The man who was 15 when he kidnapped, raped and murdered 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton in 2015 pleaded guilty to the charges on Tuesday, setting the stage for a sentencing that could see him released by the time he is 25.
That is because Adrian “A.J.” Gonzalez, now 21, is considered a minor under Senate Bill 1391, a law that prohibits people under the age of 16 from being tried as an adult.
Gonzalez’s plea came just after his case was transferred to juvenile court. If tried as an adult, he faced life in prison without the possibility of parole.
His attorney, Santa Cruz County Public Defender Larry Biggam, could not be reached for comment. But he told this newspaper in February—when the California Supreme Court ruled that SB 1391 is constitutional—that juveniles who commit sex crimes and get treatment are less likely to commit future crimes than those sent to adult prisons, since their brains are still developing.
But Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeff Rosell says that the gruesome nature of the crime—that he lured Maddy to his apartment with ice cream, attacked her from behind, bound her with duct tape and choked her into unconsciousness before raping her and then stabbing her in the neck when he realized she wan’t dead yet—makes it unlikely that will happen.
Gonzalez also cleaned the murder weapons with hydrogen peroxide and then calmly interacted with people who were looking for Maddy, Rosell said.
“I don’t think that is somebody who is going to be rehabilitated and safely released on the streets at the age of 25,” he said.
Rosell also says that the possibility that Gonzalez could be released at 25 is real, since almost nobody in the juvenile system has their sentences extended beyond that age.
Gonzalez has been in custody on $5 million bail for 27 charges that include first-degree murder, kidnapping and numerous sex offenses.
He is accused of luring Maddy into his apartment in the Tannery Arts Complex with the promise of ice cream on July 26, 2015. There, prosecutors say he strangled, raped and stabbed the girl before concealing her body in a recycling bin.
After a year of being shuttered due to the pandemic, Pajaro Valley Arts (PVA) has once again fully opened its gallery to the public.
On April 9, the organization welcomed back the public with the start of its annual fundraising exhibit, “Take Aways: Art to Go!” Now in its eighth year, the show invites art lovers to come browse and take home pieces the day of purchase. A portion of the sales supports PVA.
A few days before opening, curators Jane Gregorius and Chris Miroyan were busy putting on the final touches at the gallery at 37 Sudden St. in Watsonville.
“We’re over the moon to be back,” Gregorius said. “It’s just so nice to be here, to see real art. It’s real stuff—it’s not on a screen.”
PVA had just opened its exhibit “Campesinos: Workers of the Land” when everything shut down in March 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The nonprofit got to work bringing it and other shows to a virtual format, and even held a modified version of its annual “Mi Casa Es Tu Casa” exhibit.
“Which was lovely,” Miroyan said. “But definitely not the same.”
This year’s “Take Aways” includes close to 800 pieces by 79 local artists, covering a multitude of mediums. While the exhibit usually features more established names, this time, about 10% are emerging artists.
“We wanted to open it up a bit this year, and give more opportunities to newer artists,” Miroyan said.
All of the work is priced under $300, which Miroyan says makes the show a lot more accessible and, thus, more is sold.
“It’s an opportunity to buy some really fabulous art by some incredible artists, at a very reasonable price,” Miroyan said. “And the artists really want to see us thrive … and they’re making money, too. It’s a win-win-win.”
As its gallery reopens, PVA is also welcoming some new faces to its staff. On March 22, Valeria Miranda took over as the organization’s new executive director. She replaces Linda Martin, who had held the position since January 2019.
Miranda, who is originally from Brazil, has lived in the U.S. for 30 years. Artistically, Miranda’s primary medium is dance, but her professional background is in arts museums, both working in and consulting with them, as well as arts education.
“I’ve always been so passionate about how exhibitors and art have the power to change people, the way they think, the way they imagine the world,” Miranda said.
Miranda has been in Santa Cruz County for the past two decades, and during that time observed PVA and its projects. She says she is honored to join the organization at such a transitional time.
“PVA is working on so many amazing projects and is really poised for growth,” she said. “That was definitely one of the things that got me into applying for the position. It’s such an amazing opportunity to join the organization at this time.”
In addition to Miranda joining PVA, the organization’s board has changed over the past year. Gabriel Medina of Digital NEST and Calavera Media has stepped in as president, and the board has several new members.
“We’re really excited,” said PVA’s Judy Stabile. “Quite a few of the new board members are so enthusiastic, so willing to work, wanting to make the organization better.”
Added Miranda: “I think it’s exciting that the board has such a meaningful range of ages, backgrounds. Everybody is really united about the growth of the organization.”
PVA is also continuing to look for a new home. Last month, its purchase of the historic Porter Building in downtown Watsonville was halted due to the Surplus Land Act, which requires jurisdictions to make certain properties available to affordable housing developers before being sold.
Stabile admitted that they were disappointed, but said they aren’t giving up just yet.
“We’re practicing our patience,” she said. “I know this is a delay, but it doesn’t mean it’s over. There’s still a chance we could end up with the Porter building. But I think it’s important that we look at all our options because really, what we’re trying to do is serve the community. And we’re really outgrowing our little space.”
For now, the organization will celebrate its reopening and start reconnecting with the community.
“Being able to work with the artists … seeing people laughing, having fun in the gallery, it’s just incredible, being able to connect one-on-one with people again,” Stabile said.
Miranda said that joining PVA just as art galleries across the state begin to reopen feels “amazing and auspicious.”
“This is what we do,” she said. “We thrive on people’s reactions to the art. Being in a gallery with folks is what we live for. Personally, it grounds me, and reminds me why I do what I do.”
Pajaro Valley Arts’ gallery is open by appointment only, Friday-Sunday 11am-4pm. To make an appointment to see “Take Aways: Art To Go!” visit pvarts.org/appointment.
A poetry reading to go along with the exhibit will be held Friday, April 16, from 6:30-8:30pm via Zoom featuring Medina, Alex Rocha and Claudia Meléndez Salinas. More information can be found here.
“We are extremely proud of how the show came together,” Gregorius said. “And we’re so glad to have people back.”
A group of young girls ages 6 to 11 lined up with their bikes at Ramsay Park on Sunday afternoon, eager to learn about riding the park’s new pumptrack.
The free clinic was organized by Bike Santa Cruz County with the help of the city of Watsonville, along with the Santa Cruz Mountains Trails Stewardship (SCMTS), formerly known as Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz.
Organizer Drew Rogers said that it was the first official event held at the track, which celebrated its grand opening in March.
“It’s a great way to break [the track] in,” Rogers said. “By empowering young girls.”
The girls learned everything from terminology and bike tech to the basics of riding the track from Abby Hippely, an experienced mountain bike athlete and trainer. They started in the parking lot, practicing stopping and starting drills, balancing and how to correctly stand up on their pedals.
Then they progressed to the pumptrack, where Hippely demonstrated before she let each girl take a shot at riding through the turns.
A pumptrack is a circuit of hills, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders “pumping”—generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedaling or pushing.
Joey Barrera was present Sunday to watch his daughter Jordyn, 8, participate in the event. He said she had tried out the dirt pumptrack at Pinto Lake, but hadn’t had the best experience.
“We saw this clinic as the perfect opportunity to help her learn more, and get more confident,” he said.
Carlos Olivarez also attended to watch his niece, 6-year-old Maya. He said they had visited the track earlier that week to practice.
“She wanted to get the initial fear out of the way before the event,” Olivarez said. “She kept progressing … every time she tried she got a little further on the track. Then she was just going all over. It was great.”
In addition to the clinic, various organizations set up informational booths on Sunday, including Bike Santa Cruz County, Trips for Kids and The Ride Guides.
Matt De Young, executive director of SCMTS, said he was glad that the event came together.
“Getting women and girls out there, comfortable on the track and trails is so important,” he said.
SCMTS officially announced its name change and rebranding on Tuesday. De Young said that it was due to a gradual shift in focus for the organization. It began as a mountain bike social club in 1997, but has become a key player in trail stewardship and construction throughout the county. They now work with state parks, local land trusts and cities, Cal Fire and others to create trails for biking, hiking, equestrian and more.
“We’ve been feeling that our name really isn’t telling the whole story of what we do,” De Young said. “We’ve really expanded our focus to being on trail stewardship and development. This [name] change reflects that.”
But mountain biking will still be a major focus for SCMTS, De Young said. They will continue advocating and fundraising for, building and maintaining biking trails and tracks, as well as holding more events like Sunday’s clinic.
“We build these facilities and trails so that these types of things can happen,” he said. “We want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy them.”
Though the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be delayed for an undetermined amount of time, the pause of the single-dose inoculation is not expected to significantly slow the county’s Covid-19 vaccination efforts.
That’s according to Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin, who said Tuesday that only about 3,600 doses of that vaccine has been distributed to the County Health Services Agency (HSA). That vaccine, Hoppin said, has been primarily used for incarcerated people and people experiencing homelessness.
The Homeless Persons Health Project (HPHP), which has spearheaded the county’s vaccine efforts for those experiencing homelessness, made the switch to the Moderna vaccine today. Hoppin said that the shift might cause some operational challenges because of the vaccine’s two-dose administration, but that HPHP leaders were not too worried about the change.
“I talked to them this morning, and for those two-shot doses they’ve had pretty good success in getting people fully vaccinated,” Hoppin said Tuesday.
Despite the pause, Hoppin said, HPHP clients are still asking for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The use of the vaccine halted Tuesday morning after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended a “pause” while it investigated rare side effects possibly associated with the shot.
“Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare,” the statement read.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was scheduled to meet Wednesday and update its recommendation for the vaccine’s use.
Santa Cruz County has administered more than 194,000 vaccines, according to state data available Tuesday.
Hoppin said HSA this week would receive 3,800 doses, and that only 300 of them would be of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
It is still not yet known what effect the pause will have on other distribution methods that have used Johnson & Johnson, primarily the participants of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program such as CVS and Walgreens.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to the statement, makes up less than 5% of the doses administered in the U.S. to date.
“Over the last few weeks, we have made available more than 25 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna each week, and in fact this week we will make available 28 million doses of these vaccines,” the statement read. “This is more than enough supply to continue the current pace of vaccinations of 3 million shots per day, and meet the President’s goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office.”
Vaccine appointments for Santa Cruz County residents were still aplenty through the state-run My Turn website, myturn.ca.gov, as of 5pm Tuesday.
The mass vaccine site in downtown Watsonville had multiple openings Thursday through Sunday for those currently eligible. And Dignity Health-Dominican Hospital’s site at Branciforte Middle School in Santa Cruz also had several appointments available for Thursday.
But those appointments are expected to fill up quickly when eligibility expands to all Californians age 16 and older on Thursday, Hoppin said.
“It does seem easier to find a shot now,” Hoppin said. “Now, what happens on Thursday is probably a different question—that’s a pretty big expansion of the eligibility pool. What’s available now, may not be available then.”
DOWNTOWN SANTA CRUZ MAKERS MARKET Come on out and support local makers and artists at the Downtown Santa Cruz Makers Market every third Sunday of the month on Pacific Avenue at Lincoln Street! We are now on the 1100 block of Pacific Avenue between Cathcart and Lincoln streets near New Leaf. Support local and shop small with over 30 Santa Cruz County artists and makers! And don’t forget to stop in and visit the downtown merchants and grab a bite to eat from the downtown restaurants. Remember to social distance as you shop and wear your mask. If you’re not feeling well, please stay home. There will be hand sanitizing stations at the market and signs to remind you about all these things! Friendly leashed pups are welcome to this free event! Sunday, April 18, 10am-5pm. Downtown Santa Cruz Makers Market, Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz.
POETRY READING VIA ZOOM PANDEMIC TAKEAWAYS Poetry Reading via Zoom—Pandemic Take Aways featuring: Alex Rocha, Gabriel J. Medina and Claudia Meléndez Salinas. Pajaro Valley Arts invites you to join us for our fundraising exhibit, “Take Aways: Art to Go!” This diverse annual invitational exhibit features 76 local artists from Santa Cruz County. Alex Rocha grew up around the strawberry fields in Watsonville. She is currently a junior at Yale University and is majoring in American Studies with a focus on visual, audio, literary and performance cultures. Gabriel J. Medina is a local filmmaker. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Visual Literacy; Film & Television Studies and Chicana/o Studies at UCLA. Claudia Meléndez Salinas is an author, journalist, open water swimmer and cat lover. She was raised in Puebla, Mexico, and graduated from UCSC. Broadcast via Zoom: cccconfer.zoom.us/j/91026783529 (meeting ID: 910 2678 3529). Friday, April 16, 6:30-8:30pm.
CHRIS JOHNSON SPRING GLASS ART SHOW Ah, spring! The days are getting longer and warmer, the smell of fragrant flowers is in the air, the leaves on the trees are starting to return. It’s time to get out and explore, take in and enjoy everything that our beautiful area has to offer. Our annual offering to welcome in spring is our Spring Glass Show at the Live Oak Grange. Come and shop for beautiful handmade glass from our Davenport studio, including jewel-toned pulled flowers, cups and bowls to hold your favorite spring tonics and fresh strawberries, glass hearts, English wine goblets, vases for spring flowers, paperweights, glass eggs, and of course pumpkins (appropriate any time of the year). The Chris Johnson Glass Spring Glass Show is the perfect place to find something just in time for Mother’s Day, or the perfect surprise gift for someone you love. One day only, all pieces are one of a kind, so arrive early for the best selection. Saturday, April 17, 10am-5pm. Live Oak Grange, 1700 19th St., Santa Cruz.
TOBY GRAY 420 EARTH DAY CHAMINADE With special guests. Food and drink specials. Cool, rocking and smooth with a repertoire of several hundred of your favorite songs and fun heartfelt originals. Songs made famous by the Eagles, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Peter Rowan, Bob Marley, and many other classic artists, adding his own interpretations and owning the songs. Paying tribute to some of the founding voices of Motown, rhythm and blues, country and rock. Great music and stories of touring with It’s A Beautiful Day, Dick Clark Productions, and a multitude of characters from San Francisco’s Summer of Love and the Los Angeles music scene. Toby performs regularly at major festivals and concerts along with intimate coffee houses and everything in between. Artist sights and sounds at highwaybuddha.com. Tuesday, April 20, 5:30-8:30pm. Chaminade Resort & Spa, 1 Chaminade Ln, Santa Cruz.
COMMUNITY
Earth Day Celebration Come celebrate Earth Day with Downtown Commons Advocates and Santa Cruz Climate Action Network on Saturday, April 24, from 1-5 pm, in the parking lot on the corner of Cedar and Cathcart Streets in downtown Santa Cruz. There will be musical performances by Russell Brutsche, Anthony Arya, Michael Levy and Peter Weiss, Elie Mabanza and Gina Rene. Learn about the work of community groups, see entries in the Earth Day photo contest and the artwork of Russell Brutsche, and participate in a hands-on art activity. This event is free. Please bring your own chairs and drinks, and bike to the event if you can!
THE BYSTANDER MOMENT VIRTUAL FILM SCREENING The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and the Sexual Assault Response Team invite you to join us online for this free, virtual screening of “The Bystander Moment: Transforming Rape Culture at its Roots” in recognition of April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This 49-minute film will be available to watch online by visiting our screening page at: mediaed.org/the-bystander-moment-screening-santa-cruz-county-sheriffs-office. This event is supported by the Santa Cruz Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women. Friday, April 16-Thursday, April 22.
THE BYSTANDER MOMENT VIRTUAL CONVERSATION The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and the Sexual Assault Response Team invite you to join us online for The Bystander Moment Virtual Conversation with featured speaker Jackson Katz, and guest speakers Sheriff Jim Hart and Ann Simonton. This special event in recognition that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Advance registration required on Eventbrite at tinyurl.com/yzmxnvtp. Space is limited to the first 250 registered attendees. Tuesday, April 20, 6pm.
DEMENTIA CONVERSATION WEBINAR When someone is showing signs of dementia, it is time to talk. Often, conversations with family about changing behaviors can be challenging and uncomfortable. This program provides tips for breaking the ice with your family so you can address some of the most common issues that are difficult to discuss: going to the doctor for a diagnosis or medical treatment, deciding when to stop driving, and making legal and financial plans for future care. Call 800-272-3900 for more information. Friday, April 16, 1-2:30pm. Alzheimer’s Association, 550 Water St., Santa Cruz.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES WEBINAR Communication is more than just talking and listening—it’s also about sending and receiving messages through attitude, tone of voice, facial expressions and body language. As people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias progress in their journey and the ability to use words is lost, families need new ways to connect. Join us to explore how communication takes place when someone has Alzheimer’s, learn to decode the verbal and behavioral messages delivered by someone with dementia, and identify strategies to help you connect and communicate at each stage of the disease. The Effective Communication Strategies program of the Alzheimer’s Association was designed to provide practical information and resources to help dementia caregivers learn to decode verbal and behavioral messages from people with dementia. Call 800-272-3900 for more information. Thursday, April 15, 10-11:30am. Alzheimer’s Association, 550 Water St., Santa Cruz.
GREY BEARS BROWN BAG LINE If you are able-bodied and love to work fast, this is for you! Grey Bears could use more help with their brown bag production line on Thursday and Friday mornings. As a token of our thanks, we make you breakfast and give you a bag of food if wanted. Be at the warehouse with a mask and gloves at 7am, and we will put you to work until at least 9am! Call ahead if you would like to know more. greybears.org. 831-479-1055. Thursday, April 15, 7am. California Grey Bears, 2710 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz.
REPARATIONS FOR BLACK AMERICANS: THE ROAD TO RACIAL EQUALITY IN CALIFORNIA AND BEYOND In 2020, California established the nation’s first state task force to study and make recommendations on reparations for the institution of slavery, the atrocities that followed the end of slavery, and the ongoing discrimination against freed slaves and their descendants from the end of the Civil War to the present. Although the movement for reparations extends to the 18th century, it has gained new momentum in recent years. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) first introduced legislation to create a national task force to study reparations in 1989. The current version of the bill, HR 40, has at least 169 co-sponsors in the House, but has yet to achieve majority support. Join us for a conversation with some of the country’s leading experts and advocates for reparations, to discuss these questions and more. Register for the Zoom webinar at transform.ucsc.edu/event/reparations-for-black-americans-the-road-to-racial-equality.
SALSA SUELTA FREE ZOOM SESSION SALSA SUELTA FREE ZOOM SESSION Keep in shape! Weekly online session in Cuban-style Salsa Suelta for experienced beginners and up. May include mambo, chachacha, Afro-Cuban rumba, orisha, son montuno. No partner required, ages 14 and older. Contact to get the link. salsagente.com. Thursday, April 15, 7pm.
TEEN JOB FAIR Santa Cruz Teen Center and Access 2 Employment are hosting a Teen Job Fair, join us to find out who is hiring and how to apply! Wednesday, April 14, 1:30-5pm. Louden Nelson Community Center, 301 Center St., Santa Cruz.
TENANTS’ RIGHTS HELP Tenant Sanctuary is open to renters living in the city of Santa Cruz with questions about their tenants’ rights. Volunteer counselors staff the telephones on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 10am-2pm. Tenant Sanctuary works to empower tenants by educating them on their rights and providing the tools to pursue those rights. Tenant Sanctuary and their program attorney host free legal clinics for tenants in the city of Santa Cruz. Due to Covid-19 concerns, all services are currently by telephone, email or Zoom. For more information visit tenantsanctuary.org or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/tenantsanctuary. 831-200-0740. Thursday, April 15, 10am-2pm. Sunday, April 18, 10am-2pm. Tuesday, April 20, 10am-2pm.
GROUPS
CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP – VIA TELEPHONE Support groups create a safe, confidential, supportive environment or community and a chance for family caregivers to develop informal mutual support and social relationships as well as discover more effective ways to cope with and care for your loved one. To register or for more information please call 800-272-3900. Wednesday, April 14, 2pm.
ENTRE NOSOTRAS GRUPO DE APOYO Entre Nosotras support group for Spanish-speaking women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets twice monthly. Registration required: 831-761-3973. Friday, April 16, 6pm.
WOMENCARE ARM-IN-ARM Cancer support group for women with advanced, recurrent, or metastatic cancer. All services are free. Registration required: contact WomenCARE at 831-457-2273 or online at womencaresantacruz.org. Monday, April 19, 12:30pm.
WOMENCARE MINDFULNESS MEDITATION Mindfulness Meditation for women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets the first and third Friday, currently on Zoom. Registration required, contact 831-457-2273. Friday, April 16, 11am-noon.
OUTDOOR
VIRTUAL YOUNGER LAGOON RESERVE TOURS Younger Lagoon Reserve is now offering a virtual tour in both English and Spanish. This virtual tour follows the same stops as the Seymour Marine Discovery Center’s docent-led, in-person hiking tour, and is led by a UCSC student! Virtual Younger Lagoon Reserve tours are free and open to the public. Part of the University of California Natural Reserve System, Younger Lagoon Reserve contains diverse coastal habitats and is home to birds of prey, migrating sea birds, bobcats, and other wildlife. See what scientists are doing to track local mammals, restore native habitat, and learn about the workings of one of California’s rare coastal lagoons. Access the tours at seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/visit/behind-the-scenes-tours/#youngerlagoon. Sunday, April 18, 10:30am.
Michael Mechanic was a reporter and then news editor for Metro Santa Cruz back in the 1990s, played in the local band Junk Sick Dawn and, after a stint in journalism school, moved back to the Bay Area.
Mechanic spent several years as managing editor of the East Bay Express, a gig that led to his current position as senior editor at Mother Jones—where he’s been for the past 13 years. Mechanic’s new book, Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live and How Their Wealth Harms Us All, tracks the lives of mozillionaires, from the barely imaginable lifestyles to the moral quandaries.
Briefly, trace the path that led to your new book.
MICHAEL MECHANIC: A New York literary agent called me out of the blue to ask whether I’d ever considered writing a book. Jackpot had been on my back burner for ages. Even so, it took me a couple of years to do the proposal. I’m glad I put it off, because the book is more timely now.
The book explores how vast wealth affects its recipients and their choices and behavior. Did you come in with certain stereotypes about the wealthy?
I try to avoid preconceptions. But there’s definitely something to rich folks never feeling they have enough money to be financially secure. And then there’s the “bubble”—the notion that rich people form these exclusive communities in which discussing one’s yacht and house in Aspen seems completely normal. I think that contributes to the stereotype of the rich being out of touch.
In one chapter, you explore philanthropy as tax-avoidant reputation laundering. This contradicts our popular myth that the mega-rich are doing good through their charitable work.
Not all giving is self-serving, clearly, but philanthropy has those aspects. Members of the Sackler clan pushed opioids they knew were killing people, even as the family and Purdue Pharma curried favor by donating millions to universities and cultural institutions. Jeffrey Epstein used philanthropy to distract from his pedophilia. We also subsidize charitable giving with generous tax breaks, whether or not that giving aligns with society’s needs and values. And ‘Big Philanthropy,’ as we practice it, is undemocratic. It gives the super-rich undue influence in our lives with very little public accountability.
What is wealth segregation, and is it real?
Very real. It’s the tendency of people to cluster by socioeconomic status, maybe because they want to live in nicer neighborhoods with better schools, etc., but also because doing so is less socially awkward. You get more of it in regions with high economic inequality, so all the poor live over here, the rich over there, and fewer and fewer people live in mixed-wealth neighborhoods. This so-called income segregation—like racial segregation—tears at the fabric of a community. It leaves us with less compassion for people on the other side of the tracks.
Did you notice significant differences in the attitudes toward their fortunes on the part of heirs versus people who created wealth?
Yes. My wealth creators sometimes felt conflicted, but seldom as conflicted as the inheritors, who did nothing to deserve their fortune. I’m sure some inheritors feel very entitled, but the ones I met were kind of ambivalent, or even anxious, about their wealth.
You spent almost two years talking to people who’d won the metaphorical jackpot. Were they inevitably corrupted by sudden wealth?
I wouldn’t say “corrupted.” People who come into wealth do often feel, as one subject put it, “unmoored”—kind of lost and striving for meaning. But several sources who knew Jeff Bezos before and after he got insanely rich told me the money changed him. How could it not? When you have that much, society treats you transactionally, you have no time, and it’s hard to trust anyone. You probably think you’re hot shit, too.
Is it a moral outrage that mega-billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates exist?
I think so. The public sector created the conditions that enabled these guys to build their empires, and our laws helped their wealth grow as fast as it has. A tax code is a moral document—ideally, it’s an expression of the public’s priorities, but ours is corrupted. Tesla wouldn’t be profitable without huge government subsidies. And Amazon, from 2009 through 2018, paid an average effective tax of about 3% on $26.5 billion in profits. The IRS takes more from workers’ wages than it does from the passive gains of big investors. That isn’t right. We should absolutely reward innovation and invention, but the scale of these rewards has gotten ridiculous.
Did you ever feel like a Dickensian urchin—secretly envying the lives of your informants?
I once played a member of Fagin’s gang in Oliver! But no, not really. I’d love a swimming pool and a house with big, beautiful gardens and ponds and horses and unicorns. But all that stuff requires lots of time and upkeep. I’d probably be happier if I just Airbnb’d it.
Michael Mechanic discusses his new book, ‘Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live,’ published this month by Simon & Schuster, in a free virtual event presented by Bookshop Santa Cruz on Thursday, April 15, at 7pm. For more information, go to bookshopsantacruz.com/jackpot. To register for the event, visit crowdcast.io/e/jackpot.
Re: “Blanket Solutions” (GT, 3/31): Whenever the subject of homelessness crops up, the cry of “affordable housing” as a sure-fire fix is certain to follow.
Understandable, given our collective exasperation. “The solution is easy,” claims Cecelia Espinola, board president of Housing Matters. “It’s housing!” Ah, yes. Lifestyles of the rich and unsustainable, just one block over. Hurry!
Yet listen to Steve Pleich, who for years has had his ear to the ground on matters of homelessness. “Affordable housing is out of the reach of just about every unsheltered person I know.”
Bingo. A case of too many people chasing too few resources. Now add to this irresolvable situation the uncompromising malcontents who claim to speak for the unhoused—demanding this, expecting that, refusing to give even an inch, as if that was their prerogative.
When I rolled into Santa Cruz in 1978 as a van-dwelling wannabe hippie, I lined up every weekday morning outside the EDD, hoping to score a much-coveted day job. Later, I found steady-ish work at the William James Work Co., a short-lived worker’s co-op. Sadly, those days—and the hippies—are long gone.
But you can’t outrun your karma, nor the price of paradise. These days I find myself once again living in a van a la Francis McDormand in Nomadland, cushioned this time by Social Security. So no worries—my days on this crowded, wounded planet are mercifully numbered.
But for the young and the impoverished; for the mentally broken and the chemically altered; for the dead-enders, the layabouts, and the criminally inclined; and for the good, decent folks blindsided by happenstance—I just don’t see how four walls and a ticket to prosperity are going to magically materialize.
Tim Rudolph | Santa Cruz
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Earth Day (April 22) has a lot to overcome to get the respect it deserves as a holiday. It doesn’t involve candy, there are no presents, there’s not even a big, memorable meal or a family gathering. It symbolizes something meaningful that pretty much everyone can get behind, so it’s always going to be cooler than, say, Flag Day. But the urgency of its purpose—to draw attention to environmental crises—is what makes it essential, and that’s finally starting to be recognized. Last year, despite the pandemic, more than 100 million people around the globe participated in Earth Day actions and activities in honor of the holiday’s 50th anniversary.
I think this week’s cover story by Erin Malsbury honors the original intentions of Earth Day, too. It reveals how local climate activists have carried on with their work saving the planet even as the pandemic forced them to radically shift their approach. Especially heartening, I think, is reading about the great work that young activists are doing. While we talk about what kind of Earth we’re going to pass on to them, they’re already working to make it better.
Also in this issue is Christina Waters’ interview with Michael Mechanic, author of the new book Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live and How Their Wealth Harms Us All. Mechanic, as those who have followed the rich history of the alternative press here may remember, worked for Metro Santa Cruz in the 1990s. If you were up on local music, you may also remember his Bad Monkey Records imprint that put out some of the best bands around back then—I particularly loved his two Santa Cruz Sucks compilations. Good Riddance, Slow Gherkin, Fury 66, the Huxtables, What-Nots, the Muggs, Soda Pop FU, Exploding Crustaceans; gah, so many good bands. I was writing a local music column at GT at the time, and I had (and still have) so much respect for what he did for the scene. Now his excellent new book is winning praise from all over, including Bill Moyers writing that it “recalls for me the muckraking reporting of America’s first Gilded Age, when dogged prophetic journalists exposed the giants of crooked capitalism.” Be sure to read the article and check out his book and upcoming virtual event presented by Bookshop Santa Cruz!
After following up on this story, I discovered that Cabrillo officials did indeed receive a draft of Dr. Engstrand’s presentation in advance, making their subsequent shock and dismay over her statements seem all the more questionable. It’s also been reported that the question and answer segment of the event was cut short. Again, why wasn’t that time afforded to challenge the speaker instead of blindsiding her in a critical letter?
I think Cabrillo College really needs to re-frame the debate over the college’s namesake in terms of a condemnation of Spanish imperialism and missionary conquest. Or would that cut too close to the sins of our own forefathers?
— Benjamin R.
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GOOD IDEA
PARK PLACING
Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks has announced that registration for Kids2Parks is now open through April 30 for the 2021-2022 school year. The program is a partnership between the nonprofit and California State Parks that offers free educational field trips in local state parks to select Title 1 schools in Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The virtual programs explore a variety of subjects for students to study, such as coastal redwood life in Henry Cowell, diverse marine life in Seacliff or the Mexican Rancho Era at the Castro Adobe. In-person trips may also resume when it is safe to do so. Educators can apply online at thatsmypark.org/k2p.
GOOD WORK
COLLEGE MATERIAL
The nonprofit Santa Cruz Community Ventures has partnered with ScholarShare 529, California’s official college savings plan, to offer financial incentives for opening a new ScholarShare 529 account and encourage families to begin saving for college. Research has shown that having a child savings account is linked to increased educational and economic opportunities. The ScholarShare 529 2021 Matching Grant Program will match contributions up to $200 from eligible families, with the goal of helping more families achieve the dream of pursuing a higher education. Learn more at sccvonline.org.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”
“The narrative that you still hear is, ‘When this is over, and life gets back to normal … blah, blah, blah,’ And I’m trying to be like, ‘We can’t go back to normal. Normal was killing us all,” says Nancy Faulstich, executive director of Regeneración, a Watsonville-based climate justice organization. “The pandemic has shown some of the ways in which that was a totally unworkable system.”
Regeneración approaches climate change as a social justice as well as environmental problem. They spent the past year working on virtual and social media outreach, and discussing the intersections of climate change and equity in local spaces like city budgets.
“Climate resiliency is so intertwined with how the city is going to spend their money,” says Natalie Olivas, community organizer at Regeneración. “How are they protecting their people? How is our infrastructure going to hold up with all of these climate issues? Because the whole country has had such a difficult time responding to the pandemic, all of these issues are really being laid bare. And I think more people are starting to pay attention, and starting to see how it impacts their lives.”
Climate change is a global phenomenon that, to some, might seem like a distant threat. But Santa Cruz County has already started to feel the heat. Intensifying wildfires, droughts and heatwaves threaten lives and livelihoods across the county. Flooding and coastal erosion from rising sea levels are expected to worsen, jeopardizing everything from city infrastructure to surf spots.
Santa Cruz County, of course, is home to many climate-focused organizations; some have worked in the community for years, while others only recently formed. Their individual focuses vary, but all of the groups have had to adapt to the age of Covid-19. And despite the significant challenges, many of them say the past year has taught them new organizational strategies and helped them focus their missions.
“We’ve seen throughout history that during moments of crisis and upheaval, it’s an opportune time for societies to pick up the ideas that are lying around and make rapid transformations and advancements,” says David Shaw, coordinator of the Right Livelihood College at UCSC and a Ph.D. student in environmental issues.
Shaw also works as the director of Santa Cruz Permaculture. He is heartened by the number of new gardens around Santa Cruz and the way people have altered their behavior during the past year.
“One of the things that the pandemic has shown us is that change is not only necessary, it’s possible,” he says. “We’ve been able to make tremendous changes locally and globally, because we’ve had to. And so now, anyone who says we can’t make big changes is just flat out wrong.”
He isn’t the only activist who feels this way.
“Overall, I’m encouraged to see how flexible people are, how adaptable they are, how they can make changes,” says Pauline Seales, an organizer at the Santa Cruz Climate Action Network. She feels especially encouraged by the number of people now riding bikes and the changing role of the work commute.
“Tons of people are working from home and will not go back to nine-to-five commuting Monday through Friday,” she says.
But the pandemic set back other advancements. The use of disposable products like takeout containers increased, plastic bag bans lifted and zero-waste campaigns screeched to a halt.
Still, climate activists have stayed determined. “We’ve found ways to get everything that we were doing done,” says Lynda Marín, chapter lead for the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Santa Cruz chapter. “And it may be that we will hold onto some of these things even after Covid.”
Save Yourselves
Santa Cruz has a rich history of environmental and climate activism, and many of its local groups worked together for years before the pandemic. Those relationships might have saved some of them.
“I think that we’ve benefited during this time from having a pretty strong connective tissue,” says Marín. Citizens’ Climate Lobby has hosted joint online discussions with the Santa Cruz Climate Action Network, for example. “We have a lot of good overlap and communication, and trust and friendship,” she says.
That communication spans generations. Youth for Climate Justice, a Santa Cruz youth-led organization inspired by the global Fridays for Future movement, planned climate strikes before the pandemic with groups like the Climate Action Network.
Since the shutdowns, they haven’t organized strikes. But the groups got creative, hanging signs and banners around town to show solidarity with past climate strikes.
Climate activists hung a sign calling for climate action early on Dec. 11, 2020. PHOTO: TARMO HANNULA
Many of the activists say watching the younger generation gives them the most hope. But young climate activism leaders emphasize that progress cannot just be up to them.
“It has to be everybody,” says Tamarah Minami, a ninth-grade student at Santa Cruz High School and one of the founding members of Youth for Climate Justice. “We have a limited amount of time before we’re not going to be able to stop climate change anymore. And just because we’re in a global pandemic doesn’t mean that that time is paused.”
Since the start of the pandemic, Youth for Climate Justice has turned its attention from large strikes to local projects. Efforts include getting free bus passes for students, trying to stop the construction of a new parking garage downtown and calculating carbon emissions at schools.
“I think we’re going to continue working on local projects,” says Minami. “I think it’s important that we shifted to start working on those.”
Most of their projects take place online, along with weekly meetings. The group has kept their momentum, but not without challenges. “It’s hard to keep students engaged,” says Minami. “Especially after we already are sitting on Zoom for five hours every day.”
But one advantage to the virtual format, she says, is connecting with students who don’t live nearby.
These connections and the ability to reach more diverse networks in a time of isolation form an ironic motif among several of the climate groups.
“It’s been really fantastic to be able to work with a wider range of volunteers than we would have if we were doing everything in person,” says Olivas from Regeneración.
“We’ll have to think about what kinds of events we want to keep doing online versus in person,” says Faulstich. “It just hugely expands the potential audience, the accessibility to it, and the speakers.” A recent virtual forum hosted by Regeneración and CSUMB garnered over 1,000 views on Facebook.
Climate Core Leadership Institute students plant trees, maintain trails and restore native habitat in the Pajaro Valley. PHOTO: COURTESY OF WATSONVILLE WETLANDS WATCH
Moving Forward
Still, higher online engagement cannot replace motivated members. Without an active core group, things might start to fall apart.
Such is the case for the Santa Cruz hub of Sunrise Movement, a national youth-led climate justice organization. “We need leaders,” says Cori Strell, a former hub coordinator for Sunrise. Organizations don’t always need more passive members, she explains.
When weekly meetings turned virtual, the group’s attendance dwindled. Several of the college students who formed the membership moved away, and leadership fell to someone outside of Santa Cruz.
The shrinking group tried phone banking for climate-minded political candidates. But the virtual burnout proved too strong for many of the members.
“I really like climate justice when I get to work with people,” says Strell. “It’s been really hard to justify unpaid labor without the positive outcome.” She and a few of the remaining members recently discussed merging with a Bay Area hub in an effort to salvage the group.
Many of the activists plan to continue holding certain events virtually, engaging communities on social media and widening their reach. But unsurprisingly, most of them are also eager to return to in-person action.
One area in particular where groups face challenges during the pandemic is working with local governments.
“I think that government agencies are a bit more insulated from public accountability, since their meetings are being held online and they take public comment one at a time,” says co-chair of the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation Rick Longinotti. “There’s something about a room full of people that I think has some influence.”
Seales from the Climate Action Network feels similarly. “By theory, you can access city council meetings via Zoom,” she says. “It’s an incredibly difficult interface.”
She, too, misses the atmosphere of a room full of passionate people. “In normal times, if there was any hot issue, a bunch of people would show up with signs,” she says. “There was an overall mood of ‘for’ or ‘against,’ which is completely lost with this.”
But despite the city council complications, the Santa Cruz Climate Action Network managed to stay involved in city projects. “We’ve played a fairly big role in the city’s Climate Action Plan,” says Seales.
Though organizers have sometimes found activism on Zoom frustrating, Climate Action Network has used it to stay involved in city projects, including the Climate Action Plan. PHOTO: COURTESY OF CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK
The group paid particular attention to making sure equity is included in the plan. Improving equity and addressing the social issues that underlie climate change looked different for many groups this year, but several of them rose to the challenge.
“This past year has been an incredibly focusing process for us as an organization to really hone in on what we feel are the most critical and important parts of our work,” says Jonathan Pilch, executive director of Watsonville Wetlands Watch. “We’ve had to take a lot of different steps to ensure that community engagement is really still at the heart of our work, but how that looks is very different.”
Watsonville Wetlands Watch used to host environmental education programs for 4,000 youth in the Pajaro Valley every year. At the start of the pandemic, they focused on making videos and broadcasting to as large an audience as possible.
But the group soon decided to focus their efforts on a few teachers and students individually through virtual or hybrid in-person programs. One of these programs is a small, paid job training program called the Climate Core Leadership Institute (CCLI).
CCLI students go through four weeks of socially distanced training, then plant trees, maintain trails and restore native habitat around the Pajaro Valley. Watsonville Wetlands Watch plans to continue the program post-pandemic.
“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of value in developing an effective small cohort of teens who are working on the issue of climate change through the Climate Core Leadership Institute,” says Pilch. “And so we want to make sure that level of engagement is sustained and deepened even more so while we also expand our broader community engagement.”
As vaccines roll out, schools and businesses reopen and life begins to feel more normal, relief might feel like a long-lost emotion resurfacing. We’re a long way from feeling similar relief about the climate crisis. But local activists encourage people to stay engaged, stay connected to their communities and stay hopeful.
There will be loss, but there can also be success. “I really think we can do this,” says Faulstich from Regeneración. “We can do what’s needed to protect life on Earth.”
Alicia Kuhl lives in her RV with her three kids and her partner. She says it bothers her when people tell her she should skip town, “move away some place cheaper” or “just leave.”
The longtime Santa Cruz activist says those who challenge her to get out simply don’t understand the position she’s in. Although she sometimes criticizes the city she calls home, Kuhl says she can’t think of anyplace else she’d rather live.
“You lose more than people think. You would be uprooting your entire life and everything that you’re used to,” Kuhl says. “And sometimes it’s not about saving a little bit of money. It’s about more than that. We need to have places where people can afford in the town where they live, where they’re working, where they’re serving their community—until they can afford a place to live there.”
That’s why—although Kuhl knows she’s part of the homeless population—she feels the reality behind her status is more complicated. She does have a home, she says. Her home is Santa Cruz.
It is for all these reasons that Kuhl prefers to think of herself—and those like her, who don’t have a permanent place to stay—as “houseless,” or “unhoused,” as opposed to simply “homeless.” Kuhl and many experts on homelessness say that, when community members are careful to use more humanizing language, it can lead to better discussions around the crisis.
In addition to “houseless” and “unhoused,” there’s another emerging way to talk about those who don’t have houses that’s picking up momentum. And it’s one that Kuhl has also come to embrace.
“People experiencing homelessness” is a term—embraced by the nonprofit world and local governments—meant to put more focus on the individual and take the stigma out of the crisis that they’re in. Over the past few years, the phrase has become part of the vocabulary of Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz city officials and at organizations across the region.
Santa Cruz Mayor Donna Meyers says she started using the term “people experiencing homelessness” in 2018 after hearing it on the campaign trail. She tells GT that she appreciates the phrase, because she knows people can start experiencing homelessness for a variety of different reasons.
Former Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane, currently vice president of the Housing Matters board of directors, says he first heard the term several years ago. He remembers it immediately resonating with him as a way to chip away at the vague label known as “the homeless,” a catch-all that he feels is too vague to be helpful.
“As soon as you are homeless, you get that label. It’s like your whole place in the world and your relationship to everyone else changes,” he says.
Lane says the term “person experiencing homelessness” communicates that homelessness includes a multitude of individual stories and a range of experiences.
“For some people, it’s a very quick but horrible experience. And for others, it’s a very deep trauma that lasts years. You can pretty much count on someone who’s been homeless for 20 years having a deep well of trauma in their life,” he says.
Lane says he has found that, generally speaking, people use language that reflects their values—for better and for worse. For instance, if someone believes that those who sleep outside are fully to blame for their own plight, they will choose stigmatizing language that justifies their own worldview, he says.
Lane can also appreciate the intention behind the term “houseless.” His only reservation about that particular alternative is that, if “houseless” becomes the widely adopted option, it could one day just become the new label, eventually even developing the same blame-oriented stigma that he believes “homeless” connotes. In the meantime, however, Lane likes how the mere act of someone choosing a different word like “houseless” can force someone to stop and think about the root of the problem, and about how to solve it. In order to help someone exit homelessness, you have to help them find housing and give them the support they may need to stay in that housing, he says.
At the moment, Santa Cruz is in the middle of several pivot points on homelessness. The River Street Shelter is closing permanently, and the city is working on a new ordinance specifying when and where people may sleep outside. The City Council is scheduled to have its third vote on that matter Tuesday, April 13.
There are also less contentious and more positive developments happening around homelessness. Construction on a seven-unit housing project across the street from Housing Matters has broken ground. Additionally, Housing Matters and Envision Housing are finalizing plans for a new city-approved 121-unit permanent supportive housing complex on the Housing Matters campus. Most of the complex’s residents will have Housing Choice Vouchers, issued by the Housing Authority of Santa Cruz County, to help them cover the rent.
This type of voucher may sound unfamiliar. That’s because many have historically known these Housing Choice Vouchers by another name—Section 8.
Even that phrase has problems, says Phil Kramer, executive director for Housing Matters. Kramer says he favors the term “Housing Choice Voucher.” He says he’s stopped using that term “Section 8” altogether, citing a long history of classist, anti-Section 8 policies designed to keep low-income renters and people of color out of affluent communities. What’s more, “Section 8” became a not-so-thinly-veiled slur over time, according to reporting by the Washington Post and research from institutions like the University of the District of Columbia.
Local Housing Authority Executive Director Jenny Panetta says she fully understands that people would prefer “Housing Choice Voucher” over “Section 8.”
“Words have power!” she tells GT via email.
Panetta adds that one reason she prefers the term “Housing Choice Voucher” is that it better reflects the program’s purpose and philosophy. The program’s federal rental subsidies let renters search for housing of their choice on the private market, instead of limiting them to public housing, which the federal government has built very little of since the 1970s.
All these shifts in how experts talk about housing and homelessness have happened in parallel with discussions about the language around other topics, public health included.
In recent years, local groups like the Harm Reduction Coalition and SafeRx have pushed for vocabulary that takes the stigma out of drug dependency. They’ve advocated for language highlighting the fact that addiction is a medical condition. These changes include using the term “people who use drugs” instead of “drug addicts” and “substance use disorder” in place of “drug abuse.”
Kristen O’Connor, a nurse and treatment specialist at Santa Cruz Community Health Centers, says that, although words like “addiction” and “drug abuse” are common in everyday conversation, such language can stigmatize those seeking treatment and put up barriers to recovery.
When it comes to homelessness, news organizations like Associated Press have also taken steps to be more careful in their syntax. Last year’s edition of the AP Stylebook even featured a blurb on homelessness. It states that the word “homeless” is still “generally acceptable as an adjective to describe people without a fixed residence.”
But the guide also cautions against using the word to describe a group of people in a way that would imply that they’re some kind of a singular monolith.“Avoid the dehumanizing collective noun the homeless,” the Stylebook states, “instead using constructions like homeless people, people without housing or people without homes.”
