There’s so much going on in this issue, I don’t even know where to start. How about with the most delicious part, which is Burger Week. It runs Feb. 19-25, which means it starts today, which means you may already be sinking your teeth into one while you read this. Try not to drip ketchup on this next part, where I tell you that there is a complete pullout guide to Burger Week inside, featuring Christina Waters’ look at the history of the entire burger phenomenon, as well as where to get one over the next week, and more.
Not nearly as delicious but way more important for helping you do your civic duty on March 3 (aka voting) is our Election Guide in this week’s news section, which makes this the perfect spot to announce how proud we are that GT’s own news editor Jacob Pierce has just been named the winner of the Writer of the Year award for the 2020 NEXTies. The awards will be handed out March 20 at the annual ceremony. Congratulations Jake!
With all that going on, it might be easy to miss Susan Landry’s cover story this week about how rapid growth is changing Santa Cruz’s mountain towns. But you shouldn’t, because it’s an excellent story about a major shift in our community that we’ve all probably had an inkling about, without really understanding the true scope of it. The perspectives on the San Lorenzo Valley from many of its movers and shakers are revealing, and the questions the story raises about identity and transformation are fascinating and important.
Thank you GT and Patrick Dwire (“Berner Accounts,” Jan. 29) for letting readers know that “Brand New County Democrats” is made up of the same people behind the Glover-Krohn Santa Cruz City Council faction. Voters should know that the proposed “take over” of SCCDCC by this clique will likely result in a “scorched-earth approach to policy-making,” according to Tony Russomanno. Voters should also know that Senator Sanders does not take sides in issues unique to local communities. For the last four years, a faction within SC for Bernie has deceitfully exploited Bernie’s good name, trying to fool voters into thinking that he’s endorsing local candidates. Nothing could be further from the truth. County residents who are familiar with the divisiveness and disruption of the Glover-Krohn City Council should carefully examine all candidates before elevating them to public office.
Gigo deSilvas | Santa Cruz
OUT OF TOUCH
Re: “Berner Accounts”: It’s great to see lots of people running for the Democratic Central Committee, trying to make the local Democratic Party more responsive to the needs of the majority of community members, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
The response of some established committee members just proves how out of touch the current Democratic Party is. Case in point is Les Gardner, part of a faction which has excluded more progressive voices and interests for years, now claiming that these people running for an elected position and appealing for votes to the public—the essence of democracy—is a bad thing, an underhanded scheme to silence others. Imagine the audacity, trying to win an election, thereby excluding other people who don’t get as many votes!
In a development that should surprise no one, it turns out that Gardner is a wealthy, privileged person whose combination of wealth and entitlement to political power encapsulates why so many people are disgusted by the current state of the Democratic Party. A 2019 GT story about Gardner and his political involvement in Central America explains that he made his fortune in real estate, has enough wealth to donate tens of thousands of dollars to political campaigns each cycle, stays at five-star hotels, owns a beach house in El Salvador, and—wait for it—barely speaks Spanish.
It’s high time that ordinary people take over the political left from these kind of wealthy insiders. Please look up Brand New County Dems and find out who is running in your district.
Steve Schnaar | Santa Cruz
Re: Streetcar
Regarding the upcoming battery-electric streetcar demonstration mentioned by Ms. Thorne (Letters, GT, 2/5), the money spent for upgrades is being spent regardless of the streetcar demonstration; that work is part of Measure D expenditure plans to improve and maintain the rail line.
This short-term service on the line is not a “tourist train”; it’s a demonstration of a new type of non-diesel transit vehicle that might be implemented for passengers as an alternative to driving.
Not all local traffic is tourist traffic, and not all users of a daily streetcar service would be tourists. In fact, if a system went all the way to Watsonville and was integrated with local Metro routes, we can expect that hundreds of students and shoppers and workers would use the system daily, as well as visitors, non-drivers, youth, elderly, and disabled.
— Barry Scott
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
POINT’S ON A CURVE Sunset at Pleasure Point. Photograph by Kasia Palermo.
Submit to ph****@go*******.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.
GOOD IDEA
HOME RUN
There are advantages to building housing in the more urbanized portions of cities. For instance, close proximity to stores, restaurants, green spaces and multiple bus routes makes life without cars that much easier. Density can make housing more affordable to renters and more environmentally sustainable, too. A new group called Neighborly Santa Cruz is organizing a March for Housing in downtown Santa Cruz on Saturday, Feb. 22 from 12-1pm, starting at the Santa Cruz Metro Center, at 920 Pacific Ave., and ending at City Hall.
GOOD WORK
WATER YOU KNOW
Although the number of county residents has grown by roughly 20,000 since the year 2000, residents are using less total water today than they were 20 years ago. A new water management report from Santa Cruz County shows continued progress. Last year’s accomplishments include the adoption of groundwater management plans for two critical water basins to help place the county on a path toward water sustainability. Water use remains well below 2013 pre-drought levels, proving that positive changes can make for good new habits.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.”
One of Santa Cruz’s favorite film events of the year, the annual Banff Mountain Film Festival is traveling to some 400 communities around the world. From an exploration of remote landscapes and mountain cultures to adrenaline-fueled action sports, this year’s world tour is making a pit stop in Santa Cruz to bring stories of distance runners, skiers and high desert mountain bikers. Proceeds benefit the UCSC Wilderness Orientation Scholarship Fund.
INFO: 7pm. Feb. 20-23. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz. banffsc2020.brownpapertickets.com. $18-$22.
Saturday 2/22-Sunday 2/23
39th Clam Chowder Cook Off
Who knew that the country’s biggest and longest-running clam chowder fest was right here in Santa Cruz? The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Clam Chowder Cook-Off and Festival is back for its 39th time around. There are both amateur and professional categories, and prizes for the best chowder. Be a part of Santa Cruz’s storied clam chowder history, and find out where you fit into the bigger clam chowder picture. (OK, just kidding on that last part. There is no bigger clam chowder picture, but wouldn’t that be kind of cool?)
INFO: 10am-4pm. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. 400 Beach St., Santa Cruz. 420-5273. beachboardwalk.com. Free admission, tasting kits $10.
Saturday 2/22
Art Seen
Quilt Show
These are not your grandma’s quilts. Well, maybe they are, depending on who your grandma is—maybe she is an epic quilter. In any case, featuring over 300 handmade quilts and wearable arts, the Pajaro Valley Quilting Association’s Quilt Show includes a flea market and vendor mall, plus a fashion show. There’s a featured artist and a featured quilt, plus live demos so you can start a new quilt at home.
INFO: 10am-5pm, Saturday, Feb. 22; 10am-4pm, Sunday, Feb. 24. Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, 2601 E Lake Ave., Watsonville. pvqa.org. $10.
Saturday 2/22
Felton Library Grand Opening
Join Santa Cruz County Supervisor Bruce McPherson, Assemblymember Mark Stone, Library Director Susan Nemitz, Felton Library Friends President Nancy Gerdt, and Architect Teal Messer in welcoming the newest library to the county. The project is the first library to be completed from the Measure S funds, a $67 million bond measure passed in 2016 to renovate all 10 branches of the library system. $10 million was assigned to the Felton project, with enhancements funded through Felton Library Friends. There will be food, nature and virtual reality demonstrations and live music following the ribbon cutting at 10am.
INFO: 10am-5pm. Felton Public Library, 6121 Gushee St., Felton. Free.
Saturday 2/22
TWDCC Annual Winter Dance Fest
Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center’s Winter Dance Fest is a celebration of cutting-edge local choreographers. Gregory Dawson’s contemporary dance company, dawsondancesf, is back for another year. This time he will showcase an excerpt from his work, “Keep Your Head to the Skies,” alongside emerging Santa Cruz choreographers Nathan Hirschaut and Taliha Abdiel. Photo: Devi Pride.
INFO: 7:30pm. Colligan Theater at the Tannery Arts Center. 1010 River St., Santa Cruz. 425-1440. tanneryworlddance.com. $18-$22.
If you walk by Mountain Spirit, the quirky metaphysical shop on the corner of Felton’s one-road downtown strip, you might notice a hitching post gathering dust outside. Just a decade ago, locals would come to tie up their horses on the corner of Highway 9 and Felton Empire Road before stopping in the store for crystals, candles or whatever else they needed, says shop owner Candi Lee Fragassi.
“Now you don’t see that,” Fragassi says. “There’s just a lot more traffic.”
Fragassi moved to Felton almost 20 years ago with a dream to open the metaphysical store she now operates with her husband, but it took the two about a decade to finally take the plunge. “I’d seen a lot of businesses come and go,” she says. “It wasn’t that easy for businesses to survive.”
Now, she says, things are different. And not just because of the horses. A new wave of shops like Mountainside General Store, Wild Iris Floral and Botanical, and the Felton Mercantile—which celebrated its soft opening on Jan. 22—are spurring a retail renaissance in the area where local goods reign and female-owned and operated is becoming the new norm.
“It’s like the mountain magic, as cheesy as that sounds,” says Amber Duncan, who opened the Mountainside General Store, selling her handmade jewelry and goods from other local markers in October 2018. “There’s this strong community of women hustling and opening up shops.”
For Molly Kavanaugh, who took over ownership of Highway 9’s Wild Iris in March 2017, the changes are exciting. In the last year or so, Kavanaugh’s watched from her one-room shop adorned with exotic houseplants and colorful, locally-grown flowers as empty storefronts turned into several new shops on the small downtown strip. “It definitely came alive in the last year,” she says, explaining that with all the new openings, there aren’t many retail spaces left. “We’re pretty packed in here now, and pretty happy.”
Kavanaugh credits the changes, in part, to sky-high rent prices for retail spaces in neighboring Santa Cruz, and a steadily increasing population in the mountains. “I think with more people there’s a lot more reasons to make our community more useful,” she says.
Felton’s population grew by about 2.5% from 2016 to 2017, while the neighboring town of Ben Lomond underwent a 5% increase that same year, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. That’s equivalent to about 500 extra people in the tiny towns, where populations sit at 3,671 and 6,923, respectively.
“There’s so many people who are being priced out of Santa Cruz,” Duncan says. “It’s slightly more affordable up here for housing, so I think a lot of people are migrating up the mountain.”
The median home value in Felton currently sits at $675,000—more than twice that of just eight years ago, according to estimates from Zillow. Boulder Creek saw a similar jump from $337,000 in 2012 to $616,000 last December. Despite the sharp increases, real estate in both towns is a bargain when compared with neighboring Santa Cruz, where home prices consistently rank above $900,000.
FINE LINE
In addition to those seeking out cheaper digs or looking for a more peaceful neighborhood, the area is also gleaning an increasing reputation as a hub for “over the hill,” commuters, who travel from the mountains to jobs in the Silicon Valley area.
“A lot of people from the greater Bay Area, San Jose and Palo Alto seem to be buying property here or coming to visit,” says Duncan, joking that there’s a lot of “money and Teslas,” taking up residence in the area these days.
By the numbers, the Santa Cruz Mountains are certainly seeing an influx of new cash, as median household incomes ticked up in Boulder Creek, Felton and Ben Lomond in recent years, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. In Felton specifically, the median household income jumped from $71,763 in 2015, to $95,260 in 2016 and $108,409 in 2017, accounting for about a 44% increase across the three-year span.
Local entrepreneurs say that while it’s great to have so many new residents discovering the area, there is also a fear of the new attention pricing out longtime locals and threatening the quiet, mountain charm that attracted so many residents in the first place. “There’s definitely that fear here,” Duncan says. “It’s a fine line.”
Erin Zimmer, who took over control of Henfling’s of Ben Lomond with her fiance in 2018, says that while changes can be scary, the community in the mountains is withstanding.
“We’re lucky enough to live in an area where it won’t change too much. We’re not going to get a Walmart,” Zimmer says. “It’s still gonna be a small mountain town where hopefully everyone has your back.”
CULTURAL TRADITIONS
As retail spaces continue popping up across the mountains, the music scene is undergoing a revival of its own. Helping to lead that charge is Anil Prajapati, a full-time tax accountant by day, and owner and operator of Boulder Creek’s Lille Aeske Arthouse—Danish for “little box”—by night.
“I just felt a calling from the universe that this is what I needed to do,” Prajapati says from the arthouse’s cozy kitchen space, peppered with Edison lighting and potted houseplants. “Keeping the arts and music alive, to me, that’s one of the most important things for our community. That’s what makes all of this rewarding.”
Since opening in 2016, the 45-seat venue—which hosts two or three events a week—has garnered a reputation as an intimate listening room, where the music is always center-stage.
“To me, a venue like that is an opportunity to have a beautiful-sounding room and a crowd that’s in the palm of your hand,” says Los Gatos musician Ren Geisick of the cozy performance space with a rounded, wood-paneled ceiling. “It’s so intimate that they can’t help but really listen to you and dig into the musical experience you’re trying to give them.”
The intimacy in the seated venue is no accident, Prajapati says. In part, it’s a harkening back to simpler times, and an honoring of Boulder Creek’s historic, musical roots. “When you come through here it reminds you of that time when it was more artistic. It wasn’t computer driven,” he says. “I think it attracts the crowd that represents what Boulder Creek was.”
Prajapati isn’t alone in using new spaces to pay tribute to the mountains’ musical past. Thomas Cussins, who opened Felton Music Hall last year in the building that formerly housed beloved restaurant-venue Don Quixote’s—and much more briefly, Flynn’s Cabaret—says uplifting the space’s history is paramount.
“There was a very free, accepting scene around Don Quixote’s where you could really let loose,” says Cussins, who frequented the venue during his time as a UCSC undergrad in the mid-2000s. “We wanted to restore the glory of Don Quixote’s and continue bringing the type of music that could really unite the community around a shared experience.”
A couple of miles down Highway 9, in Ben Lomond, is Henfling’s. While the establishment might be best known for its fabled history as a biker hangout and community watering hole, Zimmer explains that music comprised an integral part of the bar’s 70-year history. “There’s a lot of stories about how 20 years ago the place would be full of people, the music was better and people actually wanted to come for shows,” she says.
When she and her fiance took over, they installed a new stage set-up, new PA system, and hired a new booking agent for shows. Now, the two offer free shows most nights of the week with acts ranging from Grateful Dead tributes, to slow rock, to Karaoke. “We’ve got a lot of karaoke fans up here,” Zimmer says with a laugh.
Zimmer—who bartended at Henfling’s for years before acquiring the business—says that she wanted to keep the old spirit of Henfling’s alive. “We might own it, but it’s definitely the community’s bar. It’s like their living room, so we didn’t want to change it too much,” she says. “It still has the charm it always has, it’s just cleaner now.”
Mountain Spirit in Felton embodies the quirky charm the community has always been known for. PHOTO: TARMO HANNULA
MAKING IT WORK
Despite the strong artistic bent in the mountains, Prajapati explains that getting the finances to add up at his tiny venue is tricky.
“When I say it’s not lucrative, I mean this cannot be about the money. This has to be about the community,” says Prajapati, noting that he often spends well over 40 hours a week working in the arthouse, on top of his full-time accounting job. “It’s definitely not easy.”
James Mackessy—who initially opened Lille Aeske with his wife before selling to Prajapati in July—says the scale of the venue, coupled with Boulder Creek’s “accessibility issue” and high cost of living, ultimately fed into the couple’s decision to move on from the area altogether.
“As sad as it was to leave the Santa Cruz Mountains, between the cost of living and the environmental and social pressures that area is facing … It started to feel a little fictional to me. It started to feel like there wasn’t as much room as everybody wanted there to be,” Mackessy says. “The trend that we saw was that poorer people were getting pushed out.”
Now, the pair are searching for a property to house their artistic vision in Racine, Wis., where Mackessy says the real estate market is, “a bit more realistic for anything other than a tech startup.”
From an artist’s point of view, the increased popularity of streaming services and a rapidly-changing music industry can further exacerbate these monetary challenges, notes Geisick.
“Around here, it’s just a complete grind. You have to love it a lot,” says Geisick, who plays professionally in three bands, on top of teaching jazz vocals and working part-time as an administrative assistant. “I think we’re all asking the same questions, like, ‘How do I make this work?’’’
For Cussins, it is these very trends that make it so important to spotlight local artists at Felton Music Hall. “I think we have an obligation to showcase anybody who’s committed to bringing arts to the Santa Cruz Mountains,” he says of his venue that books at least one local act a week. “If those folks are priced out of our communities, the culture of our community will change for the worse.”
At neighboring Lille Aeske, community volunteers gather before each show to prepare a home-cooked meal for performing artists. For traveling musicians—or Santa Cruzans who don’t want to trek down Highway 9 after a show—the arthouse even provides a spare bedroom where bands can stay for the night, enjoy a warm shower and cook breakfast in the morning. Prajapati says creature comforts like this help to provide respite for traveling musicians, who often spend nights couch-surfing or sleeping in their vans between shows. About half of the artists end up taking him up on this offer, he says.
The mountain trend of supporting all local everything extends into the retail space, too. For Kavanaugh, this means looking within the county when sourcing plants and flowers for her shop. “We want to support our local farmers and keep our local economy going,” she says.
For Duncan, it means selling goods from other local makers and Santa Cruz Mountain artists at the Mountainside General Store. This, she says, is one of the best ways to ensure that money stays in the community and the community can stay in the mountains.
“It really feels like everyone has each other’s back and wants each other’s businesses to succeed,” Cussins says. “There’s just nothing like it. For me, it’s like the American dream come true in the Santa Cruz Mountains.”
As the mountains continue to change, its entrepreneurs hope to keep this supportive, small town charm alive. “I don’t really care what the prevailing tide is,” Cussins says. “I think it’s part of the shared responsibility we all have to make the community we want to live in. And we’re gonna do that. We’re not going anywhere.”
By Todd Guild, Patrick Dwire, Tony Nuñez, and Jacob Pierce
CALIFORNIA’S 2OTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) is seeking a third term as the U.S. Representative from the sprawling 20th congressional district that includes all of Monterey County, as well as portions of San Benito, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties.
Panetta has two challengers in this primary: 36-year-old environmental advocate Adam Bolaños Scow, running with the endorsement of Santa Cruz for Bernie, and Jeff Gorman, a stock broker, financial advisor and current chair of the Monterey County Republican Party. The top two vote-getters will advance to the November election. Panetta is running on a legislative record that includes the California Central Coast Conservation Act, prohibiting oil leases in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, an early endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, and his introduction—along with Sen. Diane Feinstein—of the Climate Action Rebate Act, a proposal for nationwide “carbon tax” to address the climate crises. “I have fought for immigration reform by actually passing bills to protect farmworkers and Dreamers, introduced legislation to cut carbon emissions to combat the climate crisis,” Panetta wrote in an emailed statement to GT.
His Democratic challenger, Scow, has built a career as an environmental activist and grassroots organizer, working for the last six years as the California state director of Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit political advocacy organization. Scow worked on the voter-approved Measure Z that banned fracking and new oil well development in Monterey County in 2016, along with similar bans in San Benito and Santa Cruz counties. Scow criticizes Panetta for failing to take a position on Measure Z. Scow’s campaign speeches draw fault lines between what he sees as the Bernie Sanders-inspired “progressive agenda” and the bipartisan approach of Panetta. “His climate act is too little and too late,” Scow says. “If it wasn’t for the corporate compromises that Jimmy Panetta lauds as his big successes, I wouldn’t be running.”
Gorman, the race’s Republican Party candidate, is skeptical of the “utopian promises” of the Scow campaign. With regard to Jimmy Panetta, he hopes the district “can break out of dynasty politics”—a reference to Panetta’s father Leon, who worked in three presidential administrations, including that of former President Barack Obama, for whom he served as CIA director and secretary of defense.
Gorman’s campaign website includes a brief review of the Republican Party’s platform on national issues, and an invitation to join a fundraiser titled “A Night with Corey Lewandowski,” Donald Trump’s campaign manager in 2016, in Carmel on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
CALIFORNIA SENATE, DISTRICT 17
It takes about three-and-a-half hours to drive the length of California’s 17th Senate District, from San Jose down through San Luis Obispo County, so long as there’s no traffic and you drive a hair over the speed limit, says Santa Cruz-based John Laird, who’s running for the open state Senate seat.
Laird served as resources secretary under former California Gov. Jerry Brown, overseeing a $10 billion budget, with 25 statewide departments, commissions and conservancies. His big issues in this campaign include housing and education, but the top priority has to be cutting carbon emissions in the face of global warming, he says. “We have about 10 years to turn things around. And while Californians are on the lead of all 50 states, we have to do more,” says Laird, who previously served as one of the nation’s first openly gay mayors and in the state’s Assembly.
Fellow Democratic candidate Maria Cadenas, also from Santa Cruz, is the executive director of Santa Cruz Community Ventures. She says she decided to seek public office after a family conversation, when her daughter talked about wanting to cut back her plastic use. “We’re doing a disservice to our youth and our community by kicking the can down the road on things like climate and economic development. We have two Central Coasts—one that’s affluent, and one that isn’t, where people are getting squeezed out,” Cadenas says. She says she’s spent her career helping families thrive—working for the ACLU and other nonprofits and in philanthropy. She’s currently working on a plan to include financial coaching as part of patients’ medical care.
Carmel’s Vicki Nohrden, the race’s lone Republican, began her career as a realtor and became a youth minister. She’s volunteered with CASA as a court-appointed special advocate and served a term and a half on the Monterey County Civil Grand Jury. The Grand Jury experience, she says, provided lessons in getting to the root of problems and negotiating solutions—all of which, she argues, would be helpful in the Senate. “You get to be a voice for the people,” she says. She hopes to stop the exodus of Californians moving away and says she doesn’t want her family to leave the state.
John Nevill, who lives in the foothills outside King City, works as a healthcare administrator and a respiratory therapist. Nevill ran for the Assembly four years ago as a Republican, before switching his affiliation to the Democratic Party. He says his main issues are healthcare, vocational education and clean food and water.
SANTA CRUZ RECALL
The recall of Santa Cruz city councilmembers Chris Krohn and Drew Glover is finally going before city voters.
The reasons behind the recall have varied. Some supporters say they want to eliminate a culture of chaos at Santa Cruz City Hall. This past December, leading recall organizer Dan Coughlin said he supports the effort to remove the councilmembers partly because he has “a different philosophical, political position” than the two councilmen do. The petition that initially circulated and kickstarted the process cited Krohn and Glover’s behavior on the council dais, as well as their support of various homeless-oriented proposals. In the months that followed, an investigation conducted by a Sacramento-based lawyer looked at several complaints filed against the two men. No complaints were deemed to be unfounded, or false. Each man had one complaint against him found to be substantiated. Krohn and Glover defenders deemed the violations to be minor, ticky-tack infractions that were blown out of proportion.
After the investigation, Krohn apologized for any harm he may have caused. Glover insisted he had done nothing wrong. Soon after, Glover had a heated exchange with a city staffer that resulted in a memo from the city manager, and new rules prohibiting most employees from talking to Glover. Late last year, Glover had another substantiated complaint against him—for a retaliatory Facebook post directed at theformer chair of the Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women. Glover says he has a different communication style than other city officials do. And the city, he’s said, has not prioritized conflict resolution like it should.
The recall’s endorsers include the Democratic Women’s Club and county Supervisor Ryan Coonerty. Opponents of the effort include the People’s Democratic Club, Santa Cruz for Bernie and Mayor Justin Cummings, who serves in the council majority with Glover and Krohn. Citing his behavior at a meeting on campus, the UCSC College Democrats endorsed the recall of Glover, whom the group supported in the past. The club made no endorsement on the question of whether to recall Krohn.
Throughout the petitioning period, there were reports of signature-gatherers—some of whom were being paid—lying and exaggerating Glover and Krohn’s behavior in order to get people to sign. The recall effort has benefitted from a major fundraising haul, pulling in more than $109,000 as of early January, much of it from landlords and property management companies.
Voters also have the opportunity to choose whom they would like to take Glover and Krohn’s spots in the event that either of the two men is removed from office. Bilingual elementary school teacher Renee Golder is running for Glover’s seat, as is former Mayor Tim Fizmaurice, who has Glover’s endorsement. Former Mayor Don Lane—who’s been vocally ambivalent about the recall—is running for Krohn’s seat, as is former Mayor Katherine Beiers, who has Krohn’s endorsement.
All the candidates say they want to improve the environment at City Hall.
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT 1
SupervisorJohn Leopold has served Santa Cruz County’s First District since being elected in 2008, when the state was in the throes of an economic recession. The county’s efforts since then have largely been a success, he says. Leopold is running against five opponents this March—with the top two vote getters heading to the November election, unless one candidate secures more than 50% of the vote.
The challengers are former Santa Cruz County Greenway Executive Director Manu Koenig, Betsy Riker, Benjamin Cogan, Mark Esquibel and Donald Kreutz.
Leopold says his successes include working with the Live Oak School District and the Boys and Girls club to create a 10,200-square-foot youth center at Shoreline Middle School.
He also points to the recent opening of LEO’s Haven, an inclusive park in Live Oak that lies in the heart of his district, and to the revitalization in the Pleasure Point area. “I want to continue that conversation,” he says, “because there’s more work to do around housing, climate change, supporting local businesses, and taking care of families.”
Koenigis making his first run for elected office. He says his time advocating for Santa Cruz County Greenway—work that included collecting 10,000 signatures from residents opposing a countywide rail line—has helped prepare him for the First District seat.
After working for several tech startups, he created his own, Civinomics, in 2011, working with local government agencies such as Soquel Creek Water District, the city of Santa Cruz, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. He switched to advocacy work so he could have more of a lasting impact, he says.
Greenway advocates for converting the rail line into a mixed-use bicycle path, which Koenig says would help ameliorate traffic congestion along with a host of other maladies that go along with it.
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission in 2018 voted to prioritize plans for future rail service and also approved a contract with Progressive Rail to run freight operations.
Koenig was disappointed in Leopold for approving the deal despite community opposition. “I know the people of this district don’t want a train, so I feel like we’ve been consistently misrepresented,” he says.
Leopold says that the opposition to a passenger train is not as strong as Koenig says it is, and he also notes that the Progressive Rail contract ended up garnering unanimous support from the commission.
Esquibel has worked in the telecom industry, and is now a subject manager expert for an energy company that helped build a railway from San Jose to Fremont. He also holds multiple credentials to deal with a variety of disasters. He says he can look at the county’s infrastructure from the perspective of an industry professional.
And he doesn’t like what he sees.
“I’ve built every infrastructure known to man, and I come back here, and nothing is getting addressed,” he says.
He says that county leaders must consider water supplies when making plans for new housing. If elected, Esquibel says he would oppose plans to create secondary needle exchange programs, instead shifting more responsibility onto the county Health Services Agency. He says that much of the homelessness crisis should be treated as a mental health crisis, and that helping the homeless find permanent housing would in turn bolster the business community.
Cogan has never held public office. He describes himself as an “average, working-class guy,” who’s worked as a mechanic, a landscaper, a fast-food cashier and a handyman. “I just want to get in there and make a difference,” he says.
Cogan also ran against Leopold in 2016, when he garnered 21% of the vote.
He says he would reinstate the Citizens Appeals Board, to reconsider planning decisions and give prospective builders recourse if there’s a mistake or if they feel a fee is too exorbitant.
He says he’s concerned about plans by Verizon to create a 5G network.
Cogan opposes the Pure Water Soquel project, which will involve Soquel Creek Water District pumping treated water into the aquifer as a way to rest wells and reverse seawater intrusion.
He would also try to reign in some of the power of the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, and shift it back to local policymakers.
He would hold evening meetings for people who cannot attend the supervisors’ Tuesday morning meetings. He also says he would vote against pay raises for supervisors.
Riker says she is not accepting political donations. This puts her at a disadvantage in the upcoming election, she says, because she is not paying for publicity, like glossy mailers and yard signs.
Still, she hopes, if elected, to instill a female perspective on the board, which currently is all men.
“Women provide a much needed perspective on the issues facing the county,” she says.
Riker has worked as a physician assistant at a local practice and at UCSC. She would hope to eliminate fares for Santa Cruz Metro buses to increase ridership and also create more protected bike lanes.
Kreutz did not respond to requests for comment.
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT 2
Zach Friend is running for his third term as Santa Cruz County Supervisor in the Second District against a familiar foe: Becky Steinbruner, an outspoken community activist living in rural Aptos, is challenging the incumbent for the second time. She lost to Friend in 2016, a year after she tried to unseat the Supervisor via a recall effort. “People should have a choice,” Steinbruner says. “I’m not running to make a name for myself or to advance my image or my status.” Steinbruner says she wants to make government as accessible as possible for residents by increasing transparency and accountability. She would also advocate for county fire to receive more funding to help protect the rural and scenic areas of the county.
Friend says the supervisors have made progress on affordable housing, public safety and parks. This past November, the county approved a 100% affordable housing project on Capitola Road that will include 57 housing units, as well as community health and dental centers. “That’s an unassailable project,” Friend said. Steinbruner says the project did not include enough public input from neighbors. Friend says the county can no longer look at housing with the same mindset that it has for the last three decades.
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE
Last year, Annrae Angel was the first one to jump into the race for a judicial seat held by Judge Ariadne Symons, who had been slapped with a severe public censure over her behavior in and out of the courtroom.
“Had I not come into the race, there might not be an election at all right now,” says Angel. She says her candidacy put increased scrutiny on Symons, who ultimately announced her retirement and decided not to run for reelection, despite raising more than $100,000. After Symons stepped out, two more candidates jumped in to run against Angel—fellow attorneys Jack Gordon and Nancy de la Peña.
Angel says her early decision to run took guts, and she cites that as a reason voters should support her. It takes courage, she explains, for a judge to make difficult decisions from the bench, and to not be blown off course by questions about whether the decision will be popular. Angel has served as a defense attorney since 1993, and mostly represents indigent clients who can’t afford lawyers. Learning to be a good judge, she says, involves being aware of one’s biases and making sure they don’t influence a ruling.
Gordon once worked as a sheriff’s deputy, but he’s been an attorney for the last 26 years, mostly working in criminal defense. He’s practiced in 10 counties and worked on tough, complex cases, including homicide cases that dragged on for months. “I work hard, know the law, and have a good temperament,” he says. In his time as an attorney and a law enforcement officer, he’s spent time with traumatized victims of crimes, loved ones of victims, and suspects. A good judge, he adds, is able to listen to everyone and also care about everyone who sets foot in their courtroom. In his time as an attorney and a law enforcement officer, he’s gotten to know all sides of criminal justice. He’s spent time listening to traumatized victims of crimes, consoling loved ones of victims and making sure suspects get their fair day in court.
De la Peña spent three decades working on behalf of Santa Cruz County’s public defenders office, and she currently works with county counsel, where she works with 22 departments on everything from child abuse cases to orders from the sheriff to remove guns from individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others. De la Peña, who would be the county’s first openly LGBTQ judicial officer, decided to run partly because she’s been an advocate of increased diversity on the bench for more than 10 years. She has a breadth of experience, representing both individuals and government agencies. “I bring a skill set that’s needed, in terms of knowing how to work with all the litigants and all the people who bring cases,” she says. Her ultimate goal, she says, is to make Santa Cruz County safer for everyone.
“Yes. It’s not so much that I am against Drew or Chris. I am a big supporter of Renee Golder, which is why I support the recall.”
Gene Manako
Santa Cruz
Tech Stuff
“No. My concern is I voted for the folks that are being recalled and this just negates my entire vote. I think it’s completely undemocratic.”
Mary Anne Kramer-Urner
Santa Cruz
Physical Therapist
“Yeah, I support the recall 100 percent. I disagree completely with the way they dealt with the homeless situation.”
Pat Powers
Santa Cruz
Designer
“I do not support the recall, I think it’s a mean-spirited concept in this case. ”
Jan Greene
Santa Cruz
Painter
“My current thinking is yes, but I have not made a final decision. It is related to civility in government and those who work for the government being civil to the people they work with and to the community.”
In the literary world, good timing is essential. But the timing of Emily Nemens’ debut novel Cactus League is downright exquisite.
Sure, any publisher would release a novel set in the milieu of baseball’s spring training in February, just as spring training is getting underway in Florida and Arizona. But Nemens’ novel isn’t really about home runs, double plays, or the game of baseball as it is played on the diamond. It’s more about the culture of baseball—its players, coaches, executives, fans, groupies, sportswriters, and other various hangers-on—particularly during the six-week period every spring in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun.
And thanks to the recent, unprecedented sign-stealing scandal involving the Houston Astros and the scandal’s fallout across Major League Baseball, 2020’s spring training is particularly focused on baseball’s off-the-field culture and the interrelational dramas between players, owners, fans, and the media.
In other words, Cactus League may be an especially relevant literary companion to baseball’s current moment.
The novelist herself will be on hand on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Wellstone Center in the Redwoods in Soquel, in conversation with journalist Molly Knight (whose book The Best Team Money Can Buy isabout the Los Angeles Dodgers, the organization which incidentally is the central aggrieved party in the Astros scandal).
“I was really interested, of course, in thinking about how athletes get into shape and get ready for the season,” says Nemens, who—when she isn’t thinking about baseball—serves as the editor of the legendary literary journal The Paris Review. “But I was also interested in the carnival aspects of a million people showing up every spring in the Phoenix metro area to watch practice games. It’s a pretty fascinating phenomenon.”
Cactus League is a big-picture deep dive into the infrastructure of spring training as it’s practiced in Arizona. (For the less baseball-literate, “Cactus League” is the semi-formal brand name of Arizona’s spring season, as opposed to Florida’s “Grapefruit League.”) Central characters include a star player, other more marginally talented ballplayers, a team owner, a concessionaire, a stadium organist, a downsized sportswriter, a group of sexually available women who prey on players, and others.
“There’s only about five innings of actual baseball in the book,” says Nemens. “I’m more interested in the larger questions of spring and renewal and possibility.”
Nemens earned her love for baseball growing up in Seattle in the 1990s, when the Seattle Mariners boasted many of the most exciting ballplayers of the era, including Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez. She and her dad would not only attend games at Seattle’s now defunct Kingdome, they would also regularly make the trip to Arizona for spring training.
“I wasn’t a writer at 12,” she says, “but I was an observational kid. And getting to know the places (around Phoenix) and revisiting them to see how they had changed over the years was a really good starting point in writing about that place and that culture.”
The book’s genesis dates back to 2011, and Nemens earned most of her sportswriter bona fides in 2012 when she covered the college football program at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. “That was hugely helpful,” she says. “I spent more time thinking about [LSU coach] Les Miles than Don Mattingly. But I was definitely thinking about the public messaging and the public face of sports teams.”
Years later, in the summer of 2018, Nemens took over leadership at The Paris Review, the fabled quarterly that published many of the literary rock stars of the mid-20th century, including Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov and others. The Paris Review is most closely associated with its founding editor, the celebrity journalist and gadfly George Plimpton, who moved the journal from offices in Paris to his own townhouse in New York in 1973.
The lines of connection between Plimpton and Nemens go beyond the editor’s desk at The Paris Review. Plimpton was also famous for bringing a literary flair to sportswriting, most notably in his 1966 book Paper Lion, which documented Plimpton’s mercifully short stint as a back-up quarterback for the Detroit Lions.
“Paper Lion was one of the first books I read when I thought about starting a novel about sports,” says Nemens.
Sports, and especially baseball, are deeply interwoven in The Paris Review’s storied history, she says. “Personally, it still feels very close. Donald Hall, our first poetry editor, was also a big baseball nut and wrote the occasional baseball poem, though he also loved talking about it. There is still a subgroup of New York intelligentsia who love the game. It’s been fun to connect with those folks.”
Nemens runs The Paris Review in a literary environment that George Plimpton might not fully recognize, an era of social media and podcasting. “A big part of my job is stewardship,” she says, “and balancing (the journal’s historical legacy) with innovation.”
Not surprisingly, as editor, Nemens is receiving a lot of material about the unstable political reality of today and the bleak future it portends. “I’m seeing writers who have always been realists move into a more fabular vein, thinking about near-future dystopias as a way of commentary and examination of the contemporary moment. I don’t want it to become a journal of speculative fiction. But I am making room for that.”
Her job at the helm of a powerful literary brand name is, she says, one of balance. “I’m trying to balance it all. I’m a person who loves baseball and the opera. I have eclectic tastes, and I’m trying to reflect that in our acquisitions and what we publish.”
Emily Nemens, author of ‘Cactus League,’ will be in conversation with Molly Knight on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 2pm at Wellstone Center in the Redwoods, 858 Amigo Road, Soquel. Free, but RSVP requested at in**@we***************.org. wellstoneredwoods.org
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Do you feel ready to change your mind about an idea or belief or theory that has been losing its usefulness? Would you consider changing your relationship with a once-powerful influence that is becoming less crucial to your life-long goals? Is it possible you have outgrown one of your heroes or teachers? Do you wonder if maybe it’s time for you to put less faith in a certain sacred cow or overvalued idol? According to my analysis of your astrological omens, you’ll benefit from meditating on these questions during the coming weeks.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): When she was alive more than 2,500 years ago, the Greek poet Sappho was so famous for her lyrical creations that people referred to her as “The Poetess” and the “Tenth Muse.” (In Greek mythology, there were nine muses, all goddesses.) She was a prolific writer who produced over 10,000 lines of verse, and even today she remains one of the world’s most celebrated poets. I propose that we make her your inspirational role model for the coming months. In my view, you’re poised to generate a wealth of enduring beauty in your own chosen sphere. Proposed experiment: Regard your daily life as an art project.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Have you ever dropped out of the daily grind for a few hours or even a few days so as to compose a master plan for your life? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to give yourself that necessary luxury. According to my analysis, you’re entering a phase when you’ll generate good fortune for yourself if you think deep thoughts about how to create your future. What would you like the story of your life to be on March 1, 2025? How about March 1, 2030? And March 1, 2035? I encourage you to consult your soul’s code and formulate an inspired, invigorating blueprint for the coming years. Write it down!
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray (1819–1875) is famous for Vanity Fair, a satirical panorama of 19th century British society. The phrase “Vanity Fair” had been previously used, though with different meanings, in the Bible’s book of Ecclesiastes, as well as in works by John Bunyan and St. Augustine. Thackeray was lying in bed near sleep one night when the idea flew into his head to use it for his own story. He was so thrilled, he leaped up and ran around his room chanting “Vanity Fair! Vanity Fair!” I’m foreseeing at least one epiphany like this for you in the coming weeks, Cancerian. What area of your life needs a burst of delicious inspiration?
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Who loves you best, Leo? Which of your allies and loved ones come closest to seeing you and appreciating you for who you really are? Of all the people in your life, which have done most to help you become the soulful star you want to be? Are there gem-like characters on the peripheries of your world that you would like to draw nearer? Are there energy drains that you’ve allowed to play too prominent a role? I hope you’ll meditate on questions like these in the coming weeks. You’re in a phase when you can access a wealth of useful insights and revelations about how to skillfully manage your relationships. It’s also a good time to reward and nurture those allies who have given you so much.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Doom and gloom dominate the forecasts made by many prophets. They experience perverse glee in predicting, for example, that all the rain forests and rivers will be owned by greedy corporations by 2050, or that extraterrestrial invaders who resemble crocodiles will take control of the U.S. government “for the good of the American people,” or that climate change will eventually render chocolate and bananas obsolete. That’s not how I operate. I deplore the idea that it’s only the nasty prognostications that are interesting. In that spirit, I make the following forecasts: The number of homeless Virgos will decrease dramatically in the near future, as will the number of dreamhome-less Virgos. In fact, I expect you folks will experience extra amounts of domestic bliss in the coming months. You may feel more at home in the world than ever before.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I don’t require everyone I learn from to be an impeccable saint. If I vowed to draw inspiration only from those people who flawlessly embody every one of my ethical principles, there’d be no one to be inspired by. Even one of my greatest heroes, Martin Luther King Jr., cheated on his wife and plagiarized parts of his doctoral dissertation. Where do you stand on this issue, Libra? I bet you will soon be tested. How much imperfection is acceptable to you?
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio comedian John Cleese co-founded the troupe Monty Python more than fifty years ago, and he has been generating imaginative humor ever since. I suggest we call on his counsel as you enter the most creative phase of your astrological cycle. “This is the extraordinary thing about creativity,” he says. “If you just keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will get a reward from your unconscious.” Here’s another one of Cleese’s insights that will serve you well: “The most creative people have learned to tolerate the slight discomfort of indecision for much longer, and so, just because they put in more pondering time, their solutions are more creative.”
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) developed a vigorous and expansive vision. That’s why he became a leading intellectual influence in the era known as the Enlightenment. But because of his inventive, sometimes controversial ideas, he was shunned by his fellow Jews and had his books listed on the Catholic Church’s Index of Forbidden Books. Understandably, he sometimes felt isolated. To compensate, he spent lots of time alone taking wide-ranging journeys in his imagination. Even if you have all the friends and social stimulation you need, I hope you will follow his lead in the coming weeks—by taking wide-ranging journeys in your imagination. It’s time to roam and ramble in inner realms.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Absolute reason expired at eleven o’clock last night,” one character tells another in Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. I’m happy to report that a different development is on the verge of occurring for you, Capricorn. In recent days, there may have been less than an ideal amount of reason and logic circulating in your world. But that situation will soon change. The imminent outbreak of good sense, rigorous sanity, and practical wisdom will be quite tonic. Take advantage of this upcoming grace period. Initiate bold actions that are well-grounded in objective rather than subjective truth.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Renowned Aquarian composer Franz Schubert (1797–1828) created more than 700 compositions, some of which are still played by modern musicians. Many of his works were written on and for the piano—and yet he was so poor that he never owned a piano. If there has been a similar situation in your life, Aquarius—a lack of some crucial tool or support due to financial issues—I see the coming weeks as being an excellent time to set in motion the plans that will enable you to overcome and cure that problem.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 1908, British playwright W. Somerset Maugham reached the height of success. Four of his plays were being performed concurrently in four different London theaters. If you were ever in your life going to achieve anything near this level of overflowing popularity or attention, I suspect it would be this year. And if that’s a development you would enjoy and thrive on, I think the coming weeks will be an excellent time to set your intention and take audacious measures.
Homework: I declare you champion, unvanquishable hero, and title-holder of triumphant glory. Do you accept? freewillastrology.com
Tanner Petulla is a producer, actor, rapper and comedian from San Jose—a town that doesn’t normally yield big name celebrities.
But the thing you really need to know about Petulla is that he’s an electronic music DJ known as Getter. In the past few years, he’s defied the curse of his city and made a name for himself in the international electronic scene. He mixes all the club favorites: dubstep, trap, house, EDM, but adds an offbeat—sometimes retro—experimental element that keeps his music from falling into the color-by-numbers approach to electronic dance music.
INFO: 9pm. Friday, March 6, Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $22/adv, $25/door. catalystclub.com.
WANT TO GO?
Go to santacruz.com/giveaways before 11am on Friday, Feb. 28 to find out how you could win a pair of tickets to the show.
In the coming months, we will have Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto retrograde. The most retrograde times begin mid-May and progress through to the end of the year. The first retrograde began this past Sunday, with Mercury retrograde—the first of Mercury’s three 2020 retrogrades (February/March, June/July, Oct/Nov.). Mercury began its retrograde at 12 degrees Pisces (the Savior), moving back to 28 degrees Aquarius (the Server). The retrograde shadow remains until March 30.
We remember to review and read the fine print if key purchases must be considered. If important schedules, meetings or plans occur, realize everyone is internalizing the information and it must be explained three times or more for understanding.
In retrogrades, we are remembering, reexamining, reevaluating, revising and reviewing. (Note: the letter “R” is a #18 = 9 = endings). Retrograde times are inner reality times; outer realities are veiled and hidden. We are too internal to listen, learn or integrate anything new.
Mercury retrograde days and weeks are quiet, integrating times when we synthesize the past, ordering and organizing what we’ve learned since the last Mercury retrograde (in Nov. 2019). Renewing, revisiting, completing and then eliminating what is no longer needed. We thus prepare ourselves for a new set of instructions and new information coming forth when Mercury is out of its shadow phase.
Mercury retrograde times are magical times. Upside-down, inside-out, and far-from-dreary times. They are exciting, unusual, shamanic times. We have fun during Mercury retro times. We make that choice.
ARIES: In past months, as you internally initiated many projects (your spiritual task), something always hindered your progress. As this begins to ease, you realize perhaps exhaustion has set in. You wonder about your abilities, motivation and skills. They are intact. However, care for yourself as if visiting a Golden Door–tending to body, emotions, mind and spirit, equally.
TAURUS: You often provide education that illumines the minds of others, along with instruction for the nurturance and sustaining of humanity’s future. You’re being impressed from higher realms on how to create a safe, secure, protected and sheltered future. The information comes bit by bit, day by day—every day, unceasingly. You could easily become exhausted. Health, rest, solitude and retreat are most important to maintain this most important work. Nourish, support and feed yourself first.
GEMINI: Do you often wonder what your real tasks are in the world? Do you go from this to that, here and there, feeling impractical? Do you aspire to save the world? The first step is to realize that Gemini is like a butterfly in a field of golden poppies, sipping nectar here and there, the ambrosia containing information humanity needs. This is how you relate to and in the world. Dispersing truth is your primary task. There’s a door there in the garden. Can you find it?
CANCER: You work well with Taurus. Water and earth complement each other. You could also get angry with Taurus. You, at times, think they are stubborn. However, they provide information needed now, and you add to their work a nurturing setting (garden, table, food, resources). Both of you work together so others can thrive. While Taurus provides the light, you take that Buddhic light and “build the lighted house where others can dwell.” You provide refuge.
LEO: Are you concerned, disappointed or confused about finances and resources? Is there some sort of dilemma and reason for worry? Perhaps it’s just a matter of time for the hidden wealth and resources to be uncovered. The sign of saving the world (Pisces) is affecting your assets. When that occurs, it’s time to offer one’s gifts, to donate, to tithe (giving to those in need). When we give to others, it is returned to us ten-fold. So we can give again.
VIRGO: Are you busy with new ideas and goals? Do they somehow seem conflicting? Are you feeling separations and differences? It’s possible you’re very serious right now. Mercury retrograde in Pisces could make you feel like you’re in a shadow, and communication isn’t understood—leading to Virgo’s nemesis, self-criticism. Don’t allow this. Lots of work in relationships may be needed. Ask yourself what are your partnership skills? And how do you love?
LIBRA: So many areas of responsibility you must focus on—your day-to-day work and health, your fields of service, colleagues and co-workers, perhaps even a pet here and there. Along with all things practical and mundane, with these tumultuous tasks all jumbled together, comes overwork, unrest, anxiety and worry. You need a vision to get you through the coming days and nights. Envision order and organization, lots of assistance; create a collage and storyboard. And, remember to “be of love more careful than of everything.”
SCORPIO: The retrograde provides you with the needed rest, and will build your strength and restore courage and confidence. Many have been feeling too hermetic to move beyond day-to-day concerns and comforts. This will shift as a new creativity emerges, but not before an ending of things takes place. Some Scorpios are experiencing their mind transforming, expanding, restructuring. The past appearing, then falling away. Bid it adieu, with love.
SAGITTARIUS: Communication can become obscured, with understanding buried under overwhelming responsibility and self-protection. Tend to co-workers with loving care and loving understanding (task of the next sub race). Realize nothing is or should or will be moving fast. So, go slowly into each day. Seek to discover, listen for and understand the values of others. They will reflect your values—especially the ones hidden from you. Careful with money. Tithe.
CAPRICORN: The important consideration with Mercury retrograde is communication. It could be confusing, mysterious, and hidden by drops of clouds, by raindrops, ferns, fish and even flotsam and jetsam floating to the surface. After the retrograde, all obstacles will be removed. Ganesh, the elephant god, if prayed to, removes obstacles. The garden is where you feel the most comfort and where your interest is. You discover all of yourself there in the garden. Build a natural garden gate.
AQUARIUS: You’ve become more and more practical and disciplined while pondering the many possible futures. You’ll continue to make practical decisions in all areas of your life, especially money, finances, intimate friends and relationships. You’ll seek closeness with others and make choices based on love and care. When you extend this, harmony is created for the entire world. Remember, family and friends are more important than politics.
PISCES: You gained independence these past years, expressing gifts and unique talents for the world. You now re-examine and re-assess where your gifts are needed in the future. A change of heart is beginning to occur. There’s somewhere you need to be that’s comforting and supportive. This impacts decisions and allows you to go forward where previously you feared to tread. Tend carefully to your health in the next months, as more talents come forth.
While on Damian Abraham’s punk podcast, Turned Out Punk, Dave Havok recalled one of his favorite shows his band AFI ever played—which was in the basement of the Vets Hall in Santa Cruz. The 2000 gig was so DIY, he had to apply makeup upstairs in a one-bulb room with no mirror. “Times were tough,” he joked to Abraham. But the magic of this dingy show stuck in his mind for decades.
Nearly every band in the punk scene has passed through the Vets Hall over the years. Local acts like Fury 66, Good Riddance, Los Dryheavers, Teenage Time Killers (RIP Reed Mullin), Slow Gherkin, and the Nerve Agents either got their start within those walls or used the stage to hone their acts. Godfather punk rockers like the Subhumans, TSOL, Agent Orange and Flipper all played the stage. Even radio bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Rise Against came through. The venue was so integral to the Bay Area punk scene that the Cornell University Library preserves several flyers from our humble Vets Hall, as part of the Aaron Cometbus Punk and Underground Press Collection.
After years of disarray, including damage from the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the Vets Hall closed in 2010, only to be reopened in 2014 after some renovations, though they stuck to a strict, no-live-music model. With new director Chris Cottingham, it’s once again open for business to the local music scene. Presented by two of the last independent Bay Area show promoters, Nick Dill of Hard Times and Joel Haston of Pin-Up Productions, the building will host its first hardcore show in a decade on February 22 featuring Terror and the Warriors.
“I’m very excited the Vets Hall is back,” says Haston. “I consider it my hometown venue.”
Technically, it won’t be the Hall’s first new live rock show. That nod goes to longtime Vets Hall promoter Numbskull Productions and their Lil Peep Memorial last November. Haston was asked to work security for the event, and while he couldn’t, he saw another window of opportunity.
“I was put in touch with Chris and told him there’s been some legendary stuff that’s gone down here,” he says.
Built in 1932, the Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial building (its proper name) was always envisioned as a community gathering spot and used for galas, dances, bingo games and the like. Walking through the building, it’s impossible not to feel the ghosts of history peeking around every corner. When punk rock came around in the late ’70s, it was only natural for the Vets Hall to book it. As an all ages venue, it provided tweens, teens and young adults a cheap place to hang out without getting in trouble (theoretically, at least).
Cottingham discovered the space while doing a photo shoot for Salinas reggae band the Rudians, and immediately saw the potential. He was named Director of Service and Operations last June.
“We want to be that venue where we can have the national headliner and give locals the opportunity to open the show,” says Cottingham.
Proceeds for renting one of the four newly renovated rooms—the main hall, two upstairs and the freshly manicured backyard garden they hope to use for acoustic shows and wine mixers—will go back to providing services for the veterans such as their weekly hot meal lunches, tech skill classes, support groups and meet-and-greets with local and Bay Area service providers. They also host weekly meditation, fitness, yoga and dance classes, Narcotics Anonymous meetings and poetry slams, all open to the entire community.
“The vision is to have a space that is self-sustaining with these events and a veteran workforce,” he says.
As for that infamous basement, it’s currently being put to good use as a lounge, kitchen and dining hall area for vets. While it’s not currently available for rent as a stage, that could change.
Both Hard Times and Pin-Up Productions already have more shows booked in March: local hardcore band Drain and Bay Area metalheads Wolf King, respectively. There’s discussion of other events like a vinyl swap, punk rock flea market, and other DIY events.
“Everyone has a story, and I’m constantly hearing about people’s memories of everything from legendary shows to playing Dungeons and Dragons and card games in the rooms,” Cottingham explains. “My hope is that kids who grew up going to shows here will have the opportunity to bring their kids and share that experience.”
Terror and the Warriors perform beginning at 7pm on Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Veterans Memorial Building, 846 Front St., Santa Cruz. $16/adv, $20/door. 454-0478.
