Parking Meters for Homeless

A new project proposed by the Imagine Positive Change Coalition calls for installing old parking meters along Pacific Avenue, so that people who want to help the homeless can drop their spare change in them. The money collected will be used to help pay the salaries of two municipal social workers to work with the homeless.

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A Ticket for a Job Well Done?

Hundreds of firefighters from across California poured into Santa Cruz this week to help put out the Lockheed Fire. And what did they get for it? If you trust everything you read on the Internet, one fire truck got a parking ticket. The source of the story was a Facebook photo of a fire truck in Santa Cruz with a dreaded pink envelope tucked beneath its windshield wiper.

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Rare Plants Expected to Thrive After Fire

A more common species of manzanita flowers in Southern California.

The California Native Plant Society lists two species of manzanita plants as endangered, but that may soon change, thanks to the Lockheed Fire. The rare “Chalks” and ohloneana manzanitas, whose range is limited to the hills above Davenport, need a fire to pass over them before their seeds can begin to sprout, but the last major fire in the area took place in 1948. Now biologists are expecting dormant seed banks to flourish over the next few weeks.

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