The Weekly Dump 6.3.16

Berned in Santa Cruz!


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Nothing brings out every local progressive like a free Bernie Sanders rally! Doesn’t anyone work in this town? Apparently not the thousands of people that lined up for at least a mile on a Tuesday morning. Sanders made a quick stop at Kaiser Permanente Arena in downtown Santa Cruz on May 31st, and the line to get in went all the way into the Beach Flats neighborhood. They love their Bernie in Santa Cruz! I tried to get in, saw the line, and decided to settle for a nice quiet coffee klatch on the other end of Pacific avenue with an old friend who also thought better of the line.

Pride Parade on Pacific Avenue


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The annual Pride Parade takes over Pacific Avenue on June 5th starting at 11AM. It runs the full length of Pacific Avenue from Laurel to the clock tower. Details are here.

Dirty Diapers on Main Beach – It’s the Start of Summer!


diapersIt’s like the start of the crab or salmon season only significantly nastier! Santa Cruz city council member Richelle Noroyan is understandably upset here. So am I. But this is nothing new. It’s as annual and predictable as the fishing seasons. Neither the city or the Seaside Company (owners of the Boardwalk) want to take responsibility here. All they want to do is point fingers and deflect blame. Yes, the people ultimately to blame for this are nasty slobs. We live in a society of nasty slobs. That’s hardly a revelation. It’s how you deal with the inevitable nasty slobs that come and pollute your beach that matters. Both the city and the Seaside Company have overlooked this issue, deflected this issue, and basically ignored it until the season is over and it’s no longer an issue (until next year). I hope Richelle is able to act as some kind of catalyst for change here, but she’s a single voice in a black hole of apathy here.

Westside Farmers Market Moves to New Temporary Location


The current Westside Farmers’ Market location is getting a facelift this summer and will be moved to a nearby, temporary location during June and July. The new location is at 2300 Delaware, at the corner of Natural Bridges Drive and Delaware. This is across the street from Natural Bridges State Park. Look for the signs! This is the large parking lot currently used by UCSC during the week.

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Giant Dipper Turns 92!


Here’s to the Big Dipper, California’s oldest roller coaster. Still an amazing feat of engineering and still an amazing ride. It uses a leather strap to pull the cars up the first hill, then it’s all gravity. There’s no power moving the cars. The front is great but so is the last car.

And you get the million dollar view of Santa Cruz of course. Cracker even wrote a song about it (David Lowery, the singer and songwriter for Cracker started Camper Van Beethoven while living in Santa Cruz).

Best local deal: Between June 13th and August 25th, Mondays & Tuesdays after 5pm all rides are $1 each!

Best fun you can buy for a buck is a ride on the Big Dipper at dusk! Just ask NBA Hall of Fame basketball player Wilt Chamberlain!

(Wilt Chamberlain rides the Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in 1968. Source Santa Cruz Boardwalk Archives)

Shooting on UC Campus Brings Out The Bearcat


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A recent shooting on the campus of UCLA created a possible active shooter situation where LAPD deployed their Bearcat, a rescue vehicle used by police to help evacuate bystanders and protect public safety personnel, to the UC campus. I’m sure our local pacifists are upset at appearances here. They always are. We have a UC campus here. But nothing like what happened in LA could possibly ever happen here. Right?

Pour Taproom Takes Over Vacant Space Near Abbott Square


Welcome to Pour Taproom, a nice looking new food and drink establishment that just opened up on Pacific next to the alley that leads to Abbott Square. The space is located at 110 Cooper St., filling an empty spot left vacant by Verizon Wireless on Pacific Avenue. Read more about them here. My buddy Toby gives it a thumbs up.

DeCinzotized – Classic Steven DeCinzo


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City Council Election Watch


4 of the 7 seats on the Santa Cruz city council will be up for re-election this fall. 4 is also the magic number for a “majority” so theoretically, a new “majority” could actually be voted into office and make sweeping changes. The likelihood of that happening is about zero though. There just aren’t 4 like minded candidates running with enough clout to pull this off. Very few candidates have actually declared so far, and a number of others have been “rumored” to be considering a run.

Declared Candidates:

  • J.M. Brown
  • Steve Pleich
  • Nate Kennedy
  • Dru Glover
  • Martine Watkins

Rumored Candidates:

  • Cynthia Mathews
  • Micah Posner
  • Sandy Brown
  • Mark Primack

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