California’s Plan to Make New Buildings Greener Will Also Raise Costs

By Ivan Penn, The New York Times

California has led the nation in fighting climate change by encouraging the use of renewable energy and electric cars. Now the state is taking on an even harder challenge — reducing emissions from homes, businesses and other buildings that have to be heated, cooled and powered.

This month, state regulators updated California’s building code to require new homes and commercial buildings to have solar panels and batteries and the wiring needed to switch from heaters that burn natural gas to heat pumps that run on electricity. Energy experts say it is one of the most sweeping single environmental updates to building codes ever attempted by a government agency.

But some energy and building experts warn that California may be taking on too much, too quickly and focusing on the wrong target — new buildings, rather than the much larger universe of existing structures. Their biggest fear is that these new requirements will drive up the state’s already high construction costs, putting new homes out of reach of middle- and lower-income families that cannot as easily afford the higher upfront costs of cleaner energy and heating equipment, which typically pays for itself over years through savings on monthly utility bills.

The median single-family home in California sells for more than $800,000 compared to about $360,000 nationwide, and businesses pay more for rent in cities like San Francisco and San Jose than anywhere else in the country. A big reason costs are higher in California is that the state is not building enough homes, something lawmakers tried to address this past week by advancing legislation that would allow more than one home on each parcel of land.

Adding solar panels and a battery to a new home can raise its cost by $20,000 or more. While that might not matter to somebody buying a million-dollar property, it could be a burden on a family borrowing a few hundred thousand dollars to buy a home.

“You’re going to see the impact in office rents. You’re going to see it in the cost of the milk in your grocery store,” said Donald J. Ruthroff, a principal at Dahlin Group Architecture Planning in Pleasanton, California. “There’s no question this is going to impact prices across the board.”

The idea at the heart of California’s new building code, which is expected to go into effect in 2023, is to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of fossil fuels like natural gas, replacing them with electricity generated by renewable sources like solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric dams. It is difficult to make that switch because millions of homes and commercial buildings need to be updated. That’s why California is starting with the easiest buildings to change — ones that haven’t been built yet.

Regulators in California acknowledge their building code changes could raise construction costs but argue that the modifications will save money over time. Officials argue that the changes are essential to reducing planet-warming emissions that pose their own costs. Destruction from wildfires, heat waves and other extreme weather linked to climate change collectively add up to billions of dollars in expenses like firefighting, rebuilding homes and higher electricity bills.

“The urgency of climate change has gone up,” said Andrew McAllister, a member of the California Energy Commission, which developed and approved the building code changes. “We know we’ve got to get on the stick and do something.”

President Joe Biden has also made fighting climate change a priority. The administration this month said the United States needs to triple or quadruple the annual pace at which it is adding solar energy in order to eliminate emissions from the electricity sector by 2035. That would increase solar generation from about 3% of the power sector to 40%.

California is already far along in that transition with more than one-third of its electricity coming from renewable sources. Its building code change is meant to accelerate that.

California and Washington state develop their own energy standards for building codes. The other 48 states and the District of Columbia largely use models developed by a division of the International Code Council, a nonprofit organization run by building officials from across the country. Some states leave buildings code decisions to local governments. The code council sometimes adopts energy-related standards developed by California, a representative of the group said.

Michael Marini, who co-owns a company that builds homes in Southern California, said he generally supports making buildings greener but he fears that the state is not thinking through the consequences of the changes it is pushing through.

Marini’s company, Planet Home Living, is adding rooftop solar panels in his latest projects, including town house-style and single-family homes in Los Angeles, as required by a previous change to the state’s building code that took effect last year. Those homes start at close to $1 million and go as high as $2 million. Buyers of those properties will not flinch at having to pay an extra $10,000 to $15,000 for solar panels, he said. Marini is also not worried about the new code change that will require him to add a home battery at a cost of about $5,000 starting in 2023.

But in other locations like San Bernardino, a far less affluent city east of Los Angeles, where the typical home sells for about $529,000, the cost of solar panels and batteries can be a bigger burden to homebuyers.

“If we push it and we do things that are modern and efficient and green, we tend to be able to do it in Los Angeles,” Marini said. “That’s not entirely true in the rest of the country. We can’t do that in San Bernardino. At the end, the consumer absorbs the cost.”

The Sycamore Square town houses were the last ones developed in San Bernardino before the solar mandate took effect last year. Glenn Elssmann, a partner in the project who hired Marini’s company as the contractor, said the added cost of the solar requirement would have made construction of the development impossible. Homes in Sycamore Square started at $340,000 for the four-bedroom, three-bath units and reached as high as $370,000.

Jimmie Joyce, 44, who works in payroll at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, will soon close on the purchase of a house in Sycamore Square after trying for almost a year to buy closer to Inglewood, a city near the Los Angeles International Airport where he lives now. His commute will likely increase from about 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.

“I, for one, didn’t even plan on moving out that far,” Joyce said. “The way the market is, people are just overbidding to just try to get in things.” He said he made an offer $10,000 to $15,000 higher than the asking price on a home that ended up with more than 70 bids, including one that was $60,000 more than his.

His new home is already expensive for him, he said, and adding $10,000 to $20,000 more for solar, a battery and other amenities “would make that much more challenging.”

The changes regulators adopted this month will also require most new commercial buildings, including schools, hotels, hospitals, office buildings, retailers and grocery stores, and apartment buildings and condos above three stories to include solar and batteries. And regulators will require single-family homes to have wiring that will allow them to use electric heat pumps and water heaters, rather than ones that burn natural gas. About 55% of California’s homes use electric heat and 45% use natural gas.

Chris Ochoa, senior counsel for codes and regulatory and legislative affairs at the California Building Industry Association, said the builders support efforts to address climate change. But he believes more needs to be done to retrofit existing buildings with more energy-efficient systems, too. Otherwise, new homes, with more efficient and advanced systems, will become even less affordable to first-time buyers.

There are 14 million existing homes, a number that dwarfs the roughly 100,000 permits that builders seek annually for new homes in the state, Ochoa added.

“You’ve really got to focus on the existing housing stock,” he said. “That’s where you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck.”

Ruthroff, the architect, said the state’s approach to focus on new homes made sense because it is “the low-hanging fruit.” But he added that there was only so much to be gained from imposing such requirements on new buildings since they are already much better insulated and have more advanced appliances and heating and cooling equipment than older homes.

McAllister, the energy commission member, said he appreciates the need to upgrade existing buildings. But tackling that problem will take many years and a lot of money. “It’s going to take tens of billions of dollars to get into our existing homes,” he said.

For now, the commission is focused on requiring the most cost-effective changes. For example, its recent code change was based on analysis that determined that it made economic sense to require solar panels and batteries for new homes and most commercial buildings, but not for much larger warehouses and factories. The new code changes will also go down easier, McAllister said, because many homeowners and businesses are already buying solar panels and batteries.

“Solar is cheap,” McAllister said. And “it’s an amenity that the marketplace actually wants.”

Copyright 2021 The New York Times Company

Santa Cruz, Capitola Extend Outdoor Dining Programs

By Aiyana Moya

Eating outside has become an essential part of the dining experience during the pandemic, and the programs that make outdoor dining possible will extend into next year in Santa Cruz and Capitola, thanks to approvals from the cities’ respective councils last week. 

But reactions to the move differ greatly between the two Santa Cruz County cities.

In Santa Cruz, multiple restaurant owners called in to express gratitude for the outdoor dining program, as did Executive Director of the Downtown Association Jorian Wilkins. 

“I know that (the program) has been a lifeline for so many businesses,” she said—the Downtown Association advocates for downtown Santa Cruz business.

During the Capitola council meeting, however, multiple callers raised concerns about garbage being left on the streets where diners eat, and complained about the noise outdoor dining generates.

One person living at the condos at the intersection of Monterey Avenue and the Esplanade said residents tolerated the noise caused by outdoor diners with the expectation that the program was temporary. Now that indoor dining has resumed, she said, she strongly opposed the extension.

Capitola Police Chief Terry McManus acknowledged there has been an increase in noise complaints—although not necessarily tied to outdoor dining. He received a similar rate of noise complaints prior to the outdoor dining program.

Additionally, with the Delta variant surging, it’s important to offer outdoor dining to businesses and customers who want it, said Capitola Council Member Kristen Petersen.

And in the city of Santa Cruz, there’s overwhelming interest among restaurant owners to provide that option: 96 temporary permits were issued to businesses throughout the pandemic. 

Currently, businesses can apply for free temporary permits to use parking spots, public sidewalks, alleyways and private property as dining areas. Santa Cruz hopes to revise this outdoor program to address safety and maintenance concerns, according to Santa Cruz Economic Development Manager Rebecca Unitt. When creating the current emergency program, the city prioritized a quick distribution of outdoor permits over detailed guidelines. The revision will establish more ground rules for restaurants.

MeloMelo Kava Bar owner Rami Kayali, called in during the Santa Cruz meeting to request an expansion of the current program’s parklet guidelines. He spoke to the challenges he faced when creating a parklet that accounted for the colder weather season. Kayali said he was reprimanded with a $1,200 fine per day due to his parklet’s overhead barrier.

Unitt said the material Kayali used did not adhere to the safety protocols the city requires, but that businesses can use pop-up tents and “temporary membrane structures” for the colder months.

In Santa Cruz, staff hopes to create a permanent parklet program that will begin after 2022. The permanent program will provide more specific guidelines for parklet structures, update the permit fee structure to waive or reduce fees for businesses, and reduce bureaucratic barriers to the permit approval process.

But in Capitola, after multiple callers raised concerns about outdoor diners, the council extended the outdoor dining program until 2022 but resolved to return in November to revisit the item. In the meantime, Capitola restaurant owners can expect an informal poll about outdoor dining.

No restaurant owners called into the Capitola meeting. If Santa Cruz is any indication, it is likely that owners in Capitola will also emphasize the importance of outdoor seating, and will advocate for a permanent outdoor program.

Ian McRae, who owns Hula’s Tiki Bar, said customers have come to expect an outdoor seating option.

“It seems like the dining experience has now changed dramatically. And I don’t see how we can go back. The public is going to demand to sit outside,” he said.

Santa Cruz Council also acted on these items: 

  • Council approved plans for the San Lorenzo Riverwalk Lighting Project, which will provide 55 light posts to illuminate the riverwalk for pedestrians and cyclists.
  • Council directed staff to review the request from the Homeless Garden Project to change the proposed location of its planned garden to the upper main meadow of Pogonip.
  • Council will hold a special meeting on Aug. 31 at 4:30pm to receive public comments on the possible implementation of a district-based election system. 

Capitola Council also acted on these items: 

  • Approved a 3% salary increase for law enforcement officers, through 2024.

Calls Grow to Discipline Doctors Spreading Virus Misinformation

By Davey Alba and Sheera Frenkel, The New York Times

Standing before a local school board in central Indiana this month, Dr. Daniel Stock, a physician in the state, issued a litany of false claims about the coronavirus. He proclaimed that the recent surge in cases showed that the vaccines were ineffective, that people were better off with a cocktail of drugs and supplements to prevent hospitalization from the virus, and that masks did not help prevent the spread of infection.

His appearance has since become one of the most-viewed videos of coronavirus misinformation. The videos — several versions are available online — have amassed nearly 100 million likes and shares on Facebook, 6.2 million views on Twitter, at least 2.8 million views on YouTube and over 940,000 video views on Instagram.

His talk’s popularity points to one of the more striking paradoxes of the pandemic. Even as many doctors fight to save the lives of people sick with COVID-19, a tiny number of their medical peers have had an outsize influence at propelling false and misleading information about the virus and vaccines.

Now there is a growing call among medical groups to discipline physicians spreading incorrect information. The Federation of State Medical Boards, which represents the groups that license and discipline doctors, recommended last month that states consider action against doctors who share false medical claims, including suspending or revoking medical licenses. The American Medical Association says spreading misinformation violates the code of ethics that licensed doctors agree to follow.

“When a doctor speaks, people pay attention,” said Dr. Humayun Chaudhry, president of the Federation of State Medical Boards. “The title of being a physician lends credibility to what people say to the general public. That’s why it is so important that these doctors don’t spread misinformation.”

Stock joined physicians including Dr. Joseph Mercola, and a group that calls itself America’s Frontline Doctors, in generating huge audiences for their bogus claims. The statements by them and others have contributed to vaccine hesitancy and a resistance to masks that have exacerbated the pandemic in the United States, public health officials say.

The doctors often stand in lab coats and use simplified medical jargon, lending an air of authority. They often take advantage of a ready audience online by livestreaming news conferences, and keep interest alive by promising new evidence that will expose corruption and support their arguments.

Some state medical boards have disciplined doctors for their conduct during the pandemic. In December, the Oregon Medical Board ordered an emergency suspension of the medical license of a doctor after he violated a state order by not wearing a mask, or requiring patients to wear masks. The ruling bars the doctor from practicing medicine in Oregon until the governor lifts the state of emergency issued for the pandemic.

In January, a San Francisco doctor who had been falsely claiming that 5G technology caused the pandemic volunteered to surrender his license to the California Medical Board.

“Publicly spreading false COVID-19 information may be considered unprofessional conduct and could be grounds for disciplinary action,” Carlos Villatoro, a spokesman for the Medical Board of California, said in a statement.

But Chaudhry said it was impossible to know how many states had opened investigations into doctors spreading misinformation. Such investigations are typically not publicized until a decision is reached and the process can take many months.

Stock, 59, did not respond to several requests for comment for this article. He has been a licensed doctor in Indiana since 1989, a year after he graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine. He has worked in several hospitals, urgent care centers and private practices in the state, according to a profile on LinkedIn.

On Stock’s website he sets himself apart from conventional medicine. “By presenting patients with all of their treatment options — whether that’s a pill, lifestyle change, therapy, or supplements — I help patients choose the option that works best for them,” the website reads. “This results in permanent healing, not merely the temporary relief found in the traditional system.” He sells dozens of vitamins and supplements on the site.

In the video that spread widely this month, Stock is shown speaking to a Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation board meeting in Fortville, just east of Indianapolis. Standing with his back to the camera, and speaking at a rapid, nearly monotone clip, he opens his statement with the line, “Everything being recommended by the CDC is actually contrary to the rules of science.” Then he selectively cites academic studies to give the impression that widely held medical advice, such as wearing a mask and getting vaccinated, does not work.

YouTube, which forbids videos that spread false information about the virus, said it would not take down the full video of the meeting that the school board had put online. “While we have clear policies to remove harmful COVID-19 misinformation, we also recognize the importance of organizations like school boards using YouTube to share recordings of open public forums,” Elena Hernandez, a YouTube spokeswoman, said.

The original video of the meeting has over 620,000 views. Previous videos by the Mount Vernon school board on YouTube each collected only a few hundred views.

YouTube has taken down videos of the meeting that have been edited to show only Stock’s talk. But some of those versions spread widely before YouTube made that decision, with views climbing as fast as 15,000 an hour in the days after the meeting, according to a New York Times analysis of available YouTube data.

People shared his talk on alternative video platforms like Bitchute and Rumble, and on blogs like “Hancock County Patriots” and “DJHJ Media.” One version of the video on Twitter, shared by a onetime adviser to former President Donald Trump, collected over 6 million views. Another was shared by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Stock also appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News, repeating the false claim that there is not “any consensus that masks work — the data is very murky on this.”

Eric Sears, a spokesman for the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, which oversees the granting of medical licenses in the state, said the Indiana attorney general’s office was responsible for investigating the public’s complaints about doctors spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The attorney general’s office sends its findings from those investigations to the Indiana Medical Board.

“As of yet, we have not been informed by the attorney general’s office of an investigation pending” into Stock, Sears said. “The board would likely not take action until an investigation had been completed by the attorney general’s office.”

David A. Keltz, a spokesman for the Indiana attorney general, said the office could not discuss whether any complaints against Stock were under investigation. Keltz said the state would issue a public statement about any such investigation only if the office decided to file a formal complaint with the Indiana Medical Board.

Doctors spreading coronavirus misinformation “leverage the credibility of their titles and medical expertise to make their arguments appear more authoritative,” said Rachel E. Moran, a researcher at the University of Washington who studies online misinformation, including about the COVID-19 vaccines.

“What’s most frustrating about this is how anti-vaccination advocates typically spread mistrust in medical professionals until it’s no longer a useful strategy for them,” Moran said, noting how they regularly cast doubt on Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“Then a ‘doctor’ comes along that aligns with their values,” Moran said, “and suddenly that institutional expertise is credible.”

Copyright 2021 The New York Times Company

One Year Removed, Residents Remember CZU Fires

San Lorenzo Valley and Scotts Valley neighbors, think back to where you were a year ago today. If you lived in Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Ben Lomond, Felton, Zayante, Lompico, Bonny Doon or Scotts Valley, you had been evacuated from your home, courtesy of the CZU Lightning Complex fires. You’d no doubt rushed to gather items of importance—pets, medications and treasured irreplaceable heirlooms. Your vehicle stuffed full, as you left the approaching fire behind, you were making arrangements for where to head to wait out the fire. Hotel rooms in Santa Cruz quickly filled as worried residents searched for a place to put their children to sleep, and take stock of the moment.

After weeks of mandatory evacuations, some of you came back to homes untouched; some came back to smoke damage, rotten refrigerators and charred fences. Others returned to find nothing left but the chimney and some remnants of a home that was no longer recognizable. Cars burnt, propane tanks exploded and trees singed dropping charred leaves onto the remains of neighborhoods.

Feelings of past grief and hope for the future were on full display on Aug. 18 at the CZU Fire Remembrance gathering at the Brookdale Lodge. Hundreds of locals gathered that evening in air filled with haze from the Dixie and Caldor fires in Northern California, bringing a stark reminder of what had occurred in the Santa Cruz Mountains just one year prior. Neighbors communed over barbecued chicken and stiff drinks as people spoke, bands played and the memories and sorrow poured into the cool evening air. Vendors and support services displayed tables full of resources—quilts, masks and copies of local newspapers from the fire’s onset. On this evening, the Brookdale Lodge was transformed into a sacred space for the community to grieve and remember.

Warm Embrace

Lori Camner and Barbara Lockwood were seated at a table draped with beautiful, handmade quilts. 

The two women had aligned with a third, Helen Klee, and started the CZU Lighting Fire Quilts donation and distribution shortly after the flames touched down in the mountains. 

“We were affected by the fires that came through our community,” said Camner. 

Lockwood is an SLV resident. Camner is not, but she felt compelled to offer a hand to local residents. 

“Because we’re quilters, we thought it would be helpful to replace something that had been lost, and we put a small ad in one of the national quilt newsletters,” she said. “Within weeks, we had people from all over the country donating their quilts to our effort. It wasn’t as though three of us got together and made nearly 1,000 quilts; we essentially became a distribution center to facilitate getting the quilts into the hands of folks that needed them.”

Lockwood and Klee worked to authenticate the names and addresses of fire victims, and invited them to register for a quilt. 

“We know we didn’t reach everyone that was evacuated,” said Camner. “Many people have not yet returned to the area, and may never come back.” 

So what will become of the remaining inventory? 

“We’re considering packing up what’s left and delivering our quilts to those who have been impacted by the Dixie and Caldor fires,” Cramer added. 

Lockwood said about 30% of the quilts came from local area quilters. The other 70% came from quilters in Nebraska or New Mexico or Illinois, she added.

“That became a genuine gift of love from complete strangers. It really reflects the common goodness that people have within themselves,” she said. “When we delivered the quilts, recipients would wrap themselves up in them and start crying. It was a truly emotional project for us all.”

A Starry Soul

“It’s so nice to see everyone come together to commemorate this special day,” Windy Rhoads said before wiping the tears from her eyes as she reflected on her own personal loss. “It’s a tough day for a lot of us.” 

Her self-proclaimed godfather, Tad Jones, was a resident of Last Chance, a rugged and isolated community at the intersection of the Monterey Bay and the redwood forest. He also was the only recorded fatality from the CZU fires. 

“Whenever someone dies in my life, I always think of their soul going up into starry skies, and their soul becomes another star,” she said. “Tad Jones, the one casualty from the fire, was my friend and my godfather. I’m thankful for this opportunity to remember him on this day.”

Rhoads was raised in Ben Lomond and met Jones when she was just a toddler. The child of a single mom, Rhoads found comfort in Jones’ care while her mom worked nights and slept during the day. Jones had never been married or had children, but Rhoads points to a “natural affinity” between the two of them. Jones took a vow of silence upon moving to Last Chance, and only started speaking just a few years before his death. 

“I didn’t mind about the silence. We exchanged letters, and he gave me advice like a father would. He took me on like a second dad, and we built a strong bond,” she said. “I didn’t see him all the time; it had been almost a year since I saw him before he died. We were supposed to meet for lunch just a few months before the fire; I had to cancel, and of course, I regret that deeply.

“When I saw the lightning strikes and the fire starting, I immediately started worrying about him. I posted his picture on Facebook and asked if anyone had seen him. No one responded. I finally contacted the sheriff’s office and they put out a missing person’s report for him. Within a few days, I heard from another Last Chance resident who told me he didn’t make it out.” Jones had tried to escape in a van he kept on the property, but the heat overtook the vehicle, and Jones perished in the fire. “Sometimes he was a stubborn old fool, but I loved him,” she said.

Tale of Strength

Boulder Creek isn’t just home to Joe’s Bar and Scopazzi’s. There’s a famous “resident” that lives in the area and managed to escape the flames: Albert the White Peacock. (Some would assume that Albert is albino, but that’s not the case. White peafowl have a genetic mutation called leucism, which prevents pigment from being deposited into their feathers, resulting in white plumage.) 

Local author Jacqueline Hendricks found inspiration in Albert’s resilience; she put pen to paper and wrote the delightful Albert’s Ashes: A Peacock’s Tale. Hendricks teamed up with Boulder Creek artist Linda Curtis for the illustrations, and the book is on its way to the publisher for a fall release.

“I didn’t lose my home in the fire,” Hendricks said, “but I live in the Acorns (a tract of homes just north of downtown Boulder Creek that suffered massive losses), and the fire got way too close for comfort. We were out of our home until April. We returned for a short time during the holidays of 2020, but the USGS (United States Geological Survey) was examining our property in terms of impending mudslides at that time. They looked at the surroundings and told me that it was like having a loaded gun pointed at us.”

Hendricks and her young son went to Illinois for a few months, but she’s since returned home. 

“I was inspired to write this book because of a news story I heard. Local residents were trying to rescue Albert from the fire, but he wouldn’t fit in their car. I built a different story around it, and I thought it would be nice to have a story that focused on Albert’s resilience.”

Final touches are happening with the book, and once published, the proceeds will be donated to the Boulder Creek Fire Department. Pre-orders will begin in September.

Coming together

Organizer Antonia Bradford said it took about six weeks to put the event together. 

“I started putting this together in June, and all of a sudden, people jumped in to help. Everything you see here is a result of all the organizers, including John Payne, vocalist for the band Wolf Jett, who lost his home,” she said. “He brought in the musical aspect, and we all brainstormed together. Each of us bought something different to the table.” 

Bradford said she was happy to host an event that put money back into the coffers of the Brookdale Lodge, which served dinner and drinks. 

“They’ve been hit so hard with Covid, and I really wanted to support this local, historic business,” she said. “I didn’t want this to be an event where people felt obligated to donate. It really was an effort to bring the community together. 

“I was asked what this event means, and it really means community. It’s not just about the folks that lost their homes; it’s about the fact that all of us on the mountain went through something traumatic together. Those of us who lost our homes are still struggling for sure, but this is about how, even through that, our community has rallied. We love and support each other. This area is worth fighting for. It’s worth being here. A lot of people left because it’s been so difficult to deal with the county when it comes to rebuilding. Me? I’m not leaving. This is where I have put down roots, and where I want my kids to grow up. That’s what tonight is all about: celebrating how beautiful and special the San Lorenzo Valley is.”

PVUSD Trustees Renew Superintendent Contract

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday agreed to renew the contract for Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez for another four years.

Trustees Oscar Soto, Maria Orozco, Jennifer Schacher, Jennifer Holm and Kim De Serpa voted in favor of the approval. Trustees Georgia Acosta and Daniel Dodge, Jr. were absent.

Rodriguez’s contract approval comes a week after her annual evaluation, during which she gave a presentation of her accomplishments since she was hired in 2016.

Board President Jennifer Holm said that, unlike most other district employees, Rodriguez’s contract does not have an annual step-and-column increase. But it does include a five-year, 2.5% “longevity increase,” which brings her annual pay to $222,832.

“I want to thank you for your work, especially in bringing art and music programs to our classrooms and for the incredible amount of innovative opportunities that you have brought the PVUSD community,” she said. 

The extension of Rodriguez’s contract is notable because just eight months ago the board voted 4-3 to terminate her position, with Dodge, Soto, Schacher and Acosta in favor.

Her position was reinstated five days later after widespread uproar and hours of public comments, most of them in support of Rodriguez.

Just one person spoke during the public comment period—Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers President Nelly Vaquera-Boggs, who said teachers, particularly those in South County schools, are feeling “demoralized.”

“We want to retain teachers, we want to retain staff and we want to retain the good people that come to work for us,” she said. “In order for us to address the whole child, that is the support staff.”

Vaquera-Boggs added that the district has had time to retain and attract teachers. 

“You refused to do so,” she said. “Instead you used your managerial rights to push the limits of our members’ workloads and mental health.”

The result, she said, is 30 vacant positions, mostly in Watsonville-area schools, leaving teachers there struggling to fill the vacancies. 

Acosta, who led the effort to terminate Rodriguez, has never publicly explained the reasons behind the decision. She has not responded to numerous requests by this news organization for comment. 

Dodge also did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

“We got off to a rocky start at the beginning,” Soto told Rodriguez, apparently referring to her termination that occurred just as his term began. “But as adults, we spoke and we clarified things and we moved forward, and seeing the information you presented—it’s pretty substantial and pretty impressive.”

Watsonville City Council Approves Development as Possible Litigation Looms

The Watsonville City Council approved a proposed 21-condo development across the street from the Watsonville Municipal Airport that could face litigation from the Watsonville Pilots Association (WPA).

The project would redevelop a steel fabrication business at 547 Airport Blvd. that has stood for at least 24 years, according to owners Raoul and Eve Ortiz, into contemporary housing. It would include three homes subject to the city’s affordable housing requirements.

But WPA representatives—both at Tuesday’s meeting and in letters to city leadership—say that the city has no legal standing to approve projects so close to the airport without environmental and airport-related impact reports.

In addition, WPA says, the city cannot build within the airport safety zone because it has not yet complied with the State Aeronautics Act or the mandates of recent Santa Cruz County Superior Court decisions and the 2010 Court of Appeals mandate to incorporate the California Division of Aeronautic and Airport Land Use Planning Handbook into its general plan.

Watsonville Mayor Jimmy Dutra was the lone “no” vote on the project—councilman Aurelio Gonzalez was on a leave of absence. He said he worried the Ortiz family was getting into an overwhelming legal battle against the deep-pocketed WPA, which has several times successfully challenged the city—including litigation against the city’s 2030 general plan.

“Home Depot, Target, the housing development behind Target, these are developers that have really deep pockets that probably were able to match the pilots dollar for dollar,” Dutra said. “I don’t know if you know what you’re getting yourself into at this moment.”

The Watsonville Planning Commission voted 4-3 to approve the project earlier this year, but the vote failed because it needed a supermajority of five votes. Their concerns stemmed from the project’s one-way-in, one-way-out entrance, limited parking spaces (58, including 16 visitor spots) and potentially toxic soil left from the previous industrial use.

Those concerns arose again on Tuesday—and members of the public worried that the homes would be out of the price range of Watsonville residents—but took a backseat to the possible litigation.

Although the city has not yet updated its general plan with the needed handbooks, city staff said that the project does indeed meet the requirements in those documents. But, city attorney Alan Smith explained, the pilots contend that the court decision against the city’s 2030 general plan is retroactive and that if the city continues to operate under the 2005 general plan, that it must be updated with the handbook requirements before the city can approve any construction around the airport.

Although city staff said the project met the requirements, Smith said “That’s what the courts are for—people have differences of opinion.”

Council Solidifies Public Nuisance 

In other action, the council also solidified its declaration that the stalled housing development at 1773 Santa Victoria Ave. is a public nuisance and that if the developers do not agree with the city’s requirements by the end of the month, city staff will ask the elected officials in September to OK the demolition of at least 26 units currently in various stages of construction.

The city is requiring the developer, Pacific Sunshine Development, LLC, to sign contracts that will either guarantee it will follow through on the construction of the 87-unit development, or give the city financial insurance in the case that it does not. Staff says that the recent public nuisance declaration has helped the project move forward after being stalled for more than three years.

The development off Ohlone Parkway broke ground in 2016, and it was supposed to be completed by 2018.

The council voted unanimously on the item.

Fire in the Sky Moves Forward

Watsonville City Manager Matt Huffaker said the Fire In the Sky and airport open house event set for Sept. 4 is still on despite the rising number of county residents coming down with Covid-19.

People will be required to wear masks when not eating or drinking. Huffaker also said the city will host a Covid-19 vaccine clinic at the event, which usually happens on the Fourth of July.

“This event, as with any planning we’re doing in a pandemic, is subject to change if we see major shifts in case counts,” Huffaker said, “but for now the guidance that we’re receiving from county health is these outdoor events can be held safely with the proper protocols. And we know how important these (events) are to the social and emotional health of our community members.”

Court Considers Whether Sexually Violent Predator Can Move to Bonny Doon

A convicted rapist named Michael Cheek, who psychologists have said could be at risk of reoffending, wants to become the newest Bonny Doon resident, and District Attorney Jeff Rosell says he’s trying to stop that from happening.

“We fought tooth and nail at every opportunity for him to remain in the hospital,” he said. “He shouldn’t be out. And he certainly shouldn’t be in that location.”

Cheek, a Concord resident, abducted and raped a Santa Cruz woman he met at Seabright Beach in 1980. A court found he used a firearm during the violent crime. Before Cheek was able to serve his prison term, he escaped and raped another victim in Lake County.

According to court records Cheek, 69, was diagnosed with paraphilia (extreme sexual desires) and personality disorder.

In August 1997, Cheek was committed to the Department of State Hospitals, in Coalinga. In 2009, a jury determined Cheek to be a sexually violent predator.

Prior to a 2006 trial, in which Cheek sought his freedom, a psychologist determined he “is likely to commit a sexually violent predatory offense if released into the community.”

In addition, in 2002, Dr. Dale Arnold, a psychologist contracted by the Department of Mental Health to conduct sexually violent predator evaluations, interviewed Cheek and determined his “age did not eliminate the other factors for risk of reoffending.”

Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel ordered Cheek’s conditional release on Oct. 7, 2019 to begin outpatient treatment and supervision as the final phase of the relapse prevention program administered by the Department of State Hospitals in Coalinga.

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Ashley Keehn said the local law enforcement agency doesn’t want to see Cheek take up residence in the community.

“We believe his placement in Bonny Doon would be a risk to public safety and presents a number of concerns,” she said. “With the remote location, method of supervision and unreliable communication in that area this would increase the chance for Mr. Cheek to reoffend.”

Sheriff Jim Hart told the court he was against it, she added.

“It will ultimately be the judge’s decision whether he is housed there or not,” Keehn said.

Before he looked at the Bonny Doon option, Cheek first looked at moving to Redwood City. This generated significant community outcry in San Mateo County.

In a statement, Third District Supervisor Ryan Coonerty said there’d be a number of reasons to worry if Cheek moved in.

“The Sheriff has limited coverage and slow response times to Bonny Doon,” he said. “Cheek will be on an electronic monitor reliant on WiFi. Bonny Doon has limited internet access and frequent power outages making effective monitoring unreliable. This makes both monitoring and the ability of people to report criminal behavior limited.”

Coonerty says it’s the “worst” place to host a violent sex offender.

“Bonny Doon is a wooded area with many families who just experienced the worst disaster in the County’s history,” he said in a message sent out to constituents. “I’m sorry to be adding to the trauma surrounding the one-year anniversary of the fire.”

Rosell, the DA, says his office will try to argue their case against Cheek taking up residence in Bonny Doon at the next hearing before Judge Syda Cogliati on Sept. 7.

Lake Tahoe Suffocates With Smoke

By Davey Alba and Sheera Frenkel, The New York Times

TAHOE CITY, Calif. — When the pandemic swept through California last year, Lake Tahoe, the azure gem of the Sierra Nevada, swarmed with city dwellers fleeing to the purity of its alpine air.

Now the stampede has reversed. With a fast-expanding wildfire roaring just one ridge away from the Tahoe basin, residents were in flight this week from smoke so toxic and thick that it spiked past the highest levels on air quality charts.

Pablo Durana, a cinematographer who had just bought a house in South Lake Tahoe last year, was bound for a friend’s place in Santa Monica with his partner.

Tristan Biles, a technology worker who had been working remotely since Halloween from a condo on the edge of a ski slope, was decamping to San Diego to meet his girlfriend.

Phil Abernathy, a scuba diver who works three jobs to afford life among the tall pines and crystalline waters, was headed under a thick, ashen sky to San Francisco. Just inhaling, he said, felt like a “sizable man is standing on my chest.”

The Caldor fire, which has chewed through an area larger than Denver since it started more than 70 miles southwest of Lake Tahoe on Aug. 14, is now a dozen miles south of the lake. The fire was only 12% contained Thursday, when authorities ordered evacuations at the edge of the Tahoe basin.

Amid the exodus, which has become a way of life in parts of the West this disaster-filled summer, there has been a creeping concern that the notion of a safe haven is gone, that there soon will be nowhere to run. Everyone from Bay Area billionaires who bought homes along the shores of the lake to workers stunned by surging real estate prices is seeing a sanctuary suffocate.

The smoke and the wildfires that produce it in the West are coming in a time of drought, heat waves, power cuts and, of course, the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is what climate change looks like,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and The Nature Conservancy. “It’s overlapping crises. People try to escape one crisis and stumble into another one.”

With California halfway through its peak fire season, the Caldor fire is only one of about 100 large wildfires burning in the West. The Dixie fire, the second largest in California history, started more than six weeks ago and now has a perimeter of more than 500 miles. On Wednesday alone, four large new wildfires spread in California, drawing increasingly scarce firefighting resources.

The crisis in Tahoe extends far beyond the smoke on the water and fire in the sky of one tourist attraction. For hundreds of thousands of people living over the mountain from the lake, in the high desert of Nevada, wildfire smoke this summer has closed schools, canceled sports events and led longtime residents to ask how much longer they can hold out.

“We’re beside ourselves here,” said Amy Ginder, 47, who has lived for decades in Reno, which has been besieged for weeks by smoke from the huge Dixie fire to the northwest. “We have had smoke in the sky literally since the third week of July — we have been inhaling toxins for five weeks now. You can’t be outside. You can’t breathe. You can’t see the sun.”

She had to buy a gym membership because she could not jog outside, she said, and the community theater group she belongs to spent two weeks rehearsing outdoors in the smoke before canceling its performances last weekend. She suffers from asthma, she said, and fears for her own health and the health of her parents. Visiting indoors with friends is out of the question because of the potential for infection from the COVID-19 delta variant.

“If it were just this summer, you’d just suck it up and move on,” she said. “But it isn’t. It’s the realization that this is our future. Every summer from now on, from July to September, it will be this question: Do we still want to live here? I know so many people who have relocated to Tahoe and Reno, who are up here now thinking, ‘What have I done?’”

At Lake Tahoe, which straddles the California-Nevada border, the summer tourism season that typically winds down in late August jolted to an early halt. The smoke is robbing the lake and its surrounding forests of the vibrant greens and blues that are its trademark.

From the streets of Kings Beach to the vacation mansions of Incline Village, the lake that Mark Twain once called “the fairest picture the whole world affords” looks and smells like the bottom of an ashtray.

Early one morning this week on the path that runs along the lake in Tahoe City, Juan Gomez, a parks-and-recreation employee, marveled at the contrast with last summer, when lakeside towns were swarming with bikers, joggers and shoppers, many of them seeking to outrun the coronavirus.

“There’s nobody here,” Gomez said. “So many people bought houses — they wanted to escape from San Francisco and Sacramento. Now they are going back to I don’t know where.”

Parking lots in Tahoe City were nearly empty, and many restaurants and shops were closed because of the smoke. At the south end of the lake, red vacancy signs glittered through the smoky haze on Lake Tahoe Boulevard. There is no problem getting a room in Tahoe this month.

Yet during the pandemic, buying a home here has often meant entering a bidding war. Home values in the Lake Tahoe area have surged more than 30% since the pandemic started, according to Zillow, a real estate data company. The average price of a home in Tahoe City is now well above $1 million.

At the Olympic Bike Shop in Tahoe City, the smoke has been both a health hazard and a business setback. Bicycles were in short supply for much of the pandemic, as they have been across the country. But this month, as back-ordered bikes arrived in spades, the shortage was not of bikes but of customers. The shop stopped renting out bikes last week, when the U.S. Forest Service, citing the risk of fires and a lack of personnel, closed parks around the lake through Labor Day.

John Percy, co-owner of the shop, has spent $2,000 on air purifiers, and said the shop is now losing money. Last weekend, he fled to Santa Cruz, 260 miles away on the Pacific coast, to escape the smoke.

Molly Schildhause, who works the cash register at the shop, was worried about her 11-month-old and planned to stay with her parents in coastal Marin County on her days off.

“I have two air purifiers running in the baby’s room,” she said. “We keep thinking it’s time to move, but there’s nowhere to go to escape this.”

Durana, 38, who celebrated last year when he and his partner, Carina Hessmer, managed to buy a small wooden house in South Lake Tahoe, said they decided to leave early this week when the smoke started to give Hessmer headaches. They cleared some brush from the yard and then headed south toward Los Angeles, where a friend has offered them a spare room.

“We’re grateful for the firefighters,” he said, “and trying not to let our emotions get the best of us.”

The smoke is more serious for Abernathy, who in addition to scuba diving works in the bike shop three days a week. In 2018, he had half a lung removed to address a birth defect. That had not stopped him from leading a life of outdoor adventure: In March, he made headlines when he used his scuba gear to retrieve a wedding ring that a groom had dropped while exchanging vows on a Lake Tahoe pier.

But the smoke has overwhelmed Abernathy. He now wears industrial-grade respirators when he is outdoors.

On Tuesday, he told Percy at the bike shop that he would be taking leave until the smoke cleared. He will be staying with his partner’s parents in San Francisco.

“I don’t quit easily,” he said. “But you can’t get away from this smoke.”

Copyright 2021 The New York Times Company

Community Tool Library Helps Locals Rebuild from CZU Fires

Blueberry pie, enchiladas, a violin-guitar duo and plenty of chit-chat accompanied a Saturday event in Boulder Creek to launch an innovative solution for people trying to rebuild after last summer’s devastating wildfire.

Dawn Roh of the High Council Foundation beamed as she revealed what she’s been steadfastly working toward over the past four months and five days: a community shed where fire victims can borrow tools such as rototillers, rakes, chainsaws and log splitters.

“It’s a really special day,” Roh said at the ribbon cutting ceremony on the Bear Creek Recreation and Community Center property. “I just am so grateful you guys came out today.”

Two-to-three-dozen people listened as she described how reducing building costs will now be as easy as borrowing a book from the library for the 900-plus families who lost their residence in the CZU Lightning Complex fire. It was two days before the anniversary of when the flames were sparked.

A couple of dogs briefly interrupted the proceedings as they began roughhousing, to a gleeful peanut gallery comment of, “You gotta remember, we’re in Boulder Creek.”

Roh and her team have wrangled just over $100,000 in donations for the cause.

She likened the plight of the fire-affected to becoming demoralized when you get a flat tire on the side of the road.

“If just one person shows up, something shifts and you’re like—you can get through this,” she said. “We’ve got over 100 businesses ‘pulling off on the side of the road.’”

The body of the tool shed is made up of three shipping containers placed side-by-side, with a wooden exterior and a concrete pad that extends out front.

There’s a mural on the exposed side that highlights the smoky blue-to-lavender gradient of mountains below a yellow and orange-tinged sunset.

Isaac Hatch of Hatch’s Milling cut the 6-inch-by-6-inch posts for the front, said 66-year-old hazard-faller Bruce Baker, recalling how he walked for miles along remote terrain with Roh to select two giant trunk-remnant segments to memorialize the fire.

“I went out with Dawn and we did a tour of some of the burn areas,” he said. “We covered acres and acres.”

It was off of a county road in the Big Basin area along China Grade that Roh discovered what she was looking for.

“I’m humbled they came out of the woodwork and asked me,” said Baker, as he demonstrated where the core of the stump sections succumbed to rot after the fire. “These are the two that she chose.”

Zack Roh, 44, saw first-hand how hard his mother, Dawn, worked to make the tool shed a reality.

“She was determined to see this through,” he said, revealing she’d work 16-hour days to get ‘er done. “She’s stubborn as a mule.”

He could have painted the base coating on the shipping containers himself, but he saw an opportunity to engage a couple community members in creating the new local resource.

He reached out to Sean and Tony Machado of Machado Bros. Painting Inc. to see if they wanted to pitch in.

“Sean and Tony are San Lorenzo Valley residents,” he said. “They ended up doing more work than I did because they’re closer.”

For the first three months, the tool shed will be for the exclusive use of the fire-affected. Afterwards, the entire community will have access.

One of the shipping containers is filled with used tools fire survivors are allowed to take.

Jon Payne, 42, tapped into a bit of nostalgia as he selected an old school-style wooden tool box and a rusty-but-trusty tire iron to keep in his truck.

“I’m stoked on it,” he said, then looking outside, added, “I can’t wait to rent one of these log-splitters.”

Payne’s plan is to rebuild his Big Basin-area home, but his household hasn’t been able to get all the official clearances lined up quite yet.

For them, it’s an environmental health roadblock they’ll have to overcome.

But once they clear that hurdle, it will be important to try to find cost-effective ways of proceeding, he said. And that’s where the community tool shed will come in handy.

“It’s definitely gonna help,” he said. “It’s not just the house…When you lose your tools, you lose the way to prevent fire by property upkeep.”

Dawn Roh (center) says the community tool shed is more than a way to help people after their homes burned—it will hopefully serve as an important morale boost for families who are still struggling to start rebuilding. PHOTO: Drew Penner/Perss Banner

Melissa Temes, 46, a board member with the Boulder Creek Parks and Recreation District, said she was impressed by the leadership district manager Hallie Greene showed during the tool shed construction—and other efforts—despite having lost her home to the fire.

“I’m always so impressed with Hallie,” Temes said, pointing to a broader Boulder Creek community spirit she feels this represents. “I think that’s what makes our community so amazing.”

Claire Hamilton, 14, says she’s amazed so many businesses chipped in for the tool shed. The 4-H Club member says even those whose homes survived the flames may have been affected in other ways.

“Some of us lost animals,” she said. “I know I did.”

She and her mother Diane remembered how they loaded as many chickens as they could into their vehicle as they fled for safer pastures in Oregon.

Now, Claire mourns the loss of the quail they couldn’t squeeze in.

“Any animals that were left most likely died,” she said, noting they returned to find smoke damage to their own home.

A tool shed will hit the spot for families still working to pick up the pieces, she believes—particularly among Santa Cruz Mountains people.

“You need tools,” she said, adding, “A lot of people are Do-It-Yourself-ers.”

For 38-year-old Rasmus Fonseca and his family, there are geological issues with their property that have to be addressed before they can get the OK to rebuild their wildfire-destroyed home.

“We’re not doing anything until that clears,” he said. “Everything’s a little bit on hold right now.”

But after all the paperwork and waiting around, he expects to make use of an auger and a cement mixer, so he can start building retaining walls and completing other fundamental improvements.

“We’re in a big budget crunch right now,” he said, adding being able to borrow a generator will be a game-changer. “We’re going to be working on a lot that doesn’t have power.”

County Mandates Covid Vaccine or Weekly Testing for its Employees

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to require all of 2,400 County employees to either take the Covid-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing.

Employees who refuse both risk termination, or being put on leave without pay.

“Given the nature of the public health crisis, an employee who refuses to vaccinate or test weekly will be deemed to have subjected co-workers to unnecessary safety risks,” county officials stated.

The supervisors also had the option to require the vaccine for all employees without giving them the option to opt-out with testing, or to keep things as they are. Offering the option of weekly testing is a way to shield possible legal action from employees who refuse to get the shots.

County officials say the mandate is a way to boost the number of vaccinated employees—which currently stands at 85%—to at least 90%.

The supervisors will review the effectiveness of the policy in 45 days, at which time they have the option to simply require all employees to be vaccinated.

“This is a significant statement by the board on the importance of vaccinations to protect the health and safety of our community,” Board Chair Bruce McPherson said. “Our employees have demonstrated leadership through their already high vaccination rates, and the board encourages every community member to follow suit if they are able to obtain a vaccine.”

A handful of people spoke against the mandate, most of them stating debunked and otherwise false or misleading claims and conspiracy theories.

“These vaccines do not prevent transmission,” said Carol Bjorn. “Therefore it doesn’t make sense to have any kind of mandates of vaccines.”

Santa Cruz County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel says that unvaccinated people are seven times more likely to get the virus than those who have gotten their shots.

Bjorn also said that 11,000 people have died from the vaccine, but she was citing data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which is an open database where anyone can submit information.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 357 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered in the U.S. from Dec. 14, 2020 through Aug. 16.

During this time, VAERS received 6,789 reports of death (0.0019%) among people who received a Covid-19 vaccine. But the CDC says that any adverse events after vaccination do not necessarily mean the vaccine caused them.

The supervisors’ move comes on the heels of a countywide mandate by Newel to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccine status. The State of California has recently required mandatory vaccinations and testing for industries such as healthcare facilities, congregate settings and correctional facilities and detention centers.

The Food and Drug Administration also granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people 16 years and older on Monday, making it the first to move beyond emergency use status in the United States.

“Masks are just one layer of protection,” Newel said. “The vaccine is probably the most important and certainly the most effective layer of protection for our county workforce.”

The county is hoping to contract with a provider currently used by the cities of Capitola and Santa Cruz that could bill employees’ insurance companies. Employees who don’t have insurance—which county officials said is unlikely—could get the test for free.

According to the California Department of Public Health, the state is currently experiencing its fastest increase in new cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began, to the tune of 11 per 100,000 people per day.

In Santa Cruz County, the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 dropped over the past week from 18—the most since January—to 11. There were 763 active Covid-19 cases in the county, according to county data available Tuesday.

Santa Clara and Monterey counties have already instituted mandatory vaccinations for all employees, and San Benito County instituted mandatory weekly testing for unvaccinated employees. The cities of Santa Cruz and Watsonville have yet not instituted any new mandates.

California’s Plan to Make New Buildings Greener Will Also Raise Costs

State regulators updated California’s building code to require new homes and commercial buildings to have solar panels and batteries and the wiring needed to switch from heaters that burn natural gas to heat pumps that run on electricity.

Santa Cruz, Capitola Extend Outdoor Dining Programs

Programs that make outdoor dining possible will extend into next year in Santa Cruz and Capitola, thanks to a vote by the city councils.

Calls Grow to Discipline Doctors Spreading Virus Misinformation

The Federation of State Medical Boards recommended last month that states consider action against doctors who share false medical claims.

One Year Removed, Residents Remember CZU Fires

Feelings of past grief and hope for the future were on full display on Aug. 18 at the CZU Fire Remembrance gathering at the Brookdale Lodge.

PVUSD Trustees Renew Superintendent Contract

PVUSD_bylaws
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday agreed to renew the contract for Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez for another four years.

Watsonville City Council Approves Development as Possible Litigation Looms

watsonville-civic-plaza
The Watsonville City Council approved a proposed 21-condo development across the street from the Watsonville Municipal Airport that could face litigation from the Watsonville Pilot Association

Court Considers Whether Sexually Violent Predator Can Move to Bonny Doon

Michael Cheek, a Concord resident, abducted and raped a Santa Cruz woman he met at Seabright Beach in 1980.

Lake Tahoe Suffocates With Smoke

With California halfway through its peak fire season, the Caldor fire is only one of about 100 large wildfires burning in the West.

Community Tool Library Helps Locals Rebuild from CZU Fires

tool-shed
Fire victims can borrow tools such as rototillers, rakes, chainsaws and log splitters at the community tool shed.

County Mandates Covid Vaccine or Weekly Testing for its Employees

covid-vaccine
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to require all of 2,400 County employees to either take the Covid-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing.
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