Page 374 – Good Times

Several Santa Cruz County Renters Hope for Assistance as Eviction Moratoriums are Set to Expire Sept. 30

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September 7, 2021

Several Santa Cruz County Renters Hope for Assistance as Eviction Moratoriums are Set to Expire Sept. 30

Elizabeth, who requested GT withhold her last name, was on her way to FedEx when we spoke.

“I don’t have internet in my home, so I’m going to FedEx for wifi,” she says, her three children chattering in the background. “I haven’t been able to pay my bills and Comcast hasn’t been really nice about my service. Yeah, so it’s kind of hard for me also to just find the time to go and redo my whole application.”

She is referring to her Covid-19 rent relief application. The state-funded rent relief program aims to provide financial aid to tenants like Elizabeth, renters who were financially hit the hardest by the pandemic. Elizabeth and her husband have been unable to pay rent in its entirety for the past few months, due to both of them losing their jobs at the start of the pandemic.

Since she applied in May, Elizabeth has been trying to move her application along. When GT spoke to her in July, the program had just revised its application with the goal of making it more accessible to renters and speeding up the processing time. But Elizabeth’s application has not budged.

Representatives at the state program and Community Bridges, a local nonprofit helping renters with their applications, continue to cite missing information as the reason her application is stagnant.

But Elizabeth is often given mixed feedback about what information is missing. And without anyone following up on her case, she is left to speculate about the status of her application, or spend hours tracking down someone to give her an update on if she included the right information this time. As a mother of three, prioritizing her rent relief application competes with the everyday concerns of motherhood.

“It’s been close to three months and I haven’t been able to get what I owe. I’m getting more in debt with my family and friends. It’s been so hard, and especially right now that the moratorium is going to expire I’m starting to stress. My kids are back to school, and I don’t have any internet resources,” Elizabeth says.

Last month, in order to cover rent, Elizabeth forfeited paying her Comcast bill, and is now without internet. Not only do her children not have access to the web for school purposes, but no internet means another hurdle, since the rent relief application is completely digital.

Recently, a representative from the state told her she would need to redo her application completely.

Elizabeth laughed when asked how much time she had spent on her application.

“I would say at least four weeks worth,” she says.

New, (Sort Of) Improved

Greg Chanski is a landlord who also submitted an application with his tenant in May. He owns four houses in Santa Cruz County, and his tenant owed him around $16,000 in back rent.

In late July, Chanksi was notified via email that their application was approved, and on Aug. 20 he was paid the back rent in full. The payment came as a relief to Chanksi, and eased tensions with his tenant, but had he not been so proactive he questions if the payment would have come through at all.

“Every step of the way I had to call and remind the agent, and he had to push it along because you’d get to a certain point and nothing would happen. And then you’d call again and then the next step would happen,” Chanski tells me during his routine morning hike through the redwoods.

When GT reported on this issue in July, representatives at Community Bridges and Watsonville Housing Manager Carlos Landaverry did not know of any tenants who had received payments. According to the state rent relief dashboard, the state has received 1,328 applications from Santa Cruz County. 1,274 of those applications are complete, and the state has issued 331 payments.

One reason for the high number of complete applications in comparison with the number of payments issued is that the state attempts to contact landlords three times to give them the money directly. This hold-up accounts for 262 applications in the que, which are approved but pending a landlord response.

Both Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA), a faith-based nonprofit addressing issues like affordable housing, and Community Bridges are working to create solutions to this problem, and speed up the process in general.

But as tenants continue to wait out these bureaucratic hurdles, they lose faith that the money is coming at all, Landaverry says.

“There’s a bag of mixed feelings. There’s mistrust. People don’t believe us that help is on the way,” Landaverry says.

A Tale of Two Systems

When the Covid-19 rent relief program began, local governments were given three options for how they would distribute the money and process the applications.

First, they could let the state process applications and distribute funds. Or they could distribute funds and process applications themselves, while using the same application guidelines that the state put forth. Or, alternately, they could use different application guidelines and distribute the funds locally.

Santa Cruz County chose the first option. “The county staff are overwhelmed in Santa Cruz County, so they just didn’t have the capacity to manage a program like [the second option],” CEO of Community Bridges Ray Cancino says.

Monterey County chose the second option.

When the CARES Act was passed in March, United Way Monterey County, an organization fighting for the financial stability of Monterey County families, created a system that distributed the funds provided by the CARE Act to local families via local organizations. So Monterey County had a model in place that would, theoretically, distribute money from Covid-19 rent relief with similar efficiency.

In some ways, having control over how the applications are processed allows United Way Monterey County more freedom to eliminate some of the logistical barriers inherent in the state model, says United Way CEO Katy Castagna.

The 14 organizations spread across Monterey County who help people fill out applications are also the ones who process the applications, making information more centralized—applicants only have to call one place to receive an update.

Also, the application is not solely digital. Applicants can dial 211, and a representative will submit an application on their behalf over the phone, eliminating one of the biggest hurdles for people without digital literacy or the internet, like Elizabeth.

Although the percentage of funds distributed compared to requested is similar (Monterey County has paid 26% of its total funds requested, compared to Santa Cruz County’s 25%), the number of households who have received payment points to a larger discrepancy: Monterey County has served 932 households while Santa Cruz County has served 331.

Project Manager at Hartnell College Ana G. Ibarra-CastroI speculates there are multiple reasons as to why Monterey County’s system has served more households. Hartnell College is one of the partners that helps process applications.

“I think it is extremely helpful to localize applications,” Ibarra-Castrol says. “Especially if there’s a need to meet in person to deliver documents, or there’s that technology gap, localizing the interface with the community is definitely helpful.”

Additionally, partners frequently provide feedback on what is working best, and it’s easy for the organizations to implement these recommendations. The partners also quickly realized that having landlord cooperation is key to processing applications efficiently, and moved to prioritize establishing these relationships.

“There are a lot of repetitive tasks that go away after establishing that relationship,” Ibarra-Castrol says. Such as the three contact policy, which Ibarra-Castrol says she does not think is a hindrance to processing applications the way it is for the state.

While Monterey’s system has served more households than the state’s, Cancino points out a problem with having different systems in neighboring counties. Residents in North Monterey County, which includes parts of Pajaro Valley, will seek help from Community Bridges, which usually provides services to Pajaro Valley residents.

“If you live in Pajaro Valley, or on one side of Watsonville, you have two different systems,” Cancino says. “We don’t have access to Monterey County’s Housing Assistance Program, so we’re telling a Pajaro resident who lives less than a mile from a Watsonville resident, ‘Sorry, we can’t help you.’”

Moratorium Ends

With California’s eviction moratorium ending Sept. 30, and the Supreme Court rejecting the federal eviction moratorium in a 6-to-3 vote, processing applications is more important now than ever.

One of the largest issues with the eviction moratorium’s pending expiration, according to Landaverry and Attorney John Subranni, is the informal evictions that are currently happening. Both are seeing tenants who are unable to pay rent preparing to move out, if they haven’t already.

Elizabeth is one of those renters. Her landlords are frustrated that her application is still in progress, and she worries what will happen after Sept. 30.

But Subranni stresses that tenants are protected from eviction if they fulfill the qualifications listed on the Covid-19 related financial distress form, and pay 25% of their back rent starting Oct. 1 (this can be monthly or a lump sum) or have an application for Covid-19 rent relief processing.

Still, Subranni expects to see an uptick in nonpayment eviction cases come fall.

“A lot of folks are only partially reemployed. We see a lot of people who lost a lot of work and income, and then sort of got their work back, but it’s not quite the same. So, I expect a lot of people will not be able to pay their rent.”

Chanksi’s tenant falls into this category, unable to fully resume the same hours of work due to the pandemic. And Chanski says that even though his tenant is now caught up, they have no way to pay for rent going forward, and the relief program will not cover him in the future.

“I’m going to start having to put pressure on him,” Chanski says.

Even though tenants are protected from eviction for nonpayment of rent if they meet the requirements listed in the distress form, beginning Nov. 1, landlords can take tenants to small claims court for outstanding rent payments.

But for now, the tenants who have pandemic-related financial reasons for nonpayment should stay put, says Landaverry.

“If you’re behind in rent or utilities, talk to one of the nonprofits before you move out. Before you do anything, talk to an attorney right away,” Landaverry says.

Even though she qualifies for protection from eviction, Elizabeth is unsure what she will do. She has more than $7,000 of debt owed to family and friends, and her recent exchanges with her landlords have been tense. She plans on making one last attempt at getting her rent relief application processed.

“I honestly don’t know if I’m going to be able to get it, I have been waiting since May. So I’m kind of hopeless right now,” Elizabeth says, trailing off for a moment. “Yeah, it’s just, it’s really sad. And all the time that I have put into getting this to work for me,” Elizabeth says, releasing a short humorless laugh. “It’s hard, not being sure where I am stepping next.”

Community Stunned Following the Fatal Stabbing of a 17-Year-Old Aptos High Student

Todd Guild and Tarmo Hannula

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September 7, 2021

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Community Stunned Following the Fatal Stabbing of a 17-Year-Old Aptos High Student

A 17-year-old Aptos High School student died on Aug. 31 after he was stabbed multiple times on campus, and two of his classmates—a 14- and 17-year-old who Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said are “gang-involved”—are facing murder charges for the attack.

The unprecedented act of on-campus violence—the first Hart says he has seen in his 33 years in law enforcement—has sent shockwaves through the Pajaro Valley Unified School District community, and sparked calls for, among others things, the return of the district’s School Resource Officer (SRO) program, which its board of trustees voted to remove last year.

The PVUSD board is expected to hold a special meeting on Sept. 15 at the Watsonville City Council Chambers to possibly revisit its decision. Neither law enforcement nor school district officials have suggested that having an officer on campus would have prevented the attack. But concerned parents and residents are asking the district to make campuses safer after the incident—and several others involving young people in and around PVUSD schools.

Just four days prior, an 18-year-old was arrested by officers with the Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team for having a loaded handgun at the heavily attended annual Belgard Kup football game between Watsonville and Pajaro Valley high schools. The teen was not a student of either school at the time.

And a day after the deadly Aptos stabbing, a 13-year-old student at Cesar Chavez Middle School in Watsonville was arrested after pulling out a knife on a classmate during a confrontation. In addition, Hart said during a community forum on Sept. 2 that video evidence showed there had been an uptick in fights on the Aptos High campus—including one involving one of the suspects—leading up to the stabbing.

“It’s imperative that this violence stops, and that students can attend school safely and without fear,” Hart said.

‘Senseless tragedy’

Around 2:30pm, the Sheriff’s Office received calls of a stabbing at Aptos High. About 15 patrol cars from the Sheriff’s Office and the California Highway Patrol raced to establish a crime scene and shut down the entrance and exit from the campus at Freedom Boulevard. Hart said deputies found a boy suffering from multiple stab wounds near the campus’ swimming pool and that a deputy performed CPR until paramedics arrived. The school was put on lockdown as search teams combed the campus with guns drawn and a K9.

Central Fire set up a landing zone at the school baseball field where a CALSTAR rescue helicopter flew over the campus before landing in the outfield of the diamond. The victim was taken from the crime scene to the field by paramedics from American Medical Response and loaded into the helicopter before being taken to a trauma center outside of the county.

Aptos High remained on lockdown until about 5:30pm.

A huge logjam of traffic, mostly parents trying to pick up their children, lined up along Freedom Boulevard back to Highway 1, where a CHP officer grappled with traffic control. Near the entrance to the campus, a clutch of parents hugged one another, some in tears, as they yearned for information about the unfolding events. They took turns making frantic phone calls while trying to comfort one another.

About 25 people are assigned to the case, Hart said during a press conference later that night. He added that witnesses may have recorded the attack on their cell phones, and asked them to come forward. Witnesses, Hart said, would not face criminal charges.

By Sept. 7, more than 960 people had donated roughly $53,000 to a GoFundMe page set up to help the family of the victim defray funeral costs. The creator of the page wrote that she gained the family’s permission to “grieve their loss and have them not to worry about how they’re going to pay for upcoming bills and expenses.” The author wrote that the student was described as “a kind-hearted and respectful young man” by neighbors and family.

“Our hearts are heavy tonight as we mourn the death of our Aptos High student,” Rodriguez said. “This senseless tragedy is a loss for all of us who knew the student, his parents, his friends and our community but most importantly his family.”

The campus was closed for two days after the stabbing and all school activities were canceled. PVUSD offered grief counselors at Cabrillo College’s Aptos and Watsonville campuses. During the community forum on Sept. 2, Aptos High Principal Peggy Pughe said that school counselors also proactively reached out to students through phone and video calls and emails.

When students returned to campus on Sept. 3, there were two sheriff’s deputies on site. A deputy will also be on campus this week. It is unclear how long law enforcement will have a presence at the school after that.

Student Safety

The attack occurred nearly one year after the PVUSD board ended the district’s SRO program, which placed law enforcement officers on high school campuses. The district opted instead to shift the funds to social-emotional supports for students. At the time, numerous people urged the board to make the shift, reasoning among other things that the presence of law enforcement made students uncomfortable. Others said that a focus on law enforcement was the wrong approach to deal with students’ issues.

PVUSD Trustee Maria Orozco said the decision to end the SRO program was made after listening to community input. She says she stands by the decision to increase support services for students, and that there are no plans to shift that funding.

“We heard that loud and clear,” she says. “And even now, with the increase of the services that were provided to students, it’s still not enough.”

During the emergency meeting, the trustees and district officials will likely discuss how to fund the SRO program, should they elect to relaunch it. The program cost $405,265 annually for one Watsonville Police officer at Watsonville High School and another at Pajaro Valley High School, and one Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy at Aptos High.

“For me, it’s always been about the safety and well-being of students, and I think it’s a conversation we need to have as a community,” Orozco says. “I don’t think we’re able to ignore what happened and the impact it’s having on everyone.”

WPD Interim Chief Thomas Sims says that, even if the district immediately funded the program, it would take around one year to bring the officers back, since they were reassigned and those positions were eliminated. That is unfortunate, Sims says, since many students said they liked the program and felt safer with an officer on campus. Many consulted the officers for law enforcement issues and guidance.

“There are so many positives that come from having an officer on campus,” he says. “It builds community, it builds relationships between officers and students.”

Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn says that a deputy would be available to return to the Aptos High campus immediately, should PVUSD restore the SRO program. Sims stresses that WPD has a good relationship with PVUSD, and will support the district in whatever decision is made.

Sims says that, during the discussion last year to remove the officers, a small fraction of the community said the program is a “gateway to the prison system,” a notion he calls “silly.” SROs receive special training to work on school campuses, including implicit bias and de-escalation. They also conduct welfare checks and home visits and connect at-risk students to diversion programs.

“To take that away from the school system was unfortunate,” Sims says. “The presence of police officers prevents crime from happening. That is a fact. And everybody knows that.”

Hart several times throughout the Sept. 2 forum championed the program that had been at Aptos High for 22 years before last year’s decision. But when asked during the forum to present data that shows police presence keeps students safe, he referred to anecdotal experience and told attendees that there are several articles about the effectiveness of SROs.

“Here in Santa Cruz County, we’ve been in the schools for many, many years … and there hasn’t been any serious cases of violence like this,” he said. “Locally, we know it works.”

PVUSD Board President Jennifer Holm says the issue is a complex one, and that there are many different ways of looking at safety. She pointed out that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where in 2018 a shooter killed 17 people and injured 17 others, had an SRO on campus.

“When you have a senseless tragedy like this, it’s important to reevaluate and take another look,” she says.

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology: Sept. 8-14

Rob Brezsny

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September 7, 2021

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Free will astrology for the week of Sept. 8

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “We need to become more unreasonable but in an intelligent way,” says Aries politician Jerry Brown. Yes! I agree! And that’s especially true for you right now, Aries. To Brown’s advice, I will add this message from Aries fashion designer Vivienne Westwood: “Intelligence is composed mostly of imagination, insight—things that have nothing to do with reason.” Here’s one further suggestion to help you take maximum advantage of cosmic rhythms, courtesy of Aries historian Arnold J. Toynbee: “The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “I have become whole and complete, like a thundering cloudburst in summer,” wrote Taurus poet Miklós Radnóti. I love that metaphor for fullness: not an immaculate icon of shiny, sterile perfection, but rather a primal, vigorous force of nature in all of its rumbling glory. I hope you like this symbol as much as I do, and I hope you use it to fuel your creative spirit in the coming weeks. PS: Keep in mind that many indigenous people welcome rainstorms as a source of fertility and growth.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Pandiculation” is a word that refers to when you stretch and yawn at the same time. According to my understanding of the astrological omens, you will benefit from doing a lot of pandiculations in the coming days. I also recommend gazing lazily out the window and looking at the sky a lot. Keep your shoes off as much as possible, get a massage or three, and let yourself sleep more than you customarily do. Did you know that sighing deeply is good for your lungs’ health? Here’s your homework: Dream up all the things you can do to relax and renew yourself. It’s prime time to indulge in generous acts of self-healing.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The ancient Roman author Pliny’s ten-volume Natural History, written in the first century, was a monumental encyclopedia of the natural world, unprecedented in its own time and for centuries afterward. It offered compilations of facts about astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, mineralogy, and many other subjects. There was one big problem with it, however. It contained a great deal of erroneous information. For example, Pliny described in detail many non-existent animals, including dragons, flying horses, and giant serpents that swallowed bulls and snatched birds out of the sky. My reason for telling you this is to inspire you to be extra discerning in the coming weeks. Be especially skeptical of authorities, experts, and other know-it-alls who are very confident despite being inaccurate or erroneous. It’s time for you to increase your trust in your own authority.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “There are those fortunate hours when the world consents to be made into a poem,” writes Leo poet Mark Doty. That’s great for a poet. But what about for everyone else? My variation on Doty’s comment is this: There are fortunate hours when the world consents to be made into a holy revelation or a lyrical breakthrough or a marvelous feeling that changes our lives forever. I expect events like those to come your way at least twice in the immediate future.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Between 37 and 41 BCE, Virgo-born Caligula served as third Emperor of Rome. To do so, he had to disprove the prophecy of a renowned astrologer, Thrasyllus of Mendes. Years earlier, Thrasyllus had predicted that Caligula, despite being well-connected, “had no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae”—a distance of two miles. Once in power, Caligula arranged to have a series of pontoon boats arrayed across the bay, enabling him to ride his favorite horse Incitatus from one shore to the other across the Bay of Baiae. I foresee the possibility of a comparable turn of events for you, Virgo. Is there a curse you want to undo? A false prophecy you’d like to cancel? Someone’s low expectation you would love to debunk? The coming weeks will be a favorable time.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): College student Amelia Hamrick studied the right panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s 15th-century painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. It depicts a hellish scene. Cities are on fire. Weird beasts devour sinful humans. There are demons and torture chambers. Hamrick did what no one in the history of art had ever done: She transcribed the musical score that the artist had written on a man’s naked hindquarters. Her work inspired a composer to create a recording entitled “500-Year-Old Butt Song from Hell.” In the coming weeks, I invite you to perform feats comparable to Hamrick: 1. Explore the past for useful, overlooked clues. 2. Find or create redemptive transformations out of stressful situations. 3. Have fun telling stories about your past misadventures.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Born on one of the Galapagos Islands, Diego is a giant tortoise who has lived for over 100 years. He’s a member of the Hood Island species, which had dwindled to a population of 15 by 1977. That’s when he and his tortoise colleague, whose name is E5, became part of a breeding program with 12 female tortoises. E5 was reserved in his behavior, but Diego was a showboat who vocalized loudly as he enjoyed public mating rituals. Together the two males saved their species—producing over 2,000 offspring in subsequent years. According to my astrological analysis, you could be as metaphorically fertile as Diego and E5 in the coming months—even if you prefer to adopt an approach more akin to E5’s.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “The meaning of my existence is that life has addressed a question to me,” wrote psychologist Carl Jung. “Or, conversely, I myself am a question that is addressed to the world, and I must communicate my answer, for otherwise, I am dependent upon the world’s answer.” These are superb meditations for you Sagittarians during the coming weeks. Between now and October 1, I invite you to keep a journal where you write about two subjects: 1. What is the main question that life asks you? 2. What is the main question that your life asks the world?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): North Korea’s Capricorn leader Kim Jong-un has an amazing résumé. Official reports say he learned to drive at age three and was an accomplished sailor at nine. As an adult, he developed the power to control the weather. He’s a skilled musician and artist, as well as a scientist who developed a miracle drug to cure AIDs, Ebola, cancer, heart disease, and the common cold. Most impressively, Kim is an archaeologist who discovered a lair where magical unicorns live. Is it possible you have unexpressed powers like these, Capricorn? If so, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to identify them and start tapping into their potential. It’s time to develop your dormant talents.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author Toni Morrison testified, “I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don’t think it’s a privilege or an indulgence. It’s almost like knowledge, which is to say, it’s what we were born for.” I urge you to adopt her perspective during the next four weeks, Aquarius. In my astrological opinion, a devoted quest for beauty will heal exactly what most needs to be healed in you. It will teach you everything you most need to know.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Poet and translator Anne Carson periodically joins with her husband Robert Currie to teach a workshop called “EgoCircus.” It’s an ironic title, because the subject they teach is the art of collaboration. To develop skills as a collaborator, of course, people must lay aside at least some of their egos’ needs and demands. In accordance with current astrological potentials, I encourage you to stage your own version of EgoCircus in the coming weeks. The time is ripe for you to hone your creative togetherness and synergistic intimacy.

Homework: Tell me the most important lesson you’ve learned since 2021 began. Ne********@Fr***************.com

Integrity Prides Itself on Being an Immersive Experience, Not Just a Bottle of Wine

Josie Cowden

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September 7, 2021

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Integrity Prides Itself on Being an Immersive Experience, Not Just a Bottle of Wine

Riesling is marvelously aromatic—packing lots of layered floral, fruit and mineral scents. Some Riesling wines can be overly sweet, but this one—made by Integrity Wines owner Mark Hoover—is spot on.

“Pale straw with silver highlights, this aromatic wine leaps out of the glass with intense yet delicate notes of candied lime zest combined with orange blossom, fresh apricot, crushed granite and a faint hint of petrol,” Hoover says. The flavor profile includes yellow peach, fresh nectarine and ripe green apple. The 2019 Santa Lucia Highlands Riesling is well worth its $24 price.

I took a bottle of Integrity Riesling to share with friends at the Hideout in Aptos—it’s nice to see the restaurant up-and-running again after a fire destroyed it in 2019. It is once more a bustling hive of activity. Everybody loved this bright easy-pairing white wine with its fresh-as-a-mountain-stream minerality.

Integrity has a lively tasting room at Watsonville Airport. You can sample the many other offerings, including the terrific, semi-sweet Late Harvest Riesling. Integrity Wines is available all over, including Deer Park Wine & Spirits in Aptos and many local restaurants.

On every label, it says, “Integrity is not just about the wine itself. It’s about everyone who helped create this wine experience. It’s complete when we add you.” That’s integrity.

Join Integrity Wines on a Rhône Valley Wine Cruise in July 2022. For more information, visit integritywine.com.

Integrity Wines, 135 Aviation Way #16, Watsonville, 831-322-4200. integritywine.com.

Capitola Art & Wine Festival

The much-loved Capitola Art & Wine Festival is back! The event is from 10am to 6pm on Saturday, Sept. 11, and Sunday, Sept. 12. Many of our favorite local wineries will be pouring, and get ready for lots of great art, tasty food and the rockin’ good vibes of American Idol finalist James Durbin. Durbin’s special Saturday performance is in remembrance of 9/11 victims. Visit capitolaartandwinefestival.com.

Akira Constantly Attracts Dedicated Customers with Sushi that Bursts with Bold, Deep Flavors

Andrew Steingrube

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September 7, 2021

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Akira Constantly Attracts Dedicated Customers with Sushi that Bursts with Bold, Deep Flavors

Since he was a kid, Travis Babcock has loved sushi, so managing Akira for the past three years has been a good fit. Babcock, a 10-year restaurant industry vet, says Akira strives to make great food for the community while providing a casual and family-friendly dining experience. Akira serves “Santa Cruz” style sushi at its Aptos and Midtown locations. It’s open every day from 11:30am-9pm. Babcock spoke to GT about Akira’s innovative rolls and more.

What sets Akira apart from other sushi restaurants?

TRAVIS BABCOCK: Our rolls and especially our vegetarian menu. Our vegetarian rolls are unlike anywhere else in Santa Cruz. It’s the ingredients and different styles we use. Specifically, the shoestring yams we top our rolls with are something I haven’t seen anywhere else. Another thing that sets us apart is that all of our sauces are housemade. Many customers love our habanero sauce, which is our spiciest. And most places have a generic unagi sauce, but we make ours in-house, which creates a bolder and deeper flavor. Our Akira dressing is a ginger miso combination; we have a spicy version as well.

What are some signature menu items?

I would say our most popular fish rolls are our namesake Akira Roll and the Golden Gate. The Akira Roll is made up of tempura Ebi, avocado and spicy tuna on the inside and loaded on top with hamachi, Shiro maguro, crab salad, jalapeño and our signature sauces. The Golden Gate has tempura asparagus, spicy nut mixture, hamachi and is topped with salmon, avocado and lemon. Our most popular, and my personal favorite veggie roll, is our Silence of the Yams. It has mango, tempura green beans, spicy nuts and shiso and is topped with avocado, shoestring yams, spicy miso and habanero sauce. Our house specialty appetizer is our Macho Tuna; thinly sliced maguro laid on a plate topped with several house sauces and jalapeño, tobiko, shiso and green onion. The sauces and the garnishes with the tuna really bring the flavors to life. And for those who don’t eat raw fish, we have great cooked options ranging from cooked rolls to bento boxes with choices like steak, salmon and chicken.

1222 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, 831-600-7093; akirasantacruz.com. 105 D Post Office Dr., Aptos, 831-708-2154; akiraaptos.com.

Vim Dining and Desserts’ Craft Cocktail Renaissance

Christina Waters

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September 7, 2021

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Vim Dining and Desserts’ Craft Cocktail Renaissance

Part alchemy, part rock ‘n’ roll, cocktails are liquid excitement—especially in the hands of creative mixologists like Vim’s Uyen Tran. While we watch, she never stops moving. From squeezing limes and filtering out the pulp to measuring, pouring, and garnishing, she’s kinetic. Crafting her own infusions and syrups, Tran admits to being a micro-manager.

“I always like to make my own infusions of various strengths,” she explains while mixing a guava margarita. “That way I can control the ratios of fruit and herb flavors.”

Rinsing a shallow goblet with vermouth, she prepares Bev’s Venus No.1 martini. “I make drinks the way I like them myself,” she says with a smile from behind her mask.

I’ve returned for a second visit to my new favorite cocktail, Tran’s refreshing Basil Highball. Last time I called for Venus No.1 gin in this tall tart drink made of lemon juice, basil simple syrup, soda and gin. This time I ordered it with the house well gin, Tanqueray. The difference was notable. Tanqueray makes a smoother, softer statement inside its jacket of fresh lemon juice and savory basil. I preferred the more assertive Venus. Bev’s martini exuded that unmistakable gin perfume, entwined with olives. Lovely. I asked about the thin, golden slice of lemon in my basil cocktail. “Dehydrated lemon,” Tran tells me. “I make them myself. They keep well and don’t dilute the cocktail.”

Tran has been at VIM for a year. She likes the place and the management. Originally from San Jose, she picked up her craft “by asking questions. I’m curious, I like to know how things are made. And I like to cook so it’s all about mixing.” Right now, summertime, the guava margarita (made with Tran’s handcrafted guava puree) is enjoying a moment at the Westside restaurant. “I design each cocktail to go with a specific entree on our menu,” she explains. “The menu changes seasonally, so I’ll be making a whole list of new special cocktails soon.” We’ll definitely be there. Vim Dining and Desserts is located at 2238 Mission St., SC. vimdining.com. Vim will be closed in celebration of the owners’ marriage from Sept 12—29th.

Shop Locale

Armed with a smart idea about delivering locally crafted designer pastries and other specialty foods directly to consumers’ front door, the entrepreneurs of Los Gatos-based Locale got my attention. So I ordered some luxury items, including gluten free pastries ($1 more per muffin than at the store), organic figs, Manresa granola (oh baby!) and something wonderful called Authentic Israeli Hummus, which tasted like what Jesus might have eaten. The ordering process is easy. The selections are enticing, from small farms and businesses that deal in high quality, e.g. Straus, Coke Farm, Pizzeria Delfina, Straits, Alexander’s Patisserie, Blue Bottle Coffee, Comal, Fogline Farm, Cowgirl Creamery. Quite a few Santa Cruz purveyors on the list, including Mutari, Companion, Full Belly Farm, Live Earth Farm etc. Everything is picked and procured the morning of the Saturday delivery ($5) between 9am and 2:30pm. For a few dollars more, you can choose a narrower delivery window. You are invited to leave a tip. My order arrived beautifully packaged with a frozen coldpack. I admit, the almond granola ($10) from Manresa has spoiled me for life. But I feel the service will work best for those who don’t have access to these specialties (I can run out to Companion Bakeshop, for instance, pretty easily), or for those who just don’t want to run around to acquire free-range eggs, organic meats and upscale pastries. You will notice mark-up, for the ease of access. It’s a great idea for discerning diners. shoplocale.com.

Abortion Politics

The New York Times

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September 3, 2021

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By Reid J. Epstein, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s decision not to block a Texas law sharply curtailing abortions abruptly vaulted the issue to the forefront of American politics on Thursday, reshaping the dynamics of elections in California this month, in Virginia in November and in midterms next year that will determine control of Congress and statehouses.

Republicans hailed the court’s 5-4 decision, explained in a one-paragraph middle-of-the-night ruling, as a tremendous victory, allowing a nearly complete ban on abortions to stand in the nation’s second-largest state.

For Democrats, it was a nightmare come true: A conservative Supreme Court, led by three appointees of former President Donald Trump, had allowed a highly gerrymandered, Republican-controlled state Legislature to circumvent Roe v. Wade, the half-century-old decision that enshrined abortion as a constitutional right.

Suddenly, supporters of abortion rights found themselves grappling not only with the political and policy failures that had led to this point, but also with the prospect that other Republican-controlled legislatures could quickly enact copycat legislation. On Thursday, Republican lawmakers in Arkansas, Florida and South Dakota promised to do so in their next legislative sessions.

Yet Democrats also embraced the opportunity to force an issue they believe is a political winner for them to the center of the national debate. After years of playing defense, Democrats say the Texas law will test whether the reality of a practical ban on abortions can motivate voters to support them.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, a Democrat up for reelection in 2022, said people in her state had fought to protect women’s reproductive freedom and would vote accordingly. “If a Republican is going to go to Washington to roll those freedoms back, I will make it an issue,” she said in an interview. “I don’t think you should underestimate the impact that this issue has to Nevadans.”

Republicans held up the Texas law as an example for the country to follow. “This law will save the lives of thousands of unborn babies in Texas and become a national model,” said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas. “I pray that every other state will follow our lead in defense of life.”

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, who is considered a potential Republican candidate for president in 2024, said she had directed her office to “make sure we have the strongest pro-life laws on the books.”

The court’s decision, which did not address the substance of the Texas law, creates new urgency for President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats to do more than issue public statements vowing to defend women’s reproductive rights.

“The temperature just got a lot hotter on this issue, and I certainly now expect Congress to join in these fights,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, chair of the Democratic Governors Association. “Our voters expect us all to do more.”

Yet Senate Democrats do not have the votes to eliminate the filibuster, which would be necessary to change federal abortion law in the evenly divided chamber.

In Washington on Thursday, Democratic leaders dutifully scrambled to show their determination to push back against the possibility that the Texas law could be replicated elsewhere — or to respond if the Supreme Court rolls back abortion rights when it rules on a Mississippi law that seeks to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, two months earlier than Roe and subsequent decisions allow.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to bring a vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would effectively codify abortion rights into federal law.

And Biden pledged “a whole-of-government effort” in response to the Texas law, directing the Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department to identify possible federal measures to help ensure that women in the state have access to safe and legal abortions.

“The highest court of our land will allow millions of women in Texas in need of critical reproductive care to suffer while courts sift through procedural complexities,” Biden said. “The impact of last night’s decision will be immediate and requires an immediate response.”

Vice President Kamala Harris added, “We will not stand by and allow our nation to go back to the days of back-alley abortions.”

The first election that could test Democrats’ capacity to energize voters over abortion rights comes on Sept. 14 in California, where voters will determine the fate of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall effort. Newsom warned on Twitter that the Texas abortion ban “could be the future of CA” if the recall were successful.

In Virginia, Democratic candidates for the state’s three statewide offices and House of Delegates pounced on the issue on Thursday. Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is running to recapture the office in November, said the fight for abortion rights would help motivate Democratic voters who might be complacent after the party captured full control of state government in 2019 and helped Biden win the state last year.

“We are a Democratic state. There are more Democrats,” McAuliffe said. “But this is an off-off-year, and getting Democrats motivated to come out, that’s always the big challenge.”

Eyeing 2022, the Democrats’ Senate campaign arm has signaled it will use abortion rights as a cudgel against Republicans running in states like Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada and North Carolina. Democrats planning campaigns for governor next year are preparing to brand themselves as the last line of defense on abortion rights, particularly in states with Republican-controlled legislatures.

“People are now waking up to the fact that the battle will now be in the states, and they recognize that the only thing, literally the only thing standing in the way of Pennsylvania passing the same ban that Texas just passed, is the veto pen of our Democratic governor,” said Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania attorney general, a Democrat who has said he expects to enter the race to succeed Gov. Tom Wolf. “I’ve given up on the politicians in Washington. I don’t think we can count on them anymore.”

Although Republicans have long made overturning Roe a central political goal — as a candidate in 2016, Trump predicted that his eventual Supreme Court appointees would do so — there was still a palpable sense of shock among Democrats. Despite the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, many Democrats seemed mentally unprepared for Wednesday’s ruling.

“You can’t plan for a blatantly false or unconstitutional court ruling like this,” said Rep. Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, a Democrat who is running for his state’s open Senate seat next year.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who made women’s rights the centerpiece of her 2020 presidential campaign, said Democrats could no longer be squeamish about fighting for abortion rights. “We have to elevate the issue,” she said Thursday. “We need to explain to the American people that this Texas law and other laws that will be attempted to be passed in other states, will upend women’s basic health care.”

More broadly, progressive advocates lamented Democrats’ failure to match Republicans who have spent generations entrenching themselves in state capitals and placing enormous emphasis on appointing conservatives to the bench — key arenas where Democrats have failed to protect abortion rights.

“We’re playing 50 years of catch-up,” said Ben Jealous, a former NAACP chief executive who is now the president of People for the American Way, a progressive organization. “The court is out of step with the American people. And Republicans have made the Supreme Court their sea wall against democracy.”

Even as they exulted, anti-abortion conservatives worried about pitfalls ahead. They recalled Todd Akin, a former Missouri congressman whose 2012 Senate candidacy was derailed by his statement that women who are victims of what he called “legitimate rape” rarely became pregnant. Democrats used remarks like Akin’s to portray the GOP as waging a “war on women,” a tactic that Republicans conceded was highly effective.

“Every candidate in the country is going to be asked about their position on abortion now,” said Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action, which advocates legislation to restrict abortion rights. “What we want to avoid are incidents like what’s happened in the past.”

Democrats have long believed that public support for legal abortion would prevent it from being effectively outlawed, as Texas has done. Even some conservative anti-abortion activists concede that their absolutist position is not one shared by a majority of Americans, although they believe some Democrats have overreached in vowing to eliminate all legal restrictions on abortion.

“You may not have the majority of people who agree with me that life begins at conception, but they don’t believe that abortion should be legal at any point, all paid for by the taxpayer,” said Penny Nance, chief executive of Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian organization.

Support for abortion rights has scarcely been the motivating factor for Democrats that it has been for conservative voters opposed to abortion. In the 2020 presidential election, voters who said abortion was the most important issue backed Trump over Biden, 89% to 9%, according to AP/Votecast data.

But while Republicans have campaigned on restricting abortion rights for generations, Democrats have moved left on the issue only recently — from Bill Clinton’s formulation that it should be “safe, legal and rare” to modern Democrats’ arguments that the choice should belong to the woman alone. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont campaigned with anti-abortion candidates as recently as 2017.

While virtually all elected Democrats now back abortion rights, very few with a national profile built a political identity around the issue.

One who tried was Wendy Davis, the former Texas state senator who spoke for more than 11 hours in a failed 2013 effort to block legislation to restrict abortion access in the state. She went on to run for governor in 2014 and for Congress in 2020 but was handily defeated both times.

“We cannot shy away from this issue for fear that we will be branded as abortion activists,” Davis said Thursday. “I am proud to be labeled in that way because there is no shame. There should be no stigma involved with abortion.”

Businesses, Customers Impacted by Rising Meat Prices

Local News

Johanna Miller

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September 3, 2021

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Businesses, Customers Impacted by Rising Meat Prices

Labor Day Weekend is fast approaching, and many are looking to stock up on foods for barbecues and other outdoor gatherings.

But this year is different, for both consumers and suppliers alike, and it has a lot to do with the current high price of meat.

Will Panis, manager at Freedom Meat Lockers in Watsonville, said that the price of meat is so high right now that many consumers are backing off from buying. A pound of skirt steak, which used to sell for about $7 per pound, is now at about $21.

“It’s the highest I’ve ever seen,” Panis said. “And I’ve been working here a long time. It’s crazy. I think that’s why we’re so slow, why [customers] are backing away. These days people are just trying to get deals. It’s a hard situation.”

Freedom Meat Lockers has remained open during the pandemic, doing what they can to provide the best possible service and product, Panis said. But the high costs, coupled with the ongoing labor shortage, has been difficult.

“Customers aren’t coming in like they used to,” Panis said. “We get it—on their end, it’s not easy. But the meat market doesn’t make all the money. We pay for the meat, so we have to raise prices too. We’re trying, doing our best but everything is really cut back.”

Still, the business is moving forward. Owner and butcher Howard Walker recently redesigned the shop’s front deli counter, making it more accessible and easy to navigate. A grab-and-go case at the front of the store offers pre-made sandwiches, macaroni salads and pies from Gizdich Ranch.

In addition, they completely redid the floors and are making room for new freezer cases.

“Howard takes his money and puts it right back into the shop,” Panis said. “He’s always done that. The shop always comes first.”

Freedom Meat Lockers is known for its skirt steaks—they’re what they sell the most. But they also offer smoked ribs and tri-tip, turkey legs, sausages, pork loin and more.

Panis said they hope Labor Day Weekend will be a bit of a boon for sales, since for many, the holiday signals the “last hurrah” before most people are back at work and school.

Many customers who are still coming in are longtime regulars. This includes Todd Anderson, who stopped by Tuesday to grab a few of his favorite marinated meat packages. Anderson said he was both celebrating his birthday and picking up some meat to bring his friend this weekend.

“I love this place,” he said. “I stop by here at least once a week; they’re the best. I have a friend in Paradise, the town burned up by the fires… She’s really depressed… So I’m going to cook her something from here. It’s the kind of thing you have to do. I absolutely love their tri-tip wine and spice marinade.”

Panis said they do not know when prices are going to be normal again—so they appreciate whatever support they can get.

“People do come and support us, and we’re really thankful for that,” he said.

Health Officials Urge White House to Scale Back Booster Plan

The New York Times

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September 3, 2021

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Health Officials Urge White House to Scale Back Booster Plan

By Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Top federal health officials have told the White House to scale back a plan to offer coronavirus booster shots to the general public later this month, saying that regulators need more time to collect and review all the necessary data, according to people familiar with the discussion.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who heads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned the White House on Thursday that their agencies may be able to determine in the coming weeks whether to recommend boosters only for recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine — and possibly just some of them to start.

The two health leaders made their argument in a meeting with Jeffrey Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator. Several people who heard about the session said it was unclear how Zients responded. But he has insisted for months that the White House will always follow the advice of government scientists, wherever it leads.

Asked about the meeting, a White House spokesperson on Friday said, “We always said we would follow the science, and this is all part of a process that is now underway,” adding that the administration was awaiting a “full review and approval” of booster shots by the FDA as well as a recommendation from the CDC.

“When that approval and recommendation are made,” the spokesperson, Chris Meagher, said, “we will be ready to implement the plan our nation’s top doctors developed so that we are staying ahead of this virus.”

Less than three weeks ago, President Joe Biden said that, contingent on FDA approval, the government planned to start offering boosters the week of Sept. 20 to adults who had received their second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine at least eight months ago. That would include many health care workers and nursing home residents as well as some people older than 65, who were generally the first to be vaccinated. Administration officials have said that recipients of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine would probably be offered an additional shot soon as well.

Biden cast the strategy as another tool that the nation needed to battle the highly contagious delta variant, which has driven up infection rates, swamped hospitals with COVID-19 patients and is now leading to an average of more than 1,500 deaths a day. “The plan is for every adult to get a booster shot eight months after you got your second shot,” he said Aug. 18. “It will make you safer, and for longer. And it will help us end the pandemic faster.”

Like Biden, members of his pandemic response team have said that the plan depended on the FDA and the CDC authorizing the booster shots. Both Woodcock and Walensky helped craft the plan and publicly endorsed it. Some public health experts have said that by doing so, they increased pressure on scientists weighing the evidence for boosters within their respective agencies to go along with the administration’s strategy.

“Now those agencies are in a box,” said Dr. Steven Joffe, a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “We want doctors and scientists and the public to trust in the recommendations and decisions that are made, to be able to point to the FDA and CDC doing their due diligence.”

Privately, Woodcock had argued that it was risky to set a firm date for a booster rollout before regulators had a chance to thoroughly review the data, some of which had yet to be submitted by the vaccine manufacturers, and decide whether shots were safe and necessary, according to several people familiar with the discussions.

And since the White House announced the booster plan in mid-August, they said, new hurdles appeared.

Among the reasons for delaying is that regulators need more time to decide the proper dosage for a possible third Moderna shot. The company’s application asking the FDA to authorize a booster shot contains insufficient data, one federal official familiar with the process said. Other data expected from Johnson & Johnson has not been delivered.

Nor has the raw data that the FDA has been seeking from Israel, which is already giving boosters to everyone 12 and older. Israeli officials say their data shows that the potency of Pfizer’s vaccine wanes over time against severe disease and hospitalization but that a third shot bolsters protection significantly. The FDA wants to see the underlying data to make sure it backs up summaries that the Israeli government has provided.

Narrowing the booster plan could confuse the public and create a perception that federal vaccine policy is in some degree of disarray. But some public health experts will most likely welcome it.

They have been arguing strenuously that the administration lacks the data to justify a broad rollout of extra shots and should instead concentrate on vaccinating the roughly 25% of Americans who are eligible for shots but remain unprotected. And some have said that senior Biden officials, including the leaders of health agencies, wrongly cornered regulators by announcing a strategy before they could conduct a full review.

Regulators are only beginning to review critical data that will help them determine if and how boosters should be given. Pfizer completed its booster application to the FDA last week, officials said, and Moderna has just initiated its own.

This week, two of the FDA’s top vaccine regulators announced that they would be leaving the agency this fall, apparently partly because of frustration with the administration’s booster plan. Dr. Marion Gruber, who directs the agency’s vaccines office, and her deputy, Dr. Philip Krause, have told people there was not nearly enough data to justify offering extra shots to the general population starting in just weeks.

More friction may lie ahead. On Sept. 17, the FDA’s outside advisory committee is scheduled to publicly review Pfizer’s data supporting a booster shot. Even though Pfizer has asked the FDA to approve booster doses for people 16 and older, the agency could decide to restrict who gets a booster. The CDC and its outside advisory panel would also have to weigh in.

One key member of the FDA’s advisory panel, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, argues boosters are premature. “There is no compelling reason to get a third dose” now, he said in an interview Thursday.

He said the administration had appeared to expect that the FDA and the CDC would rubber-stamp its booster timeline. “Bypassing and marginalizing those agencies led veterans who you need in this pandemic to leave the FDA,” he said, referring to the departures of Gruber and Krause.

Various studies have shown that the potency of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines ebbs against infection over time but suggest that the vaccines continue to offer robust protection against severe illness and hospitalization.

But Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, said in an interview Thursday that a few studies have suggested a dip in protection against severe disease over time. “Our feeling was that if we waited several more months, we would see protection against hospitalizations and deaths break down,” he said.

In an interview published Thursday on WebMD.com, Woodcock echoed that view, saying that the trend of breakthrough infections has led health officials to believe at some point “we are going to see hospitalizations and more serious disease” among fully vaccinated people. When that happens, she said, “we want to be ready” with the booster plan.

Some Americans are already getting booster shots before FDA approval: More than 1 million fully vaccinated people have received an additional dose since mid-August

New Covid-19 Vaccination Grant Targets Hard-to-Reach Santa Cruz County Communities

Todd Guild

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September 3, 2021

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New Covid-19 Vaccination Grant Targets Hard-to-Reach Santa Cruz County Communities

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—As the delta variant of Covid-19 sweeps across the world, and as health care providers urge everyone to get a vaccine, a new grant is expected to help several local organizations reach people who are hesitant to do so, or who are having trouble accessing them.

The grant to Salud Para La Gente from the Health Resources and Services Administration, totals nearly $1 million, said Salud CEO Dori Rose Inda.

The grant will help reach people throughout Santa Cruz County who are either hesitant to get the vaccine, or those who are facing hurdles such as a lack of health insurance or transportation and language barriers. It will also help distribute accurate information about vaccines.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 52.6% of the eligible U.S. population is fully vaccinated.

One under-vaccinated group is 20-30-year-olds, Inda says.

According to a study by UC San Francisco researchers, one in four young adults say they will not get the vaccine, one-third of whom say they don’t trust it.

The picture is somewhat brighter in Santa Cruz County.

Some 72% of the people in South County have gotten their vaccines, compared to 70% in the rest of the county, said Santa Cruz County Health Services Assistant Director Jennifer Herrera.

The higher number in South County—which has communities that traditionally have less access to health care in general—comes due to expanded outreach in those areas, Herrera says.

This includes people with less access to health care and low-income families, she said.

“Our community benefits the most when we can invest where the community is going to be the most impacted,” she said. “We are understanding where the disparities are in the community, and investing resources there because it will have a broad effect on the entire community.”

Inda says the grant will help nearly a dozen organizations, including Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance, the city of Watsonville, Community Bridges, Second Harvest Food Bank and Watsonville Law Center.

As part of these efforts, organizers will bring pop-up vaccination clinics and distribute accurate vaccine information to places where people gather, such as Ramsay Park.

“I think we have done exceptionally well in making vaccines as accessible as possible to those who are ready and able to schedule an appointment, and come at that planned time,” Inda says.

Herrera says that nobody has any plans to force anyone to get vaccinated. She pointed out, however, that businesses and indoor events are increasingly requiring customers and employees to get theirs to enter.

“It’s helpful for you, it’s helpful for your community,” she says. “Covid-19 is here for the long haul. We’re going to have to ebb and flow with this virus as it evolves, and in the meantime, we want to keep schools open, we want to keep industries open, our economy open, and we want to connect with one another.”

County Takes Over Downtown Site

The OptumServe mass vaccination site at 250 Main St. in Watsonville closed on Aug. 29 but it will reopen on Sept. 9. The closure is necessary, county officials say, to transfer operations from OptumServe to Santa Cruz County Public Health.

When reopened, that vaccine center will have the following hours:

Thursdays, 9am–1pm
Fridays, 2pm–6pm
Saturdays, 9am–1pm
Sundays, 2pm–6pm

Vaccination appointments can be made at MyTurn.ca.gov. While appointments are encouraged, walk-ins will be accommodated when possible. The site will provide Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

During this closure, vaccinations remain widely available at many locations throughout the county. Visit santacruzhealth.org/coronavirusvaccine or www.santacruzsalud.org/coronavirusvacuna to find a vaccination location.

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