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One of the major issues now confronting the City of Santa Cruz, and residents outside the city limits, too, is whether or not the City should partner with the Soquel Creek Water District to construct a $100 million dollar desalination plant to meet the need for water during drought periods in the City of Santa Cruz water service area, and to help relieve the threat of groundwater overdraft in the Soquel Creek Water District. A kickoff party for the Right to Vote On Desalination initiative will be held on Sunday, February 12th in Santa Cruz.
In the pre-dawn hours of Monday, January 30th, a small group of activists hung a banner from the La Fonda HWY 1 overpass by Harbor High. The banner read "WIDENING WASTE$" and was tied to the chain link fence on the bridge, facing the southbound traffic during the morning commute. The banner was up for a few hours until being removed between 11am and noon.
The approximately one-mile widening project will cost almost $20 million, to be funded by the State Transportation Bond and State Transportation Improvement Program funds. There are a number of other projects competing for those millions of dollars that may now not be funded because of the high cost of the widening project. Many sustainable transportation activists argue that these opportunity costs make the highway widening too expensive, and that these funds should be used instead on other projects already identified as improving transportation infrastructure in Santa Cruz County.
 Read more and view photos | previous coverage: Santa Cruz Regional Transporation Commission Votes To Widen Hwy 1, Others Vow To Fight It | The Alternative to Widening Highway 1
A community park was established in downtown Santa Cruz on December 3rd when volunteer gardeners gathered at dawn to build raised concrete flower beds, plant shrubs and fruit trees, and build benches. By early afternoon they hung a sign to welcome people to the new community park. "This is an ongoing process of creation," said one of the gardeners, "We'll be planting through the winter. As these new sprouts take root it will be beautiful!"
The community park was subsequently bulldozed on the morning of December 6th by Datum Construction. Community members are asking people who are upset about the bulldozing of the park to contact a list of people and companies. Creating the park was part of an effort to reclaim the commons, to reverse the trend toward privatization of space and give it back to communities.
Neighbors Create Do-it-yourself Community Park in Solidarity with Occupation Movement | An Account of the Destruction of a Community Park | Garden Destroyed! Time to Organize!
Friday, December 2nd will see a full afternoon and evening of protest on the streets of San Francisco. With the rallying cry, "Stop the Cuts! Tax the Rich!", labor and community activists will occupy the Federal Building Plaza at 7th and Mission from 2pm. Later in the afternoon they will march past symbols of corporate and financial corruption, continuing into the evening with a rally and concert at the OccupySF encampment at Justin Herman Plaza.
At the occupation of the Federal Building plaza, speakers and singers will demonstrate against proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They will protest in favor of a single-payer health care system for the nation (also called "Medicare for All").
From there a march through the Financial District will target banks that enriched themselves while crashing the economy. In the evening marchers will celebrate and defend OccupySF at Justin Herman Plaza. The day of action will also include a late afternoon protest action at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in solidarity with SEIU Hotel Workers Local 2.
The event is sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council and endorsed by Single Payer Now, the California Alliance for Retired Americans, Jobs with Justice, and others.
 Indybay Event Announcement | US Labor Against War Event Announcement
Occupy Santa Cruz has been working to address the needs of those abandoned by corporate medical care. In the face of rocketing health care costs, declining county health services, and now exaggerated heath concerns by city officials, members of the local Occupy Movement have been providing basic health services, including first aid, regular meals, and 24 hour sanitation facilities. To address emergency needs, Occupy Santa Cruz has an EMT and other medical professionals on call who respond promptly to medical issues. Occupiers are working with local groups to provide deescalation training and non-violent conflict resolution. Similar to what is offered at other Occupy locations, future plans may include mental health counseling and drug and alcohol treatment.
Since mid-October, Occupy Santa Cruz has a medical working group that stocks first aid supplies, trains potential responders, and has an EMT on-call for emergencies. While people struggle with hunger elsewhere, the Occupy food working group accepts donations of food and feeds hundreds of people at the occupation everyday. Though San Lorenzo Park restrooms are locked at night by the city, Occupy Santa Cruz has three portable toilets and a hand-washing station to address sanitation concerns. For some poorer members in the community, this is their only access to basic medical care, sanitation, and nutrition.
Read more | Occupy Santa Cruz Calls Bullshit | previous coverage: Union Members Rally with Occupy Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, Calif. — Just as PG&E enters the final phase of its deployment of wireless “smart” meters in California, the largest of the state’s Investor Owned Utilities (IOU’s) has reversed course, quietly beginning to replace the ‘smart’ meters of those reporting health impacts with the old analog version. Consumer rights and health groups immediately seized on the news, demanding that millions of Californians unhappy with their new wireless meters get their analogs returned immediately at no cost.
‘Smart’ meters are new wireless utility meters being installed as part of the “smart” grid initiative, spearheaded by technology firms and backed by the Obama administration and the Department of Energy. Promises ranging from lower utility bills to enhanced renewable generation capacity have failed to materialize, with widespread reports of higher bills, privacy violations, fires and explosions, and commonly reported health impacts such as headaches, nausea, tinnitus, and heart problems associated with powerful wireless transmissions. Widely disparate political groups — from members of the Green Party to the Tea Party and Occupy protesters have attacked the program, and dozens of grassroots organizations have sprouted up over the past several months to fight what they call an undemocratic, unconstitutional and dangerous assault on people in their own homes and neighborhoods. Dozens of people have been detained or arrested for peaceful civil disobedience and even simply speaking out against deployments.
Read more | Stop Smart Meters! | previous coverage: “Wise Up to ‘Smart’ Meters” Emergency Santa Cruz Townhall Forum
On October 27th, the City of Fresno and Caltrans did what they said they were going to do - they attacked the homeless encampment on Santa Fe street in downtown Fresno. But, they did not destroy the encampment without being confronted with significant resistance by community members who protested the eviction. Evictions at all of the other encampments — The Hill, G street, Santa Clara street, F street, and at San Benito/H street — are scheduled for Tuesday, November 1st.
While there were over 100 community supporters to protest the destruction of the homeless encampment on Santa Fe in downtown Fresno, that was not enough to stop Caltrans and the City of Fresno. The encampment, which is spread across a very long block in the old industrial section of downtown, proved to be strategically impossible to defend, with so few people. If there had been 1,000 advocates, the city and Caltrans would have had an extremely difficult time fulfilling their mission.
Photos: Part 1 | Part 2 | Massive Homeless Eviction to take place in Fresno |  Video
The City of Fresno has announced a plan for the massive evictions of the homeless, starting at 7 a.m. on Thursday, October 27th. Speaking in front of City Hall on Wednesday, homeless people and their allies said the planned eviction was heartless and cruel. Community Alliance newspaper editor Mike Rhodes said “destroying their modest shelter and chasing them with a stick from one vacant lot or sidewalk to another will do nothing to help their lives or to end homelessness in Fresno.”
A delegation from the Catholic Diocese meet with Fresno mayor Ashley Swearengin, who told them that the homeless were being forced to move so construction on an overpass could take place and that she would find housing for all of the homeless in downtown Fresno within a year.
Rhodes said that “not only are city officials wrong to evict the homeless, they are lying to us about their motives. The city says that they are evicting the homeless because of construction projects, when they know that most of the encampments are not located near a construction project. They used that same lie two years ago when they evicted the homeless from the H street encampment. No construction ever took place, but the homeless were evicted and today the vacant lot sits empty with a barbed wire fence around it.”
Bill Simon, chairman of Bishop John Steinbock Homeless Advocacy Committee, said “here are at least 5,000 unsheltered homeless living in Fresno and probably 20,000 more sleeping on a friend's floor or couch and days away from becoming absolutely homeless. A few years ago, FUSD (Fresno Unified School Dist.) estimated there were 3,000 homeless students in Fresno. While housing is the best solution to homelessness, we cannot give housing to 25,000 people in 6 months or a year or 2 years. As a temporary solution, we must provide safe camps with trash bins and water and porta-potties for the homeless.”
A call to action has gone out in the community to protest the planned eviction of the homeless that will start at 7 a.m. on Thursday, October 27 on Santa Fe, just south of Ventura street. ( Photos: Part 1 | Part 2)
Read more and view photos | Video
On October 10th, the former Cathedral Hill Hotel at 1101 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco was occupied by demonstrators led by the squatters' collective Homes Not Jails and reinforced by the activists of Occupy San Francisco. At 7pm, approximately 30 occupiers were inside the building, which contains 600 housing units. They report that most if not all of the rooms remain furnished and in habitable condition.
The historic hotel known once as the Jack Tar, which was damaged by a fire in 2008, reopened to the public in 2008, and finally closed its doors on October 31, 2009. For two years it has sat vacant while the deep economic crisis precipitated by Wall Street bankers has forced more and more working people into poverty and homelessness.
Activists demand that habitable housing stock be put into use for people not profits, and point out that enough residential units exist in San Francisco to eliminate homelessness in the City.
Read More |
Press Release After Occupation |
Press Release Prior to Occupation |
Event Announcement |
HomesNotJailsSF.org
On September 27th, thousands of members of the four employee unions of the United States Postal Service joined forces with allies and community members to send a message to the nation and its Congress. All around the country, protesters demonstrated against proposals to close thousands of post offices, eliminate Saturday deliveries, lay off workers, cut postal workers’ pay, and end collective bargaining rights.
In Sacramento, postal workers demonstrated in front of the office of Republican Congressman Dan Lungren. In Palo Alto, employees belonging to the National Association of Letter Carriers were joined by the Raging Grannies in a boisterous demonstration. Together they called for an end to the attack on unionized public workers.
Read more | Save America's Postal Service
“Don’t Sell To Zell!” shouted East Palo Alto tenants and supporters, as they rallied on August 22nd in front of a Wells Fargo branch in downtown Palo Alto. The demonstrators protested Wells Fargo’s pending arrangement with investment group Equity Residential, of which Sam Zell is the founder and chairman. The proposed sale would transfer ownership of more than half of the rent-controlled housing in East Palo Alto.
East Palo Alto is one of the few affordable communities on the San Francisco Peninsula and is home to many people of color. Sam Zell is a well-known opponent of rent control, and has jokingly called himself a "vulture capitalist". His company, Equity LifeStyle, has sued multiple California cities to invalidate local rent control laws, and funded a statewide ballot measure to end rent control in California.
Wells Fargo made a stated commitment to involve the community in transitioning the property to new ownership. Protesters accused the bank of breaking their promise to East Palo Alto tenants.
Read more | Videos: 1 | 2
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