While the museum has been shuttered for most of the pandemic, staff has stayed connected to the community through outdoor exhibits, social media engagement and other projects. No one is sure what will be allowed this summer, but MAH hopes to celebrate the milestone any way it can.
One way is by bringing a famous global art installation, known as the RedBall Project, into Santa Cruz County the week of MAH’s anniversary.
Artist Kurt Perschke started the RedBall Project in 2001, considered the world’s longest-running street artwork. A 15-foot red ball, weighing about 250 pounds, is installed in a city or county, adopting those places as its canvas.
RedBall has visited three continents and over 26 cities, from Abu Dhabi to Fargo, North Dakota. It is installed in various locations in each city, squeezed between buildings, perched on a riverfront and hoisted above bridges.
“We always want to get the ball where it’s never gone before,” Perschke said. “We want people to see it installed in places that are familiar, like a corner of their own street. It’s about seeing your city differently.”
Perschke says that RedBall is less about the ball itself as a sculpture, and more about audiences’ experiences. He and his team use their website and social media to connect with audiences before, during and after the piece visits their city.
“It’s more about the social experience,” he said. “People just notice it and come over to see what’s going on. Conversations start up. Strangers start to engage with each other.”
MAH Executive Director Robb Woulfe reached out to Perschke about bringing RedBall to Santa Cruz County. Woulfe had followed the project for decades and thought the MAH’s 25th anniversary was the perfect opportunity.
“I had kept my eyes on this project, following Kurt on social media as he traveled the world,” Woulfe said. “I loved it. I thought it was really fun and a special thing to bring to different communities.”
The fact that MAH’s logo is also a red ball was also not lost on Woulfe.
“Of course, we couldn’t ignore that fact,” he laughed. “It’s just such a natural connection to our brand identity.”
Woulfe and Pershcke began communicating last summer. Last week, Pershcke began scoping out places across Santa Cruz County—from the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf to Watsonville Plaza—for possible installation sites.
The ball is always inflated on-site, and needs specific areas where it can easily be installed safely in a community.
“It’s a ball, not a balloon,” Pershcke said. “It’s anchored by air pressure, and made to go against concrete and steel. We’re looking for specific opportunities.”
Added Woulfe: “There’s a lot that goes into this. It looks simple, but there’s a whole production requirement, and you have to factor in things like weather, especially wind.”
The pandemic put a stop to many installations last year, as travel was restricted and community gathering discouraged. But slowly, Pershcke and his team have gotten back into it.
“We were supposed to be in Asia this year,” he said. “We had a lot of cancelations. We’re looking forward to things getting back to somewhat normal. Thankfully our installations are always outdoors, so it’s very safe.”
The MAH’s 25th anniversary celebration with RedBall will be held June 8-13. Santa Cruz County residents are invited to stay connected and in the months leading up to the project. Once locations are finalized, they’ll be announced on social media, so people will know when and where to show up.
Woulfe says he hopes the project will give audiences a sense of joy, wonder and curiosity.
“I hope it will give people pause—they’ll stop for a few minutes and go, ‘Wait, what is that crazy thing?’ And they’ll come have a look,” he said. “We at MAH love the idea of being out in the community, meeting people through art and conversation. This has the opportunity to be really memorable.”
The Santa Cruz City Council early Wednesday morning approved an ordinance that will drastically change the way the city deals with its homeless population.
But the sweeping package of rules will not take effect until after the council approves several amendments that were made in the late-night and early-morning hours, which will happen on April 13. At that time, the council and city staff will also discuss ways to deal with the disabled community of homeless people.
The amendments would then need a final vote at a later date. The ordinance would take effect 30 days after that.
In addition, the ordinance will not go into effect until the county enters the yellow tier of Covid-19 restrictions—two levels down from its current position in the red tier—and creates a safe sleeping program for at least 150 people.
The ordinance passed with a 5-2 vote, with council members Justin Cummings and Sandy Brown dissenting. Both said the board should wait until the amendments made Tuesday have been approved.
City officials say that the large encampments that have popped up around the city have created hazards such as environmental degradation, excavation, crime, illegal drug use and unsanitary conditions.
The council heard the first draft during a marathon discussion on Feb. 23, when members made several amendments that were adopted Tuesday.
Dozens of people spoke at both meetings, most of them opposing the ordinance for various reasons. While many said that the rules were too strict, some said they did not go far enough in protecting the community from the problems associated with entrenched homeless encampments.
Mayor Donna Meyers ended public comment after more than two hours in both meetings, a move that drew criticism from many speakers.
But Meyers explained that the council still had to discuss the complex issue late into the night.
As written, the ordinance prohibits camping on beaches, in parks, in downtown Santa Cruz and in residential neighborhoods. Areas prone to fires and flooding, in addition to sensitive natural habitat, would also be off limits.
Camping would be allowed in commercial industrial zones, primarily along the sidewalks, in managed camps and areas designated as safe sleeping spaces, of which 150 are to be set up by the city. This includes the far Westside, Harvey West and an industrial area in the Seabright neighborhood.
Camping was originally permitted in the open areas of Pogonip, Arana Gulch, DeLaVeaga Park and Moore Creek under the ordinance, but an amendment added late Tuesday by the council would prohibit that. In open spaces where camping is allowed, it must be at least 75 feet away from trails.
Camping in areas managed by California State Parks—including beaches and Lighthouse Field on West Cliff Drive—is already prohibited.
Daytime camping between 7am and one hour before sunset would be prohibited, if the council approves the final version of the ordinance in April. This is an attempt to prevent entrenched camps from popping up, such as the unsanctioned Phoenix Camp that was dismantled in November 2019.
There are exceptions in this rule for disabled people and their caretakers, and for families with children.
Fires are prohibited, as is storage of bike parts and accumulation of trash. The ordinance also restricts the size of camps.
Santa Cruz Planning and Community Development Director Lee Butler said the rules will give the city a tool to help deal with the crisis, but he stressed that it is not a panacea for the issue.
“The ordinance as written, or even if council modifies it, is not going to end homelessness,” Butler said. “This is just one of the tools that would be used to address some of the behavioral, environmental and quality of life concerns that can arise, particularly with some of the larger camps that can arise.”
Also added Tuesday was a provision to conduct a quarterly census of the county’s homeless population, if funding is available.
In crafting any ordinance regarding homeless people, jurisdictions nationwide are stymied somewhat by Martin v. the City of Boise. In that landmark case, the 9th Circuit Court ruled that prosecuting people for sleeping on public property is unconstitutional, unless alternate shelter is available.
Santa Cruz Police Chief Andy Mills says officers would take a “progressive” approach, focusing on first helping homeless campers find shelter and other services they need.
But he says that under current rules—under which the worst penalty is a civil citation—repeat offenders have little incentive to follow the rules.
As an example, he said one man has been cited 39 times in the past year for illegally camping on Main Beach.
“In order for us to be effective, I believe we need to have some measure of accountability for the recalcitrant few who are determined not to adhere to the standards of living in this community,” Mills said.
The ordinance, then, has several tiers, Mills says, starting with informing and educating illegal campers. Officers would then issue warnings, followed by possible misdemeanor citations, which would be used as a last resort.
“We have issued a lot of citations over the years, and at the infraction level, there is not much motivation to actually appear on those citations,” Mills said. “So for us to be effective there has to be at least one higher level tier, where we can go to if absolutely necessary.”
City staff would make efforts to inform homeless people where sleeping is permitted. Families with minor children are not subject to arrest or citation.
The ordinance also calls for the establishment of safe sleeping spaces, in addition to daytime storage spaces and transportation to those spaces.
But that comes with a cost, Butler said.
He estimated that a single safe sleeping site for 50 people will cost $250,000 per year, and a storage program comes with an annual $75,000 price tag.
A managed camp can cost $1 million annually. The Benchlands site, which abuts the San Lorenzo River near the county courthouse, has become the focus of a lawsuit against the city and costs about $100,000 per month, Butler said.
City Attorney Anthony Condotti told the council that the ordinance will almost certainly end up in litigation.
Councilmember Martine Watkins called such encampments “health hazards,” and pointed out that some families cannot bring their children to parks with encampments nearby.
“I can’t say that’s a healthy, equitable approach for our community,” Watkins said.
Mayor Donna Meyers called the city’s homeless crisis, “a societal failure 30 years in the making.”
The council also directed City Manager Martín Bernal to set up a managed camp at 1220 River St., and report back to the council on those efforts by June. They additionally asked for a restorative justice system that would give those convicted of violating the ordinance a chance to perform community service.
Meyers said that the ordinance is both a recognition that the city lacks sufficient space for its homeless population and a message that the beaches, parks and open spaces are not the places for camps.
“It’s really an attempt to clarify for the community how we will in a sense map where these people can be in our city,” she said.
UPDATED MARCH 18, 2021: This article was updated to correct a misspelling of Donna Meyers’ name. We regret the error.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a four-part strategy to deal with the county’s homelessness crisis, an ambitious three-year plan that has the goal of reducing by 50% the number of households experiencing homelessness by 2024.
The plan starts with the creation of Housing for Health, a coalition that will coordinate the efforts throughout the county and expand health and human services. At the heart of that agency’s philosophy is the idea that simply looking at the number of people who are already homeless is missing a large piece of the puzzle, said Housing for Health Director Dr. Robert Ratner.
“Because we will never get to a place where we’ve actually ended homelessness, if that’s the only lens we look at,” he said. “We really have to look upstream and look at how do we prevent people from losing their housing.”
The plan also includes finding ways to reduce homelessness, expanding programs and services that address the homeless population and expanding the county’s bank of permanent housing.
Among other things, Housing for Health will work with jurisdictions countywide to develop at least 734 new housing units by 2023, and expand the county’s capacity of rapid rehousing rental assistance programs.
The plan, called “Housing for a Healthy Santa Cruz,” has taken more than a month to develop. It aims to drastically reduce the time people stay in emergency shelters and transitional housing before being placed in permanent housing.
The supervisors will hear a progress report in August.
The goals include increasing the number of temporary housing beds from 440 to 600, rapid rehousing slots from 140 to 490 and the permanent supportive housing slots from 500 to 600.
Also included in the plan is to expand services at the county’s shelters, reduce eligibility barriers and provide outreach services to homeless people. In addition, the program will seek to reduce unmanaged homeless encampments.
According to a recent census of the county’s homeless population, about 2,167 people are homeless in Santa Cruz County on any given night. About 1,440 households—groups of people living together—are homeless every night.
County officials say that 10,150 low-income renters do not have access to an affordable home, and 75% of people considered extremely low income are spending more than half of their income on housing.
The new framework was created with the help of the Walnut-based analytics firm Focus Strategies. County officials worked with all jurisdictions in the county in developing it.
The supervisors gave a preliminary thumbs-up to a draft version of the plan on Nov. 10.
“Homelessness truly is a humanitarian crisis,” said Human Services Director Randy Morris. “Sometimes [in] these conversations, when we talk public policy, we lose sight of the fact that we have hundreds and hundreds in this community—thousands—of people in this community who have parents and siblings and friends they have lost touch with who are living unsheltered. And this is a very serious crisis with a lot of suffering.”
In separate action, the supervisors approved a proposal by supervisors Ryan Coonerty and Manu Koenig to identify sites throughout the county to set up temporary housing and parking sites, with the goal of 120 new beds.
Coonerty, who helped draft that ordinance, said the problem has grown since the pandemic started.
“We are housing 600 people more than we were at this time last year,” he said.
In all, the plans are expected to cost $65 million annually.
If you want to understand RNA, the molecule that encodes the genetic code of the coronavirus, Santa Cruz is the place to be.
RNA is a molecule found in all living things. Among other functions, RNA acts as a messenger between our DNA and the rest of the cell. But some viruses have bucked DNA completely and use RNA to inscribe their genetic code instead—including the virus that causes Covid-19.
UCSC has the world’s largest grouping of RNA researchers. So when the pandemic hit Santa Cruz and the county struggled to find enough testing, these scientists knew they were in a unique position to help out.
“Santa Cruz has this amazing strength in RNA molecular biology. And we thought that if anybody could get good at purifying RNA and counting viruses, it should be us,” says Jeremy Sanford, a professor at UCSC.
In spring 2020, Sanford and other professors decided to create their own Covid-19 diagnostic lab. Today, the Colligan Clinical Diagnostic Lab (CCDL) runs thousands of tests every week with the sole purpose to sniff out Covid-19 cases both at the university and in the larger Santa Cruz community.
“As scientists, we had this unique advantage that we had the tools, we had labs, and we had know-how that we could bring to bear on the immediate problem of the day,” says Michael Stone, another one of the lab’s founders.
Testing is essential for responding to a pandemic, as it allows public health officials to know who has the disease, who to isolate, and who may have been exposed.
At the start of the pandemic, however, “we were having a real problem with [testing] turnaround time,” says David Ghilarducci, the deputy health officer for Santa Cruz County. “It would sometimes take a week or 10 days to get a test result back, which is essentially useless.”
Sanford, Stone, and their colleagues realized that they could convert the lab equipment they used to study the fundamental nature of biology to test for the virus. So they decided to transform a research lab into the school’s very own Covid-19 diagnostic space. It took around two months to get the first test up and running, validating their first test on May 1.
In the beginning, the lab’s capabilities were modest. But by summer, the lab was ready to take on more tests. The CCDL reached out to county officials to see if they needed help with testing, a move Ghilarducci saw as a “tremendous opportunity.”
“They usually give us results in less than 24 hours, which is fantastic,” says Ghilarducci. “It’s been a huge asset to our county.”
Today, the lab tests samples from the county jail, essential workers, and other vulnerable communities in Santa Cruz. At the height of the January surge, the lab churned out 1,500 tests per day. Since May 1, the CCDL has diagnosed over 3,000 positive cases in Santa Cruz.
“More and more responsibility has fallen onto the lab, both from the county and within our university,” says Stone. “It’s like a train that’s left the station. It needs to keep chugging along.”
Once the pandemic is over, the lab’s founders hope to convert the space into a new type of diagnostic lab: this time, for pediatric oncology. Stone hopes that CCDL’s role in tackling the pandemic locally will help alleviate some of the town-gown tension and encourage members of the Santa Cruz community to be curious about the research taking place on campus.
“I think [the CCDL] was a really important gesture on the part of UCSC,” says Ghilarducci, who is also a UCSC alum. “It says, ‘We’re not just some independent party, we’re a partner in this community.’”
ART SHOW Emerging from sheltering in place, Ben, a lifelong artist, photographer, actor and writer, was always looking for the next opportunity to translate everyday experiences into artistic expressions. At the start of shelter-in-place in mid-March, Ben began painting as a hobby, but his painting has since evolved into one of his favorite artistic forms of expression. Meet and greets will be held Saturdays and Sundays 8:30-10:30am with face masks and proper distancing. Ben’s paintings and fine art prints can also be viewed and purchased in the comfort of your home through artevolutionstudio.com. Wednesday, March 10, 7am-11:30pm. Thursday, March 11, 7am-11:30pm.
BANFF CENTRE MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL VIRTUAL FESTIVAL All the programs? All the programs! If you’ve been too busy getting after it outdoors, or just haven’t made the time yet, now’s your chance to catch all our Virtual World Tour Programs including the grand prize winner: “Piano to Zanskar.” This year, bring the adventure home! Fluff up your couch cushions, grab a snack of choice, and make sure you have a good internet connection, because the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour is virtual! Travel to the most remote corners of the world, dive into daring expeditions, and celebrate some of the most remarkable outdoor achievements, all from the comfort of your living room. Films can be purchased individually or as a bundle. Visit riotheatre.com for more information about the online programs and how you can support your local screening. You may also go directly to the Banff affiliate link for the Rio at filmfest.banffcentre.ca/?campaign=WT-163945.
SANTA CRUZ COUNTRY BAND ALBUM RELEASE MARCH 15TH Santa Cruz’s Hank and Ella with The Fine Country Band will release their second all-original album on March 15. Available on all streaming platforms and mail-order CD’s at thefinecountryband.com. As the Nashville sound was gaining popularity, 2,000 miles west a different country genre was taking off. The Bakersfield sound remains one of the most influential country music styles, and ever since its boom in the 1950’s, country music has called California home. Hank and Ella with The Fine country Band pulls from that distinct California sound and makes it their own. Influenced by decades of country music, the band puts a fresh, modern stamp on the genre while remaining true to time honored tradition. Like Hank says in one of his songs, whether it be a setting sun or a rain filled cloud, the good old days are now! “I’m good at being lonely, I’m good at being blue, I’m good at finding someone but they’re not like you.” These lyrics from the album’s title track may be what we were all feeling in 2020, but songs like “Lucky When it Rains” and “Riding on Easy” will get you dancing when we can all go to the honky tonk again. thefinecountryband.com. Monday, March 15, 9am.
WESTCLIFF ST. PATRICK’S FOOD TRUCK MARKET A different twist on a great tradition of St. Patrick’s Day! In these unusual times come get some great food to take home! Join us at the Westcliff parking lot and Lighthouse Field parking lot to enjoy a fabulous view, great food, and lots of social distancing! It’s a great chance to get outside and enjoy one of the best views in Santa Cruz! Enjoy the luck of the Irish by getting some great food to go! All vendors and attendees must wear masks and maintain a six-foot social distance. Food trucks include: Scrumptious Fish and Chips; Nomad Momo Dumplings; Union Foodie Truck; Taquizas Gabriel; PANA Food Truck. Saturday, March 13, noon-6pm.
COMMUNITY
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+. Contact to get the link. salsagente.com. Thursday, March 11, 7pm.
SCOTTS VALLEY BRANCH LIBRARY RENOVATION: COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE The city of Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz Public Libraries are pleased to announce a Virtual Community Open House to preview the Scotts Valley Branch Library Renovations. Funded by Measure S, the Scotts Valley Library will see about $3.75 million in updates and upgrades to enhance services to the community. Construction is scheduled for later this year. Community members are invited to join the Virtual Community Open House on Zoom: bit.ly/3kHksF0. During the meeting, the Library Design Team will share a brief summary of the Scotts Valley Branch Renovations and close with a Q&A session. Please join us for this early look at our Library’s improvements! Thursday, March 11, 6pm.
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, March 11, 10am-2pm. Sunday, March 14, 10am-2pm. Tuesday, March 16, 10am-2pm.
GROUPS
CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP 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. Meeting via Zoom and phone. Who may benefit from participating in the support group? Family caregivers who care for persons with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, those would like to talk to others in a similar situation, and those who need more information, additional support and caregiving strategies. To register or for questions please call 800-272-3900. Wednesday, March 10, 2pm.
ENTRE NOSOTRAS GRUPO DE APOYO Entre Nosotras support group for Spanish-speaking women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets twice monthly. Registration required, call 831-761-3973. Friday, March 12, 6pm.
WOMENCARE ARM-IN-ARM Cancer support group for women with advanced, recurrent, or metastatic cancer. Meets every Monday at 12:30pm via Zoom. All services are free. Registration required. Contact WomenCARE at 831-457-2273 or online at womencaresantacruz.org. Monday, March 15, 12:30pm.
WOMENCARE TUESDAY SUPPORT GROUP WomenCARE Tuesday Cancer support group for women newly diagnosed and through their treatment. Meets every Tuesday currently on Zoom. Registration required. Contact WomenCARE at 831-457-2273 or online at womencaresantacruz.org. Tuesday, March 16, 12:30-2pm.
WOMENCARE: LAUGHTER YOGA Laughter yoga for women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets every Wednesday at 3:30 via Zoom. Registration required by contacting 831-457-2273. Wednesday, March 10, 3:30-4:30pm.
OUTDOOR
SEYMOUR MARINE DISCOVERY CENTER LABSIDE CHATS: A CONVERSATION WITH A SCIENTIST Dive into the wonderful, curious, and sometimes bizarre world of marine science! Join the Seymour Center for a live conversation with a UCSC scientist to gain deeper insight into their field of study and what fuels their passion for discovering the unknown. Visit the Seymour Center’s website to submit your questions in advance for each scientist, and to watch the live conversations. Join us for the next Labside Chat with Luis Huckstadt, assistant researcher with the Institute of Marine Sciences at UCSC. Learn about the role large predators, such as marine mammals, play in the marine ecosystem. This event is free for everyone and will be streamed live on the Seymour Marine Youtube Channel. Please visit youtube.com/channel/UCWKoNCKPS_bDgHE2eSe_lWw to tune in. Thursday, March 11, 11am.
10 YEARS SINCE THE TSUNAMI WITH THE SEISMOLOGY LAB The March 11, 2011 magnitude 9.1 Tohoku-oki earthquake and accompanying tsunami was devastating to Japan and affected regions all around the Pacific Ocean, including here in Santa Cruz. On the 10th anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami, Heather Savage and Kristina Okamoto of the UCSC Seismology Lab will talk about how and why the earthquake occurred and the lessons learned by earthquake scientists from this event. We will also discuss how Japan has recovered since the earthquake during this virtual event. Register online at santacruzmuseum.org. Thursday, March 11, 6-7pm.
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, March 14, 10:30am.
Last July, Crepe Place owner Chuck Platt—known to many locals as the longtime bassist for Good Riddance—wanted to throw a socially distanced concert at his venue.
He asked local musician Joe Kaplow, who used to occasionally do sound for shows, if he was interested in playing some acoustic songs on the back patio, and Kaplow was into the idea.
Platt did everything he could to make sure the event was safe. He instructed people to only come with people that were in their pods, to wear masks, and to not go up to people at the event that were not in their pod. Everything was all set up, with ticket sales getting donated to charity.
Everything went great, but near the end of the event, he noticed that after people had a few drinks in them, some were getting lax with the rules. It wasn’t a big deal, but he could see that to make sure that live music stayed safe, it was going to take a lot of diligence—and if the music wasn’t mellow, it probably wouldn’t work. The Crepe Place is now seating people for outdoor dining again, but other than a few nights with a DJ spinning tunes, the venue hasn’t done a show since.
“[There were] people kneeling down by tables and pulling their mask down to talk. I had to police it, like tap them on the shoulder. ‘Hey, go back to your table,’” Platt says. After that one I was like, ‘I should probably stop here and see where we’re heading with the pandemic.’ Then things started to get worse.”
Covid-19 infections rates shot up during the winter months. But now, in 2021, things are a little different. Rates are still high, but they are on the decline. And with the vaccine rollout underway, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the return of live music. Recently, Platt has been getting calls from bands and booking agents wanting to book shows this summer and fall. If all goes well, he might even start doing outdoor socially distant shows on the back patio by the end of spring.
“The next couple months are going to be crucial with everything. The vaccines, just everything in general. Let’s hope the numbers go down. We’ll see what happens,” Platt says.
It’s hard to predict anything, but if Platt is comfortable doing the patio shows, and conditions continue to get better, he might do indoor shows in the fall. Of course, infection numbers dictate when these things will actually take place. But he’s already doing the legwork for possible shows in September.
“I just sort of just pencil it in. I’m optimistic on what’s gonna happen with live shows. It eases my tension a little bit to write something in the book. There’s a little light at the end of the tunnel. I’m good with that. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. But who knows?” Platt says.
When indoor shows are back, people can expect a little different experience at the Crepe Place. In 2020, during the first few months of the pandemic, Platt decided to take advantage of lockdown by redoing the sound system with a brand-new board, monitors, and some microphones. He also built a small, 7-inch-tall stage to elevate the bands, rather than continue having them play on the floor.
“I’m not happy that the pandemic happened. But I would never have that time to do that if we were open six to seven days a week with five shows. The sound equipment was really old. ‘Let’s take care of it.’ That’s it,” Platt says.
He’s also hoping to keep the back patio shows going as well. His vision is to have acoustic performance or DJs playing on the patio, while bands play on the stage.
“The outdoor show [we did], it was so good. So many smiles. People laughed. Even the band, they were so stoked. It felt so good. I’d love to get back to that. I’d start off incredibly slow. I’d probably do want one a month and see how it goes with numbers,” Platt says.
The Crepe Place,1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. 831-429-6994, thecrepeplace.com.
Re: “Pesticide Use in California Remains at Near-Record High” (goodtimes.sc, 2/24):
During the pandemic, it’s vitally important to receive accurate, scientific and transparent information from local government. Yet in agricultural communities in Santa Cruz County, the County Agricultural Commission (CAC) refuses to give advance notice of the application of hazardous pesticides so that farmworkers, schools, seniors—and, in fact, all residents—can take precautions as they have during hazardous air quality conditions caused by wildfires.
Every grower who wants to apply a hazardous pesticide, such as carcinogenic, drift-prone Telone gas—used to kill soil microbes—must complete a Notice of Intent (NOI) and file it with the Commission in advance. The CAC argues that posting NOIs in on their website advance would tax their resources, that people would not be able to interpret the simple four-page forms and that it is unnecessary because “California already has the most stringent pesticide laws in the country.”
The on-the-ground reality is that pesticide drift is a chronic public health hazard and that the public has a right to know before hazardous chemicals are applied. It is a myth that pesticide drift is under control. With 1,410,436 pounds of pesticides applied in Santa Cruz County in 2017, how could spray drift not have affected our communities? For far too long, CACs have promoted conventional chemical ag at the expense of public health.
Woody Rehanek | Watsonville
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Less than a week after Lawrence Ferlinghetti—champion of the Beat poets, founder of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, the man who was once arrested for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”—died on Feb. 22, at the age of 101, I was standing in the GT office, looking at a note he had written to Carolyn Cassady, the late widow of Neal Cassady and certainly an icon of Beat-era counterculture in her own right. I don’t mean looking at it in a book, or at a copy, but actually holding the original—handwritten in oversized scrawl on City Lights stationery in 1962. I had no clue what this note, with its references to sending a “photocopy to Allen” and getting Neal to “write a new last part,” was actually about. But there’s something about touching a piece of history like that; it makes you feel connected for a moment to the time and people in which it was created.
I had it in my possession because Jami Cassady, Neal’s daughter who lives in Santa Cruz, and her husband Randy Ratto had brought it by with some other items from the family archives for possible use with this week’s cover story; you can see some of their photos in this issue, including the cover photo of Neal holding Jami as a baby. Jami and Randy are tireless ambassadors for the legacy of Neal’s work, constantly uncovering new details about the story of the Beats in their research, and I couldn’t help but think how lucky we are to have them in our community. The same way I could touch this little, dashed-off piece of history for a moment, their work brings that history to life again through reissues and startling rediscoveries like the long-thought-lost Joan Anderson Letter. I think DNA’s cover story this week does an excellent job, in his unique style, of illuminating exactly why not only the publication of the letter, but also Jami and Randy’s work in general, is so important. It is a history that continues to fascinate so many of us in counterculture-obsessed Santa Cruz, especially.
I met Tuck in 1987. I worked at Gatsby’s, and he was a Friday happy hour regular. “A glass of your finest house red please!” Always a smile and a chuckle and a wise word or two. We shared our Canadian heritage, our love of Canadian authors (exchanging novels), and a love of life. But I was always in awe of him. His service in Sierra Leone and his evacuation mayhem, his service in China which concluded in his glowing love of Ming, and the support they brought to each other’s lives, and his service to the children of this county. He was part of a cadre of local men who I knew and loved well—they were intellectual, challenged each other, loved each other, and called each other “brother.” In 2002, I asked him to officiate at my wedding to which he replied (upon meeting my intended) “but of course, I would be honored.” To my dismay, but to the luck of others, he was once again called to a land far away to help with much more important duties. It makes me smile to remember him. To have known him. To be so lucky to have met him in my lifetime. Peace be with you, friend. Say hello to the others.
The first location of Yaw’s Top Notch Restaurant opened on July 24, 1926. It began as a small 14-stool restaurant on NE 41st Avenue just off Sandy Blvd in Hollywood. Yaw’s was famous for its burgers, gravy fries and berry tarts. This building was expanded four times in its first four years. Yaw’s would grow to become America’s Drive-In and “The House that Hamburger Built.”
One of Oregon’s longtime eateries, Yaw’s Top Notch, was very popular and it served several generations of Portlanders. W.P. and Grace Yaw opened Yaw’s Top Notch Restaurant in 1926. Soon thereafter, Englebert Franz of Portland’s Franz Bakery developed the very first hamburger bun at the request of Yaw’s Restaurant.
— Scott Haley
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
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GOOD IDEA
BEACH MOBILITY
There are now 10 beach wheelchairs available for rent at parks around Santa Cruz, including Natural Bridges, Seabright, Twin Lakes, New Brighton, Seacliff, Manresa, Sunset and Palm. Beach wheelchairs can travel over sand and can get wet, though they can’t float. The five new wheelchairs were purchased by Friends of Santa Cruz Parks using a $13,762 grant from the California Coast Conservancy. To rent a wheelchair, call 831-335-8487 or head to thatsmypark.org/visit/beachwheelchairs.
GOOD WORK
RADIO LORENZO
Good news for travelers on Highway 9: KBCZ FM is expanding its coverage to include the entire San Lorenzo Valley. The radio station will also be moving to a new frequency: 89.3FM. A new radio tower is being built near the district water tanks and testing will begin this spring. KBCZ FM doesn’t just play music; during the CZU Lightning Complex fire, the station also broadcast emergency information to an area with poor cell service. You can tune in or learn more at kbcz.org.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I am waiting for the meek to be blessed and inherit the earth … without taxes.”
“Myths are stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance.” Joseph Campbell
As a teenager in suburbia in Northern New Jersey in the late 1970s, I was desperate for significance, some sort of a sign that life wasn’t just a cross between Friday Night Lights and The Stepford Wives. America, I believed, was bereft of meaningful tradition. Every “holiday” focused on consumerism and turning the wheel of capitalism one expensive inch at a time. I sought to experience something more meaningful, more transcendent, more damn fun.
In 1977, I serendipitously stumbled upon a dog-eared copy of Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. It was there and then I began to ingest the stories of the legendary, mysteriously cool Neal Cassady and his hammer-swinging antics. Four decades later, I held Cassady’s hammer in my hand, like Thor without the muscles.
Not only is Cassady the Dean Moriarty character in On The Road, the seminal 1957 novel by Jack Kerouac that launched a generation of pilgrims, travelers and seekers, but his own writing, mostly through letters, may have been more influential than anyone has yet acknowledged. In fact, the more I dug into Cassady’s story, the more it seemed like a story about a time traveler, (as I write this, a truck passes by my window with the word “Moriarty” emblazoned on the side) where the traveler creates his own legends across space and time.
Holy Grail
Pacific Avenue has always been the vibrant heart of Santa Cruz. Part Telegraph Avenue, part Haight Street, it is legendary as a bohemian mecca complete with buskers, charlatans and pop-up merchants. On the sidewalk, nestled between the canopied booth selling used vinyl and a group of strident teenagers putting on a mini-EDM concert, is a tie-dyed folding table full of rare out-of-print books, handmade shirts, cards and the previously mentioned hammer. The booth has been setting up on this spot for over a year, and is run by Neal Cassady’s middle child Jami Cassady and her husband of 40 years Randy Ratto. Jami and Randy are helping carry the torch of Neal’s legacy into the 21st century and are the driving force behind a new book on the “Holy Grail of the Beat Generation,” as the book’s subtitle dubs it, The Joan Anderson Letter.
Written by Neal Cassady in 1950 and lost for 60 years, The Joan Anderson Letter was indeed considered a holy relic of the Beat Generation, and a Rosetta stone document that would show how Cassady’s writing directly influenced Jack Kerouac’s style and direction in life. Which is to say that without this document, On The Road might never have been written, and without Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac might have written In My Room, instead of setting the literary world on fire.
It was sheer coincidence that the letter came to the attention of the Cassady family. “Randy happened to pick up the SF Chronicle and see an article written by longtime Beat journalist Sam Whiting about the letter being found,” Jami explains from her home in Santa Cruz.
Randy explains the quirky nature of what happened next. “Jerry Cimino, who runs the Beat Museum in San Francisco, got a call from Jean Spinosa, who had the letter, and had Jerry sign an NDA so he couldn’t talk about it. Although Jerry is a good friend, he couldn’t tell us about it. When it was already being displayed, he called us to let us know the letter was in a glass case in his museum on Broadway in San Francisco. Long story short, we sold the letter to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and they are able to display it, but they cannot reprint it,” Randy explains.
As fate would have it, Emory University does have a version available online in their digital library. After receiving a call from a Deadhead who said he was going to print it and share it, Jami and Randy got things quickly in motion to have it printed themselves, in proper form, by Black Spring Press Group of London—which had published Jami’s mother Carolyn Cassady’s book, Off The Road, in 1991. There was dissension among some of the surviving Cassady family members about the publication of The Joan Anderson Letter at first, but it was settled pretty quickly.
Contained in the pages of the new book is Cassady’s original hand-typed missive, as well as a companion text that is an easier-to-read version. The words move at the speed of thought; events merge with asides, broad speculation and personal insight. It’s a guided tour through the Bay Area in 1950, complete with the literary hook-up of the century between Cassady and a 20-year-old, 5-month-pregnant Joan Anderson.
To Jami and Randy, the new book is the result of their ongoing effort to preserve Neal’s work.
“Randy and I consider the legacy extremely important,” says Jami, “so our ‘job’ for over 20 years has been to research, promote and share everything we find.”
Return to ‘Grace’
Black Spring is also republishing a second Cassady book that went out of print years ago, Grace Beats Karma, of Neal’s letters to Carolyn and their three children Cathy, John and Jami while he was in San Quentin, serving two potential back-to-back life sentences for selling two joints to undercover cops.
“Angry, happy and guilty” is how Jami describes her dad’s letters in Grace Beats Karma. For the reprint, Jami and Randy are packing it with new documents showing how the arrest happened and what was occurring in their father’s life in 1955.
“Neal was crazy in love with Natalie Jackson, a poet and jazz singer he met in SF. He had Natalie pretend to be Carolyn so they could withdraw money from the bank and spend it at the racetrack. Neal had a ‘system’ and was sure he could recoup it,” says Randy. What would be about $85,000 in today’s money satiated Cassady’s gambling gremlin, but the deception weighed heavily on Jackson. “After Natalie’s suicide, Neal grew despondent and, according to Carolyn, became a different person,” says Randy. “Mean and sullen.”
After ‘The Joan Anderson Letter,’ the next Cassady reprint project is this collection of letters Neal wrote to his family while he was in San Quentin State Prison. PHOTO: COURTESY JAMI CASSADY AND RANDY RATTO
Grace Beats Karma will focus on the true story of the bust, including all the paperwork from the trial. And if you like courtroom drama, it’s an interesting story. “It seems that Neal wasn’t arrested the first time, after selling the narcs some joints, and they just let him go,” says Randy, sharing some of what he’s researching for the new volume. “The judge threw out the case. One week later the doorbell rang [at their home in Los Gatos] and there were two policeman sheriffs from San Francisco, and so they arrested Neal again. The second trial was at midnight with a new judge and a new prosecutor, and he was sentenced five years to life in two consecutive sentences,” Randy stated.
Key Passages
If Neal Cassady was the kite in the lightning storm, I wanted to be the key. I made my own pilgrimage to the heartland of the weird—Northern California—eventually settling in Santa Cruz, the city of the first unofficial Acid Test, at Ken Babbs’ house in Soquel with the Merry Pranksters and the nascent Warlocks. I found my trippy ground zero. It should be noted that the following week, at the end of 1965, the first official Acid Test was held in San Jose with the newly christened Grateful Dead.
It’s no wonder that micro-dosing has exploded amongst Silicon Valley tech grunts and entrepreneurs. The basin of the South Bay resonates with the first lysergic experiences taken in massive quantities by a large number of curious freaks. And let’s not get started on a certain Steve Jobs’ penchant for hallucinogens. But how does Neal Cassady figure into all this?
Just like Forrest Gump showed up at pivotal moments in history, meeting Elvis, JFK and Nixon, the iconic figure of Neal Cassady looms above, below and sometimes right in the middle of the counterculture’s pivotal moments in time: attending the Six Gallery Reading of Howl (as I write this, I hear that City Lights bookstore owner and kind soul Lawrence Ferlinghetti just died), driving Ken Kesey’s bus with the Merry Pranksters and appearing as a literary counterpoint and sidekick in On The Road. What kind of person would inspire Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, the Grateful Dead and numerous others to immortalize him in song and prose? Portrayed in numerous movies about Beat history, and sung about by everyone from the Doobie Brothers to Morrissey to King Crimson to Fatboy Slim, who really was Neal Cassady?
Cowboy Neal
Ken Babbs lives on a farm in Dexter, Oregon. At 84 years young, he never misses a day feeding the animals or chopping wood (often posting his chores on Facebook). Babbs co-authored The Last Round Up with Ken Kesey and published Who Shot The Water Buffalo, a coming-of-age tale set in Vietnam. But most important to this story is the fact that Babbs was a leader of the Merry Pranksters, taking the reins when Kesey was on the lam.
“The first time I met Neal was when we took the Further bus to Manhattan in 1964,” says Babbs. “He was the driver and I was one of the fourteen Merry Pranksters he had never met before, with the exception of Ken Kesey. That must have been around 1962, when Neal just got out of two years in San Quentin and he went to Kesey’s house in Menlo Park.”
It was this event that opened Kesey’s third eye to having Neal drive the bus. “Neal pulled up in his jeepster, and the back end went out. He borrowed tools from Kesey and spent all afternoon fixing the car while talking all the while,” Babbs recalls.
It wasn’t love at first sight. “He didn’t think much of me at first,” says Babbs. “I gave him hell one day for trying to show us the racing-car four-wheel-drift while driving the bus and throwing us all around. He called me a tourist, which was his way of saying I didn’t come up through the Beat and Bohemian ranks.” Which is true, as Babbs was too busy being trained to be a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps to sip red wine and smoke cigarettes in dingy cafes all day.
As time went on, they got to know each other better and eventually became good friends. And that time together was life-changing for Babbs. “Spend time with Neal and he definitely influenced the way you looked at things, from figuring out the one-thirtieth-of-a-second of time it took for your brain to react to something that you were trying to do, to working at being a better person, one who would help another out and try to bring people out of their shells and groove,” says Babbs.
The Spark
Things that are lost for 60 years are usually not found, but when they are, it’s astounding. The rumor was that the Joan Anderson letter had had blown off a barge into the water; to have it suddenly pop up borders on the supernatural. And it really is an important document. Without it, says Jack Kerouac scholar Dennis McNally, there would never have been On The Road and the huge role it played in American counterculture.
“Janis Joplin read On The Road and then hitchhiked from Texas to San Francisco. Jerry Garcia only had to take the #14 Mission bus up from Visitacion Valley, but found the book to be a ‘germinal moment,’ says McNally. “But there would not have been On The Road without the Joan Anderson letter. It was one of the elements that kick-started Kerouac into looking for a different way of writing than he had attempted up to that point. Jazz, of course, was equally important. But the letter crystalized something in him and he rose to the occasion.”
Jerry Garcia called Neal Cassady “the 100% communicator,” and, “a 12th-dimensional Lenny Bruce.” “It’s been written and talked about that Neal Cassady perceived and communicated more than the average person. He could run into somebody after a year, and resume the conversation they were having a year ago, without a gap,” says McNally. “He could famously carry on five conversations at once.”
In today’s cancel culture, a character like Neal Cassady could be dismissed as just another example of male toxicity. But that would be missing the mark, and falling into the void. In the Joan Anderson letter, you have to understand the texture, atmosphere and crossroads in time where Neal was coming from to appreciate the letter. The letter violates many modern mores, it is hypersexual, it could trigger you, you can claim it’s misogynistic, but it’s also too weird for a lot of people to give it justice. Luckily for me, “weird” is my wheelhouse.
“Neal was a forerunner of omnisexuality, he was highly sexual,” says McNally. “Neal was the reverse of monogamous. For most people, having one relationship is sufficient. Look at On The Road where he’s going out for cigarettes and returns two weeks later. In the interval he gets married. Beyond crazy. So, much of this was extremely painful for Carolyn, but she loved him all through it and beyond. Carolyn’s basically normal middle-class American expectations had shattered so many times that it was painful. To make him just a hero is risky. I won’t call it narcissistic, but he was pretty obsessed with himself and getting what he wanted. And he didn’t always necessarily look out for everyone around him,” McNally adds.
Neal Cassady died at 42 from a wild past, a meteor shooting across the sky. “He used more of himself, his body and his mind then the specs of the model would permit,” McNally suggests.
Neal Cassady was a master at taking the potential in the present moment and making it manifest, being a walking affirmation. He was not waiting for something or someone else to do something, as he was always doing it and showing by example how you could live more intensely in the fleeting present moment. This idea can endlessly inspire people, like myself, who have no idea what it was like to live in the 1950s or ’60s. “The worst mistake people make is that ‘Neal was special, that he was a mythical superhero, he was different than me and my friends, because we were born at the wrong time.’ Neal would have no patience for that thought,” says Steve Silberman, a scholar of the Beat and hippie generations.
Today, everyone is looking for a hero. Being a hero is a billion-dollar business—slapping on a cape and a mask and saving the world is the name of the day. The bad thing about superheroes is their heroics are fiction, contained within the frames of page and screen. But Neal Cassady was flesh and sinew, chiseled jawline and chemically enhanced blood—but mortal, and with that, less than perfect. Being less than perfect was finally something I could see in myself.
The San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) and Scotts Valley Water District (SVWD) are weighing whether to join forces in a potential consolidation.
Both boards have hosted Joe Serrano, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) executive officer, who presented a roadmap for the potential consolidation process. SLVWD hosted an impassioned—and at times vitriolic—meeting about the merger on Feb. 4, and SVWD hosted its own meeting a week later, passing a conditional motion that staff should begin analysis of consolidation if, and only if, SLVWD also directs staff to explore the possibility.
SLVWD revisited the subject in its meeting on March 4, during which Director Bob Fultz presented a motion giving SLVWD General Manager Rick Rogers no more than two months to clearly lay out to the public the cost-benefit analysis of a potential merger. While there was still pushback from the public on the overall concept of marrying the two districts, the call for transparency from the board seemed to have a calming effect on the dozens present.
At the Feb. 11 SVWD meeting, Director Wade Leishman equated the situation to a leap of faith.
“It feels like we’re both strapped up to bungee cords at the end of the bridge, holding hands, saying, ‘You jump first,’ ‘No you,’ he said. “The first person might jump, and the second person could stand there and change his mind …. If we jump first, then we are the aggressor. We are trying to take over; that’s the message. Until we’re really sure they’re a willing participant, I worry about jumping off the bridge first. I’d like to be hand-in-hand.”
Stream Systems
While the districts share boundaries, aquifers and priorities, each has carved out its own means of serving its residents. The SLVWD was established in 1941 as an independent special district. The SVWD wasn’t formed until 20 years later, under the County Water District Act. Both districts are governed by a five-member board of directors, elected at-large from within the district’s service area, but each has vastly different geographical makeups.
SLVWD covers 60 square miles of challenging, mountainous terrain, providing service to approximately 7,900 connections. SVWD is only six square miles and services its population through 4,200 service connections. The Mañana Woods neighborhood and the Vista Del Lago and Spring Lakes Mobile Home Parks, all located in Scotts Valley, are served by SLVWD.
Both districts share water from the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency (SMGA). Established in 2017, the agency covers a 30-square-mile geographical area, including parts of Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Lompico, Zayante, Ben Lomond, Mount Hermon and Scotts Valley. Although SMGA is the most easily accessible aquifer in the region, there are three other layered aquifers beneath it, each providing water support to area customers, including those on well water. The deepest water deposit, the Butano aquifer, is only accessed by SVWD.
Water fight
SLVWD is no stranger to drama around mergers. FLOW (Friends of Locally Owned Water), a Felton-based advocacy group, was born in 2002 after New Jersey utility company American Water Works—which was under the control of overseas conglomerate RWE from 2001-08—purchased the Felton Water system. Cal-Am Water, an American Water subsidiary based in California, attempted to increase Felton water rates by 74%. After six years of working with local leaders, including then-Felton Representative Mark Stone, FLOW saw Cal-Am Water and SLVWD come to an agreement in 2008 for the town’s water to, once again, be controlled locally.
Then came the merger with the Lompico County Water District (LCWD) in June 2016. The result was an increase of 500 water hookups for SLVWD, and a $2.75 million bond that would be paid via property taxes over a 30-year term. LCWD had no general manager, and the district was run by then-Board President Lois Henry (who recently finished her term as SLVWD Board President). The troubled utility discovered a raft of issues with its bookkeeper (arrested for embezzlement in 2010) and its director, who was fired in early 2010 for “mismanagement.” The only option to keep Lompico residents “in water” at a reasonable price was the SLVWD merger.
On Feb. 2, SLVWD threw its ratepayers for yet another loop when the utility issued a press release regarding their intent to begin a conversation around a potential merger with SVWD. A day later, an online petition was circling, and in less than 24 hours nearly 1,500 residents had added their names in opposition to the proposal.
In the tense, two-and-a-half-hour meeting on Feb. 4 that included more than 100 attendees, the response to the merger from those who attended the Zoom meeting was anything but subtle: the majority opposed the idea, and representatives of SLVWD found themselves back on their heels from the opening salvo.
The longtime rivalry between the two valleys was on full display, as residents from both regions did not mince words when it came to vilifying their neighbors. San Lorenzo Valley attendees spoke of the cultural differences, citing a chasm between the values of the two areas, and shared concerns about stolen water, a lack of local control and a fierce resistance to supporting what many see as Scotts Valley’s attempt to acquire water for its expanding population. However, Rogers says Scotts Valley’s demand has remained the same—their pumping has actually decreased by 40% from their historical highs in the 1990s.
An SVWD employee called in to say he was opposed to the merger, and one attendee called it “the worst idea since the pet rock.” Two days later, SLVWD board member Tina To released a statement in an effort to tamp down the rhetoric, but the damage had been done. The statement has since been taken down on advice by the district’s legal counsel.
Merging minds
For the past five years, SVWD General Manager Piret Harmon and Rogers have had regular monthly meetings in which they discuss the direction of their districts and share best practices. Rogers says the inter-district collegiality was a refreshing new approach considering the previous rivalry, and it’s been a benefit to each district.
“Scotts Valley was the lead agency on the Regional Intertie Project back in 2013 that resulted in a $3.917 million grant benefitting five different local water agencies, including SLV,” Rogers says. “Currently, we’re working on the joint Urban Water Management Plan document, and we’re seeing that there are significant savings by combining the districts and using one consultant.”
When the topic of merging the two districts came up, both Harmon and Rogers agreed to take the idea to their boards. Both boards agreed to add the idea to their respective meeting agendas, and that’s when things started rocking.
“Neither of us wanted to appear as the aggressor in this situation, so we tried to roll it out at the same time,” Rogers said. “We had talked about this before the CZU August Lightning Complex fire began, so the idea had been on hold since early August. I know people were questioning the timing of introducing the merger, but we’d been sitting on it for six months.”
As for the reaction from SLV residents at the Feb. 4 board meeting, Rogers says he wasn’t surprised. Rogers says that he, Harmon, and several key members of Harmon’s staff are knocking on retirement’s door. By looking at consolidating the districts, Rogers sees the financial benefit of slimming down operations.
“Think about the savings of running one administrative building, only having one manager/director, and reducing overhead costs,” he says.
While residents are concerned about the impacts of a merger, Rogers says he is worried about what happens if the consolidation evaporates and another, larger agency such as Santa Cruz or San Jose merges with Scotts Valley.
“We already have over 1,000 water connections in Scotts Valley; ultimately, combining the two districts strengthens our position with groundwater and surface water. It gives us greater control, and I think it’s a good fit,” he says. “We’ll need surveys done, and we’ll need data reports from our engineers, and that information will help answer a lot of the residents’ questions. The best way to control our water supply is to have local management of it, so I see a lot of positives.”
At the March 4 meeting, Rogers said he is still undecided about the merger and made reference to “back of the napkin” math that would exhibit a cost savings for ratepayers in SLV.
“No decisions have been made; no actions have been taken,” he tells GT. “It’s strictly exploratory. We’re looking at a minimum of two years of board meetings to get information to our ratepayers, and it’s up to both boards as to whether they want to move forward with that exploration.”
Harmon echoed Rogers at the SVWD Feb. 11 meeting, saying that the meeting was “the first step of the first step, just to see if the board is interested in giving staff direction.”
“Let’s see if there is merit to this proposal. I’m not convinced there is,” she said. “We may come out of this study and find that there are as many downsides as merits. But I am a person of facts, and I need to look at something tangible and quantifiable to bring a recommendation to the board.”
During public comment, participants voiced concerns over the cost of conducting analysis, differing consumption rates between the two valleys and employee representation. Harmon struggled to see a disadvantage in considering consolidation.
“I’m too much of an engineer for that; everything should be evaluated for efficiency, unless it’s too expensive or our partner is unwilling from the get-go,” she said.
According to Serrano, if both boards direct staff to begin analysis, LAFCO would fund one-third of the fee for an outside consultant hired to conduct a detailed analysis.
Harmon originally proposed consolidation to Rogers because of the potential increases in efficiency of both districts. According to Harmon, consolidation could allow for the elimination of many redundancies such as top executive positions, support services (legal counsels, auditors, public outreach, web hosting) and professional services (integrated regional water management agencies, LAFCO, engineering consulting, hydrogeological consulting). Consolidation could also reduce time spent on regulatory reports, lead to better use of assets, and larger departments would provide better customer service coverage, Harmon says.
“All of this is expected to result in increased efficiency, reduced operating expenses, lower rate increases, improved customer service, increased job satisfaction, and productivity,” she says.
“Based on what they heard from us, I hope that the [SLVWD Board] will decide to act,” Harmon said. “For now, it’s a waiting game.”
