Feature Archives

There is a story that the UCSC tour guides still occasionally tell about the founding UCSC Chancellor Dean McHenry: Allegedly, during initial construction in 1964, any tree on campus over 12 inches in diameter had to have the chancellor's personal approval before it could be cut. In the construction of the road to the small parking lot behind the main library, there was a spot where the road was squeezed between a second growth redwood and a steep bank. The construction crew and campus planners asked the chancellor for approval to cut the tree, and he allegedly refused and told them to find another way.

On May 5th, Foster Gamble and the Economic Action Team of the California Alliance to Stop the Spray (C.A.S.S.), released a forty page report on the economic impact to the state of California in response to the CDFA/USDA plan to spray multiple California counties with a micronized concoction of synthetic “pheromone” and chemicals to "eradicate" the Light Brown Apple Moth – a moth with zero history of causing crop damage anywhere in the world.

Thursday, May 15th is Bike to Work Day. It will also be a Spare the Air Day, as the Bay Area Air Quality Management District predicts high levels of ozone in the air. Public transit in the Bay Area will not be free, as it has often been on past Spare the Air Days, so people all over the Bay Area will choose two-wheeled transportation on that day. Several cities will have "Energizer" Stations with giveaways of items such as snacks and mussette and tote bags in the morning.

Bay Area environmental and social justice organizations are demanding a halt to San Francisco's proposed highly polluting Peaker Power Plant Project. Also known as the Combustion Turbine Project, the plant is proposed to be built in Southeast San Francisco, right next to the Bayview Hunters Point community that is already overburdened with pollution.

Two experienced cyclists have been killed on Mission Street in Santa Cruz in the last year. According to People Power, Santa Cruz County's advocate for human-powered transportation, both of these deaths could have been avoided had the City designed the street six years ago with bike lanes. People Power also asserts that both deaths could have been avoided if the cyclists had felt safe riding in the middle of the right hand lane. On Tuesday, May 13th, bicyclists will converge at the Santa Cruz Clock Tower at 6pm for a group ride taking up the right lane of Mission Street, and eventually ending at the City Council meeting to ask that "BIKE MAY USE FULL LANE" signs be posted on Mission Street.

On May 8th, Eric McDavid was sentenced to 235 months. He was convicted in February of 2008 of "conspiracy to damage or destroy government property by means of fire or explosives." The "conspiracy" was fabricated by "Anna," an FBI informant who was paid over $65,000 to entrap him. Now that the sentencing is over, Eric will be able to start the appeals process. In the near future, Eric will likely be sent to a federal facility recommended to be close to his family. His supporters are hopeful that the move will bring many improvements in his overall standard of living.

May 7th marks the 6th month anniversary of the tree-sit on Science Hill at UC Santa Cruz, and of the two-month ground occupation which was born in torn fencing and broken police lines. There will be a gathering at 8pm underneath the tree-sit for an open-ended collective celebration. The tree-sit has been a continuous act of resistance against the University's expansion plans, including a Biomedical Sciences Facility at the site of the tree-sit and the development of over 120 acres of Upper Campus' redwood and chaparral.