Closing a park is hard; closing a beach is even harder. But that’s just what Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed for four local state beaches. The beaches—Twin Lakes and Seabright in Santa Cruz County and Zmudowski and Moss Landing in Monterey County’s northern reaches—are among nine beaches up and down the state set for closure by next July. Due to the unique public access issues posed by beaches, the question of how exactly that will look—or if it will even work—remains entirely unanswered.
Police Still Hunting for Friday’s Vandal
The SCPD is still hunting for the vandal who slashed the tires of 50 cars within a half-mile radius on the Westside Friday night and carved swastikas into six of the vehicles.
Stow Beating the Culmination of a Series of Attacks on Giants Fans
Suspect in Stow case has a long history of violence.
Carousel Marks A Century of Rides
“And the seasons they go ‘round and ‘round/ And the painted ponies go up and down/ We’re captive on the carousel of time/ We can’t return we can only look behind…”
Capitola to Debate New Skateboarding Rules
When it meets tonight, Capitola City Council will be discussing the rules for skateboarding and bicycling within Capitola Village. Behind the discussion is an accident that occurred earlier this month. A local 17-year-old came barreling down the Cliff Drive hill in the direction of the Stockton Avenue bridge at 20 miles per hour, just as Maryanne Slettehaugh, 83, was crossing the street. Though the teen jumped off the skateboard, he still flew into Sletterhaugh, who was knocked down and killed.
Rise in Homelessness A Sign of The Times
With unemployment at 11.6 percent in Santa Cruz County and a dearth of affordable housing, the number of homeless people living in Santa Cruz has increased by 22 percent over the past two years. Official numbers say that there are 2,771 homeless people now living in the city, compared to 2,265 in 2009, the last time a poll was taken. About half of all the homeless people live in the city of Santa Cruz. Scotts Valley, which had no homeless people in 2009, now has 13.
City Gives First Nod to Ocean Street Plan
City Council voted unanimously last night to send its Draft Ocean Street Area Plan for an environmental review. The decision came amid some confusion, however, with Mayor Ryan Coonerty pointing to differences between Council members and residents as to what the plan actually entails. He would like to see greater involvement by the local population, which will be directly affected by the plan, and called for a series of workshops between residents and city officials to hammer out the final details.
Reimagining Ocean Street
Some 3 million people visit Santa Cruz every year, and the first thing they see is Ocean Street. When City Council meets Tuesday at 7pm, they’ll discuss plans to make that first encounter as memorable as possible—and in a good way.
Cashing Out
In the midst of California’s budgetary tug-of-war, Betsey Lynberg, administrator for Santa Cruz County’s Redevelopment Agency, and her colleagues are punching at calculators and trying to figure out whether or not their 24-year-old agency can survive another fiscal year, but the signs don’t look good.
Almost Famous
Two hours into the 152 en route to Fresno, around 7pm, we started noticing a funny bounce in the back of the van. As cars drove by, the occupants would point to our trailer as they mouthed dreaded words that we couldn’t hear but didn’t need to. Dusty pulled to the side of the road next to acres of green fields and, sure enough, there was our first blown tire, ripped all the way around. And that’s how we kicked off the Stellar Corpses 2011 Western tour.
