Feature Archives

On Tuesday, February 11, a Parade in support and solidarity with the Santa Cruz Eleven will be held in downtown Santa Cruz. The 11th for the 11! Seven of the Eleven have had their charges dropped, however the city continues to spend thousands of dollars prosecuting the remaining four. After two years, their trial is scheduled to begin March 3.

Santa Cruz deputy harbormaster Timothy James Anderson is scheduled to be back in court in Napa County on March 4 to face battery charges stemming from an incident that occurred on August 13, 2013 near Lake Berryessa. Anderson and his friend Steven Belmont were arrested in Napa County after the incident, and Belmont has been ordered to stand trial on attempted murder charges for allegedly attacking Berryessa resident Roy Powell with a pitch fork.

On January 16, the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) officially recommended Santa Cruz County to receive $25 million it requested for jail expansion at Rountree Detention Center in Watsonville. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors now has 90 days to approve or reject the jail expansion proposal from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. In response to the BSCC's recommendation, Sin Barras and other community members demonstrated later that day at the Clock Tower in downtown Santa Cruz to say, "NO MORE MONEY FOR JAILS!"

Civil rights attorney Dan Siegel announced his candidacy for mayor of Oakland on January 9. Siegel spelled out an ambitious agenda focused on social and economic justice which includes a $15 minimum wage, public schools to develop into community centers, neighborhood gardens to flourish throughout the city, Oakland police to stop abusing citizens, and the Domain Awareness Center to be shut down.

On January 1, 2014, hundreds of people marked five years of struggle for justice for Oscar Grant at a vigil at the Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland. That evening, a panel examined various aspects of the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement, its legacy, and how it continues to shape current events in Oakland. The evening event was a "friendraiser" for the forthcoming documentary "Oscar Grant: The Rest of the Story".

FireWorks newspaper writes: Recently [in San Francisco], business owners have pushed to “Clean Up The Plaza.” ...developers have announced a new condo project at 16th [and Mission]. The developers need the police to sweep away the poor, while capitalism throws out thousands through evictions, high rents, and poor paying jobs... On January 1, people marched and rallied in San Francisco against the "Take Back the Plaza" campaign organized by wealthy business owners.

At the end of December, stickers printed with the statement "Bring Back Code Blue! Santa Cruz, CA" were spotted in downtown Santa Cruz. Many residents remember the phrase "code blue" as a reference to when officers within the Santa Cruz Police Department organized a pattern of violent assaults on homeless or "street" people in the 1980s.