LETTERS

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

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July 3, 2024

COMMENTS

RE: SOUND BATHS

Well written but I don’t see the names of Justin and his girlfriend who play the harps and are also a big reason people going there every Tuesday.

Ariella | Goodtimes.sc

RE: SANDY STONE

I first met Sandy in the role of recording engineer back in the early 1970s. As a player, I rarely enjoyed the sound quality I was hearing on playback in studios. So, of course, my first session with Sandy changed everything. Finally, the recordings not only sounded right — they were even clearer, larger, more impactful. Alchemy? Wizardry? WTF!! The studio is an instrument, and Sandy not only knows how to play it…she knows how to build it.

Lucky to have had Sandy as a dear friend and audio sage for over 50 (gulp) years.

Bob Stern | Goodtimes.sc

Sandy fixed a console for me back in 1979 or 1980 at her workshop. She charged me only $50, which was a deal considering how much restoration she did. It worked beautifully.

She referred to herself as a “trans-sister” which I thought was a clever twist on words.

Hardly Fast | Goodtimes.sc

Fascinating story and beautifully written piece. Thank you!

Mark Wong-VanHaren | Goodtimes.sc

Thank you so much, Bill, for such a thoughtful and in-depth article about Sandy’s amazing history!

Marji Vecchio | Goodtimes.sc

What an amazing Trailblazer!

Clara | Goodtimes.sc

RE: FINAL PASSAGE

So powerful and beautiful.

Kim Luret | Goodtimes.sc

RE: A Gringo’s Stage Dive into Rock en Español with Alex Lora’s El Tri

Certainly, Brad Kava, El Tri de México Is the banda More Cool and legendary. Very much interesting your note. Thank you!

Richard Pompa | Metrosiliconvalley.com

CORRECTION In last week’s cover story on sound baths, the wrong day of the week was given for Kim Molloy’s weekly sessions at Moran Lake Beach. The sessions take place on Tuesdays one hour before sunset. For information, visit crystallinesound.com

Street Talk

Street Talk

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July 3, 2024

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What is your favorite thing about the July 4th Weekend?

I like when they have fireworks at the Boardwalk. I’ve gone once with friends and family.

Naomi Steinkamp, 15, Toque Blanche on Pacific Ave

You get the best watermelon around Fourth of July weekend. I’m not a fireworks person, really. In fact, I work in Parks and we’ll be at the beach making sure there’s no fireworks.

Oliver Gee, 22, Parks and Rec Visitor Service Aid

Going to a casino in Sparks, Nevada, for the fireworks—I have family out there. And then we’ll go to the lake and enjoy the water and the weather.

Yaya Marquez, 29, Personal Trainer

The weather, it’s the perfect time of year—just getting hot, but not too hot yet. I like going to the beach and enjoying a nice quiet evening at Cowell Ranch Beach at Half Moon Bay.

Lester Mopas, 36, Finance

My favorite thing is probably the food. Hot dogs cooked on the grill, with relish, ketchup and mustard. On a toasted bun.

Laura Mopas, 35, Recruiter

Leaving town to see fireworks—and I’m fine with not setting our town on fire. We go to Red Bluff, north of Sacramento, where they don’t mind blowing shit up and burning it. It’s where I have family.

Jay Matt, “old,” “recovering” (health)

Gail Pellerin Addresses New State Housing Laws

Local News

William S. Woodhams

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June 26, 2024

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Gail Pellerin Addresses New State Housing Laws

Some communities have been diligent in building more housing in the face of a statewide housing shortage. Others haven’t.

The state has stepped in by seizing control from local jurisdictions and forcing through housing projects that locals might not have approved.

State Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, whose district includes Santa Cruz and parts of Santa Clara County, shared her thoughts on the problem. The interview has been edited for clarity and more context has been added when needed.

GOOD TIMES: We obviously need more housing. The state has mandated 441,000 new housing units in the Bay Area and 4,634 units in Santa Cruz County by 2031 under the 1969 Housing Element Law. Santa Cruz is by some accounts the most unaffordable city in the country. Can we get more housing without “changing the character” of the cities?, Take, for example, like the giant Clocktower project planned for downtown Santa Cruz.?

GAIL PELLERIN: I feel the heartstrings in both ways. Yeah, I mean, we have a huge deficit in affordable housing. And we’re not just talking very-low-income housing. We’re talking housing for our doctors and nurses and first responders and people that are working in our community.

So, yes, we need to build more housing, and I voted for this bill [AB 1287, a 50% density bonus that allows for 100% increased density when 24% of the total units are for “low income”] to provide for those density bonuses.

And I think what needs to happen now is this relationship that’s happening between the landowner or the developer or the residents of the city to make their voices heard and come up with a plan for housing and dislocation that does reflect the character of our community.

Looking at [the Clocktower] site, specifically, it’s primarily a commercial area. It’s at the tail end of downtown. It’s zoned for this exact purpose. And it’s near transit, and it’s not right next door to a single family residence neighborhood. So as far as a place to build, this is, that’s where we want building to occur.

Now, whether a 16-story building is the right answer, or the eight-story alternative, that’s for the community and the developer to work out. You know, I’m leaning toward the eight-story, just a little bit more reflective of what is being built in the community.

Isn’t that what’s kind of interesting about the “stick approach” of the state? Basically, we’re not incentivized or we’re not rewarded for meeting our goals. We meet our goals, and then they can do a 16-story building, which the developer [Workbench] would do anyway if Santa Cruz lost its pro-housing designation and if the builder’s remedy came into effect.

Yeah, we definitely need to be looking at that. Yeah, I don’t, I honestly do not believe it can be a 16-story building. I don’t know why that was floated out there like that. I guess it’s just like ‘we could do this!’

I believe the developer lives in the community as well. And wants to continue to have a good relationship with this community. And if the community’s voice is “16 -stories is too high,” I’m hoping they will be responsive to that, and height isn’t the only thing that projects get evaluated on. There’s a lot of other reasons that the city has to look at when looking at a project, so this is very preliminary. I would just hope they continue to have good, civil conversations. And like I said, I’ll be meeting with them and sharing some of my views as well.

Cities that don’t have a certified Housing Element are open to builder’s remedy, a law that allows developers to build whatever they want, wherever they want it, but builder’s remedy was always theoretical and never enforced until 2021, when California Attorney General Rob Bonta set up a “Housing Strike Force.” Now there are a ton of builder’s remedy projects statewide, but none have broken ground. Why were the limits on builder’s remedy—a cap on height and a ban on projects in industrial zones—a thing you supported for a city like Los Gatos, where there are a ton of builder’s remedy projects?

The Housing Accountability Act, passed by the Legislature in 1982, restricts a city’s ability to disapprove, or require density reductions, in certain types of residential projects. The builder’s remedy was added to the HAA in 1990 and it generally prohibits a local government that has failed to adopt a compliant housing element from denying a housing development that includes 20% lower-income housing or 100% moderate-income housing, even if the development does not conform to the local government’s underlying zoning. AB 1893—which I supported in 2023-24, and is currently waiting for a hearing in the Senate Housing Committee—would modify the builder’s remedy to provide more local control to municipalities and provide more certainty to all parties in the development process by clarifying and modernizing the law.

This bill would help ensure that local objective standards do not prevent the construction of affordable housing by clarifying affordability requirements, including options to provide housing for extremely low-, very low-, and low-income households. Importantly, it helps ensure local city control by ensuring that builder’s remedy projects are deemed consistent with local laws and policies.

There have been recent attempts to weaken the authority of the California Coastal Commission in order to encourage more housing in our most expensive and desirable cities by the coast. Supporters of the Coastal Commission point to California’s immaculate coastline and large protected areas as opposed to Florida, our overbuilt cousin, which has an affordability crisis too. Recent bills up for a vote would allow housing density bonuses to be applied in the Coastal Zone.

I spoke against that.

Because you support the Coastal Commission?

The Coastal Zone is 1% of the land in the state of California and it is the most sensitive and prone to disaster areas that we have in areas that need to be preserved and maintain public access.

I don’t want a Miami coastline in California. I don’t think that is the answer. I do believe there are places where we can build housing, but it is not on West Cliff. And, you know, certainly the Clocktower project, that piece of land there, that seems like the right place to build housing and are we talking, what, how many stories? That’s going to be up to the community and the developer and the city and setting up those ideas.

Would you agree that the state has taken over local decisions from the local government, which that they used to be in charge of in terms of housing?

I think there was a housing crisis that was not being addressed well at the local level, so the state stepped in and provided some tools. Did they overstep? You know, we could have a whole weekend symposium on this.

That’s what I’m trying to do here!

Am I the expert who is trying to analyze that? No, I would not want to be the expert who is analyzing that in a vacuum. That is a larger conversation, which, you know, I think we should have at some point.

I think there needs to be a lot more work done on this builder’s remedy and stuff like this, because it seems to be not quite there yet.

Yeah, we’re seeing a lot of buildings in Santa Cruz—, like I get how that it makes people feel. But not all communities are doing it. And not all communities are building what they need to build. So, yeah, we don’t want to have a city being punished for doing the right thing, so that’s got to be taken into account as well. I’ve been in the legislature now almost a year and a half, and I’m nowhere near being an expert on housing, but I’m learning a lot and listening to people, my community. I think there’s a lot of room for improvement, but we’ve got to keep our goal in mind to build that affordable housing that is so critically needed to keep people thriving in our communities.

Do you commute from Santa Cruz [to Sacramento]?

I come up and then I stay here [Sacramento] for the week, then I go back. I usually come up on Sunday. You know, so I have Monday morning. I could just get up and get going with my day. But the days that I have to get up at six in the morning, to drive here, to be here on time, those are hard days, and I think about people having to drive that kind of distance, every day.

That’s also why we need high density like AB 1287 [100% density bonus].

We need housing in the right places where the people are needing the housing, working in those communities. So it’s a magic puzzle, that there’s a lot of stakeholders involved, and we want to make sure we get it right.

On a potential Trump win: How much will our state government respond to a Trump administration trying to roll back environmental protections and immigration law?

It’s that and everything. He is the most damaging person ever. Just a convicted felon. And the fact that we would even consider electing him to the highest office in our nation is very disturbing to me.

So, yes, there is a lot at stake in November: the future of our nation, the future of democracy, the future of LGBTQ rights, the future of women’s rights, the future of children’s education and welfare and well-being, the future of immigrant rights, the future of higher education and the future of our environment.

New City Looms in South of Laurel Area Plan

Local News

William S. Woodhams

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June 26, 2024

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New City Looms in South of Laurel Area Plan

A bustling neighborhood and a new 3,200-seat arena for the Santa Cruz Warriors are part of a plan to transform Downtown Santa Cruz in the coming years.

The city envisions wider sidewalks and a larger riverwalk, open-air dining on Pacific Avenue down to the beach and a pedestrianized Spruce Street in front of the future Warriors’ arena. Also, Laurel Street Extension is to be rerouted through the Front Street Residential Care Center.

At least 1,600 dwellings are planned for the 29-acre area to provide the wallets for the many restaurants and stores on the ground floor of the buildings. The Warriors’ stadium is the centerpiece of the development.

Mayor Fred Keeley has said that the city is not going to publicly finance the stadium.

The history of the city attempting to build out the area goes back to at least the 1998 Beach and South of Laurel Area Plan. In the April 30 edition of Metro Santa Cruz, the 1998 plan was described as being a “four-legged stool.” The four legs were Boardwalk expansion, a new La Bahia hotel, neighborhood renewal and transportation improvements.

Many of the plans ideas have come to pass including the new La Bahia even as the elusive “beach connection” to Downtown has remained out of reach until now.

But is the mayor’s plan realistic?

The Stadium

Keeley calls his landmark compromise on the council the “12/16/20” plan, which refers to 12 stories, 1,600 housing units and a 20% affordability rate in the South of Laurel Area District.

In 2023, Keeley addressed residents’ concerns with taller buildings by capping the height to 12-stories in the area. At the June 18 meeting, Keeley said the “12/16/20” plan was a done deal.

As the process drags on and the city’s financial commitment to the project grows, concerns are growing again.

“This has been an apple in the eye of the city for a long, long time,”Councilmember Sandy Brown said. “So flash forward 25 years, and, you know, the Warriors have come to town, there’s a real desire to keep them here. “There’s a recognition that if we do nothing, they’re definitely not going to stay. And therefore, a lot of the wheeling and dealing and the considerations that are being made are about them. And I think that’s dangerous.”

Public infrastructure in the plan is to be funded by a new “Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District.” The specialized tax district will divert new taxes collected in the zone to “partially or fully reimburse” private funding, according to the plan’s draft.

**VISION** Developers envision a modern take to the neighborhood around Kaiser Permanente Arena. Photo: City of Santa Cruz

This is not a subsidy, according to Keeley. The Warriors and the Seaside Company will be funding the public improvement of the district themselves indirectly through the taxes they pay as the improvements they make raise property values.

There is nothing officially holding the Warriors in the city. They could depart for greener pastures if they were offered a better deal or wanted to consolidate with the Warriors WNBA team in San Jose. This fear is what is leading the city to perhaps give up more to the Warriors than anyone wants, according to Brown.

The Warriors are fully supportive of the development timeline.

“We’re still very much onboard with this plan,” said the team’s president Chris Murphy. “There are still so many things that are unknown. There are no concrete plans set today.”

Keeley wants faster action.

“I told the Warriors and the other interested parties here that I need you to step up and step out now. It is time for you to become more visible and for the public to see more as you move along here,” he said.

There are two potential sites for the arena: the current location and across the street, between Pacific and Front streets.

Owen Lawlor is talking to property owners about acquiring the land for a “larger project” on the block with the car dealership and Firefly Coffee House, according to a property owner who was approached. Lawlor is the developer behind the Riverfront Apartments and the Cruz Hotel.

However while the Seaside Company is onboard, Lotts Auto Stereo and other longtime owners have not yet agreed to a deal, according to this landowner.

“When I first heard about this and saw my hotel torn down and replaced by a stadium I was quite surprised,” said Joe Quigg, owner of the Pacific Blue Inn. “The owners should be the ones making the money when they sell, not the developers who come in and put the deal together and sell it to another company and make more money.”

Further up the street, Ace Hardware and Cruz Kitchen and Taps are already slated for redevelopment, according to Mia Thorn, co-owner of Cruz Kitchen. The nearby property owner who did not wish to be named said that the developer is Owen Lawlor, who didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Doubts About Number of Units, Height and Affordability

Keeley praised the planning department for “threading multiple needles, none of which are stationary, and more needles are being added as time goes on.” In other words, the Herculean task of incentivizing the construction of a stadium at the same time as the city is mandating high affordability, restricting building heights and the total number of units, the very things developers use to make a project feasible.

While the planning department proposed upzoning almost the entire area, the council pushed back with upzoning in three parcels: where the Warriors stadium is currently located on Seaside Company land, across the street at the triangular tire store lot, and at 130 Center St., where Swenson Builders has a planned 233-studio building.

With proposed developments like the Clocktower Center going 16-stories in an area zoned 35 feet, any upzoning could potentially allow developers to build more than the 1,600 units.

“Under the current density you could get the 1,600 units you want, without changing the density at all,” said Andy Schiffrin, longtime Santa Cruz County District 3 analyst. “Under the [planning department’s] proposal, it goes from 1,150 to 1,750 to 2,300 [units] so it is important to face the new reality.”

“The planning staff continues to try to obfuscate the impact,” Brown said. “How can you with a straight face say that some of the projects will not use density bonuses? Bullshit because every project that has come in since the density bonus rules has used it.”

To alleviate concerns, the city’s planning department unveiled the Santa Cruz Density Bonus, which will allow the city more control over what is built but developers will have to choose it over California density bonus laws. Once they choose the SCBD, “we will have the ability to say that the state density bonus cannot be used in conjunction with the city’s density bonus,” Planning Director Lee Butler said.

However if the developers think the California Density Bonus is more attractive then all bets are off on height. California law incentivizes affordable housing through density bonuses which allow developers to build taller than the city’s height limits.

“The basic idea is that in exchange for a density bonus, we would get more affordable units, likely at a higher affordability level (for example, moderate incomes),” wrote Planning Director Lee Butler. “As part of choosing the city’s density bonus, the developer would also have to agree to not go above 12 stories.”

Fears of Displacement

Inside the expansion zone, redevelopment’s shiny housing and tall buildings mean something different for those who work and live there.

“This is definitely the best place for the Bike Church. It is really hard to imagine if we lost this place where we would go because of the collective nature of the hub and all of its projects,” said Tessa Nefouse, an employee at the Bike Church.

The draft plan can be read here and public comment can be sent to sn****@sa*********.gov. through July 10.

Aptos Creek Fire Road Trail Hike

Take a Hike with Richard Stockton

Richard Stockton

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June 26, 2024

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A beach hike is different. Your path is a vast nowhere, and the ocean itself disappears on the horizon, showing that the earth is round. A hill, on the other hand, is inherently deceptive: a day hike among the biggest trees on earth, you get a sense of the colossal size of the world. You get a sense of your own patience and fortitude. You get to go home.

I love Steven Wright’s hiking joke: “Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.” The Aptos Creek Fire Road is a 24.3-mile out-and-back trail near Aptos, in Santa Cruz County.

There are a lot of hikers, bikers and cars on the Fire Road, but veer off onto a path up a hill and you’ll find solitude. If you are upset by so many other people on the trail, you just haven’t taken enough time. Yosemite is famous for crowds, but that’s because 90% of the visitors to Yosemite never make it off the valley floor. Walk a trail for 10 minutes and you will be alone.

My hiking bros only go on weekdays here on the Central Coast, when it’s way less crowded. I hike solo this Saturday morning and there are lots of cars and people on the main road, called the Fire Road, up Aptos Creek in Nisene Marks State Park. I walk by one trio of young men who are drinking beer. Hiking while drinking is called wanderlush.

Not-In-My-Back-Woods Is NIMBAWism

Sometimes walkers will castigate me for writing this column, saying that I am making a well-hiked trail hiked even more. The photo shows that the Fire Road can become congested with hikers and cars. Many hikers want it for themselves. I present news! It’s not your trail, it’s everyone’s trail. That’s why it’s called a trail.

Upon reflection, the trail is not even “ours”; it belongs to the bugs, beasts and blooms that live there. It’s nice to feel other heartbeats in the forest, whether human or something more native. My mission is to get more people hiking; I believe that will help develop the ecological consciousness we need to deal with the environmental shit storm upon us.

Sit as little as possible; do not believe any idea that was not born in the open air and of free movement—in which the muscles do not also revel…sitting still is the real sin against the Holy Ghost. —Friedrich Nietzsche

Fairy Rings

Get off the Fire Road and you will encounter natural majesty. Ten minutes off the main road I am utterly alone and walk up to a fairy ring, where a giant, old-growth redwood has burned out and new redwoods grow up in a ring around the burnt elder.

Fairy ring (old stump surrounded by younger trees) in a redwood forest — A fairy ring gives the redwood a huge ecological advantage. Photo by Richard Stockton

Redwoods Program Manager Desert Waters explains why fairy rings are important:

“A fairy ring is a common name for a group of redwood trees growing in a circle, usually around the stump of a logged old-growth tree. After being cut down (or burned down), a new generation of trees sprout from the roots of the fallen redwood, often creating a near-perfect circle or ring. This is one of the ways redwoods regenerate, giving them the tremendous advantage of already having a full root system compared to species that reproduce through seed.”

Hiking: Exercise Before There Was Exercise

I return to the Fire Road to go farther up Aptos Creek. I walk by a lean guy with his hat on backwards doing serious squats just off the road. He straightens up and asks how I’m doing, and I’m in conversation with former pastor Bud Lamb.

Bud tells me he is not a jogger; he is a runner, but not a sprinter. I guess there are people who run the trails as fast as they can, and I’d love to be able to talk to these people, but they are hard to catch. Bud runs three miles a day and visits the Aptos Creek Trail three times a week to seek communion with the people he meets here: “They become like family after a while.”

Bud is a Santa Cruz style pastor who quotes Ram Dass and says running in nature helps him to “be here now.” And that he values the free Vitamin D. I’m not sure where you can pay for Vitamin D, but it’s good to know it’s free on the Aptos Creek Trail. I introduce myself as Reverend Dicky Bob, Universal Life Minister. Bud’s eyebrow twitches twice but he makes no comment.

Guy doing squats on a forest trail — Bud Lamb is as intense as he looks and proudly tells me he is 72 years old. He has reason to be proud: This is one super-fit man. Photo by Richard Stockton

I ask Bud why he uses the Aptos Creek trail so often. “I like it because it’s straight out and back. I can focus on just the run and the redwoods rather than the technical part of running on trails. Running on the trails, I have to pay more attention; it’s narrower, so there’s more slowing down and saying ‘excuse me’ to folks that are hiking. When nobody’s there, I’ll run the trails.”

Etiquette tip: From the list of unspoken hiker etiquette by Mike Wendland: Yield to uphill hikers. Hiking uphill, you have the right of way. Hiking downhill, step to the side to make room for those hiking up to pass.

I tell Bud that I’m healing from a knee injury: “Last year I tried to take up running. This year I’m trying to take up walking. People told me that running at my age would damage my joints; that’s why I smoke them before I run. It was in that pain-free cannabis state that I overdid it and tweaked a knee.”

Bud says, “There are two things that I’ve learned you can’t avoid, and that’s pain and injuries. One of my favorite mottos is ‘Fall down seven, get up eight.’ That’s from the Bible, Proverbs 24, verse 16.”

OK, with my Bible quota filled, I head to Porter Creek.

More Wanderlush

I turn onto the Porter Trail where a sign says No Bikes. About one hundred yards beyond the sign there is a massive tree trunk 3 feet off the ground that I would imagine is way more effective in discouraging bike passage. It’s a short walk down to the creek.

Man throwing stones in a forest creek — Man skipping stones in Aptos Creek. Photo by Richard Stockton

There is a group of men finding their 12-year-old-inner-stone-skipper, and they are also drinking. I guess Saturday is Wanderlush Hiking Day. I should not judge; sometimes I use cannabis to hike. People in grass houses shouldn’t throw matches stoned.

How To Get There: Take Highway 1, State Park Drive, right on Soquel, left on Aptos Creek Road. There is an $8 vehicle day-use fee. The Fire Road has lots of parking.

Street Talk

Street Talk

John Koenig

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June 26, 2024

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What would you put in your perfect playroom?

A bunch of PCs, so all my friends could play. Make-up. And clothing racks. We would all play Valorant, Minecraft, and Super Mario Kart on the PCs.

Gia Tiang, 18, Student

I would have a music room, with a ton of guitars and drums and all kinds of instruments, amps and everything.

Feargus Mac Fhionnlaoich, 29, Software Engineer

A trampoline—Olympic-style with the bigger holes in it so they go much higher—in the middle of a two-story playroom, like a big multi-purpose room. I used do trampoline competitions and do forward and backward flip combinations.

Sinead Mac Fhionnlaoich, 30, Data Ops

I would have a crafts room, for doing beading, silverwork, Lino Printing, felting, crochet, knitting, all the things.

Niamh Mac Fhionnlaoich, 34, Chemical Engineer

I’d put all my collectables in it—jewelry, all kinds of glass, old antique stuff. Things from my old man cave—a mint condition 1964 pool table with turquoise on the side and gold felt—electric darts, steel darts—and a 20-speaker sound system.

Mark Gomolicke, 59, Retired

I would let all my tweaker friends move in, and they could do whatever they want. There would be some rules. Don’t burn the house down, always give back what you use, and don’t steal bicycles anymore.

Walter Dobbs, 64, Youtubeologist and food provider

Free Will Astrology

Astrology

Rob Brezsny

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June 26, 2024

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ARIES March 21-April 19

This may sound weird, but I think now is a perfect time to acquire a fresh problem. Not just any old boring problem, of course. Rather, I’m hoping you will carefully ponder what kind of dilemma would be most educational for you—which riddle might challenge you to grow in ways you need to. Here’s another reason you should be proactive about hunting down a juicy challenge: Doing so will ensure that you won’t attract mediocre, meaningless problems.

TAURUS April 20-May 20

Now is an excellent time to start learning a new language or to increase your proficiency in your native tongue. Or both. It’s also a favorable phase to enrich your communication skills and acquire resources that will help you do that. Would you like to enhance your ability to cultivate friendships and influence people? Are you interested in becoming more persuasive, articulate and expressive? If so, Taurus, attend to these self-improvement tasks with graceful intensity. Life will conspire benevolently on your behalf if you do. (PS: I’m not implying you’re weak in any of these departments; just that now is a favorable time to boost your capacities.)

GEMINI May 21-June 20

Barbara Sher and Barbara Smith wrote the book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It. I invite you to think and feel deeply about this theme during the coming months. In my experience with Geminis, you are often so versatile and multi-faceted that it can be challenging to focus on just one or two of your various callings. And that may confuse your ability to know what you want more than anything else. But here’s the good news. You may soon enjoy a grace period when you feel really good about devoting yourself to one goal more than any other.

CANCER June 21-July 22

You are entering a phase when you will be wise to question fixed patterns and shed age-old habits. The more excited you get about re-evaluating everything you know and believe, the more likely it is that exciting new possibilities will open up for you. If you are staunchly committed to resolving longstanding confusions and instigating fresh approaches, you will launch an epic chapter of your life story. Wow! That sounds dramatic. But it’s quite factual. Here’s the kicker: You’re now in prime position to get vivid glimpses of specific successes you can accomplish between now and your birthday in 2025.

LEO July 23-Aug. 22

How many different ways can you think of to ripen your spiritual wisdom? I suggest you choose two and pursue them with gleeful vigor in the coming weeks. You are primed to come into contact with streams of divine revelations that can change your life for the better. All the conditions are favorable for you to encounter teachings that will ennoble your soul and hone your highest ideals. Don’t underestimate your power to get the precise enlightenment you need.

VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22

Border collies are dogs with a herding instinct. Their urges to usher, steer and manage are strong. They will not only round up sheep and cattle, but also pigs, chickens and ostriches—and even try to herd cats. In my estimation, Virgo, border collies are your spirit creatures these days. You have a special inclination and talent to be a good shepherd. So use your aptitude with flair. Provide extra navigational help for people and animals who would benefit from your nurturing guidance. And remember to do the same for your own wayward impulses!

LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22

We have arrived at the midpoint of 2024. It’s check-in time. Do you recall the promises you made to yourself last January? Are you about halfway into the frontier you vowed to explore? What inspirational measures could you instigate to renew your energy and motivation for the two most important goals in your life? What would you identify as the main obstacle to your blissful success, and how could you diminish it? If you’d like to refresh your memory of the long-term predictions I made for your destiny in 2024, go here: tinyurl.com/Libra2024. For 2023’s big-picture prophecies, go here: tinyurl.com/2023Libra.

SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21

Scorpio-born Gary Hug was educated as a machinist and food scientist, but for many years he has worked primarily as an amateur astronomer. Using a seven-foot telescope he built in the backyard of his home, he has discovered a comet and 300 asteroids, including two that may come hazardously close to Earth. Extolling the joys of being an amateur, he says he enjoys “a sense of freedom that you don’t have when you’re a professional.” In the coming weeks, Scorpio, I encourage you to explore and experiment with the joys of tasks done out of joy rather than duty. Identify the work and play that feel liberating and indulge in them lavishly.

SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21

Your power spots will be places that no one has visited or looked into for a while. Sexy secrets and missing information will be revealed to you as you nose around in situations where you supposedly should not investigate. The light at the end of the tunnel is likely to appear well before you imagined it would. Your lucky number is 8, your lucky color is black, and your lucky emotion is the surprise of discovery. My advice: Call on your memory to serve you in amazing ways; use it as a superpower.

CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19

Happy Unbirthday, Capricorn! It’s time to celebrate the season halfway between your last birthday and your next. I hope you will give yourself a fun gift every day for at least the next seven days. Fourteen days would be even better. See if you can coax friends and allies to also shower you with amusing blessings. Tell them your astrologer said that would be a very good idea. Now here’s an unbirthday favor from me: I promise that between now and January 2025, you will create healing changes in your relationship with your job and with work in general.

AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18

While sleeping, my Aquarian friend Janelle dreamed that she and her family lived in a cabin in the woods. When dusk was falling, a strange animal put its face against the main window. Was it a bear? A mountain lion? Her family freaked out and hid in a back bedroom. But Janelle stayed to investigate. Looking closely, she saw the creature was a deer. She opened up the window and spoke to it, saying, “What can I do for you?” The deer, who was a talking deer, said, “I want to give you and your family a gift. See this necklace I’m wearing? It has a magic ruby that will heal a health problem for everyone who touches it.” Janelle managed to remove the necklace, whereupon the deer wandered away and she woke up from the dream. During subsequent weeks, welcome changes occurred in her waking life. She and three of her family members lost physical ailments that had been bothering them. I think this dream is a true fairy tale for you in the coming weeks, Aquarius.

PISCES Feb. 19-March 20

A psychologist friend tells me that if we have an intense craving for sugar, it may be a sign that deeper emotional needs are going unmet. I see merit in her theory. But here’s a caveat. What if we are currently not in position to get our deeper emotional needs met? What if there is at least temporarily some barrier to achieving that lovely goal? Would it be wrong to seek a partial quenching of our soul cravings by communing with fudge brownies, peach pie and crème brûlée? I don’t think it would be wrong. On the contrary. It might be an effective way to tide ourselves over until more profound gratification is available. But now here’s the good news, Pisces: I suspect more profound gratification will be available sooner than you imagine.

Homework: Take a vow that you will ethically do everything necessary to fulfill your most important goal. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

LETTERS

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

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June 26, 2024

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FOLKLORICO

My name is Veronica Leon, I’m with Esperanza del Valle, Mexican Folklorico Dance Company from Watsonville. Our dance company, together with Cabrillo College, will be hosting the first international folklorico dance and music conference, “Reinforcing Cultural Identity” in our tri-county area (Santa Cruz, Monterey & San Benito), with the Ballet Folklórico del Puerto de Veracruz de Universidad Veracruzana, August 15-25.

This unique opportunity binds our community together and instills pride in our youth/students/community of Mexican heritage. We anticipate serving over 5,000 with dance and music classes, lectures, community events and gala performances!

Thank you,

Verónica León

COMMENTS

RE: FOOD BIN PROJECT

Really…………………….build housing without parking…………………..REALLY???

Warren Paradise | Facebook

RE: CLOCKTOWER PROJECT

I like and dislike. Architecture is to make a Statement but, lots of Waste!

Carl Sanders | Facebook

“This is what Santa Cruz needs, growth and density is the future of Santa Cruz.” ?!?! No it isn’t! How about not increasing the campus population so slugs aren’t taking up so much housing?

And love to see the Rush stay? Really? Will it be one of the businesses allowed in the mix-use first floor?

Ammer Mockus | Facebook

Oh boy. No more water rationing. Yippie, it’s a miracle.

Kevin Walter | Facebook

So it seems that all the new downtown housing projects are rentals and not an opportunity for people to buy and build equity. Is that correct? So rents can continue to escalate over time. offering no real housing security for the tenants. So we will have a small quota of “affordable apartments” and the rest will be subject to the forces of the rental market including supply and demand, growth of the university, etc.

Johanna Epps | Facebook

Build it on ucsc grounds.

Julianne Angus | Facebook

It looks good. I’d like to live there.

Jaime Sánchez

Instrumental Peace

Music

L. Kent Wolgamott

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June 26, 2024

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Jake Shimabukuro doesn’t want to take any credit for the ukulele boom that, over the last decade, has seen thousands pick up the four-stringed Hawaiian instrument.

But the “Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele,” who not so coincidentally broke through to the mainstream with a viral video of his performance of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in 2006, literally sees his influence on generations of ukulele players at every show.

“Whenever we play in a new venue, the people there will be saying ‘There’s so many people that brought their instruments to the show tonight. Are they going to play along or something?’” Shimabukuro said in a recent interview. “No, they don’t play along or come up [on stage]. They’ll bring them to the signing booth after and I’ll sign them. They’ll say, ‘We’ve never seen that before.’ It’s just kind of a fun, fundamental thing that happens at the shows. I love that.”

Born in Honolulu in 1976, Shimabukuro had been a star in his home state and Japan for more than a decade before “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” garnered widespread notice , launching him on the path to becoming the world’s most famous ukulele player.

But his journey with the four-stringed instrument began decades before anyone heard him play.

“I first picked it up when I was four because my mom played,” Shimabukuro said. “She taught me a few chords and I just loved it. But I was always so shy, I would never play in front of people. When I got older, I took lessons. I always loved playing, but I would only play for my mom and dad. I never dreamed of being on stage. I never even wanted to.

“But it was my passion. I would try to get home from school as soon as I could, so I could practice,” he said. “Back then, I never thought of it as practice. I just wanted to play. That was like my equivalent to video games or whatever. I just wanted to play the ukulele.”

In high school, Shimabukuro met some other ukulele players and began to play with them. But he resisted those who urged him to play at school assemblies and talent shows.

“I was like, ‘No, no, no.’ But somehow, eventually they talked me into it,” he said. “Then I started doing some of those things. And I just really enjoyed performing in front of people, which was a big surprise to my family and even myself, because I was always very shy.”

Talked into making a record by his high school music teacher, Shimabukuro heard himself on the radio shortly after graduating from high school and became the ukulele player in Pure Heart, a trio that, with its 1999 debut album, won four Na Hoku Hanahano Awards, the Hawaiian equivalent of a Grammy.

When the band broke up in 2002, Shimabukuro went solo, signing a deal with Sony Japan. Then, just before posting “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which got more than 15 million views, he moved into the U.S. market, opening for Jimmy Buffett and seeing his albums climb to the top of the Billboard World Music Charts.

Those albums contain a mix of Shimabukuro original compositions, cover songs and collaborations with the likes of Gov’t Mule’s Warren Haynes, Dolly Parton and, on the recently released Grateful, many of Hawaii’s top musicians.

The songs from Grateful figure prominently in the show that Shimabukuro and electric bassist Jackson Waldhoff are bringing to venues around the country.

“We’re definitely playing a lot of the music,” he said. “They’re the instrumental versions because I can’t sing to save my life. We definitely do all the instrumental stuff. But we also try to do a lot of the vocal tunes as well, some of the other classics on there like “Kawika.” Hopefully one of these days, we’ll be able to bring a lot of the artists on the album, you know, and we can perform these songs live. We did that in Hawaii, not all of them, but we got a lot of them, for a [fire] relief effort. But it would be great to be able to take them out with me on the road. It would be really special.”

The rest of the show is split between Shimabukuro’s original compositions—which he says he’s becoming ever more confident in performing—and his attention-grabbing covers.

“Maybe 40 percent, if not 50 percent of the show is original songs, but I like to mix in the covers because, for me, when I’m listening to new artists, it’s always so exciting when I hear something that I’ve already heard before and I can hear their interpretation of it,” he said. “It makes it a lot easier to connect with the audience, so I love throwing those in.”

Those covers are selected because they’re personal to Shimabukuro, who grew up listening to his mother’s collection of records from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s before discovering songs on his own, often while working at a record store.

“Whenever I do a song like ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ or if I get to do something like [Queen’s] ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ or [Leonard Cohen’s] ‘Hallelujah,’ to me it’s the equivalent of a sports fan wearing their favorite player’s jersey,” he said. “I remember growing up, you know, you would wear your number 23 Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan jersey, or my son loves Steph Curry’s and wears his jersey.

“As a musician when you cover another song of another artist, it’s like putting on your George Harrison jersey or your Queen jersey or your Leonard Cohen jersey,” Shimabukuro said. “You’re kind of celebrating your appreciation and admiration for these amazing artists that inspired you and influenced you.”

So how do you turn an iconic song from a rock band into something that can be played on the ukulele?

“It’s hard to explain,” Shimabukuro said. “I cover, of course, the melody because I do an instrumental version of it. Take ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’—I kind of worked out a fingerstyle way of playing it. So you’re covering chord movements and there’s a lot of counterpoint in that piece too. I try to cover as much as I can with the counterpoint melodies while keeping whatever Freddie Mercury’s voice, his melody lines. You’ll just have to come to the show to get it.”

Jake Shimabukuro plays June 30 at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz. $40. riotheatre.com

Open Loophole

Cannabis

Dan Mitchell

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June 26, 2024

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One thing that often gets lost in all the debate over highly problematic hemp-derived THC products is that the people who make and sell them have every reason to oppose cannabis legalization. After all, the market for their products—some of which might be downright dangerous—exists largely because pot remains illegal in so many states and at the federal level. The hemp-derived products, which can get you high, exist in a legal gray area, and are thus widely available, including in states where pot remains illegal.

The products exist because of the dumb way the law legalizing hemp was written in the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp in its natural state generally doesn’t contain enough THC to get a person high. The Farm Bill contains language limiting the amount of “Delta-9 THC,” which is the kind most often associated with weed.

But there are a bunch of different kinds of THC. One of them is Delta-8. So naturally, companies—many of them super-sleazy—started making products made from concentrations of Delta-8 (pr Delta-10, or etc.) derived from hemp. They are sold in stores and on the internet, and are easy to obtain by anyone of any age. Depending on how the law is interpreted, they might be no more illegal than a hemp skirt.

Congress is weighing a measure for the 2024 Farm Bill to close this loophole. There is wide agreement in the cannabis industry that “synthetic,” hemp-derived Delta-8 products should be legal and regulated just as regular weed is regulated. But some in the legal-weed business think the amendment being discussed goes too far. That’s at least in part thanks to the fact that some of them are themselves getting into the consumable-hemp business.

As with so many of the problems facing the cannabis industry, this one could be solved pretty simply: by legalizing weed, and regulating all this stuff the same way. Hemp and what we generally think of as “weed” are the same plant, after all (cannabis)—even if hemp and weed contain different amounts of various cannabinoids.

But since federal legalization appears to be dead in the water until at least after the November election (thanks mainly to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refusing to allow a vote on legalization in the Senate) we’re left in this weird limbo where different parts of the industry are at odds with each other; with a market of unregulated, possibly dangerous products being sold; and with lawmakers at the federal and state levels reaching for clumsy solutions to the problem.

The politics of the situation are even more grotesque at the state level. Cannabis legalization is on the ballot in Florida in November, and, as is the case in most states, polls show a solid majority in favor of the measure (the vote might be close, though, since approval requires 60% of the electorate to vote “yes”).

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t even pretending to not be corrupt on this issue: He opposes legalization, but also recently vetoed a bill that would have banned intoxicating hemp products in the state. Marijuana Moment quoted DeSantis baldly stating that part of his rationale for the veto was that “the marijuana industry wanted this hemp bill.”

DeSantis recently created a political action committee called the Florida Freedom Fund, which, even for these people, is a particularly Orwellian name. The PAC exists for the express purpose of defeating legalization and another ballot measure that would guarantee access to abortion, which is, you know, sort of the opposite of freedom.

Behold DeSantis’s word salad in explaining himself: “Some of these people that are funding the marijuana, they came in when we did the medical marijuana, which I implemented because the voters passed it, and they said, ‘We don’t believe in recreation. We just want to do medical. We think it can help alleviate pain or whatever.’ And those same people that were saying that are now trying this amendment.”

The longer we go with a bifurcated legal system, with weed being legal in some respects and illegal in others, the more perverse things will get.

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