The Santa Cruz County Grand Jury is not happy with the way the county’s libraries are being run. A report released yesterday noted that the technology infrastructure is outdated, buildings are aging, and the collections are not being updated as necessary. Its conclusion: local libraries will no longer be able to meet the needs of their patrons in an age where technology is changing so quickly. As an example of the problem, the Grand Jury noted that the system is the only one in the country to still use an outmoded computer system.
Rock Throwing Vandal Arrested
Santa Cruz police have arrested Zakari Adams, 22, as one of the vandals responsible a wave of incidents throughout the city.
Watsonville Teacher Arrested for Having Sex with Student
Tanya Thienngern, 37, who teaches English at Pajaro Valley High School, has surrendered to the Watsonville police after a judge signed a warrant for her arrest. Thienngern is charged with have sex with a 17-year-old student and at least one other current or former student, as well as serving alcohol to minors and contributing to the delinquency of minors. If convicted, she could face up to 7 years and 4 months in prison.
Plan to Clean Up Pogonip
City officials are prepared to rethink the Pogonip master plan in order to combat the drug dealers and homeless camps that call the park home. Over the past few years, the park’s reputation has caused many joggers and nature lovers to avoid it, and budgetary constraints make the cost of maintaining more park rangers there prohibitive. The new plan is based on the assumption that increasing usage by the general public would force the undesirable elements out. “You gotta bring the public in,” says Chief Ranger John Wallace.
Enough With The Kvetching
Nowadays, there seems to be an inordinate amount of kvetching—outrageous complaining—about most everything, and it emanates from all directions and political stripes. Complaining is an inalienable right, and while some of it is legitimate in a world with so many inequities and accompanying narishkeit (nonsense), some people make excessive griping their forte. They waste their time, energy and alienate others by kvetching instead of trying to make positive changes in their own lives and to the condition of the world.
Some Residents Unhappy about ICE
Just about everyone in Santa Cruz agrees that something has to be done to counter rising gang violence. They even agree that the SCPD needs help. What they disagree on is who should be helping. Four federal agencies are now partnering with the police to fight the gangs. No one is bothered by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, or the FBI. What does concern many residents is the active role being played by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Santa Cruz Mixed-Use Project on Hold
Remember 2120 Delaware? You know, the sprawling 20-acre, 530,000-square-foot live-work building project on Delaware Avenue that, when it was approved by the Santa Cruz City Council back in July 2008, was going to usher in a new progressive multi-use community to the Westside? That was, of course, until the economy tanked and Redtree Properties, the project developer, couldn’t sell any of the lots to customers. Well, today the property looks much as it has for the last decade: a fenced-off empty field.
NextSpace Expanding to San Francisco, San Jose
Forget about MySpace. The next big thing is NextSpace. The company, which was founded in Santa Cruz, offers office space and services to a variety of companies on a per month or day-pass basis. Need a conference room for the start-up you started in your garage, and your living room just won’t do? You can get that at NextSpace, with all the advantages of a fully operational office. Or else you can move your entire office out of your bedroom and into a more business-like setting where you can mingle with other entrepreneurs.
Unofficial: Coonerty, Gallagher, Connolly—And District 4 Runoff
What a relief. The elections are over and the public has decided. People with a lot of money have a better chance of winning a Republican primary. So it’s Meg Whitman ($81 million spent so far) against Jerry Brown and Carly Fiorina ($5.5 million of her own money) against Barbara Boxer. That’s the news everywhere in America, where the California race was the showstopper on the nightly punditcasts.
Tourism Tax Vote Looms in Santa Cruz County
As another summer dawns in Santa Cruz and the boardwalk begins to swell with tourists, the hotel industry is hoping this year will be better than last. It may soon get a leg up from local politicians. On Tuesday, June 15, the Board of Supervisors will make its final vote on the proposed Tourism Marketing District—a separate lodging fee that would be used exclusively by and for the tourism industry to promote tourism in Santa Cruz County. The proposed fee would add an additional $1-1.50 to hotel stays and provide an estimated $1.1 million to the Convention and Visitor’s Council. The idea has already received the thumbs-up from city councils in Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Capitola and Watsonville. The supes’ approval would make it official countywide.
