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Life on the Central Coast is sure shaking these days. I couldn't resist that little pun: I was woken by another light earthquake this morning at 5:24 am. Truly not a big deal. You could hear it and feel it, and the birds outside got excited -- but they'd have been somewhat excited anyway at that time. The dog did not react at all, in spite of what the Chinese geologists say. No damage reported to the USGS site, which is to be expected with a 4.7 Richter temblor. Just a little reminder that the earth is always restless.
For the first time in a long time we've hada gay bashing reported in the paper (that does not mean no others have occurred unreported). It was reported as an assault for "peceived sexuality" and the orientation of the victim was explicitly left unsaid -- it means law enforcement and the papers have twigged to the fact that the problem is not in the victim but the assailants. We've also had a racial attack on an Asian couple -- but it was one drunk guy, not the gang of skinheads which was operating here a few years ago.
There's been more rumbles on Pacific Avenue, which is our main drag for young folks (it's where the night life is most concentrated, the bookstores and the record stores are, where the coffee houses and juice bars are, where the sort of hip stores are, and there's benches to hang out on, and the main bus stop that serves both colleges). This latest one involved more than a dozen guys and six injuries: one guy was airlifted for a non-lifethreatening abdmoninal stab wound.
I'd like to point out that the situation of white guys running crazy and attacking people which was ongoing for a year or so that I knew about was almost always on Tuesday nights before (the "gay bashing" took place on Sunday, though).
So, in other news: the total value of agricultural products in the county is down -- because there's a glut of strawberries. The way I see this is: after the success of the grape boycott and the unionization of grape and lettice workers, nearly 30 years ago, farmers and investors became very interested in strawberries, which were worked by a newer, unorganized work force. Also strawberries at the time were a more luxury crop. They bred new, larger, less susceptible berries, and introduced new, more toxic, more intensive methods, and developed a plentiful year-round product. Since the linchpin of this is methyl bromide which becomes illegal next year (because it is incompatible with any form of life, and there is no "safe" level for its use, and every step of its manufacture and its breakdown products are also extremely toxic), nobody knows what's going to happen next. There's always a lot of farmers who want to build housing on their land, but there's always people who want to keep that land in production or return it to the wild.
On a bizarre note, a couple of drunk guys were arrested for shooting up gulls and a crab with shotguns. "Alcohol was involved." The gulls are protected: the crab is available to be killed and eaten, but by law shooting it up with a shotgun is vandalism, not hunting.
The people behind a homeschool charter school that got closed down in Prunedale (Monterey County) for using their money wrong and for buying religious textbooks with district money are now trying to get the Pajaro Valley (Santa Cruz County and parts of North Monterey County) district to set them up -- they're not being looked at really favorably.
And another local boy died in the military: this one in Afghanistan: he'd been through the Defense Language Institute, which opens up all sorts of questions about what his job there was.
It's true that the University's presence has benefitted Santa Cruz in many substantial ways, but the City Council is nevertheless taking steps to give the city more leverage in dealing with growth on the campus. Because UCSC is a state entity, local government has no structual or binding input into land-use issues on campus. (UCSC intends to grow to 27,000 students, faculty, and staff, and currently Santa Cruz itself has only 57,000 people, of whom many are already UC-related) The city has for a long time felt that housing, water use, and other related issues are more heavily impacted by UC growth than the city can handle without more cooperation from the University. The University's position is mostly that they're already doing more for the city than most colleges do for their communities and that everything will be okay if they can just go on the way they're going. Okay, here's the latest skirmish:
City Council has authorized the environmental review of a ballot measure which, if passed, would require the University to fund a study of the impact of past and future growth on the city; would allow the city to refuse water and sewer services unless UC growth is approved by LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission); and put in place a policy to oppose UC growth unless all effects are studied and mitigated.
I think this is interesting. I think that it changes everything about land use relationships, if it's passed and not struck down.
For the first time in a long time we've hada gay bashing reported in the paper (that does not mean no others have occurred unreported). It was reported as an assault for "peceived sexuality" and the orientation of the victim was explicitly left unsaid -- it means law enforcement and the papers have twigged to the fact that the problem is not in the victim but the assailants. We've also had a racial attack on an Asian couple -- but it was one drunk guy, not the gang of skinheads which was operating here a few years ago.
There's been more rumbles on Pacific Avenue, which is our main drag for young folks (it's where the night life is most concentrated, the bookstores and the record stores are, where the coffee houses and juice bars are, where the sort of hip stores are, and there's benches to hang out on, and the main bus stop that serves both colleges). This latest one involved more than a dozen guys and six injuries: one guy was airlifted for a non-lifethreatening abdmoninal stab wound.
I'd like to point out that the situation of white guys running crazy and attacking people which was ongoing for a year or so that I knew about was almost always on Tuesday nights before (the "gay bashing" took place on Sunday, though).
So, in other news: the total value of agricultural products in the county is down -- because there's a glut of strawberries. The way I see this is: after the success of the grape boycott and the unionization of grape and lettice workers, nearly 30 years ago, farmers and investors became very interested in strawberries, which were worked by a newer, unorganized work force. Also strawberries at the time were a more luxury crop. They bred new, larger, less susceptible berries, and introduced new, more toxic, more intensive methods, and developed a plentiful year-round product. Since the linchpin of this is methyl bromide which becomes illegal next year (because it is incompatible with any form of life, and there is no "safe" level for its use, and every step of its manufacture and its breakdown products are also extremely toxic), nobody knows what's going to happen next. There's always a lot of farmers who want to build housing on their land, but there's always people who want to keep that land in production or return it to the wild.
On a bizarre note, a couple of drunk guys were arrested for shooting up gulls and a crab with shotguns. "Alcohol was involved." The gulls are protected: the crab is available to be killed and eaten, but by law shooting it up with a shotgun is vandalism, not hunting.
The people behind a homeschool charter school that got closed down in Prunedale (Monterey County) for using their money wrong and for buying religious textbooks with district money are now trying to get the Pajaro Valley (Santa Cruz County and parts of North Monterey County) district to set them up -- they're not being looked at really favorably.
And another local boy died in the military: this one in Afghanistan: he'd been through the Defense Language Institute, which opens up all sorts of questions about what his job there was.
It's true that the University's presence has benefitted Santa Cruz in many substantial ways, but the City Council is nevertheless taking steps to give the city more leverage in dealing with growth on the campus. Because UCSC is a state entity, local government has no structual or binding input into land-use issues on campus. (UCSC intends to grow to 27,000 students, faculty, and staff, and currently Santa Cruz itself has only 57,000 people, of whom many are already UC-related) The city has for a long time felt that housing, water use, and other related issues are more heavily impacted by UC growth than the city can handle without more cooperation from the University. The University's position is mostly that they're already doing more for the city than most colleges do for their communities and that everything will be okay if they can just go on the way they're going. Okay, here's the latest skirmish:
City Council has authorized the environmental review of a ballot measure which, if passed, would require the University to fund a study of the impact of past and future growth on the city; would allow the city to refuse water and sewer services unless UC growth is approved by LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission); and put in place a policy to oppose UC growth unless all effects are studied and mitigated.
I think this is interesting. I think that it changes everything about land use relationships, if it's passed and not struck down.
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