People driving through Watsonville recently may have noticed a handful of signs throughout the city, which call for the recall or firing of City Manager Tamara Vides.
The signs were put up by real estate developer Raeid Farhat, who says he believes Vides is an ineffectual leader. He says his intention in placing the signs was merely to bring attention to that.
And while the city manager is appointed by the city council and cannot therefore be recalled, he hopes to drum up interest in replacing councilmembers when four seats come up for reelection next year. Those members, he says, may be more inclined to fire her.
Farhat says that Watsonville residents are frustrated with homelessness, dirty streets and a lack of economic development, among other things.
“The only way this is going to get better is with a leadership change,” he says.
But Vides says that Farhat’s campaign started almost immediately after the city held up his 49-unit development project at 221 Airport Blvd. over non-payment of impact fees.
In a press release, the city says that the city was requiring Farhat to pay nearly $1 million in impact fees before tenants would be allowed to move in.
“The developer has demanded that the City allow temporary or partial occupancy prior to him paying all of his fees, as is required by the contract,” the press release says. “As of the date of this press release, the developer has not requested a final inspection to obtain occupancy for the units, which must occur before the outstanding project fees are due.”
Impact fees are one-time charges to developers that are used to fund infrastructure improvements, public safety initiatives and community programs.
Farhat says that he has been able to pay fees for units when they were ready for occupancy in past developments.
This time, however, when he went to pay fees for water meters and impact fees—more than $85,000—for 32 units that were ready and receive Temporary Certificates of Occupancy, the city demanded fees to be paid for all 49 units before any permits were issued—more than $1.19 million.
“We’ve never asked for anything that hasn’t been given in the past,” he said. “I’ve been developing in this town for 25 years, and we’ve always paid our bills.”
Vides, however, says that one of those past developments—a 16-unit project on Marin Street behind the Target shopping center—resulted in litigation.
That project was completed in 2020.
“The city had to sue him to collect the fees,” she said. “The city prevailed, but we spent several thousands of dollars collecting what we were entitled to collect.”
Farhat says that the question of the fees is now moot, since he plans to pay all of them in full, and that he expects tenants to move in starting in March.
“I have never told the city manager, her staff, or anyone else that I do not intend to pay the required impact fees,” he says. “I have never asked for a discount or requested that any fees be waived. I fully understand the purpose of these fees, the rationale behind them, and their importance to the city’s operations and infrastructure.”
That, Vides says, is part of the agreement with the city.
“He has a contract that very clearly states that his developer fees—impact fees—for the city are payable at the time of occupancy in full,” she says. “And that’s something he has been disputing.”
Nearly eight years after taking the helm at Cabrillo College, President Matt Wetstein has announced his retirement.
Wetstein will work through Dec. 31 to allow the Board of Trustees time to hire a new president, the college announced in a press release on Monday.
The Cabrillo College Governing Board will establish a search committee and will begin the process of initiating a search for the next president, with plans for that person to begin work in January 2026.
During a phone call Tuesday, Wetstein praised the faculty, leadership and students.
“I’ve loved it here at Cabrillo,” he said. “It’s a great environment. It’s been a great run.”
He said that, after a career in education that spanned three decades, he is looking forward to spending time with his wife, traveling and going on hikes.
While Wetstein’s departure just seven years after he started may seem abrupt, Cabrillo College Governing Board Chair Adam Spickler pointed out that the average length of time for a college president to stay is three years or fewer.
Before Wetstein, President Laurel Jones served from 2013 to 2018.
Among the manifold duties of the position, Spickler said, are addressing public concerns and handling issues with personnel, the governing board, staff and students.
In addition, college leaders must be adept at navigating the complex politics of state funding that focuses on new students and places less emphasis on returning students and older, “lifelong learners,” Spickler said.
“It is a grueling job,” he said. “We have to be creative about staying viable, and Matt’s been pivotal at that.”
Spickler also praised Wetstein for his response to the twin disasters of the Covid-19 pandemic and the CZU fires, establishing the college as an evacuation point and temporary shelter.
“Cabrillo College was one of our premier places where I didn’t have to worry about a darn thing,” Spickler said.
“He’s been excellent for the college in a number of ways, and it’s going to be incredibly big shoes to fill.”
Before he came to Cabrillo, Wetstein served for six years as the assistant superintendent/vice president of instruction and planning at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton. Before that, he taught political science at San Joaquin Delta College, and also served as the dean of planning and research. He is a statewide leader in the Research and Planning Community for California Community Colleges, having spent six years on the board of that organization and two years as president. He is the co-author of three books on the Canadian Supreme Court, one book on abortion politics in the U.S., and has published more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles on judicial behavior, abortion politics and community college student success. After his retirement, he plans to relocate to Stockton, California, where he and his wife have a residence.
Wetstein’s Accomplishments
Source: Cabrillo College
• Hiring full-time faculty to increase the College’s offerings in programs such as welding, nursing, ethnic studies and community health, and to expand mental health services for students.
• Leading Cabrillo College and the establishment of emergency shelters during the CZU wildfires (2020), and floods in Pajaro (2023).
• Leading the College through the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as the incident commander in Cabrillo’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), keeping students, faculty and staff safe, and navigating successful pivots to online instruction and back to in-person learning.
• Guiding the creation of and serving on Cabrillo’s Hispanic Serving Institution Task Force and Leadership Team, resulting in faculty and staff development, increased funding for community events, and the hiring of a bilingual marketing professional.
• Serving on a statewide taskforce related to college affordability, food and housing needs that generated policy briefs that shaped basic needs legislation and funding for affordable housing.
• Providing direction for grants initiatives that brought more than $14 million in federal funding to the college.
• Helping the Cabrillo Foundation staff grow the College’s endowment by nearly $30 million.
• Leading a renaissance of public art on the College’s two campuses, by securing funding for murals, sculptures and performing arts events.
• Serving as a Tri-Chair of the Central Coast K-16 Education Consortium, which infused $18 million in state funds into the region for economic recovery efforts in career pathways focused on health care and computer science and engineering.
• Advocating at the state level for changes to the student-centered funding formula, which creates inequitable per-student funding rates across California’s community colleges.
• Leading the Board of Trustees and College through community learning and listening sessions related to the proposed name change for the College.
• Serving on several nonprofit boards in Santa Cruz County, including: Agri-Culture, the Santa Cruz County Business Council, the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Cruz Symphony, the Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation Advisory Board, and United Way, and serving as a member of the Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club.
• Being named the Aptos Chamber of Commerce 2019 Man of the Year, and the 2024 Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year.
• Working with state legislators and UCSC to secure $111.7 million in state bond funding to launch the 624-bed Cabrillo College and UCSC affordable student housing project, which is on schedule for a groundbreaking in fall 2025.
“We think that we are entering a phase where there will be more damaging earthquakes in the future.” —Stanford geophysicist Kurt Hickman
Geologists may cringe at my anthropomorphism; I’m trying to get a feel for what shaped these mountains we call home. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake’s rupture was 296 miles along the San Andreas Fault; it moved like an uncomfortable Mother Earth had shrugged her shoulders 32 feet to the side.
The ephemeral 1989 quake was much shorter; the tear was 26 miles but much deeper, 11 miles deep. This gave the two tectonic plates sliding past each other a vertical component, as if for 20 seconds Mother Earth was lifting her butt to realign her sitting bones. As we are experiencing from climate change, when Mom is uncomfortable, all hell breaks loose.
Touring the Rupture
An earthquake epicenter is the part of the earth’s surface directly above the focus of the rupture. So, why hike to the Loma Prieta earthquake epicenter? Maybe we just want to be able to say, “Yeah, I peed there.” Or maybe to get a sense of how our mountains move underneath us.
When the congenial geologist Dwight Harbaugh said he would join our group on a walking and seismic-talking tour up the Loma Prieta Trail, word of the hike spread through my hiking group as if by underground rumbling. The geologist can hold a sandstone rock and mesmerize you for 15 minutes with the story of how that rock got there. His passion to ponder the mysteries of the Santa Cruz Mountains is infectious and we’re all excited to hike with him.
Ben Rice, Dwight Harbaugh and Thom Zajac walk through one of the deep cuts in the Loma Prieta Mountain that the Southern Pacific Railroad made to accommodate the trains of the 1880s. PHOTO: Richard Stockton
We plan to rendezvous at the Aptos New Leaf Market at 9am on a Saturday. I over-worry the traffic on Highway 1 and arrive a half hour early. I walk through New Leaf to marvel with sticker-shock at all the boutique, organic food. I choose a sandwich and listen to the young cashier tell me his New Year’s resolutions. They sound like a to-do list for the first week of January. I tell the cashier that I heard of a woman who opened a fitness club called Resolutions.
“It has exercise equipment for the first week and for the rest of the year she turns it into a bar.”
The cashier stares at me and finally says, “You’re making a point. There is no bar called Resolutions.”
“No.”
I make a resolution to try not to be such a curmudgeon. I’d better go take a hike.
Mapping the Faults
I walk outside at 9 and of course geologist Dwight Harbaugh is precisely on time; time is his game, albeit a very long game. Ben Rice and Sleepy John Sandidge show up uncharacteristically late due to John’s early morning bout with an exploding jar of pasta sauce. Boy, is his face red. His shoes as well.
Santa Cruz literary lion Wallace Baine arrives with his author wife, Tina, on his arm, and Santa Cruz Comic News publisher Thom Zajac shows up with his latest graphic creation, a map of the Santa Cruz Mountains, colored by elevation. Thom unrolls his panel on the New Leaf sidewalk and we ooo and aah as Dwight points to where the fault lines run that combined to create the earthquake of 1989.
Graphic art panel of the Santa Cruz Mountains, colored by elevation. The brightest yellow area shows the highest point in Santa Cruz County, Loma Prieta Peak. Panel created by Thom Zajac
Thom Zajac’s graphic of the mountains shows Loma Prieta Peak, the highest point in the Santa Cruz Mountains, towering over rugged country, and we consider that the trail we’re going to be climbing or descending is 6.0 miles out and back. Sleepy John is concerned about being able to make the full hike, and my left knee is speaking to me about the distance as well.
We are through hikers, meaning after six miles we’re through. There are those of you who leisurely do 20 miles in six hours and throw in some rock climbing to crack a sweat, but our hikes are easy-to-moderate day hikes. We do like to throw the ball farther than we can walk to catch it, and the farther Sleepy John and I walk in the damp, overcast morning, the warmer our stiff joints get. One joint in particular helps us forget about the stiff ones.
Feeling like we want to ask, “That’s it? A sign in some poison oak?”, we cast off our waddlesome sloth and turn towards the longer walk to the earthquake epicenter. PHOTO: Richard Stockton
The trail starts with a wide, well-graded road that uses the old railroad grade that the Southern Pacific Railroad built in the 1880s to harvest the biggest trees on earth. Dwight explains that the slope is gentle because the old trains could not handle more than a 3% grade. To build these railroads, the Irish would drink whiskey; the Chinese would smoke opium. We speculate on what we would medicate with if we were building it today.
“Coffee and weed! The poor man’s cocaine!”
“Cocaine! The broke man’s coffee and weed!”
My construction worker buddies tell me if John Henry were alive today and needed medicine to whop that steel on down, it would probably be an opioid.
We stop in a section of road that is a deep cut into the mountain and can see layers of sediment and marine fossils. Dwight explains, “This part of the county is underlain by the Purisima Formation, consisting of 3-million-year-old shallow marine deposits formed on the continental shelf, of clam shell fossils and fine sediment from the erosion of adjacent land. Over time—lots of it—the Purisima was uplifted and is now exposed. In 1989 it took the Loma Prieta earthquake 20 seconds to lift the land 20 inches.”
Geologist Dwight Harbaugh, showing us marine fossils that prove this rock was created on the ocean floor and pushed up to help form the mountain. PHOTO: Richard Stockton
Whose Fault Is This?
The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, with a magnitude of 6.9, occurred due to forces along the San Andreas Fault. This fault is a transform boundary where the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate slide past each other horizontally. On Oct. 17, 1989, at 5:04pm, the Loma Prieta earthquake shook the ground from Monterey Bay to the north of San Francisco. It knocked down part of the Bay Bridge, collapsed a section of freeway in Oakland, destroyed much of Santa Cruz’s Pacific Garden Mall and stopped the 1989 World Series. It caused 62 deaths, 3,757 injuries and more than $6 billion in damages.
Historically, the San Andreas is the most studied fault on earth. That was before people started studying whose fault it was that place kicker Jake Moody’s extra point in the 2024 Super Bowl was blocked, causing the 49ers to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs.
When we look at what’s to blame for the Loma Prieta earthquake, it’s the San Andreas’ fault, where the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate meet. Dwight explains that the earthquake was caused by the two tectonic plates slipping and sliding in opposite directions, with a strong vertical component as well.
Ben Rice’s photo of Sleepy John that allegedly records his demise. Sleepy John was reported to have died with his boots on and pasta sauce on his face. Photo: Ben Rice
Dwight tells us that locally quarried granite used as road gravel is basically the tail of the Sierras that got cut off by the San Andreas Fault. When we finished the short hike to the old town mill site of Loma Prieta, we discover that what remains is a sign that says this is the old town mill site of Loma Prieta.
Ben took a photo of Sleepy John that shows him apparently crushed underneath a fallen tree. No such luck, but John did lose his voice later that day. Imagining the radio legend without a voice feels like standing on the edge of an abyss that echoes distant calls for song requests.
We almost make it to the epicenter, which is slightly east of the Zayante Fault, but the final path to it is closed for now. Dwight tells us we wouldn’t see much anyway because the quake did not cause a rupture at the epicenter surface.
The final leg to the epicenter is closed today, but Dwight tells us we wouldn’t see much anyway because the quake did not cause a rupture at the epicenter surface. PHOTO: Richard Stockton
On the way back down, I see Wallace and Tina walking far ahead of us, together in ambulatory solitude. They are talking, each leaning a bit toward the other as they speak. I am reminded of a Thomas Benhard quote: “There is nothing more revealing than to see a thinking person walking, just as there is nothing more revealing than to see a walking person thinking.”
How to Get There
Take the Aptos Creek Trail in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. The hike is about 6 miles out and back. It is mostly a gently graded road, the sign marking the epicenter is about 0.6 miles east of the fire road intersection.
In the winter, the upper parking lot is closed, so you can park at the lower parking lot on Aptos Creek Road and hike the first mile to the trailhead. Dogs are allowed on the trail on leash.
Please check the parks.ca.gov website. As I write this, I notice they currently have the Aptos Creek Trail closed due to storm damage and erosion.
For more info about Thom Zajac’s Santa Cruz Mountains Art: ba*****@*****on.com
If there is a frequency at which love is conveyed in song, then Neko Case can reach it.
“It’s the intention that carries it,” she corrects my metaphysics over email.
In her new memoir, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You, the well-regarded singer and musician calls her voice “a blunted point of a shape.” She’s speaking pejoratively, but many music critics have seen it as her signature power. “Lungs for days Dollywood boom,” Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork wrote. “Seems like it might level buildings,” gushed Will Hermes of Rolling Stone.
That voice has filled every recess and cranny in the Rio Theatre several times on her album tours, but Saturday it will serve a different purpose. She’ll be there reading from her memoir for an event presented by Bookshop Santa Cruz, co-sponsored by Streetlight Records and the Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz. The evening will be emceed by UCSC alumna Kate Schatz, Bay Area author of the Rad Women series with illustrator Miriam Klein Stahl.
Case is “shocked” to hear that many artists skip Santa Cruz as a flyover city between tour stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
“I love the staff at the Rio Theater,” she says. “It’s a home away from home. I love taking walks in the neighborhoods and running my hands through the huge rosemary bushes who love it there too.”
Case’s voice on the page reads much like her lyrics: brimming with synesthesiac elements, psychedelic passages infused with the power of myth, anthropomorphizing animals and animalizing humans.
During a section devoted to uncanny sights on late-night tour drives, when most of the human world is asleep but the wildlife are wide awake, she writes with a naturalist’s reverence and awe at “drifts of delicate-looking pronghorns, Oklahoma scissor-tailed flycatchers, giant Montana porcupines…pelicans suddenly rising like a swarm of army choppers over a sea cliff in Santa Cruz.”
From page three on, a beast stalks this narrative: an illustrated icon as section break, drawn in a Paul Klee style as a single line, like a desaturated neon sign of fused glass. At first I thought it was the titular creature of her seminal album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Moving through the memoir becomes a game of I Spy.
“Could this be it?” you ask yourself when an animal appears. Thumb back to the icon. Squint.
After all, there is an inexplicable two-way tractor beam that runs between animals and Case. Even her first rock venue experience as a spectator was animal-centric: the defunct Gorilla Gardens, in Seattle’s Chinatown, where she saw bands such as D.O.A., Nomeansno, the Fastbacks and the Accüsed.
The icon is a layout choice that could have easily been the classic three asterisks, but it’s also the “psychopomp” from the Slavic tales her Ukrainian family spins: our guide through this textual labyrinth. For a first-time author, Case dangles reveals expertly, punctuating with cliffhangers, although she tells me those story mechanics were “juried by very experienced writers and editors.” There’s a high degree of difficulty in pausing her otherwise linear chronology for “If I only knew then what I know now” adult bias and “I was about to find out” baiting that’s so tantalizing it’s almost grating. The beast is one of those secrets, and I won’t reveal its identity here.
I say beast, but that’s me confusing animals with beasts again. Case sets us straight.
Sexual assault dogs her family like a curse—the reader must know that going in. “A violent force breathing hard behind us,” she calls it. Graphic detail is spare, but there’s a menace hanging over every page. It is not used as plot fulcrum, around which the entire narrative balances, and that narrative doesn’t position itself as a survivor’s triumph. Case finds lessons to be disingenuous as they relate to trauma because they assume causation, when life arcs are rarely that clean.
As she writes, sometimes there is a “senseless brutality that finds you.”
The Green River Killer haunts her regional TV news. Bullies swagger into her life as spectral forces and the company she does not consent to keep, an axis of exes of family members who tragicomically assume they’re going to be around forever.
ZOOLOGY Neko Case’s memoir anthropomorphizes animals and animalizes humans. IMAGE: Contributed
And yet the ones she wants to stick around—her too-young mother and father, who take turns showing her how childless they wish they were—she is forced to chase.
Are her parents the unnamed second person in The Harder I Fight The More I Love You? Is the “fight” her perpetual pursuit of them?
That’s highly intimated, never confirmed. She writes of them: “The ways to be unwanted were inexhaustible.”
Each parent operates on a sliding scale of indifference, dictated by circumstance and need, but it’s her mother who is a “grifter” with affection as her confidence trick, and Case keeps unwittingly playing her mark.
You’d have to be made out of stone, Dear Reader, not to wince at line after heartbreaking line:
“She was the country I was from.”
“[I was] a kid attached to her by a long, ratty kite string she wanted to snip.”
“I would’ve arranged myself to die in an angel’s shape all to make her love me.”
That one made me close the book and take some muted breaths before I could resume. Your tolerance may vary.
Is it her life she’s had to fight for? She spends a lot of it bereft and adrift, and there are periods of ideation interrupted by creative bliss.
The fight could also be with her body. She struggled with her desires and interests when it came to her gender. When her first crushes hit, she’s dismayed to be attracted to humans in the first place, rather than being able to carry on her love affair with horses: “Part of me felt betrayed by my own biology.”
A “semi-genderless kid” who tomboyed to her heart’s content, in the chaos of young adulthood she longs to “unknot my chromosomes and braid them into something else.” Restoring cars and playing drums, which she does before learning tenor guitar, become a kind of rebellion.
Before she knew what kind of music she wanted to make, she fell hard for others’: Blondie’s “punk Morricone disco” and Loretta Lynn, who used to perform just one town over from hers in Washington. “Loving someone else’s art can give you a ride at least halfway to where you’re trying to go,” she writes.
On her way to that distant destination comes the reward for the reader in Chapter 20, “Enter the Glamour of a Life in Music.” This is the grand unfurling, where the trickster wit we fell in love with in her lyrics and stage banter is cranked to 11 on the amp, and what follows is the most biting, hilarious takedown (if a loving one) of a day in the life of a nameless-to-famous musician on tour. Effigies are burned, pieties are skewered as she “cracks open the stinky duck egg of rock and roll mythology.”
The chapter is so juicy, so nourishing, so unlike the tone or figurative language of everything that came before, it made me wish that the entire book had been in that style, and yet who am I to say? With this subject matter, how would that be done? It’s a bit like wanting someone raised in a North Pole bunker to set their biography on a tropical island. They wouldn’t have the vocabulary.
But if she expanded this chapter for her next book, went as wide as she could, it could easily be the Kitchen Confidential of the musician world. After all, Anthony Bourdain grew that mighty oak from his initial New Yorker piece, “Don’t Eat Before Reading This,” not of dissimilar size.
While we wait for that opus, here is her first book to absorb, humming with lines like these:
“Our voices are just lassos connecting us, carrying our love…back and forth to each other.”
Neko Case appears at 7pm on Feb. 7 at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets: $37.25.
Thousands of people filled the streets in downtown Watsonville Monday afternoon, waving Mexican flags, carrying signs and chanting, all in observance of a Day Without Immigrants, one of numerous protests nationwide against the hardline immigration policies enacted by the new presidential administration.
Staying home from work, closing for the day and not shopping are seen as ways to show communities across the country what the absence of immigrants looks like.
Indeed, Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture CEO Shaz Roth described the “eerie quiet” she experienced driving to work in the morning.
“Usually it’s just a zoo in front of my office,” she said. “Today is like a holiday.”
Many restaurants were closed all along Main Street in Watsonville, in addition to grocery stores and other retail businesses.
One of these was the Slice Project, the pizzeria at 300 Main St. “As sons of immigrants we stand in solidarity with our community to make a statement against the current immigration laws and policies being enforced,” the business stated in a Facebook post.
“We want to encourage you to refrain from going to work, attending school, or shopping to highlight the immigrant communities vital role in the economy. We not only add economic value, but we bring culture and love to our communities,” the post said.
Teachers in Pajaro Valley Unified School District were reporting that more than 50% of their students were absent.
In an emailed statement, PVUSD Superintendent Heather Contreras said there was an increase in absences, but emphasized that schools are still a safe place for students, and encouraged them to come.
“Every day in school matters for our students’ learning and growth. We encourage families to prioritize attendance as we continue to support and celebrate our diverse community here at PVUSD,” Contreras said.
Leticia Ruvacalba and her husband briefly considered closing the little taqueria they own in Plaza Vigil on Monday.
But such a move was not financially feasible, she said: “We have a lot of bills to pay.”
Sitting in La Misma Taqueria later that afternoon, Ruvacalba was glad they made that decision. Many people came in to eat. “Everyone is going to be hungry,” she said.
Ruvalcaba is a U.S. resident. But she, along with many in the immigrant community, have been in a state of uncertainty since the reelection of Donald Trump, who made mass deportation a cornerstone of his campaign.
News outlets across the nation have increasingly reported on enforcement actions by immigration officers. In a Facebook post on Sunday, the city of Seaside said that ICE agents were there looking for two people with “recent violent charges.” No arrests were made, and no raids occurred, the post said.
Many people are afraid to leave their homes, Ruvalcaba said, which until Monday has impacted her business.
“It’s getting worse and worse, and now I’m getting worried,” she said, fighting tears.
“It’s just too much. There are going to be a lot of families separated, and he doesn’t understand what he’s doing.”
Watsonville Mayor Maria Orozco said that the day was a “call for action for our community in the city of Watsonville.
“I have a really heavy heart,” Orozco said. “I am not personally scared, but I know our undocumented community is, and I really fear for them and I do feel for them. I don’t want families to be separated.”
The protest, Orozco said, was a way to show support of the immigrant community throughout the nation, and an appreciation for the work they do.
“And I think more importantly, we’re recognizing the impact we have on a daily basis and to really highlight our contributions to this country that we call home,” she said.
PVUSD Trustee Jessica Carrasco said that she came because she has many immigrants in her family.
“I grew up in a household where we were all blended,” she said. “Some of us had documents and some didn’t. Those are the people I look up to. I am privileged enough that I was born here and I am able to be out here and advocating for them and the people that raised us and took care of us when we were infants, and now it’s our turn to take care of them.”
Carrasco said she was happy to see that the event that drew so many people was coordinated by young people.
“This is a good way to get out here and say, ‘We’re not OK with what’s happening,’” she said. “I understand that there’s laws, but that doesn’t mean that they’re morally right.”
Also, around the Central Coast, large protests were reported in Salinas, Seaside, Castroville and about 50 people protested at Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz.
Above and below, crowds in Watsonville came out to support immigrants. PHOTOS: Tarmo Hannula
When wildfires threaten California communities, a viral lifeline has emerged: the Watch Duty app. This 501(c)(3) nonprofit, hailed by the Washington Post as “an essential app in LA for tracking wildfires,” has become indispensable for millions. With over 1 million downloads in a single week and 100% uptime—unlike the multiple erroneous evacuation notices sent out by government agencies—Watch Duty is setting the gold standard for wildfire awareness. Founder John Clarke Mills describes it as a public service created to address a glaring gap in emergency preparedness.
Mills is no stranger to solving complex problems. With an impressive résumé of stints with Silicon Valley startups, he has made a career of building technology that simplifies life for underserved markets. But Watch Duty stands apart, born not from the boardroom but from the urgency of living off the grid in Sonoma County, where wildfires are a seasonal reality.
“I experienced a bunch of fires where there was just no reliable information,” Mills recalls. “Some fires are so small they’re handled quickly, but you’re still left wondering: ‘What’s going on near my house? Should I pack to evacuate or not?’”
Frustrated by the lack of clear communication, Mills decided to take action. “After being evacuated for seven days during one fire, I spent all night listening to emergency radios, trying to figure out how the system worked. I realized no one was addressing this in a meaningful way.”
For Mills, the turning point came during the 2020 LNU Lightning Complex fires in the North Bay*—the same year the CZU Lightning Complex fire devastated over 80,000 acres in Santa Cruz County. “I discovered people on Facebook and Twitter who were themselves listening to emergency radio traffic and posting updates. They were doing incredible work, but it was fragmented.” Mills’ innovation wasn’t in creating new software but in organizing these citizen reporters into a cohesive network. “I put them in a Slack community where they could collaborate, and the app became the interface for sharing their work with the world.”
At its core, Watch Duty is powered by first-responder radio traffic. “The magic isn’t in the software,” Mills explains. “It’s in the people—volunteers who monitor and relay critical information in real time. Our role is to amplify their efforts and make the data accessible to everyone.”
Despite Watch Duty’s success, Mills is quick to point out that technology alone won’t solve the wildfire crisis. “We need to harden our homes, prepare for fire, and support prescribed burns. Software can’t save us from this. We need better firefighter pay, more engines, and updated alert systems.”
John Clarke Mills emphasizes the importance of individual preparedness: ‘Fire is coming back, and we all need to be ready.’ PHOTO: Jeffrey Packard
Mills moved from New York to California in his early 20s and spent much of his career in San Francisco before relocating to Sonoma County. He attributes his problem-solving mindset to his childhood. “I spent most of my time building things,” Mills says, but when his dad wasn’t around to supervise his use of power tools, he would work on his computer. “I was always making and destroying things for fun, and that carried through to my work in Silicon Valley.”*
Before founding Watch Duty, Mills worked in various industries, including food service technology. “I’ve always been drawn to underserved markets, where people don’t typically get software designed for them. It’s about making technology useful, not cumbersome.”
When asked how Watch Duty stands out from other wildfire apps, Mills’ answer is simple: accuracy and immediacy. “We don’t speculate. We disseminate information directly from professionals. If a first responder says a fire will reach a community in 17 minutes, we relay that information without delay. That’s our commitment to transparency.”
Mills also emphasizes the importance of individual preparedness. “Download Watch Duty. It’s free and takes three minutes. Beyond that, clear brush within five feet of your home, remove larger trees within 20 feet, and prepare a go-bag. Fire is coming back, and we all need to be ready.”
However, Mills acknowledges the economic realities many face. “Some people can’t afford to rebuild after losing their homes. These aren’t celebrities with vacation properties—they’re second- or third-generation homeowners. It’s heartbreaking, and it highlights the need for systemic change.”
As wildfires become more frequent and intense, Mills’ mission remains clear: to provide timely, reliable information and empower communities to take action. “I’m not a weather scientist, but the data speaks for itself. Fires are happening more often, and they’re more wind-driven. The best we can do is prepare.”
Sitting in his forested Sonoma County home, Mills reflects on the journey that brought him here. “I sold my last company and planned to live off the land, building with my hands. Now I’m working 80-hour weeks again, but it’s worth it because I know this matters. No one else was going to figure this out, so I did.”
With Watch Duty, Mills and his team have created more than just an app; they’ve built a lifeline for communities facing the growing threat of wildfires. As Santa Cruz and other regions brace for the next fire season, Mills’ work serves as a powerful reminder: when technology meets community, it can save lives.
*Story updated Feb. 7 to correct biographical details about John Clarke Mills.
That was a nice summary of things happening this week. I do have a couple of comments about your article:
1. In French, “haute” is pronounced as “oat”—not as “hot.” In fact, the H is rarely pronounced, especially at the start of a French word. So, Piping Haute ends up as Piping Oat. Definitely not what was intended. (It’s a common error…like nails on a blackboard…if you remember blackboards.)
2. Eating pizza with a knife and fork is a totally logical thing to do in Italy. Pizzas are served whole and uncut to each person. (Shocked the heck out of my Mom, who expected just a slice or two.) You have to slice it yourself, using your knife and fork. If the pointy end is floppy with toppings or juice, the sensible thing is to eat it with a knife and fork until you reach a part where the slice is sturdy enough to hold with your hand. Folding a slice and eating it while walking down the street is frowned upon because it’s impolite to eat a meal while you’re walking… unless it’s a gelato, which can be considered a meal for some of us.
Thanks much for the info on Pizza Week. It’s about time someone did it! Maybe they’ll come up with Chocolate Week someday.
Stay haute…I mean, hot!
Donna Maurillo
REEFER MADNESS
Supervisor Martinez revealed her true stance on cannabis—one rooted in outdated propaganda and political grandstanding rather than science, community input or economic progress. Channeling the authoritarian playbook of Donald Trump, she disregarded years of work by county staff, ignored the voices of her fellow Board members, and dismissed the overwhelming community support for cannabis lounges.
Supervisor Martinez claimed that the carefully researched and previously approved policy “didn’t pass the smell test.” But whose test is she using? Certainly not that of the voters who fought to legalize cannabis, nor the public health experts who recognize the benefits of regulation over prohibition.
Instead, she paraded the county’s public health team in front of the Board to cherry-pick data and push a fear-driven, Reefer Madness-style narrative. Let’s be clear: Cannabis legalization is not a black-and-white issue, and our community knows this better than most. We’ve been at the forefront of medical cannabis access, decriminalization, and adult-use legalization.
We understand the risks of any substance, but we also recognize that legal, regulated cannabis markets have reduced youth use rates—just ask our Community Prevention Partners. We know cannabis has been shown to reduce opioid-related deaths and has real, science-backed medicinal benefits. Despite all of this, Supervisor Martinez chose to ignore the years of thoughtful work that led us to this moment. Instead of engaging in good-faith discussion, she pulled a move straight out of Trump’s playbook—dismissing community input, steamrolling over established policies, and attempting to reset the clock to impose her personal agenda.
Hardly a day in Santa Cruz goes by that we don’t see some of Jim Phillips’ artwork, whether it’s the Screaming Hand, the Screaming Wave, the orange and yellow jelly bean or concert posters for the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Greg Allman, The Doors and The Surfaris.
But Phillips has been quiet behind the scenes, a mystery to many, especially Santa Cruz newcomers.
Now, there’s a documentary playing at the Rio Theatre that pulls open the curtain and lets us see his colorful and magical mind.
Writer and comedian DNA tells the story of the movie and its director in our cover story and lets you know why this showing is a must-see.
If only for Phillips’ work on surfboards and skateboards, Santa Cruz should be known as the surf capital of California, despite some other cities’ claims to the title.
And his talent is the gift that keeps on giving. His talented son Jimbo has followed the family tradition, as has Jim’s grandson, Colby.
Travel the world and you will spot their work on shirts, bringing global notoriety and fame to our county.
We need some laughs this week.
How about Richard Stockton’s article about Kira Jane Buxton, who will read from her new book at Bookshop Santa Cruz Feb. 13? She’s so funny, he says, he needs profanity to express just how funny. That’s a high water mark, Richard.
Then, there’s Sean Rusev’s story about Neko Case, a singer who breaks the mold. She’s come out with a new book and is talking about it at the Rio Theatre Feb. 7. Last time she was in town to sing, and this talk should give some insights into her mysterious ways.
On the serious side, Elizabeth Borelli has an important feature about Watch Duty, the app that lets you know what’s going on with fires, something we didn’t used to have to think about in the winter, but, as we learned in L.A., they are an omnipresent part of California living.
How about spending the end of Pizza Week at the Santa Cruz Warriors arena, where they are giving free Woodstock pizzas to lucky rows? Get the deets in Mark C. Anderson’s Dining Column this week.
Thanks for reading.
Brad Kava | editor
PHOTO CONTEST
FLASH OF GREEN No, the green flash at sunset and sunrise isn’t a myth. It was captured Jan. 5 on Seacliff Beach. Photograph by Paul Titangos
GOOD IDEA
Singer Ritchie Valens, who was born in Southern California, but whose family moved to Watsonville, is now a bobblehead, according to an announcement around the anniversary of his death on Feb. 3, 1959. Valens, born Richard Steven Valenzuela on May 13, 1941, had hits with “Donna” and “La Bamba.” He died in a plane crash outside Clear Lake, Iowa, a tragedy noted as “the day the music died” in Don McLean’s song “American Pie.” You can buy one at bobbleheadhall.com.
GOOD WORK
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) introduced a package of three bipartisan bills to bolster fire resilience and proactive mitigation efforts. The package includes the Wildfire Emergency Act, to support forest restoration, wildfire mitigation and energy resilience; the Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act, to authorize the removal of trees or other vegetation within existing electrical utility corridors; and the Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act, to further incentivize homeowners to proactively protect their homes from disasters.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Labels, we got you, but do you got us?” —Best New Artist winner Chappell Roan, who had no health insurance when she was dropped by her label, asking the music industry to treat artists fairly.
Imagine this: You’re already feeling lucky because you’re taking the first-ever Santa Cruz Pizza Week seriously—which is ongoing through Feb. 8 (santacruzpizzaweek.com)—and have already eaten your playing weight in dough, cheese, sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, onions, bell peppers, black olives, garlic and anchovies. And extra cheese.
Then you have a seat at the Feb. 7 game between the Santa Cruz Warriors and the Austin Spurs and find out you’re in the “Lucky Row”—which happens four home games a year, and means everyone in your strip of seats gets a large pizza from Woodstock’s Pizza (710 Front St., Santa Cruz) and one of you gets a free pizza a month for a year.
Director of Marketing James Glover thinks it’s a zesty way for two Surf City staples to work together. “I love that the Santa Cruz Warriors are super local-oriented, earn good attendance, and are right down the street from us,” he says, noting Stoked Section season ticket holders get a free slice every game day. “They’re great partners, they’re fun, and they let us be creative.”
So that’s possible. What is also possible, and more likely, is that you have a great time at the game, pizza prizes or not, because on top of an unselfish and up-tempo basketball on the floor, every Wave City Warriors game involves a slew of celebratory action.
On any given night that might include a fundraiser ball toss with hundreds of fans chucking mini basketballs, a miniature bike race, dance contests, shooting showdowns, an ice cream taste test and a free Penny Ice Creamery scoop for all if the Dubs score 100, which triggers the greatest collective foodie cry heard echoing over the streets of downtown Santa Cruz, from announcer Brian Day: “Ice creeeeeeeeeeeeeeam.”
Upcoming home games beyond the Feb. 7 and 8 run-ins with the Spurs are vs. Stockton Kings Feb. 13; vs. Oklahoma City Blue Feb. 21 and 22; and vs. Memphis Hustle Feb. 28 and March 1. santacruz.gleague.nba.com
NEW AND IMPROVED
After just a few days open, Tortilla Shack is doing brisk build-you-own-burrito business 11am–10pm daily (until 9pm Sundays) at 1505 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. Co-owner Quinn Cormier, who also helps direct popular spots Izakaya West End (334 Ingalls St., Unit D, Santa Cruz) and East End Gastropub (1501 41st Ave., Suite I, Capitola), testifies the inspiration came from a chain familiar to many. (Hint: It rhymes with “pistole.”) “We’ve been envisioning a unique dining concept that captures the essence of fast casual dining,” she says. “Drawing from a concept my kids adore—which shall remain nameless!—I see an opportunity to create something similar yet distinctly different. This new venture aims to offer customizable, fresh options that cater to busy families, professionals, and more! All while filling a gap in an underserved area.”
CHOICE CUTS
Keeping with the theme of last month’s look ahead, one more new opening to look forward to: Other Brother Beer Co. #2 (10 Parade St., Suite B, Aptos). The food will rise to the level of the ++ craft beer, and the social schedule—featuring pop-ups, artist fairs, bingo and trivia nights and live music—makes community building a signature outcome, ETA end of year, or even early 2026, otherbrotherbeer.com…Best “Galentine’s Day” idea yet: 3-8pm Feb. 11, The Spa/Fitness Center at Chaminade folds 15-minute spa treatments, a cocktail or mocktail, light bites and hot tub, steam rooms and salt sauna access into a $55 package, chaminade.com…U.S. cottage cheese sales have soared by more than 50% in a half decade; industry trackers think TikTok is why…Yogi Berra, slide us into home: “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”
A Mexican-born chef who fell for sushi, Tavo immigrated 15 years ago at age 17 to attend culinary school. He began working in Japanese restaurants and climbed the promotional ladder from dishwasher to kitchen helper to cook, then finally learned how to cut sushi—which further fostered his love for the craft. He also did front-of-house work, like serving and managing.
Eventually, he came to believe his comprehensive résumé, entrepreneurial mindset and passion for sushi would be best coalesced by starting his own restaurant. The Buzz Sushi is that and also a market, opened four years ago in the heart of downtown. Tavo’s “unique hand-crafted outside-the-box sushi” is served amid a Dragon Ball Z meets contemporary hippie-themed ambiance for onsite dining or grab-and-go.
The special rolls headline, like the Caribbean with shrimp tempura, mango, cucumber, tuna, salmon, avocado, tobiko, and nuts. The Buzz-rito is a representative Mexican/Japanese marriage, with habanero tuna, crispy tortilla and the special secret Buzz Dressing. They also have more traditional options like nigiri and sashimi, as well as a signature vegan fish product made of soy protein, available on the menu as a sushi substitute. Beverage offerings include well-curated teas and juices, and soft-serve ice cream is for dessert.
What made you fall in love with sushi?
TAVO: Because it helped me find my direction in life. The first rolls I made as a sushi chef made me very emotional because I got to express who I am through my artistic creativity. Being a sushi chef has given me not only purpose and direction, but also the financial means to live where I love in Santa Cruz and provide for my family. Ever since I started working with sushi, I knew it was my life’s calling.
Tell me more about this vegan fish product.
I learned how to make vegan fish myself but it is very time-consuming, so now I get it from a company that mentored me on my chef journey. Many people don’t eat raw fish, so this vegan fish is not only delicious, but also a way for people who don’t like raw fish to be able to enjoy a sushi-like experience and savor the Japanese flavors that inspire me. It’s like eating fish, with a very similar taste but with a smoother and silkier texture.
Hardly a day in Santa Cruz goes by that we don’t see some of Jim Phillips’ artwork, whether it’s the Screaming Hand, the Screaming Wave, the orange and yellow jelly bean or concert posters
