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Rob Brezsny’s Astrology: Nov. 11-17

Rob Brezsny

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November 10, 2020

Free will astrology for the week of Nov. 11

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Love can’t always do work,” wrote novelist Iris Murdoch. “Sometimes it just has to look into the darkness.” From what I can tell, you’ve been doing that recently: looking into the darkness for love’s sake. That’s a good thing! You have been the beneficiary of the blessings that come through the contemplation of mysteries and enigmas. You’ve been recalibrating your capacity to feel love and tenderness in the midst of uncertainty. I suspect that it will soon be time to shift course, however. You’re almost ready to engage in the intimate work that has been made possible by your time looking into the darkness.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Barbara Kingsolver says, “Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.” That’s always valuable advice, but it’ll be especially useful to keep in mind during the coming weeks. You’re probably going to feel more pressure than usual to tell others what they wish you would tell them; you may experience some guilt or worry about being different from their expectations of you. Here’s the good news: I’m pretty certain you can be true to yourself without seeming like a jerk to anyone or damaging your long-term interests. So you might as well say and do exactly what’s real and genuine.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks,” wrote playwright Tennessee Williams. I think that’s a poetic but accurate description of the feat you’ve been working on lately, Gemini. You’re gently smashing through stony obstructions. You’ve been calling on your irrepressible will to enjoy life as you have outsmarted the rugged, jagged difficulties. You’re relying on beauty and love to power your efforts to escape a seemingly no-win situation. Congratulations! Keep up the good work!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian rapper Vince Staples says, “I feel like it’s impossible to be completely yourself.” Why? Because ideally we’re always outgrowing who we have become; we’re moving beyond the successes we have already achieved. There is no final, whole, ideal “self” to inhabit and express—only more and more of our selfness to create. Staples suggests we’d get bored if we reached a mythical point where we had figured out exactly who we are and embodied it with utter purity. We always have a mandate to transform into a new version of our mystery. Sounds like fun! Everything I just said, Cancerian, is an empowering meditation for you right now.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “I am my own sanctuary and I can be reborn as many times as I choose throughout my life.” Singer-songwriter Lady Gaga said that, and now I offer it to you to use as your motto. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, it’s a fabulous time to be your own sanctuary. I invite you to rebirth yourself at least twice between now and the end of November. What’s the first step you’ll take to get started?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The National Football League is a giant socialist enterprise. It earns billions of dollars of revenue, and shares it equally with each of its 32 teams. So the team in Green Bay, Wisconsin, population 105,000, receives the same payout as the team in Chicago, population 2.7 million. I advocate a comparable approach for you in the coming weeks. Just for now, distribute your blessings and attention and favors as evenly as possible, showing no favoritism toward a particular child or friend or pet or loved one or influence. Be an impartial observer, as well. Try to restrain biases and preferential treatment as you act with even-handed fair-mindedness. Don’t worry: You can eventually go back to being a subjective partisan if you want. For the foreseeable future, your well-being requires cordial neutrality.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Who is to decide between ‘Let it be’ and ‘Force it’?” asked Libran author Katherine Mansfield. I mention this because you’re now hanging out in the limbo zone between “Let it be” and “Force it.” But very soon—I’m sure you’ll have a clear intuition about when—you’ll figure out how to make a decisive move that synthesizes the two. You will find a way to include elements of both “Let it be” and “Force it.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me,” wrote Scorpio poet Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) in a letter to a friend. That sounds like a lot of energy to manage! And he didn’t always do a good job at it—although he did at times tap into his primal wellspring to create some interesting poetry. I’m going to use Thomas’ words in your horoscope, because I think that in the coming weeks you can be a subtle, refined and mature blend of a beast, angel and madperson. Be your wisest wild self, dear Scorpio!

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Activist and author Rebecca Solnit writes, “The grounds of my hope have always been that history is wilder than our imagination of it and that the unexpected shows up far more regularly than we ever dream.” In my astrological estimation, her grounds for hope should also be yours in the coming weeks. The future is more wide-open than you might think. The apparent limitations of the past are at least temporarily suspended and irrelevant. Your fate is purged of some of your old conditioning and the inertia of tradition. I encourage you to make a break for freedom. Head in the direction of the beautiful unknown.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The famous Leaning Tower of Pisa doesn’t stand straight, but tilts at an angle. Why? The soil it was built on is soft on one side. So the marble-and-limestone structure began to tip even before it was finished. That’s the weird news. The good news is that the tower has remained standing for more than eight centuries—and has stayed intact even though four major earthquakes have rolled through the area. Why? A research team of engineers determined it’s because of the soft foundation soil, which prevents the tower from resonating violently with the temblors. So the very factor that makes it odd is what keeps it strong. Is there a comparable phenomenon in your life? I believe there is. Now is a good time to acknowledge this blessing—and enhance your use of it.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Even if you tend to pay more attention to what’s going wrong than what’s going right, I ask you to change your attitude for the next three weeks. Even if you believe that cynicism is an intelligent perspective and a positive attitude is a wasteful indulgence, I encourage you to suspend those beliefs. As an experiment—and in accordance with astrological potentials—I invite you to adopt the words of activist Helen Keller as your keynote: “Every optimist moves along with progress and hastens it, while every pessimist would keep the world at a standstill. The consequence of pessimism in the life of a nation is the same as in the life of the individual. Pessimism kills the instinct that urges people to struggle against poverty, ignorance and crime, and dries up all the fountains of joy in the world.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Researchers in the UK found that 62% of the adult population brags that they’ve read classic books that they have not in fact read. Why? Mostly to impress others. George Orwell’s 1984 is the top-rated book for fake claims, followed by Tolstoy’s War and Peace, James Joyce’s Ulysses, and the Bible. I hope you won’t engage in anything like that type of behavior during the weeks ahead. In my opinion, it’s even more crucial than usual for you to be honest and authentic about who you are and what you do. Lying about it might seem to be to your advantage in the short run, but I guarantee it won’t be.

Homework: What’s the one thing you have never said to your best friend that you really should say? freewillastrology.com.

Electronic Artist Hex Wolves Builds Epic Tales Out of Soundscapes

Aaron Carnes

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November 10, 2020

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Electronic Artist Hex Wolves Builds Epic Tales Out of Soundscapes

It’s not easy to tell stories without words, but that’s exactly what local, mostly instrumental electronic artist Hex Wolves does.

He listens to the shapes, sounds and textures of the music he’s creating, and hears what it’s trying to communicate so he can sculpt it to have a beginning, middle and end, like any other story.

For his song “No Other Choice,” off his recently released album Center Remained As Ice, he found himself drawn to the slow, large cavernous sounds he was creating. It felt like a foreboding crawl with an implication of hope, but no guarantee. He leaned into this vibe, and the story that emerged was of a character moving toward the light at the end of the tunnel with optimism—but as they reach the end, the light isn’t there. Everything is closing in on them as they slide into nothingness.

It doesn’t matter that there’s no words to convey this story; the feeling of unease and trepidation is still felt on a visceral level.

“It’s really important to tell a story. That’s all music is,” Hex Wolves says. “That’s what separates an artist from a great artist—the ability to clearly convey that message in the story, and open people’s minds to that perspective. It’s not easy.”

Center Remained As Ice has a single story at its core that is both very specific, and vague enough to be open to interpretation. It’s about a main character’s journey, full of choices and consequences. The process of accepting them makes the main character appear to others to be cold and calculating, when in fact they have just let go.

The music on Center Remained As Ice evokes a cold tension, with grimy, retro electro-sounds—layered, but still minimalistic. The lo-fi quasi-techno beats and ethereal, even sinister synths bleed with constantly shifting emotions. As you listen, you feel a constant sense that the other shoe is about to drop.

It is soundtrack music for a movie that doesn’t exist. And it’s best experienced as a whole, with the listener taking in the movements and allowing the imagery to fill their brains with experimental electronic arrangements, noises and washes of robotic sounds. Hex Wolves always focuses on the big picture, never on flash or gimmick.

“I can get hung up on a sound that I think is really cool. You have to learn how to kill your darlings, and I’ve gotten really good at that,” Hex Wolves says. “It’s not good enough to be like, ‘That’s a great sound,’ if it’s not telling the story. That’s why I don’t work with the traditional song-making formulas. I don’t make pop music, which I totally respect. Pop music writing requires a very strong specific skill set.”

Originally from Seattle, he moved to L.A. and became an active part of the underground dark ambient abrasive lo-fi electro-scene there. Since late 2015, he’s been working with DTH X CMP records, owned by Nick Viola. The label has been putting out his music, but Hex Wolves also helps out—when he can—with building a collective around the label, mostly of the artists doing similarly experimental electronic music on the West Coast.

Earlier in his career, Hex Wolves would throw electronic shows in standard venues, but he quickly learned that this music worked better in off-the-radar, DIY warehouse spaces, where everything could be a little more unhinged and a little bit more punk rock, since this wasn’t exactly big house EDM. A half-serious motto at DTH X CAMP is “This is not for you.”

He moved to Santa Cruz late last year, hoping to get involved in the music scene, but was shut down from any kind of networking when the pandemic hit in March. Fortunately, he had such a large backlog of unreleased music, he’s been focusing on releasing tunes all year. He’s got his eye on bringing that grimy, punk-electronic scene to Santa Cruz when things open back up.

“It would be interesting to see who comes out of the woodwork in Santa Cruz,” he says. “I plan on bringing some people from the L.A. scene, test the waters and see who’s out and about. If they’re into worshipping machines or not. If they are, then they’re good people.”

For more information, check out hexwolves.bandcamp.com.

Alice Waters and Homeless Garden Project Join Forces

Christina Waters

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November 10, 2020

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Alice Waters and Homeless Garden Project Join Forces

Two great innovators—California cuisine pioneer Alice Waters and our own Homeless Garden Project—join forces again for the second Sustain in Place video event.

One of the ingenious “at-home tasting” experiences, this encounter unfolds on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 6:30pm. Renowned restaurateur, author, and sustainable food innovator Waters will present a digital keynote talk for you to pair with chocolate truffles, wine, and other sensory pleasures from the HGP gift shop.

Few diners in the United States are strangers to the reputation Waters enjoys as a leader of the farm to table movement, and many of us lucky enough to live in the Bay Area treasure our memories of special dinners at her impeccable dining spot, Chez Panisse.

Guests will also have the opportunity to pick up a gift bag of New Leaf’s private label Common Vines wine, bottled locally by Bargetto, delicious truffles from Mutari Chocolate and HGP’s own hand-dipped beeswax candles, in a reusable tote bag.

A quick refresher on Waters, easily one of the most influential American chefs of the late 20th century. The founder of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse, the original home of California cuisine, Waters is the author of eight books inspired by organic ingredients and robust flavors. Waters advocates for natural and organic foods, and champions the importance of locally grown and fresh ingredients. Her Edible Schoolyard program was integrated into the Berkeley school system and attracted nationwide attention.

By stressing the importance of wholesome foods as an important part of creating a more just and sustainable world, she helped reshape the conversation in the U.S. about corporate-controlled fast-foods. Waters’ remarks have been recorded exclusively for this HGP event. Details about the event and all its delicious accompaniments are available at the eventbrite ticket site (see below).

Guests can pick up bags from HGP’s downtown store, at 1338 Pacific Ave. in Santa Cruz, anytime from noon-6pm on Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14. A link will be sent exclusively to attendees for the Nov. 14 online event. Ticket holders may also watch the presentation at their convenience any time after that. For tickets, go to the Homeless Garden Project website or eventbrite.com/e/a-sweet-event-with-alice-waters-tickets-124359644043.

Thanksgiving Wines

A few wine strategies for the Thanksgiving table. Turkey loves a crisp white wine. Something like a Chardonnay made by Ryan Beauregard. Or a rosé from Nicole Walsh’s Ser Winery. On the other hand, it can also love Grenache—as in Birichino and Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. I have a bottle of crisp, Burgundian-style Beauregard Vineyard Chardonnay 2015 from the estate ranch lined up to go with my turkey dinner. Neutral oak allows this beautifully-made white wine to express the terroir of Ben Lomond Mountain, from tones of citrus and chalk to fresh mountain minerals. More suggestions next week.

Tidbits

Big Basin Vineyards is moving its tasting room to Santa Cruz this spring. Exciting news! The pop-up market at Mentone in Aptos offers the luxurious breads and pastries of Manresa Bread every Saturday throughout this year, 9am-1pm.

Also check out the Pearl Alley Outdoor Market this coming Saturday, Nov. 14, for Manresa Breads and other fresh ideas.

A fond farewell to Rosie McCann’s, a lively Santa Cruz pub, saloon, and gathering place for more than 20 years. We’ll hoist a pint in your honor!

Citizen Commission to Study Needle Exchange, Public Health

Jacob Pierce

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November 9, 2020

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Citizen Commission to Study Needle Exchange, Public Health

After months of delays, a county commission assembled to study harm reduction in the county will start meeting this week.

It was more than a year ago now that the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors first approved a commission tasked with taking a close look at the county’s Syringe Services Program. Needle exchanges, like the county-run Syringe Services Program, reduce the spread of disease among injection drug users, research has shown. Some research has also shown that even the most permissive exchanges don’t correlate with increased litter. Additionally, activists believe that implications of increasingly tight restrictions on the county’s needle exchange may actually contribute to needle waste.

But after the public safety activists pushed the county to do something about needle waste in the county, the board decided that a body of community members should study the issues—in addition to passing new regulatory measures on the exchange.

The commission was originally scheduled to start meeting this past spring, under the oversight of the county’s Health Services Agency (HSA). But the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic sucked up pretty much all of the HSA’s resources and put plans for the commission on hold. The advisory body will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 6pm.

The makeup of the body was not without some debate. Angry public commenters at county meetings often paint needle exchanges as enabling drug addiction. Activists from the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County contend that needle exchanges get addicts to take care of themselves—an important first step forward for an individual in a county that does not have enough drug treatment options in the first place.

Notably, 1st District County Supervisor John Leopold suggested at a meeting in October 2019 that the board should require that all members of the body believe in the virtues of needle exchanges.

Third District County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty, who represents the city of Santa Cruz and supported the commission, thought such a requirement would go too far.

Leopold, who ended up losing a reelection bid this month, suggested that, at a minimum, board should state that the commission will recognize the value of syringe exchanges in public health.

“People are going to appoint who they want, but we should be clear that this isn’t about denying the decades of research at every level about the efficacy of this public health practice,” he said at last year’s meeting.

Neither Coonerty nor 5th District County Supervisor Bruce McPherson wanted to accept Leopold’s revised amendment.

“I appreciate your concern, but I think we’re well aware of that on the board. I don’t want to accept the amendment,” McPherson said at the time.

The advisory commission has seven members—five members appointed by each of the county supervisors and two more at-large members approved by the board as a whole.

Commissioners include Damon Bruder, a frequent needle exchange critic, who was appointed by Coonerty.

Second District Supervisor Zach Friend, for his pick, appointed Sheriff Jim Hart, who opposed a recent application by the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County to become a certified secondary exchange of syringes.

Despite that controversy, the California Department of Public Health subsequently approved the coalition’s application and chipped in $400,000, granting it the authority to expand its syringe program.

The Harm Reduction Coalition’s own state-sanctioned program does not fall under the jurisdiction of the county and is thus outside the purview of the new commission.

For information on how to watch, visit: co.santa-cruz.ca.us/Government/Commissions,CommitteesAdvisoryBodies.aspx.

Joe Biden Supporters Dance It Out on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz

Mat Weir

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November 9, 2020

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Joe Biden Supporters Dance It Out on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz

The air was electric Saturday afternoon and an infectious mood swept through people as they poured onto Pacific Avenue Saturday afternoon following the announcement of the election of former Vice President Joe Biden to the presidency of the United States.

An impromptu dance party broke out as activist Curtis Reliford’s Peace Truck blasted Cajun-style zydeco music over the speakers, echoing down the corridor.

“I’m happy! I’m happy,” Reliford repeatedly told the crowd, as he knelt down on one knee. Each time the crowd responded with louder and louder cheers.

The celebration began early Saturday afternoon at the clocktower. As the crowd grew, it drew more honks from the passing traffic. The celebration began moving down Pacific, eventually landing in front of the Regal 9 cinema, dissipating sometime after 3pm.

Although Biden had been leading in the returns for a few days, political enthusiasts nervously awaited the official announcements on razors’ edge, as election departments in key states continued counting ballots. Major news outlets like the Associated Press, the New York Times and Fox News each made the call Saturday morning. The election marks a historical moment, as Biden’s running mate Sen. Kamala Harris will be the first woman, the first Black person and the first Asian American to serve as the country’s vice president.

“We’re here to celebrate freedom, democracy, equal rights, social justice, everything,” said Lena Fancher, who held up a sign that read “Go Joe!”

Ballots are still being counted, but Biden won over 79% in heavily Democratic Santa Cruz County, according to the most recent returns

For Fancher, the election went beyond politics. Biden, she believed, would make the nation’s government function better.

Longtime Santa Cruz resident Sally Benyola said there had been so much at stake for the country in the election.

“The whole world is celebrating right now,” she said.

Benyola and her sister, Sherree Nicholas, both voted for Biden in the election, and they quickly came downtown when they heard the news. They are ready to see the country move in a new direction that focuses on equality, empathy and science, they said.

“Biden believes in climate change,” Nicholas said. “And let’s not forget we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, which Biden said will be the first thing he addresses.”

It’s a claim the president-elect referenced again later that evening.

During his acceptance speech Saturday night, Biden told Americans he would announce a team on Nov. 9 to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. “It will be built on a bedrock of science,” he said.

Despite all the celebrating, Santa Cruzans said they know the work of a democracy is never finished. Fancher, a Bernie Sanders supporter who voted for Biden, said that, although she enjoyed the win, now is not the time to feel a false sense of security.

“My hope is he begins to work on social justice, healthcare, and LGBTQ+ rights, which is personal for me,” Fancher explained, adding that she will use protests to hold Biden accountable.

For others, the worry lies not in what Biden will do, but in the damage Trump has already caused.

Going forward, Benyola worried Trump supporters may riot. “He incites his base,” she said.

“And that this feeling of elation will die to be replaced with negativity and fighting again,” Nicholas added.

But the air was still filled with joy as Santa Cruzans rejoiced and let loose.

“It’s felt like the last four years I’ve been wearing a weighted blanket and now I can take it off,” Fancher summed up with an elated sigh. “Now I can breathe.”

Check out all of our 2020 election coverage.

Lookout Local: Ken Doctor’s False Narrative About Santa Cruz

Dan Pulcrano

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November 9, 2020

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In times when the “fake news” slur is deployed with regularity to discredit the media’s reporting, maintaining a news organization’s credibility is a baseline responsibility. So what does it mean if a journalistic enterprise’s founding mission is based on a bald-faced lie?

Media pundit Ken Doctor has raised $2.5 million by shopping a false narrative that Santa Cruz is a “news desert”—a community without reporting, one that’s uninformed and parched for news. It is anything but.

For decades, Santa Cruz County has been a hotbed of competitive newspapering. Even with print’s well-documented decline, Santa Cruz defies the trend, supporting multiple sources of local information.

Although its newsroom staffing has suffered under the ownership of a Manhattan hedge fund, Santa Cruz still has a daily newspaper—unlike many communities of its size. The weekly of which I’m publisher, Good Times, has triple the daily’s circulation and this year was selected as the best weekly in the state, winning the California Journalism Awards’ coveted General Excellence Award.

But wait, there’s more. The county is also home to Watsonville’s 152-year-old Pajaronian, which back in the day won a Pulitzer Prize and has been modernized since its purchase by Good Times last year. Likewise, the Press Banner, serving the communities of the Santa Cruz Mountains and San Lorenzo Valley, continues a proud 60-year legacy. Tiny Aptos, Doctor’s hometown, has competing community newspapers. And the all-digital Santa Cruz Local has gained traction with solid reporting and a bootstrapped community engagement model.

To characterize Santa Cruz as a news desert insults the amazing work being done by local writers and editors who have been covering devastating wildfires and an unprecedented health crisis under the most adverse conditions ever.

How did the Knight Foundation and the Google News Initiative take Ken Doctor at his word that Santa Cruz was a community that was without civic reporting? As they spend hundreds of millions on news experiments around the world, it’s difficult to do due diligence and fact check every claim of news desertification in grant applications.

These well-intentioned media funders are trying to help save local news, but instead could wind up destroying the last of the authentic community voices.

Lookout Local imports expensive Big City talent, such as the Chicago Sun-Times’ top editor. Doctor has also used his fat checkbook to raid the talent of local newsrooms, including Good Times and the Santa Cruz Sentinel, at a particularly fragile time, as newspapers struggle to survive the worst-ever advertising drop with so many businesses closing or operating at reduced capacity.

I’ve watched digital news sites with similar funders cozy up to special interests rather than hold them accountable. They generally cover the obvious stories—such as crimes, press releases, dining news and scheduled government meetings—while chasing search terms in hopes of boosting traffic. They sometimes lock their premium content behind a paywall and use advanced tools cooked up in media labs to monetize their content.

The albeit idiosyncratic nature of a small business-supported news model ensures independence, a variety of voices and is sustainable provided there isn’t subsidized competition to divide the traffic, drive up costs, strip-mine talent and undermine the marketing channels on which local businesses depend.

Independent local media has historically given voice to emerging journalists rather than get in bidding wars for established marquee names. Our company, which traces its origins to Santa Cruz in the 1980s, invests in the communities where we operate. We buy and renovate old buildings, start Restaurant Weeks, Burger Weeks and Beer Weeks to help the local restaurateurs, and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for nonprofits through our Santa Cruz Gives initiative.

If Mr. Doctor wants to make a genuine social contribution by erasing news deserts, he should take his millions and move to a real one. There are 188 counties in America without a local newspaper, according to the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media at the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Media.

Of course, that would take some real pioneering.

Most of them are poor and landlocked, too far away to listen to the seals bark on West Cliff Drive or gaze over pinot noir vineyards in the Corralitos hills.

Dan Pulcrano is the publisher of Good Times and the CEO of the alternative media group Weeklys.

Outdoor Mural at La Manzana Center Gets New Life, Larger Footprint

A&E
Art

Tarmo Hannula

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November 9, 2020

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Outdoor Mural at La Manzana Center Gets New Life, Larger Footprint

Work began in late October on a major restoration of a long-standing outdoor mural at the La Manzana Community Resources center.

Muralist Guillermo “Yermo” Aranda, who is the creative drive behind scores of murals around Santa Cruz County, Salinas and San Diego, said it was time to refresh the paint on the 1993 Mural along 18 West Lake Ave. in Watsonville.

Scads of young people and adults joined Aranda on the scaffolding to bring new life and color to the mural as well as add two new panels, making the overall piece more than 70 feet by 12 feet.

“We had a great showing of people working out here,” Aranda said. “We’ll probably be out here, on and off, for about eight weeks. It will look great when it all comes together.”

The Parks and Recreation Commission approved the project, which was submitted by Community Bridges.

Aranda created the mural concept design and painted the original work. He is originally from San Diego and comes from a family of musicians, painters and craftsmen. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Cal State Monterey Bay in 2010 where he majored in integrated studies with a focus on fine arts and communication design.

The mural is comprised of five panels, each with its own set of meanings:

The Sacredness of Mother and Child
The Empowerment and Sacrifices of Women and Mothers
Education and Resiliency
The Spirit and Celebration
The Lord of Light and the Abundance of the Earth Project Timeline

Santa Cruz County Democrats Relieved by Likely Joe Biden Victory

Jacob Pierce

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November 6, 2020

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Santa Cruz County Democrats Relieved by Likely Joe Biden Victory

A Democrat will retake the White House this January, thanks to the presumed victory of former Vice President Joe Biden over President Donald Trump. The county’s political leaders have a lot of feelings about it.

Santa Cruz Mayor Justin Cummings was one of them.

“I’m excited to see that it’s looking like Joe Biden’s going to win the election,” he says. “That is a huge relief, and I think it’s going to help our country heal. But the fact that it’s such a close race raises serious questions about how we got here and what’s next.”

Three days after the Nov. 3 election, Vox called the election for Biden this morning, due to gains the former vice president has made in the electoral college as vote-counting continues. Other outlets, like the New York Times and Associated Press, have yet to make the final call. The Associated Press reports Biden is winning 50.5% of the popular vote, according to current totals. He leads Trump by 2.7 percentage points in the popular vote. Biden has yet to announce victory.

Coco Raner-Walter, the chair of the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party, is assuming Biden will win, but she says it’s too early to know for sure.

“I am cautiously optimistic and jumping for joy,” she explains. “I am on the edge of both of those things. I am so excited and so proud of all of the work that we have been doing across the United States—with Stacey Abrams and with Fair Fight, all the work all over the place. To have the outcome we’re having, you have to celebrate. It was a long campaign. Covid threw a wrench in things. But it’s been scary and exciting all at once.”

Raner-Walter stresses that, although Biden currently leads in the results, ballots are still being counted. She also knows that President Trump has a litigious history and that he has shown an interest in trying to delegitimize election results.

Although Democrats don’t look poised to immediately secure a majority in the U.S. Senate, she believes Democrats did a good job in this year’s big Senate races, and she thinks Democrats need to continue chipping away at the seats where, in previous years, Democrats used to not bother competing. “We will work hard on these seats, and they will flip,” she says.

On top of that, each of the two races for two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia appears headed for a runoff, and Raner-Walter expects phone-banking for those contests to start next week.

Santa Cruz County 3rd District Supervisor Ryan Coonerty says that he, like many Santa Cruz residents, was relieved by the presidential race. He admits to blowing through all of his kids’ Halloween candy while nervously awaiting the results.

Coonerty, whose district includes the city of Santa Cruz, believes that a Biden administration will be enormously helpful for local government and a strong partner, going forward—amid the trying times posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and by the deep recession that the public health crisis helped create. “Leaving each county to develop a response to a global pandemic and economic crisis was insanity,” he tells GT, via email.

“There are so many issues that the Biden administration will need to address, but I think he’s going to have a team of experienced, thoughtful people in his administration and partners at the state and local level,” he adds. “I’m hopeful we can finally stop lurching from crisis to crisis and do the work to improve regular peoples’ lives.”

In heavily Democratic Santa Cruz County, Biden is beating Trump by 60.8 percentage points, according to votes tallied so far. Biden currently has 79.1% of the vote locally. He improved Democratic presidential vote share among Santa Cruz County voters by 5.9 percentage points, compared to the results that previous Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton got in 2016, according to the most recent returns.

Interestingly, Trump, who has 18.4% voter support in Santa Cruz County this year, also has improved his vote total since 2016, by a little more than a percentage point, according to the most recent results. That could change, given that late returns have increasingly favored more liberal candidates—a trend that may have accelerated this year, due to gaps in vote-by-mail preferences. The New York Times is forecasting that 94% of Santa Cruz County’s votes from this election have been tallied so far.

As for Santa Cruz County’s local races, District 1 supervisor candidate Manu Koenig gave a resounding defeat to Supervisor John Leopold, the longest-tenured member of the Board of Supervisors. At 35, Koenig will be the board’s youngest member, and this marks the first time in 10 years that a challenger has unseated an incumbent on the Board of Supervisors. In Watsonville, former Councilmember Jimmy Dutra won his election bid for the Watsonville City Council, and Councilmember Aurélio Gonzalez won his reelection bid.

In the Santa Cruz City Council race for four seats, things are looking a little bit closer right now. Sonja Brunner, Martine Watkins, Sandy Brown and Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson are currently leading the way.

No matter the final outcome, Cummings says it will be important for members of the Santa Cruz City Council to continue working together. That’s the only way to make progress on the challenges ahead, he explains.

“This year we’ve done a good job of trying to work toward consensus this year,” says Cummings, whose one-year term as mayor wraps up next month. “We have continue to hear one another’s opinions and try to be respectful of others’ views.”

Check out all of our 2020 election coverage.

Covid-19, Fires Throw Renters and Landlords Into Deeper Bind

Johanna Miller

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November 6, 2020

1

Covid-19, Fires Throw Renters and Landlords Into Deeper Bind

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented many challenges for Santa Cruz County renters, property managers and landlords alike.

With renters suddenly out of work and unable to pay most, or even the entirety of their rent, threats of evictions have been looming. For some landlords, not being able to pay their mortgages has been a strain.

In addition, countywide rental vacancy, which was low prior to the pandemic, has shrunk in recent months, in part due to the hundreds of evacuees from the CZU Lightning Complex fire in August.

“About 950 homes were suddenly gone, and people needed new places to live,” said Kathy Oliver, owner of Oliver Property Management in Watsonville. “Some went to hotels, but a big portion went straight to rentals. We filled up, first in North County and then down here. … At one point we had three rentals taken in one day.”

Oliver, whose business manages about 450 units in the area, said that things have been relatively civil between the tenants and landlords she works with.

“From what I’ve seen, the majority of tenants are understanding of their landlords, and vice versa. … If they don’t have the money, they are at least communicating and trying to find solutions,” she said.

The main issue, Oliver said, are landlords who operate without the aid of professional property managers.

“I’ve heard stories about them locking tenants out, harassing them,” Oliver said. “They were trying to go ‘old school,’ and often had no idea they were breaking rules. You shouldn’t self-manage if you don’t know the law.”

Sandra Silva, directing attorney of California Rural Legal Assistance, said that many landlords were attempting to find loopholes in California’s Tenant Relief Act, or Assembly Bill 3088, which is meant to temporarily prevent evictions due to Covid-19 hardships.

“In the beginning … we were absolutely swamped [with clients],” Silva said. “So much was happening at once. Tenants being threatened, losing their homes … and we saw a few cases around the fires, too.”

The city of Watsonville and its Eviction Moratorium Task Force (which includes Oliver), approved an eviction moratorium earlier this year that lasted through May. Another moratorium was put into place in August but will sunset Jan. 15. Coupled with the end of AB 3088, which sunsets in March, Silva said the results could be devastating.

“People will suddenly have to cough up thousands of dollars of rent, all at once,” Silva said. “That’s a huge concern for many of our clients.”

Emergency rental assistance for people affected by Covid-19 has been handed out via the city, county and various nonprofits, funded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Another round of funding is currently being offered to residents in unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County. The assistance can be applied toward past due rent and/or utilities incurred after April 1, 2020, and can cover a maximum of six months back, with a limit of $10,000 per household.

Applications are open through Nov. 16. Apply online or call 316-9877 to apply by phone or schedule an appointment.

Silvia and Oliver had similar things to say about housing in Santa Cruz County: There needs to be more of it, especially affordable housing for low-income residents. A few such projects are in the works, including one off of Freedom Boulevard expected to start construction in Spring 2021.

But more is needed, they say.

“There is a huge disparity between wages earned and what people have to pay in rent,” Silva said. “It’s just not sustainable.”

For now, there are several resources to help tenants and landlords survive the pandemic. The self-help center at the Watsonville Courthouse, 1 Second St., Room 301, is a great resource, Silva said. Oliver added that the California Department of Real Estate’s Housing is Key web page is a way to keep up-to-date with state laws.

“If you’re a tenant and you don’t feel like something is right, look it up,” Oliver said. “And if you’re a landlord—abide with the law.”

Local Toys for Tots Cancels Public Donation Sites Amid Pandemic

Todd Guild

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November 6, 2020

0

Local Toys for Tots Cancels Public Donation Sites Amid Pandemic

This year, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Toys for Tots will not be hosting public collection sites for toy donations for the first time in its history.

Normally, the collection points at fire stations and businesses throughout the county are responsible for the lion’s share of the thousands of toys needed for distribution to children whose families cannot afford them.

If the organization is unable to gather the toys through other means, those kids could very well go without a gift this holiday season, said local Toys for Tots coordinator Delilah Valadez.

The organization has therefore established online gift registries with Amazon and Target. Donors can also give directly to the organization.

Each registry includes the address to which donors can directly ship their thoughtful gifts to make it in time for the holidays.

Additionally, the organization has set up a CrowdFunding app, where donors can create their own personal campaign with pictures and text outlining their goal for financial contributions.

“With no collection sites to rely on this year, financial contributions are to be the foundation of this year’s success,” Valadez said.

The organization will still rely on its team of volunteers to help sort toys, attach batteries and bundle books.

Volunteers will begin work the week before Thanksgiving to allow partnering agencies extra time to quarantine toys, but will finish up the campaign earlier than usual. They are scheduling “Elves” for Nov. 21 and 28, from 11am-2pm, and Nov. 30 and Dec. 7 from 3:30-8pm.

Volunteers interested in working two or more shifts can sign up by emailing Valadez at T4********@***il.com or by visiting SantaCruzCounty.ToysForTots.org.

Families whose children need toys can register from Nov. 2-6 from 1:30-4pm at 214 Union St. in Watsonville. Photo ID is required for each adult, proof of address and income, and birth certificates for each child.

For more information, call 831-724-3922 or visit watsonville.salvationarmy.org/watsonville_corps.

Support Toys for Tots:

Toys for Tots app: bit.ly/3kTn7KL
Amazon wishlist: amzn.to/2GqeRmK
Target wishlist: bit.ly/363XJvY
Donate online: bit.ly/34QHDq4

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