Scotts Valley Forges Regional Water Talks

Local News

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March 22, 2017

Scotts Valley Forges Regional Water Talks

The Santa Margarita Basin stretches from Highway 17 to Felton, under the homes and roads of Scotts Valley. The overdrafted aquifer has a few billion gallons of potential water storage capacity, which is more than some experts had imagined.

“It’s nobody’s basin. It just happens to be closer to us,” says Scotts Valley Water District (SVWD) General Manager Piret Harmon. “And it has been identified as a very suitable basin for water storage.”

Environmentalists and engineers have talked over the years about creating a regional water solution to provide long-term sustainability. Normally, that involves the city of Santa Cruz and the Soquel Creek Water District, as laid out in the 2015 Water Supply Advisory Committee (WSAC) recommendations. The basic idea is to rest drying mid-county groundwater wells with excess river water from the city of Santa Cruz that could eventually get pumped back during dry summers when the city is running low—a process sometimes called “conjunctive use.”

But another possibility suggested in those plans—although it garnered considerably less discussion for a long time—is the idea of similarly sharing flows with Scotts Valley. So in the past year, Harmon has been discussing regional solutions not just with Santa Cruz, but also with the neighboring San Lorenzo Valley Water District.

“This is something that’s being encouraged by the state, and we’re a little ahead of the curve. Water rights are a very arcane system,” says SVWD board vice president Chris Perri, who notes that pumping groundwater out of shared basins had gone wildly unregulated for years. “And water districts don’t tend to share well with each other. It goes way back in California. The old joke is that whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.”

Perri—who found local fame in the ’80s playing guitar for Eddie and the Tide—says the problem right now in Santa Cruz County isn’t a shortage of water at all. “It’s just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he says.

Santa Cruz officials and San Lorenzo Valley Water District general manager Brian Lee are in the early stages of studying possible sites at which to inject winter water into the deceptively large basin under Scotts Valley. The SVWD Board also has the option of upgrading its recycled water plant and injecting that highly treated wastewater back into the basin to recharge the aquifer that way. It’s a project with a much heftier price tag, although Harmon will look into seeing if the district can secure grant funding. If successfully done together, these two options could provide a major water reserve.

All this would benefit SLVWD greatly, says Lee, whose board directed him to collaborate with other districts when it hired him two years ago. The water would support San Lorenzo Valley’s wells, and some of it would probably teem out into the mountain streams, too.

“Which is a good thing,” Harmon says, because higher stream flow would support fish habitat and supply a little extra drinking water as it rolls out to sea. “But when it comes to storage, we can’t have 50 percent of the storage constantly leaking.”

The three departments around the Santa Margarita Basin are forming a groundwater sustainability agency, which will begin meeting this year to develop a plan for managing the aquifer.

The Santa Cruz Water District, meanwhile, is near the beginning of a years-long process to study and implement the WSAC recommendations that initially grew out of activists’ fight against a proposed desalination plant. The pilot programs involve several moving parts, with staffers studying a number of questions.

In something of a chemistry experiment, the city’s water department is working with Soquel Creek leaders to create a pipe loop to test how water travels through the plumbing systems of the two agencies, as well as how the water supplies mix. Engineers want to make sure the pipes don’t corrode and the water doesn’t have any bad reactions. Next winter, experts aim to start drilling pilot wells to see how fresh water and underground basins react with one another.

If these options somehow fail to produce enough water at a low enough cost, the WSAC recommendations point the City Council to consider recycled water, with desal as a backup—two options experts are also looking at.

Staffers will finish their tests in the next three years, said Santa Cruz Water Director Rosemary Menard at a joint meeting with the Santa Cruz City Council and the water commission last week. After that, the council will vote on which water supply option to pursue by 2020, and workers will have until 2025 to finish the project.

Greg Pepping, who represented the Coastal Watershed Council on the WSAC, reminded the City Council that, whatever solution the city chooses, it must provide enough water flows to create substantial fish habitat.

David Baskin, another former WSAC member who now serves on the Water Commission, stressed that the council can’t kick this down the road. “The community has known that it had a serious water supply problem for some 50, 60 years. This is not the first time we’ve visited it. But this has to be the time that we actually get there,” Baskin said.

When it comes to recycled water, there are currently no specific guidelines for how to safely and legally distribute it in California. But the State Water Resources Control Board drafted a feasibility report in December, outlining how to develop healthy, foolproof standards for a method, not uncommon in other parts of the world, that’s sometimes known by the more crude nickname “toilet to tap.”

Although Santa Cruz appears to have quite a few water supply options in front of it, the city doesn’t have time to try them out one by one, before moving onto the next idea.

“We can’t do them sequentially,” City Councilmember Cynthia Mathews says. “We have to do them simultaneously in the piloting process.”

Eating Our Way to Better Z’s

Tara Fatemi Walker

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March 22, 2017

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Unfinished to-do lists, worrying my daughter won’t get into all of the summer camps she wants—these are the kinds of thoughts that invade my mind in the middle of the night, when I wake up and can’t fall back asleep.

The National Institutes of Health states that adults need 7.5-9 hours of sleep each night, and most people don’t get it. Getting more sleep can lead to improved moods, more creative problem-solving abilities, and the ability to better handle stress. Other benefits include stronger immune function, fewer sugar cravings and appetite control and reduced risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.

“Eight is great,” said holistic nutritionist Madia Jamgochian during a recent workshop at New Leaf, “Achieving Sound Sleep,” where I’d come to learn about foods, supplements and daily habits for more restful sleep.

“When we sleep it’s the time for our bodies to repair, so it’s very important,” Jamgochian said.

What many of us didn’t realize is that there are certain foods that can help us sleep better. For instance, dried cherries and tart cherry juice contain natural melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy. When people have trouble sleeping, Jamgochian said, it’s often related to hormone imbalance. Antioxidants also help with anti-aging and disease prevention, and a little goes a long way—Jamgochian recommended using one to two teaspoons of juice per eight ounces of water.

Melatonin is also sold as a supplement, but Jamgochian suggests buying this only as a last resort. “By [buying it], you’re supplying your body with it instead of helping your body to produce it,” she said.

With any potential nutrition-related problem, Jamgochian advised, it’s better to start by figuring out what’s going on with your body than to just “throw supplements at it,” which can be the tendency these days. Grass-fed beef, wild game, and turkey are natural sources of the amino acid tryptophan, which can help you sleep.

Most people are deficient in magnesium, says Jamgochian, which is a calming element that relaxes the muscles. Chocolate contains a fair amount of this, and we sampled Lulu’s smoked sea salt almond chocolate. It was delicious, and also happens to be fair-trade, low-glycemic and vegan.

Other foods high in magnesium include walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds and cottage cheese. Raw, sprouted seeds are the most nutritious, said Jamgochian, and she doled out samples of cultured lowfat cottage cheese (by Nancy’s) mixed with a few pumpkin seeds (Living Intentions “activated sprouted seeds”).

To relax the mind, Jamgochian suggested the GABA neurotransmitter, which tells the brain to relax. Vitanica makes a supplement called GABA Ease. Each capsule contains the herb skullcap, which can also help quiet the mind.

Waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble falling back asleep could be a sign of destabilized blood sugar, said Jamgochian. She advised eating half of a banana or a tablespoon of honey. Another tip: because hard-boiled eggs are a good source of protein and fats, if you eat them around dinnertime, they can stabilize blood sugar throughout the night. And, speaking of dinner, it’s important to eat about two to three hours before bed—and no later—to ensure restful sleep.

Film Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’

A&E
Film

Richard von Busack

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March 22, 2017

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During the reign of Louis XVI or thereabouts, pilfering a rose from a cursed castle’s garden is punishable by life imprisonment. The castle’s owner is an ornery, hairy and horned monster (Dan Stevens). But he’ll accept a substitute prisoner, like loyal daughter Belle (Emma Watson), who arrives to ransom her father (Kevin Kline) and take his place.

One of the blandest, most nervous and most cluttered fairy tale movies that Disney has ever released—Bill Condon’s redo is a rococo La La Fantasyland, complete with sort-of dancing and auto-tuned singing. It’s stagebound, with the 3D providing depth of field at a cost of blurry color; on the bright side, it recreates the format’s original appeal by aiming a lot of projectiles at the audience’s eyes.

It’s loaded with the stodgy rhyming dictionary-heavy lyrics from Disney’s 1991 animated feature, Beauty and the Beast. It has been a quarter of a century since the cartoon version came out. A remake isn’t unwarranted, even if there are fans who considered the animated version superfluous, on the grounds that Jean Cocteau’s 1946 version is one of the most priceless gems in the trove of cinema. The integrated cast is an admirable touch, though Kenneth Branagh got little attention 20 years ago for doing this in his Hamlet.

One is grateful for the harrumphing Ian McKellan as an attendant changed into a clock. Josh Gad’s gay buddy LeFou is a feature, not a bug. The hot topic of his gayness is hotter to those who never attended the careers of Edward Everett Horton and David Wayne as the best friend types in classic musicals. While LeFou angers all the right people, it doesn’t change the basic uninteresting dynamic of this romance.

The movie sprints between the castle and the village, but there’s no way to cut around Emma Watson’s inexperience as a leading lady—this perennial girl next door doesn’t have the incandescence to light up this movie. She’s maternal, not ardent, and she never really wrestles with her feelings. (Stevens’ beast roars and leaps, but he’s a big softy; there are teddy bears that have more masculine threat.)

Condon sources Busby Berkeley to the “Be Our Guest” number, with plates and napkins whirling in formation; the tune salutes the bending over backwards required in a service economy, honoring the servant who longs to serve. One never feels the sorrow or anger of humans turned into objects just because they were at the wrong place and the wrong time. The ADD franticness of this enchanted supper could be contrasted with the pensiveness of Alison Sudal whipping up the strudel out of the air in Fantastic Beasts.

At one point, a magic book in the Beast’s library leads Belle and the Beast to a garret inside a Montmartre windmill, and the exteriors of Paris at night are as foreboding as a Gustave Dore illustration—it’s some of the only original material in this remake, a rare instance of surprise in this movie.

Beauty and the Beast

Directed by Bill Condon. Starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens and Luke Evans. PG. 129 mins.

Santa Cruz’s Warming Center Brings Deeper Look at Homelessness

Cover Stories

Matthew Renda

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March 21, 2017

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Santa Cruz’s Warming Center Brings Deeper Look at Homelessness

Dee is 65 years old, and has lived on the streets of Santa Cruz for years. She doesn’t fit into the popular narrative of a Santa Cruz homeless population comprised of transients with hands out as they pass through, but she’s not interested in setting anyone straight. Nor does she want sympathy. She simply wants to be left alone.

“I don’t like being around that many people,” says Dee, who asked that her last name not be used. “It’s safer to be alone.”

However, Dee does rely on the assistance of her friends, particularly after she broke her hip in December, making mobility an issue. For the most part, Dee has braved the elements this winter without the benefit of shelter.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” she says. “I have a poncho, and I like the rain.”

But one night in February, the mercury was supposed to touch 33 degrees overnight, and combined with the rain and the pain in her hip, she knew she wouldn’t sleep.

“If you can’t sleep, you can’t function,” she says.

So she followed the advice of her friend Ernie Keller, another homeless resident of Santa Cruz, and headed to the Red Church—the nickname for the downtown Calvary Episcopal Church—where a makeshift shelter called the Warming Center has been established to react to such an event.

“I needed to be inside, and Ernie told me we could go to the Red Church,” Dee says. “They treated me very well.”

Keller has lived in Santa Cruz since 1955, when he was 10 years old. He has been homeless for years, ever since he developed vision problems and was declared legally blind, limiting his employment options.

He says Dee is his friend and he was glad he could help her out on a night that could have been dangerous.

Their stories are not uncommon in the homeless community, says Nancy Krusoe, a volunteer with the Warming Center Program.

“Santa Cruz is full of myths about homeless people,” Krusoe says. “There is a fear of homeless people, but they have so much more to fear than we do.”

Krusoe said her three-year stint as a volunteer has taught her more about class issues than all of her years teaching at UCSC.

“Contempt for poor people runs really deep,” she says. “It’s really hard to cross that line, to break that barrier.”

But breaking that barrier is exactly what the Warming Center hopes to do. Set to be honored at this week’s NEXTies as Nonprofit of the Year for its work in the community, the Warming Center was conceived and is run by Brent Adams, one of the most passionate homeless advocates in Santa Cruz.

Adams started the center three years ago after several homeless individuals died of exposure during a particularly brutal cold snap in the Bay Area.

“I realized we were not doing enough to help people who were dying outside,” Adams says.

Krusoe traces the origins of the Warming Center back to a planned protest camp set up outside the county building, which she says was cancelled at the eleventh hour when officials pulled the permit. After the initial disappointment, Adams and others turned their attention to more pragmatic fixes.

“Protests and protest camps weren’t an effective strategy, so we decided we needed a more hands-on approach,” he says.

Thus was born the Warming Center.

Leap of Faith

With no government funding, Adams relies on a crew of volunteers like Krusoe. The organization has forged deals with three churches—Calvary Episcopal, Peace United on High Street, and the Quaker Meeting House on Rooney Street—which provide floor space to host up to 100 people.

“We wanted to give people safe, dignified places to sleep,” Adams says.

The Warming Center also provides soup at night, and coffee, soup and pastries in the morning.

Blankets, coats, ponchos and other donated items are distributed to those who want them.

This winter was marked more by persistent rain than cold temperatures, but the Warming Center still opened for more than two dozen nights. They do so when overnight temperatures are below 35 degrees, or when overnight rain combines with temperatures that dip below 40 degrees.

While 25 nights may not seem like many over the course of a long winter, even those stretched the Warming Center’s $10,000 budget (a number which may have increased after the group raised money through GT’s Santa Cruz Gives program last year.) Gives Adams is careful not to overtax his team of volunteers, bringing them in for three-hour “bite-sized” shifts.

Krusoe and the other volunteers, meanwhile, marvel at Adams’ work ethic and dedication to the project.

“He doesn’t take any breaks,” she says.

Aside from managing the volunteers and their shifts, and picking up volunteers in his RV when they have to be shuttled to the churches on Rooney or High Street, Adams and his helpers also deliver fliers to members of the homeless community to alert them of imminent cold nights and urge them to make use of the Warming Center.

Another reason for the 25-night slate for the Warming Center is that its central purpose is to function as overflow for the county-funded winter shelter, which operates more consistently—every night after December 1.

That shelter is operated by the Association of Faith Communities of Santa Cruz County (AFC).

In the wake of this dramatic hit to the county’s homeless services, Santa Cruz County and the cities of Scotts Valley, Capitola and Santa Cruz came together to allocate about $360,000 for a homeless shelter to operate in the winter months. These are not pass-through dollars from the federal or state government; they come directly from local coffers.

After the public entities had trouble drawing organizations willing to undertake the program, the AFC stepped up.

“It was a leap of faith,” says Jon Showalter, board chair of the AFC.

But since taking on the Herculean task of marshaling 1,000 volunteers from across the spectrum of the faith community—including Catholics, protestants, evangelicals, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews—to stay open every night, Showalter is confident his organization will continue to progress in a more streamlined delivery of its services.

“It’s us and the Warming shelter keeping people from dying on the streets,” he says.

The AFC shelter operates out of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall on 7th Avenue in Live Oak and the Salvation Army building on Laurel Street. Both buildings, which have about a 100-person capacity, have been open every night throughout the winter.

The locations do present some challenges, as homeless residents must meet on the Felton side of the Tannery, meaning many of them must walk a mile to get picked up between the hours of 4 and 5:30 p.m. and shuttle to either location. They are then shuttled back the next day.

“I think the neighbors of the Salvation Army and the VFW don’t want a crowd congregating outside of their building, so we’ve landed on the shuttle as a solution,” Showalter says. “I understand it, but it comes with a cost.”

$50,000 to be exact, and it eats into the AFC’s already hamstrung budget, but Showalter says the organization is seeking ways to use the dollars it does have more efficiently. That will become particularly important as the county and cities meet to discuss the program’s future, which remains uncertain.

“The county has not made a decision about funding for next year,” says Rayne Marr, Santa Cruz County’s homeless services coordinator. “We don’t know who is going to operate it, or where or how. Nothing is set in stone, except that we want to have a winter shelter.”

Safety Network

For Keller, the trek to the Tannery is one reason he favors the Warming Center.

“I think I walked 40 miles in January,” says Keller, who is 71 years old, of attempting to use the county-funded shelters.

But Keller says there are other advantages to the Warming Center. There, you can come and go as you please, whereas the AFC shelters mandate that you arrive at the intake center during certain hours.

“We treat them like adults,” says Adams.

There are other subtle differences between the shelters. The Warming Center allows residents to keep belongings on hand; AFC insists they lock them up during their stay. The Warming Center lays out the sleeping pads and bedding and then collects them, the AFC asks guests to pitch in.

“We are trying to create an intentional community, and our expectation is the guest participate in the work of the shelter,” Showalter says. “Your self-worth plummets when nothing is expected of you except to get out of the way.”

Whatever their differences in approach, both homeless service organizations are aware of each other, and deeply appreciative of the other’s work.

Showalter and Adams also share something else in common—the awareness that their respective organizations are only a temporary Band-Aid, and that more is needed to confront the recurrent problem of homelessness in the county.

“We need to spend the money to get a year-round shelter,” says Showalter. “We need to focus on graduating these folks to permanent housing, because there is trauma to being on the street.”

Marr, the county’s homeless services coordinator, says the county is in active discussions with local cities about possible long-term solutions, which include exploring the viability of a year-round shelter.

“I think location is a big issue to resolve, and the other issue is funding,” Marr says.

Adams agrees that long-term solutions are vital. He favors the outdoor camp model undertaken in Eugene, Oregon, that features wooden platforms, tents, electronics recharging, showers and portable toilets. Adams encountered this sanctuary model in his work on a documentary about homelessness on the West Coast. He travelled to many different towns and cities throughout California, Oregon and Washington, interviewing various homeless people, nonprofit workers and government officials about their successes and failures in addressing homelessness in their communities.

One notion he found widespread was that improving homeless services only attracts more transients and crime, an idea he dismisses as shortsighted and callous.

“It’s a silly and small-minded thing to say,” Adams says. “Homelessness is mushrooming everywhere you go.”

While denial is dangerous, he says, real solutions can improve everyone’s quality of life.

“It’s better to provide dignifying places to sleep,” he says. “That way you give dignity to the whole community.”

More info at warmingcenterprogram.com.

The 2017 NEXTies

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen the NEXTies nomination committee got together to pick this year’s winners from more than 1,000 nominees, Event Santa Cruz’s Matthew Swinnerton opened the proceedings by declaring: “This is my favorite meeting of the year.”

Anyone who knows Swinnerton, who took over the NEXTies Awards in 2014, knows that’s saying something. The man is in a lot of meetings, and he tends to be extremely enthusiastic about them. But he says it was no exaggeration.

“I see the NEXTies as the Oscars of Event Santa Cruz,” he says. That means a chance to honor the up-and-coming local talent that he sees giving talks all year at Event Santa Cruz gatherings, and coming to hear those talks. Beginning last year, he added categories for the awards, which he has expanded this year.

“We did it, it worked, and now I’m just refining it,” he says, promising “more food, more music, more people, more beer” at this year’s awards ceremony, which is Friday, March 24 at the Rio. The show will be hosted by Danielle Crook and DNA. Musical guests will be the Coffis Brothers, Taylor Rae and McCoy Tyler. Food vendors will include My Mom’s Mole, Tanglewood, Artisan Hand Food, La Sofrita and more.

The NEXTies winners for 2017 are:

Entrepreneur of the Year: Sindy Hernandez de Cornejo

Musician of the Year: Taylor Rae

Band of the Year: The Coffis Brothers

Artist of the Year: Irene O’Connell

Writer of the Year: Lily Stoicheff

Give Back Person of the Year: Mariah Tanner & Natalie Anne Oliver

Foodie of the Year: Elizabeth Birnbaum

New Business of the Year: Cat & Cloud Coffee

Athlete of the Year: Ryan Navaroli

Under-18 person of the Year: Ashley Solis-Pavon, Community Agroecology Network

Nonprofit of the Year: Warming Project

Mentor of the Year: Keisha Frost

Innovative Business of the Year: Inboard

Innovator of the Year: Nick Halmos from Cityblooms

Techie of the Year: Gabriel Jesse Medina (From Digital NEST)

Green Business of the Year: Khordz Handmade Mugs

“Wildcard” Award: Happily Ever Laughter

Update 03/28/2017: It was originally reported that the Homeless Services Center shuttered its shelters in July 2015, but not that they re-opened two weeks later.

Undocumented Parents Prepare for the Worst

Local News

Andrea Patton

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March 21, 2017

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Undocumented Parents Prepare for the Worst

[This is the third story in a series examining immigration issues in Santa Cruz County. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.]

Sitting in a corner of the children’s section of the downtown public library, Camila* is holding a tan notebook. In it, she’s written a quote from Thomas Jefferson: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”

As an activist, Camila fought for plastic-free oceans, joining a statewide push for legislation to ban plastic bags and straws. She joined in the fight to preserve the Beach Flats Community Garden and got to know the Santa Cruz City Council very well with her regular appearances at meetings. But under the first few months of the new presidential administration, she has cautiously slid out of the limelight.

The parent of two young girls, Camila volunteers regularly at their school, teaching Spanish and art. They are her top priority.

“I have fears,” says Camila, an undocumented immigrant. “If it’s just me, I don’t care, but I don’t want to be separated from my kids. If I make a mistake or say things loudly as an activist, if I make someone in power uncomfortable, they can send ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents to my house.”

Like many in her situation, Camila pays taxes using an Employee Identification Number. Her driver’s license identifies her undocumented status with the words “Federal Limits” in the upper right corner. “Out there, many people are saying, ‘You break the law and you know it. There are consequences,’” she says. “But I believe that no human is illegal. In certain moments of your life you made decisions, and I am here. My kids are born here. They are American citizens, and they have rights.”

Attorney Tanya Ridino works with Monarch Services, a domestic violence outreach program that primarily serves the Latino community. After the election, Monarch began to receive a much higher volume of calls from parents asking for help with planning for their children’s welfare in the event that they are deported. She began training her bilingual staff to help families plan for the possibility of deportation. Along with a heightened increase in calls, she has noticed a drop off in showing up for appointments. “People are terrified to come in and seek legal help that they need,” she says.

Ridino isn’t the only one who’s sensed an increase in fear and uncertainty within the immigrant community. Immediately after the election, Michele Bigley, a writing instructor for UCSC and Cal State University of Monterey Bay, wondered how she could help those who might become more vulnerable under President Donald Trump’s new administration. Her husband, Eddie Broitman, an estate planning attorney, told her he also wanted to do something to help. She heard the same thing from her friends—parents, educators, and health professionals. Bigley and company teamed up with Sanctuary Central, a group working to make all residents feel welcome, and began to look at existing legal documents. “It’s all new to everyone. We are trying to latch on to the knowledge of people who worked in these fields for a long time,” Bigley says.

Safe Haven

The Self Help Center (SHC) at the courthouse in Watsonville is the only free place people can go for help with understanding legal issues and rights. Director of Operations Sasha Morgan says that they have gotten a lot of phone calls about notaries who were charging big bucks for legal advice that the SHC provides for free. SHC attorneys hosted a meeting at the Santa Cruz courthouse on March 14 to identify steps parents might follow to prepare for a deportation. They are also putting together a packet with local resources and a checklist of documents, modeled after a similar effort from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), as well as the “Know Your Rights” Red Card that groups like Community Bridges are distributing.

Three other documents are circulating now, and the SHC may also include them in its packet. A caregiver affidavit, for instance, allows a parent to choose an individual to be responsible for their children in the event that they are no longer able to care for them. The responsible individual signs the affidavit if and when it becomes necessary.

Most parents have expressed the desire to have their children brought to them if they are deported. Doing so requires a specific power of attorney identifying the terms of travel, including names and locations, and dual citizenship for the child is helpful.

Some community members have suggested circulating a nomination of guardianship form. Advocates like Ridino are concerned, though, that the document could be misused, because it completely removes parental rights and could make it very difficult to restore them. Ridino says she has had years of experience trying to help people undo disputed guardianship.

Morgan says all parents, regardless of immigration status, should update emergency contacts on record at their child’s school and specify in writing who they want to take care of their children in their absence. A representative from the Santa Cruz City School District says officials have also offered to scan important paperwork, since many documents were destroyed during the recent raids.

Point of Order

Camila is wary of getting help because she feels it isn’t safe. She took her children into court to get their passports, even though she felt very nervous doing so. Doug Keegan, program director of the Santa Cruz County Immigration Program, says it’s important to make sure the courts remain safe places locally, because there have been incidents of ICE agents showing up at courthouses to make arrests, as they did recently in Pasadena.

Although Camila has identified someone to be a guardian, the thought of that becoming a reality is too much for her to consider. Her family is in Mexico, but her only friends are here. She trusts those friends, but she says that—when it comes to her kids—no amount of trust could make the idea of a splintered family tolerable. It would be very difficult on her young kids, who don’t fully understand the situation when she and her husband talk to them about it.

A recent Community Bridges meeting for concerned immigrants shared information, including tips on self-care from a therapist. Nervous parents swarmed volunteers with questions. “I just want to give people some peace of mind,” says Rocio Liontop, who leads the group Proyecto de Tutela, a group of estate-planning attorneys.

Community Bridges devotes itself to serving the needs of all immigrants, regardless of legal status. CEO Raymon Cancino says providing helpful information is important, since the Trump administration has not been particularly clear on who will or will not be impacted by president’s campaign promises.

Bigley says some of her students came here as young as two years of age, but they’re undocumented. “They are just as American as we are, but they don’t have that paper. They are out there doing the real work—helping others in need, the mentally ill, kids with cancer,” she says. “They are doing the work in the most meaningful heartfelt areas, and to think we are sending the message that we don’t want them, it shames me for my country.”

*Name has been changed to protect source’s identity.

Jewel Theatre Company’s New ‘Dance of Death’

A&E
Stage

Lisa Jensen

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March 21, 2017

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Jewel Theatre Company’s New ‘Dance of Death’

It’s so dark and cold in Scandinavia for so much of the year that residents often have to turn to indoor sports. Sniping at each other and dissecting their marriages is one popular recreation, according to The Dance of Death, the classic dysfunctional couple drama from Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Written in the fertile artistic era around the turn of the last century, the venerable play gets a modern update in the new production from Jewel Theatre Company.

Strindberg’s drama was first produced in 1900, at a time when European artists like Klimt and Matisse were deconstructing ideas about what was appropriate to see in art and how to paint it. Nordic playwrights like Strindberg and his contemporary and rival Ibsen were exploring what was appropriate to present onstage—daring to lift the lid on conventional bourgeois society and expose the bitterness and disappointment often seething just below the surface. This new JTC production relocates the story to modern times, working from an updated 2012 English translation of the play from Irish playwright Conor McPherson.

Lifelong military man Edgar (Rolf Saxon) is a captain at an artillery base on a small island in the Stockholm archipelago. A misanthrope who clings to his tiny allotment of power and considers himself a rare “decent” man in a world inhabited by “scum,” he lives with his wife in a tower repurposed from a former military prison.

His wife Alice (Julie James), 15 years his junior, is a former stage actress who gave up her career for marriage. Their two children are grown and gone, and while they are approaching their 25th wedding anniversary, it’s little cause for celebration. Alice feels smothered by a bully who has isolated her from friends and family. (She says she retaliated by doing the same to him.) Edgar contends that her mean temper makes her unhappy.

Accusations and biting sarcasm are their principal means of communication. Edgar’s slippery and random grasp of the truth—he makes up incendiary lies which he later claims not to remember—gives the play an unfortunately timely edge. But Alice and Edgar are forced to confront the disarray of their lives when Alice’s visiting cousin Kurt (Stephen Muterspaugh), who first introduced them, walks into their vipers’ nest.

The vision for this production belongs to director William Peters, who shapes the action with what is ultimately a forgiving fondness for all three characters, despite their nastier moments. He also designed the set: a solid wall of beige, bleached tan, and steel blue with a vague cinder block motif that emphasizes the characters’ isolation. The few sticks of furniture scattered about suggest a midcentury modern vibe, although B. Modern’s costumes are contemporary. (Except for Edgar’s slyly time-warped military coat, with its brass buttons and piping, that he’s evidently been wearing for the last 25 years.)

I especially liked the subtle way Kurt’s suit in the second act coordinates with the colors of the set, while Alice wears a lot of red, a desperate expression of vitality in this sterile environment. And the pale floorboards make a perfect canvas for Mark Hopkins’ evocative lighting design, when patterns of clouds and sunrise reflect through unseen windows.

There are moments when the upgraded text leads to some minor issues. Since a laptop and an iPod figure into the action, the scramble to find a telephone in one key scene seems odd; doesn’t anybody have a cell phone? And once or twice, the action onstage comes to an uneasy halt while a character goes off to one side to change clothes.

But the production looks great, the performances are solid, and Peters dares to conclude the drama on a wistful note of unexpected redemption.

The Jewel Theatre Company production of ‘The Dance of Death’ plays through April 9 at the Colligan Theater at The Tannery. For tickets, call 425-7506 or visit jeweltheater.net.

Preview: La Luz to Play the Catalyst

A&E
Music

Cat Johnson

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March 21, 2017

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When Shana Cleveland wanted to learn to play surf guitar, she took an old-school approach. She listened to vinyl records and put the needle down on guitar parts she liked, over and over until she figured them out. Hailing from the Midwest, Cleveland hadn’t heard surf music until she moved to Seattle, which itself is not exactly a hotbed of surf culture.

“People don’t generally associate Seattle with surf,” she says. “But the Ventures are from Tacoma, and they’re one of the most well-known surf bands.”

Though Cleveland, frontwoman for the band La Luz, may not have heard surf music growing up, she was surrounded by just about everything else. Both of her parents are musicians who played in Western swing, country, soul, rock, and blues bands. She spent her childhood being “dragged around to their shows and practices” and “messing around with different instruments that were laying around.” Cleveland had a brief stint playing bass and learning Hole covers, but she feels most at home playing guitar.

Once she had her surf guitar riffs down, she joined forces with drummer Marian Li Pino, keyboardist Alice Sandahl and bassist Abbey Blackwell to form La Luz. The four-piece quickly established itself on the local music scene as a Link-Wray-inspired indie-surf-noir band. Their songs combine the feel-good surf grooves associated with summertime and freedom with dark lyrical content that explores loneliness, death, longing, hopelessness and infatuation. The dark and layered songwriting style comes naturally to Cleveland.

“I’ve never been interested in music that felt too one-dimensional,” she says. “I’ve never been interested in music that just sounded like a party or sounded like a good time. I’ve always liked it when there was some kind of duality—that you could dance to it, but it was really sad, or you could hear somebody’s heart coming through.”

The Northwest has plenty of venues, bands and industry pros to help young indie acts get traction, and La Luz became a standout of the region. The band garnered national attention and hit the road touring. In 2013, however, things came to a screeching halt when the band was in a serious accident while touring in support of rockers Of Montreal. While traveling from Boise, Idaho back to Seattle, La Luz’s tour van slipped on black ice, crashed into a highway divider, and was hit by a semi-trailer truck. The band members were injured and their instruments and merchandise were destroyed. They canceled the remainder of the tour.

Blackwell, who was already conflicted about being on the road all the time, left the band and was replaced by Lena Simon. The members then moved from Seattle to Los Angeles. Cleveland says they’re all still recovering from the trauma of the incident, but they found they had a new level of dedication.

“It’s hard to tell how much was directly a result of the accident,” says Cleveland, “but I’m sure in some ways it made our resolve stronger.”

Cleveland found the accident and emotional fallout from it indirectly influencing her songwriting for the band’s sophomore album, 2015’s Weirdo Shrine.

“I definitely see it when I listen to that album,” she says. “I don’t know if I ever directly address it, but it feels like it’s just drifting through the album in different ways, lyrically and in the mood.”

Weirdo Shrine was produced by garage rocker Ty Segall. For Cleveland, a longtime Segall fan, the experience was surreal, but the two shared a vision for the album and the La Luz sound, which included capturing the raw energy of a live performance and boosting the fuzz-factor and low-fi aesthetic Segall is known for.

“It just kind of all tumbled together,” Cleveland says. “We had a similar vision of how it should be recorded, which was to do it mostly live. I really wanted to try something like that.”

The album, which garnered critical acclaim, showcases the smart instrumentation, catchy hooks, tight harmonies and tough emotions so commonplace in Cleveland’s writing. It was described by one reviewer as “visceral to an astonishing degree, meant to force idle bodies into sonic submission.”

“It’s a nice balance,” Cleveland says, “when you’ve got four really pretty female voices, to have it go someplace more dark and mysterious.”

La Luz will perform at 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 23. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $10/adv, $12/door. 423-1338.

UCSC Farm & Garden Celebrates 50 Years

Christina Waters

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March 21, 2017

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Orin Martin can talk about peppers for two hours straight. Orin Martin is quite blonde. Orin Martin knows his way around chicken manure. Orin Martin—master gardener and maestro of UCSC’s Alan Chadwick Garden—has always been an event unto himself. Anyone who’s taken a workshop with the celebrated orchardist and horticulturist knows the vastness of his knowledge. This weekend, at the Chadwick Garden, Orin Martin will help launch this summer’s festivities in honor of the UCSC Farm & Garden’s 50th Anniversary.

Captivated by Chadwick and his intensive gardening methods, Martin was there during the earliest days, as a student of Chadwick’s, then as an apprentice with the UCSC Farm. Hired in 1977 to manage the farm and garden, Martin has spent more than 30 years digging garden beds, planting fruit trees, and becoming expert on anything that springs from the Earth. A one-man compendium of cultivation lore, Martin will lead a special class called “Garden Bed Prep, Chadwick Style” at the Chadwick Garden on March 25. Joined by his daughter, organic farmer Caroline Martin, the master gardener will walk participants through the steps of creating raised garden beds, working in compost, and reviewing the use of cover crops and intensive cultivation practices.

“Beyond pure function, it is truly an ‘artisan’ approach to gardening, fostering biodiversity in the soil ecosystem,” says Martin of the raised bed method.

This rare opportunity to watch Martin demo best practices for creating an authentic organic garden will be a treat for those who attend. The workshop, held at the Alan Chadwick Garden at UCSC, runs from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Cost is $30 for general public (pre-reg) or $40 at the door, $20 for Friends of the Farm & Garden members (pre-reg) or $30 at door. $5 for UCSC students. Pre-register at: gardenbeds.bpt.me. For more info, call 459-3240 or email [email protected].

Homecoming!

The Westside Farmers Market returns to its original Mission Street Extension stomping grounds next month on April 8. After a season at the Delaware Avenue setting, it’s time to head back to the corner of Western Drive. The Saturday morning market is a ritual for folks from all over the Westside and downtown Santa Cruz. In addition to my personal favorites—the outstanding Lulu Carpenter’s coffee, a slab of tea cake from Companion, and those infant arugula and mizuna greens from Happy Boy—the 2017 market welcomes new vendors, including: Santa Cruz Pottery Collective with its mugs, bowls and plates; beautiful little California-native plants from Aptos’ Native Revival; and intriguing tinctures, salves and bitters form Corralitos-based Blossom’s Farm. And yes, the mouth-watering aromas of Garcia’s Oaxacan Kitchen will tempt us once more to breakfast burritos and chile rellenos, and Gordo Gustavo to pulled-pork and egg tacos. OMG. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. every Saturday.

Scotts Valley Farmers’ Market opens its season on April 1. From 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. every Saturday, the Scotts Valley Community Center parking lot will blossom with organic veggies, fruits, herbs, and flowers.

Speaking of open-air temptation, start planning for the summer series of Farmers Market Pop-up Breakfasts, starting June 3 on the Westside with a spread finessed by Erin Lampel of Companion Bakeshop. Fresh bread with mashed avocado, garlic and spices. Early summer salad, Companion quiche with sausage, roasted beets, warm biscuits with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Coffee by Lulu Carpenter’s. Tix $38, available at all farmers markets. Act fast—these splendid al fresco breakfasts will sell out! July 8 features Chef Brad Briske of Home at the Scotts Valley Market; Aug. 5, Katherine Stern of La Posta at Westside; and Aug. 26, Kendra Baker of Penny Ice Creamery and Assembly at the Westside. santacruzfarmersmarket.org/campaigns/pop-up-breakfast.

Paula’s Breakfasts Served with Aloha Charm

Food & Drink

Lily Stoicheff

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March 21, 2017

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Paula’s Breakfasts Served with Aloha Charm

I wasn’t born in Santa Cruz, but having breakfast at Paula’s on Portola makes me feel like a local. A decade ago, when I was at UCSC, I would bike here from the Westside on the weekends, praying that the coveted spot in the converted Dodge van parked permanently out front would be open. Years later, when I moved to Pleasure Point, I’d walk over at 7 a.m., luxuriate over a breakfast made by someone else and catch up on local gossip before heading to work. Now I live downtown, and there’s only one cure on the mornings when I wake up craving a no-nonsense breakfast and a “dinky orange juice.”

So what is it about this place? For starters, it’s difficult to spend more than $10; the basic breakfast is two eggs, toast and potatoes for $3.99. That’s actually pricey compared to a few years ago when it was a mind-blowing $1.99, but it’s still unquestionably the best deal in town. It’s not fancy, but it’s satisfying, and it got me through some rough times in my early 20s. Even on the busiest days, when lone cook Roberto is flipping pancakes and pouring gravy like a many-limbed culinary octopus, he always manages to cook my eggs exactly as ordered. Guests have the option to load the basic up with a long list of add-ons, but I always opt for the tasty homemade salsas—corn, tomatillo, mild and picante—which are available in self-serve Mason jars on the coffee station.

In addition to its affordability, this beloved cash-only breakfast spot radiates aloha charm. Historic photos of Santa Cruz and Capitola and vintage surf posters decorate the walls to the ceiling. The only staff are a smiling server and Roberto, both always in cheery Hawaiian shirts. Together, they work together like a well-oiled machine. It’s a first-come, first-served, order-at-the-counter, bus-your-own-table sort of place, and these good-humored “rules” are listed on the door for your benefit. Arguably the most important rule is unspoken—be patient. While it’s not always a fast operation, it’s worth the wait.

3500 Portola Drive, Santa Cruz, 464-0741.

Update 3/23/2017 10:06AM: The converted van was incorrectly said to be a Volkswagon. It’s actually a Dodge van.

Winning Merlot from Martin Ranch Winery

Josie Cowden

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March 21, 2017

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Under its J.D. Hurley label, Martin Ranch Winery makes several varietals, including Chardonnay, Carignane, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, and Merlot.

For its 2013 Merlot, grapes were harvested from the Santa Clara Valley and then aged 24 months in 50 percent new and 50 percent neutral French and American oak—resulting in a Merlot that will pair perfectly with meat dishes, or just to enjoy on its own. It’s well deserving of the 91 points scored by Wine Enthusiast magazine.

Produced by husband-and-wife winemaking team Dan and Therese Martin, this 2013 Merlot is exceptional. Here’s what they say about it: “Distinctively Santa Clara Valley terroir, this Merlot hints of plum and blackberry with a velvety vanilla middle. The finish is kissed with a hint of chocolate as you linger through your glass.” At around $25, it’s reasonably priced and can be found in many local supermarkets and wine shops, as well as at the Martin Ranch tasting room.

The Martins are justly proud of the winery they have built in Gilroy. It’s a beautiful, bucolic spot to visit—especially for one of the fun special events it holds periodically.

Merlot went through the wringer after the movie Sideways came out in 2004. Slammed as “flabby” by actor Paul Giamatti’s character, Miles, who much preferred Pinot Noir, sales of Merlot plummeted for a while. But folks came to their senses and started buying Merlot again—and, well, it’s all a long time ago now … Here’s to continuing to drink a heck of a lot of Merlot, I say!

Martin Ranch Winery, 6675 Redwood Retreat Road, Gilroy, 408-842-9197, martinranchwinery.com. Open every first and third weekend of the month noon to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Ryan’s Rant

I had to laugh at a recent posting from Beauregard Winery’s Ryan Beauregard in which he has a “little rant” about bad wine, particularly Rosé. “Rosé is and always has been a serious wine,” he says, declaring that he has 220 bottles left of his “totally kick-ass” Rosé from his “prestigious Coast Grade Vineyard.” We can trust him on this one.
Beauregard Vineyards, 10 Pine Flat Road, Bonny Doon, 425-7777. beauregardvineyards.com.

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