Architects Presenting Costs for Santa Cruz Library and Garage

-
0
Architects Presenting Costs for Santa Cruz Library and Garage

The next chapter in the ongoing story of Santa Cruz’s downtown public library is happening Tuesday, June 2, at 4:30pm.

Architecture firm Group 4 will provide the latest information on two options for a mixed-use library on the current site of the farmer’s market parking lot. Under this scenario, the market would likely move to a different parking lot on Front Street, a block and a half away, where it would be given a permanent pavilion.

In 2018, the city’s Downtown Library Advisory Committee unanimously voted to support building a brand new mixed-use library project on a city-owned lot. The plan was to have a library on the first floor. Up above would be several hundred parking spaces as well as space for housing or offices. The City Council agreed with the direction, but the concept of a new parking garage rankled anti-car environmentalists, who want to see the city renovate the library at its current site.

Later that year, two Santa Cruz candidates—Justin Cummings and Drew Glover—ran for City Council. They won their elections in November of 2018, giving a new council majority to the town’s anti-garage political faction. In 2019, that new majority directed city staff to halt all work on the library and garage mixed-use project. Soon after, three city councilmembers—Donna Meyers, Justin Cummings and Sandy Brown—formed a subcommittee to study how best to spend money from a 2018 Santa Cruz County library bond measure.

After a few months of subcommittee meetings, the city hired architecture firm Jayson Architecture, which gave two presentations on how the existing library could be renovated. In his talk, the group’s founder architect Abraham Jayson recommended knocking down part of the first floor of the building.  

After that, supporters of a brand new library, constructed from the ground up, wanted their own renderings and pictures of how the library might look, according to their own vision. For that effort, the city chose Group 4, which gave its initial presentation May 7. Group 4 laid out two options, each one an iteration of the same idea. In one option, the upper stories of the project would have parking surrounding housing on all sides. The other option calls for parking on one side of the building’s upper stories, with housing going on the other side. Both plans would have a first-floor library. The upcoming meeting on Tuesday will include a final cost estimate, funding sources and stakeholder input.

One thing is for sure: The delays have been expensive. Other Santa Cruz County communities have been spending their bond money. The Felton Library opened earlier this year, and other communities, like Capitola, have broken ground on construction.

The delays add up. Jayson said this past October that construction costs had been rising 8-10% per year for a full decade. “That’s like compounding interest,” he explained.

The “good news,” he added, was that the rate of construction cost increases would likely go down to 5-6% per year.

The Zoom meeting on options for the library’s future will be Tuesday, June 2. The Zoom link to join is https://zoom.us/j/93714814445?pwd=N1JrZU53YkRmZnhabExsTFNvdTdGUT09, and the password is 848926. For more information, including how to join by phone, visit the city’s website.

Pajaro Valley Arts Forms Online Community Art Gallery

-
1
Pajaro Valley Arts Forms Online Community Art Gallery

While the Pajaro Valley Arts gallery in Watsonville has remained shuttered during the ongoing shelter-in-place order, its staff and members continue to find ways to stay creative.

This has included expanding the organization’s social media presence and moving its latest exhibit, “Campesinos: Workers Of the Land” to a virtual format.

Earlier this month, Pajaro Valley Arts (PVA) took things a step further, launching a new community gallery on their website called Create-In-Place! The gallery features artwork, writing, textile, jewelry, music and performance that members of the community have made during shelter-in-place.

PVA Executive Director Linda Martin had the idea for the gallery.

“The idea came to me not long after shelter-in-place began,” Martin says. “Seeing how people will come up with projects and ideas, in order to deal with being stuck at home. How art can help them out. We [at PVA] get a lot of joy out of seeing what other people’s creativity looks like.” 

The online gallery has continued to grow, now hosting close to 100 pieces ranging from short films to watercolor paintings, from both professional and amateur artists of all ages. 

PVA allows participants to pick the theme of their piece—it could relate to the current global pandemic, or not. A series of comic panels drawn by artist Lindsay Johnson depict a family of green dinosaur-like creatures dealing with shelter-in-place; learning to sew masks, cut their own hair and staying calm during the crisis.

Other works lean away from the subject: nature photography, collages, portraits. A short documentary about bears was made and shared by Lois Robin.

Create-In-Place! is open to anyone. People can submit photos (jpeg files), audio or video (mp4 files) to PVA. The organization asks participants to include their name, the title of their piece, its medium and dimensions. 

PVA is looking ahead. Exhibit Coordinator Hedwig Heerschop says that the organization’s 14th annual “Sculpture Is: In the Garden” exhibit will go on despite its postponement. Sculptures will start to be installed at Sierra Azul Nursery’s demonstration gardens in the next week. The exhibit will open July 1 and run through October 31. Face masks and social distancing will be required, Heerschop added.

In addition, PVA is moving forward with its annual Members’ Exhibition in whatever way it can.

“We will open [our gallery] when we feel it’s safe,” Martin says. “Meanwhile, we want to continue … to promote creativity in the community.”

Anyone interested in participating in Create-In-Place! can submit their work by emailing on**************@****ts.org.

Science and the Environment Inspire Watsonville Author’s Children’s Book

-
0
Science and the Environment Inspire Watsonville Author’s Children’s Book

Author Stephanie Sabatinelli was inspired to write her first children’s book, The Spittle Spattle Bug, by her aunt’s enthusiasm for science and the environment. 

The book features a spittlebug, a type of hemipteran insect best known for sucking moisture out of plants and encasing themselves in a foamy residue in its immature stage.

“[My aunt] was sharing with me all these fascinating facts about the bug, and it got my imagination rolling,” Sabatinelli says. “I was fascinated … it is a common species, but not very well known.”

Released in early May, The Spittle Spattle Bug follows the story of a young spittlebug who feels like an unpopular outsider—until it uses its unique talents to help rescue a group of other bugs. Sabatinelli says she wanted to create a book for children that helped them realize that everyone has a gift—something that makes them important. 

“Maybe it’s not something they think is special, but it’s there,” she says. “And I want to encourage these kids that there’s hope … a possibility to experience adventure … even today, when there’s a lot of sadness and struggling.”

Sabatinelli was born in Massachusetts and moved to California soon after graduating from high school. She first landed in San Francisco, then Santa Cruz, until finally becoming a resident of Watsonville in 2007.

“I fell in love with [Watsonville],” she says. “The sloughs, the rural backroads … it’s a beautiful area.”

“The Spittle Spattle Bug” is Sabatinelli’s first published work, but she says she has been writing from a very early age. She remembers being encouraged to write poems and stories by her second grade teacher, and since then has never stopped.

Nature has been a primary source of inspiration for Sabatinelli, and insects in particular have fascinated her.

“They affect everything,” she says. “Bees, for example … without them, there are big consequences. We take them for granted, and when their populations are affected we start seeing changes to our environment.”

The Spittle Spattle Bug was released on May 4. It is currently available to purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online outlets.

Sabatinelli says that she and her publisher, Austin Macauley Publishers, were unsure if they should release the book as scheduled, or postpone it until after the current Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent shelter-in-place subsided.

“But then … we realized how important books are right now,” Sabatinelli says. “They are an escape, a comfort, and a great tool for parents to connect with their children.”

For more information, visit austinmacauley.com/us/book/spittle-spattle-bug.

Fundraiser Aims to Support Santa Cruz Folk Scene’s Mary McCaslin

-
0
Fundraiser Aims to Support Santa Cruz Folk Scene’s Mary McCaslin

Over the course of a performance career spanning more than 50 years, singer/songwriter Mary McCaslin has participated in countless benefit concerts and appearances to lend a hand to organizations and individuals alike in need. It’s a small measure of karma that those good works are coming back to her now.

McCaslin is now the subject of a Santa Cruz-based GoFundMe campaign to help her as she struggles against a diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurodegenerative brain condition similar to Parkinson’s disease. The campaign was launched May 23, and has raised more than $10,000.

McCaslin, 73, achieved national prominence in the “western” part of the 1970s country-western music scene, but locals know her as a larger-than-life presence on the Santa Cruz folk scene for a quarter century. She and her husband Greg Arrufat now live in the Southern California town of Hemet.

Her longtime friend and collaborator Santa Cruz singer/songwriter Ginny Mitchell visited McCaslin in early March, on her way back from a trip to Arizona. Mitchell had known that McCaslin was ailing, but was astonished to find how advanced her condition had become. She had trouble walking, finds it difficult to speak, is confined to a wheelchair and is no longer able to play or sing.

Once she returned to Santa Cruz, Mitchell put together the fund-raising campaign to purchase a wheelchair lift, a new recliner, more respite care, and other aids to allow McCaslin to live in comfort.

“They’ve never asked for help,” says Mitchell, “and they were there when the (GoFundMe) donations starting coming in. Mary was so happy. She just kept saying, ‘Look at my friends!’”

McCaslin became well-known in the late 1960s, both as a solo act and in a duo with Jim Ringer, a rough-hewn, hard-living folksinger. The duo became most famous for their ballad “The Bramble and the Rose.”

She is known both for a crystalline voice that evoked wide-open Western landscapes and as a pioneer for alternative guitar tunings in her songs. Her discography includes Way Out West (1974), Old Friends (1977) and Sunny California (1979) among others.

“She wrote about California a lot,” says musician and radio host Rachel Goodman. “There was the ‘San Bernardino Waltz’ and ‘Back to Salinas’ and talking about walking along the streets of L.A., feeling disillusioned about coming out West.”

Goodman remembers being a radio host in Kentucky in the 1980s and receiving a request from a man from Australia. “He said, ‘Send me a tape of anything by Mary McCaslin,’ so I sent him ‘Prairie in the Sky’ on a cassette tape. Turns out he was blind and dying of cancer, and he sent back [a message on cassette tape], ‘I just want to thank you so much, because listening to ‘Prairie in the Sky’ helps me fall asleep at night and takes me to another better place.’ I told Mary, ‘You don’t know how much your songs have helped and healed people all over the world.’”

Ginny Mitchell teamed up with McCaslin and country star Lacy J. Dalton for a high-profile musical project in the early 2000s called the Girls From Santa Cruz, which eventually was broadcast on PBS.  

Mitchell and Goodman are among the musicians who have performed weekly on Facebook Live to benefit McCaslin, calling the concerts “Music for Mary Mondays.”

Goodman says that McCaslin and Arrufat have also been victimized by Santa Cruz’s escalating housing crisis. “They moved away from their support system because it was cheaper to live there. But it became more difficult to get help, because they’re so far away from people who would otherwise be chipping in to help.

“She did so many benefits for other people,” Goodman says. “She always raised her hand when someone was in dire straits to do a benefit concert. She was always quick to sign up.”

For more information on the GoFundMe campaign to help Mary McCaslin, go to gofundme.com/f/support-mary-and-gregg.

Watsonville Will Allow Eviction Moratorium to Expire at Month’s End

-
0
Watsonville Will Allow Eviction Moratorium to Expire at Month’s End

The Watsonville City Council on Tuesday voted to allow the city’s moratorium on evictions to expire at the end of the month, and instead defer to tenant protections put in place by California’s Judicial Council.

The local moratorium was approved by the council on March 23, and Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide ban on evictions days later. Newsom’s executive order allowing local governments to enact their own moratoriums will also expire at the end of the month, as well as his statewide prohibition. But rules adopted by the state’s Judicial Council will effectively halt most eviction filings until 90 days after Newsom lifts the state of emergency related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Those protections were enough to convince most members of the Eviction Moratorium Housing Taskforce to not recommend the city pursue an extension. Instead, the task force suggested city leaders pursue and support state and federal funding and programs to help tenants, landlords and property owners and increase its outreach to educate residents of their rights.

The council also followed through on the task force’s recommendation to adopt the Safe At Home Guidelines for residential and commercial landlords through the end of August. Those guidelines encourage landlords to freeze rents, halt evictions, waive late fees, offer flexible repayment plans and help their tenants find government assistance, among other things. Tenants, meanwhile, are expected to continue to pay as much as they can if their income has been slashed due to the pandemic.

Mayor Rebecca Garica and Councilman Francisco “Paco” Estrada voted no. Both said the city’s most vulnerable renters would be put at risk without the moratorium.

“I know that the good landlords would follow the resolution that’s being proposed, but I’m really, really worried about those bad apples—and we’ve got some of them here in Watsonville,” Garcia said.

The city’s moratorium was approved by the council to protect renters that had fallen into financial or medical instability because of Covid-19. That included those who had contracted the disease, had been laid off of work and were losing income because of the statewide stay-at-home order or were forced to take care of a family member deemed high-risk of severe illness.

It was not a rent forgiveness plan. Renters still had to pay what they could and were expected to pay back their outstanding rent within six months after the order expired.

The moratorium drew the ire of landlords throughout the city, many of whom said they were caught off guard by the decision and were not consulted about how the move would affect their business. The city created the task force shortly after to deal with those concerns.

The members of the task force are:

  • Bill Hansen (Pacific Coast Development)
  • Raeid Farhat (Raeid Farhat Real Estate)
  • Lynette Sousa (Maciel Property Management)
  • Kathy Oliver (Oliver Property Management)
  • Ben Ow (Ow Family)
  • Ed Gagne (Bailey Properties)
  • Rick Danna (Bailey Properties)
  • Dana Sales (Century 21)
  • Victor Gomez (SCCAR)
  • Jane Barr (Eden Housing)
  • Luis Preciado (MidPen Housing)
  • Henry Martin (Watsonville Law Center)
  • Mia Murrietta (California Rural Legal Assistance) 
  • Paz Padilla (Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County)
  • Melisa Vierra (Families in Transition)
  • Laura Owen (Bay Federal)
  • Diana Vargas (Wells Fargo)

The task force did not entirely agree that the eviction moratorium should be allowed to expire, and a few members of that group advocating for tenants were still in opposition during Tuesday’s meeting.

Sandra Silva, the directing attorney for CRLA’s Watsonville office, said the nonprofit legal service program was never invited to be a part of the task force, despite an employee being listed as one of the members.

“We were never part of any meetings or did not participate in any way, as we were unaware the task force even existed,” Silva said.

Silva also said her office receives several calls per day from clients that say they are receiving notices from landlords that they must vacate the premises within three days.

“These people would be out on the street because they don’t understand the law and the moratorium,” she said. 

Emily Ham, a Housing Association with Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, said that the economic fallout of the countywide shelter-in-place order and the growing rate of unemployment—roughly 26% in Watsonville—was still being determined. She called on the council to extend the moratorium through June when the city would likely have a better picture of its fiscal stability.

John Subranni, a staff lawyer at Watsonville Law Center, said the order should not only be extended, but should also be strengthened by giving tenants more time to give notice and documentation that they have been negatively impacted by the pandemic.

He also said the city had the legal authority to extend its moratorium even if Newsom fails to extend the statewide ban. Large California cities such as San Jose and San Diego have extended their moratoriums, and Santa Clara and Los Angeles counties have done the same.

Hansen challenged Subranni’s claim, and said the city should follow through with the recommendations, which were based on numbers provided by local realtors, landlords and housing assistance programs.

Many landlords—both private and nonprofit—said at least 95% of their tenants were able to pay rent in April and May, and Watsonville’s Housing Director Carlos Landaverry said that there was only three known eviction notices served this month. But CAB, Landaverry said, did receive more than 170 applications for its emergency housing assistance program, 78 of which qualified for grants of up $1,500.

“Everybody that participated in the various Eviction Moratorium Task Force meetings had the opportunity to present the cases,” Hansen said. “How many people were affected? How many people were evicted? How many people were needing assistance? At the end of the day, I think the consensus of the group was that it was a very small amount.”

Property owners also argued an extension would impinge on their constitutional rights, and that the city should instead throw its support behind government assistance such as the $3 trillion HEROES Act, Senate Bill 1410 and Assembly Bill 828. 

The HEROES Act would provide a 12-month moratorium on evictions, among other things. SB 1410, meanwhile, would help renters by covering 80 percent of unpaid rent directly attributable to the pandemic. AB 828 seeks to strengthen the Judicial Council’s rules on evictions.

All three are still winding their way through their respective government process.

Santa Cruz in Photos: New Bike Lanes on Water Street

-
0
Santa Cruz in Photos: New Bike Lanes on Water Street

A bicyclist navigates the newly completed green bike lanes on Water Street in Santa Cruz.

The lanes—which include white channelizers, bike lane buffers, green bike lane striping, bike-only road signs and more—run along both sides of Water Street between River Street and Branciforte Avenue. Construction wrapped up this month. It is part of a larger River Street and Water Street Overlay Project. 

See more from the Santa Cruz in Photos series.

Digital NEST Aids Community During Covid-19 Shutdowns

-
0
Digital NEST Aids Community During Covid-19 Shutdowns

It took all of 48 hours for Digital NEST to move all of its courses, business and employees to a state-of-the-art online platform. 

Other local companies, institutions and businesses were not as prepared to be shoved into the work-from-home, online-only era caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We quickly realized that there would be a big need for us,” says Digital NEST Executive Director and Founder Jacob Martinez.

Since Santa Cruz County officials ordered residents to shelter-in-place in mid-March, Digital NEST (which stands for Nurturing Entrepreneurial Skills with Technology) has worked to fill the gaps created by the shutdown.

Their quick online transition allowed the nonprofit to give its dozens of young members (16-23 years old) an outlet and creative space while they were stuck at home. Martinez and Deputy Director Steve Bean also urged their members to get out into the community to help solve the problems that arise during trying times such as the pandemic.

That, Martinez says, led to the creation of NESTcorps, a budding group of volunteers that has created solutions to many of the unexpected issues attributed to the shutdown.

Some volunteers created a YouTube channel in which they post videos of themselves reading children’s books to help some of the parents of Pajaro Valley Unified School District students that have had to play both parent and teacher. Another group of volunteers helped film and bring attention to the ongoing Campesino Caravan of Appreciation that honors and informs local farmworkers each week at fields throughout the Pajaro Valley.  

“It’s great to see our young people that could’ve easily sat back at this time, and checked out and just been on TV or playing video games or social media, but here is a group of 25 youth that said, ‘No, we’re going to help solve some of the problems in our community,’” Martinez says. “That’s the type of youth that Digital NEST is helping to grow.”

Along with NESTcorps, Digital NEST started a computer loan program that distributed 50 laptops (40 in Watsonville and 10 in Salinas) to high school and college students in need of proper equipment for remote learning. NESTaid, a food security program that raises money for families of NEST members in need, got off the ground following the shutdown.

It has also produced several digital projects for local agencies and businesses. Martinez highlighted a Spanish and Mixteco public service announcement about Covid-19 created for Salud Para La Gente that has been shared thousands of times.

Additionally, it is in the process of creating an online directory for small businesses that are still open during the shutdown but lack a website to inform their customers. Santa Cruz tech company Looker, a Google company, is helping Digital NEST piece together the project.

“We’ve been busier than ever,” Martinez says. “In many ways, this time has proved that having a Digital NEST in your community during these times is essential.”

Martinez says Digital NEST is defined as an “educational center” under the county’s shelter-in-place order, meaning it could reinstate in-person courses with certain restrictions—no groups larger than 12 and no mixing of groups or instructors. 

He said they would not rush to return to their brick-and-mortar location abutting Cabrillo College’s Watsonville Center—it also has a location in Salinas—but understood their in-person courses were vital to the community’s young people.

“We want to make sure we’re safe for our youth and safe for our staff,” he says. “Our enrollment is holding strong …. We’re doing good, but, at the same time, for a lot of our youth, the NEST was that place where they escaped home—it was their safe space…. We’re weighing the mental health of our young people. They need us. They need the space.”

Cabrillo College Holds First Virtual Graduation for Students

-
0
Cabrillo College Holds First Virtual Graduation for Students

Cabrillo College held its first-ever virtual graduation on May 22, during which 1,641 students received degrees and certificates.

The number of graduates was an 11% increase from the year before, says Cabrillo spokeswoman Kristin Fabos.

This year, Cabrillo awarded 1,034 A.A. degrees and 541 A.S. degrees. In addition, 306 students graduated with an Associate’s Degree for Transfer, a unique degree offered by the California Community Colleges for transfer into the CSU system. 

“In total, we saw a 23% increase in award recipients compared to last year,” says Cabrillo Superintendent and President Dr. Matthew Wetstein. “To accomplish that feat in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis is nothing short of stunning.”

Cabrillo graduates also earned 287 Certificates of Achievement and 661 Skills Certificates. The college’s class of 2020 ranged in age from 18 to 76.

The Cabrillo College Class of 2020 boasts a record 165 students who graduated with a 4.0 grade point average, which was nearly a 38% increase over last year. 

Transfer students have been admitted to universities such as UCLA, UCSC, Amherst, Boston University, Cal Poly Pomona, Northwestern, Oberlin College and Conservatory, Tufts and Vanderbilt.

One graduate was Dulce Lizarraga-Chagolla, who was born in La Paz, Mexico and moved to the United States when she was 17.

She took English classes in the mornings and at Santa Cruz High school at night. After five months, she got her first paying jobs as a prep cook at Staff of Life grocery store in the morning, and at the Dolphin Restaurant at night.

Lizarraga-Chagolla tried to take English at Cabrillo, but struggled due to a then-unknown learning disability.

When she became a single mother at 22, Lizarraga-Chagolla realized that if she wanted to provide a better future for her daughter, she needed to have her GED. She returned to adult school and earned it after passing her final exams two weeks before she gave birth.

After more than 15 years of working minimum-wage jobs to support her family, and after her daughter moved away to attend San Francisco University, Lizarraga-Chagolla returned to Cabrillo in the spring of 2015, where she discovered the help she needed at the Accessibility Support Center.

“The new Dulce was born,” Fabos said in a prepared statement. “She finally realized that she has a learning difference that impeded her to learn efficiently, and with the ASC support her grades started to improve as did her motivation to learn.”

Lizarraga-Chagolla now serves as a Student Ambassador at the school working in the Welcome Center. She also worked as an assistant in the ESL classes for parents of high school students.

In the spring, she worked as a supplemental instruction leader for the Human Services 50 and 52 classes. She earned a 4.0 GPA and graduated with a Human Services degree.

Lizarraga-Chagolla will be transferring to Cal State Monterey Bay in the fall to study a dual concentration degree in Social Work and Public Health, and she’ll be the first one in her family to reach that level of education.

Have Stuff to Donate? Don’t Just Dump It, Goodwill Says

-
0
Have Stuff to Donate? Don’t Just Dump It, Goodwill Says

With Santa Cruzans sheltering in place for more than two months now, some people may have achieved a whole new level of spring cleaning. 

But whatever level of tidying they’ve mastered, anyone who’s found items they don’t want anymore should be ready to hold on to them until donation centers can reopen. That should happen on Saturday, May 30, for most of the Santa Cruz County locations. 

Anyone wishing to receive updates about the reopening plans for Goodwill locations in Santa Cruz County can sign up for email notifications at ccgoodwill.org or follow their Facebook page at facebook.com/goodwillcentralcoast. 

In the meantime, items dumped at Goodwill and other donation centers while they’re closed could end up in the landfill, adding to the expenses for nonprofits that otherwise use the donated goods to support community programs and people in need.   

So far, the dumping problem hasn’t been as bad at Goodwill’s Central Coast locations as it has been at some of the nonprofit’s more than 150 other locations around the country, says Alan Martinson, vice president of retail for Goodwill Central Coast. Any dumping still causes a “domino effect” though, he says.  

When items are left outside of closed Goodwill stores and donation centers, they have to be considered damaged and sent to the landfill. 

That goes against Goodwill’s commitment to protecting the environment, Martinson says. The Goodwill Central Coast team—covering Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties—has a recycling center in Salinas with hydraulic tippers and 21 docks for sorting materials such as metal and plastic. They have buyers for everything from cords to single shoes and certain kinds of plastic. 

“We sell everything, and sometimes we give it away,” Martinson says. “We just don’t want to put it in the landfill.”

“What we’ve been telling folks is to kind of create a little area in your apartment or your garage or whatever that’s for Goodwill if you’ve got stuff for us,” he adds. “We still want it and are still grateful for it, because that’s what gives us money for the programs.” 

Goodwill Central Coast supports more than 9,000 job seekers every year through its programs and job centers. 

They’ve been given clearance in San Luis Obispo County to begin reopening their stores by county health officials there. As Goodwill receives the go-ahead to reopen more locations, customers and those making donations will see changes such as regular disinfecting of surfaces, Martinson says.  

County Health Officer Questions Pace of Newsom’s Reopenings

-
0
County Health Officer Questions Pace of Newsom’s Reopenings

County Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel expressed concern on Thursday about the pace with which Gov. Gavin Newsom is reopening sectors of the economy.

“We’re concerned about all of this reopening that is happening so quickly,” Newel said. “The governor is not following the cadence that was expected, where we would open one area and we would have 21 days to look at that incubation period and the result of that action.”

Local health orders, meanwhile, are being loosened, in step with announcements from Newsom and state officials. Newel has stopped short of drafting new local health orders stricter than ones issued by the state—something she has the authority to do.

“We are trying to walk this very fine line between the very real cost of the economic devastation of our community with the health and safety of the public. So we’re going to give this a try,” Newel said. “We’re going to reopen along with the governor and see how our community does and see how our community looks, and we’ll go from there.”

After getting a green light from the state, Newel’s revised health order for Santa Cruz County went into effect on Wednesday, allowing several sectors to reopen, including in-store retail, churches, expanded childcare and open gallery spaces and outdoor museums, like the Mystery Spot—with modifications. 

Now Santa Cruz County is applying for a variance, with the paperwork going to the county Board of Supervisors tomorrow at a special meeting. If the board signs off, the variance packet will go to the California Department of Public Health. If approved, the variance would allow for the opening of shopping malls, swap meets, restaurants, hair salons, and barbershops—again, all with modifications. Both Newel and Board Chair Greg Caput have to sign off on the paperwork and attest to it being factual.

Newel said the Santa Cruz County supervisors and Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios made the request for Friday’s special meeting and scheduled it four days earlier than the county’s regularly scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, June 2. Health Services Agency Director Mimi Hall clarified the county was already planning to have its packet of documents finished this week anyway.

Update on cases

The county’s coronavirus page says there have been 205 known Covid-19 cases, including 137 recoveries and two deaths.

According to county data, most local victims of Covid-19 have been Latino. The case count has been growing in the Watsonville area. Newel attributes this growth to four relatively new case clusters, three of them related to multi-household family events held over Mother’s Day Weekend.

Newel said the county has had seven Covid-19 cases among first responders, including firefighters, with six having recovered. The county has had 19 cases among health care workers, with 18 having recovered, she said.

Over Memorial Café Rio

Over Memorial Day Weekend, a band jammed outside Café Rio in Aptos, which was not best practice, county officials said.

“It resulted in a gathering,” Newel said. “The intentions were good of the restaurant owner. She really wanted to give a gift of live music to the community. But the band itself was a gathering that’s not allowed, so that, first of all, was not a good idea. And then the band, of course, created a gathering in the public.”

Café Rio’s owner did not immediately respond for comment.

Latest on Testing

The OptumServe test site in Watsonville is open to all residents, even if they don’t have symptoms, Newel said. She added that there are additional OptumServe sites in neighboring counties that Santa Cruz County residents are also able to use.

“You don’t need a doctor’s order to go there,” Deputy Health Officer Dr. David Ghilarducci said. “You just sign yourself up and go.”

Hall said the county has requested an additional OptumServe site from the state.

Newel said that, if someone is ill, they should not go to an OptumServe site, but should instead coordinate with their physician to get an appointment.

Surveillance Testing of Skilled Nursing Facilities

Ghillarducci announced that the county will implement surveillance testing at skilled nursing facilities, thanks to new guidance from the state. “This is a high-priority for us,” he said. “We consider our skilled nursing facilities to be a particularly vulnerable population.”

Ghillarducci said the county will launch surveillance testing at one skilled nursing facility next week as part of a pilot program. The intention is to scale up shortly after and prevent disease spread among the medically vulnerable. The plan is to test all residents once and also to test all health care providers monthly.

Architects Presenting Costs for Santa Cruz Library and Garage

Councilmembers will hear cost details for downtown mixed-use project
Read more

Pajaro Valley Arts Forms Online Community Art Gallery

Exhibit 'Campesinos: Workers Of the Land' goes virtual
Read more

Science and the Environment Inspire Watsonville Author’s Children’s Book

Book featuring a spittlebug aims to help children realize everyone has a gift
Read more

Fundraiser Aims to Support Santa Cruz Folk Scene’s Mary McCaslin

Donations pour in after diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy
Read more

Watsonville Will Allow Eviction Moratorium to Expire at Month’s End

Watsonville will instead defer to tenant protections set by California’s Judicial Council
Read more

Santa Cruz in Photos: New Bike Lanes on Water Street

Construction wrapped up this month
Read more

Digital NEST Aids Community During Covid-19 Shutdowns

Digital NEST
Digital NEST nonprofit quickly transitions online to help the community
Read more

Cabrillo College Holds First Virtual Graduation for Students

Class of 2020 boasts record 165 students graduating with a 4.0 grade point average
Read more

Have Stuff to Donate? Don’t Just Dump It, Goodwill Says

Items left at Goodwill sites during the pandemic may have to be trashed
Read more

County Health Officer Questions Pace of Newsom’s Reopenings

Dr. Gail Newel could but won’t issue stricter versions of state health orders
Read more
1...558559560...1,000Page 559 of 1,000
17,623FansLike
8,845FollowersFollow
good times santa cruz logo
CURRENT ISSUE & ARCHIVES
East Bay Express cover
East Bay Express cover
CURRENT ISSUE & ARCHIVES
Newsletters Subscribe Advertise About Us Contact Us Letter to the Editor Press Release Obituaries Writing an Obituary Archives Find a Paper Distribute Good Times Vote for Best Of Plaques & Banners
contests, giveaways, enter to win, free
California News Coronavirus Environment National News Local News Cover Stories
Art Dance Film Literature Music Music Picks Stage
Astrology Letters to the Editor Opinion Wellness
Dining Reviews Foodie File Vine & Dine
Profiles
All Upcoming Events Today's Events Submit an Event Promote Your Event Things to Do This Week Clubgrid
This Week's Issue Last Week's Issue Flip-Through Editions Special Publications
weeklys california local media group logo

FOLLOW US

Copyright © Weeklys All rights reserved.

OUR PUBLICATIONS

ADVERTISING Advertise Ad Planner/Issue Schedule Legal Submit an Obituary Legal NoticesFictitious Business Name (FBN) StatementsDoing Business As (DBA) NoticesTrustee Sale Notices

COMPANY INFO Job Opportunities Journalism Awards Privacy Policy Terms of Service

Support Local Journalism