy of mine. He was a very steady guy, so I was ok with it. Yeah, I lived in a van in front of the house, but I got to see my kids. She and I managed to stay best friends. People couldn’t understand it, but we made it work, although it wasn’t easy,” he says.
Today, Sonnabend is experiencing something of a personal renaissance. Fresh off double bypass heart surgery, he lives in a retirement home in Freedom thanks to the Veterans Administration. He looks and feels better than he has in years. He’s creating new work, jamming with friends and telling stories, always telling stories. He’s also—miracle upon miracles—back together with Anne after nearly 30 years apart.
“She and Rick broke up a couple years ago,” he says. “I was still carrying a torch for her and now we’re back with a vengeance. It’s like our third honeymoon. She just needed to be worshipped, and who better than me? I have no competition in that department.”
A grandfather many times over, Sonnabend stays in contact with a large extended family scattered across the West Coast. In addition to his two children with Anne, Sonnabend has three more children from previous relationships. “I have children aged 30 to 60,” he says. “We all stay in touch.”
So, after all these years, isn’t it time to show the artwork? Isn’t it time to crack open the storage space in Marin and sift through all that cultural treasure? Isn’t it time to rediscover the photography?
“Come on, man,” Sonnabend says with a sigh. “Haven’t you been listening? I don’t have time to curate some fucking art show. I have things to do. There’s still fun to be had. I’m in love!”
When the city of Santa Cruz was threatened with a lawsuit back in 2020 for violating the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA), it was because of a claim that voting in Santa Cruz is racially polarized.
Only two people of Latinx descent have been elected to the city council from 2000 to 2018, despite Latinx residents representing around 30% of Santa Cruz’s population. Currently, no people of Latinx descent sit on the city council. The lawsuit not only alleged that Latinx residents were underrepresented, but that the current at-large system weakened the Latinx community’s chance at equal representation.
Now, the city is making the transition from at-large elections to district elections that, in theory, will address issues around minority representation. But how does race get prioritized when a city is creating its districts? According to federal law, even if racial discrimination was the catalyst for a city’s move to district elections, race can’t be the main consideration while district lines are being drawn.
That’s according to Doug Johnson, president of the National Demographics Corporation (NDC) and consultant for Santa Cruz’s shift to district elections.
“Under the California Voting Rights Act, the question of whether you have district elections or not is almost entirely based on racial demographics and racial voting patterns. But the question of how the districts are drawn, that’s a separate question,” says Johnson.
What’s at stake in the next few weeks is how these neighborhoods will be split up.
How the districts are drawn now is important. Even though they can be redrawn every 10 years alongside shifting census results, the core of each district will likely remain the same.
“[Right now] you are setting up the districts that, while they will be revised every 10 years, will be the basis that those revisions will be made on for decades to come,” said Johnson at a community meeting on March 29, where he presented draft district maps for public input.
These districts must adhere to a set of criteria put forward at the federal level, criteria that aren’t associated with the CVRA. For instance, demographers are federally obliged to ensure the population must be nearly equal in each district, that the districts should be contiguous and the communities within a district should have similar interests and concerns, also known as “communities of interest.”
So in a voting system change-up spurred by claims of a lack of Latinx representation, how is race balanced with other criteria that demographers must consider when drawing the districts? How much is up to the purview of the demographer, and what is constricted to law?
How The Maps Are Made
First comes public hearings. After two public hearings, a demographer begins drawing draft maps.
Demographers look at population data, and then data that makes communities similar such as the percentage of renters, income and education levels and age. Then a demographer will look at natural landmarks that would serve as a logical division of the boundaries, like a river.
“Basically, the districts should make sense to someone living there,” Stephanie Smith says.
Smith is the Director of Election Services at Best Best & Krieger (BB&K) law firm, which has helped cities across the state transition to district elections.
These districts, she says, should be intuitive for the people living there.
“A person familiar with the community should be able to draw them from memory,” Smith says.
Importantly, if a district can easily be drawn so that a minority group is the majority of the demographic, demographers have an obligation to do so. But at the same time, Smith says there’s some interpretation that every demography agency has to do, and that’s not necessarily the goal when drawing districts.
“It’s really a subjective process, and every agency is different,” Smith says. “Every agency has to take into consideration where their minority population lives: do they live in concentrated areas, or are they dispersed throughout the community? The courts have never established, though, a bright line that determines what’s the necessary minority make-up of a district.”
While Smith said all the demographers she has worked with strive to be neutral—she likened demographers to Switzerland—because drawing districts does have some degree of subjectivity, it’s common for agencies to be accused of partisanship. Such was the case for Watsonville’s consultant Michael Wagaman, who, before his work with the county’s southernmost city during the most recent redistricting process, was criticized by conservative lawmakers for his work with the California Democratic Party.
So too is the case for Santa Cruz’s demographer agency, NDC. When Arizona chose NDC again to redraw its districts, Arizona Democrats criticized the decision, many saying the maps NDC drew in 2001 diminished minority voting power.
Johnson said that in those cases, after everything was said and done, Democratic commissioners spoke highly of NDC’s work, and praised the agency’s impartiality upon seeing the final maps.
The key to impartiality, he says, is transparency, and in a city like Santa Cruz, where there’s really only one geographic area where minority voting power can be concentrated—the Beach Flats—transparency is easy to achieve.
According to one of the maps Johnson presented to the public that mapped out the percentage of Latinx residents who are citizens and of voting age, the areas where Latinx people who fit that criteria mainly live is the Beach Flats and Lower Ocean area.
But even in a district that encompasses those areas, Latinx people still wouldn’t constitute a big enough portion of the population to be a majority—but it would be close. In the Beach Flats and Lower Ocean area, Latinx people comprise 47% of residents, compared with 17% of residents citywide, according to a 2012 report.
Because the Latinx population is relatively small for the city of Santa Cruz, Johnson says, drawing districts is less ethnicity-driven and more about the socioeconomic differences between the different neighborhoods. It’s also why local input is so important.
“The local input is the best source of that general information,” says Johnson. “Because the data we have on income and things like that is the best the Bureau has, but it’s not that fine-tuned for smaller cities like Santa Cruz.”
The Maps
At the March 29 community meeting where Johnson presented the draft map for both the six and seven district scenarios, callers reiterated two main concerns: what to do with UCSC and how to create a stronger minority district.
In some of the maps presented to the community, the Beach Flats and Lower Ocean neighborhoods are split into separate districts. Residents and council members alike commented on the need for those neighborhoods to be grouped in one district.
“We’re responding to potential lawsuits alleging that we have an inadequate process to ensure minority representation on the city council,” resident Rafa Sonnenfeld called in to say. “The best way for us to ensure minority representation on city council would be to have as close to a minority district as possible.”
Fez Fazilat, a longtime Santa Cruz resident of Middle Eastern descent who has lived in the Beach Flats for the past six years, said that too often his neighborhood’s concerns go unheard.
“We have a lot of issues in my neighborhood. City officials come and they talk to the community and host these events,” said Fazilat. “You know, it’s like it gives folks in the community the sense that we’re being heard, but, really, everything that gets discussed is put off to the wayside.”
Fazilat doesn’t think district elections are the solution to this issue. And depending on how the Beach Flats get lumped into neighboring communities—like the downtown area—he wonders if they will even get a better chance at representation, or if his neighborhood will continue to get overshadowed by the interests of more affluent residents.
Meanwhile, other residents are wary of being lumped into a district with UCSC, some calling into the meeting and saying their voice will be swallowed up by student voters.
But Zennon Ulyate-Crow, a first-year student and president of the Student Housing Coalition who submitted a draft map to the council, said that having UCSC as its own district would decrease the chances of having a student representative on the council, which is ultimately what he hopes to see. This is because representatives need to live in the area they represent, and most students move off campus after two years.
“For students, there are two main issues: transportation and housing,” said Ulyate-Crow. “UCSC is one of the most diverse hubs in Santa Cruz, and you look at the base of the campus and there are mostly white, single-family homes. When we talk about people being concerned about interests being overshadowed by the university’s interests, well, it’s like whose interests are being overshadowed?”
In the coming days, Johnson will release updated maps, including some that will include the Beach Flats and Lower Ocean areas in one district, and some that split up UCSC and keep it in its own district.
On April 19, there will be a final hearing on these draft maps before the maps go to the council, where the elected leaders will choose which maps to present to voters: one for a six district election, and one for a seven district election.
Ultimately, what really makes a transition to district elections successful in furthering minority representation, Smith says, often comes down to the community.
“My thought is that if the community is engaged and involved, and the maps create majority minority voting districts, I think that the community will see a future minority representation,” says Smith.
[Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify that NDC did not author the district maps that were thrown out by the Ohio State Supreme Court. While NDC was brought in to work on a map during the current string of district maps that have been rejected by the court, it was not adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission.]
The Luna y Sol Familia Center recently opened in Watsonville, with the goal of supporting local at-risk youth and their families.
Operated by the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County (CAB), Luna Y Sol aims to provide children and young adults (ages 12-24) with basic needs, health and education support, employment assistance, community engagement and more. The center seeks to provide at-risk youth with a safe space, and their families are welcome, as well.
“Especially with Covid, and all the isolation—it’s really affected people’s lives,” says CAB Programs Director Maria Rodriguez. “There is a lot going on. We’ve had stabbings, a rise in crime … We are really committed to this community, to be able to have a safe space for youth to go to. To be understood. We don’t judge here. We’re an open space for families to come and connect.”
In 2020, CAB received a grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections to create a service center for youth and their families to receive “wrap-around” services—the process of surrounding a child who has serious emotional and behavioral issues with day-to-day help and intervention from providers as well as their friends, family and others within their community.
The nonprofit applied in early 2020, when Covid-19 hit the county, and was approved for the funding that July. They were able to hire staff, and by October started working through case management one-on-one services, by appointment only or via Zoom.
But the center itself had to wait.
“Through the pandemic, we were looking for spaces to rent,” Rodriguez says. “We faced a lot of challenges. There were spaces available that were open for businesses and retail, but not nonprofits.”
Finally, they found a home at the First Christian Church on the corner of Madison Street and East Lake Avenue, just steps from E.A. Hall Middle School and a few blocks away from downtown. The owners allowed CAB to do some remodeling, removing carpets and redesigning rooms and offices inside the two-story building.
“It was a nice place, and the rent was doable,” Rodriguez says. “Most of the furniture, the desks, chairs, game tables, were all donated to us. The response from the community has been great; there is so much support.”
On the first floor is the Youth Drop-In Center, which includes homework and computer stations, and a hangout lounge with games. There is also a gymnasium, which will host indoor events and athletic activities.
The second floor holds offices and the Community Room, which includes a space for families to meet for programs such as the Cara y Corazon Parent Engagement Group. Outside in the courtyard, young people can hang out during programming and participate in outdoor recreation.
That courtyard was packed with more than 250 people during the grand opening on March 30, which featured a ceremonial ribbon cutting, food, resource tables, games and raffles, as well as speeches and testimonials. Guests were also invited inside for small group tours.
Before the grand opening, CAB had been gradually inviting youth and their families to check out the space.
“We’ve been doing a soft opening,” Rodriguez says. “We’ve been bringing our clients in, getting them used to it. We just held our first in-person Cara y Corazon session. Families said they felt really comfy being here, which is great. It’s so phenomenal to see things come together.”
The center will be able to provide outreach to 150 young people per year, including wrap-around services for 75, working in tandem with the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Probation Department, CAB’s Alcance program, the Day Worker Center of Santa Cruz County, Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s Family Engagement Wellness Center and many others.
“We have youth here who are very high-risk, who deal with gangs, child abuse, mental health … some of the cases are really intense,” Rodriguez says. “It’s so important for us to be here and help them however we can. Even if they just need a haircut, or need to buy shoes, our staff is here to help support them, to navigate systems. And sometimes youth are more comfortable reaching out to someone who is not in their family.”
Alexander Zarazua, an employment specialist at CAB, says that centers like Luna y Sol can change people’s lives. One such program did that for him in high school.
“I grew up in Watsonville, with a single mom,” Zarazua says. “My brother and other family was affected by gangs. I needed a lot of guidance, especially (with) avoiding gangs. It would’ve been easy for me to go that way. I was just surrounded by it, I didn’t know any better.”
Zarazua says it was a high school working program that kept him busy and on the right path.
“I got some income and could help my mom,” he says. “It gave me the skills, the confidence to go to college and apply for jobs. It’s so important for youth to have a center like this because I can see the great things one did for me.”
Zarazua says they have already helped several young people find employment.
“So far we’ve had a really good success rate,” he says. “We placed eight out of nine of our youth into employment. They’re so happy, excited to have their first job.”
The Luna y Sol Familia Center, 15 Madison St., Watsonville. 831-322-9041; cabinc.org.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I have lived my life according to this principle: If I’m afraid of it, then I must do it.” Aries author Erica Jong said that. Since I’m not an Aries myself, her aspiration is too strong for me to embrace. Sometimes I just don’t have the courage, willpower and boldness to do what I fear. But since you decided to be born as an Aries in this incarnation, I assume you are more like Erica Jong than me. And so it’s your birthright and sacred duty to share her perspective. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to carry out another phase of this lifelong assignment.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Sometimes suffering is just suffering,” writes novelist Kate Jacobs. “It doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t build character.” Now is your special time to shed suffering that fits this description, Taurus. You are authorized to annul your relationship with it and ramble on toward the future without it. Please keep in mind that you’re under no obligation to feel sorry for the source of the suffering. You owe it nothing. Your energy should be devoted to liberating yourself so you can plan your rebirth with aplomb.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “I am very much afraid of definitions, and yet one is almost forced to make them,” wrote painter Robert Delaunay (1885–1941). “One must take care, too, not to be inhibited by them,” he concluded. He was speaking of the art he created, which kept evolving. In his early years, he considered his work to be Neo-Impressionist. Later he described himself as a “heretic of Cubism,” and during other periods he dabbled with surrealism and abstract art. Ultimately, he created his own artistic category, which he called Orphism. Everything I just said about Delaunay can serve you well in the coming months, Gemini. I think you’ll be wise to accept definitions for yourself, while at the same time not being overly bound by them. That should ultimately lead you, later this year, to craft your own unique personal definition.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): As a postgraduate student in astronomy, Cancerian-born Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered radio pulsars in 1967. Her supervisor, who initially dismissed her breakthrough, was awarded the Nobel Prize for her work in 1974—and she wasn’t! Nevertheless, she persisted. Eventually, she became a renowned astronomer who championed the efforts of minority researchers. Among the 25 prestigious awards and honors she has received is a three-million-dollar prize. I urge you to aspire to her level of perseverance in the coming months. It may not entirely pay off until 2023, but it will pay off.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards,” wrote author Oscar Wilde. Let’s make that your motto for the next six weeks. If life could be symbolized by a game of poker, you would have the equivalent of at least a pair of jacks and a pair of queens. You may even have a full house, like three 10s and two kings. Therefore, as Wilde advised, there’s no need for you to scrimp, cheat, tell white lies or pretend. Your best strategy will be to be bold, forthright and honest as you make your moves.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “In all the land, there is only one you, possibly two, but seldom more than 16,” said comedian and actor Amy Sedaris. She was making a sardonic joke about the possibility that none of us may be quite as unique as we imagine ourselves to be. But I’d like to mess with her joke and give it a positive tweak. If what Sedaris says is true, then it’s likely that we all have soul twins somewhere in the world. It means that there are numerous people who share many of our perspectives and proclivities; that we might find cohorts who see us for who we really are. I bring these thoughts to your attention, Virgo, because I suspect the coming months will be an excellent time for meeting and playing with such people.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A team of biologists unearthed a fascinating discovery in Costa Rica. When the group planted a single tree in pasture land that had no trees, biodiversity increased dramatically. For example, in one area, there were no bird species before the tree and 80 species after the tree. I suspect you can create a similar change in the coming weeks. A small addition, even just one new element, could generate significant benefits. One of those perks might be an increase in the diversity you engage with.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Smallpox has been eliminated thanks to vaccination, but it was once among the most feared diseases. Over the course of many centuries, it maimed or killed hundreds of millions of people. For 35 percent of those who contracted it, it was fatal. As for the survivors, their skin had permanent scars from the blisters that erupted. As disfiguring as those wounds were, they were evidence that a person was immune from future infections. That’s why employers were more likely to hire them as workers. Their pockmarks gave them an advantage. I believe this is a useful metaphor for you. In the coming weeks, you will have an advantage because of one of your apparent liabilities or imperfections or “scars.” Don’t be shy about using your unusual asset.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian author Pearl Cleage sets the tone for the future I hope you’ll seek in the coming weeks. The Black feminist activist writes, “We danced too wild, and we sang too long, and we hugged too hard, and we kissed too sweet, and howled just as loud as we wanted to howl.” Are you interested in exploring such blithe extravagance, Sagittarius? Do you have any curiosity about how you might surpass your previous records for rowdy pleasure? I hope you will follow Cleage’s lead in your own inimitable style.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I can never rest from tenderness,” wrote author Virginia Woolf. I won’t ask you to be as intense as her, Capricorn. I won’t urge you to be constantly driven to feel and express your tenderness. But I hope you will be focused on doing so in the coming weeks. Why? Because the astrological omens suggest it will be “in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.” (That’s a quote by aphorist Jenny Holzer.) For inspiration, consider trying this experiment proposed by Yoko Ono: “Try to say nothing negative about anybody: a) for three days; b) for 45 days; c) for three months.”
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “I gamble everything to be what I am,” wrote Puerto Rican feminist and activist poet Julia de Burgos, born under the sign of Aquarius. Her gambles weren’t always successful. At one point, she was fired from her job as a writer for a radio show because of her progressive political beliefs. On the other hand, many of her gambles worked well. She earned awards and recognition for her five books of poetry and garnered high praise from superstar poet Pablo Neruda. I offer her as your role model, Aquarius. The rest of 2022 will be a fertile time to gamble everything to be what you are. Here’s a further suggestion: Gamble everything to become what you don’t yet know you must become.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman was a trailblazer. He created the genre known as free jazz, which messed with conventional jazz ideas about tempos, melodies and harmonies. In the course of his career, he won a Pulitzer Prize, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and MacArthur Fellowship “genius” grant. He was a technical virtuoso, but there was more to his success, too. Among his top priorities were emotional intensity and playful abandon and pure joy. That’s why, on some of his recordings, he didn’t hire famous jazz drummers, but instead had his son, who was still a child, play the drum parts. I suggest you apply an approach like Coleman’s to your own upcoming efforts.
Watsonville police have arrested two gunmen who they believe killed an 18-year-old Watsonville farmworker near downtown Watsonville in Santa Cruz County’s first homicide of 2022.
Feliciano Martinez Perea was shot several times around 8:45pm on April 2 on the 100 block of Riverside Drive at a two-story apartment complex. He was taken to an out-of-county trauma center where later he died, WPD spokeswoman Michelle Pulido said.
Pulido said police believe Erick DeHaro and Matthew Madriz, both 18, followed Martinez Perea through the courtyard of the apartment complex and confronted him before a brief fight broke out and the suspected gunmen opened fire. In video surveillance footage released by the WPD, one of the suspected shooters is seen walking toward Martinez Perea, who is walking backward with his hands up. The other suspected shooter, meanwhile, is seen trying to get between Martinez Perea and the first suspect before the video cuts out.
Police arrested DeHaro on the 700 block of Lincoln Street in Watsonville—a handful of blocks from where the shooting occurred. Pulido said DeHaro attempted to run from the police, but “didn’t get too far” before they arrested him.
Madriz was arrested at his home in Morgan Hill.
Pulido said that several law enforcement agencies assisted WPD in the investigation. That included the sheriff’s offices of Santa Cruz County and Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz Police Department, Santa Cruz County’s Anti-Crime Team and Santa Cruz Auto Theft Reduction Enforcement Team, as well as police from San Jose and Campbell.
The Monday morning arrests came hours after more than 200 people rallied in downtown Watsonville calling for an end to gang violence.
In the aftermath of the shooting, people gathered in rows of chairs facing an altar of votive candles, flowers, photographs and memorabilia in the same carport where the homicide occurred. Martinez Perea’s family says he had moved to the U.S. from San Martín Peras, Oaxaca, Mexico—a small town of about 12,000 people far removed from the state capital—a year ago to work in the Pajaro Valley’s strawberry fields. They said Martinez Perea was working in agriculture to send money back to his family in Mexico.
“He was not in a gang; this has nothing to do with him being in a gang,” said a young woman who chose not to reveal her name.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information, call Det. Robert Strong at 831-889-8445. Anonymous tips, call 831-768-3544.
Tim Slater, owner, grape-grower and winemaker at Sarah’s Vineyard, makes wines from Gewurztraminer to Grinfandel (a blend of Grenache and Zinfandel). See the vineyard’s website for the total list—it’s impressive.
Sarah’s Vineyard’s 2018 Madonne ($38) is a blend of estate-grown Rhone red varieties, primarily Grenache. “It is our local effort to emulate the traditional red wines of the southern Rhone Valley,” says Slater, adding that the final cépage is 65% Grenache, 16% Syrah, 17% Mourvèdre and 2% Counoise. Counoise (pronounced Coon-wahz) is a relatively obscure purple-red grape with a spicy character. The result is a delicious blend with dark cherries, raspberries and chocolate on the nose, and delicate floral notes and hints of baking spice and cocoa powder. Blueberry, lavender, vanilla and notes of pepper are an ideal addition to the long finish.
“Pair it with rosemary roast chicken or ratatouille,” Slater recommends. He should know. Slater and his partner Megan spend a lot of time in the kitchen, which led to recipe blog posts on his Sarah’s Vineyard website.
Chaminade’s Vine to View dinner series kicks off on Friday, April 29. Held on the Courtyard Terrace, not only does a beautiful dining experience await you, but also a panoramic view of the Monterey Bay. The first Vine to View dinner features the incredible wines of Beauregard Vineyards. chaminade.com.
Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains Grand Wine Tasting
Several local wineries will be showcasing their best wines on the stunning grounds of the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. $68 (food available for purchase)/$105 VIP (“grazing box” included). Sunday, April 24, 1-4pm. scmwa.com.
In 2013, Yunus Arslan immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey, where he had primarily worked as a cook. In San Francisco, Arslan’s skills led to positions at restaurants like Ala Turkey, but he wanted his own place that served the Turkish street food he grew up with and loves. His wife, Marissa, supported her husband’s passion and would contribute what she learned in business school to handle the finances.
The former Falafel House in downtown Santa Cruz was an ideal space, with a built-in Mediterranean customer base. When Arslans Turkish Street Food opened last August, it was embraced immediately by foodies. The menu flagship, the Doner Kebab, is thinly sliced lamb and beef stacked on a vertical cone, cut to order and then wrapped or plated. They also offer an authentic red lentil kofte, a seasoned patty with bulgur (cracked parboiled groats that resembles couscous), and Turkish Delight for dessert. The sweet treat, a cross between mochi and taffy, comes in pomegranate, roasted pistachio or rose petal flavors.
Hours are 11am-8pm, Tuesday-Sunday. Marissa discussed Turkish cuisine and the local response to Arslans.
How would you describe Turkish food?
MARISSA ARSLAN: Very underrated, in my opinion, and very healthy, delicious and unique. It’s definitely very distinct from Greek food, although there are some similarities. What sets Turkish food apart is herbs and spices like sumac, mint and fresh Italian parsley, as well as ingredients like bulgur, red lentils and a special fat rice called Baldo. Our main dish, the Doner Kebab, is the true OG of vertical cone cooking, dating back to the 16th century Ottoman Empire. It’s extremely popular all over Europe, almost like a hamburger in the U.S.
How has the food been received?
I’ve been blown away by the reviews and feedback we have gotten from customers. Turkish people eat our food and say it brings them back to Istanbul. People love our product and say it’s the real deal, and I’m so happy to provide authentic Turkish food to both people who grew up eating it and people who have never tried it before.
113 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz. 831-459-9770; arslansturkishstreetfood.com.
Hard to choose what was most impressive about last week’s opening of the new Big Basin Vineyards Tasting Room—the wines, the glamorous surroundings or the red-wine beef stew created by chef Brad Briske?
As inviting outdoors—on the spacious patio adorned with firepits and giant banana trees—as it is indoors, thanks to a sleek bar topped by a line-up of woven baskets all along the backbar and ample table seating along the polished concrete floors, the new BBV tasting headquarters offers a menu of sexy small plates to accompany a broad array of wines from winemaker Bradley Brown.
We began with a welcome glass of 2019 Wirz Vineyard Old Vine Riesling. Crisp and light, utterly refreshing, it was one of my favorites of the entire afternoon. Indoors, Melo and I were seated along with an engaging couple eager to sample the BBV wines. Out came long platters decorated with aged cheddar, a soft triple creme, an incredible housemade fig jam, apricots from B&R Farms and nuts glistening in sage-scented olive oil. With the savories came a beautifully balanced 2019 Old Corral Pinot Noir full of berries and a plum finish. The servers were flawless, removing and arriving plates like clockwork.
A 2016 Grizzly Grenache—our table’s favorite—was paired with an open-faced sandwich of whipped feta and smoked prosciutto. Tiny porcelain square dishes contained spicy coarse mustard and sensuous apricot preserves, apt toppings for the earthy prosciutto. Next, a trio of colorful dips involving tapenade and hummus with preserved Meyer lemon arrived with slices of Companion Bakeshop baguette and a remarkable variation on the Rhône blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. The GSM was deepened by a large 53% proportion of Mourvedre, a fortuitous decision that gave the wine distinctive complexity.
We all amused ourselves with a blind-tasting quiz while enjoying one of the BBV tasting room’s new signature dishes, a sensational red-wine beef stew made by Home chef Briske. Tender beef cheeks, tiny potatoes and complex herbs in an impossibly perfect broth, the exceptional dish arrived with a float of creme fraiche and some little garlic toasts. We cleaned our plates. The event ended with an extravagant square of dark chocolate infused with pistachios, dried strawberries, cardamom and rose petals. With it was served a Bordeaux blend named Altitude 2018 that knocked me out.
Destined to be a magnet for visitors and locals alike, the new home of Brown’s celebrated Santa Cruz Mountains wines offers the ambience of a relaxing wine club within walking distance of downtown as well as Main Beach and the wharf. Easily one of the smoothest preview tastings I’ve ever attended, and it let me fall in love with Big Basin Vineyards wines all over again. BBV Tasting Room, 525 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Open Thursday and Monday, 2-7pm; Friday-Sunday, noon-8pm. Reservations strongly encouraged.
Flower Power
Stopped with poet SK for a West Coast Parisian-style morning of mini croissants and espresso at the Flower Bar, a chic cafe in the old Sentinel Printers space at 912 Cedar St. next to Gabriella Cafe. Excellent flavors, and service to match. Surrounded by a galaxy of fresh blooms for home or special occasions. My companion took his time with a perfect croissant ($5) and cafe Americano ($4), while I enjoyed two mini croissants ($2)—one studded with apples, the other swirled with raspberry puree. Textbook macchiato ($4.25). Open 9am-5pm daily. 7pm on weekends.
Gayle’s Holidays
Passover Dinner (available April 15) includes red wine braised beef brisket, potato latkes, lemon asparagus and honey glazed carrots. $60 serves 2-3. Easter Dinner (available April 16) of Niman Ranch Ham, au gratin potatoes, lemon asparagus and butterflake rolls. $55 (serves 2-3). Order quickly! gaylesbakery.com.
