The monarchs are coming, the monarchs are coming! Okay, technically they’re already here, but they won’t hang out long. Every year, thousands of monarchs flock to the Natural Bridges eucalyptus trees. They migrate all the way from the Rockies—that’s more than 800 miles for their little wings to flap. We don’t blame them for taking a breather and getting a little lovin’ before they turn around and go back. They’ll probably be here ’til January, but now is the best time to see them in all of their glory.
INFO: Tours held at 11 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday. Natural Bridges State Beach Visitor Center, 2531 W Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz. 423-4609. parks.ca.gov. free, $10 day use parking.
Art Seen
‘Lay of the Land’
The Museum of Art and History’s latest exhibit is all about Chile native Rodrigo Valenzuela, who was waiting for work at Home Depot as a day laborer 10 years ago. Today, he is a professional artist and UCLA professor. While his abstract landscapes may seem to be of familiar places like Joshua Tree, his work is actually a mish-mosh of American and Chilean landscapes, with some foosball and film for good measure. The work portrays the obstacles immigrants face in making the United States feel like home.
INFO: Show runs through Sunday, Feb. 17 with an artists talk on Thursday, Jan. 17. Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. 429-1964. santacruzmah.org. $10 general admission, free on First Fridays.
Friday 11/23
Mission Building Game
They say board games never go out of style, and this proves it. Mission Building is a board game set in the 18th century, where you spend Spanish real coins and roll the sheep’s knucklebone to determine the fate of your own mission. The game is geared for ages eight and up, and happens rain or shine.
INFO: 3-4:30 p.m. Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, 144 School St., Santa Cruz. 425-5849. parks.ca.gov. Free.
Saturday 11/24
Birding For Beginners
Anyone can do birding anytime, anywhere—can’t say that for much else in life. Some of the benefits of birding include not only a greater awareness of wildlife, but also new friends, both literally and figuratively. (Birds are friends, right? Or is that fish?) Either way, there are plenty of experienced birders in and around Santa Cruz to lead the way in birding etiquette, Jim Williams being one of them. Williams will talk about birding in Henry Cowell State Park, and answer any and all flying friend-related questions. Bring a water bottle and comfy footwear.
INFO: 8 a.m. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, 101 N Big Trees Park Road, Felton. 335-7077. thatsmypark.org. Free, $10 parking pass.
Monday 11/26
Hampton Sides ‘On Desperate Ground’
New York Times best-selling author Hampton Sides is coming to Santa Cruz to talk about his new book that details acts of heroism by marines in the Korean War. Also an Outside magazine editor and National Geographic contributor, among many other things, Sides is a narrative nonfiction expert. On Desperate Ground tells a war tale as old as time, but still terrifying relevant.
INFO: 7 p.m. Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 423-0900. bookshopsantacruz.com. Free. Photo: Kurt Markus.
The fresh, earthy scent of redwoods drifting through my car is usually enough to convince me to take a drive up to Ben Lomond, especially if the trip ends in a visit to Mountain Feed and Farm Supply.
But after visiting La Placa Family Bakery, I now have two more reasons to escape up the hill, and both of them come dusted in powdered sugar.
Depending on where you live in the county, it can be a bit of trek to get there, but in my opinion it’s absolutely worth it. Originally from Sicily, pastry chef Leonardo La Placa found his calling in pastry at just 12 years of age, and spent several decades working and teaching pastry in Europe before arriving in Ben Lomond and opening La Placa Family Bakery three years ago.
While the bakery also serves pizzas and calzones, the pastry counter—filled with an array of colorful cakes, traditional Italian cookies and a dozen flavors of hand-made gelato—is what immediately commands your attention upon entering.
My eye is caught by a tray of round, fist-sized Italian donuts—bombolini ($1.25 each). While I consider myself a fairly frequent visitor to our county’s various bakeries and pastry shops, I haven’t seen one of these filled pastries since I was in New York a few years ago, and I’m delighted.
A filled donut is easy to love, but a bombolone can reach transcendent heights if done well, as they are at La Placa. Feather-light on the outside and bursting with either sweetened, creamy ricotta or silky Nutella, it’s difficult to stop at just one. Of the two, I prefer the not-too-sweet ricotta, but as I discovered when I brought a box to my boyfriend’s Italian parents and watched them promptly devoured, it really is a matter of preference.
Another pastry that sets this bakery apart are the cannoli ($4 each). These hard-shelled, tubed-shaped pastries are filled to order—to prevent them from getting soggy—with the same delicious ricotta, and topped on either end with slivered almonds. They’re so festive that they’ve become my go-to dessert to bring to almost any celebration, equally fun at birthdays, holidays and dinner parties.
La Placa Family Bakery. 9280 Hwy. 9, Ben Lomond, 609-6552.
Ona Stewart loves music. He plays four to five hours daily, and is always writing new songs. Fortunately, he has a popular local band, the Naked Bootleggers, which gives him a platform to play his tunes in front of local crowds. But because he doesn’t want to burn people out, he keeps the Naked Bootleggers gigs to a minimum. So he also gigs as a solo artist.
There are other advantages to playing solo shows. For instance, the Naked Bootleggers are a bluegrass-oriented band, but Stewart has a number of other influences that he can bring to his solo work.
“It’s nice to have another outlet. There are so many other songs that I can’t necessarily play with the band, because it doesn’t fit into the sound we’re going for,” Stewart says. “I’m definitely influenced a lot by old R&B, like Otis Redding and Bill Withers. Just different directions, like Tom Waits. I grew up listening to punk rock, so I have a lot of anger to get out as well.”
He plays some shows backed by friends, others just him and his guitar. It can be a challenge to make sets work as a one-man acoustic band, but Stewart does it by twisting and convulsing his voice in unique and interesting ways, or going really quiet when he needs to. It’s all about dynamics.
“Each crowd is different. Some audiences are listening audiences. There are times you go soft and sweet in the delivery. Some you need to slap in the face to get them to acknowledge it,” Stewart says. “I love singing. I love it when people want to hear it, but I sing all day long by myself. I just love to sing.”
Few people can cast a spell simply by entering a room. Tandy Beal can.
With the carriage of a queen and the grace of a Botticelli sylph, the dancer-turned-impresario personifies joie de vivre. Energizing a stage or critiquing a new work-in-progress, Beal is as fully alive, active, and engaged as it is possible to be. Or at least that’s what it looks like to her many students, audiences, and fellow dancers. And it has for more decades than seems possible.
Beal of the dark eyes, long limbs, and infamous mane of Pre-Raphaelite hair just can’t quit dreaming up ways to win new audiences and re-enchant those already converted. She’s been everywhere, collaborated with everyone from Frank Zappa to Bobby McFerrin, and directed both the Moscow Circus and Pickle Family Circus. Her company, Tandy Beal & Company, has been provoking wonder and joy for 43 years. And once you’ve done all that, it’s hard to stop.
And what doesn’t stop is Beal’s faith in the magic of live performance. “We’re all in the present moment,” she insists, her eyes shining. “We are together. And anything can happen. This moment in real time, with all its joys and possibilities, your whole body shares the experience.”
In her life of performative immediacy, Beal and her repertory company of dancers, singers, acrobats and clowns invite audiences “to be part of something larger than themselves.”
The Reflective Voice
How did Joy come about, I ask the woman I’ve known for 35 years. “Since my beginning work, it’s always been two strands,” she says. “One is celebratory, the other is reflective.” We reminisce about past works such as Crazy Jane and From Blake’s Window. “Most always the questions are around the ‘Wow, we’re on this mysterious planet’ realization. I’m overwhelmed by the mysterious part.”
She shakes her head as if still puzzled by the mystery of it all. “I’m always looking to find the reflective voice, then I explore how to create something that finds that strand.”
The humor that inflects Beal’s best work is a central part of her personality, professionally as well as privately. “Early on, I was doing humor, which at that point just wasn’t done in dance—it was considered outré. It wasn’t considered serious art.” She raises a skeptical eyebrow. “Making humor takes as much discipline, care and practice as making serious work. Humor is serious.” And she lets out a full-bodied laugh of pleasure.
JUMPING FOR JOY Beal (front and center) has enjoyed a long career as both a performer and educator.
In many ways, the graceful woman I’ve watched dance in so many productions is an inquisitive girl at heart, moving through the world with huge gestures, lots of eye contact, and easy smiles. Always beautiful.
“I came from two Broadway actors. I didn’t have to be taught that communication was the basic issue of life. And I live with a man [composer Jon Scoville] who is witty and humorous,” she says. “And I’m a businesswoman, which is important as we’re in the advanced capitalist era.”
In the business of art, the margins of error are slim these days. “When I step onto a stage I instinctively do two things: I count the house, and then I think ‘can I meet the payroll?’” she says. “Teaching is my day job. It pays the bills.”
Having spent the summer dancing in New York “doing solo work again,” she discovered that she still had all her own dancerly wits about her. Which means that she’ll be among those performing in the upcoming Holiday Show. Joy will include much new material plus a few choice nuggets from Mixed Nutz, Beal’s updated Nutcracker Suite tour de force. “I’ve lived in the world of circus—and, for many years, of music. Joy is a braid of those languages—circus, music, and dance. A multilingual production,” she says, with a laugh.
Spreading ‘Joy’
“We need this—we need joy,” says Beal. “We did a version of it last year, but this time we’ll be at UCSC. The Performing Arts Theater is the perfect space.”
And the experience, she believes, will be quite distinct for both performers and audiences. “That wrap-around stage—it will be so intimate.”
The show’s title evolved after lots of brainstorming. Nothing seemed quite right. “So I stopped and asked myself—what am I doing? And the answer was that I want to bring some joy to people. So … Joy!”
The newest production for the lifelong dancer/choreographer will be packed with quintessential Beal favorites. “Highlights from the Nut, like the Russian hip-hop dance—very fun. My two dear pals from the Pickle Family Circus, great physical comedic actors who went on to Cirque du Soleil, Jeff Raz and Diane Wasnak. These two clowns together have a chemistry like Laurel and Hardy,” Beal exclaims. “She’s four-foot-ten and he’s six-two. Well, I called them up and said, ‘Let’s get back together!’”
Beal immediately realized that the scope needed to grow from there. “The stage will be alive with colorful movement. Acrobatics from China, bicycle juggling, Sovoso—an award-winning a capella group. And circus. Funny, weird, magical,” Beal promises.
HEAD TRIP The cast of ‘Joy’ performing their hat tricks. PHOTO: CLIFF WARNER
Once she had the agreement of her players—many coming to perform from all over the country—the company met at Beal’s house in the redwoods. “We had a costume fitting, and then we all had dinner!” During two weeks of rehearsals on both sides of the hill, the production took shape. Beal knows the music they like to work with, and made some new suggestions. “They said, ‘Not quite, but maybe this.’” And after plenty of healthy back and forth, they landed on what works.
Beal likes to make little storyboards of the various scenes, drawing rectangles to block out the basic overall structure. “Intro and extro—those are crucial,” she says.
She admits to being obsessive. “And then I bring in the lighting designer, and the sound designer. I’ve directed some opera, and I thought that was the most complicated thing. But circus! That was complex, and it’s because there are so many more elements. Rigging, harnesses, extra equipment.” She rolls her eyes.
Beal thinks she might be good at orchestrating all these elements because she’s flexible. “As a child, I loved puzzles,” she says. “I like to ask, ‘How are we going to do this, artfully and technically?’ It amounts to a puzzle, and you have to solve it. Things can and will go wrong, but you have to figure out how to solve it, often right there on stage.”
Tangle of Motion
“Does that work?” Beal asks the company of eight performers rehearsing together at Motion Pacific. “You can evolve this,” she encourages.
I’ve been invited into the sacred space for a few hours. “Weave a bit,” she instructs. They regroup and begin again. Jungle sounds fill the cavernous hall and one forest creature in the form of an exceptionally nimble dancer begins to stretch and explore the space, as more creatures twist and rustle farther upstage. Bird songs, macaws, cicadas. Enter a male “panther,” who entwines the original dancer. They repeat a sinuous spiral, and before you know it, they are part of a large, graceful tangle of forms.
Beal follows the performers as they move, and calls a few position changes, urging them to move farther down stage. “In your mind’s eye, you can have your own moment before you join the group,” she says. Looking to Associate Director Rebecca Blair for agreement, Beal says, “I think she should be a bit earlier,” and then acts out what she wants. Wearing a loose men’s shirt and stretchy pants, her long hair tied back in a knot, Beal improvises the desired gestures. It is a mini-demo of her kinetic style and strength.
FLOAT ON Diane Wasnak as Pino (center) and Jeff Raz as Razz (right) with the cast in ‘Joy.’ PHOTO: CLIFF WARNER
Seated between the mirrored walls and the company of eight dancers dressed in shorts, tights, and tank tops, I’m treated to a rare inside view that is part process and part performance. It’s as focused, precise and engaging as any Broadway show I’ve seen—an acceleration of horseplay, bodily adjustments, and run-throughs of tricky bits as the players practice lifts, somersaults, and impossible postures. Tandy moves into the group from time to time to negotiate with one couple, organizing a transition from floor to overhead contortions. In between the segments, the dancers check their arm positions and their facial expressions in the wall-to-wall mirror.
“Let’s do the whole thing,” she suggests, while Blair reminds them where the stage lines will be in the UCSC Performing Arts stage in the round. “Adrienne, we need more human body language,” Beal teases a dancer who is performing a long-limbed insect. They rehearse the same part again, sculpting precise hand and foot gestures—signature Tandy Beal gestures, but also gestures that guarantee that the arc of movement never breaks up, continuing far into the space beyond the body.
Grace and strength—that’s what I’m watching. That’s what it takes to make these dance stories. The dancer/animals begin to crawl into the main scene.
“Take your time,” Beal advises. “Close in toward each other. Travel a little faster. Claire, keep your body in creature world.” Beal illustrates “insect steps,” as she and creative associate Ron Taylor give feedback notes on what was just performed. Taylor, who has been with Beal since her very first shows in Santa Cruz, is “a dancer nonpareil and now acts as graphics designer and a creative problem-solver on every level,” Beal tells me. She then turns her attention back to the action. “Kevin, the leap out was great!”
Casting Spells
Next, they work on a piece called “Ribbon,” in which long ribbons on the end of wands amplify each hand and arm movement. The dancers practice ways of using the ribbons to carve great circles and spirals in the space above their bodies.
“Is that a good idea?” Beal asks of one dancer’s innovation. She may be in charge, but she’s nobody’s idea of a dictator. Presence and chutzpah go into this swirl of circling ribbons, and suddenly six dancers are in total sync. They cross the stage diagonally, forming the central tornado of ribbon circles.
“Hold those up over your head,” Beal’s protege and longtime collaborator Saki tells them. She’s in the center of the tornado and needs space to wield her pulsating ribbon wand.
The performers need to know exactly where they have to end up, and how to sense the bodies around them, in order to get there. It takes intuition and plenty of counting. They each try some variations—a higher leap, or slightly longer ripple—to keep things new and fresh. “You can’t be dumb and be a dancer,” Beal whispers to me.
THE BEAL DEAL A snapshot of Beal and composer Jon Scoville.
Next comes a short but mesmerizing piece that pays homage to early 20th-century expressionist dancer Loie Fuller. Now costumed in full-length circles of diaphanous fabric, and holding unseen sticks to extend the reach of their arms, the dancers appear to have translucent wings of pastel fabric. As they twirl and swirl the patterns of curves and ovals, waves and cones becomes hypnotic, requiring a kinetic sixth sense. A butterfly with 12 wings suddenly forms in the center of this swirling dance. “Toe heel walk please, Claire,” Beal urges, prowling through the dancers like a leopard.
Even in rehearsal, the music and movement cast a spell. Beal, with her charismatic posture models how each dancer should enter the stage. “This whole thing is sternum,” she reminds them, flinging her arms wide. “It’s about opening the heart and feeling the magnificence.” They practice extending their sticks in lovely unison over and over—without fidgeting, arguing or devolving into separate conversations. Yet they all obviously enjoy each other and what they’re doing. “Just catch enough air in your billows to create a cone,” Beal tells them. There’s a pause for interpretation, refinement of gestures. They clarify and strengthen their movements. “Practice the butterfly at the center of the Loie. Don’t get frantic with those rolls! Heart, space, light!” says Beal.
“And a side of fries,” adds Taylor. Laughter fills the vast rehearsal space.
Before I leave, the company runs through a caper of physical comedy mixed with split-second movement. This clever piece involves highly expressive clowning plus dance and acrobatics, with a side of Michael Jackson. They each somersault into their hats before juggling them one by one—then another, then another, until finally all six players are transferring all six hats from each other’s heads. It’s amazing to watch.
One hat topples to the floor as they exit the run-through. “If that happens during performance,” Beal reminds them, “one of you come back to pick it up before the next act!”
Beal will join her dancers and many other exciting acts when the show hits the stage. Switching from the role of director to performer comes naturally for her.
“I know how to be there,” she says. “The stage is home.”
‘Joy—Tandy Beal & Company’s Holiday Show with Circus, Dance, and Live Music’ will be performed Friday, Nov. 23, through Sunday, Dec. 2 at UCSC Mainstage Theater, 453 Kerr Road, Santa Cruz on the UCSC campus. It will then move to the Hammer Theatre Center, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose,for performances Dec. 7-9. To purchase tickets, go totandybeal.com/joy.
One of the first things Susan True did when she started as CEO of Community Foundation Santa Cruz County was move her office right next to the front door of the 26-year-old organization’s Aptos office.
“I want to be accessible,” says True, a Minnesota native who moved to Santa Cruz to pursue a degree in community studies at UCSC in the early 1990s.
Since then, in two decades of work with local groups like the University of California AIDS Research Program, First 5 Santa Cruz County, and CASA, True has tackled everything from slowing the spread of HIV to court representation for foster children. (In the process, she became a foster parent herself).
An easy conversationalist who jumps deftly from different loan structures to the on-the-ground impacts of income inequality, True estimates that she’s amassed “at least 1,000 data points” in meetings with all manner of community groups during her first year on the job. The challenge now: connecting the dots on issues ranging from housing to public health to youth development.
“We have problems in this county that are bigger than any foundation’s grantmaking can cure,” True says. “How can the Community Foundation promote economic mobility?”
If the task sounds daunting, there are several factors working in the Community Foundation’s favor. For one, the organization’s financial muscle has increased dramatically, to more than $131 million in total assets last year, compared to $46 million in 2009, annual reports show. In 2017 alone, the Community Foundation gave out $6.3 million in annual grants, $15.2 million in agency investments and launched several new impact funds.
Among the programs True has spearheaded is an expansion of low-interest loans to organizations working on issues including local housing and small business assistance.
“She is someone who, when she gets an idea in her head, it’s gonna happen,” says Ian Magruder, a Santa Cruz native who works for loan recipient Landed. “Not everyone we work with has that mentality. It’s been really refreshing.”
The Community Foundation has allocated $1 million to support San Francisco-based startup Landed, which provides downpayment assistance to teachers purchasing homes in expensive areas like Santa Cruz. In the first several months of the program, 10 local public school teachers have taken advantage of the loans to buy homes in Aptos, Ben Lomond and other areas, Magruder says.
Key to the impact fund model espoused by the Community Foundation, along with nearby Silicon Valley donors like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg initiative, is long-term financial sustainability. Rather than a one-time grant or donation, the idea is that teachers will pay back the down-payment loans and provide capital for additional colleagues to use.
“If we were just giving away some free money, we could help some families, but it would be gone overnight,” Magruder says.
Philanthropy 2.0
In 2012, True embarked on an unplanned “hiatus” from Santa Cruz—a five-year tour of the Bay Area that took her through Stanford’s business school for a master’s degree in management and a job as director of education strategy and ventures at Oakland’s Kenneth Rainin Foundation.
While sneaking in weekend trips back to Santa Cruz, True also got a front-row view of the fast-evolving world of “social innovation.” An outgrowth of “traditional philanthropy,” or straightforward grants and donations, evangelists of social innovation—including, as the name implies, many tech industry philanthropists—promote a wider array of investment techniques, tax-advantaged funds and more detailed data on the impact of dollars contributed.
“We have so many tools now,” True says, noting that the Community Foundation has seen a sharp uptick in donations of tech company stock and more individualized “donor-advised funds.” The foundation also offers one-on-one planning for retirement fund disbursements and giving that takes maximum advantage of recent tax reforms.
For Reggie Knox, executive director of Aptos-based agricultural lender FarmLink, a recent $1 million loan commitment from the Community Foundation translates to more early-season capital available to small-scale Central Coast farmers. Like the teacher housing loans provided by Landed, the funding for FarmLink comes from the foundation’s Community Investment Revolving Fund launched after an anonymous donation earlier this year.
“Community foundations haven’t traditionally done a lot of what some people refer to as direct investing,” Knox says. “It’s a really exciting new area.”
While traditional banks rarely lend less than $250,000 to small businesses, FarmLink focuses on “microloans” of $50,000 or less. About 80 percent of those funds go straight to daily operations like seeds, fuel or irrigation supplies, Knox says.
“You have all these up-front costs at the beginning of the year,” he says. In Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties, FarmLink focuses on berry and vegetable farms that span 5-20 acres, including upstart farms that have traditionally struggled to get off the ground. “A lot of people drop out in the first three or four years,” Knox says.
Encouraging local first-time charitable donors is another priority for the Community Foundation, True says. That includes a first-time $20,000 commitment to Good Times’ own Santa Cruz Gives nonprofit holiday fundraising drive. The Community Foundation’s funds will bolster online contributions to 33 local nonprofits working on education, homelessness, public health, the environment and other causes. Organizations with the most community support also qualify for additional financial rewards.
“It gives a spotlight to stellar organizations and creates an easy opportunity to give,” True says of Santa Cruz Gives, which is also supported by the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Santa Cruz County Bank.
Social Tsunami
Though True has deep roots in Santa Cruz, one thing stuck out when she moved back to town full-time last year.
“One thing that has really changed is there are so many new leaders,” she says, thanks in part to a “silver tsunami” of social services leaders like her Community Foundation predecessor, Lance Linares, who retired last year after 22 years as CEO.
Among those that have emerged with a similar mandate of more inclusive economic development are individuals like Maria Cadenas of Santa Cruz Community Ventures, which is working on a community impact fund of its own to support small businesses. Another is Sibley Simon of New Way Homes, which has created a fund to help cover housing costs.
In the last year, True has also worked to round out financing for a $2.5 million endowed Fund for Women and Girls to expand scholarships, grants and related programs. The fund, which is about $90,000 away from the $2.5 million goal, is one example of the Community Foundation’s efforts to both invest in areas important to donors and target the region’s most pressing issues.
“The community foundation is such a unique organization,” True says. “You get to take this different view of the community and think about, ‘How do we bring people together to create solutions to some of our most persistent problems?’”
To see the nonprofits participating in this year’s Santa Cruz Gives holiday giving drive, and to donate, go to santacruzgives.org.
As a family tries to heal, the city of Santa Cruz is attempting to close a controversial chapter in its history, at a cost of $1.6 million.
That’s the settlement the city has reached to resolve a lawsuit brought by the family of Sean Arlt over the police shooting that left Arlt dead in October of 2016.
The Santa Cruz City Council approved a settlement agreement with the Arlt family in exchange for the dismissal of all claims against the city. After a months-long investigation, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office concluded in February of 2017 that there was no legal wrongdoing on the part of the officer who fired.
Officers from the Santa Cruz Police Department were called to a home on the Westside when Arlt, who was in the midst of a mental health crisis, was pounding on someone’s doors. Police said that, when they arrived, Arlt charged them with a heavy metal rake.
In a press release on Monday, Nov. 20, Mayor David Terrazas expressed a desire “to progress forward” and work collaboratively on mental health issues.
Barrow Emerson leaned forward nervously in his seat in the far corner of the Watsonville City Council chambers. As the four-hour-and-twenty-minute Nov. 15 Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) meeting stretched late into the night, Emerson sat tethered by his phone to one of the room’s few electrical outlets, awaiting the commission’s decision on whether to delay a major vote on Santa Cruz County’s transportation future.
The commission voted unanimously to hold that vote no sooner than mid-January, giving more time to the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit Department and other interested groups to respond to recommendations in the RTC’s Unified Corridor Study (UCS). Otherwise, a decision on the UCS could have happened in early December.
After Thursday’s vote, Emerson—planning and development director for the Metro bus agency—leaned back in his seat, looking suddenly at ease. When asked by GT if he felt relieved, Emerson downplayed the moment, saying that he didn’t want to “apply an emotion to it.”
“More time will allow people involved in this to share information,” he added diplomatically, as commissioners and activists filed out of the council chambers.
A staff report prepared by Emerson laid out concerns about the 230-page UCS, which examines the best way to improve north-south travel times along three major corridors—Highway 1, the dormant coastal rail corridor, and the 19-mile stretch of surface streets from Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz to Freedom Drive in Watsonville.
On Thursday, RTC staff spoke to the commission about their preferred scenario, which they had released a few days earlier. Staff suggested a combination of rail corridor changes, highway improvements and upgrades to the Soquel/Freedom corridor. The bulk of cash in the plan, some $635 million, would go toward the rail corridor, where the RTC would introduce passenger service alongside a long-planned bike path.
Metro’s own report indicated that the RTC’s chosen scenario would divert funds away from buses in the future, and also suggested that the commission should seriously consider bus rapid transit, both along Soquel and Freedom or up and down the rail corridor, where buses could serve as a possible alternative to rail.
At the board’s direction, Metro staffers are drafting a letter to the RTC that will make a few suggestions. One of them is that the RTC should compare train transit on the corridor side by side with bus rapid transit. Metro CEO Alex Clifford says that the comparison should be broken into four categories: projected ridership, capital costs, operating costs, and funding plans. If the RTC has no intention of taking bus money to cover the costs of the train, Clifford says that the commission and its staff should outline what their plan is for paying for the train.
And if the RTC would like to divert funding, he says the RTC needs to own that and be transparent before any vote on the UCS.
“You don’t choose until you go through thorough analysis,” Clifford told GT after the meetings.
Heard Rail
In a way, the preferred scenario is more of a best-case scenario.
The corridor study outlines a long list of transportation improvements, to the tune of $948 million. Most of that funding hasn’t been secured. The highest-profile, and most expensive issue in the UCS process has been what to do with the coastal rail corridor.
Activists from the groups Trail Now and Santa Cruz County Greenway have long questioned whether a commuter train would move enough people daily to offset its costs. They’ve called for the RTC to ditch its rail-with-trail plan in favor of a trail-only corridor.
Pro-train activists, on the other hand, have felt bolstered by favorable RTC estimates since the draft UCS came out last month. They cite the environmental benefits of a train, as well as the study’s cost estimates for the trail-only plan, which look relatively steep.
In a letter to the RTC, the Greenway board asked for clarifications, and criticized portions of the UCS, including its cost estimates. During public comment, Greenway cofounder Bud Colligan asked the commission not to rush into a vote next month on the future—in part because he argues that incoming RTC Director Guy Preston should have plenty of time to weigh in. Preston begins work at the RTC in two weeks.
Commissioner Patrick Mulhearn was thinking about Preston when he suggested the RTC officially delay its vote to Jan. 17, as it ultimately chose to do. Mulhearn, an alternate for county Supervisor Zach Friend, also wanted to give groups like Metro and the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments time to weigh in more formally.
Other items in the suggested UCS scenario include the extension of Highway 1 merge lanes, metering on on-ramps, buffered bike lanes, and intersection improvements. Under the plan, the RTC would consider adding carpool lanes on Highway 1 after the year 2035. That option would cost an extra $452 million.
Commissioner Andy Schiffrin, an alternate for Ryan Coonerty, pushed back on the notion that the RTC would ever divert money away from Metro. He noted that Metro already gets more than four-fifths of local Transportation Development Act money, and he argued that the RTC’s three Metro representatives are very active and effective on the commission.
“Metro always gets what it wants,” Schiffrin said.
Highway Robbery
The UCS process also presents a preview of the next battle over Highway 1. Some activists are getting ready to challenge the environmental impact report on the next installment of merge lanes on Highway 1.
Environmentalist Jack Nelson told the commission to weigh the impacts of induced travel demand and remember that new road capacity will, over time, essentially fill up into new congestion. “You spend the money, and then you’re back to square one on congestion,” said Nelson, urging the commission to prioritize commuter rail over cars.
Commissioner Randy Johnson, a proponent of highway improvements, sees things differently. He said that, no matter what, residents will make decisions about how to get to the store or work or soccer practice based on convenience—not based on high-minded ideas of what’s best for their community or the environment. Any alternative transportation projects aimed at changing commuter habits, Johnson argued, are like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole.
Outgoing Watsonville Councilmember Nancy Bilicich asked the commission to remember the comprehensive Measure D sales tax measure that voters approved with a two-thirds vote in 2016.
The initiative meant many things to many people, but to Bilicich and some other South County residents the measure meant highway widening. She added that she would be in favor of a passenger train as well, especially if it were electric.
“I want it all,” Bilicich said. “The money—I don’t know where we’ll get the money, but we always figure it out.”
Sun enters Sagittarius Thursday, which is also Thanksgiving, and at the end of the day, a full moon (1-degree Sagittarius around midnight). Not only are we in a Mercury retrograde but on Thanksgiving Day the moon is void of course, which means we must make an extra effort to have gratitude and to be thankful.
When a festival day is void of course with Mercury retrograde, the day can feel like a misadventure. We forget things, become a bit exhausted. People may not be focused, and everything feels internal. With travel, people, thinking, cooking, everything can be upside down, inside out. It’s a “Heyoka” sort of day. We could also think of it as a magical realism sort of day.
We are to rest during void of course days. During retrogrades we retrace our steps, doing things over and over, needing to check and double check everything. Time is different, the rules seem changed, mishaps occur, one feels to be a roller coaster of miscommunication and mishaps. Couple these with fiery Sagittarius full moon emotions and Thanksgiving may feel more like a calamitous journey rather than a festive day with friends and family.
When we know what is occurring in the heavens, influencing us on Earth, we learn how to work with the energies, not against them, not reacting or repressing them. A Mercury retrograde and full moon void of course are potent influences but especially on a day that is usually over-wrought with emotional family interactions, heated discussions and debates. Perhaps, make a rule that no politics be discussed. Fill the day with calming, chats, bells.
This Thanksgiving create something madly different. Align with the frequencies of Mercury (Ray 4—harmony emerging from conflict and chaos; planetary note of Mercury is E; Hebrew letter Beth; Tarot the Magus and Strength; Yellow like the Sun) and Sagittarius (G#; Hebrew letter Gimel, Tarot High Priestess and Temperance; Rose/Blue). These energies last well into the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I am grateful for each and every one of you. Love to everyone, Risa.
ARIES: It’s most important to find the “pause that refreshes” because there’s such an onrush of activity, ideas and ideals, of wanting to travel and discover new realities, that details important to your well-being, may be missed. It’s also time to review values, sense of justice, ideas of what’s occurring in the world, and how you are aiding humanity’s endeavors in building the new society. What are your visions?
TAURUS: You continue to tend to the well-being of others. Sometimes you remember to care for yourself. You remember that you are a resource and if you as a resource are not tended to well enough, you no longer can be a resource for others. Ideas for the new reality continue to appear. Their manifestation into form has been elusive. Now you see the new world coming forth as the new physics. This is the new Aquarian art, too.
GEMINI: It’s most important to reflect upon what your relationships are based upon. Include all relationships, but begin with your most intimate. It might be that you consider what’s taken for granted, what’s not understood, what allows you to be most truthful, and what is occurring about health, happiness and rethinking resources. A new path comes forth and a new message within the relationship. You must listen quietly and perceptively.
CANCER: Your idea of a schedule runs quickly out the back door and you suddenly find yourself with no routines, plans or the ability to take control of daily events. Anything you’ve thought of doing simply melts into states of chaos seeking the next level of harmony but the harmony’s not manifesting for a while. The best thing to do is to prepare nurturing foods. Offer this food to others. They will receive it as goodness from the heavens. You are that.
LEO: The past year has been rather serious, structured to keep you in a state of ongoing training and discipline. There needs to be a time of respite for you to partake in—a state of ease, amusement, recreation, children, pleasure, creativity, games, fun, enjoyment and being with others who think as you do. A previous relationship is in your thoughts, too. Perhaps they show up at your door. Will you let them into your life again?
VIRGO: Family and parents, the foundations of your life, and childhood beliefs learned while young and carried into the present time will be on your mind for the purpose of appraising, cleansing, clearing, and eliminating what’s no longer useful. Be aware that moodiness, brooding, and perhaps intense feelings will arise. Assess these with intelligence and careful observation. They will pass.
LIBRA: It’s good to be in touch with siblings, to communicate, take trips, have conversations with them, sharing news, family gossip, hopes, wishes, dreams and ideas. Be aware that even when doing so, thoughts and ideas and feelings may be difficult to share or information may be misconstrued. Communicate anyway with the intention to make contact, which releases Love. Your family misses and loves you.
SCORPIO: The entire world’s in a state of reorientation, a state you know well for you experience this endlessly. Our world is in a Scorpio state of transformation, testing, and dying, so a new Aquarian world can come forth. Your importance in this great shift is in your research abilities, seeking information to build new culture and civilization. What are your present tasks? What are you using your resources for?
SAGITTARIUS: There’s an opportunity now to redefine yourself, your identity, plans and purpose. You’re able to change your mind about who you (think you) are and how you see yourself. Be aware that your presence is very impactful to others around you. Issues you thought were complete reappear for review, reassessment and rearrangement. A new rhythm is appearing. Find some music and enter it. Remain there for a while.
CAPRICORN: You may feel like you are behind a curtain in a theater, waiting in the wings for new realities to appear. It’s like planting a garden—lovely arugula, kales, onions, wintergreens, thyme, oregano, parsley—waiting each day for the first green shoots. Everything on inner levels is being restructured. You feel this but it hasn’t manifested in your outer world. Quietly these new roots of a new reality anchor, become strong, and later reshape your life.
AQUARIUS: In the following weeks you will discover your true friends, what groups truly support your endeavors and whom you can turn to for nurturance, needs and kind rapport. So much of humanity remains misinformed. You have the ability to provide humanity with questions that allow them access to real information. Then you become part of the education of humanity. You will assess your life’s journey. When traveling, follow scrupulously the rules of the road. For safety.
PISCES: Some Pisces will ponder upon writing a book, some may consider publishing or will be contacted by publishers. Consider these ideas without making final decisions. Acknowledgements and recognitions may come forth unexpectedly. Careful of miscommunication to and with the public. Tend to previous tasks and be careful of your public image. You will continue to work with focused consistency. Healing begins.
When I went to the very first Power Hour of Fun in 2014 at the Museum of Art and History, I had no idea what I was in for—but then, neither did the rest of the world.
At the time, it was just a secret plan for a totally unique interactive social experience brewing in the mind of the MAH’s “Community Catalyst” Elise Granata. That night, though, it became real.
Oh man, so real. I can sort of generally describe the experience by saying that Granata leads the proceedings from up on stage, giving a new prompt for the crowd to follow every 60 seconds. These prompts range from making a particular motion to interacting with other crowd members—and the more ridiculous they get, the more sublime the experience. With 60 different prompts over 60 minutes, the pace gets both frenetic and hilarious, and so—in honor of the next Power Hour of Fun coming up at the MAH on Thursday, Nov. 29—I tried to recreate a bit of that feeling via a rapid-fire interview with Granata in which I like to think we tapped into the true spirit of the Power Hour. Hold on tight.
Why power? ELISE GRANATA:Because we all have it and when used correctly, it can be superglue between strangers. Why hour? That’s all the time we need to get weird. And have fun. And maybe make a few new friends.
Why random prompts? Unprompted, I don’t know if people would invent secret handshakes with each other like they do at Power Hour. Why crazy random prompts? One hundred people in a room need permission to yell at the top of their lungs and give each other sharpie tattoos. Favorite crazy random prompt? “Greet a stranger like you’re old friends.” Craziest random prompt ever? Group flossing.
Who needs power hour? Everyone who needs to get out of their head and into social bungee jumping. Who does power hour need? Everyone who is willing to say “I can do anything for a minute.” How’d you think of this? Riffed off of the power hour drinking game and made it a sober (if you want it to be) social experience. How did the first time go for you? It was for my 23rd birthday—so beyond my wildest dreams.
What did you learn the first time? We humans need very little coaxing to be able to slow dance with a stranger or tell someone the last time you cried. What was better the second time? I removed a minute ranking how much we resented our fathers. Why is a minute ideal? You can do anything for a minute. What’s an ideal minute? Being prompted to talk about chips to the sounds of Salt-N-Pepa. What minutes are less than ideal? Every minute you’re not at Power Hour. Duh.
BREAK!
Did you enjoy the break? No. I was too excited to come back. What do you do if the energy is lagging? Become a cheerleader on jet fuel. Why is it good for social people? It is so much less boring than a happy hour. Why is it good for shy people? Everyone is out of their element, so it is fantastic cover to be out of yours, too. Why is it in a museum? It is the perfect venue for connecting with something unfamiliar. Do you ever feel silly? Always. Why is good to feel silly? It is proof of resilience from your weird day, days, year, or years.
How do you pick the music? I hear it playing in Trader Joe’s and think “oh, this would be perfect for 100 people to catwalk to.” How does the music pick you? Whitney Houston whispered to me as a newborn baby in 1991 and told me one day I would use “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” to help strangers have fun.
How do you feel afterward? Like I just went to a pep rally at a dance club in rock ’n’ roll heaven and the french fries were free. What’s the best compliment you’ve gotten? “My girlfriend and I started dating because of this.” What’s the weirdest suggestion you’ve gotten? Blindfolded baked potato eating contest. When you wave your hands in the air, do you care? No, and neither should you.
The Power Hour of Fun will happen on Thursday, Nov 29 at the Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. Warm-up games and mingling begin at 7 p.m., Power Hour begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5-$10; go to powerhouroffun.com for more information and to buy tickets.
“It’s scary to see people with respirators,” a man waiting in line behind me at the ATM told me last week, his eyes lingering on the bulbous white contraption covering most of my face.
“Yeah, I know,” was my muffled reply, though I wasn’t sure if I should be apologizing for my startling appearance, or the climate-fueled hellscape we once knew as “fire season.”
Headaches, fatigue, itchy eyes and throat—the physical symptoms of smoke exposure are nothing compared to the fear and sadness that’s come with the November wind. It’s safe to say California is in a state of collective grief. To the first responders and firefighters, including 1,400 prison inmates and backup engines coming from Colorado and other western states, Thanksgiving goes to you. For the third year in a row.
It wasn’t long before my sole N95 mask, purchased online during last year’s fire season, began to suffocate, plugged up as it was, and I joined the vast majority of Santa Cruz residents going without; our lungs naked to air so polluted it’s registering on monitors as far away as Delaware.
“That material will eventually come out of the air, but we know from volcanoes and other huge serious forest fires throughout the world that this stuff can remain airborne for a number of weeks,” says Richard Stedman, an air pollution controller at Monterey Bay Air Resources District (MBARD).
That’s after the fires are out. But if the wildfire trend continues for the next decade as scientists predict, we are at a turning point for air quality norms.
“It looks like more and more, people are going to have to plan their events at different times of the year, and have a closer relationship with public health officials,” says Stedman, after the Monterey half-marathon was canceled due to dangerous air quality two weekends ago.
Doing anything that increases your heart rate also deepens your breathing, and is the exact opposite of laying low and limiting exposure, which common sense and health officials strongly advise.
So what exactly is raining down on us? A PM2.5 particulate is very tiny. The EPA offers this analogy: the average human hair is 70 micrograms in diameter. Picture one-thirtieth of that. They’re made up of carbon, various chemicals, minerals, and other known and unknown byproducts of combustion.
“The particles are inflammatory wherever they end up,” says Dr. Dawn Motyka of the podcast Ask Dr. Dawn. The lung, the gut—if you swallow enough of them—nasal passageways. “And they can irritate the brain. Many of them contain compounds that are carcinogenic. They can cause transformation of the human bronchial epithelium, so in other words they can trigger cancers.”
If you’re outside without a mask, breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth, says Motyka. “The nose is designed as a filter. It serves to trap a lot of the larger particles.” Many of the particles that get past our natural defenses remain in the lung to do their damage. But “when you breathe in the smaller particles they get down into the alveoli, and we now know that they go everywhere. They cross the capillary bed into the bloodstream,” says Motyka. “They’ve been found in Alzheimer’s plaques, and throughout the lungs.”
Some of the particles are fatty, acting like liposomes that can cross into solid tissue readily, she adds.
On Saturday, Nov. 10, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Santa Cruz reached an “unhealthy” high of 188—with the highest concentration of PM2.5 or smaller that day reading 92 micrograms per cubic meter—nearly three times the federal health standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter, says Stedman. Most of the smoke has come from the Camp Fire, 229 miles to our north. Over the past two weeks, concentrations have spiked higher than that, too, says Stedman. But AQI is determined by a rolling 24-hour average of inhalable particulate matter. The health impacts of shorter windows of exposure to high concentrations have not been determined, says Stedman. To that end, the EPA has released a citizen science app called SmokeSense to gather data around wildfire smoke impact.
“When you burn through a house, you get a much more toxic situation,” says Motyka. In addition to burnt organic matter, “we’re also getting every fluorocarbon, all of those compounds, the fire retardants, the waterproofing agents, the Scotchguard, all of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.”
The Camp Fire has burned more than 11,000 structures. It’s likely that asbestos, which doesn’t burn, was also released, though MBARD only measures particulate concentration, not its makeup. As for rumors of radioactive particles, Stedman says, “There’s a lot of natural radioactive material in our natural environment, so that would not be surprising,” but as for man-made or mined materials, “I don’t think anybody’s looking for that.” Agencies don’t test for radioisotopes unless they have reason, like a nuclear plant or waste depot in the burn path.
N95 masks block 95 percent of particulates that are .3 microns and larger in size. “That’s dropping it way, way back,” says Motyka, though they won’t protect you from CO2 or some of the other gases released. Along with air purifiers (which Motyka highly recommends using) N95s are pretty much sold out locally, though Kelly-Moore Paints is waiting on its next shipment after giving out hundreds over the last couple of days.
Stedman is not enthusiastic about the masks, pointing out that facial hair and individual features can prevent a vacuum seal, allowing particulates to seep in (Motyka recommends using paper tape if that’s the case), and that they can pose risks to the elderly and individuals with health issues, as they make it harder to breathe. Ideally, such sensitive people should get to cleaner air.
Obviously, anyone with a history of respiratory or heart vulnerability is at greatest risk, and should be extra careful. Keep doors and windows shut, wash your vegetables extremely well, and even after this stuff comes out of the air, says Motyka, hose down your walkways. Pretending the particles are radioactive is a good standard for limiting exposure, says Motyka. “If you go back to all of the precautions that one takes for radioactivity—people had manuals for this stuff back in the ’50s—we’re trying to keep small particles from coming inside. Mopping the floor, taking your shoes off outside, those are the things you want to do.”
As for the heavy metals and some of the lipid-soluble chemicals already in our systems, the best thing to do is sweat them out, says Motyka, who recommends five minutes a day in a sauna or a hot bath. “And poop. A lot,” says Motyka. “Remember you’re swallowing a lot of particles, and because they’re lipid soluble, if they’re sitting in your colon, they’re going to melt back into the bloodstream the way that oil goes through a paper towel.” Drinking lots of water and eating lots of fiber should do the trick.
“If you are going to exercise, your best place to do it is probably in the ocean or in a pool,” says Motyka, as air quality is generally improved above water—but only for about six inches above the surface.
Stedman recommends AirNow.gov, which gets its data from MBARD, to stay on top of AQI—but they don’t provide up-to-the-minute particulate concentration like PurpleAir.com does. “What we’ve been finding is [Purple Air monitors] have been over predicting concentrations, and then in other areas, especially along the coast, they’re actually under predicting,” he says. “We may have a situation where in the future we start giving instantaneous air results. This was never an issue until these last few years when we started seeing these severe wildfires, and we realized that people want to know what they’re being exposed to currently.”
Please consider donating to one of the many relief efforts being organized by North Valley Community Foundation, at nvcf.org; California Community Foundation, at calfund.org; and 805undocufund.org.
