Planned Parenthood celebrates 40 years in Santa Cruz

When the first family planning and birth control clinic opened in Brooklyn in 1916, it operated for nine days before its founder, Margaret Sanger, was arrested for breaking laws that prohibited the distribution of contraceptives.

It was one of many controversial actions the early sex educator and Planned Parenthood progenitor took to push for women’s reproductive rights.

“That was a very conscious civil disobedience. She was trying to provide services and change the law,” says Cynthia Mathews, a former Santa Cruz mayor and the first executive director of Planned Parenthood in Santa Cruz. Sanger’s earlier rebellions meant that by the time Mathews and a committee of 15 or so colleagues brought the organization to Santa Cruz in 1971, it was hardly a contentious arrival.

Four SmartMeter questions answered

Since their mass installation across California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)’s SmartMeters have received much attention from media and a skeptical public. Ten million SmartMeters are slated for installment by the end of 2011. Until recently, the roll out of these new wireless utility meters left many technical questions about their wireless technology unanswered.

At a California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) meeting on Sept. 14, entitled “SmartMeter Opt-Out Workshop,” questions about the wireless meters were raised in front of a CPUC judge. On Oct.18, the CPUC ruled that PG&E—along with a list of other relevant utilities companies—must release a public “clarification” with answers to CPUC’s specific technological questions about SmartMeters.

The fast-tracked traffic plan for Pacific Avenue comes to a halt

As November began, a proposal to make most of Pacific Avenue in Downtown Santa Cruz a two-way street was speeding through votes of approval. But, by the end of the first week of the month, support for the idea had come to an abrupt stop.

The Downtown Association (DTA) and several city council members advocated for the proposal, which would have opened up the portion of Pacific between Cathcart and Church streets to two-way traffic by Dec. 2, as a way to increase downtown spending in time for the holiday shopping season. This expectation stemmed from a recommendation made by Michigan-based retail consultants Gibbs Planning Group, which reported that shifting to two-way traffic could increase sales by 30 percent because of increased visibility of storefronts.

Forty-six percent of Californian third graders are reading above or at standardized proficiency levels, according to the 2010-2011 STAR testing results. That number is even lower—40 percent—in Santa Cruz County, but there has been a steady push to work towards raising those percentages.

Most recently, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, along with more than 150 other U.S. communities, has signaled their intent to apply for the 2012 All America City Awards, which is offered by the National Civic League. By doing so the county has agreed to work towards addressing child literacy by focusing on ways to improve three key areas: school readiness, school attendance, and summer learning.

Born with a cleft palate, all Mike Biscovich wanted when he was young was to belong. But instead, his youth was filled with humiliation as students laughed at his deformity; and later with solitude, as they shunned him. It was a lonely time, that was, until he discovered drugs.

In drugs he found an escape, a form of comfort, a place to be. And as he immersed himself in that life, the more he says he came to believe he didn’t need other people. It became a vicious circle that would pit him against the world, throw him into a life of petty crime and eventually land him five jaunts in state prison.

How does Occupy Santa Cruz fit into the global movement for democracy?

Ed Frey, an attorney in Santa Cruz, has been unhappy with the political process and decisions of policymakers in the United States for decades—particularly the lack of a voice given to everyday people. He is not alone. On Sept. 17, the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City’s financial district erupted, and Frey found a vehicle for his cause. He participated on day one of the movement in San Francisco’s branch-off protest, Occupy San Francisco. When Occupy Santa Cruz (OSC) developed, Frey immediately joined the effort.

“I do not think it’s a policy change—no bill or piece of legislation—that we need,” says Frey. “We need a process change.” Frey thinks people should demand full access to facts, and that officeholders should be directly accountable to the people they represent.

Local medical marijuana dispensaries face an uncertain future in face of government shutdowns

In the spring of 2009, a neighborhood of sick people with cancer, neurological degenerative disease, and chronic pain joined to form the Santa Cruz Mountain Naturals Medical Cannabis Collective and Medicinal Herb Co-op (SCMN). After an Aptos building owner invited the collective to open a dispensary in his building on Soquel Drive seven months ago, this medical cannabis community grew to treat more than 1,500 patients.

“There were a number of sick people going through really serious problems that had been using marijuana as a relief for decades,” says Colin Disheroon, founding member of SCMN. “They were already doing this with doctors’ recommendations, but they were afraid. We began as a group to pool our resources and start providing medicine with intention, together. That is what this whole movement is based on—collectives.”

UC Santa Cruz’s Research Review Day highlights notable developments

From identifying the amino acids that cause cancer in specific cells to influencing city designs through video games, there is no problem too small or too large for UC Santa Cruz faculty to tackle. They showcased examples of how they are shaping the future from their labs in the forest at Baskin School of Engineering’s Research Review Day on Thursday, Oct. 20.

“The mission of a research university is to engage in cutting-edge research ... and impact society through production of technology,” says associate professor of computer science Michael Mateas, who also leads the school’s Center for Games and Playable Media research group. His work in computer game design was among that highlighted at Research Review Day.

Advocates continue to fight for the cause behind California’s vetoed breast cancer detection bill

Nancy Cappello never imagined that she’d one day spend her time talking to strangers about her breasts. She also never expected to get breast cancer—she was a dutiful recipient of annual mammograms that routinely came back “normal,” after all—but somehow that happened, too.

In November 2003, Cappello once again received normal mammogram results that included “no significant findings.” But less than three months later—thanks to her gynecologist, who felt the lump during a standard annual exam—Cappello was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. The cancer had traveled outside of her breast to her lymph nodes, 18 of which were removed and 13 of which contained cancer. Just a matter of weeks after her uneventful mammogram, she underwent six surgeries, eight chemotherapy treatments, and 24 radiation treatments.

The Resource Center for Nonviolence gets more elbow room in new seaside location

Car horns honked in support as a procession of about 30 people marched from 515 Broadway to 612 Ocean Street on Tuesday, Oct. 4. The march symbolized the Resource Center for Nonviolence’s (RCNV) move from its home of 35 years to its new, more accessible location only blocks away.

“We got probably 30 or 40 email messages from people congratulating us on the move,” says Scott Kennedy, who has been with the RCNV since its 1976 founding, when a group of activists from Isla Vista, Calif. decided to build a center for nonviolence. “We came to the conviction that there was great value in establishing a physical place in the community that people could come to rely on.”