A three-pronged collaboration between Motion Pacific, the Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center, and Gerald Casel Dance has birthed the first BBQueer (Black, Brown and Queer) Fest, a dance and arts festival created, led by and centering on BIPOC/LGBTQ artists and community members.
The festival highlights work and contributions from BIPOC/LGBTQ artists and has quite the lineup, including a workshop in Mexican Folklorico dance at the Tannery led by Alex Santana, who dances with Esperanza del Valle Company in Watsonville; “Dancing Around Race: A Longtable Conversation” with Gerald Casel; the premiere of dawsondancesf’s September; and The Body Erotic, an evening of burlesque and cabaret performances.
In addition to these and other events, there will be popups in public spaces, such as the closed-off portion of Pacific Avenue between Lincoln and Cathcart Streets, where Casel’s company will perform Sunday afternoon.
The kernel of the idea sprung from Melissa Wiley and partner Molly Katzman, who both teach and perform through Motion Pacific. After hosting Majesty—a queer dance party, burlesque and drag show—they were wanting to create “more queer spaces to dance and have fun, and have something happen for longer that was queer-focused around the arts and performance,” Wiley says. And so BBQueer was set, quite literally, into motion.
“When we were approached by Motion Pacific to co-produce BBQueer, we were thrilled with how in-line the mission of the festival was with our work,” says Angela Chambers, who is the development director and programs manager as well as teaching artist at Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center and part of the BBQueer team. “Motion Pacific already does such an incredible job curating programming for LGTBQ+ residents; it has been an honor learning from and working with them and Gerald Casel Dance to center this work on our Black, Brown and Queer community members.”
Wiley, who moonlights as a burlesque performer, is bringing together performers who have been doing shows together over the last several years throughout the Bay Area and L.A. for The Body Erotic. “I’m excited to bring us all together,” Wiley says. “Burlesque has quite a range—it can be funny, satirical, political … there is so much people can do with it. The Body Erotic is what I call sensual burlesque,” which springs from a dance class Wiley teaches.
“It is really exciting what it’s become,” Wiley says of the festival, which has garnered support from downtown Santa Cruz sponsors, including Cat & Cloud, Stripe, Soif, Oswald, Well Within, Botanic & Luxe and many more. A grant from the California Arts Council allowed the organizers to offer the events for free and pay performers.
“It’s a perfect response to Santa Cruz County declaring racism a public health crisis, and to elevate these two worlds I’m a part of, to bring people collectively to highlight and revel in our excellence,” Wiley says.
Santana, who is from Watsonville, points out that the group has prioritized its focus not only on Santa Cruz, but also across the county, representing “beyond just one community,” he says. “The great thing about being part of this group from its inception is that lots of us artists have never worked together before. We’re committed to the meaning and purpose of what BBQueer stands for—BIPOC and queer-identified. It brings a stronger sense of unity and resources than we would have struggled to find and access individually, but that folks in different circles have all experienced.”
Casel, whose eponymous dance company forms another key element of BBQueer Fest’s organization and leadership, highlights the fact that the festival’s intersectional focus transcends the thematic aspect of the event itself; it is deeply rooted in how the organizing for BBQueer is structured. As Casel puts it, “The way in which we’re organizing challenges norms in hierarchical organizations.” Rather than a top-down format, BBQueer’s organizers formed “leadership circles” of BIPOC, allies, and organizational administration. The three-part collaboration between Motion Pacific, TWDCC and Gerald Casel Dance, he says, can be visualized “in terms of circles, which takes away the verticals of patriarchy and capitalism.”
Casel had lived in Santa Cruz prior to moving to San Francisco. During Covid, he found himself pulled back. “I’d never felt like I belonged here as a brown queer person,” he says. “I really wanted to do something about that.”
BBQueer events take place at both indoor and outdoor venues from Thursday, September 30th to Sunday, October 3rd. https://bbqueerfest.com.
Re: “Aptos in Shock” (GT, 9/8): To make campuses safer, I would no longer allow weapons on the school grounds. Waterproof handheld metal detectors can detect a concealed weapon, knives and other metal objects. They can range in price from less than $100 to expensive, but definitely cheaper than an alternative. The tool could also be used to check the perimeter of the school grounds. Several years ago, a metal detector was used on me at the entrance to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds; so too do students need to become familiar with being searched.
Louise Westphal Scotts Valley
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Sometimes I feel like we’re reaching into little pocket dimensions of Santa Cruz for our cover stories. There are so many fascinating people and stories that exist on the fringe of our shared experience, just outside of what we encounter moving through our routines. DNA’s cover story this week is full of them. Probably quite a few people remember the “Neighbor From Hell” story that came out of Aptos in 2009. But how many people knew that a woman at the center of that story, Lara Love Hardin, had turned her life around to the point that she just signed a deal for a TV comedy series based on her memoir? How many locals even know about the Santa Cruz publishing house Idea Architects, which publishes work by esteemed figures such as the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, that helped her pull herself up, eventually hiring her to ghostwrite bestsellers? It’s a pretty amazing story, and I’m happy that we could bring Hardin’s parallel universe into alignment with the rest of Santa Cruz this week to bring it to you.
[“Great Wet Hope”] mentions residential gallons per person per day water usage, and how low it is, but fails to broach what I’d have to guess is the real culprit with regards to the dire straights of our water reserves: commercial drains, especially the tourist industry’s constantly expanding number hotel beds, and watering holes. What are the facts of that situation please? Do the city’s residents have any recourse?
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GOOD IDEA
FUTURE SHINE
Finally, an incentive to go to the dentist: Dientes Community Dental Care and Santa Cruz Ventures will be giving up to $200 to childrens’ college saving accounts just for visiting the dentist. Children born after Dec. 31, 2020 are eligible for the funds.
The money will be added to the child’s Semillitas college saving account. The Semillitas saving account accumulates money throughout the years through partner donations, with the goal of reaching at least $500 before your child goes off to college.
Directors Paulina Moreno and Paz Padilla from Community Action Board are being recognized for their contributions to Pajaro Valley residents throughout the pandemic.
Moreno oversaw disaster relief assistance for immigrants, while Padilla helped tenants apply for rent relief. In total, they helped distribute economic relief to almost 5,000 people. Both were awarded the Rather Award, which recognizes individuals doing incredible work in the Pajaro Valley community.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
In just under a decade, Lara Love Hardin—the COO and editorial director of small Santa Cruz publishing house Idea Architects—went from the depths of an opioid addiction and incarceration to being the literary agent to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Stephen Hawking, the Dalai Lama, Bryan Stevenson and other world and cultural leaders.
But that was just the prelude. Now Hardin is turning a shameful Santa Cruz headline from her past into a major-streaming-service comedy series about her life.
This is a story about an enigma disguised as a punchline and wrapped in a Patagonia fleece blanket of inspiration, hope and imagination. Hardin would also add “and framed by a jail cell,” but this journey is about overcoming stigma, turning society’s biases on its heels and making strangers laugh along the way.
A few years back, I met Hardin at a Blind Tiger open mic at DNA’s Comedy Lab. She tepidly took the stage and told a tale about life in prison that was savagely funny. Turns out it wasn’t actually prison, but the Santa Cruz County jail. Her ability to punch up her own truth to make a better story came naturally. And it was more than smart—it was raw and polished at the same time.
Lara Love Hardin made headlines in the Santa Hardin’s memoir, ‘The Neighbor from Hell and Other People I Have Been,’ will be published by Simon & Schuster. This month, producer Scott Budnick’s company One Community bought the rights to the book, and plans to adapt it into a comedy series for television.
It also struck me as odd. How the hell did this person show up to our open mic and perfectly land a story that was so well executed? What wormhole did she fall out of? Hardin seemed genuinely grateful to be included in our local comedy and storytelling shows.
It wasn’t until much later that I heard her story. Hardin has an MFA in Creative Writing and taught Creative Writing and Composition at UC Irvine and UCSC. Hardin also harbors a secret, a crushing secret that the internet is about to start buzzing about.
Hardin is the woman who made headlines in the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 2009 as the “Neighbor from Hell,” after she was charged with 30 counts of possessing others’ identifying information, grand theft and fraud. In fact, both her autobiography, which recently sold for a princely sum, and the comedy series that will be based on the book—with names like Amy Schumer being bandied around for the lead part—are entitled Neighbor from Hell and Other People I Have Been. It’s much less a thumbing of the nose at the past than an alchemical transmutation of shit into gold.
In the early 2000s, Hardin battled a worsening addiction after being prescribed painkillers; taking opiates eventually led to smoking heroin. When she ran out of money, she began committing crimes, stealing neighbors’ credit cards and other identifying information to buy groceries and gas after her cash went to buying drugs. In 2002, Hardin got clean and sober, but in 2008 she relapsed. In 2009 she was arrested. In a story with the now-famous “Neighbors From Hell” headline, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that Hardin and her partner David Jackson admitted to 30 counts of identity-theft-related charges after stealing mail and wallets, and using pirated internet to set up phony accounts in the names of their victims—who prosecutors said numbered more than two dozen. Hardin faced 24 years in federal prison, but the judge, calling her case “very tragic,” sentenced her instead to a year in County Jail, drug treatment and supervised probation.
After joining Santa Cruz publishing house Idea Architects, Hardin worked on books with Nobel Peace Prize laureates the Dalai Lama (left) and Desmond Tutu (right). PHOTO: Miranda Penn Turin
“The darkness is the same darkness every addict goes through—a compulsion of the body and mind that turns you into someone you are not,” says Hardin. “I hurt people I cared about. I hurt my friends and family and neighbors.”
So how did she get from there to here? Well, in 2011 she joined Idea Architects, which Doug Abrams had founded in 2003. Abrams had been an editor at HarperCollins and decided to form his own literary agency (He was tired of slaving for Rupert Murdoch.). He was working part-time from his Santa Cruz home with a part-time assistant when he ran an ad on Craigslist for a part-time job that Hardin happened to see. From this vantage point in the story the idea of a part-time gig becoming a Hollywood force of nature seems more than improbable, it seems crazy. But Hardin was just trying to survive.
At the time, she had been out of jail for less than two years and was living in a 400 square foot apartment with her 5-year-old son. She was broke, and on the brink of homelessness.
“I didn’t have a lot of friends,” recalls Hardin, looking relaxed as she shares a meal with me at Dharma’s in Capitola. “I was living in a community where everyone hated me. I was on probation and trying to get all my children back.”
When Hardin called Idea Architects, she had to answer 27 questions that were less about job experience and more about philosophies about the universe. It was a super elaborate application for a part-time job that paid $15 an hour. “It was a fun writing exercise, at least,” Hardin remembers.
Hardin sent it off and went to her appointment at Emeline Street, where she was trying to appeal her drug conviction in order to get food stamps. “I’m with a toddler in the most depressing waiting room in the world. My little flip phone rings and they want to see me for an interview in an hour. I had to decide if I was going to wait it out at Emeline or go to this part-time job interview. It felt like dating where you don’t want to do it, but you should do it,” Hardin recalls with a laugh.
After finding childcare, Hardin encountered her next challenge: she had a car that wouldn’t go uphill and spewed oil. “You know when you hear the commercial about donating your car to somebody in need? It was that car,” says Hardin. Of course the location of the interview was all uphill. For in this origin story, there are no easy paths.
Traveling uphill, leaving behind a river of oil like the Exxon Valdez, Hardin parks on the side street of Abrams house so she doesn’t sully the driveway, and fears, since it is a Craigslist ad she’s answering, there’s a slight chance she might be murdered. Fighting through fear, sweat and doubt, Hardin emerges feeling like she gave a great interview.
The next day, Abrams asked Hardin to do some editing and track changes on the Desmond Tutu biography he was working on. He also asked her to research minivans. It was apparent this job was a mix of business and personal assistant.
“Then he sent me a manuscript about a doctor and asked for my opinion,” says Hardin. “I remember I was out in front of Louden Nelson [now London Nelson] at 8:30 at night, with my son in the car seat, and I told him on the phone that the manuscript was kind of bad and needed to be restructured and refocused on what it was about. He said, ‘Hold on, I want to put you on the phone with the doctor, tell him what you told me.’ Next thing I know I was working with the author on the proposal, and that’s how it started.” From that point on Hardin helped Abrams build a literary agency that now has twelve of their non-fiction books in film and TV development.
Despite the ascent of her rising star, redemption would not come easy, or at all.
“When I got out of jail I went to Aptos High to my son’s basketball game, and I walked in and I could feel the whole stadium stop and look at me. We would get emails at work that said I should be fired, and my neighbors would have meetings about me, trying to run me out of the neighborhood, so it wasn’t all my imagination,” Hardin says.
In fact, the taunt “Neighbor from Hell” was ringing through the hallways of Aptos High, used by students and staff to call someone a failure. That shadow continues to cast across a large swath over Hardin’s life.
Ghost of a Chance
Now a four-time New York Times-bestselling writer, Lara Love Hardin has paid her dues. Does she harbor regret for past actions? Yes. Does she also harbor resentment for being vilified? Also, yes.
That said, when somebody tells me they went up the river for fraud and within a short amount of time was hanging out in the Dalai Lama’s bedroom taking notes, it’s difficult to take them seriously. For a time, I was sure Hardin was pulling my leg. But her story checks out and, as incredible as it sounds, Hardin was Desmond Tutu’s ghostwriter.
There’s a long history of ghostwriting in the world of memoirs. As Hardin says, “The odds that somebody is going to be an amazing leader of the free world, a spiritual leader and an amazing narrative writer and provocative storyteller is very slim. You might be the world’s greatest scientific researcher, but you probably can’t tell a fascinating story.”
The first book that Hardin ghostwrote—a process she calls the “collaborative writing and sharing of brains”—was Tutu’s The Book of Forgiving. So if you read that book, although Desmond Tutu lives in South Africa, it’s full of Santa Cruz stories. “When you ghostwrite for somebody, you’re egoless, you kind of hide in the background. You’re always in acknowledgements; sometimes you’re on the title page,” says Hardin.
Hardin was a ghostwriter for a couple of books by John and Julie Gottman, who are known for being experts in relationships and in those books her name is indeed on the title page. On only one of the 12 books Hardin worked on does her name appear on the cover, and that is The Sun Does Shine, which was also an Oprah Book Club pick.
Hardin has had an overactive imagination her whole life, often fantasizing about being with Oprah, being on the Oprah TV show, making Oprah cry, winning an Academy Award and thanking the world-famous “O” while getting a standing “O.” And while finally hanging out with Oprah, after the success of The Sun Does Shine, was everything Hardin had imagined, she was still new to the flash and bang of the fast lane. She couldn’t even announce that she was going to meet Oprah for several months, until the publisher was certain they were able to get enough paper to print the book. And ghostwriting was beginning to encroach on her personal sense of self.
“Obviously Anthony Ray Hinton, the subject of The Sun Does Shine, and I have lived totally different lives; I poured a lot of my own stuff into that book. So it’s egoless work, but my name was on the bestseller list with him, and every writer has an ego. In that first book I added one of my metaphors from my master’s thesis, and while it felt strange to be giving pieces of myself to other people’s stories, after everything I went through it felt good to be doing good work,” Hardin says.
Lara Love Hardin spoke at Tedx Santa Cruz in 2019 on ‘Moving Past Your Worst Mistakes.’ The photo on the video screen is of Hardin with Oprah and Gayle King after the release of her book ‘The Sun Does Shine.’ PHOTO: Kassandra Thomsen
Oftentimes ghostwriting isn’t just merging stories, but physically sharing a space. “Since Desmond Tutu lived in South Africa, we did most of our talking through Skype calls,” Hardin recalls about her work on The Book of Forgiving. “It’s ideal if you can spend time, even if it’s only a week, with the person and pick up their little quirks and mannerisms and how they see the world. So you can be them on the page. The most time I spent was down in rural Alabama to do The Sun Does Shine book. Anthony Ray Hinton took me around and I met all his friends and his family and he took me to his mother’s grave. He could tell me about his high school, but he took me there and that allows me to paint a more vivid picture on the page. I wrote a book with a Stanford neurosurgeon and I went into a brain surgery with him. Through that we had the book open with the sounds of brain surgery. That’s something I could never have picked up through just a Zoom call,” says Hardin.
Coming Out
Two years ago, after twelve books, Hardin decided she wasn’t going to ghostwrite anymore and started a new division dealing with memoirs at Idea Architects. “I heard somebody wanted to come into my office and talk to me,” says Hardin. That somebody turned out to be Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, who has a book coming out called In The Shadow of the Mountain, and a feature film starring Selena Gomez (as Vasquez-Lavado) that comes out in February. “Silvia waked in and I immediately turned on the recorders and had her talk for three hours. She has an amazing story and that was our first memoir story. She was the first Peruvian woman to summit Everest and the first openly gay woman to do all of the seven summits. We were still a few months away from starting the new division. In the meantime, Silvia was sending me cakes and pastries in the mail. She would work with a writer and then I would come in and rewrite and do sprinkle writing, which is what I do now on all of our books rather than take on the projects,” says Hardin.
The little agency started at Abrams house had Hardin rubbing shoulders with everyone from Stephen Hawking to Jane Goodall, and even though the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu affirmed Hardin’s unique presence and made her feel valuable, they didn’t know her secret. Hardin lived in constant fear that people would Google her. It was time to find her Justice League, a place she could, finally, be herself.
“It’s hard enough to make new friends when you’re an adult or middle-aged or however old I am now. It’s tough to make new friends, and I was always shaking that they would find out that I’m the Neighbor from Hell,” says Hardin. It might sound paranoid, but Hardin was scared to talk to anyone. Even though Hardin did her time and restitution and paid what she was asked to, she kept punishing herself. She was hiding in plain sight and full of shame.
“The first people I came out to about my secret was the comedy community,” says Hardin. “I had never done stand-up, but I would practice my little story about jail in front of my dogs and I would kill it. But the idea of doing it in front of people terrified me. I decided I wanted to be the kind of person who did things that terrified me. The first people I came out to was at the Fun Institute, taught by Clifford Henderson and Dixie Cox. I started with improv, but then did a stand-up class and told my jail story to a small group of comics who wanted to know if what I said was true. I hesitated, but told them it was. I think I gained some street cred that day. I then did Blind Tiger and tried it out at Rooster T. Feathers in Sunnyvale. I brought a lot of people so I got more time and began to understand how comedy works. More importantly, I found a community that accepted me.”
This process of opening up would eventually lead to her new book and comedy series deal for her own memoir, Neighbor From Hell and Other People I Have Been.
“I had just performed my first Ted Talk called ‘Thieves of Hope: Moving Past Your Worst Mistake’ and Doug [Abrams] caught me leaving the stage and told me I have to write my own memoir. Based on just an outline, Scott Budnick’s company, One Community, acquired the rights.” Budnick is a prison advocate who is famous for The Hangover trilogy.
“I was not someone who ever learned how to ask for help—if I had been, this would have been a far different story,” says Hardin. “I’m sorry for the people I hurt, but I’m not sorry for what I went through. I believe in the end, my story will help way more than I hurt.”
As Hardin departed from our lunch at Dharma’s, I realized I was now the ghostwriter of a ghostwriter—which in Hardin’s terms is a “meta-experience.” As she walked away, her clothes flapping in the wind like Supergirl’s cape, I thought of the Idea Architects mission statement she had once latched onto in the hopes of pulling herself up. I could see her determination to create a wiser, healthier and more just world.
The last time the city of Capitola funded an affordable housing project was in 2011.
After updating affordable housing requirements for new developments earlier this month, city council members are hopeful that after nearly a decade, new affordable housing projects are on the horizon.
There are multiple reasons why it’s been a decade since the city has produced an affordable housing project—but funding is at the root of the problem, according to City Manager Jamie Goldstein.
Goldstein hopes the new housing requirements, which raised fees for developers, will help the city’s housing trust fund. Money from the trust fund can, hypothetically, be used to build an affordable development project.
But housing advocates say the new requirements alone are not a sufficient solution to the affordable housing issue. The city needs to be more proactive, they say, in addressing its worsening housing crisis, especially since Capitola has not reached any of its state-set affordable housing goals.
“Ten years is a long time to have between affordable housing projects, even for a smaller city, ” says Mark Linder, a leader at Communities Organized for relational Power in Action (COPA), a faith-based nonprofit addressing issues like affordable housing.
These housing projects are critical not just for residents at lower income levels, but also for the health of the community at large, Linder says. Affordable housing options keep residents in the towns they work in, which helps local businesses and the environment, and allows for people to be more active citizens in their communities, he says.
And as Capitola faces diminishing land for new developments, the city might end up with a pocket of money and nowhere to spend it, says Jane Barr, director of real estate development at affordable housing nonprofit Eden Housing.
“What happens if you allow for the fees, and there is no land to build in your city? What do you do with those funds then?” says Barr.
Making Changes
In early September, Capitola adjusted its current affordable housing policy to allow developers to opt out of building affordable units by paying a fee of $25 per square foot (increased from $10) for new for-sale developments.
In the past few years, the city’s fund has only collected around $55,000 per year from these fees. That won’t come close to covering the cost of prospective development, when the average construction cost per square foot for single home families is around $1,000, says Linder.
The fees are controversial—on the one hand, the money collected from developers who opt out of building affordable units could provide the city with the funds to do a large-scale project that offers multiple affordable units, says Goldstein.
But Linder stresses that it’s not enough for a city to just collect money. The city needs to have a long-term strategy for how money will fund projects.
“The real challenges are what the city does with the money, how would they transform that into an actual housing unit, and is there enough money to do anything. Or will the money just sit there?” says Linder.
The other challenge is Capitola’s high cost of land. Under Senate Bill 330, a city must make sure that if it is adopting a new housing requirement, it must be feasible (i.e., there needs to be a margin of profit for developers).
This narrows the options for raising the city’s mandate on affordable housing units. In fact, Capitola is the only city in the county that doesn’t require new rental developments to provide a percentage of units at income-based rates. Developers just have to pay a fee of $6 per square foot—a fee that means little to nothing in terms of making a dent in the housing trust funds, according to Linder.
Capitola is also the only local city that doesn’t require developers to include units at a low-income or very-low-income level—the affordable units that are required can be affordable for people at moderate-income levels.
When the moderate-income level in Capitola is $90,000, providing units at that income rate doesn’t mean much in the affordable-housing world, says Barr.
“In the city of Santa Cruz, there are roughly 27,000 jobs. Seven thousand residents have these jobs, but 20,000 drive in every day, from as far as 50 miles away,” says Linder.
He’s talking about data from a report COPA did back in 2019 that looked at how many people commuted from out of town to get to Santa Cruz. The results of the study point to some of the tangible consequences produced by a lack of affordable housing, and a shortage of housing.
Even though the study looked at the city of Santa Cruz, the data is reflective of a problem for cities across the county, Linder says.
According to a Santa Cruz County Human Services report from 2018, hospitality employment in Santa Cruz County creates over 3,600 jobs, and two-thirds of employers stated they had difficulty hiring entry-level applicants.
These numbers have likely changed during the pandemic. But the problems the employers cited in the study that make it hard for retaining employees—things like high costs of living, subpar entry-level wages and traffic-filled commutes—have likely only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
“When a community doesn’t have homes, whether they be single-family homes or apartments, for those making, you know, less than the median income, people are forced to live elsewhere,” says Barr. “It doesn’t help the businesses when they’re trying to hire people, and people have to commute to work.”
It’s an issue Gloria Palermo de Rivera faces. Palermo de Rivera is 62, and works as a caretaker for seniors making minimum wage. She lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Capitola with four other people, including a roommate. Her son, his wife and their son share one room, the roommate occupies the other room and she sleeps on the couch in the living room.
“I’m tired of being in this situation,” she says, her voice cracking with emotion. “I am only getting older. I worry about having the money to pay rent or finding a place that is affordable.”
She has considered moving into a neighboring town that is cheaper, but she wants to stay in Capitola because it’s where her life is, she says.
“I have personally heard and been in conversations with so many others in Capitola who are in similar situations like [this], or worse,” she says. “We are established here. This is our home. This is our community, emotionally, physically. This is where we have our roots.”
Still, she dreams of living in her own place, where she can have her own things and space to herself. She’s not sure if she will ever have that in Capitola, but she’s hopeful.
“It would be so great … for the city or the officials to consider me, to consider people like me. And to be able to afford a place of my own, in my community,” she says.
The city doesn’t have the luxury to not consider people like Palmero de Rivera, Barr says. Cities are required to provide lower-income units to keep up with the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) requirements.
The RHNA (pronounced “ree-na”) requirements are set by the state every eight years in an attempt to address housing shortages. The last cycle, which began in 2014 and will end in 2023, set an expectation for Monterey and Santa Cruz counties to build around 10,400 affordable units.
The new requirements nearly tripled that number, and will require the counties to build 33,274 by 2031, most of which will need to be affordable for people with low incomes.
It’s not yet determined how that number will be split between the different cities. But with Capitola’s development land dwindling, and none of its housing requirements fulfilled, the city will need a large-scale project to get back on track with meeting its RHNA requirements.
Looking Ahead: Capitola Mall
Owners of the Capitola Mall are in the process of renovating the space, and the city is hoping to use some of its money from its housing trust fund to buy units that could be provided at affordable rates.
The mall is planning on incorporating around 600 residential units into its new building, according to the most recent plans made available to the public. Capitola’s mayor Yvette Brooks and other stakeholders are discussing turning a portion of these units into workforce housing.
Linder is part of the discussions, advocating on behalf of COPA for affordable housing. He says he hopes the city will look at options for making some of the units affordable at low- and very-low-income levels, in addition to creating units for workforce housing. Nothing is final, but the potential is great, Linder says.
“The more people we can have working here and living here, the less traffic that’ll cause people having to drive over the hill for work,” says Linder. “It’s got potential to be a huge positive for not just Capitola, but the whole Santa Cruz region.”
But some council members and community members have voiced concerns over the redevelopment of the mall. At one community meeting in 2019, nearly 200 people from around the county showed up to share their input about the project, and some worried the high number of housing units will increase traffic. According to Capitola Mayor Yvette Brooks, based on the outreach by the city, top concerns were mainly around traffic increases, but overall the project was well received.
The project is still years from being completed, and the pandemic has only worked to slow its progress.
“At this point, it’s just a gleam in somebody’s eye,” says Goldstein, the city manager. “But I will tell you that the mall is obviously a real opportunity site. The mall project is a huge city priority.”
The heated debate over a proposed multi-story parking garage, apartment building and library is rounding a corner and headed for the next level.
Opponents of the project are preparing to gather signatures to try and stop it from ever breaking ground, while attempting to shape the future of downtown Santa Cruz.
“We’re tying together several different elements,” activist Rick Longinotti told me earlier this month.
The group—Our Downtown, Our Future—wants to block the construction of a planned mixed-use project on Lot 4, the current site of the farmers market. Under the city of Santa Cruz’s current plan for downtown, the city would develop the site. The project would include more than 100 units of affordable housing.
By contrast, the Our Downtown plan pitches to build affordable housing at other lots downtown, while preserving a permanent place for the farmers market at its current location. The group also wants to remodel the existing downtown library, instead of building a new one.
The group has made no secret of its intention to circulate a petition for a ballot initiative, even signaling its plans to the City Council, as reported by Lookout Santa Cruz. Currently, Our Downtown is waiting for City Attorney Tony Condotti to finish reviewing the language, but Longinotti and fellow organizer John Hall are eagerly looking forward to their launch. They plan to make affordable housing a central part of their campaign.
But some supporters of the project and of affordable housing are skeptical of their intentions. It hasn’t helped that a five-week-old draft of the ballot language, crafted by Hall and other opponents, has been making the rounds. The document includes a note about how to “strengthen” the language that already blocks the construction of a new library and garage and make things more explicit.
It reads, “Is there a way to strengthen this and to prevent the construction of affordable housing on Lot 4?”
It was written by John Hall.
Hall explains to GT that he made that comment at a time when he and his allies were still feeling their way through the issues around downtown development. In any case, Hall feels that Lot 4—on Cathcart and Cedar—is a better site for the farmers market, and also that Lot 7—on Front Street—would be a better place for apartments. He adds that the group did not end up including any mention of blocking affordable housing in the final ballot language.
But Joe Ferrara, who owns Atlantis Fantasyworld and supports the mixed-use project, says he’s “mystified” at how people in Santa Cruz who call themselves “progressive” aren’t more supportive of affordable housing.
“They say they support affordable housing. But putting this affordable housing in the mixed-use project in Lot 4 will allow more people to work downtown,” Ferrara says, when told of Hall’s note.
Santa Cruz Community Ventures Executive Director Maria Cadenas, a housing advocate, feels that the candor in Hall’s note reveals the real intentions behind the group—trying to block affordable housing and dictate where it belongs.
Noting a long history of racism in Santa Cruz, Cadenas says that the city—with its large single-family-zoned neighborhoods—has a bit of a gated community feel to it. And when she hears well-to-do Santa Cruzans get choosy about all the places they don’t want new multifamily housing, it sounds to her like they are telling working people “wait your turn,” she says.
Hall says he does care about affordable housing and his concerns were just about Lot 4, specifically. He adds that he has been working as part of a coalition to get housing built as part of the Peace United Church of Christ. “I’ve been in the trenches, working to create affordable housing,” he says.
Former Mayor Don Lane—interim governing board chair for the nonprofit Housing Santa Cruz County—supports the mixed-use project, partly for housing that would be included on site and partly because of the potential to build more affordable housing at the site of the current library.
He says that, generally speaking, a lot of people who say they care about affordable housing aren’t willing to put it above other priorities—like their idealized allotment of car parking, their preferred site for downtown’s public library or their preferred site for the farmers market.
“And then, some of us say we’re going to have to pull out all the stops, and we have an incredible opportunity to build affordable housing on this site,” Lane says.
If a new development gets built at Lot 4, it wouldn’t spell the end of the downtown farmers market. Santa Cruz Farmers Markets Director Nesh Dhillon and the market’s board has been working with the city to identify a permanent pavilion for the market downtown. Dhillon says he understands where Hall and his group are coming from, but they don’t speak for the market itself, Dhillon says.
“They want this vision and they want it to be on Lot 4,” Dhillon says. “But if Lot 4 did get developed, they would still want to see their concept. Which is more important—the location or the concept? The concept can go in a lot of places.”
If the city’s mixed-use project does end up becoming reality, Santa Cruz could potentially put housing in both Lot 4 and Lot 7, but it would depend on a number of factors, including the new site for the farmers market.
Hall believes that no one has all the solutions to the housing affordability crisis right now. He says his vision is better for the long run. “If we look 40 years ahead,” he says, “do we want Lot 4 to have a six-story building on it, or do we want it to be public space?”
On the other hand, there’s another idea that hasn’t been a part of the discussion around new buildings and the future of Lot 4.
And that is that maybe a six-story building isn’t tall enough.
Affordable housing developer Sibley Simon hasn’t taken a position on the mixed-use structure. He loves the affordable housing in the plan. He loves the library. He isn’t crazy about all the 400 parking spots, though, even though the city has cut the number of spaces in the plan twice. The demand for parking is speculative, Simon says.
He looks at the project not as a monolith, but as a catalog of individual policy decisions and political tradeoffs.
If Santa Cruzans really care about affordable housing, Simon hopes they will lobby the City Council to essentially proceed with the mixed-use project it planned, with two modifications. He says the city should cut down the parking in the project again and also allow the nonprofit developer to go higher. That would let the builder put more homes in the project and maximize affordability.
Now is the time, Simon stresses, for Santa Cruz gets over its fear of moderately tall buildings.
“I’m excited about any project that has affordable housing,” Simon says. “We should all be pushing for the project to have more housing, more height and less parking, since that is a very expensive use of public funds.”
Local organizers of all ages led a protest of Wells Fargo and Chase banks on Friday afternoon. Around 100 people gathered around the clock tower downtown holding signs, fake pipelines and cardboard flames.
Both banks loan billions of dollars to Enbridge Inc, the Canadian company behind the controversial Line 3 pipeline replacement project.
The group gathered outside the Wells Fargo and Chase banks downtown. Photo: Erin Malsbury
The local group Novasutras organizes small Line 3 protests in front of the banks often, says Santa Cruz High School sophomore Tamarah Minami.
“Today, Fridays For Future was calling for a global climate strike, where young people all around the globe walk out,” she says. “So, we thought it would be a good idea to make what had already been happening in Santa Cruz into a bigger event and get the youth to walk out for it.”
Minami has organized climate strikes for a few years through Youth for Climate Justice. This strike was smaller than the one two years ago, she says. The group had less time to prepare, and many UCSC students are just now arriving in town. “But everyone here had a lot of energy, and it was great to hear everyone speak.”
At the clock tower, students and community members talked about divestment from fossil fuels. The crowd then marched to the Wells Fargo bank on River Street. Employees had locked the doors.
Protesters talked to passing customers about switching to local banks. Photo: Erin Malsbury
A few high school students boosted each other onto a platform above the entryway. Others berated the bank over a portable speaker system and talked to passing customers about the company’s involvement with fossil fuels.
The group marched a few streets over to the Chase bank on Ocean Street, where they found locked doors once again. Students—some as young as 10—gave short speeches about the importance of discussing climate change in schools and the right to protest.
“It’s definitely really scary. And a lot of people need to talk about it more, especially schools,” said Marley Pucelik, an eighth-grader at Mission Hill Middle School and the president of the climate justice club there.
The people behind the pipeline decisions are just thinking about money, she said with frustration.
“What are we going to do with money when we don’t have a future? When society is falling apart? When our children have to breathe in masks constantly? When we don’t have fresh water?” she asked.
The protest ended with a youth open-mic outside of Chase Bank on Ocean Street. Photo: Erin Malsbury
Michelle Merrill, the founder of Novasutras, echoed those concerns. “This is the most urgent issue of this decade, and the decades to come,” she said. “And the more we can make change now, the less people will suffer.”
She pointed to the cardboard flames.
“Given what happened here in Santa Cruz County, people are waking up to the fact that climate change isn’t something that’s happening in the future. It is happening now,” she said.
As the crowd walked past a bus stop, one man grumbled that the group made him miss the bus.
“Sorry for the inconvenience,” said Merrill. “We’re trying to, you know, save civilization.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Blogger AnaSophia was asked, “What do you find attractive in a person?” I’ll reproduce her reply because it’s a good time to think about what your answer would be. I’m not implying you should be looking for a new lover. I’m interested in inspiring you to ruminate about what alliances you should cultivate during the coming months. Here’s what AnaSophia finds attractive: “strong desire but not neediness, passionate sensitivity, effortlessness, authenticity, innocence of perception, sense of humor, vulnerability and honesty, embodying one’s subtleties and embracing one’s paradoxes, acting unconditionally and from the heart.”
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus author Roberto Bolaño confessed, “Sometimes I want greatness, sometimes just its shadow.” I appreciate his honesty. I think what he says is true about most of us. Is there anyone who is always ready for the heavy responsibility of pursuing greatness? Doubtful. To be great, we must periodically go through phases when we recharge our energy and take a break from being nobly ambitious. What about you, dear Taurus? If I’m reading the omens correctly, you will benefit from a phase of reinvention and reinvigoration. During the next three weeks, you’ll be wise to hang out in the shadows of greatness.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Have fun, even if it’s not the same kind of fun everyone else is having,” wrote religious writer C. S. Lewis. That advice is ten times more important right now than it usually is. For the sake of your body’s and soul’s health, you need to indulge in sprees of playful amusement and blithe delight and tension-relieving merriment. And all that good stuff will work its most potent magic if it stimulates pleasures that are unique to you—and not necessarily in line with others’ tastes.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): “It is one thing to learn about the past,” wrote Cancerian journalist Kenneth Auchincloss. “It is another to wallow in it.” That’s stellar advice for you to incorporate in the coming weeks. After studying your astrological omens, I’m enthusiastic about you exploring the old days and old ways. I’m hoping that you will discover new clues you’ve overlooked before and that this further information will inspire you to re-envision your life story. But as you conduct your explorations, it’s also crucial to avoid getting bogged down in sludgy emotions like regret or resentment. Be inspired by your history, not demoralized by it.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Would you like to deepen and strengthen your capacity to concentrate? Cosmic rhythms will conspire in your favor if you work on this valuable skill in the coming weeks. You’ll be able to make more progress than would normally be possible. Here’s pertinent advice from author Harriet Griffey: “Whenever you feel like quitting, just do five more—five more minutes, five more exercises, five more pages—which will extend your focus.” Here’s another tip: Whenever you feel your concentration flagging, remember what it is you love about the task you’re doing. Ruminate about its benefits for you and others.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): What’s your favorite feeling? Here’s Virgo poet Mary Szybist’s answer to that question: hunger. She’s not speaking about the longing for food, but rather the longing for everything precious, interesting, and meaningful. She adores the mood of “not yet,” the experience of moving toward the desired thing. What would be your response to the question, Virgo? I’m guessing you may at times share Szybist’s perspective. But given the current astrological omens, your favorite feeling right now may be utter satisfaction—the gratifying sensation of getting what you’ve hungered for. I say, trust that intuition.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the English language, the words “naked” and “nude” have different connotations. Art critic Kenneth Clark noted that “naked” people depicted in painting and sculpture are “deprived of clothes,” and embarrassed as a result. Being “nude,” on the other hand, has “no uncomfortable overtone,” but indicates “a balanced, prosperous and confident body.” I bring this to your attention because I believe you would benefit from experiencing extra nudity and no nakedness in the days ahead. If you choose to take on this assignment, please use it to upgrade your respect and reverence for your beauty. PS: Now is also a favorable time to express your core truths without inhibition or apology. I urge you to be your pure self in all of your glory.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio poet Anne Sexton wrote, “One has to get their own animal out of their own cage and not look for either an animal keeper or an unlocker.” That’s always expert advice, but it will be extra vital for you to heed in the coming weeks. The gorgeous semi-wild creature within you needs more room to run, more sights to see, more adventures to seek. For that to happen, it needs to spend more time outside of its cage. And you’re the best person to make sure that happens.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) could be a marvelous friend. If someone he cared for was depressed or feeling lost, he would invite them to sit in his presence as he improvised music on the piano. There were no words, no advice—only emotionally stirring melodies. “He said everything to me,” one friend said about his gift. “And finally gave me consolation.” I invite you to draw inspiration from his example, Sagittarius. You’re at the peak of your powers to provide solace, comfort, and healing to allies who need such nurturing. Do it in whatever way is also a blessing for you.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): At age 23, Capricorn-born Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (1721–1764) became French King Louis XV’s favorite mistress. She was not born into aristocracy, but she wielded her Capricornian flair with supreme effectiveness. Ultimately, she achieved a noble title as well as high prestige and status in the French court. As is true for evolved Capricorns, her elevated role was well-deserved, not the result of vulgar social-climbing. She was a patron of architecture, porcelain artwork, and France’s top intellectuals. She ingratiated herself to the King’s wife, the Queen, and served as an honored assistant. I propose we make her your role model for the next four weeks. May she inspire you to seek a boost in your importance and clout that’s accomplished with full integrity.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The bad news is that artist Debbie Wagner was diagnosed with two brain tumors in 2002. The good news is that surgery not only enabled her to survive, but enhanced her visual acuity. The great news is that on most days since 2005, she has painted a new image of the sunrise. I invite you to dream up a ritual to celebrate your own victory over adversity, Aquarius. Is there a generous gesture or creative act you could do on a semi-regular basis to thank life for providing you with the help and power you needed?
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A self-described “anarchist witch” named Lars writes on his Tumblr blog, “I am a ghost from the 1750s, and my life is currently in the hands of a group of suburban 13-year-olds using a ouija board to ask me if Josh from homeroom has a crush on them.” He’s implying that a powerful supernatural character like himself is being summoned to do tasks that are not worthy of him. He wishes his divinatory talents were better used. Are there any resemblances between you and him, Pisces? Do you ever feel as if you’re not living up to your promise? That your gifts are not being fully employed? If so, I’m pleased to predict that you could fix this problem in the coming weeks and months. You will have extra energy and savvy to activate your full potential.
Not all Malbec comes from Argentina, though one might think so with the amount imported of this varietal.
Local winemaker John Ritchey has made a terrific 2017 Malbec ($32) with grapes from Pierce Ranch Vineyards in San Antonio Valley. And it comes with all the aromas and flavors we expect from this solo-star wine. Silky, rich and awash with red and black fruit flavors, its floral notes are balanced by red licorice, chocolate and star anise. Ritchey says it has a long lingering fruit finish and a soft chocolate-velvety texture.
“Pair with slow-roasted meat, barbecued lamb, grilled sausage and onions, garlic-based dishes, yellow curry dishes, lentils, charcuterie—and with Brie, blue cheese, ricotta and pecorino for cheese pairings.” Or, just drink it by itself!
Ritchey makes a lot of other reds and whites and a tasty port made from 100% Zinfandel.
Bottle Jack Winery has two locations: La Madrona Drive and Ingalls Street—both are in Santa Cruz. For hours and more info visit bottlejackwines.com.
Gourmet Grazing on the Green The annual Gourmet Grazing on the Green fundraiser is Saturday, Oct. 9, noon-4pm. The Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group’s beneficiaries include Jacob’s Heart, Hospice of Santa Cruz County and Katz Cancer Resource Center. Held in beautiful Aptos Village Park with around 45 participating vendors, attendees are guaranteed an afternoon of delicious gourmet food, fabulous wines and craft beer. For tickets and more info visit sccbg.org.
Two Sicilian Rosé Wines Here are two Sicilian wines I recommend that are lovely and inexpensive—produced by two separate outfits under the Disaronno International umbrella. First is a 2020 Corvo Rosé (about $9.99) with flavors of strawberry and pomegranate and a bright finish. The other is a 2020 Duca di Salaparuta Calanica Rosato (about $15.99), a lively and aromatic wine with notes of citrus and white peach. Both wines pair well with appetizers, sushi or grilled fish. For more info on these wines visit vivino.com or 1000corks.com.
Sunrise Café is a community cornerstone in downtown Soquel that pairs classic breakfast and lunch diner fare with an ambiance invigorated by jazz music fluttering in the background. Lynn Zhomg has been co-owner for the last 25 years, and describes the place as a homey gathering spot with an energized staff. Some popular breakfast choices are their scrambles, the Sunnyside Home Fries with different toppings, and a thin traditional waffle piled with yogurt and fresh fruit. The lunch menu is highlighted by a Philly cheesesteak, a classic turkey melt and their Village Chicken with mushrooms and homemade bacon dressing. Hours are 8am-2pm Monday-Friday and 8am-3pm Saturday/Sunday for indoor and outdoor dining and takeout. Zhomg not only has a deep love for the Soquel community, but also for music, and spoke to GT recently about how these two passions come together at the Sunrise Café.
Tell me about your love for music and its role at your restaurant? LYNN ZHOMG: I think music and food are a great pairing, because they both bring a livelihood into the soul. I mostly play jazz music, which really energizes my spirit and has a very rooted and rich tradition and culture that’s great to keep going. Food nurtures you, and the music is part of that nurturing process as well. I have many posters of jazz musicians in the restaurant, and although not alive anymore physically, their spirit is alive forever and it inspires not only me, but also the staff and guests.
Can you talk about Soquel and the restaurant’s setting? I graduated from UCSC with an economics major and was working in San Jose, but I loved the Soquel community and it was a major draw to be able to own a part of it. The people here really help and support each other, especially during these difficult pandemic times. So many customers have thanked us for staying in business and providing a place to come in and eat and chat, and that this brings them so much peace and comfort. The Heart of Soquel Park is also right behind the restaurant. It has nice trails that pass along the Soquel creek, and has picnic tables where people can get their food to-go and eat outside in nature with the sunshine.
Re: “Aptos in Shock” (GT, 9/8): To make campuses safer, I would no longer allow weapons on the school grounds. Waterproof handheld metal detectors can detect a concealed weapon, knives and other metal objects. They can range in price from less than $100 to expensive, but definitely cheaper than an alternative. The tool could also be used to check...
In just under a decade, Lara Love Hardin—the COO and editorial director of small Santa Cruz publishing house Idea Architects—went from the depths of an opioid addiction and incarceration to being the literary agent to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Stephen Hawking, the Dalai Lama, Bryan Stevenson and other world and cultural leaders.
But that was just the prelude. Now Hardin is...
