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May 20th
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The Ticker

UCSC Receives Historical Honor

Several structures of historical significance on the UC Santa Cruz campus and in nearby Pogonip park were officially entered into the National Register of Historic Places in a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 30. The area received the honor because of its long history in the lime industry—several preserved buildings on the UCSC campus house historical lime kilns, helping to preserve the legacy of when Santa Cruz was once the largest exporter of lime in California.

The Ticker

UCSC Honored For Rich Lime Kiln History

UCSC Honored For Rich Lime Kiln History

As the sun set over UC Santa Cruz on Oct. 30, community members gathered to recognize the school’s rich history.

Several structures on campus and the nearby Pogonip City Park have been entered into the National Register for Historic Places because of their significance in California’s limestone industry. The entire district covers 30 acres and includes the granary, now a childcare center; the Cook House, now the admissions office; the Cardiff House, now the women’s center; and other buildings including several lime kilns.

Friday’s event was held at the base of campus near many of the historic buildings. Chancellor George Blumenthal, County Supervisor Neal Coonerty, Former Assemblyman John Laird, and Friends of the Cowell Lime Works President Frank Perry spoke at the ceremony. The event was held to unveil a plaque outside the Cook House honoring UCSC’s inclusion to the list.

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The Ticker

Final Curtain Call for Capitola Theater

The Capitola Theater, long ago the Capitola Hotel that tragically burned to the ground in 1929, seems destined for a re-incarnation closer to its former self.

Developer Barry Swenson Builder plans to tear down the boarded up Capitola Theater to make way for a new hotel on the property before the end of the year.  While the theater, which remained basically unchanged during its operation from 1948 to 1996, is well regarded by nostalgic citizens there is little in the actual design of the building to qualify it for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or the California Register of Historic Resources.

Developers, owners, and town councilmen alike hope that the new hotel will be a centerpiece for Capitola Village and a new source of economic growth.

 

The Ticker

Brookdale Inn Haunted by Legal Problems

Sanjiv Kakkar, new owner of the Brookdale Inn and Spa, was arrested on multiple charges by detectives on Oct. 19.

According to the district attorney's office Kakkar was arrested on suspicion of not having workers compensation insurance, paying workers with bad checks, and failing to pay an employee's medical bill after he was hurt on the job.

Kakkar is also under investigation for a fire in August that burned 20 apartments and four cars at the lodge in August, the death of a local man, 35, just days after he fell into a construction hole near the lodge's pool in September, and many unpaid bills.

Kakkar was released on $75,000 dollar bail the evening of his arrest and continues to manage the once famous property.

The Ticker

Water Restriction Lifted

Water restrictions will be lifted for Santa Cruz City water customers as of Nov. 1. The restriction that was put in place in May of this year limited outdoor irrigation to two days due to three consecutive dry winters for California. The goal of these restrictions was to reduce the demand for city water by 15 percent, therefore preserving our local reservoirs. Santa Cruz City water customers have saved 14 percent of water since the restrictions were put in place and although the ban will be lifted, a water conservation Representative for the Santa Cruz Water Department, Clara Cartwright, still encourages customers to “continue using water wisely.”

The Ticker

Top of the Class

UC Santa CRUz has been nominated for the honor of  Most Vegetarian-Friendly College, a contest run by Peta2, the “world’s largest youth animal rights organization.” UCSC is one of 32 nominees in Peta2’s fourth annual contest, chosen for its outstanding selection of vegan and vegetarian options in school dining halls and restaurants. To vote for UCSC, visit peta2.com/college.

The Ticker

UCSC Pledges to Double Fundraising Efforts

UC President Mark Yudof announces that all UC campuses are trying to raise $1 billion in the next four years for student financial support systems. UC campuses need fundraisers to support student’s access and affordability to a higher education due to the continual rise in tuition fees and ever-deepening budget cuts. UCSC is attempting to help their students by fundraising through the UCSC Parents Fund, which directly benefits UCSC students, the Undergrad Scholarship Fund, the Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship Fund and the Graduate Students Fellowship.
The Ticker

Santa Cruz Welcomes Back Pixar Icon

Santa Cruz Welcomes Back Pixar IconIn the top story of the unfinished E.C. Rittenhouse building on Pacific Avenue, UC Santa Cruz students and staff gathered along with community members to welcome Technical Director Mark Henne of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios back to Santa Cruz.
Henne received his Master of Science from UCSC in 1990 and began working for Pixar in 1994. The UCSC Baskin School of Engineering invited Henne to speak about his involvement with the film “Toy Story” and coordinated the event with Nextspace.  
The lecture was part of UCSC’s Pixar week, which will also feature documentary “The Pixar Story” Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the Del Mar. The week will conclude with a speech by Ed Catmul of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios at the UCSC Music Recital Hall Friday, Oct. 23, 2009 at 3 p.m..
“People ask what my favorite Pixar films are, and ‘Toy Story’ is definitely at the top of the list,” said Henne, who has also worked on “WALL.E,” “Monster’s INC,” “A Bug’s Life” and “The Incredibles.”  “There is nothing like the making of the first ever Pixar film.”
Read more...
The Ticker

Amgen Take Two

Amgen Take TwoThe Amgen Tour will lay its finishing line in Santa Cruz once again
At a press conference held at Bicycle Trip on Soquel Avenue on Thursday, Oct. 22, Mayor Cynthia Mathews officially announced that Stage 3 of the Amgen Bike Race, the race's only coastal route, will be finishing in Santa Cruz.
"We are delighted to be bringing this international race back to Santa Cruz... it elevates the sport of cycling and our cycling industry here to the national stage where we belong." says Mathews.
Matt Twissleman, chairman of the Santa Cruz Local Organizing Committee, says he was pleased with the decision to move the race from February to May of next year.  "We see this as a huge positive," says Twissleman. "The weather's gonna be great in May."  He went on to say great weather is not only better for cyclists and spectators but also opens up the state geographically.  "Now they can bring it to the Sierras... it's going to be longer and harder," he says.
The race will have eight stages and last from May 16 to May 23, coming to Santa Cruz on the 18th.
Karen Kefauver, social media chair for the event in Santa Cruz, will be posting information about the race on Twitter under the name TOCSantaCruz, and urges people to join the Facebook page "2010 Amgen Tour of California - Santa Cruz Stage 3."  More information can also be found at amgentourofcalifornia.com.
The Ticker

Close Call for Shakespeare

UC Santa Cruz Arts Chancellor David Yager and Artistic Director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz Marco Barricelli were pleased to announce that SSC will survive another season. After concerns that the program would be unable to balance its 2009 budget, the theater group is preparing for its 29th season.  Yager and Barricelli held a conference call at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct.13, 2009 to announce the good news. Visit goodtimessantacruz.com for more about this and other UCSC updates in GT’s newest blog, News from the Hill, which will dole out university-related news and features each week.

 
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    Bring Your Own Bag

    Single-use plastic bag bans are underway Shoppers in Capitola, Watsonville, the City of Santa Cruz, and the unincorporated parts of the county are, by now, becoming accustomed to the absence of plastic bags. On Sept. 20, 2011, Santa Cruz County became the first local jurisdiction to pass an ordinance that banned single-use plastic bags and implemented a fee for paper bags, which took effect last spring. Watsonville, Capitola, and Santa Cruz followed suit with similar actions: Watsonville’s ordinance went into effect last September, and, as of last month, the bans in Capitola and the City of Santa Cruz are now in place.

     

    The Maya-Ixil Move Forward

    Local nonprofit works to educate and create opportunity for indigenous communities in Guatemala In an isolated region of the Guatemala mountains called Ixil, the indigenous Maya population was devastated by a civil war between the government and leftist guerrilla factions that spanned 1960 to 1996. During that 36-year war, the Guatemalan military eradicated entire Mayan communities. In what amounted to genocide, soldiers burned Mayan farmlands and homes, raped and tortured the people, and scattered families. By the end of the war, 200,000 Mayans had been killed, 7,000 of whom were Maya-Ixil.

     

    Public Thinking

    Watsonville teens host TEDx event Santa Cruz County is no stranger to the TED brand. TED—which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design—talks have come to the area through independently organized events 10 times since 2011. This month, the gathering returns to the county with a new twist, thanks to the Watsonville Youth City Council. TEDxYouth@Watsonville, which will take place Sunday, May 19 at the Henry J. Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville, will feature only speakers younger than 19 years old and will traverse topics from racial stereotypes and renewable energy to traditional Mexican dance.

     

    The Tilt

    Although Jesse Malley, lead singer of the outlaw country, blues and rock ’n’ roll band The Tilt, no longer lives in Santa Cruz, she was born and raised here and this is where her love of music and performance began. “My dad worked at The Catalyst for 27 years, so I got to see a lot of music acts come through town,” she says. “Music always seemed to me to be such an incredible way to express yourself that I just stumbled upon my voice and jumped into it.” That jump eventually led to Malley heading down to San Diego to pursue a music career, and her band The Tilt has just released their full-length debut, Howlin’.

     

    Whole Lotta Blues

    The 11-piece, husband-and-wife-led Tedeschi Trucks Band headlines the Santa Cruz Blues Festival Guitarist Derek Trucks and vocalist/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, the husband-and-wife team at the helm of The Tedeschi Trucks Band, have learned that in a band as well as in a marriage, the best way to keep things running smoothly is sometimes to take a step back. That’s especially true when you’re dealing with an 11-piece group that, in addition to its namesakes, features two drummers, a keyboardist/flautist, a three-piece horn section and two harmony vocalists.

     

    Beck to the Future

    In celebration of Beck’s solo acoustic show at The Rio, GT explores Song Reader, the alternative rock icon’s most ambitious interactive art piece yet. Here’s an odd little paradox of the digital revolution: The more sophisticated our technology gets, the more our musical milieu begins to resemble that of a bygone era, when song ideas were passed around from musician to musician, perpetually taking on new twists. Dozens of different YouTube users might try their hand at setting somebody’s rant about cats or double rainbows to music, or you might hear the Belgian musician Gotye turning the many and varied covers of his song “Somebody That I Used to Know” into a virtual orchestra (see below).

     

    Land of Lions

    New research provides foundation to look at protecting mountain lions, particularly when it comes to Highway 17 An adult male mountain lion called simply “Number 16” by the Santa Cruz Puma Project led a scientifically interesting life for the more than two-year period he was tracked by the UC Santa Cruz-based research project. According to Chris Wilmers, associate professor of environmental studies at UCSC and head of the Puma Project, the group initially caught and collared Number 16 in Loch Lomond. He then proceeded to cross Highway 17 several times, where he was eventually was hit, but survived. In an unusual move for an adult male, Number 16 then shifted his home range to the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. Recently, the lion’s tracking collar went on “mortality mode.” The day before Wilmers spoke to Good Times, the researchers found his skeleton.

     

    So Sleep (Pralaya) Does Not Overtake Us

    Sunday is Pentecost, a festival of the Holy Spirit (Ray 3 of Divine Intelligence). Pentecost is the name given to the descent of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire appearing above the heads of Christ’s (Piscean World Teacher) Disciples (students) in an upper room (plane of the Mind). Pentecost is not a simple bible story. It’s an actual experience for each individual as the Light of the Soul begins to direct the personality with spiritual gifts and virtues – wisdom, understanding (all ideas, all hearts), knowledge and Right Judgment (directing the intellect), wonder, fortitude/courage and respect/reverence (directing our willingness to serve).

     

    Legal Battles Drag On

    More than a year after the 75 River St. occupation, four defendants remain embroiled in ongoing case  More than a year and a half since a group occupied the former Wells Fargo building on River Street in an act of protest, felony charges linger on for four of the original defendants and a trial may be imminent. Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, Brent Adams, Cameron Laurendeau and Franklin Alcantara were scheduled to begin trial May 13 in connection with the late 2011 protest. That trial now has been pushed back to September due to scheduling conflicts. The four face a felony charge of vandalism and a misdemeanor for trespassing.

     

    Bringing the Message Home

    Former mayor and UCSC student recap their experiences at the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women While traveling to New York for the 57th United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), seasoned local activist Jane Weed-Pomerantz had a notion of what to expect. But, with the vast scope of worldwide women’s rights violations presented at the commission, she knew she would still be taken aback at times. “I was worried because I had a feeling I would be finding out what I did find out about women and girls in the world,” says Weed-Pomerantz. “I was trying to brace myself for the knowledge of the reality, because we are really very protected in this country.”
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    May Day in the Alps

    When my daughter returns to Santa Cruz from her new home in Los Angeles, she comments on how quiet it is here. It was even more so during a trip to Ben Lomond, when we set out for a sample of her second favorite macaroni and cheese. Sitting at the front of the Tyrolean Inn restaurant, the green tarp with plastic windows kept out the chill as well as the noise of an occasional passing car. A new draft beer celebrating the German spring, Maibok ($6) was refreshing, served in a hefty glass stein, but specialty cocktails are unique as well.

     

    The Power of Conversation

    Local author Cecile Andrews emphasizes importance of community engagement in newest book Cecile Andrews, author of the new book “Living Room Revolution: A Handbook for Conversation, Community and the Common Good,” probably wouldn’t get along too well with Larry David’s character from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, known for hiding his face and avoiding communication with anyone he runs into on the street. Andrews is a longstanding part-time Santa Cruz (part-time Seattle) resident who says something that’s struck her about this town over the years is people's willingness to participate in a practice she’s dubbed the “Stop and Chat”—which is exactly what it sounds like.

     

    What are you a total sucker for?

    A cold beer after a long bike ride, gossip, and fighting over politics. Kyle McKinley Santa Cruz | Lecturer

     

    Best of Santa Cruz County

    The 2013 Santa Cruz County Readers' Poll and Critics’ Picks It’s our biggest issue of the year, and in it, your votes—more than 6,500 of them—determined the winners of The Best of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll. New to the long list of local restaurants, shops and other notables that captured your interest: Best Beer Selection, Best Locally Owned Business, Best Customer Service and Best Marijuana Dispensary. In the meantime, many readers were ever so chatty online about potential new categories. Some of the suggestions that stood out: Best Teen Program and Best Web Design/Designer. But what about: Dog Park, Church, Hotel, Local Farm, Therapist (I second that!) or Sports Bar—not to be confused with Bra. Our favorite suggestion: Best Act of Kindness—one reader noted Café Gratitude and the free meals it offered to the Santa Cruz Police Department in the aftermath of recent crimes. Perhaps some of these can be woven into next year’s ballot, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the following pages and take note of our Critics’ Picks, too, beginning on page 91. A big thanks for voting—and for reading—and an even bigger congratulations to all of the winners. Enjoy.  -Greg Archer, EditorBest of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll INDEX | Shops | Food & Drink | Arts & Entertainment | Health & Fitness | Professionals | The Rest |

     

    Vine & Dine: Pine Ridge Vineyards

    Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2012 On a recent trip to Palm Springs, I came across Pine Ridge Vineyards’ Chenin Blanc + Viognier at a new downtown restaurant called Lulu. Superbly decorated in Hollywood-esque style and with a very hip vibe, this California bistro is one of the hottest new dining spots—and the Chenin Blanc was just the right wine to pair with some of Lulu’s Happy Hour tapas-style food. And eating outdoors in the desert’s warm night air makes a chilled white wine taste even better.

     

    Making Sense of Soul

    Allen Stone wants to give R&B back some of its depth Whether fairly or unfairly, R&B and soul music often get typecast. Much of the music is groove-inducing and has an overtly romantic, sensual or sexual side to it, and the suggestive lyrics only reinforce this mood. That is fine and well, but for R&B and soul singer Allen Stone, it is not enough. “I love music that’s about love, and I love R&B songs, but I also like songs that have influence on culture,” Stone says. "I believe that if you’re given a microphone you need to use it in a positive way, and I feel like pop culture, more often than not, doesn’t. I think that [pop stars] are very bad stewards of the microphone they’ve been given, and the voices they’ve been given, and they tend to talk about pretty futile and shallow things, rather than subjects which uplift the children in our culture, or the teenage culture, or the young adult generation. If you’re given a microphone, you should say something that’s deeper than, ‘I’m going to the club and I’m going to drink cognac.’”

     

    Step on up to the Bar

    Here in Santa Cruz County, we are privileged to have farm-fresh greens year-round. Making a nightly salad at home is a snap since the emergence of pre-washed greens, and vinaigrette dressing is made easily with your favorite vinegar and small spoon of Dijon mustard whisked with a bit of olive oil.

     

    Exposed

    David Cay Johnston’s new book explains how big companies rob us blind In his late teens David Cay Johnston started to ask questions. “Why do we have these guys in uniforms with guns driving around in cars all day?” “Why is the Santa Cruz County Courthouse being built in such an unusual shape?” He wrote an article, while still living in his hometown of Santa Cruz, proving that the off-kilter courthouse building, which officials had promised would save money, actually cost more than a conventional building.

     

    Do you unplug often enough? Or do you need help?

    Santa Cruz | Caregiver