The Weekly Dump 3.15.19

Car Hits Metro Bus at Coral and Highway 9

Tuesday afternoon around 3:30PM, there was an accident between a vehicle and a Metro bus at Coral street and Highway 9 that made a mess of traffic. I heard the driver of the car may have suffered a seizure or had some sort of medical emergency that may have caused the accident. Other than the driver, it didn’t sound like anyone was hurt.

SCPD Steps Up Patrols Around Camp Bernal

Last Thursday night, SCPD was patrolling in the area of River Street at Mora Street when they noticed a suspicious looking male sitting in the driver’s seat of a Toyota 4Runner. The 33 year old Ben Lomond man appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance. As he was being questioned and detained, a gun was found in his pocket. A search of his stuff also found heroin, drug paraphernalia, burglary tools, and a ski mask. A ski mask. Planning to rob someone I presume. Or maybe he was headed for a weekend in Tahoe. He was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail for felony firearms-related charges, drug paraphernalia, burglary tools, and drug-related charges. SCPD has apparently been focusing additional patrols around residences and stores adjacent to River Street in response to increasing complaints of suspicious activity and drug sales. Gee, I wonder why? What’s right next door? Camp Bernal of course.

Road Raging Motorcyclist Busted With Gun Near Costco

Wednesday morning around 6:00AM, SCPD responded to a report of a road rage incident near the corner of River street and Highway 1 involving a motorcyclist brandishing a gun at a driver in a car at a stop light. The victim told SCPD that they had cut off a motorcyclist. When the victim stopped at a light, the motorcyclist drove up and pointed a handgun at the driver’s side window. As the light turned green, the victim sped off and called 911. SCPD quickly located the motorcyclist in the area near Costco and when they converged on a parking lot to conduct a high-risk stop, the suspect pulled the gun from his pocket and tossed it into nearby bushes. The 21 year old suspect was arrested and booked into jail.

SCPD Warns Community of Targeted Scam

SCPD warned the community this week about a targeted phone scam where the caller identified themselves as being from the Santa Cruz Police Department demanding the victim to pay money or get arrested. According to police, the caller ID listed on the victim’s phone used the SCPD non-emergency line number, which was spoofed. The scammer reportedly told the victim the police department had a warrant for their arrest and if they didn’t pay they would be arrested for their “crimes.” Police said scammers also sent emails from a Gmail account with a fake violation letter using SCPD logos.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Tuesday afternoon, Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies attempted to stop a man in a black Jetta for some sort of vehicle code violations. Rather than just pull over and face the music, the driver took off and found himself trapped in a cul-de-sac, where he ditched the car and jumped a barbed wire fence. Deputies spotted him running on Soquel Drive near Capitola Avenue where he was arrested for reckless evasion, driving on a suspended driver’s license, possession of methamphetamine, and for violating his probation.

Cognac For Breakfast

Tuesday morning around 10:30AM, a 61 year old woman from Monterey was swilling cognac and led Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies and the CHP on a chase south along Highway 1 that began in Capitola on Soquel Wharf Road near Porter Street. CHP even attempted to stop the vehicle with spike strips at one point but that was unsuccessful. A second spike strip was successful near Del Monte Boulevard, where the woman tried to turn around in the median of Highway 1 north of Reservation Road in Marina. After her van got stuck, the woman resisted arrest and continued to drink in her vehicle so officers had to smash a window open to arrest her.

Thief Busted Stealing Art From Local Storage Unit

Last Saturday, a thief broke into a storage locker and stole a number of pieces of artwork being stored there. While investigating the burglary, Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies noticed a man they were familiar with captured on the security video leaving the storage facility with the stolen paintings. The next day, deputies found the guy and arrested him for burglary. The paintings were returned to the rightful owners.

Happy Loving Couples Make it Look So Easy

Last Thursday around 8:30AM, a man and woman were arrested at the Staples on the 2400 block of 17th avenue on a number of charges, mostly possession and under the influence of drugs, he also had nunchucks and she also had a parole violation. Both were arrested. She seems to be out, he seems to still be in jail.

Bum Chase at Bonesios

Monday morning around 8AM, SCPD responded to Bonesios where they chased a known bum around downtown before finally taking him down at Cedar and Maple. He’s been arrested locally 13 times so yeah, he’s a “known” bum. I guess he need medical attention after he was arrested. Maybe he tripped and fell while he was running from police.

SCPD Loses Bum in Camp Bernal

Monday morning around 12:30AM, SCPD responded to a report of a prowler on the 100 block of Felker. When SCPD arrived, the suspect took off running and was seen jumping a fence near Franklin. A foot chase continued over the footbridge on the levee and into Camp Bernal, where he was last seen. Camp Bernal harbors fugitives? You don’t say!

Fire Destroys Boulder Creek Home

Saturday afternoon, a fire completely destroyed a home on Forest Hill Drive in Boulder Creek. The fire department says everyone in the house made it out safely.

Mocha Frappuccino!

Saturday night around 6PM, there was some kind of assault that took place at the Starbucks on Mission street. I heard at least one person was taken to Dominican after fire and medics were also called to the scene.

Nothing Comes Between Him and His Beer

Sunday afternoon around 3PM, a guy walks into the Safeway on Graham Hill Road in Felton and tried to steal some beer. He had been previously told to stay out of the store. And he was on probation (of course he was!). One of the probation terms was a stay away order from Safeway. He was booked into county jail for trespassing and a probation violation. Did you probably guess that he also out of jail already? He is. Did you know he’s been arrested locally 18 times since 2015? He has. The turnstile is working just fine for this guy.

The Fifteenth Isn’t Far Away

Monday night around 9:30PM, a 27 year old Felton man was arrested near Maple and Cedar streets on a laundry list of of charges, including robbery, resisting arrest, parole violation, and more. He’s been arrested locally 14 times since 2013. Can we say we enable his bad behavior here?

This is What Living Next to Camp Bernal is Like

Monday afternoon around 1PM, a 32 year old man was arrested at Ross for vandalism, defacing property, and burglary. He was arrested and as far as I know he’s still in county jail.

Guns, Drugs, and Recidivism

Tuesday around 1:30PM, a 20 year old male was arrested for having a loaded gun on him in a public place on the 100 block of Bixby street. Apparently, he also tried to bring a controlled substance into the jail with him as well. He’s been arrested 9 times locally since 2016.

The World Outside Our Bubble is Watching

Another Marathon City Council Meeting Passes Lots of Gas

Another long city council meeting this past week. Pretty much the same discussion as last week. Where to park the homeless. Pretty much the same result as last week. We need to think about it some more. Have a “study session”. Let’s see how long they can punt this down the road before someone else forces their hand. There’s so many HAZMAT violations taking place daily. Raw sewage is being leeched into the river and bay. Oh, and the county health services director says the place is full of rats and needs to be shut down. There you go! How much more do you need when even Arnie Leff is calling this human pig sty a public health and safety hazard. And there’s this!

So according to the head of the county health services department, the department responsible for handing out all those free needles, the county spent 26 MILLION DOLLARS on 10 junkies. An average of 2.6 MILLION DOLLARS for each junkie times 10. Can you say Santa Mierda! If this is true, the county health services department needs a serious audit. I want more details to this story. I’ll be talking more about this on the next podcast on Sunday.

Watsonville Man Found Guilty of Murder

A Watsonville man was found guilty this week of shooting his ex-wife and killing her friend back in December of 2016. I actually covered the story in an early Weekly Dump! According to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, the man approached his ex-wife and her friend as they were sitting in a car. He then pulled out a gun and shot his ex-wife twice and then shot her friend three times. He faces life in prison.

The Santa Mierda Podcast Network

Be sure to check out the Santa Mierda Podcast Network! We’ve got the latest “Unfiltered” by yours truly, as well as a new podcast, “Untreated” from Sharona. You can find the Santa Mierda Podcast Network on SoundCloud. And Apple Music. And Spotify. It’s free so check it out and give it a listen! Next new podcast should be coming this Sunday night!

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32 Comments

  1. Tonia Manners

    I was trying to do the math on Dr Arnold Leff stating that they discard 300 needles each day at camp Ross in last weeks council round up , but that they need more?!? Thanks for breaking it down to $52m on 10 junkies. What that heck is wrong with this picture?? How do we fix this out of control situation? Any ideas?? Thank you, as always for your truth and candor.

    • Thanks Tonia. The 2 word answer. “Tougher Love”.

      • “Tough love” is definitely the correct catchphrase for potential solutions. The problem is that the progressive Merry-Go-Round that we’re on, blocks all consideration of effective Solutions with “tough love”. It’s very clear, once with your weekly reporting of so much drug-related bad behavior, that the homeless are a mix of 50% drug addicts that need enforced tough love abstinence with follow-up Outpatient Therapy. The other half is a mixture of mentally ill and legitimate economic sad cases.

        I find it encouraging Ben that there’s been a lot of good reporting on behalf of the Sentinel recently and then if you and they keep hammering away that sooner or later someone will get the tough love idea and we can address the homeless situation as a “pie chart problem.” Solving the root causes of each slice of the pie is how I would go about it and especially enforced sobriety at Roundtree for the chronic drug addicts, with residential lockdown for the insane and City paid for housing for the sad economic cases before the city and county blow through the 10 million they’re about to get from the state.

  2. 56M?!?! im glad someone spoke out about that. omg. the only thing i would advocate spending money on is a more accurate census. the one we have now basically calls bullshit on the local alt left narrative. a more accurate census would just amplify that. 56M aaaaaaah. i will never pay my taxes again lol.

  3. 26 people cost 26 million in health care costs? WTF? Excessive?

  4. Karissa Paxton

    Hey Guess what?
    My office at the Sash Mill was broken into Thursday night. I wonder if that guys that got caught hit me before he was arrested. Who knows. It took over three hours to get the police to show up so I could have a report issued. No one has been in touch since. I wrote a letter to Chief Mills and the new city council not even two months ago about how I do not feel safe at my home or at my office. Whoever broke into my office used a crowbar and took three computers, all my two way radios, an iphone and then used the crowbar to get into my locked file cabinet taking my checkbook and other business information.
    This is devastating to my business. I am an event planner and will be moving out of the Sash Mill as fast as I can. We have been there 12 years but in the past few years, we haven’t been really excited to have our out of clients meet here in Santa Cruz.
    I have paid every kind of tax to be in business here in Santa Cruz, you think if my little business has to pay big bucks we should be somewhat taken care of. I know I sound naive but I had faith in our system now I am just pissed off and done. Guess the city taught me a lesson. Homeless rule here. The only way I think it’s going to get better is if they stop all the services, especially the needle exchange.

    • I hear you.
      Where are you thinking of going?
      Looking for options.

    • im sorry that happened to you. a creeper tried to run me off the road the other day in broad daylight. drunk and obviously high on meth … and no i didnt call the cops! they are too busy and no one stays in jail anyway! who are the real victims in this city? people who work and pay their taxes so the local govt can open it up to creepers like this!

  5. Maybe the solution is to put those drug users – the 10 – into a nice hotel room, get them meals on wheels, and supply them with drugs. No theft needed, no dealers making a profit, no need to use police resources…. personal choice and freedom.

  6. Please email the city council. .even if it feels futile. They count the letters received. Otherwise if Glover gets his way we will have the homeless sleeping in parks and on the street. Other than launching a recall campaign for these losers I don’t know what else to do.

  7. I was caught up in the cluster *#&@ st highway 9 and Coral St this week. While I do hope everyone involved is ok, I still have to report that it was an eye-opening horror. I was panic stricken by the fact that I had no way out of Harvey West!
    Not only did I get redirected back into the mess, after30 min of standing still, I then had to travel north on highway 9 to Felton Empire and back down Empire grade to get to the west side of SC to pick up my kid.

    THE REAL ISSUE IS: UCSC needs another exit as do the citizens of SC. In the event of an emergency, the ever growing population of STUDENTS need an exit strategy. A portion of Pogonip must be utilized here. Would also solve the Harvey West issue

    • There is a low-key way out of that area, but you need to break the law. Drive over the bike path that connects to High Street.

  8. Alicia DeRollo

    Thank you for the dump! We really appreciate your coverage of our crazy town!!

  9. Sorry to hear about your break in / assault Karissa, that’s totally crazy.
    And all that money to prop up 10 junkies, just BLOWS MY MIND.
    The city is becoming unpallatable to the people paying its bills.
    RECALL?

  10. Judi Riva

    While watching the city council meeting on TV some city staff member said there was a higher number of people at the Ross Camp during the day than sleeping there at night. So where do those people end up sleeping? I thought the idea was to give people a “safe place to sleep”.

  11. Don’t think that “hotel room and meals,etc” solution has not been tried. Does it seem like we are all the blind men touching the elephant? And maybe being able to see the entire “elephant” would cause us all to go blind. Some people are at least in-there still trying. It is very discouraging. Glad Ben is still in there trying to keep us informed. Just another Friday morning in Santa Cruz.

  12. That’s terrible Karissa. My old business (Santa Cruz Experience) used to have an office on Felker but we had to move to Scott’s Valley after multiple break ins.
    Apparently you can’t have a business location near camp Bernal unless you have a security guard like Ross does. ?
    I own equilibrium float spa on Seabright now. Contact me for a free float. Maybe it take your mind off the trouble. It was always a pleasure working with you ?

  13. Erik Zinn

    “he also had nunchucks and she also had a parole violation”…would normally be a line from a trailer for a B-grade movie or just a non-sequitur. But it makes sense in Santa Cruz.

    Sorry to hear about the break-ins. I remember lasting only a year in the late 90’s at an office off of Ocean Street, near the Elks Lodge, across from the cemetery. The hobos and addicts were constantly breaking windows and doors to the offices trying to get at their income stream for the next fix. Different time, same problem.

  14. https://www.ksbw.com/article/person-collecting-welfare-buys-1-1-million-home-operates-illegal-weed-operation-according-to-santa-cruz-co-investigators/26843169

    bunch of bs! massive welfare fraud and disability fraud. people arent selling drugs because they have to, they are selling drugs because there is a sh*t ton of money in it. i guess the local commies dont view druglords as bourgeouis?

    latest SCT email:

    Dear Community Members:

    On March 19, 2019, the Santa Cruz City Council will vote on an Emergency Homeless Shelter Crisis Resolution that would allow city streets, sidewalks, public parks and beaches to be used as homeless facilities without any environmental or public review.

    Unless we tell the Council to reject this proposal, neighborhood streets, sidewalks and parks in the City will be potential sites for open camping and placement of homeless shelters. This proposal threatens the welfare, safety and public health of the entire City. We can enact sensible shelter policies without destroying our neighborhoods and parks. To do that, we each need to tell the council to amend this proposal.

    Read the Homeless Shelter Crisis Resolution here

    Please attend the March 19, 2019, City Council meeting at 4:15 pm to advocate for saving our streets, sidewalks, parks and beaches. Please send an email now to Mayor Watkins & the entire Santa Cruz City Council at citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com
    Click here for proposed language and send a letter now asking for sensible amendments to the Shelter Crisis Resolution
    _____________________________________
    Hastily Conceived Neighborhood Homeless Encampments Ordinance Postponed And Not On City Council Agenda 3/19/19

    Council member Glover proposed a Transitional Encampments and Safe Parking Program Ordinance; here is a link to that ordinance. Click below to see the 215 public parcels throughout Santa Cruz that could be considered for potential homeless encampments again, without study of environmental impacts or public review. A vote on this ordinance is not on the agenda Tuesday, however, a pilot program will be discussed.

    Santa Cruz Together is watching the Council agenda and reports, continuing conversations with Council members, and will email updates to you. Help us build awareness of potential threats to the welfare, safety and public health of Santa Cruz neighborhoods. We continue to organize and mobilize through growing our email newsletter list.

  15. “Seattle looks like shit.” Watch this and prevent Santa Cruz from the same fate.

    https://komonews.com/news/local/komo-news-special-seattle-is-dying

    • I watched that just video yesterday. It is quite an eye-opener. Poor Seattle, a playground for bums. I encourage all ‘Mierda readers to watch it.

  16. Here’s a link to the YouTube version (for non-Facebook people). I’ll talk more about it in the next Dump. Please share this YouTube link with everyone you know who lives in Santa Cruz. This is a must watch video for anyone living here. This is the road we are going down. It’s a dead end street and it ends like this.

  17. judith a lomba

    This video should be shown at the Del Mar, the Nick, the Rio—anywhere that might bring in a fairly large audience.

  18. We should find a budding filmmaker to do a version called Santa Cruz Is Dying before the camp is broken down.

  19. Local Resident

    I’m agreement with there needing to be an audit for Emeline, outrageous!
    Thank you for the video. I’ll be sharing it with all my co-workers.

  20. Just the Facts

    The similarities between the situation in Seattle and in Santa Cruz is undeniable. Having those in the County and the homeless service center to admit these failures is another matter. Intervention is nearly impossible when the drug crisis here is ignored and simply asking for someone’s i.d. becomes a “violation of their civil rights”. Placing an encampment at Depot Park, directly impacting the business and tourist trade, is sheer madness. We’re talking a massive negative impact on a residential and recreational area for thousands to appease whom? The residents and the City staff were not consulted in this misguided decision. It’s time for those of us who have a real stake in our community to end this downward spiral of pseudo-compassion. An encampment at Depot Park should not be tolerated. If members of the council will not listen to the residents, recall them asap!

  21. Judi Riva

    When I drive past the Homeless Center and see the banner “180 housed” or whatever the latest number is, I wonder whether those successes (?) remain housed or whether they’re back on the street. I agree with Garrett’s comment: Show us the results! Does the Homeless Services Center (or the many other local NGOs) produce an annual report?

    As for sharing the Seattle video, according to the Good Times that came from a station associated with (owned by?) the Sinclair Broadcasting System, which is to the right of Fox News. I am wary of spreading anything they say, even if the Seattle situation is accurately portrayed. News sources matter.

    • When people make attacking the messenger the story instead of attacking the argument or the premise, I know they are full of crap and have no other argument. I’m not saying this about you, I’m saying this about Good Times. You can be both factual and biased. They aren’t mutually exclusive. Michael Moore has made a career out being both factual and biased (I like him by the way). I’m pretty factual and biased. Doesn’t make my source material crap (although some will proclaim otherwise).

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