Bickering Historical Preservation Commission Slams La Bahia Plan

Procedural squabbling aside, the advisory body unites against a six-story hotel for the Santa Cruz beachfront
By 12:30am, Wednesday’s Historical Preservation Commission meeting regarding a proposal to tear down the old La Bahia Apartments at 215 Beach Street and build a luxury hotel had descended into pouting frowns and cranky bickering. Still, when all was said and done, Barry Swenson Builder’s plan to bulldoze a crumbling-if-proud national landmark in the name of progress was dealt a major blow when the commission voted unanimously to oppose the idea. “The plan offers us no option for preserving any or all of the existing landmark. How can we support something like that?” HPC chairman David Subocz asked a tired and slightly giddy audience.

Biofuel Rebound

Alt-energy pioneer David Blume proves Santa Cruz still wants innovative solutions to the energy crisis
Just because local entrepreneur Ray Newkirk had to shutter the Ocean Street Pacific Biodiesel station, don’t think that the local biofuel scene is dead in the water. Much to the contrary, it seems to be brimming. Fellow alt-energy entreprenuer David Blume overloaded the phone lines and the server hosting his website last week when he went on the radio show “Coast to Coast” to talk about his plans for the ethanol revolution.

Chill Factor

Cooling currents have sparked a huge comeback for life in Monterey Bay this year, but global warming could threaten it's future
The water splashes up in all directions as a huge humpback whale hits the water just a few hundred yards off the boat’s bow. An amazed crowd jockeys for position as they eagerly await the whale’s next appearance. There is tense silence on this small boat run by the Monterey Bay Whale Watch as it idles over one of the largest submarine canyons in the world. Finally, the whale’s tail emerges, indicating it is going deeper into the canyon to hunt the schools of anchovies that are in abundant supply this year.

A Pro Life Vote

Santa Cruz city leaders are asking residents to pony up $3.49 a month to pay life saving emergency dispatchers
Pay the cost of a loaf of bread every month, and you might just get your life saved one day. That’s the message coming from Santa Cruz leaders aiming to restore a $3.49 monthly fee that has been applied to phone bills in California since 2003 to fund emergency dispatchers. Similar fees levied by Union City and Stockton were challenged in court recently and have both been declared a tax not approved by California voters. In other words, an illegal tax. As a result, counties across the state are holding special elections to restore the surcharge in each respective municipality.

Brush Up

How a duo of painters are reclaiming Live Oak from gangs
Children coming of age in a Live Oak covered in scrawled gang tags are getting a fresh view of the area due to the graffiti-busting efforts of Santa Cruz artists Jessica Cooper and John Moore. Fed up with the heavy flow of gang graffiti appearing throughout Live Oak, Cooper and Moore have opted to use their artistic skills as the main weapons in a two-person urban renewal initiative.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Back and Ready For More

At age 75, former Mayor Katherine Beiers is taking another stab at Santa Cruz city politics
Katherine Beiers is not done living life to the fullest. The 75-year-old two time Santa Cruz mayor has more bounce in her step than most women half her age and now she’s ready to give another jolt of vitality to the city’s progressive movement. That was the clear message last Thursday as Beiers announced her candidacy for Santa Cruz city council from the comfort of her spacious westside backyard.

Heaps of Controversy

Activists smell something rotten in County plan for Buena Vista landfill
The trash talk between County Public Works and local community activists is piling up lately, with each accusing the other of engaging in a willful campaign of misinformation.

Shifting LBAM Alliances

Old foes in the LBAM fight team up, maybe
Befuddled wouldn’t begin to describe the reaction LBAM spraying opponents have had to the change of tone from state and federal agriculture officials charged with fighting the pest from down under. Not only was the aerial pheromone-spraying program thrown out the window last month, but now the sworn enemies of the LBAM eradication program are being welcomed with open arms to a state-sponsored research conference from July 22-24 in Foster City that could help determine the next chapter of the LBAM saga.

The Flames of Freedom

One man's quest to transform a burning flag into a symbol of patriotism
The orange flames lick the evening sky as Brent Adams and Sha Lar hold separate ends of a large United States flag. Adams surveys the dozen or so onlookers gathered at Seabright Beach during the evening of July 3. Finally, he begins the ceremony. “I want to dedicate this to all the men and women who have died in foreign wars fighting to protect our freedoms,” he says.

The Politics of Plastic

County Public Works considers regulating one-time use plastic bags
China is not often looked to as a trailblazer when it comes to environmental stewardship, but the industrial behemoth is light years ahead of Santa Cruz County when it comes to minimizing excessive plastic bag waste. It’s not just China that is leading the way in banning the free distribution of plastic bags at market checkout counters. Bangladesh, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and even the failed state of Somalia have completely banned one-time use plastic bags due to the impact on drainage systems and offshore marine life. Now, public works officials from across Santa Cruz County are scrambling to play catch up.

Insufficient Funds

Here's what it really costs to live in paradise
Get real. That’s what any Californian who’s stumbled across the so-called federal “poverty guidelines,” which supposedly tell what it costs to live minimally in our state, usually mutters when seeing the figures.

Bike Boulevard Petition Circulates

People Power drum up support for bike friendly improvements to the King Street neighborhood
The normally peaceful King Street neighborhood has been transformed into a hotbed of local political activism. Bicycle advocates from People Power have been going door to door in this westside bedroom community to see if residents would be willing to make the street friendlier for bicycles.

Greenspace Window Smashed

Vandals allege corporate greenwashing
Lydia Corser, owner of local sustainability shop GreenSpace, received a rude awakening in the middle of the night on Monday, June 16. It was two in the morning and the alarm company was on the phone–someone had broken the window of her Soquel Ave. store.