Feature Archives

Bruce Holloway writes: In his statement of economic interests upon leaving office as library board chair, Capitola City Council Member Mike Termini failed to disclose the true percentage of his ownership interest in Triad Electric, Inc., a local electrical contractor. He also failed to disclose $17,000 worth of business Triad Electric did last September for NHS Inc., a local skateboard manufacturer. That's roughly equal to two years worth of rent that Santa Cruz Council Member Micah Posner omitted on his disclosure forms.

Thomas Leavitt writes: We are proud to announce the launch of BiNet Santa Cruz, a new grassroots community organization specifically aimed at providing a voice on behalf of and organizational vehicle for the bi+ community in Santa Cruz County. BiNet Santa Cruz is to be a local affiliate of the national BiNet USA organization.

A recently released United States Department of Agriculture inspection report from January 2016 discloses that Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. (SCBT), one of the world’s largest producers of animal-derived research antibodies, has eliminated its entire inventory of goats and rabbits. An inspection conducted by the USDA just six months prior revealed an inventory of 3,202 goats and 2,471 rabbits. The disappearance raises questions about the facility's future.

On February 26, demonstrators gathered at Whole Foods Market in Santa Cruz to protest Driscoll's, the largest berry distributor in the world with a history unjust labor practices and repression of union organizing. Founded in the Pajaro Valley in 1904, Driscoll's is a privately held company with headquarters in Watsonville. Production of Driscoll’s berries extends into 22 countries.

With the hope of nudging the city forward toward making good on its months-old public promise to initiate permanent investment in the Beach Flats Community Garden, and under imminent threat of legal proceedings against them, on February 16 the gardeners of Beach Flats decided to sign a city letter acquiescing to temporarily leaving the garden plots they have tended so carefully over the past two decades.

On February 18, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the reclassification of the Santa Cruz cypress from “endangered” to “threatened” status under the Endangered Species Act. The tree was protected in 1987 due to threats to its habitat, but now the habitat for all five populations is secure.

This month the downtown post office in Santa Cruz was cleared by police of what had been a large and regular presence of sleepers at night. The post office had been used as shelter for 6-12 people a night for some time. A homeless man who was sleeping outside of Bookshop Santa Cruz and cited with two other sleepers for trespassing this month said he thought the police were ticketing at increased rate recently to get homeless people to move along before the next rains arrived.