Santa Cruz is a motorcycle Mecca. After all, four wheels may move the body, but two wheels move the soul. Perhaps that is why Santa Cruz is also an environmental Mecca, which is why Zero Motorcycles is looking to open up shop here. The electric motorcycle manufacturer, currently based up the road in Scotts Valley, is looking for $800,000 to open a new research and manufacturing site as well as a store front in Santa Cruz. On Tuesday night, City Council voted to help the business out with a $175,000 loan and an additional $25,000 in staffing and technical assistance.
News
SCPD Collaboration with ICE Under Fire
Just about everyone agrees that something must be done about the growing problem of gang violence in Santa Cruz. Not everyone, however, is happy about the SCPD collaborating with Immigration Customs and Enforcement.
Local Boy Scout Troop Under Scrutiny After Child Molestation Charges
A local Boy Scout trip is being sued over a case of child molestation that occurred more than 20 years ago. Andy Hinkle, 32, formerly of Santa Cruz but now of Oregon, claims that he was molested as a boy while attending the Pico Blanco Scout Camp in Palo Colorado Canyon in Big Sur in the early 1980s. The molestation started when he was five and lasted for seven years.
Students Protest Library Cuts
It’s not just municipal libraries that are feeling the pinch of ongoing budget cuts. Campus libraries are also facing cuts, which result in reduced staff and even reduced hours. In the past three years alone, UCSC’s libraries have lost $2 million in funding. New books are rarely acquired and important journal subscriptions are going unfilled.
Vienna Teng’s Musical Progression
Vienna Teng hasn’t lost faith in the power of music to change the world, but she’s not putting all her eggs in one basket.
The Saratoga-raised singer/songwriter has earned a passionate following over the past decade with a series of albums distinguished by her luminous voice, poetically evocative lyrics and incisive melodies. While her songs tend toward introspection and character study more than advocacy, she has sought to align her politics with her art, whether partnering with Habitat for Humanity on her 2007 Green Caravan tour or offering ecologically friendly merchandise.
Santa Cruz Seniors to Be Stranded
There have been a lot of complaints about the Chanticleer Home, a care facility for the elderly, since 2005. In fact there have been more than 100, including accounts of one resident wandering away and another denied medical care. Based on these complaints, a judge has ordered the facility shut down, but the families of the seniors—and the seniors themselves—aren’t taking it lightly.
Turning Down the Volume
The SCPD has added a new feature to its website. It is listing all the houses that have received tickets over the past 12 months for hosting a “loud and unruly gathering,” i.e., the houses where people party. These are generally parties with over 150 people, most of them drinking heavily. The result, too often, is garbage littering the neighborhood and the not-infrequent boozer bash-up.
Finkelstein Speaks Important Truths
For three decades the Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV) has brought an extraordinary range of speakers on Middle East issues to Santa Cruz. These speakers range from the Chief Justice of the Israeli High Court to the founder of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza. We’ve hosted an Israeli whose son was killed by a Palestinian sniper and a Palestinian whose 10 year-old daughter was killed by an Israeli Border Policeman as she walked home from school.
New Face of America
She may be a young activist dealing with some of today’s most pressing issues, but Erica Williams is setting her sights on the future—mid-century, to be exact. By that time, the Census Bureau predicts that racial minorities will make up most of the United States’ population, with no one group holding an overwhelming racial majority. As the Center for American Progress’ new Deputy Director for Progress 2050 (as in the year 2050), Williams is taking steps to ensure that progressive policy reflects this forecasted diversity.
In Santa Cruz, Anarchists of All Stripes
One week after masked so-called anarchists vandalized 18 businesses and a police car in downtown Santa Cruz during a May 1 street party, another group of anarchists is meeting a few blocks away from the scene. The setting is the sunlit patio of the The Abbey Coffee, Art and Music Lounge on Highland Street, and calling the meeting to order is John Malkin, author, journalist, radio host and self-described Buddhist anarchist.
