Can you describe a few scenarios where the healthcare reform bill will affect regular people on the Central Coast?

It’s no secret that I’m very proud of my vote to reform the health insurance system to provide stable, affordable insurance for all Americans. This reform will help all Americans, even those who already have insurance.

Let’s start with the owner of a small business. She employs 15 people and currently can’t afford to offer coverage. This is all too common. Only about 45 percent of small businesses can afford to offer health benefits, with costs up 129 percent since 2000.

Cherished state park offers a window into the past and sheds light on energy solutions

“It’s something that you’re never going to see anywhere else, and it’s totally unique,” says Wilder Ranch docent Mike Dalbey. He’s talking about the water-powered tools in the Wilder Ranch State Park, which is home to a 19th century saw mill, lathe, drill bit, coffee grinder, and grindstone—all powered by Pelton Water Wheels.

Wilder Ranch's water-powered machine shop dates back to the 1890s and is the last one operating in the State of California. Dalbey, who has helped to restore some of the tools himself, says his favorite part is the lichens growing on one of the wheels—something he calls “high technology as the substrate for organic life.”

The Monterey Bay Trout and Salmon Project is back in the water after a few dry years

Following three years of no salmon and no salmon fishing, local fishermen can once again take up their poles on April 3. Among those excited for the opening of salmon season is the Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project (MBSTP), which plans to recommence its King Salmon release program after a three-year hiatus.

Founded in 1976, the MBSTP is a non-profit run almost entirely by volunteers (there is only one paid staff member) with the mission of restoring, conserving, and enhancing native Coho salmon and Steelhead populations and their habitats in the greater Monterey Bay area. MBSTP Treasurer Larry Wolf says that the voluntary aspect makes it “an uplifting program,” and he describes the MBSTP as “one of those programs that was instituted because people thought they could do a better job than government could to take care of our local environment.”

The Santa Cruz County jobless rate has risen to a new high of 15 percent—higher than both the state and national averages. How can Santa Cruz begin recovering from this slump?

High unemployment is a severe problem nationally as well as in Santa Cruz. While actions can be taken on the local level to respond to this crisis, changes at the state and national level will have a much greater impact.

The Arana Gulch Master Plan faces another round of review
There’s something spellbinding about Arana Gulch. Its wide-open spaces, sprawling oaks and seasonal wetlands exist in perfect harmony with the dense urban setting that surrounds it on all sides. It is uncommon to find such a natural, relatively untouched space surviving in a city, but Santa Cruz has managed to preserve Arana Gulch’s inherent beauty since the city purchased the land in 1994. The city has been planning to use this space to connect the Eastside with the rest of Santa Cruz with a bike path ever since, but has yet to gain full approval.

Pesticide ban targets LBAM sprays, but may not fall within city jurisdiction
An ordinance banning the bulk application of pesticides within City of Santa Cruz boundaries is inching closer to a vote, sparking debate over the rights of local governments and private landowners when fighting state chemical campaigns.

Motivated by the state’s program to eradicate the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), local activists met with city council members last week to revise the proposed ordinance. Written by a citizens’ group called People Against Chemical Trespass (PACT), the rule could prevent aerial spraying of pheromone as well as the application of ground sprays in neighborhoods and yards. 

Tourism took a hard hit in 2009. Will 2010 be any better?
With spring on our doorstep and summer soon to follow, Santa Cruz is once again entering tourist season. While not a favorite time for some residents, the City of Santa Cruz hopes to see more tourists heading here from over the hill or up the coast on Highway 1 into town as the days increase in length and the sun begins to peek from behind the clouds. The travel sector is counting on this summer to be stronger than the last, which recorded a 7 percent decrease in hotel occupancy and a 10 percent decrease in rates compared with the previous year.

March 17, 2010 4pm -7pm Cocoanut Grove
How To Santa Cruz is both the title of this year's business fair and a social media marketing initiative the Chamber has developed to give members the opportunity to engage in a rich social media experience. Each Business Fair participant has been invited to contribute to a collection of online articles on how to survive and thrive in Santa Cruz... information to their potential customers, visitors, and other businesses can find and contribute to.

Each article (text, video, or PowerPoint) utilizes the emerging marketing power of "authentic" communications and makes use of integrated social media – connecting the Article to related Facebook and LinkedIn sites and a Twitter feed. More importantly, the article becomes a searchable object that will return the information that users a searching for when they a looking for it.

Participants in the March 4 UCSC protests share their stories
“I am a language teacher!” UC Santa Cruz Italian lecturer Giulia Centineo screamed into the loudspeaker during a March 4 protest at UC Santa Cruz. Centineo held the microphone up to her lips and addressed the crowd, her hand trembling, perhaps out of nervousness or simply passion. “For years the administration has been shoving down our throats the idea that students are clients. No, students are students! I don't sell Italian! I teach Italian!”

Our intrepid reporter follows up on newly implemented parking fees

March has arrived and, with it, new downtown parking fees. From the talk about town and the impassioned comments in response to Good Times’ Feb. 18 article, “Pay to Park,” it appears that Cruzans are up in arms over the charges.

I spoke with Les Gripkey, who created a website in response to the parking fees that provides the contact information for city council members and some “Free Parking Talking Points” (gripkeys.googlepages.com/parking). A Boulder Creek resident who regularly shops in Santa Cruz, Gripkey says his main goal in starting the page is to dispense information.