SANTA CRUZ > Local debate explores whether public employees should be paid less

Santa Cruz has entered the debate on California’s budget deficits, and the Santa Barbara-based California Center for Public Policy (CCPP) is proposing a solution that some people may not agree with: reducing public employee compensation.

The CCPP, a libertarian think tank, organized a “Great Debate” on the subject as part of a statewide campaign to draw attention to the issue. The debate was held at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History on Tuesday, March 13 and was the first of seven debates in cities across California.

SANTA CRUZ > Real estate agent lobbies for struggling local families

Barbara Palmer, president of the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors, met with 28 out of the 55 U.S. Representatives from California, as well as Treasury and Federal Housing Finance Agency executives on five separate trips to Washington D.C. last year. Lobbying on behalf of cash-strapped homeowners and the statewide realtors association, Palmer emphasized the devastating impacts of foreclosures on families and neighborhoods.  

UC Santa Cruz students are joining the fight to ban plastic bags in Santa Cruz. The campus chapter of the California Public Interest Research Group, or CALPIRG, staged a demonstration in Quarry Plaza on the UCSC campus on Wednesday, March 7. The students gave a brief presentation and handed out literature to people passing through the bustling plaza. The demonstration included a six-foot-tall board covered with bags to illustrate the 380 plastic grocery bags used in California every second.

A month ago, 7-year-old Ishmael Gomez went to sleep with his eyesight and woke up without it. The sudden loss of his sight remains a mystery for Ishmael, who is currently at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at the Stanford Medical Center, and his family.  “He was an absolutely normal kid—normal as normal comes—until one Tuesday morning he woke up and could not see anything,” Caffe Lucio owner Lucio Fanni writes to GT in an email. Ishmael’s father, Joel Gomez, has worked at Caffe Lucio for five years. The restaurant will host a fundraiser on Thursday, March 8, when 25 percent of all sales will go to the Gomez family. “This has been a great hardship on [the] Gomez family and a real medical mystery,” says Lucio. “I am inviting everyone to come in ... for a good cause.” Caffe Lucio, 381 Soquel Ave., 427-0164, caffelucio.com.

SANTA CRUZ > City council approves UCSC water expansion policy

On Tuesday, Feb. 28, the Santa Cruz City Council unanimously passed a water expansion measure for UC Santa Cruz that would enable the university to not have to pay for water conservation measures that would offset water growth demand until they reach a baseline of 206 million gallons a year. This baseline number is based off of the water demand from 1997.

While billions of dollars worth of medicine and supplies go unused each year, more Americans are going without prescription drugs because of costs. Sen. Joe Simitian, whose district includes Santa Cruz, recently unveiled a new piece of legislation that would make it easier for surplus prescription drugs and supplies to be redistributed in California. “Instead of throwing out perfectly good medicine, or worse, dumping it into our water supply, this bill will allow us to get it into the hands of people who need it the most,” Simitian said in a Feb. 24 press release. The bill, Senate Bill 1329, expands upon Senate Bill 798, which was also authored by Simitian and which passed in 2005, allowing counties to spearhead redistribution efforts. “At a time when the state and counties are strapped, and many Californians are struggling, this gets drugs that would otherwise be wasted to the people who really need them,” Simitian said. “It’s a clear win-win.” 

SANTA CRUZ > Silent auction fundraiser kicks off Project Homeless Connect

“I am not a miracle—I am a product of people’s generosity,” Stephen Nelson told a crowd of about 60 people at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History on Thursday, Feb 23.

Nelson, who once homeless and struggled with addiction, came to Santa Cruz almost eight years ago, and today he works with the Homeless Service Center to provide services to people who now face the difficulties he once struggled with.  Nelson spoke to the crowd as part of a charity fundraiser benefitting Project Homeless Connect, a one-day event that aims to provide necessary services to Santa Cruz’s homeless population.

APTOS > Afghan orphans stop in Aptos on a nation-wide road trip

Six Afghan orphans, aged 11 to 17, spent a night in Aptos on Thursday, Feb. 23. Their visit was one of many stops on a road trip across the United States sponsored by their orphanage in Kabul. They left for San Francisco today, Friday, Feb. 24, to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

The six kids and their two adult teachers, Nasrin Sultani, an Afghan national, and American Ian Pounds, have been on the road in a 32-foot RV since Jan. 7, starting out in Boston and taking the southern route through New Orleans, Texas and Arizona.  

The Amgen Tour of California will once again feature a finishing line in Santa Cruz County this year. Stage two of the 2012 bicycle race, to be held on May 14, will start in San Francisco’s Marina District and wrap up at Cabrillo College in Aptos. In between, cyclists will pedal south for 117 miles, first on Highway 1 and then through Bonny Doon. Marketing Director Albert Saporta says the racers could be whizzing into Aptos between 3:15 and 4:30 p.m., weather permitting. “With only 8,000 feet of elevation gain over 117 miles, this stage will be fast,” Saporta says. “That means a sprint finish will probably be the order of the day, with speeds hitting 30 to 40 [miles per hour] running down Soquel Drive from Soquel to Cabrillo College.” Keeps tabs on the event at amgentourofcalifornia.com or on Facebook.

SANTA CRUZ > Citizens propose to amend NDAA

On Tuesday, March 13, a group of demonstrators are planning on proposing the adoption of a Resolution to Restore Due Process and the Right to Trial at the Santa Cruz City Council’s regular meeting in City Hall on Center Street.