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On March 8, the Santa Cruz city council voted 5-2 to oppose an amendment to municipal code 6.36.010, also known as the camping ban. The proposed amendment would have removed references to sleeping and covering up with a blanket from the text of the law, as well as removing references to sleeping in cars. Effectively, these changes would have made it legal for people sleeping outdoors to do so without fear of citation by police.
Supporters of the "Right to Rest" had hoped the city council would remove references to the word "sleep" from the ordinance, but the majority of council members voted to keep the law exactly as it is presently written. Shortly after the vote concluded, it was business as usual for the Santa Cruz Police Department, whose officers spent the evening issuing citations and targeting homeless people sleeping downtown.
Robert Norse writes: Turning sleeping into a crime permanently hurts the poor. It is fiscally stupid. It does not serve the community's interests. It embitters/divides us. It also deepens the police state, maintaining (and this is nothing new) a pariah underclass, denied the rights everyone else takes for granted. Nice incentive to keep working shit jobs and paying rent, of course. If you're not a part of the gentry, move out or get busted for sleeping.
Read More:  Santa Cruz City Council Votes Down Change to Sleeping Ban Law | Business as Usual: SCPD Targets Homeless after City Council Re-Affirms Camping Ban |  Rumblings of Resistance After the Council Crushes Reform? | A Response to City Council on the Sleeping Ban Vote | Shame On the City Council of Santa Cruz for Maintaining the Sleeping Ban!!! | Take Back Santa Cruz : Home | Sleeping Ban at City Council; Freedom Sleepers in 35th SleepOut | Proposed Camping Ban Amendment Set for March 8 Council Hearing
Related Indybay Features: Santa Cruz Police Target Homeless Sleepers Downtown | Sleepouts at Santa Cruz City Hall Advance into 2016 | Bell v. Boise Still Casts Shadow Over Santa Cruz
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 ,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.
Termini's Form 700, dated January 12, can be accessed via the Library website, and is and signed under penalty of perjury. It includes Schedule A-1, for ownership interests of less than 10%, which says his stock in Triad Electric is worth over million. Had he included Schedule A-2, for ownership interests of 10% or more, there'd be a place on the form to disclose individual sources of income of ,000 or more per year, such as NHS.
On the exact same day, California's Fair Political Practices Commission issued an advice letter to Heather Lenhardt, Termini's lawyer. Capitola is paying for Termini's legal representation (as if this millionaire couldn't afford it). Based on information she provided, the FPPC concluded that Termini really owns 100% of Triad Electric, which in fact did ,000 worth of business with NHS.
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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.
We intend to engage in a dialogue with local community institutions about how to most effectively serve the bi+ community, which recent surveys indicate include anywhere from a quarter to 40% of millennials and younger folks. Individuals who fall under the bi+ umbrella face severe disparities in health and other services, a problem which is only compounded by the fact that disproportionately large numbers of transgender and queer people of color self-identify as bi+, according to a Human Rights Campaign brief prepared in conjunction with BiNet USA and other regional bi organizations.
Our founding steering committee consists of longtime out and proud bi+ community organizers Chai Bryce and Thomas Leavitt, who are joined by: Emilio Barajas, founding President of Pajaro Valley Pride and a newly emerging leader in both the bi and larger Santa Cruz County queer community; and Alina Hammer, longtime local community activist, most recently involved with Compassion and Choices and their effort to make the End Of Life Options Act law in California.
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A recently released United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 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. The disappearance raises questions about the facility's future.
An inspection conducted by the USDA just six months prior revealed an inventory of 3,202 goats and 2,471 rabbits. The exodus of the facility’s goat and rabbit inventories coincides with an unprecedented series of enforcement actions by the USDA against SCBT. These actions are tied to numerous citations issued against the company by USDA veterinary inspectors, alleging serious violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), including concealing an entire barn housing over 800 goats who had been used in antibody production.
“SCBT has been repeatedly cited by the USDA for failing to meet the modest requirements under the law,” said Cathy Liss, president of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), which has brought public scrutiny to the allegations against SCBT. Since 2012, AWI has repeatedly called for the USDA to take action, including seeking revocation of SCBT’s dealer license and issuing a substantial fine against the facility. “This company has been on the USDA’s enforcement radar for more than a decade. It appears that its misdeeds have finally caught up with it. We applaud the department for its diligence and will continue our efforts to ensure that no animals will ever suffer at SCBT again.”
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Previous Coverage: USDA Presents Case Against Santa Cruz Biotechnology in Historic Proceeding |
Dealer of Animal-Derived Antibodies Could Lose License |
ALDF Lawsuit Against Santa Cruz Biotechnology Animal Testing Facility Gains Support |
Federal Investigations Reveal Severe Neglect of Animals at Santa Cruz Biotechnology
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. Outside of the Whole Foods demonstration, Michael Joseph urged customers, "Don't buy Driscoll's berries until the farmworkers get the basic human rights they deserve!"
Workers who grow, harvest, and pack Driscoll’s lucrative berries are struggling against the systematic abuses they are forced to endure, and the companies profiting from the exploitation of their collective labor. Demonstrators say they support the farmworkers, including the boycott they initiated against Driscoll's, and cite poor working and living conditions, as well as growers refusing to negotiate with the workers' unions: Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ) [Families United for Justice] in Washington State and the Sindicato Independiente Nacional Democrático de Jornaleros Agrícolas (SINDJA) [National Democratic Union of Independent Farmworkers] in Baja California. The union SINDJA is called La Alianza (The Alliance) for short.
Tomás Madrigal explains, "In 2013 farmworkers at Sakuma Brothers Farms in Burlington, Washington launched a boycott against Sakuma. In response to the successful boycott against their brand, Sakuma Brothers shifted production in 2014 and began packing fresh market berries exclusively into Driscoll’s label cartons." As Driscoll’s continues to stand behind Sakuma Brothers Farms, workers in Washington State expanded their focus from Sakuma Brothers and towards the boycott of Driscoll’s. The call to boycott Driscoll's was internationalized after a farmworker rebellion in the San Quintín Valley of Baja California reached a boiling point in March 2015.
Read More with Photos: Boycott Driscoll's Action at Whole Foods Market in Santa Cruz | Picketing in Support of the Driscoll's Berries Boycott at Santa Cruz Whole Foods | See Also: Resource Center for Nonviolence Endorses the Driscoll’s Berry Boycott | Message from San Quintín to the United States: Boycott Driscoll’s
Previous Coverage:
Boycott Driscoll’s Action in Watsonville |
U.S. and Mexican Workers Call for Boycott of Driscoll’s Berries
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.
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