Davenport Carjacking Leads CHP on Scenic Car Chase Along Highway 1
This past Saturday, California Highway Patrol officers responded to a call of a person in the middle of the roadway in Davenport. Just as they arrived, a community member driving by stopped and the suspected car thief jumped in the victims pickup truck and took off north on Highway 1. CHP officers pursued the truck thief heading north into San Mateo County. San Mateo Sheriff’s Office deputies joined in and ended the pursuit with spike strips, according to CHP reports. A 39 year old Santa Cruz man remained jailed in lieu of $75,000 bail this week after being booked on suspicion of felony vehicle theft and misdemeanor evading police, stolen vehicle possession, criminal threats, resisting arrest and DUI.
Phony Police Brutality Victim Gets Arrested Again
Only this time, it wasn’t for recklessly running a stop sign and blowing through pedestrians in a crosswalk, it’s for big boy crimes. Crimes involving drugs and guns. Was he roughed up? Not that I’m aware of! But he apparently was arrested Thursday and charged with driving under the influence and carrying a loaded handgun that wasn’t his, plus felony transporting narcotics for sale and possessing controlled substances while armed. According to CHP reports, officers stopped a vehicle for speeding and where the driver reportedly displayed signs of impairment. Officers then discovered an unregistered loaded firearm and drugs intended for sale inside the car. And to make matters worse, apparently he’s not in jail anymore either. At least he didn’t get beat up by cops again!
Grant Street Apartment Fire Caused by Electronic Bike Battery
Wednesday afternoon around 3:30PM, Santa Cruz Fire responded to the 100 block of Grant Street for a report of a fire at an apartment complex. When firefighters arrived, they found 2 occupants and 2 dogs inside the burning apartment. Everyone was safely evacuated from the second floor. Victims were treated for injuries and transported to local hospitals by ambulance. Fire officials believe the fire was caused by an e-bike battery malfunction, resulting in extensive damage estimated at $1 million and rendering four units uninhabitable. The American Red Cross is providing temporary housing for seven displaced people.
Watsonville Carjacking Leads to Crash
Saturday morning, a 41 year old delivery driver was approached by a man at a gas station on the 1800 block of Main Street in Watsonville who threatened him with a knife and demanded a ride in his vehicle. After driving for about a mile, the driver intentionally crashed the vehicle into a light pole near Ford and Main Streets. After the driver called 911, Watsonville Police arrived quickly and arrested a 33 year old suspect, who was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail on attempted robbery charges. Police said that there were no injuries in the crash.
UCSC Students Join the College Campus Protest Bandwagon
Wednesday afternoon, students & some faculty members took part in a march and demonstration protesting the Israel-Hamas War. It’s happening all over the country and I guess the kids on the hill didn’t want to feel left out. More than 100 students and faculty members took part on the UC Santa Cruz campus. The march began at the Science and Engineering library, Science Hill, and ended at Cowell Courtyard. Kids set up their tents in the quarry courtyard, where they sang songs and carried signs that mostly said hooray for our side. Most of these people have no real grasp or concept of the complexities involved in Middle Eastern tensions and how it effects global politics. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, it just feels like kids these days are desperate for a cause of some kind to rally around. This isn’t that cause. Supporting terrorists is not a good look. Supporting ignorance at the university level is not a good look. But at least the UCSC students have been peaceful, respectful, and aren’t really hurting anyone (except maybe themselves) with their campout.
And anyone who wants to compare these “demonstrations” to the Vietnam demonstrations is gaslighting you and full of shit. Students protesting Vietnam faced the real threat of being drafted into a war they might be killed in. These students today aren’t facing any such threat. Nothing close.
Friendship Garden Homeless Camps Evicted
This past week, the city moved in with conviction as they cleaned out the homeless camps that have been squatting in the Friendship Garden area of Harvey West Park in Santa Cruz. I went out there on Tuesday morning to have a look.
Friendship Garden / Harvey West Park Cleanup
There was a pretty large presence by SCPD (I saw at least 6 SCPD vehicles parked down there, some were CSO), and lots of heavy machinery, backhoes and front loaders, dumping garbage into dumpsters that were then dumped into large dump trucks that hauled it away. I saw at least a dozen large dump trucks parked and waiting for their turn. Despite all that, the scene was actually pretty peaceful and mellow. No idiot demonstrations by local narcissist activists, no homeless people acting out aggressively towards police, just everyone complying and moving along. I think they knew their time was up there. Police were being very patient and cool with everyone. There’s a lot of crap along the street near the Extra Space storage building. Maybe the city should give them a monthly voucher to store their stuff there?
Santa Barbara Knows How to Reimagine Their Downtown
I know I probably sound like a broken record but the squeaky wheel gets oiled. Just another example of a California city, very similar to Santa Cruz, successfully converting some of their downtown space into a car free, community hub. I’m sure city planners and leaders faced criticism and backlash for trying something radically new and different. But they did it. And it looks great.
Happy May Day!
Nothing screams May Day like The Wicker Man (the original not the Nic Cage remake)
The Wicker Man – Official Trailer
It’s weird and creepy. A cult classic.
The Community Speaks!
Question of the Week: Who has the best Chinese food in Santa Cruz county?
“Chinese Village on Capitola Rd near 41st. We like to get 1 order of Hot & Sour soup and 1 order of War Won Ton and mix them together. Delicious.”
– Nikoletta
“Red Pearl in Boulder Creek is amazing! Try their Dan Dan noodles, you will get hot and sour soup for free most likely. Jenny is a jewel”
– Julie
“Guang Zho. Corner of 30th and Portola. Close to 7-11 but small restruant to the immediate left. It’s an old school type of restaurant with vinyl bench seats in booths. If you go in a few times owner will know your name. Great hot and sour soup!”
– Nancy
“Happy Garden in Watsonville has the best hot and sour soup, and their dinner combos are great.”
– Christian
“I recently had Four Streams in Aptos and it’s the best Chinese food I’ve had in a long time. It’s the old Uncle Kwoks.”
– Rachael
“Tams for hot and sour. Shun feng for everything else!”
– Michael
“Yan Flower. Good food and conveniently located!”
– Kevin
“Special Noodle on Ocean Street”
– Lisa
“Mings in Soquel”
– Mike
You can see all the responses here! Thanks everyone for all the recommendations. I’ve got a few new places to try now!
Dipper Days at the Boardwalk!
Beginning May 29th and running through August 7th, every Wednesday is Dollar Dipper Day at the Boardwalk. From 11am until 6PM every Wednesday, you can ride the Giant Dipper for $1 (I think it’s usually $6). Pretty great deal! I’ll probably ride it a lot since I love that roller coaster. Look forward to a front car no hands video coming sometime this summer! Speaking of the Big Dipper…….
In My Ear
“From the top you can see Monterey, or think about San Jose, though I know it’s not that pleasant…”
May the Fourth Be With You!
This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day! There’s a nice write up about it in the latest Good Times.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
This Sunday isn’t just the fifth of May, it’s Cinco de Mayo! Does anyone love the 5th of May more than Mexican beer companies? Even though Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, it always feels to me like Cinco de Mayo is the unofficial start to summer. At least in a beach town it is! And the weather this Sunday is supposed to be nice so I expect the local beaches will be packed with happy people drinking lots of Mexican beer. Be safe out there!
New Santa Mierda YouTube Channel!
I started a new YouTube channel for the Weekly Dump. It will host all my videos going forward. I’ll also put the podcast over there too if I can ever get that going. Go check out some videos if you haven’t seen them yet, and thank you to all the subscribers! (you can subscribe over there)
Check Out Our Twitter Feed for More Mierda!
Be sure to check out and follow our Twitter feed for even more mierda! Even though the Dump only comes your way once a week, I try to post breaking news and updates on other days as well. So check us out and follow us on Twitter for even more updates about real time news in Santa Cruz you might not otherwise hear about.
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Isreal-Hamas-College kids & Faculty. Agree 100%.
Friendship Garden abatement- any idea what the clean up cost was?
You’re the 2nd person I know who made a point to tell me they agree about the college protests. I think there’s a lot of people that feel that way. As to the cost of the HWP clean out, no idea but I’m guessing it was pretty significant. Just the cost of hauling all the trash out had to be significant (and probably all of the cost is paid by the city’s general fund). Thanks Joe. Hope you’re healing up.
“…arrested Thursday and charged with driving under the influence and carrying a loaded handgun that wasn’t his, plus felony transporting narcotics for sale and possessing controlled substances while armed… And to make matters worse, apparently he’s not in jail anymore either.”
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
It’s one thing to arrest and release a person caught in the act of stealing a $7,000.00 mountain bike that only a tech weenie or an old money resident could afford. But all of the above? What am I paying local sales tax and property tax for?
I sound like a “Get Off My Lawn” boomer, and I know many others here aren’t fortunate enough to have encountered people and circumstances that made it possible to become SC homeowners. Yet, this affects all of us. I pay taxes and it’s reasonable to expect our local government and our police force to do a better job.
Took some old friends down town Thursday wile visiting from WA but lived here in the 70’s.
Downtown was the perfect balance of extra wide sidewalks limited parking and low traffic. A pedestrian only mall would be a huge waste of space in my opinion.
Not that much foot traffic on pacific even on weekends. Leave it the way it is, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it“
I don’t know if I’d call the sidewalks downtown extra wide considering all the junk vendors taking up half the sidewalk with their tables. And I kind of doubt that “not much foot traffic” is in the best interests of the city or downtown merchants and their long term sustainability down there. Although selfishly, I like taking a walk through an empty downtown. Thanks Tom.
Yes agree. All these out of towners trying to change Santa cruz. If they don’t like it don’t move here. Pretty much all that’s left of Santa Cruz is the bouy
I find a lot of people that move here want Pacific Garden Mall turned into a foot mall without considering how vacant it is compared to prior to the Loma Prieta. It would be a death knell for remaining businesses.
Prior to Loma Prieta, the PGM was the community hub for Santa Cruz. The Cooper House was the community hub for downtown. All that is gone. We need to try to bring some of that back. Abbott Square has done a nice job filling in for the Cooper House. But the rest of downtown needs to become more like the PGM was. A community hub. Thanks CC!
Visited Gotttingen Germany (as in the Grimms brothers) back in the early 2000’s. They close off their downtown main streeet after 10 am (to allow for deliveries). The downtown businesses thrived and the community loved it. We could easily do the same. It has done amazing things for Santa Barbara as well.
I agree accommodations could and should be made for local deliveries downtown on Pacific. The good thing about downtown’s layout is that many blocks of Pacific Avenue currently have either back alleys or city parking lots that directly link to the rear entrance of the businesses. The delivery issue I feel can be easily resolved. Thanks Drew!