Re: “Wild Ride” (GT, 8/25): I hope the organizers and sponsors of the Santa Cruz Ride Out are held financially responsible for all law enforcement, municipal waste cleanup and any other damages this “family friendly” event causes in our county. I witnessed the last “ride out” about this time of year in 2019 when this group rode into Jose Avenue Park. It was great to see this group of young people having fun on their ride. The number of riders was impressive! I can only imagine, though, what kind of traffic nightmares were happening on the roadways. But the most disturbing part of this event, as I’m sure the neighborhoods on the Westside experienced, was the sheer amount of trash that was left on the streets, parking lots and anywhere else these people traveled through. It was horrible. This group (as any) needs to be sanctioned by the appropriate county departments. They should have to put down a substantial deposit for any cleanup or damages incurred. Or just tell them to ride somewhere else.
Linda Sutherland
Santa Cruz
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Completely by coincidence, I have two stories in this issue about beloved local arts institutions making big decisions about their future. It makes me think about how the Covid-19 pandemic has basically put all arts groups at a crossroads, and it’s interesting to look at how the Santa Cruz Symphony and Santa Cruz Shakespeare are responding to that in ways that seem very different at first, but actually have a lot in common.
The symphony, as you’ll read about in my cover story, has signed Music Director Daniel Stewart to a 10-year extension. That’s a huge win for the organization, as Stewart was being courted by at least two major metropolitan operas, and for Stewart, as contracts of that length are almost unheard of in the symphony world. The organization is doubling down on Stewart in the biggest way they can, and he in turn is affirming that his musical vision and ambition—which, as you’ll see from reading about the season he has planned, is substantial—can be fulfilled here.
Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s plan seems different in the sense that they are betting on a new leader now that artistic director Mike Ryan will step down. (This is Ryan’s choice, of course; I’m sure SCS would have gladly signed him on for as long as he wanted.)
But on closer analysis, these two organizations are doing something very similar: seeking stability, and looking way ahead. The latter especially is not something arts groups are famous for, but I suspect that many more will have to do so. Ryan is not stepping down until after the 2023 season; if you consider that he informed the SCS Board of his intention two years ago so they could begin a search for his replacement, that’s five years notice. Charles Pasternak, who will replace him in 2024, has already stated his intention to work closely with Ryan to make the succession seamless, and said that he intends to extend and build on many of the policies Ryan has already put in place.
These groups are constructing their futures in very smart ways, and I think when you read my stories on their programming plans, you’ll agree that these carefully considered foundations, and the innovation they support, will benefit those of us in the audience most of all.
I got caught in the traffic gridlock. It took me 45 minutes to go from Seabright to the Point. The bikers acted entitled and had a scary, mob-mentality vibe. My friend said they were pounding on his truck as he was trying to get out of the harbor area. He said it was scary. I was trying to be patient, but it was annoying to have people come into our town being disrespectful.
— Justin
Sorry the bikes inconvenienced motorists in their pursuit of destroying the climate. I guess that’s an inconvenient truth. Ride on.
— William
So what, Santa Cruz was clogged for one day out of the year. Be thankful we have the kind of community turnout for these unique events. It’s what keeps the city alive.
— Josh
Re: Measure U
Really good and comprehensive article that should result in a serious debate over the many issues involved. A real debate would allow residents to understand there are trade-offs and consequences with every policy decision. Of course, you would need representatives of the multiple perspectives to be part of the discussion.
— Ann
Re: Youth N.O.W. Closes
In a county as rich as ours, this is beyond disturbing that our youth have yet one more program close on them. Between not having programs that support them, housing costs so high that many are facing impending homelessness and dealing with a pandemic (sans support), our community and county are failing our youth terribly.
Adults complain about youth and their lack of fill-in-the-blank, and yet when there is a program as amazing as Youth N.O.W. out there, but it can’t remain due to funding … that’s a crime. Especially in a rich county like ours. What is it going to take to keep programs like this one open for our youth?
— Valerie Arno
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GOOD IDEA
A WAY OUT
Watching the chaos unfold in Afghanistan as the Taliban takes over could make anyone feel helpless. If you are looking for a way to help Afghani families, consider donating to UCSC’s “Afghanistan Visiting Scholars Emergency Fund.” If the $100,000 goal is met, the Executive Vice Chancellor will match it dollar-for-dollar, funding safe passage to several women and their families out of Afghanistan. The fund prioritizes women academics, journalists, and activists. Learn more at ucsc.scalefunder.com/cfund/project/27323.
GOOD WORK
LIFTING SPIRITS (AND MASKS)
Take a local bookstore, add Trader Joe’s’ upbeat staff, and mix in businesses supporting each other to create the uplifting story we didn’t know we needed.
Months ago, when anti-maskers targeted Trader Joe’s, Bookshop Santa Cruz showed its support to the grocery store’s frontline workers by giving out gift cards. This week, Trader Joe’s’ staff reciprocated by bringing a bag of goodies to Bookshop Santa Cruz workers. The contents of the bag are unknown, but we choose to believe Trader Joe’s’ peanut butter cups were included.
Oakland jazz composer and performer Destiny Muhammad plays a major role in the upcoming Santa Cruz Symphony season, but a synchronicity worthy of her first name seems to have played a part, as well.
In the fall of last year, Muhammad was invited by members of a peace organization to perform a 15-minute set at one of their virtual events. They told her, “There’s a young woman who’s going to recite a poem or two right before you go on.”
Muhammad was impressed by the young poet, but she didn’t think anything more about it until she watched Amanda Gorman read her poem “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony in January. She was blown away.
“After she recited her poem,” says Muhammad, “I was like, ‘Oh, she is fierce. Why does she look familiar?’”
That’s when she got the “Do you know who that is?” phone call, where she was reminded that Gorman was in fact the young poet she had followed at the virtual event. And a month later, Santa Cruz Symphony Music Director Daniel Stewart was asking her if she would read Gorman’s poem at a concert when the symphony returned.
They funny thing is, Muhammad wasn’t that surprised when he did. She’d already discovered he was excited by “The Hill We Climb” when they were working on a San Francisco Symphony Soundbox virtual event together in February.
“I mean, literally excited,” recalls Muhammad. “I will share with you that we were in the Soundbox working on the composition by a beautiful jazz artist by the name of Ambrose Akinmusire. And [Stewart] actually started to recite the poem in front of me. I was like, wow. He says, ‘This just feels so good to me.’ And I was like, ‘Well … yay!’ And so fast forward to when he says, ‘Would you be willing to do it?’ Um, yeah!”
Stewart was so enamored of the poem that he ended up naming the Feb. 12 concert in which Muhammad will perform it Beethoven and the Hill We Climb.
It may sound strange to combine a tribute to Hall of Fame white dude Ludwig van Beethoven (whom many symphonic groups are celebrating this year, since it was hard to do so in 2020, the 250th anniversary of his birth) with an examination of the Black experience in America. But it’s not as strange as you think, says Muhammad. The common denominators are struggle and artistic expression, she says, and she relates Beethoven’s famous battle with the loss of his hearing to a similar experience African American historian John Henry Clarke talked about when he started to lose his sight.
“What he shared is that even though his outer sight was gone, his inner sight seemed to become more intense,” says Muhammad. “So here we go, we look at Beethoven, and his music seemed to become even more powerful as his outer ability to hear was gone, but his inner ability to hear was even more intense.”
Similarly, she says, the seemingly unusual approach of pairing her recitation of the poem with Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata actually fits beautifully. One might expect something musically rousing to back Gorman’s work, but the sonata captures the melancholy of the poem’s themes, and ends—just like moonlight does—as “the new dawn blooms.”
“For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it,” recites Muhammad. “There are things that she says in the poem that are just so poignant, they’re so heartfelt. Even speaking of herself, where she says, ‘Where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.’ It’s like she’s already prophesying over herself, unapologetically and flat-footed. Man, I mean, that’s some bossness that I just love.”
Muhammad is used to confounding expectations when examining struggle. One of the pieces she’s particularly known for—and which she’ll perform as part of the Beethoven and the Hill We Climb program—is her arrangement of the “Butterfly Jig,” a traditional Irish tune that was popular among immigrants who fled Ireland to America during the potato famine of the 1800s.
“Once they made their way into America, they were still playing all this beautiful music from their homeland, but they decided to change this song that was known as the ‘Widow’s Jig’ to the ‘Butterfly Jig,’” she says, “because the butterfly symbolizes transformation and new life, the struggle of transformation inside of the chrysalis—literally the melting down of oneself, and then the restructuring, and then having to force one’s way out. And no one can help you do it, because the butterfly becomes weakened if it’s helped out of that chrysalis.”
After a year lost to the pandemic, no one could help Stewart and the symphony with the transformations they needed to go through, either. But they come back this fall with some big changes, equally big plans for the future, and their most ambitious season ever.
Metamorphosis
Though last year’s season was cancelled, it was hardly a break for the Santa Cruz Symphony. There was plenty of work to be done. As pandemic and wildfires were ravaging the organization’s community, there were also huge cultural issues being raised by the Black Lives Matter movement. The very questions of the symphony’s mission and purpose had to be reconsidered.
“It made us all reexamine our priorities and how we share the most meaningful aspects of our art—what we’re doing to create a better world, to bring people together in a very positive, optimistic, life-affirming way,” says Stewart. “It was extremely difficult, because music can be the solace and the cathartic partner to traumatic moments for folks in every situation, whether it’s a pop song or, you know, a Mahler symphony. At first, we were scrambling to find ways to do that online, and thank goodness we had that medium. It was very challenging, in good ways, because it forced us to leverage all the difficulties and find the most concentrated form of what’s special about our art.”
Among the concerns closest to Stewart were the musicians in the symphony, whose work had been shut down not only in Santa Cruz but in every other organization they were involved in.
He and the symphony’s executive director at the time, Dorothy Wise, and Board President Linda Burroughs immediately began setting up a Musician’s Relief Fund for symphony players, which ended up raising more than $100,000—an amount practically unheard of for a symphony of this size.
“It’s a family,” says Stewart of the symphony. “It’s a network of friends and individual connections with folks who are going through everything across the board. There were so many deaths and tragedies, medically, house evacuations. It was so traumatic for all of us to see our friends going through these things, but the efforts to which people came together and supported was nothing less than showing the best of what we can do. Those inspiring situations kept on happening, and being a central rotor to connect things was one of the greatest silver linings. I couldn’t be more proud and grateful for our community coming together like that.”
When it became clear—or at least extremely likely—that there would be a season this year, Stewart had a new daunting task ahead of him: create a season that could both celebrate the triumph of returning to the stage and be true to everything that had happened in the meantime.
“We had to find a way of honoring what we had already put together for the season that wasn’t, but also to meet this moment,” he says. “It was absolutely essential to me that we do meet this moment and this reemergence with real purpose in the programming and in our collaboration.”
The result is a stunning lineup of concerts, even by the high standards Stewart has set in his eight years at the helm of the symphony. And though it weaves the theme of racial justice (along with several others) through the entire season—seven main programs from October through June, with auxiliary concerts—the centerpiece is most certainly Beethoven and the Hill We Climb.
“It might be my very favorite program [I’ve ever done], ultimately, because Destiny Muhammad is one of the most inspiring musicians I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with,” says Stewart. “She’s a vocalist, she’s a harpist. She’s an improviser extraordinaire, she’s a composer, she’s a community leader and organizer from Oakland, and she is going to anchor the middle of this program along with Beethoven, because Beethoven celebrated a birthday last year. And so every orchestra in the world was going to be celebrating, and we had a fantastic program featuring highlights of his symphonic works. But this time, this Beethoven-centric program is going to also address our current cultural struggles through examples of his struggle, and transcendence, as he went deaf and dealt with a whole bunch of challenges in his life. So all of that, interwoven with contemporary works directly inspired by him.”
Those works include Unsuk Chin’s Subito con Forza, which was composed for the Beethoven anniversary last year, and contains many allusions to his works.
“It starts with Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, which is kind of the distilled struggle, the most quintessential example of Beethoven’s famous concentrated, fiery power,” says Stewart of the program. “And then the next piece is by the brilliant Unsuk Chin, she’s the leading Korean composer of her generation, and it’s directly influenced by the Coriolan Overture, and glows with color and is kind of a response to Beethoven.”
That’s followed by the centerpiece of the program, Muhammad’s reading. Stewart also believes the audience will be surprised at how “The Hill We Climb” and Beethoven’s composition elevate each other.
“The poem talks, it goes through the challenges so poetically, but it has an unmistakably optimistic tone to it,” he says. “Moonlight Sonata, however, is a very mournful reflective thing, with only moments of light—the moonlight or the optimism peeking through at times. So it shades this profoundly moving poem of Amanda’s in a way that actually suggests that the hill we climb is steeper than we would like it to be. There’s so much work left yet to do.”
The program also features Muhammad’s pieces, as well as composer José Pablo Moncayo’s Huapango, which will be accompanied by the dancing of ballet folklorico group Esperanza Del Valle. And among the other Beethoven works is Stewart’s arrangement of Holy Song of Thanks, from Beethoven’s String Quartet no. 15.
“In the second half, we celebrate the other most iconic part of Beethoven, which is his meditative, transcendent essence. And this is really personified for me by his late string quartets. For classical musicians, the late quartets of Beethoven are kind of like the Undiscovered Country of harmony and counterpoint.”
Music Director Daniel Stewart rehearsing with the Santa Cruz Symphony. PHOTO: Kevin Monahan.
New Composition
As the symphony’s programming evolves this year, so does the organization itself. Wise, the executive director who originally joined the group’s board in 1991, and served as its president twice before becoming ED, retired last July. The ensuing search to replace her resulted in the hiring of Gary Reece. Stewart, who lauds Wise’s shepherding of the symphony, thinks Reece is a great pick.
“I’m really happy for the opportunity to collaborate with Gary, because he’s a wonderful person. He’s a proven leader with such a wealth of experience and community connections, and so I’m really excited to go into the next chapter together with him,” he says.
And it will definitely be together, because the symphony’s other big news is that Stewart has signed a 10-year extension with the organization. A decade is a long time in the world of symphonies, and it’s clear that the Santa Cruz Symphony wanted to lock down their relationship with Stewart for as long as possible. He, in turn, chose to stay despite being courted by some major metropolitan symphonies.
“There are different ways to go about a musical career,” he says. “But to build something together consistently with an organization is actually a lot more rare than you would imagine. Because these contracts are usually more three-to-five-year types of things. And to add long-term continuity was something that meant so much to me, and in this incredible part of the world.”
Stewart is proud of what the symphony has accomplished in his time there, the great work he and the musicians have brought out in each other, and the world-class guest artists they’ve been able to collaborate with.
“It’s been fantastic, and it’s taken everybody in the family, you know—the brilliant musicians and sponsors, board members, the league members, volunteers—to help us realize this, but I think we’ve created something so extraordinary over the last eight years. And that made the kind of trajectory that I was looking forward to, and also made it easier to make a hard decision like that. Because it was, of course, a difficult thing to consider. But I think the future is here, in this area of the world, and it’s the right time in my life, what I’m doing artistically, and I think that potential is just so off the charts, that we get to keep evolving in a very substantial, significant artistic way here.”
Shake Our Butts and Work
This season’s programming is an example of how the Santa Cruz Symphony is ready to realize that potential, and Muhammad is an example of more great collaborations to come. (Santa Cruz’s own Tammi Brown, who will do a similarly evocative narration in the middle section of John Wineglass’ Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked at the Jan. 15 “Rites of Passage” concert, is another.)
The final piece that Muhammad will perform, backed by Leon Joyce Jr., Ken Kawa and Matt Wong, is her original composition “We Are The Ones.” It was written in 2016, and found her being far too politically prescient for her own comfort.
“It was just before Barak was going out of office, and he symbolized so much hope,” she says. “And I just said, ‘We can’t get lazy, this brother’s getting ready to come out of office. We don’t know what we’re gonna get.’ These lyrics kept coming to me, that there’s a wind that’s blowing and it’s bringing change today. And the change is going to stay. We are the ones that we’ve been waiting for. And we are the ones, whoever is in office, we’re the ones that we’ve been waiting for. We’re the lovers, we’re the leaders. We are those that we’ve been waiting for. And that’s where it came from. It came with that upbeat funk—let’s get busy. Let’s shake our butts and work.”
Since writing “We Are the Ones,” she sometimes performs a more subdued, introspective version. So which one will she play at the symphony event?
“Oh, we’re goin’ for the funky stuff,” she says. “I get all them strings, too? I’m not Jay Z, I’m Destiny. We gonna go for the funky stuff.”
There’s no doubt that in Muhammad’s hands, that’ll be a blast, but just as this season’s symphony program is not just about hearing great symphonic music, “We Are the Ones” is not just about shaking your butt.
“When I was coming up in the ’70s, there were songs that were coming out and we would just dance and sing, but after a while, when the shellac would hit the fan, sometimes those became the songs that would help to catapult us through a bad time,” says Muhammad. “What I’ve noticed is that sometimes you catch people dancing and singing, and at the same time we’re hitting a level deeper than just the epidermis. That can become their call to action.”
Box:
The Symphony’s 2021-2022 Season
‘Remembrance and Rejuvenation,’ Oct. 23
An all-strings program that includes Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Corelli’s Concerto grosso op. 6 no. 8, Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.
‘Rites of Passage,’ January 15-16
Centered around John Wineglass’ Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked, the first full symphonic work about the enslavement of Africans and people of African descent in America; the performance features narration by Tammi Brown. Also works by Aaron Copland, Caroline Shaw and Brahms.
‘Beethoven and the Hill We Climb,’ February 12-13
Features several of Beethoven’s work—including Moonlight Sonata, with Destiny Muhammad reading Amanda Gorman’s ‘The Hill We Climb’—and much more.
Family Concert, March 27
Carnegie Hall’s The Orchestra Swings! program, which seeks to connect young people to orchestral music, presents a show featuring works by George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Florence Prince, featuring vocalist Omari Tau.
‘Kaleidoscopes,’ April 30-May 1
This program features the world premiere of local composer and Cabrillo College instructor Josef Sekon’s The Aptos Sound Project, as well as Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, featuring cellist James Baik, and more.
‘Carmina Burana,’ May 21-22
Carl Orff’s famous cantata, featuring Elliot Madore, Baritone; Raven McMillon, Soprano; Jonah Hoskins, Tenor. Program begins with Monteverdi’s Toccata and Ritornello from l’Orfeo.
‘Life,’ June 18
The music of Philip Glass will accompany Santa Cruz photographer Frans Lanting’s epic project Life: A Journey Through Time, which brings his world-famous eye to the very history of the Earth itself.
Performances are at the Santa Cruz Civic and the Mello Center in Watsonville. Tickets are $38.50 to $104.50, students $15. Go to santacruzsymphony.org for more information and to buy tickets.
Santa Cruz County is in the midst of a transition.
The term accessory dwelling unit (ADU) has made the leap from urban planning jargon to buzzword. Now, it could be joining the ranks of potential affordable housing solutions.
Known by many names, ADUs are granny flats, in-law units, and garage conversions that often end up in the backyards of single-family homes. These units, it turns out, are relatively affordable—compared to other options—because they have fewer parking requirements, they’re smaller, they have no elevators, and no one has to buy the land, just for starters. With a statewide housing shortage of at least 1.8 million homes, ADUs could represent a valuable addition to the future housing stock.
The state of California has passed a series of reforms in recent years to make ADUs both easier and cheaper to build. With the county of Santa Cruz preparing to implement those reforms, we often hear politicians speak favorably about these broad concepts.
“We’ve been trying for years to simplify and reduce costs for ADUs because it’s probably one of the easiest and most impactful housing solutions we have,” says Supervisor Ryan Coonerty.
But some worry the county isn’t going far enough.
In recent years, all of the local governments in Santa Cruz County have been approving permits for ADUs and getting them built—some faster than others.
It isn’t just a county issue. Although the city of Santa Cruz has taken some guff for not doing more to streamline these units, the city did lead all local governments in ADU permits issued both last year and over the past five years—per capita and in aggregate—according to numbers compiled by GT. (To a certain extent, we probably should expect Santa Cruz to lead these categories, as it’s a job center with decent public transit, beach access and incredibly high housing demand.) But even the city of Santa Cruz only averaged 51 yearly ADU permits over that span, with a high of 64 last year—not exactly soaring through the roof.
The city of Scotts Valley permitted the fewest ADUs over that span, and the county’s unincorporated area trailed all local cities on a per capita basis.
UPSTREAM
This summer, the county has begun looking at ways to streamline ADU production, in line with state requirements and recommendations from the county’s Planning Commission.
Although they supported the overall direction of the streamlining recommendations that came before them, most of the county’s supervisors say the proposed changes went too far—and were actually too permissive in allowing for new ADUs.
For instance, much of the chatter that’s swirled around these units over the past half-decade has focused on whether or not regulators should require the property owner to live on site—either in the ADU itself or in the property’s single-family home. With that in mind, Coonerty sought to preserve an old county rule requiring owner occupancy. He says having an owner on site prevents absentee landlords, and that owner-occupancy rules help prevent investors from scooping up all available properties and flipping them into multi-unit compounds and driving up prices—even if it means fewer ADUs getting built.
But the county already got rid of the ADU owner-occupancy rule, because a California directive states that cities and counties can’t require owner-occupancy on properties for ADUs if the permit is issued between the beginning of 2020 and Jan. 1, 2025. So it isn’t until 2025 at the earliest that the county will be able to reinstate the owner-occupancy rule. When I asked about this, Coonerty told me he hadn’t been aware of the state guideline.
Supervisor Zach Friend had questions in that same Aug. 10 meeting and wanted to know what design standards the county could create, so as to prevent planners from approving units too far out of whack with the character of a given neighborhood.
County staff is currently studying options, but all these design standards will have to be objective and specific. For instance, “nice-looking” would not be an objective standard. It would have to be an item that someone could mark off of a checklist.
And generally speaking, Rafa Sonnenfeld worries that, well-intentioned as they may be, all these rules will just result in fewer units getting built and, therefore, less relief from the housing crisis.
Sonnenfeld, a member of the Community Advisory Committee on Homelessness, was especially surprised to hear Coonerty wanting to be cautious about how the county allows for new ADUs. One year ago, the Santa Cruz Mountains lost 1,000 homes in a devastating wildfire, many of them in Coonerty’s district. Coonerty has acknowledged the problems created by a limited housing supply himself. “Before the fires, we were in a housing crisis,” Coonerty told me last year, “and we needed to build more housing to accommodate our existing community. Nothing about that has changed.”
And now, one year later, about 300 people have pulled permits, and some are in the various stages of rebuilding, Coonerty says. But on the subject of ADUs, he says it’s about finding balance—including between neighbor concerns and building homes.
Coonerty and Friend both tell me that, if the county isn’t careful, it could see a swift backlash to ADUs that could do serious harm to the movement.
But if a local anti-ADU backlash did materialize, it isn’t entirely clear to me how effective it could really be. After all, state law is now mandating a lot of ADU streamlining and taking away local control in general.
Coonerty and Friend are both certainly quick to point out that the county has made efforts to go above and beyond state guidelines. But two of the important ways the county was planning to do that are elements that the county is now walking back.
Friend—who has more than a decade’s experience in government, including eight years on the board—says I’m thinking too short-term in my analysis. Would-be housing opponents, he adds, may not start coming out of the woodwork until after a neighbor starts putting in a manufactured home four feet from their property line. The overall blowback could get pretty ugly—unless mitigated—and last a long time, he says. “Really, what we’re trying to do is change the structure of the game five, 10, 15, 20 years down the road,” he explains.
And so, instead of approving the county’s recommendations at the Aug. 10 meeting, supervisors voted 4-1—with Supervisor Manu Koenig dissenting—to have the ADU recommendations come back with the recommended changes.
County Planner Daisy Allen says she expects the changes to come back to the board for another vote in early October.
PARK CONTRAST
Other local players have a role in the ADU space right now, including the California Coastal Commission.
Commission staff worked with county planners to identify large swaths of the unincorporated area of Santa Cruz County’s Coastal Zone that—in their view—should have more stringent parking requirements on ADUs. Given that the commission’s goal is beach access, the idea here is to preserve as much street parking for visitors as possible.
However, these designated restricted areas actually extend far beyond the coast—about a mile from the beach in Aptos, and all the way to the inland side of Highway 1 farther north on Swanton Road.
Sonnenfeld is concerned that homeowners in these large areas wouldn’t want to pay tens of thousands of dollars to pave over a chunk of their yard, so he says it’ll be a significant barrier to building new housing units.
Commission District Director Dan Carl says the intention obviously isn’t about blocking housing at all. The commission supports ADU streamlining, he says, but he stresses that plenty of street parking is critical for visitor access to the beach, and he feels the potential for ADUs threatens that.
Sonnenfeld was holding out hope that the county would negotiate a special agreement, like one that the city of Santa Cruz just developed—to only create these off-street ADU parking requirements within 500 feet of the actual coast line, but it hasn’t panned out that way.
As it is, Sonnenfeld says the pro-parking framework created in the Coastal Commission’s designated areas “completely baffles” him.
“It’s favoring the potential for visitors to park for free, favoring auto-transport, favoring a policy that will worsen our greenhouse gas emissions, over the needs of working families,” he says. “These areas are nowhere near the beach. You don’t drive to Swanton Road to get to the beach. It’s on the wrong side of the highway. It doesn’t pass the smell test about beach access.”
In the early 1900s, a series of bell markers were installed along the El Camino Real, a stretch of road connecting Spanish missions, presidios and pueblos. The bells, hung on supports in the form of a shepherd’s crook, were meant to attract automobile tourism to the missions.
Hundreds of bells now line various roads between San Diego and Sonoma counties.
But for some Indigenous populations, these bells are not nostalgic symbols of a bygone era. Instead, they are a representation of the suffering and dehumanization of their ancestors at the hands of Catholic missionaries.
“History says that we needed missions because we were savages and we needed religion,” says Carolyn Rodriguez, a youth group leader with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. “But we had our religion. We had our own way of life. We didn’t need to be forced into another one.”
On Saturday, the Tribal Band led a ceremony to signify the removal of a bell marker from the intersection of Soquel and Dakota avenues in Santa Cruz, which is now the first city in California to remove all bells from public property. The Tribal Band is comprised of descendants of the tribal groups who fell under the influence of the San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz missions in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Originally, the Tribal Band planned to remove the bell following a public speaking event at Mission Plaza Park and a procession to the site. But late Friday night or early Saturday morning, the bell was stolen.
Santa Cruz Police Chief Andy Mills confirmed the theft on Saturday. Mills said police do not yet have any suspects, but they did collect evidence and are searching for surveillance footage.
“We believe we will be able to make some progress in the not too distant future,” he says. “We certainly will investigate the hate crime aspect of this, should it be a hate crime. [Saturday] we are making a visual presence so people feel comfortable and safe.”
Former Santa Cruz Mayor Justin Cummings spoke out against the theft of the bell at the rally in Mission Plaza before a crowd of about 400 people.
“I strongly condemn the illegal removal of the bell in the cover of night,” he said. “These types of shameful acts are not acceptable. This is a time to honor all Indigenous people. Today we are not here to cancel history, but to get it right.”
Valentin Lopez, Chair of the Tribal Band, says the theft does not matter in the long run.
“It was going to come down anyways,” Lopez says. “The most important thing is that it has been removed. The ceremony was a time for prayer and for the community to come together. It was a time to acknowledge the true history of the missions and move towards healing.”
He also says that the removal did not change the ceremony “in any way.”
“We had the same prayer, same speakers and same message,” he says. “[It] brought Native peoples and non-Natives together to reflect, pray, to learn, and to recognize it is time for change and time for healing.”
In November 2020, the Santa Cruz City Council voted unanimously to remove the bell on Soquel Avenue. This followed another ceremony in 2019, when one was removed from the UCSC campus.
“This is about showing the true history of what Indigenous people went through,” Rodriguez says. “Removing the bells signifies that we are stepping away from incorrect myths we were taught in school about the mission system. We are now focusing on the Indigenous perspective, and how that leads into modern-day—how we are still struggling today.”
Prior to the ceremony (and the premature removal), Rodriguez said she expected some people would claim that removing the bells would delete important parts of California history.
“But we’re not taking away anything that’s actually true,” she says. “Often people don’t want to think about the ugly side of history…They have a hard time coming to terms with the violence that happened. People might also say missions were necessary for the development of the U.S. But it wasn’t. We were dehumanized. We had no rights. They looked at us as if we had no soul. Keeping those bells, it glorifies that history.”
The bell was replaced Saturday with an informational metal sign that describes the reasons for its removal. The sign will eventually be replaced by a permanent memorial which will be developed by the Tribal Band and the city of Santa Cruz.
Lopez said the Tribal Band is continuing its work in removing more bell markers statewide. This includes a campaign asking for bells on state property to be removed.
“We hope to talk to other California Natives impacted by the missions and to continue working with the tribes that attended the ceremony,” he says. “We hope to develop a path for talking to representatives and government officials about the need to remove the bells and why it is important.”
Added Rodriguez: “Santa Cruz is leading by example. But there are still many bells out there. I hope that this change will lead the way to take more of the bells down, and create more healing for more communities.”
For information about the ongoing effort, visit removethebells.org.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries poet Anna Kamienska wrote, “I’ve learned to value failed conversations, missed connections, confusions. What remains is what’s unsaid, what’s underneath. Understanding on another level of being.” In the coming weeks, I suggest you adopt her perspective as you evaluate both past and present experiences. You’re likely to find small treasures in what you’d assumed were wastelands. You may uncover inspiring clues in plot twists that initially frustrated you. Upon further examination, interludes you dismissed as unimportant or uninteresting could reveal valuable wrinkles.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): After studying your astrological omens, I’ve decided to offer you inspiration from the ancient Roman poet Catullus. I hope the extravagant spirit of his words will free you to be greedy for the delights of love and affection. Catullus wrote, “Give me a thousand kisses, then a hundred; then another thousand, then a second hundred; then yet another thousand.” I’ll add the following to Catullus’s appeal: Seek an abundance of endearing words, sweet favors and gifts, caresses and massages, help with your work and fabulous orgasms. If there’s no one in your life to provide you with such blessings, give them to yourself.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini author Elif Batuman writes that the Old Uzbek language was rich in expressions about crying. There were “words for wanting to cry and not being able to, for loudly crying like thunder in the clouds, for crying in gasps, for weeping inwardly or secretly, for crying ceaselessly in a high voice, for crying in hiccups, and for crying while uttering the sound ‘hay hay.’” I recommend all of these to you in the coming days, as well as others you might dream up. Why? It’s prime time to seek the invigorating release and renewal that come from shedding tears generated by deep and mysterious feelings.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): A blogger named MythWoven imagines an “alternate universe where I literally go to school forever (for free) so I can learn about art and literature and history and languages for 100 years. No job skills. No credit requirements. No student loans. Just learning.” I have longings like hers. There’s an eternal student within me that wants to be endlessly surprised with exciting information about interesting subjects. I would love to be continually adding fresh skills and aptitudes to my repertoire. In the coming weeks, I will give free rein to that part of me. I recommend you do the same, my fellow Cancerian.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 2016, the International Garden Photograph of the Year depicted lush lupine flowers in New Zealand. The sea of tall purple, pink and blue blooms was praised as “an elegant symphony” and “a joy to behold.” What the judges didn’t mention is that lupine is an invasive species in New Zealand. It forces native plant species out of their habitat, which in turn drives away native animal species, including birds like the wrybill, black stilt and banded dotterel. Is there a metaphorically comparable phenomenon in your life, Leo? Problematic beauty? Some influence that’s both attractive and prickly? A wonderful thing that can also be troublesome? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to try to heal the predicament.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “I often wonder who I am and where is my country and where do I belong and why was I ever born at all,” wrote Virgo author Jean Rhys (1890–1979). I don’t think you will be agitated by those questions during the next eight weeks, Virgo. In fact, I suspect you will feel as secure in your identity as you have in a long time. You will enjoy prolonged clarity about your role in the world, the nature of your desires, and how you should plan your life for the next two years. If for some inexplicable reason you’re not already enjoying these developments, stop what you’re doing and meditate on the probability that I am telling you the bold truth.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Several states in the U.S. have statutes prohibiting blasphemy. Saying “God damn it” could theoretically get you fined in Massachusetts, South Carolina and Wyoming. In the coming days, it’s best to proceed carefully in places like those, since you’ve been authorized by cosmic forces to curse more often and more forcefully than usual. Why? Because you need to summon vivid and intense protests in the face of influences that may be inhibiting and infringing on your soul’s style. You have a poetic license to rebel against conventions that oppress you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Everyone dreams at least three dreams per night. In a year, your subconscious mind generates over 1,100 dreams. About this remarkable fact, novelist Milan Kundera writes, “Dreaming is not merely an act of coded communication. It is also an aesthetic activity, a game that is a value in itself. To dream about things that have not happened is among humanity’s deepest needs.” I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because September is Honor Your Dreams Month. To celebrate, I suggest the following experiments. 1. Every night before sleep, write down a question you’d like your dreams to respond to. 2. Keep a notebook by your bed and transcribe at least one dream each time you sleep. 3. In the morning, have fun imagining what the previous night’s dreams might be trying to communicate to you. 4. Say prayers of gratitude to your dreams, thanking them for their provocative, entertaining stories.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In her autobiography Changing, Sagittarian actor Liv Ullmann expresses grief about how she and a loved one failed to communicate essential truths to each other. I propose we regard her as your anti-role model for the rest of 2021. Use her error as your inspiration. Make emotionally intelligent efforts to talk about unsaid things that linger like ghostly puzzles between you and those you care about.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I could do with a bit more excess,” writes author Joanne Harris. “From now on I”m going to be immoderate—and volatile,” she vows. “I shall enjoy loud music and lurid poetry. I shall be rampant.” Let me be clear, Capricorn: I’m not urging you to be immoderate, volatile, excessive and rampant every day for the rest of your long life. But I think you will generate health benefits and good fortune if you experiment with that approach in the coming weeks. Can you think of relatively sane, sensible ways to give yourself this salubrious luxury?
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): While wading through the internet’s wilder terrain, I found a provocative quote alleged to have been uttered by the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. He supposedly said, “My ultimate goal is to look totally hot, but not be unapproachable.” I confess that in the past I have sometimes been fooled by fake quotes, and I suspect this is one. Still, it’s amusing to entertain the possibility that such an august personage as Socrates, a major influencer of Western culture, might say something so cute and colloquial. Even if he didn’t actually say it, I like the idea of blending ancient wisdom with modern insights, seriousness with silliness, thoughtful analysis with good fun. In accordance with astrological omens, I recommend you experiment with comparable hybrids in the coming weeks. PS: One of your goals should be to look totally hot, but not be unapproachable.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “If you don’t know what you want,” writes Piscean novelist Chuck Palahniuk, “you end up with a lot you don’t.” Very true! And right now, it’s extra important to keep that in mind. During the coming weeks, you’ll be at the peak of your ability to attract what you want and need. Wouldn’t you prefer to gather influences you really desire—as opposed to those for which you have mild or zero interest? Define your wants and needs very precisely.
Lovers of Rosé and Zinfandel get a double-whammy with Pelican Ranch’s delightful Rosé of Zinfandel. Grapes are harvested from the renowned Rinaldi Vineyard in Amador County, one of the oldest Zinfandel-growing regions in California. As we all know, to make good wine, you have to start with good grapes.
Winemaker Phil Crews, and Pelican Ranch co-owner, with his wife Peggy Crews, made this blush Rosé ($24) using a modified old-world process. The pink juice from directly pressed “Gold Country” Zinfandel grapes is immediately transferred to small stainless-steel barrels for fermenting. “This nouveau-style wine is rich with strawberry and rose-petal aromas,” says Phil. He recommends serving it chilled with “rich pizza.”
Try their wines at their tasting room in a bucolic setting surrounded by redwood trees.
Pelican Ranch Winery, 2364 Bean Creek Road, Scotts Valley, 831-332-5359. pelicanranch.com.
Blossom’s Farmstore and Coffee Shop
I was mesmerized when I stepped into Blossom’s for a morning cup of joe. Overflowing with produce, homemade goods, locally sourced edibles and all kinds of wonderful goodies, including lotions and potions, tonics and skincare products, it’s an Aladdin’s cave coffee shop. Manager Jolie Hood gave me a quick tour, but I have to return to take it all in. Named after a favorite cow named Blossom, the darling little store and eatery offers pastries, bagels, soups, fresh juices—and gluten-free and vegan options. And Blossom’s Biodynamic Farm—17 acres of land in Corralitos—is where coffee shop owners Carin Fortin and Delmar McComb grow and process all of the healthy herbs and ingredients, using regenerative biodynamic practices. McComb is a longtime operatic tenor who sings in leading roles with opera companies around the state “when he can spare the time.” The lease is up on Blossom’s Biodynamic Farm, and they are urgently looking for other land to farm. If you know of any available land, please contact them at in**@**********rm.com. For more info, visit blossomsfarm.com.
Blossom’s is at 2904 Freedom Blvd., Corralitos, 831-319-4048.
Seabreeze Café is a Seabright neighborhood institution that serves classic breakfast and lunch comfort food with a twist. Senior server Nikki Grigg has worked 11 of the restaurant’s 25-year history, initially moving to the area from New Hampshire on a school bus filled with friends, cats and dogs. She says the café is family-run and the quintessential “mom-and-pop” operation. The cash-only spot is open every day, 8am-2pm (8am-1pm Sunday) except Wednesday. Grigg spoke with GT recently about Seabreeze’s popularity and menu standouts.
What makes Seabreeze Café such a hit?
NIKKI GRIGG: It’s because the owners are always here, and we are a “yes” kind of restaurant, meaning we are happy to customize and cater the dishes to guests’ specific needs. The food is always fresh and made-to-order, and we’re also known for our cinnamon rolls, which we make from scratch every morning. And our coffee is strong, fresh and hot, and we always keep your cup full.
What are a couple of its best breakfast dishes?
My personal favorite is our homemade corned beef and hash. The corned beef is made in-house and comes with freshly chopped bell pepper, onion, spices, cubed red potatoes, two eggs any style and toast or a cinnamon roll. I was afraid to try the hash at first because it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing food, but seeing it made with all the fresh ingredients inspired me to try it, and now it’s my favorite. A crowd pleaser, and the prettiest thing on the menu, is the waffle, featured on our daily specials board. It’s thin and old-fashioned and made with corn and oat flour which gives it a heartier taste. It’s finished with a topping of fresh-cut bananas, strawberries, kiwis, and a choice of yogurt, sour cream or whipped cream.
What highlights the lunch menu?
Our homemade burgers; hand-pressed organic beef patties with a variety of toppings and options, and served on a grilled bun, which I think is a nice touch. We have multiple turkey sandwich options too—the turkey is roasted in-house and sliced thick in a Thanksgiving style. We also have a fresh soup every day; a couple of my favorites are the chicken sweet corn and the chunky tomato basil.
542 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz, 831-427-9713; seabreezecafe.com.
Time to Shine is a gala farm-to-table event on September 18, 4-8pm, offering a fall feast in the fields, accompanied by expertly prepared foods, wines, beer and spirits, as well as live music and speakers tuned into our unique growing region. This open-air dining event is the annual campaign to support Farm Discovery programs offered to young people and their families at Live Earth Farm. Cooking, farming, camping, overnight farm immersion, family field days and many more environmentally exploratory open-air activities are part of Farm Discovery’s fun and informative offerings. The September 18 menu will feature seasonal organic produce from the prolific farm prepared by top local chefs. Appetizers by Diego Felix of Fonda Felix; salad by chef Tom McNary of Soif; main course catering from Cabrillo College’s Pino Alto and chef Andrea Mollenauer; and desserts from Companion Bakeshop and Penny Ice Creamery. Sip the finest from Storrs Winery, Birichino, Discretion Brewing, Venus Spirits and many other food and drink artisans. It all happens at the Farm Discovery Education Barn at 172 Litchfield Lane in Watsonville, roughly 20 minutes south of Santa Cruz. The family-style meal offers a meat and vegetarian option, and there are various table sizes to choose from so that you can dine with your own pod if you like. And of course it’s all outdoors. Here’s a chance to enjoy our finest weather, dine out in the organic growing fields, enjoy the company of friends and neighbors, and learn more about the program’s activities promoting health in food, farming and community. Multi-course dinner, drinks, live music, auction and fun on the farm. $175-$250. timetoshine.eventbrite.com.
Cocktails: Part 1
Beverly took me out for cocktails at Vim last Friday. I was happy that she did. Our mixologist—who never stopped moving, shaking, blending, pouring, and stirring potions while we watched—knew a thing or two about Negronis. Mesmerized, we ordered white Negronis in which something complex and pale called Floc, a spirit made in Gascony from some distillation of Armagnac, was one of the main attractions, in addition to bitters and gin. Using Venus No.1 gin, this was a complex and exciting drink ($12). Whilst sipping, we shared a copper dish filled with an Elote Shrimp creation ($17). Packed into the warm baking dish were layers of polenta and fresh roasted corn, topped with feta cheese, plump butterflied shrimp and charred scallion crema. Utterly delicious, especially with serious cocktails. We took our time, even polished off one of the house cones of popcorn while awaiting our shared appetizer. Brunch is Sunday 10-2pm; dinner Wednesday-Saturday 5-8pm; closed Monday and Tuesday. vimsantacruz.com.
Cocktails: Part 2
Rita and I were celebrating a birthday recently and the occasion required sophisticated libations. Mentone delivered. She had the house classic Negroni and I had a blonde variation, the Spagliato Bianco (both $14). In mine there was the bite of quinoa, softened with prosecco and complexified with luxardo bitter bianco. I could have inhaled this lovely drink, but erred on the side of caution. Rita’s Negroni was a crimson poem of Nolets gin, Campari and carpano antica. Both of these gorgeous cocktails were punctuated by a single giant ice cube and slices of hybrid citrus. We shared an order of the house specialty Wagyu Bresaola ($22), plus exceptional focaccia while we sipped. Worth the drive across town. Mentone, Wednesday-Sunday, 5-9pm, Aptos Village. mentonerestaurant.com.
By Peter S. Goodman and Keith Bradsher, The New York Times
Like most people in the developed world, Kirsten Gjesdal had long taken for granted her ability to order whatever she needs and then watch the goods arrive, without any thought about the factories, container ships and trucks involved in delivery.
Not anymore.
At her kitchen supply store in Brookings, South Dakota, Gjesdal has given up stocking place mats, having wearied of telling customers that she can only guess when more will come. She recently received a pot lid she had purchased eight months earlier. She has grown accustomed to paying surcharges to cover the soaring shipping costs of the goods she buys. She has already placed orders for Christmas items like wreaths and baking pans.
“It’s nuts,” she said. “It’s definitely not getting back to normal.”
The challenges confronting Gjesdal’s shop, Carrot Seed Kitchen, are a testament to the breadth and persistence of the chaos roiling the global economy, as manufacturers and the shipping industry contend with an unrelenting pandemic.
Delays, product shortages and rising costs continue to bedevil businesses large and small. And consumers are confronted with an experience once rare in modern times: no stock available, and no idea when it will come in.
In the face of an enduring shortage of computer chips, Toyota this month announced that it would slash its global production of cars by 40%. Factories around the world are limiting operations — despite powerful demand for their wares — because they cannot buy metal parts, plastics and other raw materials. Construction companies are paying more for paint, lumber and hardware, while waiting weeks and sometimes months to receive what they need.
In Britain, the National Health Service recently advised that it must delay some blood tests because of a shortage of needed gear. A recent survey by the Confederation of British Industry found the worst shortages of parts in the history of the index, which started in 1977.
The Great Supply Chain Disruption is a central element of the extraordinary uncertainty that continues to frame economic prospects worldwide. If the shortages persist well into next year, that could advance rising prices on a range of commodities. As central banks from the United States to Australia debate the appropriate level of concern about inflation, they must consider a question none can answer with full confidence: Are the shortages and delays merely temporary mishaps accompanying the resumption of business, or something more insidious that could last well into next year?
“There is a genuine uncertainty here,” said Adam S. Posen, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee and now the president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Normalcy might be “another year or two” away, he added.
In March, as global shipping prices spiked and as many goods became scarce, conventional wisdom had it that the trouble was largely the result of a surplus of orders reflecting extraordinary shifts in demand. Consumers in the United States and other wealthy countries had taken pandemic lockdowns as the impetus to add gaming consoles and exercise bikes to their homes, swamping the shipping industry with cargo, and exhausting the supplies of many components. After a few months, many assumed, factories would catch up with demand, and ships would work through the backlog.
That is not what happened.
Just as the health crisis has proved stubborn and unpredictable, the turmoil in international commerce has gone on longer than many expected because shortages and delays in some products have made it impossible to make others.
At the same time, many companies had slashed their inventories in recent years, embracing lean production to cut costs and boost profits. That left minimal margin for error.
A giant ship lodged in the Suez Canal earlier this year, halting traffic on a vital waterway linking Europe to Asia for a week, added to the mayhem on the seas. So did a series of temporary coronavirus-related closures of key ports in China.
The world has gained a painful lesson in how interconnected economies are across vast distances, with delay and shortages in any one place rippling out nearly everywhere.
A shipping container that cannot be unloaded in Los Angeles because too many dock workers are in quarantine is a container that cannot be loaded with soybeans in Iowa, leaving buyers in Indonesia waiting, and potentially triggering a shortage of animal feed in Southeast Asia.
An unexpected jump in orders for televisions in Canada or Japan exacerbates the shortage of computer chips, forcing auto manufacturers to slow production lines from South Korea to Germany to Brazil.
“There is no end in sight,” said Alan Holland, chief executive of Keelvar, a company based in Cork, Ireland, that makes software used to manage supply chains. “Everybody should be assuming we are going to have an extended period of disruptions.”
In the West Midlands of England, Tony Hague has tired of trying to predict when the madness will end.
His company, PP Control & Automation, designs and builds systems for companies that make machinery used in a range of industries, from food processing to power generation. Demand for his products is expanding, and his roughly 240 employees have been working at full capacity. Still, he is contending with shortages.
One customer in England that makes machines to seal packaged food has been hobbled by its inability to secure needed parts. Its supplier in Japan used to take four to six weeks to deliver key devices; now it takes half a year. The Japanese factory has struggled to secure its own electrical components, most of them produced in Asia and using computer chips. Auto manufacturers’ desperation to secure chips has made those components harder to obtain.
For the global economy, shipping is at the center of the explanation for what has gone awry.
As Americans enduring lockdowns filled basements with treadmills and kitchens with mixers, they generated extra demand for Chinese-made factory goods. At the same time, millions of shipping containers — the building blocks of sea cargo — were scattered around the globe, used to deliver protective equipment like face masks.
The container shortages were exacerbated by delays in unloading cargo at American ports, because workers stayed home to slow the pandemic’s spread.
Then, in late March, came the fiasco in the Suez Canal, the pathway for about 12% of the world’s trade. With hundreds of other ships blocked, the impact played out for months.
In May, China shut down a huge container port near Shenzhen — one of the nation’s leading industrial cities — after a small outbreak of a coronavirus variant. The port did not resume operations for several weeks.
Then, in the middle of August, Chinese authorities shut down a container terminal near the city of Ningbo, after one employee tested positive. Ningbo is the world’s third-largest container port, so its closure held the potential to snowball into a global event, even threatening the supply of goods to American stores in time for Black Friday sales around Thanksgiving.
By Wednesday, the Ningbo terminal was back in operation. But China’s decision to close it because of a single COVID case resonated as a warning that the government might shut other ports.
In Miami Beach, Eric Poses, an inventor of board games, developed a product aptly named for the pandemic: The Worst-Case Scenario Card Game, a title that could also be applied to his experience relying on China to make and ship the product.
Before the pandemic, shipping a 40-foot container of games from Shanghai to the warehouse he uses in Michigan cost $6,000 to $7,000, Poses said. His next shipment, scheduled to leave China in mid-September, will cost at least $26,000. And his freight agent warned him that the price will most likely rise, to $35,000, because of rail and trucking difficulties in the United States.
Cheap and reliable sea transport has long been a foundational part of international trade, allowing manufacturers to shift production far and wide in search of low-wage labor and cheap materials.
Columbia Sportswear has typified the trend, expanding from its base in Portland, Oregon, to become a global outdoor gear brand. The company has relied on factories in Asia to make its goods and taken the ocean cargo network for granted.
“It’s sort of like, everyday when you get up in the morning, you turn on the lights and the lights always work,” said Timothy Boyle, Columbia’s chief executive.
But the price of moving goods to the United States from Asia is up as much as tenfold since the beginning of the pandemic, and Columbia might have to reconsider its traditional mode.
“It’s a question of how long this lasts,” Boyle said.
Some trade experts suggest that product shortages are now being exacerbated by rational reactions to recent events. Because of the pandemic, humanity now knows the fear of running out of toilet paper. That experience might be driving consumers and businesses to order more and earlier than previously needed.
Ordinarily, the peak demand for trans-Pacific shipping begins in late summer and ends in the winter, after holiday season products are stocked. But last winter, the peak season never ended, and now it has merged with the rush for this holiday season — reinforcing the pressure on factories, warehouses, ships and trucks.
“We have this vicious cycle of all the natural human instincts responding, and making the problem worse,” said Willy C. Shih, an international trade expert at Harvard Business School. “I don’t see it getting better until next year.”
