Seven months after 74-year-old dementia patient Carol Fundingsland was found dead on Highway 1 after disappearing from Sunshine Villa assisted living facility, her sons Erik and Ronald Kuentzel have filed a lawsuit.

The brothers are seeking compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of their mother, who was admitted to the facility at 80 Front St. in Santa Cruz at 1 p.m. Friday, April 9, 2010 and wandered out the front door at 5:30 p.m. that evening.

Staff noticed Fundingsland was gone around 9 p.m. that night, at which point they searched the facility and called Erik Kuentzel to inform him. He did not receive the voicemails until 11:05 p.m., at which point Sunshine Villa reported her disappearance to police. Erik spent the next three days searching for his mother on foot, while Sunshine Villa canvassed neighborhoods. Police responded to several possible sightings that weekend.

With the elections finally over, what’s the aftermath for congress? What changes, improvements or dangers will we see to government and policy?
The end of the 2010 election cycle has delivered a shift of power in the House of Representatives that will unfortunately bring in a new wave of challenges and partisan agendas. In fact, the majority leadership has indicated that Republicans will seek to overturn some of the historic legislation passed by the 111th Congress, which today is expanding access to healthcare and helping families survive our country’s economic uncertainty.

But as is inherently the case, new challenges bring the possibility of new opportunities. I am committed to moving forward, and continuing to work aggressively for the Central Coast. However, we will all need to do so under an air of caution, because of the uncertainty of Republicans’ intentions to deal and work for progress.

Local Business and Non Profit Partner to Revitalize Sentinel Building
The long-anticipated retrofit of the Santa Cruz Sentinel building is about to nearly open for business. The designers, builders, owners and future tenants of the revamped building welcomed Good Times to a preview of its new “green” home on Friday, Nov. 12. Our tour inspired feelings of pride to see what can be accomplished when business works to preserve tradition while developing a modern workspace.

The original Sentinel building was operated by our local newspaper from 1966 to 2007 when it moved to Scotts Valley. In 2008 local internet provider Cruzio and the progressive non-profit Ecology Action partnered with Appenrodt Commercial Properties to purchase and redesign the space at the corner of Cedar and Church Street in Downtown Santa Cruz. Out first impression? Nothing short of wow.

Neighbors, builders wait another month before word on Ocean Street Extension project
It’s a late October evening and the Santa Cruz Memorial Cemetery looks coolly picturesque. The last hint of sunlight dips behind the bordering mountains, patchy storm clouds gather, and dusk settles over the gravestones. Elsewhere in Santa Cruz, people are huddled around their televisions, cheering as the Giants win game two of the World Series. But here a group of neighborhood residents have gathered, standing on the unpaved shoulder of Ocean Street Extension, to talk over some collective concerns.

Recently, the group made a splash by opposing a proposal before the City of Santa Cruz for a 40-unit development to be built at 1930 Ocean Street Ext., directly across from the cemetery and adjacent to the Santa Cruz Memorial Crematory.

Childcare subsidies for working low-income families get cut in series of line-item vetoes by Schwarzenegger
At a rally on the steps of the State Capitol Thursday, Nov. 4, Anna Martinez, a single mother of four from Clovis, Calif., asked the question that had inspired the event: “If I lose Stage 3 subsidies, I’ll have to quit my job and re-apply for cash aid,” she said. “I can’t afford day care on my own and I like my job. I work hard. What good does it do anybody for me to quit my job?”

Despite the intense political wrangling that finally produced this year’s state budget agreement 100 days late, there was bi-partisan agreement that subsidizing childcare for parents who had graduated off welfare and were now working was money well spent and should not be cut.

Some of your constituents are currently fighting a proposal before the City of Santa Cruz to build a 40-unit development just across the county line from their homes on Ocean Street Extension. Among their concerns are traffic and density impacts. How have county/city relations and disconnects played into this situation?

Land use decisions are the heart of any local jurisdiction’s authority and responsibility. Retaining local control over those decisions in an environment of increasing state regulation is key to any locally elected official. Whenever a jurisdiction, using its land use authority, considers a new project, it has the responsibility to consider the location and other details of its setting. But what happens when that project is located adjacent to constituents in a neighboring jurisdiction? In this case, the project is proposed within the city limits, but clearly affects residents county living in the neighborhood.

New ruling tightens logging regulations by requiring companies to obtain point source permits
The snake nest of logging roads that curl through the Santa Cruz Mountains could soon be lined with paper from logging permits and the lawsuits that challenge erosion.

Here in the southernmost tip of America’s iconic redwood landscape, old growth cathedrals used to physically block erosive winds, pack soil into hillsides with root clusters, and maintain organic binders in the soil by dropping seeds onto the forest floor.

After the trees were cut, the winter rainstorms carried sediment to the streams. Fish eggs have been smothered by sediment, insects and other foods have been buried, and silt raises temperatures in the cool ponds used by spawning fish.

After a two-year economic stalemate, plans for the live/work development move forward
When the Santa Cruz City Council unanimously approved the Delaware Addition project in July 2008, the 20-acre live/work development on the Westside promised to be the answer to commuters’ prayers.

The prospect of a mixed-use neighborhood that could house not only your pre-established or start-up business but also your family sounded almost too good to be true, with its eco-friendly design, prime location and considerably low prices.

Then, the economy tanked.

Since passage of the state budget in early October, the governor vetoed $1 billion in line item vetoes— including the elimination of funding for Stage Three Childcare programs that serve mostly women who are transitioning from welfare to the workforce. What are you and the legislature doing about this?

The governor’s line item vetoes went counter to the bipartisan agreement achieved in the legislature. The vetoes cut funding to disabled students, HIV/AIDS patients, mental health programs for children, and Stage Three Childcare programs.

The loss of childcare will directly impact more than 260 families in Santa Cruz County where mostly single mothers will have no other choice but to leave paying jobs in order to take care of their children. Additionally, private childcare providers will lose business and California will forfeit federal dollars.