The title is ironic. The Happy Prince, a story written for children by Oscar Wilde in 1888, is a gentle parable of love, heartbreak, sacrifice and redemption. And now, actor-turned-filmmaker Rupert Everett borrows the title for his melancholy, wistful, and yet utterly engrossing portrait of Wilde in his troubled final days. Everett wrote and directed the movie, in which he also stars as Wilde.
Once the toast of London, with three smash plays running simultaneously in the West End, and famous for his highly quotable wit, Wilde destroyed himself with an indiscreet affair with beautiful, feckless young Lord Alfred Douglas, whose powerful father had Wilde sent to prison for the crime of sodomy, and put to hard labor for two years. This past is prologue in Everett’s film, which finds the mostly impoverished Wilde in exile on the Continent trying to piece together life after prison. It’s a remarkable portrait of ruined nobility, disturbing in its intensity as it digs beneath both the surface glitz of Wilde’s fizzy celebrity as a dramatist, and his blackened reputation as an infamous sodomite, to explore the complex personality within.
Everett brackets the film with Wilde reading aloud his story of The Happy Prince, first to his own two sons at bedtime, and later to a pair of urchins he consorts with in the Paris garret where he spends his last days—salting in themes of love, beauty, and tragedy throughout the movie. Usually short on cash, Wilde is adept at trading cocaine or sheer bonhomie for what he desires; in one rollicking scene, he climbs to a tabletop and sings a ribald music hall ditty to settle a situation in a bar.
He’s abetted in his post-prison escapades by longtime cohort Reggie Turner (Colin Firth). (Ten points to Gryffindor if you remember Firth and Everett as the louche young Cambridge spies-to-be in Another Country, millennia ago.) Wilde’s loyal literary executor Robbie Ross (Edwin Thomas) joins them for a while, hoping to save his beloved Oscar from himself. And Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas himself (the always persuasive Colin Morgan) shows up to spirit Oscar off on an illicit sojourn to Naples—until Bosie’s mother and Oscar’s long-suffering wife (Emily Watson) cut off their respective allowances.
Everett has a lovely eye for atmosphere. His grimy French bistros look like Toulouse-Lautrec paintings come alive. A long shot of ladies and gentlemen in straw hats dining al fresco on a sunny patio in Naples could be a Renoir.
As an openly gay actor who was tired of being offered stereotypical parts (especially after he was such a scene-stealing hit in My Best Friend’s Wedding), Everett has said he wanted to honor Wilde asan icon of gay identity who had everything to lose, yet stayed true to himself. It’s not a portrait of bravery. Everett’s Wilde confesses himself addicted to “vice and pleasure,” and his fatal attraction to doom, yet is unable to regret any of it. In Everett’s view, Wilde’s own hubris also contributed to his fall, believing that his fame and wit and social connections would protect him.
Of course, the film also condemns bigotry and oppression in Wilde’s era. A fascinating footnote tells us that Wilde and hundreds of others convicted of “crimes” of sodomy were officially pardoned by the Crown—but not until 2017!
Everett’s towering performance as Wilde is mesmerizing. Often shot in extreme close-up, we see every millimeter of his dissipation, but also every glimmer of stubborn, ironic wit (“I’m dying beyond my means!”) and hopeful joy as he seizes any chance for momentary balm, after losing his family, his honor and his livelihood. Wilde may be downtrodden, but Everett’s close study of the author’s will to live even his marginalized and chaotic life on his own terms is deeply insightful.
THE HAPPY PRINCE
*** 1/2 (out of four)
With Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Colin Morgan, and Emily Watson. Written and directed by Rupert Everett. A Sony Classics release. Rated R. 105 minutes.
It’s too early to say exactly what the road ahead looks like for major transportation projects. But the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) has decided who it wants in the driver’s seat.
The RTC announced this week that Seabright resident Guy Preston will be taking over as executive director in place of George Dondero, who’s retiring.
Preston has worked for more than 28 years on managing the construction of transportation projects.
For the past four, Preston worked for California High-Speed Rail Authority, where he oversaw Northern California high-speed rail work. He tells GT that he’s excited to begin his new job and start biking to the RTC’s office in downtown Santa Cruz.
Preston’s first day at the RTC will be Monday, Dec. 3, three days before the earliest date that the commission could vote on how to proceed with solutions outlined inthe Unified Corridor Study (UCS). That study, released last month,lays out four transportation options—each of them a combination of ways to improve various transportation corridors, namely Highway 1, Soquel Drive, Freedom Drive and the rail corridor. The most contentious question in the community continues to be whether or not it’s worthwhile to run a commuter train alongside a bike path down the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. Many activists say yes. Others are calling for a bike trail with no train.
Preston has been reviewing the UCS. His background, he argues, will help him implement whatever visions the commission chooses.
GUY PRESTON: I’ve heardboth sides of it. I love the passion that Santa Cruz brings to the table. I wouldn’t want to live in a brain dead community, where people didn’t show that level of enthusiasm, and I look forward to working with all members of our community to make sure that they’re heard, and their opinions do matter.
What’s it like jumping into the RTC at this juncture? On the one hand, with a vote looming on this big study, it’s the perfect pivot moment for the commission to bring in a new leader. In another way, it sounds like a grueling first week of work.
I actually look at it as a wonderful time to come in because the commission is really transitioning from being more a planning organization to one that’s expected to deliver projects. I have a lot of project delivery experience, so I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to come in after thesales tax measure has passed, after the studies have been done, to focus myself on delivering the actual improvements.
Why did you take this job?
I do live locally in Santa Cruz. I’ve worked in transportation my entire life. I worked previously for a transportation authority, similar to RTC. This was an opportunity for me to apply my skillset to my local community and improve transportation in the region.
What’s some lower-hanging fruit that county leaders might be able to use to reduce travel times or congestion?
They’re already working on a lot of those solutions right now. What they hope to do on Highway 1, with respect to the auxiliary lanes, is a good idea to improve traffic flow on the highway itself. I’m really thrilled with what they’re doing with Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail. It’s amazing to see how many people get on their bikes to get around, to get home. To continue moving in that direction and deliver the projects that are already underway is a great start.
How much have you followed topics at the RTC?
I’ve readsome of your articles, I think. I’ve read some ofJondi’s articles. We’ve subscribed to the Sentinel. I see the lawn signs. I’m aware of it, but I haven’t been attending public meetings. I’ve been trying to stay out of the fray, so to speak. I’ve had a part-time job that’s been keeping me quite busy, but I’m aware of the issues and ready to come in and see how my skill set can best be used to deliver projects. I’m aware of them, but I don’t have an agenda. I come in pretty neutral and wanting to listen to listen to everybody.
I’d like to see as many people get out of their cars as possible. There is a parking problem downtown for sure. I found myself not being able to find parking when there’s a Warrior game going or a concert at the Civic center. But there are additional options that people should consider, including transit. There’s a lot of bus service that goes into the transit center. I’m really impressed by how much utilization the bike share program has developed. I see thosered bikes everywhere, andit’s great. It’s really up to the City Council to make decisions on parking for Santa Cruz proper, but I intend to fully support them and help them out wherever it is needed.
Do you see a roadmap for increasing ridership on Santa Cruz Metro buses, and does the RTC have a role in that?
Provide the service people need. Have the routes going to where the trips are going to be generated. Often people will say the best advertisement for mass transit is congestion, so the more frustrated people get, by getting stuck in traffic and not being able to find parking, is really the best advertisement for public transit. I plan on studying up on it and learning more about what works and what doesn’t.
Editor’s note: This story was first published in ‘Dilated Pupil,’ an annual magazine about student culture in Santa Cruz.
David Brissenden used to hate edibles. But the chef and owner of local cannabis food company Cosmo D’s Outrageous Edibles has come a long way from the stale weed brownies that first soured him on the experience. Today, he sells high-end weed-infused chocolate bars and rice krispies in dozens of stores throughout California.
Before he was making cannabis confections topped with goji berries, shredded coconut and other gourmet ingredients, the Sacramento native learned to cook at his family’s Byington Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A knack for French and Italian cuisine paved the way to a career in catering.
It was in 2016, just as Prop 64 was reshaping the legal cannabis landscape, that Brissenden decided to switch gears and embrace a radical streak that has always included intense skepticism about the politics of weed. In an interview edited for length and clarity, he talked activism, adapting to a newly above-ground market, and how to set up an assembly line capable of cranking out 10,000 edibles a month.
GT: I heard you used to live in a tree.
BRISSENDEN: Yeah. I went off to college, up to Humboldt, and got kicked out of the dorms for being a little rebel. So I moved out into the trees. I went out and there was a fallen tree, old growth. I burned it, cut it out. Kind of old school.
There was this book I read, My Side of the Mountain. It was one of my favorite books, about a little kid who went out and survived in the wilderness on his own, ran away from home. I just lived out in the forest. It was a little double decker, so I could sleep up in one spot and have my little kitchen area down on the bottom where the dirt was.
What were you studying in Humboldt?
Sociology was my major, and poli sci was my minor. I was heavy into politics. I started a zine called Instant Mind Orgasm, and it took off. It was cool. Political, against “The Man.” And against CAMP—the Campaign Against Marijuana Production. They always had helicopters flying around back then.
How did that time shape your perspective on cannabis?
I got out and was just angry. I wrote about CAMP and the policies of prohibition. It had nothing to do with people getting stoned. It had everything to do with paper products and cotton products and fiberglass and plastics. Ford had just discovered that you could make a car out of hemp, and he made one. My Hazy Hazelnut box has a quote about that.
So I came down here, worked with Ben Rice on Proposition 215. I campaigned for Ralph Nader. I was doing Save the Salmon, Save Our Shores, whatever I could get my hands on. Then I just got burned. Left or right, they won’t talk about the real issues going on out there, because it’s all bought and paid for. So I became a chef.
When did you actually learn how to cook?
When I came home from college on summer breaks I would cater. I started working with the chefs at the winery. When I was 23, I thought I knew everything, so I started my own company. It was called Creative Cuisine in Saratoga. And then I realized, “Wait, I don’t know everything,” so I sold it and became a dishwasher. Started all over.
So how did you go from there to edibles?
I’d been a chef, working my way up. I was at one spot, Catered Too, for 12 years. I was executive chef, cooking for 3,000 people a day. I was making good money, bought a house for my wife and two kids. Two weeks later, I lost my job. It was 2015—the best thing that ever happened to me. I couldn’t get ahold of my alcoholism. I was still pissed off that there were all these political issues that had never been resolved, plus the stress of trying to provide. I never went to culinary school, which was one of my biggest mental blockers. But you know, I did it. I went to meetings and quit drinking.
I was trying to get a job, dealing with unemployment, and one day, someone came over and was like, “Why don’t you try this butter?” He said, “It’s an edible,” and I was like, “No, don’t make me try it. It gives me anxiety.” He was like, “Try a little bit,” and I did. I was like, “Oh.” It calmed me down. I didn’t get stoned. So I started experimenting with it. I didn’t have money, so I was making my own and came up with these chocolate bars. It was 2016, Trump and Hillary were battling it out, and I was like, “Smokescreen! I’m gonna go start an edible company.”
How did you start experimenting with recipes?
I had this recipe, pan de chocolate. It’s a Spanish recipe, chocolate and butter. You melt the chocolate down and you add the butter, then you chill it, usually in a mold. You serve it with grilled bread, sea salt, fruits and nuts. I was like, “Why don’t I just use canna butter?” It was Thanksgiving 2016, so I used hazelnuts, pistachios, cranberries. Hazy Hazelnut. People were like, “Dude, this is so good.”
So you were starting up in legal limbo, basically?
Yeah. Prop 64 had passed, but the rules weren’t out yet. I had the chocolate in a bag. It was like a Reese’s peanut butter cup, so it was really hard to dose. People got sooo high. I really made a name for myself, like, “These Cosmo D’s are fucking fire.”
Where was your kitchen?
I had met a woman who owned a gluten-free kitchen called In The Breadbox, and she was talking about going to a cannabis kitchen. But for like six months, I cooked in my kitchen. My wife hated it. I had chocolate everywhere. I was in the garage cooking butter. The neighbors were like, “Dude, it reeks!” But most of that was for the feedback—“this is too strong,” “that looks ugly,” whatever.
Why were you interested in edibles? Had you had good ones before, or was the idea to do something different?
Like a lot of people, I’d had a horrible experience on edibles and promised to never eat them again.
What did you eat?
Some brownies that were left out. I had tasted some of the edibles out there that were just dry. The vegan ones? Oh, god. One bar was good, but I thought I could take this to the next level. You’ve got all these foodie bloggers. It’s California—people want good food. If cannabis is going to be a regulated market, why not? The key that I had was that I know how to scale, because all of these gourmet edibles are coming out that are $50. Ours is $20.
How many bars do you make a month?
Right now we’re at about 10,000. I used to feed 3,000 people a day. It’s all about scalability—assembly line. I can make 2,000 units a day. I want to move up to 4,000 a day. But you’re doing them one at a time. I do a sheet tray with four molds, which is 16 bars. You pour the chocolate in, shake it, let it sit. Another person levels it, so it’s an exact amount every time. Then another person tops it and that goes in the walk-in. It gets popped, wrapped, put in a box, taped and boom! Organized.
Every amount of medicine that goes in there is verified by two people. Before, it would just be like, “Oh, that looks right.” If you want to do a food item for the mass market, that’s how you have to do it. Nestle and Hershey’s aren’t, like, sitting in a garage.
What are the most popular flavors?
The Hazy Hazelnut, man, I have to get you one. I had four chocolates, then everyone was like, “You have to come out with rice krispies.” I wanted to do gourmet. But I did it, and it was like a bestseller. I called it snickerdoodle and added that flavor to it, but now it’s the hardest one to get past the test. Chocolates are in a mold, so every time, I know it’s the exact same amount.
How has your taste-testing evolved since the early days? Any big mistakes?
My extra-toasted coconut used to just be called toasted coconut. I make my own canna-caramel for it. The first time I made it, I got so high. My wife was like, “I told you not to get so high around the kids!” I was like, ‘“Babe, I’m so sorry.” I was trying to not spin, so I was doing this weird thing all over the floor. I was like, “I swear it’s an accident.” She said, “You always say it’s an accident.” So I changed the recipe. She said fine, but we’re changing the name to extra-toasted coconut.
What have been the biggest lessons from legalization?
The biggest lesson to me is to be patient, and to get help. So many people are used to the black market that they didn’t understand you need to go to the courthouse, you need to go to these policy meetings—normal business stuff. Being self-funded was another difficult thing. What saved me was knowing I had to market myself. People told me to get an Instagram account, so I did. Now, it’s not my only market. Do I want the stiletto stoners, or the 55-and-uppers? Or people who are on Instagram?
Will there be new flavors in the future?
I did a pumpkin gingersnap, which we’re about to bring back.
So more seasonal flavors?
Yeah, but we still have to go through the whole process, so it’s a huge ordeal. I have a CBD line coming out. I have hard candies. I have dog food. What I’m also hearing a lot is tourists are coming through town, and they want to buy multiple things. If I could make one of these that’s 30mg and sell it for way less, that’s another thing. It’s all based on feedback. Sugar-free? Okay. Small dose? Okay. If you listen to what the market wants, then you’ll thrive.
For this week’s cover story, I interviewed Lile O. Cruse’s wife Michele Rivard while she was driving to a family wedding. She had her GPS directions on, and every once in a while the voice of Google Maps would startle us both, suddenly filling my phone speaker.
“So what do you think Lile’s legacy should be?” I asked her at one point about her husband, who defined a generation of music and theater at Cabrillo College before passing away on Aug. 23.
“FINDING A NEW ROUTE,” came the loud, monotone answer.
“That wasn’t me,” said Rivard. “That was the car.”
“‘Finding a new route is a pretty good answer though,” I said, as we both chuckled.
“Yeah,” she said thoughtfully. “It actually is.”
Rivard’s real answer was much more moving, and you’ll find it in the story. But for some reason, I keep thinking about the wisdom of the GPS. Cruse certainly did forge a new path for Cabrillo College, both in music and theater. And the bottom line is that he changed many lives, launched many careers and just made people feel lucky that he was in their lives. That so many of those people have come together to produce and perform in the show celebrating his life this weekend is perhaps the ultimate testament to that. His legacy will live on.
I was just reading the e-cigarette article in the latest issue, and I had to come write immediately to ask how it’s possible that GT could publish such a biased piece? How could Hugh McCormick not even touch on the great numbers of teens who are addicted to e-cigs, and the egregious fruity-flavor marketing campaigns of the manufacturers? Well, he did touch on “scary stories about … grade schoolers getting hooked,” but in a brushing-off way. If Hugh wants to enlighten the public on their smoking cessation benefits, he needs to tell the whole story about e-cigs. Hugh just gave an endorsement of e-cigs, and now people can feel good about their vaping choices since they read about their safety and benefits in the Wellness section of the local free paper.
EHF
Santa Cruz
Bicycle-Friendly Vision
In last week’s Good Times, Greenway took issue with Bike Santa Cruz County’s vision statement: “Bicycling in Santa Cruz County is a safe, respected, convenient, and enjoyable form of transportation and recreation for people of all ages and abilities.”
Bike Santa Cruz County stands firmly behind that vision, working every day for the past 27 years toward that future through advocacy, education, and community-building. We do this because we strongly believe that our county can become a top-tier bicycling environment that is safe and comfortable for all.
We certainly don’t believe that we have achieved this vision, as Greenway seems to suggest. However, we do take great pride in what we have been able to accomplish as a community working toward a common goal. We are proud to have had a significant role in a long list of infrastructure improvements for cyclists: the Arana Gulch bicycle/pedestrian trail; the UCSC bicycle trail; bike racks on Metro buses; bike lanes and green lanes on Beach, High, Front and Bay Streets, as well as Soquel Avenue; green lanes at highway overcrossings; the Highway 1 bike and pedestrian bridge at High Street; the Pacific Avenue contraflow bike lane; and $86 million in Measure D funding for the Coastal Rail Trail.
We further recognize the need to invest in people and programs, not just in paint and asphalt. We take great pride in our programmatic work which includes our Earn-a-Bike program that delivers bikes to Watsonville, Live Oak, and Santa Cruz youth-in-need; Open Streets events in Watsonville and Santa Cruz; support for Vision Zero across Santa Cruz County; and more than 200 community events and bike rides in the past 10 years.
Building support for bike infrastructure is challenging. To build that support, we work closely with other organizations, bike advocates, pedestrians, motorists, and community leaders. To be effective, we find that we must listen to these stakeholders, respect their work and opinions, and find ways to support each other to achieve common goals. In that spirit, we remain open to working with Greenway in order to advance the vision of better cycling for everyone in Santa Cruz County.
Janneke Strause
Executive Director, Bike Santa Cruz County
Value Voiced
Congratulations to the real community servants who vocalized the value of the Second Story Respite House and financially gifted the continuity of its operation. The community spoke with one voice and acted at all levels to maintain this gem of behavioral health care. The community now should come forward with oversight support to polish and multiply this respite house gem. Do not let its fate fall back into the abyss of uninformed senior county and Encompass management decisions that occur in the darkness of secrecy.
John P. Dietz
Scotts Valley
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
Submit to ph****@*******es.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.
GOOD IDEA
The Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education’s Northern California branch awarded Nick Bischoff of the Ramblin’ Adventure Club its 2018 Environmental Educator of the Year award this past weekend. Bischoff is a certified California naturalist and a three-year employee at Ramblin’. The after-school program and hiking club has its own unique curriculum, providing a safe learning experience throughout Santa Cruz County’s wide-ranging wilderness.
GOOD WORK
A state grant has allowed Santa Cruz County mental health workers to double down on prevention and diversion services with a program that includes additional staff, downtown outreach, pre-trial and in-custody programs, and mental health liaison workers. A recent third-party evaluation showed a 79 percent increase in contacts with program participants. That resulted in a 74 percent reduction in jail bookings and a 90 percent reduction in convictions. For the 160 participants, this represents a savings in excess of $2 million in jail costs alone.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“There’s a place for us, somewhere a place for us. Peace and quiet and open air wait for us.”
Abalone is pretty intimidating for those not used to cooking with shellfish at home, and it can become really tough if not cooked right. Join the American Abalone Farm in Davenport and Chef Eric Adema in preparing five dishes, including the classic meuniere-style (dusted with flour and pan-fried in brown butter, chopped parsley, and lemon), abalone fritters, grilled abalone and shaved fennel salad, ceviche and chowder. Each dish will be paired with wines for an all-out abalone feast.
INFO: 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25. New Leaf Community Market, 1101 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz. 426-1306. newleaf.com. $45/two for $80.
Art Seen
Santa Cruz Symphony’s ‘Rites of Spring’
Santa Cruz Symphony’s second program of the season is inspired by La Belle Époque, a time characterized by optimism, regional peace, economic prosperity, and a flourishing period of the arts before World War I. The evening begins with Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” followed by Stravinsky’s revolutionary “The Rite of Spring” and Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.”
INFO: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27. Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. 420-5260. santacruzsymphony.org. $31.50-$102.50.
Saturday 10/27
‘An Israeli and Palestinian/Jordanian Tell Their Stories’
Shlomit Manneberg and Muna Alsheikh were born and raised in the Middle East amid political, religious and cultural turmoil. They wanted to know why war was happening all around them, and embarked on a journey to learn about what it means to be “the enemy” and letting go of anger and fear. They turned their experiences into their livelihoods, and promote peace-building, reconciliation and cross-cultural connection in educational outreach and events. They are hosting an open conversation around the idea of the enemy and conflict locally, where they will share their own experiences and invite the community to participate in a Q&A.
INFO: 7-9 p.m. Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. 423-1626. rcnv.org. $10-$20 donation requested, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Saturday 10/27
22nd Annual Strike Out Against Cancer
October is national breast cancer awareness month, and WomenCARE is taking pledges for their bowling fundraiser. Last year participants raised $68,500, so this year the bar is a bit higher, at $70,000. There’s no bowling experience required—all bumper bowlers are very welcome. There are three rounds of games, with each team member collecting pledges and bowling in one game, maximum of five per team. Those unable to attend can create a virtual team online and collect pledges to help strike out cancer.
Twenty-one youth plaintiffs are suing the federal government for destroying their future by destroying the environment. The suit was filed in 2015, and despite repeated requests by both the Obama and Trump administration to throw the case out, it is scheduled to go to trial in Oregon on Oct. 29. The plaintiffs, ages 10 to 21, say that because the government has failed to stop the use of fossil fuels in the last 50 years, they are denying them their right to a life-sustaining climate in the future. Santa Cruz community members will be joining rallies at federal courts across the country on Monday to show support for the plaintiffs.
INFO: 3-6 p.m. Santa Cruz Courthouse. 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. 704-6529. youthvgov.org. Free.
I was thrilled to attend the grand opening and release party of Lester Estate Wines recently when they showcased their Pinot Noir, Rosé of Syrah and Chardonnay that day. I was impressed with all of them, but chose their 2016 Chardonnay ($45) to highlight here as it’s truly spectacular.
John Benedetti is the winemaker for the estate Chardonnay, which has a delicate nose of jasmine and white peach—along with a mélange of apricot, kiwi and lemon curd. All of these delicious flavors come together in a lush, mouth-coating richness, resulting in a lingering complex finish.
Lester Estate family members Lori and Steve Johnson both work extremely hard to showcase their wines—with Steve acting as “brand ambassador.” Well-known local viticulturalist Prudy Foxx oversees the vineyards and Keiki McKay takes care of marketing.
Lester Family Vineyards is known far and wide for growing premium grapes—always in demand by local wineries. Nestled in a bucolic setting on Pleasant Valley Road in Aptos, the Lesters’ Deer Park Ranch is a stunning place to visit. The late Dan Lester and his wife Patty Lester envisioned how wonderful it would be to grow grapes and make the best wine possible—and their dream is now fulfilled. As well as Chardonnay, Lester Ranch also produces excellent Pinot Noir and a bright and beautiful Rosé of Syrah—all available by allocation due to limited quantities.
The Lester family’s release party was a splendid event, with tasting room manager Frank Cates overseeing the day’s happenings. A healthy buffet was served by Lia Adams Events, and accomplished local musician Ken Constable played guitar.
The icing on the cake is that the estate will now be open at certain times for private and semi-private tastings. Up to 10 guests will enjoy a seated tasting featuring a five-wine flight ($25 per person)—the next dates being Nov. 10 and Dec. 8 at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. Check their website for some possible events around the holidays. Their wines are stunning—and just perfect for your Thanksgiving table.
Lester Estate Wines, 2010 Pleasant Valley Road, Aptos, 728-3793 or contact them by email at in**@***************es.com to schedule a reservation.
Despite the apple’s year-round presence in grocery aisles, this beloved fruit definitely has its season, and it’s right now.
Biting into one of these cold, crisp, tart-sweet fruits is one of the great pleasures of Fall, especially the heirloom varieties renowned for their complex flavors. Everett Family Farm in Soquel is a purveyor of such apples, and it’s well worth a quick drive up Old San Jose Road to visit their farmstand.
Not only will you find fresh apples, but also beautiful tomatoes, peppers, squash, alliums, lettuces and pasture-raised eggs from their farm. Plus, the farmstand, clabbered in tin and nestled behind a few still-ripening persimmon trees, couldn’t be any cuter if it tried.
Your cell phone will probably lose reception, but don’t be afraid of missing the turn—hand-painted signs that say things like “Taste the Rainbow!” and “Don’t Panic, It’s Organic!” will show you the way. I’ve been visiting them almost weekly this month to buy five-pound bags of Belle de Boskoop apples, a fragrant russet-skinned heirloom variety, to make apple jelly and apple sauce. I also grab a half gallon of their fresh-pressed apple cider, made with a mix of Honeycrisp and Gala apples.
Truly, this fresh, sweet, fragrant juice is the ambrosia of autumn. There’s nothing like it, and it can’t be replicated any other time of year. Nor can it really be preserved—it’s one of the brief pleasures of the season, and I drink as much of it as I can before it’s gone for another year. Tipping back a long, cold glass often brings to mind a line from a Robert Frost poem: “Essence of winter sleep is on the night, The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.” Apples are here, and the year is coming to an end.
That being said, Everett Family Farm also makes a beautiful hard cider—Soquel Cider, from heirloom Gravensteins—that can be enjoyed in any season. This adult beverage is crisp, dry, effervescent and delicious, and right now I like to enjoy it alongside roasted vegetables and sausages, especially squash, and, of course, apples.
2111 Old San Jose Road, Soquel. 566-0472. Open every day 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
When Santa Cruz photographer and 20-year Cabrillo Stage veteran Jana Marcus was starting to put together the celebration of Lile O. Cruse’s life at the Rio Theatre this weekend, she struggled with how to represent everything he had done at Cabrillo College. Hired as the director of bands for both classical and jazz music in 1970, Cruse was a popular teacher who founded the school’s jazz program and went on to be chair of the Performing Arts division. In addition, he led Cabrillo’s Summer Rep Theater until 1981, when he started and served for two decades as music director and leader of what stands as his greatest legacy: Cabrillo Stage.
When Cruse died on Aug. 23, after a short illness, at the age of 84, Marcus thought she was prepared; Cruse’s wife, Michele Rivard, had asked her three years ago to put together something that would be “short and sweet” in Cruse’s honor when the time came. But the more Marcus tried to make all of the pieces of Cruse’s life fit together, the more she realized that many of the most revealing ones didn’t happen at Cabrillo at all. Instead, they were things that happened outside of the college that grew out of the relationships he had built there.
She thought about Leslie Robertson Rhodes, who auditioned for a part in Cruse’s 1989 Cabrillo Stage production of Evita when she was 17 years old. Cruse saw something in her, and—despite the prevailing attitude that he was crazy to cast someone so inexperienced in the lead role—gave her the part of Eva Peron in what would go on to be one of the theater company’s most acclaimed productions. Rhodes went on to star in two more Cabrillo Stage productions, 1997’s Funny Girl and 2001’s Honk.
To Marcus, Rhodes is emblematic of the many cast and crew members whose talent Cruse recognized and fostered over the years.
“She loves Lile like a father,” says Marcus. “When Leslie got married and had kids, and one of her daughters got the part of Eva Peron in the high school musical, Lile and Michele went to Utah to see her daughter perform it. This was just a couple of years ago.”
Cruse stayed in contact with many of his music and musical theater alumni, and this particular relationship lasted until the very end.
“Leslie came to visit Lile several times when he was in his last months,” says Marcus. “He had a little bit of dementia, and Leslie asked Michele, ‘What can I do?’ And Michele said, ‘Sing for him.’ So Leslie was there in his nursing facility, singing ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.’”
Rhodes was only one of the people who wanted to be involved in this weekend’s celebration, which was originally conceived as a memorial, but quickly evolved into something quite different.
“As soon as we announced on Facebook that Lile had passed away, there were hundreds and hundreds of messages from people all over the country—musicians, techies, actors—and everyone was saying the same thing: ‘Lile changed my life,’” says Marcus. “I sat back and looked at all those messages, and it’s just really amazing how many lives he touched, and how people feel so incredibly loyal to him. And I thought, ‘Do we want to do a memorial, where people are going to get up and talk? Or do we want to let these people do what they do best, which is perform?’”
CENTER STAGE A still from a 2000 production of ‘Honk.’
The answer was obvious, says Janie Scott, a Broadway veteran who has been directing Cabrillo Stage productions for the last 17 years. Scott is one of a core group of people helping Marcus organize what has become, in true Lile Cruse shoot-for-the-moon fashion, the 90-minute performance extravaganza Maestro: A Musical Celebration Honoring Lile O. Cruse; she will also host it. Even an hour and a half, however, has not proven to be enough time to accommodate all of the performers who started under Cruse’s tutelage and have gone on to great things—and now want to show their appreciation for the mark he made on their lives.
“There were more people who contacted Jana than we could use,” says Scott. “Otherwise we’d be having, like, a 24-hour marathon for this show.”
Rhodes will be there, but she will not be singing what Marcus calls “the freakin’ saddest song in the world.” “When we were putting this show together, we asked Leslie to come and perform, and she said, ‘I can’t sing ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.’ I won’t get through the song,’” she says. “That’s when I realized this needs to a celebration, not a dirge. This needs to a celebration for all the people Lile has left behind. For everyone who loves him, everyone who feels so indebted for everything he did for their careers.”
Instead, Rhodes will sing “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” from Funny Girl. “Which she is a powerhouse at,” adds Marcus. “She’s going to close the show. We thought that song was actually really appropriate, because this whole celebration is about how all of us went forward and forged our careers because of what Lile believed in in us. So here we go, we’re going to carry the torch—don’t rain on our parade.”
Gathered Together
Despite the huge convergence of talent at the celebration—there are four Broadway singers in the opening rendition of “All That Jazz” alone—the outpouring of emotion and dedication to Cruse that these former Cabrillo Stage and jazz band figures have shown makes the whole thing feel more like a family gathering than an all-star production.
And that’s how it should be, says Rivard, a music educator who was married to Cruse for 33 years and worked with him on every Cabrillo Stage production.
“That’s what Lile tried to do—create a family,” she says. “Everybody had a role to play, and everybody’s role was important to everybody else’s role. By being a family—not a team, but a family—then he could promote the passion that he felt. People didn’t do a ‘job.’ And that’s why they kept coming back.”
Sometimes, the family concept could get quite literal, as Scott discovered when she worked with Cruse on the 1999 production of Annie. They were having trouble casting the lead role, and finally Cruse asked her, “Do you know anyone you could get in here?”
Scott did—her 13-year-old niece, who came in to audition.
“I had never told Lile it was a family member, because I don’t play that card,” says Scott. “So Lile sits next to me, and as she’s walking on stage, he says, ‘I hear you know this one.’ And I say, ‘Uh … yeah.’ He says, ‘I was just talking to her mom, and that happens to be your sister, Janie.’ And I went ‘OK, OK.’ When you spent a little bit of time working with him, you really caught on to what his very sly, dry wit and sense of humor was. And you had be somebody who appreciated that. I was a big fan.”
Her niece got the part, and Cabrillo Stage’s Annie became one of the first professional credits for Chelsea Morgan Stock, who has since gone on to perform in Broadway shows like The Little Mermaid—in which she played Ariel—Something Rotten and Sister Act.
Stock is far from the only national success story to come out of Cabrillo Stage. For Cruse’s very first production for the company in 1981, he chose Chicago—which was then fairly new and somewhat controversial—and chose L.A. actress Belle Calloway as the lead. Calloway went on to star as Roxy in the Broadway run of Chicago for several years. More recently, Rickey Tripp, who was the secondary lead in Cruse’s 2002 production of Some Like it Hot, has found success in Broadway shows like Hamilton and In the Heights, and choreographed last year’s live TV version of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Some of these success stories are returning to Santa Cruz County for Maestro, like Stark and Natalie Ballenger, who performed in several Cabrillo Stage musicals as a child and currently stars as Maria in the national touring production of West Side Story. A number of local favorites with connections to Cruse, like Cabrillo’s Kathryn Atkins, Andrew Ceglio and Tony Panighetti will also perform.
“Lile got performers from all over,” remembers Marcus. “He would go into the Bay Area—San Francisco, San Jose—for the lead roles, he would go and audition people all over the place back in the early ’80s. Once Cabrillo Stage started to catch on, by the late ’80s, people were auditioning from all over the country, to be there and work with Lile. And then the kids growing up in town were always in the ensemble. It was really exciting when someone from the ensemble who started when they were 10 was suddenly 20, and Lile was like, ‘I want you to be a lead this year.’”
A Stage is Born
Marcus got to witness the beginning of Cabrillo Stage because she practically grew up in the Cabrillo drama department, where her mother Wilma Marcus Chandler was choreographing and directing in the ’70s.
“As little kids, my sister and I were sleeping in the theater seats during rehearsal because mom had no babysitter,” she remembers. “And in the summertime, Cabrillo would have these big theater festivals. This was not Cabrillo Stage, this was in the mid-’70s. It was called Summer Rep Theatre, and bad B-movie actors would come and star in plays, and then we’d have a main stage musical and a little show. It was usually four shows. And Lile always did the full pit orchestra, because he was the head of the Performing Arts division at Cabrillo. So I met him when I was a little kid.”
The passage of Prop. 13 in 1978 led to the end of funding for summer theater at Cabrillo, but in 1981 Cruse came up with a cost-effective idea to replace it: Cabrillo Stage, which would produce one show a year. Cruse took on the roles of both executive producer and music director, and his ambition for the company quickly elevated it to a level that most people didn’t expect.
“I think in Lile’s head he was looking at this as, ‘Let’s make this the most professional thing it can be. This is not just academic theater.’ I’ve worked in that realm for a whole lot of years, and it’s a different animal,” says Scott, who in addition to her own history on stage—including playing Wendy in the Broadway production of Peter Pan—has served on the faculty of San Jose State University for two decades. “Lile was not afraid to get in the trenches and do all of the work that needed to be done. And he wasn’t afraid to call the shots the way he saw them. I think maybe sometimes in his head he was thinking, ‘Now what can we do? Where can I go with this, and what can we do to up the production values, up the quality of everything?’ as he continued to build what was really a dream of his.
CLASS IS IN Cruse teaches a jazz class at Cabrillo in the 1980s.
“He was very meticulous. He wrote everything down and he was extremely organized,” says Rivard. “He worked really hard to pick people who he could let do their thing, within his parameters. He would guide them if they started to stray, and if they never supported it, he didn’t hire them back. He really gave a lot of latitude, a lot of freedom. But he did set the bar high.”
His family and friends knew that underneath Cruse’s intent demeanor, that sly sense of humor was always waiting to spring. “He was always a joker, but he always looked like he was serious,” says Marcus.
Scott remembers what it was like to see him in the orchestra pit when she did her two lead roles for Cabrillo Stage productions—Peter Pan, appropriately enough, and Annie Get Your Gun. “While I’d be on stage performing, he and I would make eye contact often, and it was just sort of this unsaid communication. He was such a supporter for me in so many ways, including as a performer. He would give me that look which was, ‘This is great. Keep going. I’m happy you’re here and doing this.’ And I would of course be reflecting that back to him. It was just so evident in everything he did how much he cared for everybody, absolutely truly cared.”
“Everybody loved Lile,” says Marcus, “and that’s because Lile took the time to get to know everybody. You could be the volunteer techie mopping the stage before a show, and Lile would come up to you and go, ‘So, how are you doing today?’ He knew everyone’s name, and he made sure he talked to everybody.”
The Sound of Cabrillo
Cruse loved musical theater, which is what allowed him to create a company that is still the spiritual center of it in Santa Cruz County. But another part of his legacy is in music, especially jazz, and while it may seem separate, Rivard says it wasn’t to Cruse.
“There was no divide,” she says. “There was no divide between the styles of music, the styles of theater. If it was good and it was from the heart and soul, then it was worth listening to, and worth being part of.”
Cruse certainly brought both heart and soul to Cabrillo’s music program. He hired Ray Brown, and also taught Donny McCaslin—the saxophonist who collaborated with David Bowie on the music legend’s final album, Blackstar—as well as trumpeters Bill Theurer and Rebecca Coupe Franks, and saxophonist Paul Contos, who is the education director for the Monterey Jazz Festival.
One of Cruse’s early students at Cabrillo was Kuumbwa Jazz Center’s co-founder and Artistic Director Tim Jackson, who took a jazz history class from him shortly after moving to Santa Cruz in 1972.
“Lile was a really fun and inspiring teacher,” says Jackson. “He would actually bring groups in to perform. He started as a jazz cat—he was a professional sax player.”
Jackson went on to play in Cruse’s concert band, which gave him a whole different kind of education. “He threw a lot of hard music at us. Lile expected a lot from his band,” he says. “But he wasn’t dogmatic. He had very open ears.”
At the same time, Cruse headed a jazz band that has become somewhat legendary. “The Cabrillo College Jazz Band in the early and mid-’70s was just an amazing band, that had all these really great players,” says Jackson. “It was kind of a milestone band.” In 2011, Jackson reunited members of that band for a show at the Kuumbwa headed by Cruse, with the players coming from as far away as Spain to take part.
Maestro will also feature a tribute to Cruse’s bandleader days. “The very first singer Lile ever brought in to sing with his jazz band was this wild belter named Janie Finwall, who to this day still has a jazz combo upstate,” says Marcus. “She’s coming back to sing a song that she used to sing with Lile’s original jazz band, ‘Route 66.’ She scats, she’s a wild jazz singer.”
The Legacy
Leaving Cabrillo Stage wasn’t easy for Cruse. “Lile decided to retire in 2003 because West Side Story was his ultimate show. It was the most incredible production,” says Marcus. “It sold out a month in advance, every single show—30,000 people saw that show in six weeks. It was insane. And Lile said, ‘This is when I should retire. When everything is beautiful and big.’ And then he regretted it. He told me the next summer, ‘I don’t know what I did.’ It was very hard for him, which is why he came back as music director in 2005 and 2011. Because this was his baby. It’s hard to let go of your baby, you know? But Cabrillo Stage had reached a point that was amazing, both professionally and with the community recognizing, ‘Wow, we actually have Broadway-level theater right here in Santa Cruz.’”
Besides Broadway dreams, Cruse brought a real sense of fun and whimsy to the Santa Cruz County theater scene—and he enjoyed it as much as everyone else.
“He was entertained by the people, by the material, by the shows. He really, really was,” says Scott. “He really was pleased by the things that came from that, and I think he was just very proud of what he created. I hope he was proud. I think he was. He built an incredible foundation that is continuing on today.”
In the end, says Rivard, what matters is the people who made themselves—and continue to make themselves, at this weekend’s tribute—a part of Cruse’s world. They are more than just witnesses to his legacy.
“I think the people that participated in everything and went to see everything are the legacy,” she says. “Everything was for the audience. He wanted to always be entertained. And he wanted to entertain people.”
Maestro: A Musical Celebration Honoring Lile O. Cruse
An all-star performance hosted by Janie Scott, Maestro: A Musical Celebration Honoring Lile O. Cruse will be presented at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave. in Santa Cruz, on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. The show is free, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
Performers include Natalie Ballenger, Chelsea Morgan Stock, Aimee Puentes, Janie Finwall Roberts, Kathryn Adkins, Tony Panighetti, Andrew Ceglio and more. Michael McGushin and Daniel Goldsmith are the show’s music directors. There will be a reception following the program.
For years, no one paid the Santa Cruz Port Commission much notice.
Then, in 2014, a disgruntled musician from the Sons of the Beach ukulele club, which gathers on Santa Cruz Harbor property each Saturday, got upset. He ran for election to the commission, citing a minor permitting issue surrounding the weekly event. He lost, and the issue quickly got resolved. But two years later, three seats were available on the Port Commission, which oversees the harbor. Eight candidates threw their hats in, three of them incumbents. Darren Gertler, one of the challengers, finished as the top vote-getter, after winning some big endorsements and running on a pitch to help improve harbor communications and keep the harbor mouth open. This year, Commissioner Gertler has endorsed candidate Neli Cardoso in the 2018 Port District race.
“For so many years, it slid under the radar,” Gertler says of the commission. “It’s always been at the bottom of the ballot. No one knows what the Port District is, no one knows what it does. I think that’s changing.”
Cardoso, a fisherwoman who originally hails from Brazil, says she has a plan to increase salmon releases out of the Santa Cruz Harbor, making it a better place for both the fishing industry and for everyday hobbyists. “I want to be there for the people, more than anything,” says Cardoso in her thick Portuguese accent.
In years past, the commission wouldn’t hold elections, because there weren’t enough candidates. For whatever reason, the commission is certainly generating interest and candidates now.
Two seats are available, and two incumbents are running for re-election, including Commissioner Toby Goddard.
On a recent Saturday morning walk around the harbor, Goddard tells me his favorite spot is on a bench right in front of the district office overlooking the marina. “I like to come down and here and just observe,” he says. “From here, I can see how active the harbor is.”
Goddard, who met his wife in the harbor and also got married there, says that overseeing the Port District involves managing a number of relationships—with the city, county and California Coastal Commission, as well as other state bodies. By day, Goddard is the conservation manager for the Santa Cruz Water Department. At commission meetings, he says he brings knowledge of how local government works, as well as a long list of contacts and connections.
Goddards’s fellow incumbent in the race is Reed Geisreiter, the recently retired regional president for Comerica Bank. Geisreiter says he brings his financial expertise to the commission, where he specializes in refinancing debt, setting aside reserves and handling lease renewals. One of the district’s responsibilities is as a landlord to tenants like the Crow’s Nest. The only commissioner who doesn’t own a boat in the harbor, Geisreiter says he represents the general public, including joggers and ukulele players who may not rent slips in the harbor. He wants to make sure the harbor is safe and affordable while remaining totally self-sufficient, he says. Geisreiter is the son of a former commissioner and his dad founded the ukulele club.
Candidate Dick Starr grew up around the harbor and, like Geisreiter, he’s the son of a former commissioner. His family owned one of the first boats in the marina. Starr has seen a lot of changes in the harbor over the years. He says his experience as a licensed contractor has shown him how to envision a big finished project, like a house, as well as the long to-do list of needed tasks to get to the finish line. He wonders if the commission might explore stacking boats in the dry dock, as well as building a crane to lift them into the water—something he’s seen in harbors he’s visited in Florida.
Gertler says many of the big issues he ran on were quickly resolved. Communication has gotten better since the district hired a different director, he says, and frequent dredging of the harbor mouth has kept the port open more often, something many boaters had been calling for two years ago.
Goddard notes that 2016 was a big El Niño year—one that pounded the harbor, bringing in piles of sand. That’s what kept the harbor shoaled in, he says, and a recently purchased dredge came with a challenging learning curve that year, as well. He does agree with Gertler, though, that the new Port Director Marian Olin, a 22-year veteran of the district staff, is “an excellent communicator.”
For her part, Cardoso has a vision for the harbor that involves more salmon releases from the harbor, via the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project. In the past, the project would release 240,000 smolts into the harbor. Many of the fish got caught by fishing boats at sea. A few years later, the rest would return to the harbor, making for magnificent fishing. Cardoso and her husband Thomas Whelan (who’s also the campaign manager) would like to see releases go back to at least 240,000, arguing that it could be a boon to the salmon fishing industry. The two of them rue the days when the fishing was great right out of the harbor, as it provided opportunities to folks who couldn’t afford to book a spot on a charter boat.
The salmon returns came with other impacts, however, like swarms of sea lions, and throngs of people crowded on the docks and levies, casting out lines. Whelan has a plan to mitigate the sea lion overcrowding. Even still, Goddard and Geisreiter don’t see it going over well with other harbor lovers.
The two sitting commissioners say they would support increased salmon releases, provided that the releases are done offshore, as they were in 2017. That prevents the massive returns to the harbor seen in past years that they believe can be problematic.
Goddard, whose wife once nearly got hooked by a frenetic salmon fisherman on the jetty, says that being a commissioner means a lot of listening to opposing viewpoints. It requires a lot of balance, rather like being on the water, he explains. “You’re on a paddleboard, trying to balance a lot of different things,” he says, holding his arms out and swaying from side to side, acting out the metaphor.
Salmon aside, Goddard and Geisreiter have a lot of other priorities on their minds, like replacing the seawall behind Aldo’s, and economic development.
Starr says he still wants to learn more about the issues. If elected, he says that he might look at the district differently once he adjusts to the board and gets his sea legs.
“It’s always easy to point fingers and say you shoulda and coulda,” he says. “But until you’re in the seat and standing in those shoes, you can’t tell what everything really looks like. And then, all of a sudden you realize you don’t have $20 million to do every single project, so you have to pick and choose and look for funding.”
[This is part two of our guide to the Nov. 6 election. Part three runs next week. — Editor]
It’s nearly Election Day, and local races are seeing much of the splintering and fraying one would expect this late in the cycle.
One initiative that’s seeing a wide range of buy-in in the election isMeasure H, the $140 million affordable housing bond.
“We’ll be able to provide housing to seniors, veterans, farm workers, the people who make our community work,” says Alina Harway, communications director for the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH). “I don’t think there’s any doubt from anyone in the community that we have an affordable housing crisis. What’s exciting to me about Measure H is that input came from so many different places.” Harway, who lives in Scotts Valley, notes that the process included groups from Santa Cruz For Bernie to the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau.
Three-quarters of the cash from the 35-year bond would go toward building an estimated 1,041 brand new affordable units. The rest would fund homeless facilities and go toward assistance for first-time home buyers.
Some homeowners, like activist Becky Steinbruner, argue that Measure H would tack an unfair burden onto property tax bills, putting a squeeze on low-income seniors.
Harway, who happens to be a new home owner herself, stresses that under the measure many seniors will qualify for the state’s Low Income Senior Property Tax Deferral Program. It also would provide relief to seniors who rent, she says.
Besides Measure H, there are only two other local measures with any opposition, one of them beingMeasure M, Santa Cruz’s rent control initiative (see our previous coverage).
No one should expect rent control alone to suddenly turn Santa Cruz into a cheap town to live in. Some research has shown that the policy has provided an excuse for landlords in other cities to take units off the market, often by converting them to owner-occupied condominiums. Generally speaking, that can inflate other portions of the rental market and create big price jumps whenever a vacant unit appears on listings. Studies, released in recent months, have since added nuance to such findings, if not thrown them into question altogether.
What rent control can do is help out Santa Cruz residents, including lower-income ones, who are living in older apartment buildings—i.e. complexes built before 1995—by preventing their rents from continuing to sky-rocket. And if the statewide Proposition 10 manages to pass (it’s trailing badly in the polls), those protections could extend to all homes in Santa Cruz city limits.
In Capitola,Measure L, backed by the trail-oriented nonprofit Greenway, would change the city’s transportation laws pertaining to the proposed rail trail project that could one day stretch from Davenport to Watsonville. The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is currently studying a plan to introduce rail transit on the corridor, a direction supported by Friends of the Rail and Trail (FORT), which opposes Measure L.
Greenway, though, wants a wider bike and pedestrian trail with no train, citing estimated train costs and ridership numbers, as well as the corridor’s narrowness and engineering challenges. Some of those challenges are in Capitola, where an aging 200-foot bridge would likely not be able to accommodate an added trail. This particular initiative would mandate that planners do not reroute the trail off the corridor anywhere in Capitola. Opponents, including FORT Chair Mark Mesiti-Miller and City Councilmember Stephanie Harlan, argue that Measure L would unnecessarily tie the city’s hands—conflicting with existing city law, while creating a potential standoff with the RTC and even throwing the status of unrelated bike projects into question.
There are nine other local measures—the most notable beingMeasure G, the local sales tax measure, and the only countywide initiative besides Measure H. The county measure would raise the sales tax to 9 percent, no higher than it is elsewhere in the county. A Santa Cruz measure raised the city’s sales tax to 9.25 percent this past June. Although the measure appears on all local ballots, it would only raise the rate in the unincorporated area. It would fund improvements to parks, homeless services and mental health offerings.
Capitola is one of three cities looking to pass a transient occupancy tax (TOT) this November withMeasure J. Most of this lodging tax increase would go to miscellaneous general fund expenses—basically offsetting increasing pension costs for retirees and preventing deep cuts elsewhere in the city. Twenty percent of the money would go to support off-season marketing efforts in a gesture intended to negate costs to the business community, while another 18 percent would go toward youth and early childhood programs, providing a small boost to programs currently funded by Capitola’s general fund. Because it’s a specialty tax, Measure J will need a two-thirds vote to pass.
There are two other TOTs on local ballots: Measure O in Watsonville, which would raise its TOT to 12 percent, andMeasure P in Scotts Valley, which would raise its lodging tax to 11 percent. Both need majority votes to pass. The subtext for all these TOT and sales tax measures has to do with pension costs, which are rising statewide. The projected growth in the investments that backed the pension portfolios was unrealistically rosy, and, rather than dealing with it, the state kicked the costs down to local governments.
There are three local parcel taxes—each needing 55 percent in order to pass—including Scotts Valley’sMeasure A, which would charge $108 per parcel of property and raise $820,000 annually toward maintaining programs and keeping up with technology needs, as well as attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers and counselors over five years. In Soquel Union Elementary School District,Measure B,a six-year funding plan, would approve a tax of $96 per parcel and raise a total of $820,000 in order to retain and attract teachers, while avoiding program cuts. La Selva Recreation District’sMeasure P tax would allow a tax of $50 per parcel, raising $40,000 each year for clubhouse upgrades and other district improvements.
There are two other Capitola initiatives:Measure I, which would raise Capitola’s cannabis business tax from 10 to 12 percent, andMeasure K to consider eliminating the city treasurer as an elected position—something most jurisdictions did years ago. Seeing as Capitola already has a finance director, Peter Wilk, the current treasurer, argues the position would be better filled by an appointment, if it’s needed at all.
