Feature Archives

Hotel workers, community members, and friends gathered on June 7th for the "Carmel Hotel Workers Rising March" which was organized by Unite Here! Local 483, and focused on La Playa Hotel and the Pine Inn in Carmel. Community members have held a number of demonstrations protesting the Pine Inn's elimination of all dependents (42 people) from medical insurance coverage, as well as La Playa Hotel's refusal to commit to re-hire workers who lost their jobs when the hotel recently changed ownership.

On Friday, June 8th, five of the Santa Cruz Eleven had preliminary hearing dates set by visiting Judge Stephen Sillman. Additionally, Brent Adams now has a new public defender, attorney Lisa K. McCamey. Charges have been refiled against Franklin Alcantara and Cameron Laurendeau, and they have a new preliminary hearing scheduled for July 23rd. Gabriella Ripley-Phipps and Becky Johnson will be going into their preliminary hearing on Monday, June 25th.

On Sunday, June 3rd, the Diversity Center of Santa Cruz presented the 38th annual Santa Cruz Pride event, which featured a march and rally with thousands of people on Pacific Avenue. Some of the many featured speakers and performers included representatives of the Diversity Center, John Laird, who was the first openly gay mayor when he took over the mayoralty of the city of Santa Cruz in 1983, and cheer squads from San Francisco, Sacramento and Folsom.

In a courtroom packed full of supporters at the Yolo County Courthouse in Woodland, California, all twelve defendants, known as both the "Davis Dozen" and the "Banker's Dozen", pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on May 10th. They also rejected a plea deal offered by the Assistant District, calling the charges against them "a sham." On Friday, June 1st, the Davis Dozen returned to the Yolo County Courthouse for a pre-trial conference. A June 1st pre-trial conference was brief, and a date was set for another pre-trial conference to file motions on Friday, June 22nd.

On May 29th, community members involved with the Right to Vote on Desal petition drive rallied at City Hall and turned in 2,003 petitions with the signatures of 8,717 Santa Cruz water citizens to the City Clerk, who now has 30 days to complete the signature verification process. 5,500 verified signatures is the requirement to move forward, which is 15% of registered city voters, and if that number is reached, citizens will have a chance to decide if construction of the proposed desalination plant will proceed.

May Day in downtown Santa Cruz this year saw a wide variety of community members coming together and rallying to honor the global struggles of the worker. On the morning of May 1st, students at UC Santa Cruz supported AFSCME local 3299 union members at the university, and then later in the day marched downtown where a group of community members, populated largely with people active with Occupy Santa Cruz, met them on Mission Street after themselves marching up Pacific Avenue.

On Wednesday, June 6th, the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) is set to vote on one of two motions that would approve the expansion of UC Santa Cruz while imposing conditions on the availability of water service to the Upper Campus. Community members have planned for a 5-mile walk after the meeting to the UCSC administration, and then to the forest, if a decision is reached permitting development in the Upper Campus.