Santa Cruz Observer

Change and Santa Cruz politics

By TOM HONIG

I was just putting the finishing touches on a post about the Santa Cruz Warriors deal and how it suggests a real change in Santa Cruz politics when more evidence of that came across the transom in the form of the Sentinel reporter Jason Hoppin's penetrating look at Santa Cruz politics: "In high-profile endorsement of county board race, a rift is exposed."

Hoppin's story is less about City Council votes than it is about former Assemblyman Fred Keeley and environmental activist Gary Patton --- and the Bruce McPherson-Eric Hammer race for county supervisor -- but he includes this significant description of the current state of the so-called "progressive" movement that has dominated local politics for more than a generation: 

"On one side is the current council majority: generally pro-business, open to compromise and, while pro-environment and cautious of growth, not purists about either issue. Generally, this side tends to be younger.

One the other side is the older guard, populated by hardcore conservationists and lefty true-believers. Though they established Santa Cruz' reputation for activism, their influence seems to be dwindling, with the balance of power on the council having shifted decidedly from the latter to the former."

Getting back to the Warriors' vote (6-0 to move ahead with the project), it appears as though the younger group's priorities here are starting to take hold. Just as they should.

Some 30 years ago, staunch anti-growthers took the reins of power here. Young rabble-rousers themselves, they balked at the pro-growth majority that had preceded them. It was a fool's bet to go against them, and slowly the anti-growth enviros took solid control of Santa Cruz.

Alas, time marches on and now up-and-comers see things differently. Three decades of anti-growth regulations have combined with inflated housing prices and a lack of good local jobs to encourage a new pro-business (and pro-environmental) ethic.

Don't bet against it. The mere existence of a new professional sports team in Santa Cruz reveals that things are changing. The younger ones assuming the mantle -- think Ryan Coonerty, think David Terrazas -- are open to change and open to bringing a youthful vigor to life in Santa Cruz.

Despite what some of the older naysayers living in their inflated million-dollar houses say, it's not a return to the old days. These days, younger leaders think they can protect the environment and have economic growth and lifestyle improvements all at the same time.

The best minor-league city in America?

By TOM HONIG

Is anyone else around Santa Cruz as surprised (and as pleased) as I am that a professional sports team is coming to town?

The arrival of the Santa Cruz Warriors minor-league basketball franchise is due at its Front Street location Dec. 23 -- an unbelievable seven-month turnaround from the time it was first proposed until the first tip-off. Of course, construction of the temporary pavilion home for the team hasn't started yet -- it's due Sept. 5, assuming the Santa Cruz City Council gives its final stamp of approval a day earlier.

Warriors' official Jim Weyerman is the man in charge of getting the team and the pavilion ready for the Dec. 23 opening, and he's spending his days meeting and greeting a variety of Santa Cruz folks as part of his outreach.

At a recent Rotary Club meeting, Weyerman enthusiastically stated his belief that the facility would be ready to go. "There is no Plan B," he said, pointing out that having an alternative is just probably a good way to make the alternative happen instead.

Negotiations between the Warriors and the city of Santa Cruz are ongoing -- as are negotiations with the Seaside Co., owners of the land. But Weyerman said he's optimistic that all parties are interested in moving the project forward.

That optimism is a sign that times are changing in Santa Cruz. This town that has unreasonably opposed varioous new facilities seems to be evolving -- particularly among younger people who are looking for more activities and even new job opportunities around town. They think having a pro sports team here is cool -- and it is.

In fact, it's more than cool. Weyerman pointed out at his Rotary talk that the new facility -- even though temporary -- will help with one of the oldest problems facing Santa Cruz: connecting the beach area with downtown. This new facility will be as important or even more important than the recently opened Monterey Bay Sanctuary Exploration Center a short way away.

Weyerman and others also visualize the potential of a permanent facility. As it stands, the pavilion will seat maybe 3,200 people and could host other events as well. Think UC Santa Cruz basketball,  the Derby Girls and even concerts. A permanent facility -- already being studied by UC Santa Cruz.-- could seat as many as 5,000.

Not everyone is happy with the proposal. Some question the cost to the city, which is assuming much of the cost of construction. However, there could be a big economic payoff, and having the Warriors' parent organization, the Golden State Warriors as a partner makes a lot of sense as well.

Already, people are quickly reserving season tickets. Weyerman says that the Warriors are ecstatic with the number of people who have already reserved tickets.

"Santa Cruz can be the best minor league team in America," Weyerman told Rotary.

Why not? It's time we give it a try.

Pro basketball in Santa Cruz -- why not?

By TOM HONIG

The Sentinel has published an excellent q-and-a about a proposal to move a Warriors-affiliated D-League basketball team to Santa Cruz. The q-and-a was provided by the Golden State Warriors.

It'll be fascinating to watch next week when the City Council considers whether to proceed with the project. Will some complain about the price tag? (The capital cost is estimated at $2.5 million, with the city fronting the money through its general fund. The Warriors say they'll make up half of that in repayments -- plus take on another $500,000 in operating costs.) The money will go to build a temporary arena on property owned by the Seaside Co., owners of the Boardwalk. It would be located at Front Street and Laurel Street Extension.

Is the city ready to take on a pro team? Why not? My guess is that games will be well attended and other organizations could borrow or rent the facility. A quick check of the Sentinel's comment section shows that most folks seem to like the idea.

Stay tuned to see what happens at the first hearing on the subject -- Tuesday at City Hall.

On a recent night in Santa Cruz, it was two groups fighting for the same thing

EDITOR'S NOTE: Is the word "compromise" in the local activist's dictionary? Apparently not, judging from this post by Robert Singleton of Santa Cruz, who attended the recent City Council hearing on a multi-use trail through Pogonip. This fight -- enviro vs. enviro -- features old-time activists and a new breed of progressives.

By ROBERT SINGLETON 

It’s a Tuesday night and it’s sprinkling outside, much to my dismay, as I head over to City Hall to witness what is expected to be a long and onerous council meeting. As I near the chambers it becomes obvious that a large swath of people have already begun to pour out onto the patio outside of the meeting hall, surely a sign of things to come. The issue being debated tonight is whether or not to accept a proposal by the city’s Parks and Recreation department to create an additional multi-use trail in the Pogonip, a large and scenic area on the north side of the city.

Santa Cruz is one of those cities where even the most mundane of issues can become a hot, and very much heated, topic of debate. Tonight was no exception. It would pit the old school progressives, who largely oppose anything that they feel at all resembles growth, versus the new school, the much younger and pragmatic, yet still extremely conscience progressives. I know, what would seem to any outsiders as virtually the same type of people, fiercely opposing one another and mobilizing their respective constituencies for what eventually concluded a 4 hour long city council meeting.

What can be seen as even more strange is the fact that both groups claim to fighting for the same thing, the preservation of public land for public use and sustainability. They just differ on what they believe to be appropriate public use and their diagnosis of what was preventing that use.

On one side you have the Friends of Pogonip, the old guard, who claim that the land should be preserved by utilizing existing trails, rather than building another. They claim to already be having problems with mountain bikers using the existing trails illegally, which they claim makes it difficult to hike in the traditional sense because of the constant worry of encountering “vehicles,” (mountain bikes). Those in support of the trail, many of who are openly avid mountain bikers, claim to need another trail to avoid having to share the highway with cars and to fight against the crime that has persisted in the area for some time. They  also claim to not have enough trails to practice as it is, a somewhat weaker claim because of Santa Cruz’s notoriety as a wonderful place to go mountain biking.

Regardless of their respective positions, both of which resonate with me to some degree, the real issue at hand is how this community wants to collectively resolve its differences. As it stood on this particular night, both sides presented their side of the story, complete with petitions from supporters and mobilized volunteers. However, the one thing that was noticeably absent, from what I would otherwise call an extremely active and robust civic process, was any notion of compromise. In fact, it appeared to me as if neither side had even considered, let alone tried, to reach out to the other. The mayor even began the meeting with a general call for civility because apparently both sides had been sending nasty and defamatory e-mails to him, and each other, for days leading up to this meeting.

Now as much as I appreciate the general level of participation, I do not appreciate this polarization, which only manifests itself to an even higher degree on the state and national levels.

Is it even possible to claim the middle ground anymore? If we can’t even agree on the placement and use of a 4-foot wide patch of dirt than how can we expect to solve some of the most pressing and perilous problems of our day? And to be honest, I really don’t have an answer.

 I am just tired of the way things work, and would love hear suggestions on how to deal with this entrenched mentality of “my way or the highway”, because in a world of policy winners and losers, the real victim becomes our democracy.

Robert Singleton is a co-founder of Civinomics, a startup that  helps communities develop solutions to local issues through a collaborative online platform and direct iPad polling.

How about some independent thinking?

By TOM HONIG

Maybe it's always been this way, but the American dialogue has been now completely taken over by a sports fan mentality.

The Supreme Court decision. Are you pro-Obama or anti-Obama? That seems to dictate what you think the Supremes ought to do. The guilt or innocence of George Zimmerman? It depends how you feel about race in America. Oil prices? If you're a lefty, blame the oil companies. If you're a rightwinger, blame the EPA.

The realities of these issues are different. T'he legality of the health-care law really shouldn't hinge on whether you're pro-Obama or not. The guilt or innocence of  George Zimmerman needs to be decided according to the law -- and not whether we live in a racist society. (It is possible, for example, that we live in a racist society AND that Zimmerman is not guilty of first degree murder.)

Leave it to a foreign magazine to put this shooting into context. Check out The Economist, which weighs in by saying "A shooting becomes an excuse for political point-scoring."

I spent years covering trials, and one thing you learn is that the exhaustive process of a trial is an important guarantee that justice will be served. No, it's not perfect, but the process is important in ensuring that a defendant is truly shown to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Despite hours of opinionating on television and many column-yards in the newspaper, no one -- except for maybe Zimmerman himself -- knows totally what happened. All the opinionating is mere speculation, often based on where one stands politically.

Our civil rights are way more important than reducing them to a political debate. Same goes with the Supreme Court dividing themselves up between "liberal" and "conservative" justices. We the people deserve better.

Occupational education and the economy

Second in a series

By TOM HONIG

Last week the Chamber of Commerce presented data about the local retail economy. The night before,  the County Office of Education presented its first Regional Occupational Program Advisory Night -- an opportunity for business people to get involved in local career education.

The two events have a connection.

One of the problems that retailers have in Santa Cruz is that an astonishing 85 percent of retail purchasing by Santa Cruz residents goes outside the county. There are a lot of reasons for that, but one big explanation is that so many people -- 30,000 or more -- travel outside the county to go to work. They shop where they work. At the same time, local employers fret that they have jobs available for qualified workers -- but they can't find them here in town.

That's where the County Office of Education's ROP program fits in. Yes, it's vocational education, but with a big difference from the old days. Mark Hodges, director of the program, explained it this way: "We've come a long way from the vocational ed of the past. Our program gives kids a reason to learn and stay in school."

In other words, ROP actually blends vocational ed with college prep. Hodges explained it this way: "If I was going to learn to fly a plane and could choose to be taught by someone with a degree in civil aeronautics who hasn't flown a plane or some who has flown -- I'd choose the one who had actually flown a plane."

That's who teaches in ROP -- those with work experience who go through a special credentialed program. The list of available programs is impressive -- from agribusiness to web design, from athletic training to construction.

These applied programs don't subtract from scholastic programs. They add to it. For example, imagine a student trying to memorize biology concepts. Take that same student and put her in a sports medicine class and she'll be motivated to learn about injuries at the cellular level.

This, in a nutshell, is how education can help the Santa Cruz economy. It won't happen overnight. But the ROP program serves more than 4,000 students a year in some 40 different courses. Also, the program coordinates its programs with Cabrillo College, also an important institution in the preparation for jobs.

That's not to say there aren't challenges. Rock Pfotenhauer, a dean at Cabrillo College, shared with the audience a shocking statistic: that only about 10 percent of incoming freshman are college ready. The question is whether there's a solution.

These are challenging times for education, both here and across the country. Is occupational learning the solution? It's worth a shot.

Yes, Virginia, there is good news in the paper

By TOM HONIG

Definitely check out today's Sentinel for the feel-good story of the day. Wallace Baine tells the story of Joe Ferrara, everybody's favorite purveyor of comic books -- who for years has also been singing the National Anthem at Giants' games.

Joe has long been an important personage to two different groups: the kids growing up who frequent his Atlantis Fantasyworld comics store on Cedar Street -- and also those who listen to his performances of old standards at local venues like the Shadowbrook.

As he so often does, Wallace Baine paints an on-pitch profile of Joe, who is as enthusiastic about his music and his business as he ever was. Definitely check it out.

 

Wharf to Wharf videos spring up online

By TOM HONIG

 

Events like the popular Santa Cruz Wharf to Wharf Race are being changed dramatically by social media.

It used to be that people celebrated their running exploits with friends and family -- but now the Wharf to Wharf is becoming an online phenomenon as well.

First, online has changed the speed with which the Wharf race sells out every year. It used to take a couple of months for the 15,000-runner field to sell out. Now it takes just days.

And then there's online video of all aspects of the race -- the start, the finish, the stuff in between. Two videos are posted on the Wharf to Wharf Facebook page of marriage proposals. The Sentinel also has posted a video.

The Facebook page also has given runners a way to give vent to any frustrations. The main one: walkers. I'm not sure what you can do about that, because people who are walking -- or even running slow -- insist on getting up toward the front of the pack at the beginning of the race. It's probably getting worse thanks to an aging population -- there are more of us who can't run anymore but still want to be part of it.

Still the Wharf to Wharf Race remains perhaps the premier public event in Santa Cruz County each summer. Anything that popular now gets exposure on social media as well as conventional sites like the Sentinel, Patch, KSCO and on community television.

Definitely check out the Wharf to Wharf Facebook page. 

Wharf to Wharf sells out

Wow. Last year the annual Wharf to Wharf Race didn't sell out until June. Thursday at 1 p.m., Race Director Kirby Nicol announced that all 15,000 spots have been taken. Now in its 39th year, the race obviously is more popular than ever.

Of  course, social media boosted sales. This year, the Wharf to Wharf has its own Facebook page, and everytime a reminder got posted on the site another group of people signed up.

There will certainly be some disappointed folks who won't be given a bib number this year. The Wharf to Wharf Race -- slated for July 24 -- will also feature something new this year -- chip timing. So when a runner crosses the finish line, his or her race time will be recorded. Of course, with 15,000 runners, that official time still has to be adjusted, because sometimes it takes 10 minutes for runners in the back to even get up to the starting line -- and the timing begins with the gun.

But for most of the 15,000 runners, the official time is of secondary importance.

Race is on: Wharf to Wharf will sell out early

Entries are coming in at a record clip for the 2011 Wharf to Wharf Race. Registration started on April 1 -- and in the first five days some 7,500 runners have already registered. The race is limited to 15,000 registered runners.

The notice went out on April 1 on the Wharf to Wharf Facebook page. Race director Kirby Nicol said this week that the response to the race "is unlike anything I've ever seen. We've got a tiger by the tail."

The Wharf to Wharf is now in its 39th year. It's always run on the fourth Sunday in July -- this year, that's July 24.

But it'll be long sold out by that time. Nicol estimates: "At this rate, our 15,000 runner limited field will be sold out before the end of April. The time to enter is NOW!"

For more information and to register, follow this link.