We have been writing about the “digital divide”—that line separating technology’s haves and have-nots—for years. Even more so in the pandemic, during which we’ve reported on, for instance, the 30% of Santa Cruz County kids whose families didn’t have internet access at home when the pandemic started, making it difficult or impossible for them to participate in distance learning.
What’s usually missing in stories about the digital divide is a clear sense of what can be done about it. Like so many of the issues in this country rooted in race and class, it is often treated like a foregone conclusion—if there are haves, there are going to be have-nots, and that’s just the way it is.
What’s so important about Liza Monroy’s cover story this week is that it shows what happens when people from different sectors of the community question why it has to be that way, and then work together to figure out how they can change it. Now, you might say this is an only-in-Santa-Cruz kind of story—where else is there going to be a local, independent internet service provider like Cruzio that cares about social justice, a local philanthropic organization like Community Foundation Santa Cruz County that understands the importance of this issue and is willing to prioritize it, and a school system that can work with them? But I’d argue that it is possible to replicate the success that the resulting partnership Equal Access Santa Cruz County has had, and that’s why I’m excited to get this story out there on our cover this week.
Also, a quick note about my cover story on Jordan Graham’s new film last week: Several readers wrote to scold me for mentioning the Moon Rocks in Bonny Doon without including that they are not open to the public, and there are fines for trespassing. All true, so don’t go there! It’s guarded by Sator anyway, from what I hear, and that guy is bad news.
Most plants, about 90% of all species, maintain a symbiotic relationship with fungi at the roots. Those relationships are called mycorrhizae and are usually mutualistic; that is, both members of the relationship benefit, although there are exceptions to that rule. J.R. Blair will introduce the mycorrhizal relationship, discuss the benefits that the plant and fungal partner receive, and present the various types found in nature. He will also talk about some of the more recent scientific revelations of this fascinating biological phenomenon.
J.R. Blair’s active interest in mycology began with his MS at SFSU in 1999. Since then he has been an active member of the Mycological Society of San Francisco, serving a two-year term as President and Fungus Fair chairperson for five years. He has taught mushroom identification workshops for mycological societies and outdoor education programs for many years. Currently he is a lecturer of biology at SFSU and is the director of the University’s Sierra Nevada Field Campus.
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GOOD IDEA
HONORING MOMS
This Mother’s Day, the Family Service Agency encourages the community to make cards for seniors in care facilities. Many residents in these facilities may feel isolated, and cards such as Mother’s Day cards or “Thinking of You” cards can brighten their day. They are also collecting items such as crossword puzzles, word search books, adult coloring books, colored pencils and crayons. Items can be mailed to FSA/I-You Venture, 104 Walnut Ave, #208, Santa Cruz, or dropped off at the Santa Cruz Volunteer Center, Attn: FSA, 1740 17th Ave., Santa Cruz.
GOOD WORK
SHARING THE ROAD
The Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (METRO) has launched Cruz On-Demand, a new transit service that provides a shared ride experience on four to five passenger vans. The project will lead to greater transit service coverage in the county. Cruz On-Demand trips can be booked on the Ecolane App or by calling METRO’s ParaCruz Customer Service Department at 831-425-4664.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It is dangerously destabilizing to have half the world on the cutting edge of technology while the other half struggles on the bare edge of survival.”
The man who was 15 when he kidnapped, raped and murdered 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton and then dumped her body in a recycling bin was sentenced Tuesday to juvenile prison until he turns 25 in October 2024.
Adrian “A.J.” Gonzalez, now 21, must also register for life as a sex offender, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge John Salazar ruled. He added that Senate Bill 1391, which prohibits juveniles from being prosecuted as adults, limited the penalties that could be imposed.
“There is no way for anyone to understand the profound and absolute pain and grief a family experiences when losing a child under these circumstances,” Salazar said.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty on April 15 to murder and numerous sex offenses and other charges. If convicted as an adult, he would have faced life in prison.
Before the sentencing, Gonzalez offered an apology, saying he hopes to one day earn the forgiveness of Maddy’s family.
“I understand there is very little I can say after all the pain and suffering I have caused,” he said. “My goal is to work on my issues so no one else has to experience what you have endured.
“I am aware that does not change the fact that I have brought you tragedy, loss and devastation. I am hopeful that, when I take the time to apologize, that you may accept my apologies for the actions that I have done and what they have brought you.”
Maddy’s father Michael Middleton said he has accepted her loss, and that he has forgiven Gonzalez.
“That does not make anything easier, it just allows me peace,” he said. “The alternative could be to hold to the darkness, but this would only consume my soul. I refuse to poison my soul and existence. Forgiveness is the only path, and I believe that Madyson would agree.”
But Middleton said that attitude should not be taken as a desire for leniency, saying that Gonzalez should have faced life in prison.
“Adrian Gonzalez should never have the opportunity to repeat these crimes again,” he said.
Middleton said he doubts that rehabilitation is a possibility, considering Gonzalez’s crimes.
“A crime of this nature should not be swept under the rug, based on individuals who feel this can be remedied by rehabilitation,” he said. “I do not see this scenario as possible based on the severity and sophistication of the acts that were committed.
Maddy’s mother Laura Jordan described her daughter as “the light and love of my life.”
“(She was) the best thing I ever made,” Jordan said during an emotional, tearful statement. “She was growing up beautifully, bright, perky, fun and generous of heart.”
Jordan said that Madyson’s death left her suffering depression, anxiety, and PTSD that impacted every aspect of her life and made her unable to work.
“You stole my joy, my ability to laugh through grief, leaving me with utter and complete hopelessness,” she said. “A.J., I’ve been hollowed out by your cruel, brutal, unconscionable acts, left empty and aching for my beautiful child Madyson Jordan Middleton.”
Before the hearing, about 30 people gathered outside the courtroom to protest SB 1391. Many of those people later huddled around cell phones to listen to the livestreamed hearing.
Scotts Valley resident Linda Johnson, a mother of two adult daughters, said she came to show her support to Maddy’s family.
“It’s my personal opinion that a child of 15 that plans such a heinous crime cannot be rehabilitated,” she said. “I don’t see that happening. He planned every detail.”
She said that life without the possibility of parole would have been the appropriate punishment. “I think he’s a predator, and no child is safe around him.”
Dan Middleton, Maddy’s grandfather, said that the sentencing ignores all the evidence showing that Gonzalez is a danger to society. He also predicts that SB 1391 will have dire consequences for future cases.
“I’m very disappointed in the way things are falling out,” he said. “What we’re doing here is waking people up about what will happen down the line.”
When distance learning began at the outset of the pandemic, former farmworker Aracely Fernandez, a resident of the Buena Vista Migrant Center in Watsonville, had no reliable internet access. Her fifth grade son, a student in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, would need it to continue attending public school.
Dependent on her husband’s income from his job picking strawberries since an injury had taken her off the fields, Fernandez knew that $70 a month for broadband service was not an option for the family’s budget. So when remote learning began in March 2020, she would drive around with her 11-year-old, trying to find a signal strong enough that he wouldn’t get booted from online classes. “We were so frustrated,” she says. “It wasn’t our fault he would get kicked out. We thought, ‘This is how it is.’”
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District, where 79.2% of students are socioeconomically disadvantaged and 40.3% are English learners, set up 4,200 hot spots and distributed over 20,000 Chromebook laptops.
In some cases, hot spots worked, depending on the strength of the cell signal. For those who couldn’t rely on that, the district developed “safe spaces” where students could come to campuses and learn in stable cohorts at the school sites. Still, “students not being able to rely on their internet or hot spot continued to be off of their classroom,” resulting in a “lack of continuity with their education,” PVUSD Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez says.
The hot spots were “nice as a Band-Aid solution,” says Juan Morales-Rocha, a UCSC graduate who is an activist, community organizer and design analyst with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios Publishing. But hot spots were never going to work for the Buena Vista site. In a place so remote, “it doesn’t fit as intended,” unable to consistently support Google Classroom and Zoom.
This year, that finally changed.
“They gave us internet,” Fernandez says, sounding both pleased and a little surprised. “It is fast; the signal doesn’t go away.” Fernandez is satisfied that she no longer has to drive her son around, searching for a reliable connection they may or may not be able to find.
“This internet works well for us,” she says. “All the neighbors have it. We have no more signal problems.”
Where did it come from? She wants to check, and takes a moment to go examine la caja—“the box”—that had been placed in her home, at no cost to her family.
“It says ‘Cruzio.’”
A Bridge to Equal Access
More precisely, it took a unique partnership between the community, private industry and philanthropy—Cruzio, the Rotary Club of Watsonville, Pajaro Valley Unified School District and the Community Foundation Santa Cruz County—to birth Equal Access Santa Cruz County, or EASC, which launched in September of last year. The innovative initiative demonstrates a local-level, grassroots solution toward bridging what has become known as the “digital divide.” It’s a huge community effort, a project that brought a number of people and organizations together.
Morales-Rocha knew the problems that Fernandez and her family had been facing well. He grew up in the Buena Vista Center and understood the depths of the digital divide long before the pandemic that disproportionately affected his community, which is majority Latinx (and has had nearly 60% of all Covid-19 cases, even though it is only 29% of the county’s population).
“I knew because my folks are still there,” he says. “A lot of my family lives there.” Well before Covid-19 forced the issue into the spotlight, Morales-Rocha was trying to do something about it.
A search on Google Maps highlights the issue. The Buena Vista Center is “next to a prison and a dump,” he says. “There’s definitely some history there in terms of the displacement of people, putting the people far from amenities.”
As someone “who’s been looking at it bird’s-eye-view,” he says, “I was personally trying to make something happen in the camp in 2019. I did organizing in my undergrad, tried to make something happen.” Back then, he says, “nothing happened.”
Looking for some way to get the camp connected, Morales-Rocha contacted the Center for Farmworker Families, UCSC and DigitalNEST—an organization serving Watsonville and Salinas youth, teaching digital skills for greater economic opportunity. After a couple months, though, nothing concrete had panned out. “My little sister was about to start middle school,” he says. “I’d go visit them and the internet was super-slow, she was getting booted off Zoom.”
Interestingly, once upon a time the camp had been wired: Morales-Rocha had internet access during his time there. He used YouTube to learn how to play guitar and ultimately became so interested in computers he went to UCSC to study game design and cognitive science. “With my first financial aid check, I bought parts for a computer,” he says. Morales-Rocha went on to study human-computer interaction, games and playable media, graduating with dual degrees.
“There was internet access at the camp,” he says. “AT&T used to service it as a DSL provider. Whatever the reason, they stopped servicing the internet.”
Buena Vista’s location behind the treeline made for a tough place to build the necessary infrastructure. The need for equal access existed before the pandemic, but as with many social injustices, Covid-19 served to spotlight the problem. Once the virus hit and daily life moved almost entirely online, the consequences of the inequities became obviously dire. Online school attendance for children of farmworkers like Fernandez plummeted, becoming as irregular as internet access in their area. The year represented a major disruption in the education of students already at a disadvantage.
The problem wasn’t limited to children attending school. Farmworkers lacking connectivity for accessing digital platforms were excluded when things like medical appointments—that would have taken place in person—moved largely online. Farm work is notoriously taxing on health and well-being, even debilitating, so access to health care is key. This community least likely to reliably get online was also one with the most to lose.
Tony Guizar Orozco holds the broadband wiring being installed at Buena Vista by Equal Access Santa Cruz County. The group’s stated purpose is to ‘bridge the digital divide and bring true high-speed broadband to every family in the Santa Cruz community, regardless of income level.’ PHOTO: ALANA MATTHEWS
Digitally Divided
Since the mid-1990s, this connectivity inequity has been widely dubbed the digital divide. Back then, a 1995 report by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, “Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the ‘Have Nots’ in Rural and Urban America,” revealed “widespread inequalities in national ICT [information and communication technologies] access, with migrant or ethnic minority groups and older, less-affluent people living in rural areas with low educational attainments being especially excluded from internet services,” writes Eva Johanna Schweitzer, a contributor to SAGE Publications’s Encyclopedia of Political Communication.
In the stone age of the internet, all you needed to connect was a phone line—a public utility like water, gas and electricity. Now, online access is made available when a private company builds the infrastructure, thus creating the inequality of access. While equal access needs to be made a priority, the idea of making the internet a public utility is a hot-button topic involving factions like those seen in the net neutrality debate. Infrastructure investments can be controversial as well, and President Joe Biden’s proposed plan to invest $100 billion in providing fast internet has already led to some communications companies worrying the plan might favor fiber over their own means of providing online access, Politico reports.
Grants are available for companies to wire rural areas, but as Peggy Dolgenos, CEO of local internet service provider (ISP) Cruzio, says, “old infrastructure was falling apart, and new infrastructure was being built in profitable places as the internet is not a public utility. Everybody could get the early internet, but now you can only get it when a private company builds infrastructure.”
The grants available to wire rural areas tend to be for large regions: Montana, Oklahoma, Wyoming. “A big grant will cover the whole place,” Dolgenos says. “Our rural areas are small—in-between two hills, in-between Soquel and Aptos. Also, the low-income areas are fairly small where we are—mobile home parks right in the middle of other neighborhoods, but an area that’s lower income. Migrant labor camps are both low-income and hard to reach, far away.”
Currently home to 103 farmworkers and their families, the Buena Vista Center, made up of freestanding adjacent units, fits that description precisely. With hard-to-reach places such as Buena Vista, Dolgenos says, “economically it didn’t make sense [to build the infrastructure], but the grants were not available.” The result, she says, was “pockets of inequality of access, where surrounding neighborhoods would have better internet.”
Luis Ruelas works on installing high-speed broadband at the Buena Vista Migrant Center in Watsonville. The result of a collaboration between business, civic and philanthropic groups that came together to form Equal Access Santa Cruz County, the project was completed this month. PHOTO: ALANA MATTHEWS
Foundation of Values
Dolgenos and James Hackett, Cruzio’s director of business operations and development, call themselves “scrappy innovators”—“Cruzio was one of the first private ISPs in the whole country back in 1989,” Dolgenos says.
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education had reached out to Cruzio to say, “We have students with no home internet, they can’t afford an internet connection, what are we going to do about it?” Cruzio offered discounted service, but it wasn’t something they could handle on their own.
“We were being asked by other community partners about issues of the digital divide with homeschooling,” Hackett says. “What can we do to help?”
Through EASC, fundraising for the Buena Vista Migrant Center was completed in December 2020. The money came from donors as large as Driscoll’s and the collective fundraising efforts of the Rotary Club of Watsonville, to anonymous individuals and Cruzio customers voluntarily adding $10 to $15 a month to their bill to help subsidize the project. Cruzio started to build out new wireless distribution points in South County and the Pajaro Valley Unified School District and wired the Buena Vista Migrant Center.
Though it came together quickly, relief provided by this step toward digital equity was a long time coming. This entirely local project involved many hands: the visionaries, the technicians, the donors—who often overlapped.
“We went from a lot of people talking and disparate efforts to having concerted fundraising, awareness, technological skill, education,” says Susan True, CEO of the Community Foundation. “Everything came together so fast.”
Buena Vista residents like Fernandez now have free internet access for at least five years.
“Jesus Lopez on our own staff, whose parents are migrant workers, now he’s running it and helping other families,” Hackett says. “The kids in Buena Vista could be future leaders of the county. We have to make sure they don’t get left behind.”
That was the point where the Community Foundation entered the picture. “Now we had a model to get donations,” Hackett says. EASC’s funding comes through the Community Foundation, while Cruzio builds out the technical components for internet access.
“I’m such a believer that when we can bring the community together we can get things done,” True says. “From our perspective, as soon as superintendents announced school closures, we thought, ‘Where are kids going to eat? What are moms going to do about their jobs and education when they lose their shifts and wages because they’re home with the kids?’ From the beginning, our community has known we can’t wait for people outside to help us. We did that on so many issues in 2020. The American Rescue Plan and all the stuff around high-speed internet and infrastructure and broadband … it’s exciting, but when is it going to get to us?”
Meanwhile, the Rotary Club of Watsonville had also been aware of the problem and simultaneously working on fundraising. “When it became apparent kids weren’t in school and that disadvantage was escalating, we started putting out feelers to see if there was a way we could help,” says Carol Turley, 2019-2020 president of Watsonville Rotary.
Deutron Kebebew, founder and president at MENtors: Driving Change for Boys, Men & Dads, who is now the EASC project lead for Watsonville Rotary, was the one who ultimately connected with Morales-Rocha.
“We all knew the challenge of Wi-Fi,” says Kebebew. Morales-Rocha started listening in on those meetings, “taking questions about the camp,” he says. “I took on a liaison role with folks there.” The Rotarians quickly raised $20,000. Watsonville Rotary President Kristin Fabos notes the speed at which the Rotarians stepped up and exceeded their fundraising goals, “almost overnight.”
“That basically got Cruzio the seed money needed,” says Kebebew. “At the same time, they were talking with the Community Foundation to launch the project. They contacted a large donor saying, ‘Rotary’s doing this, could you consider a larger fund?’”
Pathways Forward
“All those different partners came in to develop this EASC initiative so our families weren’t impeded by the digital divide,” says Superintendent Rodriguez. The quick upload and download speeds needed to stream and download information and videos “takes a whole other level, and it was an opportunity for an entire community to come around to something we knew was an equity issue all along. The pandemic shone a light on it.”
As of this month, the Buena Vista Migrant Center project was completed.
Chris Frost, director of infrastructure and technology at Cruzio, explains that now Buena Vista residents have “the same tech connections we deliver to our full retail customers,” Frost says, “fully bridging the digital divide.” The center has the “same equipment used in downtown Santa Cruz outside our fiber footprint.”
EASC is working with Facebook Connectivity Accelerator and Geeks Without Frontiers to expand its reach. “It’s something that could be replicated up and down as long as there’s a community foundation and ISP that are willing to help,” says Jesus Lopez, Cruzio’s sales and marketing manager. “It’s unfortunate it was something as horrible as Covid that pushed a lot of this forward, but it brought a lot of this stuff to light.”
The EASC initiative sets an example for programs of the same kind nationwide, says True, demonstrating the power that community efforts to address local problems and issues can have. “Any community that has a local ISP, and a community foundation” can recreate this, she says. “Everyone’s got Rotaries, a school, a rooftop.”
The Cruzio team reports on the positive effects of the center’s internet access. “Juan [Morales-Rocha] has sisters in there using it, and super-stoked with it,” Frost says. It’s a very different scenario from the pandemic’s frustrating early days of being booted off mid-class. Even when learning is fully in-person again, the opportunities internet access provides remain.
And as Kebebew prepares to step into the presidency role of Watsonville Rotary this July, he looks to the future and sees the work ahead to be done. “What is the digital literacy capacity? Now that you’re wired, look at the potential you have to do your banking, to learn new skills …. It’s not just giving the tool but communicating how you use it. That becomes the next conversation. We are not done.”
Morales-Rocha’s father is using Duolingo on his phone. And Fernandez is taking her own first online class—in computer literacy.
Last month, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty went for a walk on West Cliff Drive with his longtime friend and analyst Rachel Dann. Dann asked her boss about his plans for next year—and if he was really looking to run for reelection.
The previous 12 months had been the hardest year of their lives.
There was the Covid-19 pandemic, of course, but also the economic crisis it created, the resulting budget shortfall, the challenge of responding to the chaos spurred by President Donald Trump’s administration, a painful national reckoning over racial injustice, the murder of sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, and a devastating wildfire that destroyed more than 900 homes. Then there was the killing of Coonerty and Dann’s colleague, Allison Endert, one of their closest friends, by an allegedly intoxicated driver while Endert was on a walk in her neighborhood. For the first time in his life, the normally level-headed Coonerty was experiencing panic attacks and serious mental health challenges.
Dann wanted to know if Coonerty, 47, really planned to run for a third term—and if so, why. Coonerty had an answer ready for her, he remembers. The previous year had all been about responding to crises outside of their control, some of them national and international failures. With a little more time, Coonerty could focus on implementing systemic change, he told her. There was more to do when it came to investments in early childhood, as well as improvements to the county’s responses to homelessness and mental illness and substance abuse issues.
He just needed one more term.
But privately, Coonerty, who represents the county’s 3rd District, including the city of Santa Cruz, began to ask himself the same things that Dann had been wondering about. This time, he came to a different conclusion.
Coonerty thought about how he couldn’t really presume that all those pressures and crises outside of his control would really be any calmer during a third term than they were over the past year. He thought about how many potential candidates—including several women and people of color—would be ready to step up to serve in his place. But more than anything, he thought about the ways Endert’s death had changed him.
“Life is short. That’s one thing Rachel and I have both realized from Allison’s death,” Coonerty says. “Life is really short, and you only have so much time. So you should feel good about what you’re doing and that it’s the best way to make an impact.”
UNEXPECTED OPENING
Coonerty says he is making the announcement now that he will not run for reelection next year because this is about the time when he would otherwise be working to get his reelection campaign together.
And so the beginning of 2023 will mark the first time in 16 years that a Coonerty won’t be on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors; his father Neal held the same seat from 2007-2014. It will also mark the first time in 18 years that there won’t be a Coonerty holding a major local elected office in the county—Coonerty was on the Santa Cruz City Council from 2005 to 2012. (Coonerty’s aunt Sheila remains a trustee on the Santa Cruz City Schools Board.)
Coonerty says he has never felt closer to his constituents than he does right now, or more confident that he would have prevailed in a reelection bid. “But it also just feels like it’s time to look at doing something else, and it’s time to have other leaders step forward,” he says.
Coonerty says he would love to see the board get some more diverse representation. The county board has been made up entirely of men since 2013, and it’s been all-white since 2011. Coonerty says he plans to wait until a little after the filing deadline, which is in March 2022, before making an endorsement for the 3rd District seat.
As for his own aspirations, Coonerty says he isn’t sure what he’ll do next. There will be a seat opening in the California Assembly in 2024, when Assemblymember Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley) terms out. Coonerty hasn’t ruled out the possibility of throwing his hat into that race.
“I’ll look at everything, but right now, I feel really good about my decision to put a pause on public service,” he says.
In addition to his work navigating the compounding crises of the past year, Coonerty says he’s proud of what he’s done to help expand drug treatment options, improve the county’s response to homelessness and expand support for young mothers and working-class families. Together, Coonerty, Dann and Endert spearheaded the creation of the Nurse Family Partnership and the Thrive By Three Fund—both of them aimed at improving opportunities for babies and young children.
Dann says a lot of people know what a sharp policy mind Coonerty is. What they may not know, she adds, is how big of a thinker he is.
Coonerty is a member of many organizations, and oftentimes he would come back to the office on a Monday morning from a weekend conference with a list of ideas he wanted to implement locally, Dann says. She and Endert would then get to work on which ones their meager staff might actually be able to pull off. That’s where Thrive By Three and the Nurse Family Partnership both came from.
“Once in a while, one of them would be workable, and then we would get to work, trying to get it into the county budget and setting up the program and getting the partners together to effectuate it,” Dann says. “But we always knew to be prepared when he came back from one of those conferences. He was going to have 20 ideas to change the world. But that’s what made it fun. He was always thinking about how to make it better. It’s fun to work for a big-idea person.”
TURNING POINTS
Coonerty says he’s looking forward to spending more time with wife, Emily, and his family. Coonerty notes that the couple’s 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son have never known him as a private citizen.
But his community involvement extends beyond his work as a county supervisor.
A legal studies lecturer at UCSC, Coonerty is the author of two books and the host of the podcast The Honorable Profession, about people in public service. He’s also a University of California 2020-21 Fellow for the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. For that program, Coonerty’s working on a project about about a 1976 incident when a group of Nazis tried to march through an Illinois town that was home to a large population of Holocaust survivors.
Looking ahead, many politicos will be surprised by Coonerty’s announcement not to seek reelection. He says he even surprised himself with his decision.
But this isn’t the first time that Coonerty’s life took a surprising turn. There was also the time Johnny Cash helped alter the course of his life 19 years ago.
In 2002, Coonerty was fresh out of law school and working in Washington, D.C., while living in Arlington, Virginia.
One day, as he waited in traffic on his commute into work, Coonerty heard a Johnny Cash song come on the radio. And as he stared out the window on that frigid morning, the thought occurred to him that Cash—who died the following year—would not want to be friends with a stuffed suit like himself. “I was a dime a dozen,” Coonerty says. That bothered him.
And so Coonerty gave his notice that day that he would be quitting his job.
After that, he bought Cash’s last album, American IV: The Man Comes Around, and he moved back to his hometown of Santa Cruz, where he started getting involved in the community. The following year, he finished second in a race for the Santa Cruz City Council, going on to serve eight years, including two stints as mayor.
Coonerty says he realizes now that Cash—were he still alive—might not want to be friends with him these days, either.
“But I think I’m probably closer to a friendship with Johnny Cash,” he says, “than I would be if I stayed in Washington and was just your prototypical staffer.”
A small group on April 19 began an effort to recall Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) Trustee Georgia Acosta, an action spurred by her attempt to oust district superintendent Michelle Rodriguez in January.
The group—called the Committee to Recall Georgia Acosta—is made up of educators, community members and former PVUSD trustees, among others.
To complete the notice to recall, the group must gather 20 signatures in Trustee Area 2, to which Acosta was elected in 2016. If that happens, the group will then give notice to Acosta, and she will have seven days to provide a response, which will be included in the paperwork that voters will see when they consider the issue at the voting booth.
After the notice of intent to recall has been approved by the Santa Cruz County Clerk, the group will have 90 days to gather the required signatures—25% of the 8,600 voters in Trustee Area 2. While that amounts to 2,150, the group is aiming for around 2,500.
That will likely happen during the summer, and will involve 40 people gathering signatures in public places and “walking and knocking,” group member Jane Barr said.
Acosta has been accused of missing 26 board meetings since she was elected. In addition, she does not participate in any committees or meet with the superintendent, both duties that are expected of trustees, Barr says.
In 2018, she skipped a required board training on the Ralph M. Brown Act, a list of rules that govern public meetings, Barr said.
“You have someone in an elected office who apparently is not taking the job seriously, and is pretty much thumbing her nose at people. There are a number of us who are tired of that,” Barr said.
But the catalyst for the recall stems from alleged behind-the-scenes machinations late last year after the district submitted a budget that showed it might not be able to meet its expenses for the following three years—known in school finance parlance as “qualified.”
The budget improved soon after that, when the state released more money for education. But Acosta reportedly tried to bury that information after Rodriguez’s termination. According to Barr, Acosta told a district employee to remove that information from the district’s website showing the budget had improved.
Acosta also reportedly used her Cal State Monterey Bay email account to send a proposed agenda to former district Chief Business Officer Joe Dominguez and to community member Vic Marani, who formerly headed the Santa Cruz County Republican Party and helped with Acosta’s election campaign. In that email, which was publicly disclosed by Trustee Kim De Serpa when she successfully led an effort to censure Acosta at a PVUSD board meeting recently, Acosta apparently asked the two for their approval of the agenda.If the group gathers the required signatures, the matter could go before voters in early 2022.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Poet Allen Ginsberg despairingly noted that many people want ‘more more more life,’ but they go awry because they allow their desire for ‘more more more life’ to fixate on material things—machines, possessions, gizmos and status symbols. Ginsberg revered different kinds of longings: for good feelings, meaningful experiences, soulful breakthroughs, deep awareness and all kinds of love. In accordance with astrological potentials, Aries, I’m giving you the go-ahead in the coming weeks to be extra greedy for the stuff in the second category.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In her poem “Mirror,” Taurus poet Halina Poświatowska wrote, “I am dazed by the beauty of my body.” I applaud her brazen admiration and love for her most valuable possession. I wish more of us could genuinely feel that same adoration for our own bodies. And, in accordance with current astrological omens, I recommend that you do, indeed, find a way to do just that right now. It’s time to upgrade your excitement about being in such a magnificent vessel. Even if it’s not in perfect health, it performs amazing marvels every minute of every day. I hope you will boost your appreciation for its miraculous capacities, and increase your commitment to treating it as the treasure that it is.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini poet Buddy Wakefield writes that after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, “the only structure still standing in the wiped-out village of Malacca [in Malaysia] was a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. I wanna be able to stand like that.” I expect you will indeed enjoy that kind of stability and stamina in the coming weeks, my dear. You won’t have to endure a metaphorical tsunami, thank Goddess, but you may have to stand strong through a blustery brouhaha or swirling turbulence. Here’s a tip: The best approach is not to be stiff and unmoving like a statue, but rather flexible, and willing to sway.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): No educator had ever offered a class in psychology until trailblazing philosopher William James did so in 1875. He knew a lot about human behavior. “Most people live in a very restricted circle of their potential being,” he wrote. “They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a person who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using only his little finger.” I’m going to make an extravagant prediction here: I expect that in the coming months you will be better primed than ever before to expand your access to your consciousness, your resources and your potential. How might you begin such an adventure? The first thing to do is to set a vivid intention to do just that.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Someone in me is suffering and struggling toward freedom,” wrote Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis. To that melodramatic announcement, I reply, good for him! I’m glad he was willing to put himself through misery and despair in order to escape misery and despair. But I also think it’s important to note that there are other viable approaches to the quest for liberation. For example, having lavish fun and enjoying oneself profoundly can be tremendously effective in that holy work. I suspect that in the coming weeks, Leo, the latter approach will accomplish far more for you than the former.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo novelist Agatha Christie sold hundreds of millions of books and is history’s most-translated author. While growing up, she had few other kids to associate with, so she created a host of imaginary friends to fill the void. They eventually became key players in her work as an author, helping her dream up stories. More than that: She simply loved having those invisible characters around to keep her company. Even in her old age, she still consorted with them. I bring this to your attention, Virgo, because now is a great time to acquire new imaginary friends or resurrect old ones. Guardian angels and ancestral spirits would be good to call on, as well. How might they be of assistance and inspiration to you?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “To hurry pain is to leave a classroom still in session,” notes Libran aphorist Yahia Lababidi. On the other hand, he observes, “To prolong pain is to miss the next lesson.” If he’s correct, the goal is to dwell with your pain for just the right amount of time—until you’ve learned its lessons and figured out how not to experience it again in the future—but no longer than that. I suspect that such a turning point will soon be arriving for you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In her poem “Every Day,” Scorpio poet Denise Levertov wrote, “Every day, every day I hear enough to fill a year of nights with wondering.” I think that captures the expansive truth of your life in the coming weeks. You’ve entered a phase when the sheer abundance of interesting input may at times be overwhelming, though enriching. You’ll hear—and hopefully be receptive to—lots of provocative stories, dynamic revelations and unexpected truths. Be grateful for this bounty! Use it to transform whatever might be stuck, whatever needs a catalytic nudge.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I hope you’re not too stressed these days. There has been pressure on you to adjust more than maybe you’d like to adjust, and I hope you’ve managed to find some relaxing slack amidst the heaviness. But even if the inconvenience levels are deeper than you like, I have good news: It’s all in a good cause. Read the wise words of author Dan Millman, who describes the process you’re midway through: “Every positive change, every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness, involves a rite of passage. Each time we ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception.”
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): We can safely say that Anais Nin was a connoisseur of eros and sensuality. The evidence includes her three collections of erotic writing, Delta of Venus, Little Birds and Auletris. Here’s one of her definitive statements on the subject: “Sex must be mixed with tears, laughter, words, promises, jealousy, envy, all the spices of fear, foreign travel, new faces, stories, dreams, fantasies, music.” In response to Nin’s litany, I’m inclined to say, “Damn, that’s a lot of ambiance and scaffolding to have in place. Must it always be so complicated?” According to my reading of upcoming cosmic rhythms, you won’t need such a big array of stuff in your quest for soulful orgasms—at least not in the coming weeks. Your instinct for rapture will be finely tuned.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “One is always at home in one’s past,” wrote author Vladimir Nabokov. I agree. Sometimes that’s not a good thing, though. It may lead us to flee from the challenges of the present moment and go hide and cower and wallow in nostalgia. But on other occasions, the fact that we are always at home in the past might generate brilliant healing strategies. It might rouse in us a wise determination to refresh our spirit by basking in the deep solace of feeling utterly at home. I think the latter case is likely to be true for you in the coming weeks, Aquarius.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Not everything is supposed to become something beautiful and long-lasting,” writes author Emery Allen. “Not everyone is going to stay forever.” Her message is a good one for you to keep in mind right now. You’re in a phase when transitory boosts and temporary help may be exactly what you need most. I suspect your main task in the coming weeks is to get maximum benefit from influences that are just passing through your life. The catalysts that work best could be those that work only once and then disappear.
Homework: Write an essay on “What I Swear I’ll Never Do Again As Long As I Live—Unless I Can Get Away with It Next Time.” freewillastrology.com.
It’s hard to beat the wines made by Jeff Emery. And out of all the different wines that Emery produces from both his Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard and his Quinta Cruz labels, Quinta Cruz has some of my favorites.
“The wines of the Quinta Cruz brand are exclusively made from grape varieties that originated in Portugal and Spain but are now grown in California,” says Emery.
The Quinta Cruz Castelão ($39) from Pierce Ranch in San Antonio Valley is a fabulous wine that you don’t find on every supermarket shelf. “It’s an important variety in Portugal,” says Emery, “but it is mostly unknown in California.” And that’s what makes Quinta Cruz wines exciting and different. It’s wonderful to taste interesting wines that are lesser known hereabouts.
“Very complex, subtle, and nuanced raspberry, plum and even gooseberry, with hints of savory elements,” says Emery of his delicious Castelão. An aromatic wine with “solid tannins,” Emery says this 100% Castelão provides an opportunity to taste this iconic Portuguese varietal’s expression in the New World.
Right now, Emery is offering some four-pack specials of both his Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard and Quinta Cruz labels. Check the website for more info.
Many farmers markets will be opening up again in early May—Scotts Valley on May 1 and Felton on May 4—and will continue through October. Look for an abundant supply of produce including fresh fruit and veggies, baked goods and more. Good grub is available at most markets, and food trucks come regularly. You can sign up for a weekly online newsletter or email Executive Director Nesh Dhillon at in**@********************et.org for more info.
Chocolate Chip Cookies at Seascape Foods
I recently enjoyed a fabulous chocolate chip cookie. They’re called Lily’s Favorites—made with organic ingredients by the Food Goddess at Seascape Foods in Aptos. This well-stocked supermarket makes superb food … scones, muffins, sandwiches—and they have an excellent deli with a good selection of healthy eats.
Seascape Foods, 16 Seascape Village, Aptos. 831-685-3134, seascapefoods.com.
Casa Nostra serves up authentic Italian favorites and outside-the-box weekly specials at their original location in Ben Lomond and their new location in Scotts Valley.
They are open seven days a week for lunch and dinner until 9pm, and they offer breakfast starting at 8:30am on Saturday and Sunday. Raffaele Cristallo has owned Casa Nostra for eight years and has been living here for over 20 years. The restaurant’s name means “our house” in Italian, and Cristallo says their hospitality embodies just that. “The feeling here is very friendly service, people become our friends after the second time here and by the third or fourth time they become family,” he tells GT.
What are some of your signature dishes?
RAFFAELE CRISTALLO: The cioppino is authentic and delicious. It’s a seafood stew with clams, mussels, scallops, prawns, calamari and salmon, all in a tomato-based broth and finished with a few crunchy crostinis. I love it because I love seafood and it just has everything in there, and it’s all fresh. Another one is the boneless beef short ribs. They are flavorful and savory—it’s like comfort food. The sauce is rich and earthy, and they come in a red wine reduction with carrots, celery, onions, Italian herbs and potatoes and veggies on the side. It’s braised for many hours, and the meat is very tender. The specials are very popular, too, it’s kind of like the surprise on the menu, and they give us a chance to switch things up and let the chef show his creativity and do something different than the classics. They change every week and are different at both locations.
What are a couple unique house specialties?
Our tiger prawns wrapped in pancetta are very unique, and people really just love them. They are medium-sized prawns, you get six of them and the pancetta wrap is cured Italian bacon that makes the dish really amazing. Bacon is already good, but pancetta is even better. The Penne Contadina is also a mouthwatering house specialty that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s a pasta dish with marinated chicken and rosemary, which gives it a really nice flavor. The sauce is a white wine cream sauce, and it comes with mushrooms, onions and a little fresh tomato to finish. It’s really delicious. Even just thinking about it makes me want to have it right now.
9217 Highway 9, Ben Lomond, 831-609-6132; 219 Mt. Hermon Road, Scotts Valley, 831-225-0590. ristorantecasanostra.com.
Few places on the Westside create such an oasis for meeting friends as Cafe Iveta on Delaware Avenue. Always welcoming, Iveta has stayed open throughout the pandemic with a menu of incredible scones, salads and sandwiches, as well as espresso drinks.
Indoor seating is available again, though we’ve become addicted to the cozy patio nooks. Couches with low tables on one side, and even more seating—under umbrellas—on the other front terrace. We go just about every week for a picnic lunch of turkey and havarti sandwich (with tomatoes and lettuce), joined by a bag of Kettle chips and a warm-from-the-oven Cowboy Cookie. The cookie has it all, large chunks of semi-sweet chocolate, coconut, oats and pecans enfolded in buttery dough ($2.50) All together it runs $16, plus a hefty tip.
I’ve recently joined twice-vaxxed friends for Iveta’s coffee and those cheesecake berry tarts that would force even Marie Osmond off her Nutrisystem diet. There’s always some irresistible fresh cake poised in the showcase, ready to be sliced to order.
The secret weapon of Iveta, in addition to the tasty salads and breakfasts, is the variety of seating. Upstairs where you can hang out over your laptop or book group. Feels like a hidden world, cozy and quiet. Downstairs for quick dining, and outside for everything (your canine companion is welcome). Coffee, breakfast, lunch. There’s a huge feeling of welcome at Iveta. We are among the many Westsiders who consider Iveta the go-to meeting place. Even Attila the Hun (can I say that?) would feel at home here.
Cafe Iveta, 2125 Delaware Ave., Santa Cruz. Open daily 8am-3pm. iveta.com.
Barceloneta is offering a special to-go Mother’s Day Brunch for two-to-four people filled with variety, from blueberry scones, strawberries and Meyer lemon curd, to frittatas and farmers market veggies with dips. With the brunch package comes much-loved Barceloneta specialties like Jamón Serrano and Manchego cheese, pickled peppers, olives and mini breadsticks. With all this comes 1/4 pound of Verve coffee beans, a pint of fresh-squeezed orange juice and a bottle of organic Brut Cava ($160). Pick up Saturday, May 8, from 3-5pm, then set the table on Sunday, poach some eggs and treat Mom and family to a deluxe spread of Barceloneta flavors.
Please note! The downtown restaurant is prepping to reopen for indoor and outdoor lunch and dinner and will be closed to the public for the next few weeks. Returning soon! I can’t wait to get back inside that colorful dining room and sip one of the compelling house cocktails.
Food Trucks A Go Go just launched its 2021 Food Truck Friday series at Skypark from 5-8pm on Fridays. Participating food trucks include Pana, Taquizas Gabriel, Nomad Momo and Aunt Lali’s.And of course there’s a convenient beer and wine garden, plus live music.
Don’t worry, Taco Tuesday relaunches itself on May 11, 5-8pm, at Skypark. Truck on up to Scotts Valley for sexy flavors in the open air: 361 Kings Village Road, Scotts Valley.
One-Stop Shopping at Chaminade
Celebrate May Day at an artisanal market on Chaminade’s Courtyard Terrace, from 10am to 3pm on May 1. Purchase craft beer, wine and appetizers to enjoy as you check out luscious and varied handcrafted items at the spring marketplace.
Chaminade Resort and Spa, 1 Chaminade Lane, Santa Cruz. chaminade.com.
More Openings!
In Capitola, East End Gastropub is now open for lunch noon-4pm Tuesday-Friday and for dinner 4-8pm Tuesday-Thursday, as well as Sunday. Brunch happens on Sunday 10am-3pm. And yes, that’s both indoors as well as outdoors on the covered patio.
East End Gastropub, 1501 41st Ave., Capitola. 831-475-8010, eastendpub.com.
The air is filled with clucking and cawing. As I type notes at the little picnic table in the middle of the property, a goose sits behind me. Occasionally, he nudges me with his large, orange beak to remind me of his presence.
In the driveway, a peacock wanders around the parked cars. To my left, a handful of hens and a rooster rummage in a plastic kiddie pool full of lettuce, happily pecking at the green scraps.
Ariana Huemer sits across from me. For 17 years, she worked at the Humane Society of the United States. Now, she is the director of Hen Harbor, a nonprofit sanctuary with a goal of recasting chickens as companion animals and finding homes for the birds it cares for. She tells me over the gobbles of a persistent turkey that she finds hands-on rescue much more fulfilling than her previous policy work, which was often frustratingly slow.
While Huemer cares for a variety of birds, among the most vulnerable animals she works with are roosters. During chick-buying season, which begins in early spring, she says that a representative at the Watsonville Tractor Supply told her the store sells as many as 300 chicks a day. However, while buyers assume that they are bringing home egg-laying hens, approximately 10% of the chicks end up growing into roosters.
“Feed stores and hatcheries do not divulge the extreme likelihood that purchasers will be getting a misgendered rooster—or two—in the mix,” Huemer says.
Shortly after my visit to Hen Harbor, I call the Tractor Supply in Watsonville. The store sells a lot of chicks each day, an employee confirms, but not as high as 300. When I ask for a more accurate estimate, the employee states that she won’t discuss sales over the phone and promptly hangs up.
As a result of the inaccurate chick sexing, Huemer says that she receives around six emails a week requesting that the sanctuary take in roosters. By August, that skyrockets to multiple requests every day during what she calls “rooster-dumping season.” Before taking in a rooster, Huemer first tries to work with backyard chicken owners over the phone and troubleshoot any unwanted rooster behavior, such as noisiness or aggression. Due to limited space at the sanctuary, she prefers to only take in the birds as a last resort.
For every email she receives, Huemer says that there are many others who simply abandon their rooster. A significant number of roosters at her sanctuary were found after being left on the side of the road or in a local park. Others were simply tossed directly over Huemer’s fence.
Restricting the Rooster
Now, a proposed ordinance for Santa Cruz County makes Huemer fearful that she will have to shut down her operations. Currently, the county only permits roosters in residential agricultural zones. The ordinance, designed to deter cockfighting, will limit the number of roosters allowed in these zones. The ordinance would restrict a property between one to five acres, for example, to six roosters.
“We get more than six requests a day to rescue roosters during peak rooster-dumping season, so where are all of those roosters going to go?” Huemer says. “The community will have no place to take the many ‘oops’ roosters that they buy or breed every spring.”
Huemer worries that the ordinance will lead to the abandonment of more roosters in parks or on roadsides. Alternatively, they may be dropped off at the animal shelter, which euthanizes nearly all of the roosters it receives.
Her website, santacruzroosters.com, urges Santa Cruz residents to take action and provides a sample letter to send to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, who will vote on the ordinance in the fall.
However, Todd Stosuy, field services manager for the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter, says the main objective of the ordinance is to help put a stop to cockfighting operations. Stosuy has been working for the county for 18 years and can name quite a number of locations where he believes cockfighting birds are being bred. However, he cannot shut down these operations without providing proof such as paraphernalia or training implements.
“I can’t do anything about [these breeding locations] right now,” he explains. “The cockfighters are smart enough not to have those items where they are raising their cockfighting birds.”
Some of the locations in the county have as many as 400 or 500 roosters locked in individual cages. The treatment of these birds, he says, is “heinous and barbaric.” Their combs and wattles are sawed off, often without anesthetic, to reduce bleeding during the fights. Because cockfighters can argue that this is done for aesthetic purposes for shows, he cannot use cut-off combs and wattles as evidence to prosecute cockfighters.
Stosuy says that this ordinance isn’t intended for targeting sanctuaries like Huemer’s.
“If [Huemer] has 15 roosters up there, we’re not coming for her,” he says.
He adds that it is his understanding that Hen Harbor isn’t currently in a residential agriculture zone, so it is already not supposed to have roosters. He says that the Santa Cruz Planning Department has already issued her tickets for keeping roosters.
“Animal control, because they are so misinformed, called Zoning to come out here and give me a citation,” Huemer laments. “There’s a very contentious relationship between me and animal control.”
Hen Harbor is indeed in a residential agricultural zone, and the citation was dismissed.
‘Adopt, Don’t Shop’
When Tor Audun realized some of his chicks grew into roosters, he tried to keep them.
Audun lives in a zone that doesn’t permit roosters, so he purchased rooster collars designed to suppress the crowing. When the collars failed, his neighbors complained, and he ended up with a letter from the county requiring that he get rid of his birds. Audun says he did not realize the high risk of buying a misgendered rooster when he purchased the chicks, but that he is grateful that Huemer “opened her arms” to taking them in.
“You don’t want to go through that sort of heartache,” he says. “I certainly didn’t want to euthanize them.”
Audun says he now buys pullets, or young hens that have grown past their cute, tiny chick phase, to avoid accidentally purchasing further “oops” roosters.
Shortly after my visit to Hen Harbor, Huemer forwards me one of the many emails she has received inquiring about rehoming roosters.
“I paid a local ‘concierge’ hatchery big money for sexed female chicks. I ended up with four roosters,” it reads. “I wish to keep them, but they aren’t allowed in our zone.”
Even without the new restrictions, Huemer still doesn’t have the capacity to take in every chick that turns out to be a rooster. She explains that Santa Cruz residents can help deter rooster overpopulation by adopting adult hens rather than purchasing from hatcheries. Not only does this reduce the number of “oops” roosters down the line, but it also withdraws support from an “inherently cruel” industry, she says. Male chicks are usually killed on the spot, and many chicks don’t survive the shipment process.
“‘Adopt, don’t shop’ applies to all animals, not just dogs and cats,” Huemer says. “Adopt a hen!”
Hen Harbor is a nonprofit sanctuary with a goal of recasting chickens as companion animals and finding homes for the birds. PHOTOS: ISABELLA BACKMAN
