One of the most frequent complaints heard about downtown Santa Cruz is that it is being overrun with panhandlers pleading with passersby to spare them some change. At its weekly meeting yesterday, City Council voted in support of a solution to help the indigent while reducing the impact that panhandlers are having on local businesses. It voted to add eight red parking meters labeled “Imagine” to the downtown area for people to drop their change.
News
To Green A Scene
Random thoughts on making a domicile more eco-friendly.
The Graywater Revolution
Every time Anne Smith washes her kids’ grass-stained sports uniforms, her agapanthus gets watered too. It’s a time-saving, water-conserving trick that may one day become commonplace as more and more people discover the benefits of recycling the household “graywater.
Eco-Artists to Speak at Santa Cruz Design Conference
Something profound happened in the days after Lakshmi Narayan visited the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley a few weeks ago to see an exhibit by ecological artists Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison. “It stayed with me for days and seeped into my consciousness. I understood it better over a few days’ time,” says Narayan, founder of Awake Media, a Santa Cruz-based web and print design company. “It made you think of yourself as a steward of the planet.”
Body Found in Boulder Creek Elementary
Students were off yesterday at Boulder Creek Elementary School, while police investigated the cause of death of a man in his 30s, who was found on an outdoor, second-story balcony. The man was not a local resident, nor did he have any ties to the school.
Santa Cruz Animal Shelter Offers First Aid for Pets
Santa Cruz County Animal Services is offering a monthly course on first aid for pets at the Animal Shelter in Live Oak. The class, entitled “Who You Gonna Call,” will go over basic treatment for cuts, bites, burns, poisoning, and other common injuries. Organizers
UCSC Students Hit with Fine
UCSC has fined 36 students $944 each for the role they played in the occupation of Kerr Hall last November during the student strike on campus. The occupation of the building is said to have resulted in $34,000 in damages. Additionally, seven of the students were either dismissed or placed on probation for their participation in the event.
Pigeon Point Lighthouse a Victim of the Times
A hundred years ago, ships sailing between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay could look to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse for reassurance that the safety of dry land was nearby. In these days of radio and sonar, however, the lighthouses of old are mainly curiosities, reminding us of the past—a past that could soon be forgotten. Pigeon Point Lighthouse is crumbling away, and there is no money to rescue it.
Bus Routes Likely to Be Cut
The Santa Cruz County Metropolitan Bus District is looking at which routes it can cut as it deals with a multimillion-dollar deficit.
Making the Best of an Empty Building
For 18 years, the Rittenhouse Building on the corner of Pacific Avenue and Church Street was a big hole in the ground, a casualty of the Loma Prieta earthquake. It was only in 2008 that it was replaced by the current structure. But business has not been good for the owners of the building, former City Councilman Louis Rittenhouse and his sister. The recession struck just before it was completed, and the four-story building has remained empty ever since.
