Author Archives: huffsantacruz

Local Leaders Support Occupy Santa Cruz

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Occupy SC gets attention of local residents and elected officials
By Alan Sanchez
City on a Hill Press
October 27, 2011

Photo by Nick Paris.

Occupy Santa Cruz ended its second full week of protesting with three events over the weekend. The events drew hundreds of community members in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement which is sweeping the nation and capturing the attention of average Americans, politicians and political pundits alike.

On Friday, at least 100 people congregated at the Water Street entrance to the courthouse, where the movie “V for Vendetta” was screened.

Along the concrete stairs leading up to an ad-hoc movie screen sat protesters and community members who came out for some free entertainment.

On Saturday, Occupy SC maintained camp in San Lorenzo Park, and participants spoke and tabled at WAMMFest.

Occupy SC ended the weekend with a human chain around the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse on West Cliff Drive, home of the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. Local media estimated 150 people participated in the demonstration.

Mary B., a surfing museum attendant who prefers to remain anonymous, showed up to work just after the protest started.

“They were blocking the entrance,” Mary B. said after saying she asked them to move off the porch, but felt they were “OK on the lawn.”

The protest, which was originally scheduled to go from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., was over before 2 p.m. One participant said she felt there was not a lot of energy, which was why people left the demonstration early.

Police, who often check in with the Occupy Santa Cruz protesters at their base-camp in San Lorenzo Park, were not present at Sunday’s demonstration.

Santa Cruz Police Department spokesman Zach Friend said the department was aware of this past weekend’s events, but no formal coordination between protesters and the police department took place.

Many police departments across the U.S. have taken action against protesters in the “Occupy” movement. On Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 130 protesters were arrested in Chicago, 11 in Cincinnati, and more than a dozen in Philadelphia. More than 100 protesters participating in Occupy Oakland were arrested on Tuesday, according to The Los Angeles Times.

“The Santa Cruz Police Department has a different operational philosophy than many departments,” Friend said. “It is important to us to take a balanced approach to enforcement.”

Despite community support for Occupy Santa Cruz, tension has been brewing between protesters and the police department, which warned protesters last week it will issue citations if the protesters do not accommodate other parties who want to use the park.

“Moving forward, we need organizers to maintain open lines of communication, obtain permits for events and respect local laws and environmental needs,” Friend said. “We have received feedback from a small number of the participants that they want police action so they can receive greater media attention … We simply want organizers to maintain a respectful attitude toward the community, laws and expectations we all have for a successful outcome.”

Local elected officials like Mayor Ryan Coonerty and Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel), sympathize with the protesters.

“There is a lot to be angry about,” Coonerty said, “and I appreciate that people are engaging and advocating for a change to our economic policies.”

Occupy Santa Cruz protesters have led several marches around town to protest in front of the national banks, which have been primary targets in demonstrations for the broader “Occupy” movement.

On Nov. 5, protestors are calling for a national Bank Transfer Day. The idea of transferring money from national corporate banks to community banks and credit unions is popular among the “Occupy” movement’s protesters.

Coonerty sympathizes with the protesters, but said it is important to respect the employees at the local branches of the national banks because “they are hardworking members of our community, and should not have to take the abuse for the actions of CEOs they had nothing to do with.”

“[It is important from]an economic sustainability standpoint to keep as much capital as we can in the community,” Coonerty said. “I think if people move their money in large numbers it will send a message.”

Local congressman Farr, who is “very supportive” of the protesters and a member of the Progressive Caucus, donated cash two weeks ago when members of the caucus passed around a hat on the floor of Congress to collect money for the Occupy protesters in Lafayette Square, a park located directly north of the White House.

At a press conference the Congressman commented on creating green jobs in Santa Cruz and the “Occupy” movement.

“I think this is what the people on Wall Street are about,” Farr said. “They want America to be focused on doing things like this rather than just taking care of their bank accounts.”

Farr feels the movement is getting people to focus on things other than “the wonder of wealth, or the worship of wealth.”

As Republicans continue to block the president’s job bills, the latest unemployment figures remain high in California at a whopping 11.4 percent, and 10.1 percent in Santa Cruz County.

Farr suggests students get internships at places they want to work so they get a job when the economy begins to pick up again.

“Your lifetime isn’t going to be remembered by how much money you made when you got out of college,” Farr said. “Your lifetime is going to be remembered by what you accomplished in life, and that’s not just going to be about money. That’s going to be about a lot of other things.”

Protesters march from Santa Cruz County Courthouse to Pacific Avenue

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SC Sentinel staff report:   10/15/2011

Dozens of demonstrators took part in a march Saturday from the County Courthouse steps on Water Street, down Ocean Street to Soquel Avenue and then to Pacific Avenue as part of the Occupy Santa Cruz movement.

Members of the Santa Cruz Police Department followed the group along Saturday afternoon on motorcycles and in cars to ensure no one was hit by a car and to help with controlling traffic. At one point, the crowd had blocked much of Water Street.

No citations or tickets had been issued to demonstrators Saturday as of about 6 p.m.

Occupy Santa Cruz has been holding public demonstrations since Oct. 6 in San Lorenzo Park and at the courthouse steps. The demonstrations are part of events occurring nationally to protest a litany of problems, primarily focusing on the economy and corporate greed.

Occupy SF camp broken up by police

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Vivian Ho, SF Chronicle – Thursday, October 6, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco police and public works crews dismantled a Financial District encampment early Thursday that had been occupied for nearly a week by activists protesting economic inequality.

Protesters with the group Occupy SF said about 80 officers wearing riot helmets confronted 200 campers and their supporters at about 12:45 a.m. The officers guarded city workers who removed tents, lean-tos, sleeping bags and other belongings from outside the Federal Reserve Bank building at 101 Market St. near Main Street.

One protester was arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer.

Police said that only one squad of fewer than 20 officers had been on the scene to help public works crews remove nine truckloads of tents, wood pallets and trash.

The camp was taken down hours after several hundred people marched through the Financial District in an Occupy SF-organized protest. The group formed in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has been staging protests in New York over what it calls corporate greed and the excessive concentration of wealth and power among 1 percent of the nation’s population.

Weeklong encampment

The Occupy SF camp formed outside the Federal Reserve Bank a week ago Thursday. By Wednesday it had grown to about 50 people.

At around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, police handed a notice to Occupy SF protesters that although the city and Police Department “celebrate and protect” free speech and the right to assemble, their encampment violated several city laws. They included a ban on having an open flame on a street or sidewalk, creating a public nuisance, disorderly conduct in lodging and serving food without a permit.

Protesters began taking down tents and removing belongings, activists said Thursday, but also posted the police notice online. More than 100 supporters subsequently arrived at the encampment.

At 12:45 a.m., Department of Public Works employees arrived in trucks and began removing campers’ possessions as police stood guard.

“They took everything,” said one protester, who asked to be identified only as Leslie M. “They said if we showed an effort that we were removing our stuff and taking down our tents, it would be OK.”

Tried to stop truck

About 50 protesters stood in front of one truck to try to prevent it from leaving, activists said. The trucks took an alternate route and drove away on Main Street.

Police arrested Kevin Hernandez, 26, for allegedly punching and threatening an officer and resisting arrest, said Officer Albie Esparza, a department spokesman.

Several protesters said the officers had used excessive force in removing the camp.

Esparza said he had received no complaints of excessive force. He said police had broken up the camp not to damage the movement, but because it was posing a public safety risk.

Activists said they tried moving on to Justin Herman Plaza on Thursday, but that police told them they could not. They said they would return to the Federal Reserve Bank to spend the night in sleeping bags.

Police fenced off the entrance of the building and stood guard.

Mayor Ed Lee issued a statement saying he would work with police to safeguard protesters’ free speech rights while also keeping sidewalks and streets clear.

Avalos at the camp

Supervisor John Avalos said he was at the camp Wednesday night after police served notice, but left shortly before city crews moved in.

“With our unemployment rate nearing 10 percent, we have a responsibility to be a sanctuary for the 99 percent,” Avalos said. “Instead, last night we witnessed that 99 percent being detained, arrested and intimidated with force.”

Homeless activist indicted for county cyber attack: Voice of 2010 protests swept up in nationwide crackdown

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SC Sentinel:   09/22/2011

SANTA CRUZ – A homeless activist who appears to have been instrumental in last year’s Santa Cruz camping ban protests was arrested Thursday for allegedly hacking Santa Cruz County computers in December, federal authorities allege.

A federal grand jury’s indictment of Mountain View resident Christopher Doyon, 47, appears to be part of a nationwide crackdown on the hacker community. A second man also has been implicated in the attack, which authorities say was planned as retribution for the breakup of a lengthy protest over the city’s controversial camping ban.

According to the indictment, Doyon and Joshua John Covelli, a 26-year-old Fairborn, Ohio resident, hatched “Operation Peace Camp 2010” on behalf of the Massachusetts-based group Peoples Liberation Front, which claimed credit for the attack and has been linked to the hacker group Anonymous.

Anonymous has been linked to a number of online hacking attacks worldwide, and played an instrumental role in a recent series of BART protests. Their members often appear in public wearing masks, particularly of the British 17th century revolutionary Guy Fawkes.

The county government computer attacks resulted in users not being able to access the county’s website. No information was compromised or disseminated, county authorities said.

The city’s controversial camping ban resulted in a two-month protest, called “Peace Camp 2010,” on the steps of the county government building, ending in front of Santa Cruz City Hall.

Ultimately, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office moved in early in the morning to break up the protest.

In letters posted on Peace Camp’s blog, Doyon also described himself as homeless and some news reports on Thursday also described him as such, though federal authorities could not confirm it. Authorities could provide no details on his arrest.

“All I know is that it went without incident,” FBI spokeswoman Julie Sohn said.

A Chris Doyon of the same age was quoted in a Sentinel article last year about the camping ban protest, saying he believed people had the right to sleep wherever they choose.

Doyon was also one of five people ultimately charged with illegal camping, though he never showed up for trial. Prosecutor Sara Dabkowski said in May that a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest, but no further information was available Thursday.

Doyon once described himself as a spokesman for the group. At the time, he said he grew up in Maine and moved west to follow the Grateful Dead. He also vowed not to give up protesting the camping ban.

“This is a fight about aesthetics,” he was quoted as saying. “One man’s garbage is another man’s belongings. I think millionaires are unaesthetic; I think Hummers are disgusting. You see the ridiculousness. This is class warfare.”

The FBI and U.S. attorney’s office offered scant information, but the indictments appear to part of a broader net cast by federal authorities.

Also Thursday, the FBI’s Los Angeles office announced it had arrested a Phoenix man on charges he hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment’s website.

Cody Kretsinger, 23, was arrested without incident, based on a Sept. 2 federal grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday. The indictment alleges Kretsinger carried out the attack as part of the group “LulzSec,” which has also been linked to Anonymous.

An FBI official told FoxNews.com that search warrants were being executed in Minnesota, New Jersey and Montana.

Covelli was previously indicted in July for allegedly hacking into PayPal. He was not arrested Thursday, and his next scheduled court appearance in the earlier case is set for November.

Both Doyon and Covelli were charged with conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, which carried a maximum of five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000, causing intentional damage to a protected computer and aiding and abetting, which can carry a sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

Any sentence is subject to federal sentencing guidelines.

Doyon made a brief court appearance Thursday. He next scheduled appearance is Sept. 29.

Anarchists Aren’t Evil

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By Simone Chandler – Metro Santa Cruz – May 5-12, 2010

SOMETHING happened on Saturday night in downtown Santa Cruz. There was a ruckus. There was a dance party. There was also aftermath—broken glass, graffiti on walls, police in riot gear. There were circle-A’s spray-painted on businesses. And even though rebellious teenagers for the past 40 years have scribbled that symbol wherever they felt, it makes it easy for people to believe that all anarchists are evil and responsible for all the destruction and all the fear. And swept into this melee is SubRosa, an anarchist infoshop.It must be their fault. The fact that SubRosa didn’t have anything to do with the event doesn’t seem to matter. That the only link is an arrested person who saw a flier at SubRosa. Of course there was a flier at SubRosa. There were fliers all over town. You can still see them on the telephone poles lining Soquel Drive.

This isn’t the first time anarchists have been blamed for the problems of society. In fact, the history of May Day is tied up in the demonization of anarchists. In 1887, four anarchists were hung in Chicago after being framed for throwing bombs at police during a protest. Three more were to spend six years in prison until pardoned by Gov. Altgeld, who said the trial that convicted them was characterized by “hysteria, packed juries and a biased judge.” The anarchists were a part of a massive strike that began on May 1, 1886, demanding an eight-hour workday.

SubRosa is pretty innocuous, really. It is based on values of self-responsibility, mutual support and free association. Like anarchism itself, it encompasses a wide range of perspectives. The shelves are filled with books espousing a variety of ideas, some in contradiction to each other. The room is filled with a variety of people, young people, old people. The volunteers spend their time and energy working to create a positive and family-friendly space.

Some of the people who frequent SubRosa are homeless. SubRosa is the one place in town where you can sit down without having to pay for anything. You can’t sit on Pacific Avenue, not with all the statues and parking meters and downtown ordinances. Not with all the business owners who don’t want you anywhere near their stores if you aren’t going to buy anything. Not with all the downtown hosts who walk up to you, shake their head and move you along down Pacific. They point you to the block where SubRosa is; the downtown hosts don’t go south of Laurel.

In the atmosphere of downtown Santa Cruz, where there is so much conflict between so many haves and so many have-nots, May Day’s eruption doesn’t seem so out of place. The homeless and other “undesirables” are constantly being forced off Pacific Avenue, and it comes as no surprise that some of them stood up and pushed back against the city that rejected them.

But, really, we don’t know what actually happened on May Day. There were hundreds of people there, but no one can stand up and say, “I was there. I was a part of this.” Because to do that is to throw yourself into the maelstrom of accusation, is to label yourself a criminal even if you never picked up a rock or held a can of spray paint. “Known anarchists” who were safe at home in bed are now having their names posted on the Internet, being accused of planning the whole thing. It doesn’t matter that they were in no way involved, because an accusation is a very powerful, very dangerous thing.

In the atmosphere of downtown Santa Cruz, where there is so much conflict between so many haves and so many have-nots, May Day’s eruption doesn’t seem so out of place. The homeless and other “undesirables” are constantly being forced off Pacific Avenue, and it comes as no surprise that some of them stood up and pushed back against the city that rejected them.

But, really, we don’t know what actually happened on May Day. There were hundreds of people there, but no one can stand up and say, “I was there. I was a part of this.” Because to do that is to throw yourself into the maelstrom of accusation, is to label yourself a criminal even if you never picked up a rock or held a can of spray paint. “Known anarchists” who were safe at home in bed are now having their names posted on the Internet, being accused of planning the whole thing. It doesn’t matter that they were in no way involved, because an accusation is a very powerful, very dangerous thing.

Simone Chandler is a member of the SubRosa collective; subrosaproject.org.

As You See It, May 6, 2010: More thoughts on downtown vandalism

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S.C.Sentinel  05/06/2010

In defense of SubRosa

The antics of a few individuals this past Saturday evening have been rightly denounced by the community as childish and senseless. Their actions are without defense and should not be tolerated.

I am a Santa Cruz native with long-standing friendships with many local merchants including the Williams family. I am also an anarchist and supporter of the SubRosa Cafe and the many public projects and activities developed by its collective members. They are a dedicated group of volunteers committed to opening up new avenues of resistance to power and authority, and to providing a wide range of creative programs for the general public. Their commitment to social justice and defense of equality should be welcomed in any progressive community.

Nick Theodosis, Santa Cruz

Cowardice, not a riot

This was not a riot. And I wish the Sentinel would stop upping the fear stakes by naming it such. Certainly, the destruction was/is reprehensible, but most of the marchers/dancers were just young people out having some fun on a warm night. When the cowards behind masks began to break things, some of the other partiers actually tried to stop them. Maybe we should compliment them and be thankful they had enough sense not to join the so-called anarchists who were trying to start an actual riot. So please stop giving these masked cowards more credit than they deserve. This was not a riot.

Dusty Nelson, Santa Cruz

Editorial fans flames

Your angry editorial about the recent downtown vandalism is fuel on the fires of anger that breed this kind of behavior. I do not defend the actions taken on the street, but the real question is: Was this predictable? Review the city’s list of new laws for the homeless, who should be called The Riven, the way we ignore them, and ask how they might feel. I’m sorry about the recent troubles and pleased we cannot afford the police state that anger always wants.

Charles Huddleston, Soquel

SubRosa a real asset

This is a response to the Sentinel article implying that the SubRosa Cafe was behind the vandalism that took place on May 1. This coffee shop had no part in the vandalism that took place on May 1 and this article is only a way to make a connection where there is none.

SubRosa is a great community space that has enriched Santa Cruz. Because many of the people who run the coffee shop have anarchist ideals is no reason to malign them. Anarchism has a long American tradition and only means being against authority, especially illegitimate authority. Makes a lot of sense to me. Some anarchists believe that violence is a legitimate form of political struggle, especially in self-defense. However, a large percentage of anarchists are pacifists many anarchists spent World War I and World War II in prison for their pacifist ideals, I’m guessing a much larger percentage than the overall population that tends to support our country’s many wars.

Craig Metz, Santa Cruz

Blame won’t help

We are writing on behalf of the Santa Cruz Hub for Sustainable Transportation to make clear our position and feelings regarding Saturday night’s acts of vandalism and property damage. We do not in any way approve or condone these acts. They are harmful not only economically, but socially. We live and work downtown, and value good relations with our neighbors. These riotous acts were childish, macho and seemingly pointless.

We do not appreciate the indiscriminate backlash against radical and alternative organizations. Members of the SubRosa collective, People Power! and The Hub’s landlords who are longtime residents, businessmen and property owners in the county have all received threats of physical violence and harassment online and in person. What a response to senseless violence — threats of more violence directed at innocent parties. Last year, the Hub’s offices were repeatedly burglarized and our windows smashed. We wouldn’t wish such wanton vandalism on anyone else. We struggled not to look out at the street and resent all the people who looked scruffy or different from us. However, responding by blaming doesn’t help the community or the individuals affected to recover — it only spreads the hurt around.

The Board of the Hub for Sustainable Transportation

Note: The Hub for Sustainable Transportation is a nonprofit umbrella with member organizations: the Bike Church, People Power!, Green Ways to School and PedEx. We also rent space to independent projects: The Computer Kitchen, SubRosa and The Fabrica sewing collective.

Thanks for supporting us

It has been touching, reassuring and deeply inspiring to receive such an incredible outpouring of support from the community in response to the destruction incurred on our business on May 1.

Thank you for the flowers and the phone calls; thank you for stopping in to express your sympathy and share your sentiments; thank you to those who have been coming downtown determined to make a purchase at any business that was vandalized. Thank you to the man who walked in, opened up his wallet and extended the single dollar bill inside in order to help fund our window replacement. Thank you to the woman who walked in and offered to write a $50 check to put toward our deductible. Thank you to The Krate’s amazing artists for the mural and donation of paint. Thank you to everyone who supports our downtown in light of recent events, but also consistently over many years. We are here to stay and committed to making our downtown strong, safe and successful.

The Dell Williams Family

Town needs some help

I was watching the movie “Tombstone” the other night and couldn’t help but draw some parallels between that town’s predicament and ours. Since we don’t have Wyatt Earp and his gang to help us though perhaps we could enlist the Hells Angels to help our cash-strapped town. Their presence lately seems to be more noticed than the cops, who should have never let that crowd converge on our town last Saturday.

Rick Popplewell, Scotts Valley

The red flag was there

So the police felt the May Day event on the Pacific Mall did not need monitoring based on the fliers advertising the event? Hello. What part of “Kick it with us for a truly sick night of mayhem” did not raise a red flag? The police need to check a dictionary for the word mayhem, which means random or deliberate violence or damage. To serve and protect? I think not.

Martha Dolciamore, Soquel

Gangs the real problem

While I applaud the hiring of eight new policemen to the city force, I wish the announcement would have come six months ago after a teenager was murdered by gangs, or last month after yet another young man was shot down by gang violence or all year as the number of stabbings have risen. However, the City Council waits until property damage by a group anarchists before deciding to fill vacant police positions and engage the FBI. Is property more valuable than lives? The FBI and Homeland Security should be here to end this violence because gangs are the true terrorists in this community. They have no regard for lives, the larger community and the government. Bring them down. Let’s have a safe place to live.

Sally NeSmith, Santa Cruz

Get rid of the stones

Why do we have 20- to 30-pound stones just lying there in flower beds on Pacific, and then we are surprised when some knucklehead throws them through the plate glass windows 20 feet away? This has bothered me for years. Could someone go to the river for a big rock? Sure. But carrying a 30-pound rock for two to three blocks will tire anyone out and give them time to cool off. Having big windows on one side of the sidewalk, big rocks on the other and the varied crowds of Pacific Avenue in the middle is asking for trouble. Get the rocks out.

William Lewis, Santa Cruz

Has commercial real estate hit bottom in Santa Cruz County?

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by JONDI GUMZ

SC Sentinel 05/03/2010

SANTA CRUZ — The county’s once hot commercial real estate market has cooled considerably, with nearly a million square feet of office space empty at the start of the year and asking rates dropping compared to a year ago.

The market hasn’t hit the 1 million mark since 2004, according to Cassidy Turley BT Commercial, which reviews the data for Santa Cruz County quarterly.

Last week, Wells Fargo closed three bank branches as it completed its acquisition of Wachovia, putting new office space on the market in Capitola, Aptos and Scotts Valley. Sue Lewis, community president at Wells Fargo, said it didn’t make sense to keep them open because all three had bank branches nearby.

Leasing agent Matt Shelton of J.R. Parrish said activity picked up in the first quarter in Scotts Valley, which has the most commercial space in the county.

“We’ve leased more this year than in the last 18 months,” Shelton said.

The deals included: Embarcadero Technology, which leased 20,000 square feet in the Granite Creek Business Center, moving from the former Borland campus; helmet-maker Easton-Bell, which took another 11,000 square feet on Scotts Valley Drive and brought people here from Los Angeles; and Roku Networks, which expanded from 3,000 to 10,000 square feet on El Pueblo Drive.

University of the Pacific economist Jeffrey Michael predicts a slow five-year recovery for the state, with Silicon Valley showing early signs of growth. His forecast says sustained business investment is needed to sustain the recovery against forces such as state and local government cuts, foreclosures and tight credit conditions.

In Scotts Valley, office vacancy had risen to 18.9 percent at the end of 2009 compared to 17.7 percent a year before. Asking rates averaged $1.80 per square foot, down from $1.97.

Industrial vacancies rose to 7.3 percent from 3.3 percent in the same time frame, with the asking rate dropping 11 cents to 85 cents per square foot triple net.

In Mid-County, which includes Capitola, Aptos and Soquel, office vacancies rose from 4.4 percent to 7.9 percent while asking rates dropped 8 cents to $2.12 per square foot. Industrial vacancies grew from 3.5 percent to 4.8 percent, with asking rates falling 15 cents to 86 cents per square foot triple net.

Kohl’s took 11,000 square feet at the Capitola Mall and LED Green Power leased 7,350 square feet on Chanticleer Avenue in Santa Cruz but the Gottschalks space in the mall remains vacant.

Watsonville’s office vacancies rose from 5.4 percent to 8.2 percent; asking rates plummeted from $1.95 per square foot to $1.63. Driscoll Strawberry leased 8,600 square feet at the Westridge Business Park but Cassidy Turley called leasing “anemic.”

The normally stable industrial market eased with vacancies rising from 1 percent to 3.2 percent due in part to a large warehouse listed for sublease; asking rates dropped from 78 cents per square foot to 55 cents.

In the city of Santa Cruz, office vacancies edged up from 14.7 percent to 15.2 percent. Asking rates were $1.88 per square foot, off by just 4 cents.

The industrial market vacancy remained 8.7 percent. Staff of Life purchased the empty 18,000 square foot Pacific Coast car dealership on Soquel for its expansion project, but Cassidy Turley said leasing was sluggish.

Other major developments are on hold, including the Skypark Town Center in Scotts Valley, the Delaware Avenue mixed use project in Santa Cruz, and Sutter’s medical office planned on Chanticleer Avenue in Santa Cruz.

Shelton said a bigger Scotts Valley transaction, for 44,000 square feet, is “an inch away” from getting city approval.

It’s not already in the county and it’s not high-tech, he said, declining to name the firm until the deal is finalized.

“It gets better every day,” Shelton said. “The more people believe they’ve hit bottom, they’re more willing to make a move.”

Michael Schoeder of Cassidy Turley is representing Wells Fargo for the property available in Capitola and Scotts Valley.

The bank is asking $1.4 million for the former Wachovia building comprising 3,886 square feet at 1830 41st Ave. in Capitola near Whole Foods and the Capitola Mall. Already four offers have come in, according to Cassidy Turley managing broker Carol Canaris.

Wells Fargo has 3,420 square feet at 203 Mount Hermon Road in Scotts Valley is available for sublease; the lease expires March 31, 2012.

“If there’s a tenant we’ll take it,” said Jared Bogaard, whose family owns the building.

The vacant bank branch in Aptos was developed by Joe Appenrodt, who was unavailable to comment.

“Since the Aptos Village Plan passed it should become a very desirable space,” said Karen Hibble of the Aptos Chamber of Commerce. “It is a large space and parking is good as are the views from some of the windows. We certainly hope it does not remain vacant too long.”

At least 18 Santa Cruz businesses suffered damage during May Day riot

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by Shanna McCord
SC Sentinel 05/02/2010

SANTA CRUZ — Downtown business owners spent Sunday repairing shattered windows and doors after a May Day rally Saturday night turned into a riot with approximately 250 people marching along Pacific Avenue, some carrying makeshift torches, throwing large rocks and paint bombs, and spray-painting walls with graffiti.

At least 18 businesses suffered damage during the rally in honor of international workers that began at 9 p.m. and escalated into mayhem around 10:30 p.m., police said. Investigators estimated damage at $100,000, though some business owners said it could be more. No injuries were reported.

On Sunday, sea green-colored glass littered sidewalks where windows and glass doors had been smashed. Maintenance workers, many getting called in the middle of the night, boarded up windows with plywood until new sheets of glass could be installed.

The vandalized businesses included Urban Outfitters, Peet’s Coffee, Noah’s Bagels, Jamba Juice, Velvet Underground and Dell Williams Jewelers. The unoccupied Rittenhouse building also was damaged. A police car was vandalized with rocks and paint, department spokesman Zach Friend said.

Roxie Jones, a resident at Palomar Apartments, spent Sunday morning cleaning yellow paint blobs off of her white Pontiac Grand Prix, which was parked on Pacific Avenue during the riot.

Velvet Underground owner Diane Towns said she was sickened by the smashing of a large window at her north Pacific Avenue clothing store, which has been downtown since 1994. Vandals also dragged a mannequin out of the store and tore off the dress and jewelry, she said.

“We’ve been up all night. I’m just devastated,” Towns said Sunday morning. “We’ve had a hard enough time staying open with the economy, now this. It’s going to cost me at least $1,000 to replace the window.”

Kevin Melrose, manager of the Rittenhouse building, estimated it would cost more than $30,000 to replace the three windows and two doors that were smashed in the riot. There was also damage to some artwork being stored inside the vacant building at Pacific Avenue and Church Street, he said.

“This is just stupidity,” Melrose said. “This is a violent protest to me, and it diminishes their cause.”

The only person arrested in connection to the downtown destruction was Jimi Haynes, a 24-year-old transient from Fresno County. Police said Haynes was seen breaking two large display windows at Dell Williams Jewelers, a longtime family-owned local business. He was booked into County Jail on suspicion of felony vandalism and a parole hold.

Police said Haynes told them he learned about the May Day rally from a flier posted at the Santa Cruz anarchist cafe, Sub Rosa, which is at Spruce Street and Pacific Avenue. Several fliers had circulated around town and on the Internet advertising a May Day street party in Santa Cruz.

The fliers didn’t contain names or groups responsible for the event.

“Take back this day. Kick it with us for a truly sick night of mayhem,” a flier said.

Another flier billed the event as a chance to “celebrate, eat, drink, dance and take over,” while another predicted a “massive” street party.

Police said they knew the May Day event was being planned, but felt there was no need to monitor it closely because there was no indication it would turn destructive.

The city event coordinator Kathy Agnone had reached out to the group to encourage them to obtain a permit, but they refused, Friend said.

“There were fliers, but there wasn’t any indication it would be this kind of event,” Friend said. “The fliers we had didn’t give any indication like that.”

Scenes from the downtown riot were caught on video and posted online to YouTube. The short clips show a mass of people marching down Pacific Avenue. Three or four individuals dressed all in black, their faces covered, darted out of the crowd to storefronts, swinging what appeared to be tire irons at windows and in some cases throwing rocks the size of bowling balls.

In some cases, the rocks remained Sunday morning on the sidewalks where they fell.

No police were seen in the video while the destruction was under way. Later, the video showed the street mostly empty as police cars and officers on foot moved through the area.

Friend said there were eight officers on duty in the city, including two downtown, when the 911 call came about 10:30 p.m.

Instead of facing an unruly crowd in which police were outnumbered 20 to 1, Friend said, the officers requested mutual aid from every law enforcement agency in the county, including Watsonville, Capitola, UC Santa Cruz, California Highway Patrol, harbor police and sheriff’s deputies.

“Every available resource responded. Obviously it takes time to get all of the county’s resources assembled,” Friend said. “Once we were there, it was contained in less than 20 minutes and the crowd dispersed and the vandalism stopped.”

Police said they expect to make more arrests. They hope surveillance video taken at various businesses will help them identify those involved.

Councilman Ryan Coonerty, whose family owns a downtown bookstore that was not damaged in the riot, described the vandalism as “childish, asinine, pseudo-revolutionary acts” that take police away from other critical public safety needs such as those connected to gangs.

“The fact is between the gang violence and the acts of violence downtown, we need more police,” Coonerty said Sunday. “We’ve authorized a lot of overtime to deal with the gang problems and that costs a lot of money. We’re going into the red for overtime because we think it’s important to have extra police on duty right now. But going into the red is not sustainable.”

Coonerty said he planned to talk to police today about how city officials can better support the department’s efforts to curtail crime.

Chip, the head of the Downtown Association who goes by only one name, said the business owners he talked to on Sunday were frustrated by Saturday’s “senseless” violence.

“The victims in this are our community, the businesses and families trying to make a go of it,” Chip said. “These are selfish idiots. It doesn’t make sense.”

The owners of Zocolli’s Italian deli on Pacific Avenue received phone calls at home at 1:30 a.m. Sunday alerting them to the uprising. The fact that their business escaped damage didn’t diminish their anger over the vandalism downtown.

“It’s disgusting,” Caitlin Zocolli said. “They’re just making themselves look terrible. It just makes them look like animals. For all they know, we’re all on their side.”

Katy Hope of Newport Beach was shocked to see the destruction while shopping downtown with her daughter Rosie on Sunday.

“This isn’t a protest. This is violence,” Hope said. “This is really wrong.”

Georgeta Cole, a Sacramento resident visiting Santa Cruz for the day with her fiance, said the vandalism was inexcusable.

“It’s irritating that people destroy property to get their point across,” Cole said. “It’s horrible.”

DIY parade participant headed back to court

Posted on by
by J.M. BROWN
SC Sentinel 04/29/2010

SANTA CRUZ — The man who founded the Last Night DIY parade five years ago could face consequences bigger than a $204 fine for participating in the unsanctioned event again last December.

Wesley Modes, 43, of Felton is scheduled to appear in court May 14 to determine whether his participation in the largely impromptu New Year’s Eve parade constituted a violation of a plea agreement he entered with prosecutors to settle unrelated charges stemming from a 2008 row with police at the downtown drum circle.

Modes, who works at the McHenry Library at UC Santa Cruz, says he believes the city is seeking retaliation against him and is using the citation to send a warning to others who might participate in future DIY events. DIY, which stands for do-it-yourself, is based on an anarchist philosophy. Modes and other participants have refused to obtain city permits.

Assistant District Attorney Shannon Wyllie said she hasn’t decided whether to ask a judge to set aside the plea agreement and resentence Modes on battery and obstruction charges involving the drum circle case, which could result in jail time. She said she hasn’t reviewed the complaint filed against Modes by City Attorney John Barisone in February.

“Depending on the quality of the violation, it could violate terms of the existing agreement,” Wyllie said. “If that’s the case, he could be additionally punished.”

Barisone’s report refers to Modes as a “participant” in the Dec. 31 parade, which drew about 100 people, including children, riding on bicycles and homemade floats. Modes and Santa Cruz residents Whitney Wilde and Curtis Reliford were also cited as participants in the 2009 event.

“I’m not singling him out,” Barisone said. “He is the one we’ve had contact with in prior years.”

Wilde said she never received her citation and has called the city attorney to ask for it. Barisone said the citations were issued Feb. 16.

The officer who wrote the citations, Sgt. Michael Harms, explained in a report that he saw Modes, Wilde and Reliford at the parade but couldn’t identify anyone else when reviewing video footage shot by police that night.

Harms said Modes had been quoted in the Sentinel days before discussing the parade and posted a comment on the event’s website afterward saying the event was “bigger and better than ever.” The posting also said it was his “recurring dream to have a big celebration after the parade for the rest of the night at our town center at Cooper and Pacific,” according to the police report.

Modes said he didn’t organize the this year’s event and doesn’t believe simply participating should land him in hot water with prosecutors.

“They are singling me out although they have no evidence I organized it this time,” Modes said. “It’s hard to imagine that it’s not connected to the drum circle case that was recently settled.”

In September 2008, Modes and another man were involved in a confrontation with police officers who were investigating the drum circle, where there have been numerous complaints of drug dealing and loud music. In December 2009, just weeks before the parade, Modes entered guilty pleas to charges of obstruction and battering a police officer.

That hasn’t been his only dust-up with police. In 2006, he exposed the fact that undercover police had attended planning meetings for the parade under fake names. An internal investigation cleared police of wrongdoing, but council members and other citizens raised questions about police tactics.

Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin said city officials have since tried to work with Modes and others to figure out how to do the parade legally, including negotiating a cheaper or even free permit.

“They’ve been on warning every year,” Rotkin said. “The issue is we’ve asked people to apply for permits. It’s not a huge expense.”

Modes said he has not sought a permit for the parade in years past because the whole point of the event is to be free of government constraints.

“It’s the administration versus the people,” Modes said. “The administration feels like they’re losing control. But the people are like, These are our streets to control.'”

The DIY parade does not represent the first time people have been ticketed for non-permitted parades in Santa Cruz. Bicycle advocate Micah Posner was fined $110 for organizing a bike parade after he and more than 100 other cyclists flooded King Street in November 2008 to show their support for proposed bicycle improvements.

GOLDEN GATE PARK SWEEP – CAN CITY MAKE IT STICK? / HOMELESS ROUSTED: 4:30 a.m. wakeup for the park campers

Posted on by
Heather Knight
SF Chronicle, August 2, 2007

For 19-year-old Brandon Krigbaum, who goes by the name Repo Violence, the wake-up call came at 4:30 a.m.

Police officers and homeless outreach workers rousted him and his friends from their sleeping bags Wednesday morning in an encampment on Chicken Hill, near Golden Gate Park’s popular tennis courts.

Similar awakenings happened throughout the park, as well as Buena Vista Park, Corona Heights and other outdoor expanses as Mayor Gavin Newsom‘s pledge to clear the city’s parks of homeless encampments once and for all continued to take shape.

Teams of police officers and city outreach workers took Krigbaum and 58 other bleary-eyed homeless people in vans to a huge, off-white canvas tent set up for one morning in Sharon Meadows. An additional 25 homeless people came to the tent on their own – perhaps drawn by the coffee, bagels, orange wedges and blueberries provided by the city.

The tent was erected eight days after The Chronicle reported that the park was riddled with homeless encampments and hypodermic needles – despite Newsom’s well-publicized efforts to clear the parks of encampments last fall.

Inside the tent, workers sat at rows of desks with signs reading “Housing Information,” “Shelter Reservations” and “County Benefits” and met one-on-one with homeless people. After eight hours’ work, 44 people accepted the offer of a roof over their heads, and 40 turned it down.

“That’s actually very good on the first swing,” said Dr. Rajesh Parekh, who runs the city’s Homeless Outreach Team.

But the question on the minds of families who use the park and the homeless people themselves was whether the outreach efforts would be permanent or whether, as in past efforts, city officials would eventually move on to something else.

“The mayor, because it’s an election year, they’re calling him out on his claim of fixing Golden Gate Park,” said Krigbaum, one of those who rejected the offer of a shelter bed. “They think they’re moving everybody out of the park, but they’re just moving them downtown for a while, and then they’ll be back.”

Parents of children playing at the newly redesigned playground just yards away also were doubtful the park would ever be cleared of homeless encampments. Over the sounds of organ music coming from the carousel, Chris Pratt, a 33-year-old father of two daughters, said he was skeptical Newsom would make a permanent change.

“I know he’s tried before, but I think it’s a long battle,” said the Sunset District resident. He added that the one-day tent probably wouldn’t do much. “To me, this is just a Band-Aid. They’re just looking for some good press.”

Ruth Ekhaus, a mother from the Outer Sunset, said it’s still worth trying again.

“It’s San Francisco – people have been talking about this for so many years,” she said. “These people need services, and they shouldn’t be living in the park – for their own safety and health and for the safety and health of people who live near the park and use it.”

Trent Rhorer, director of the San Francisco Human Services Agency, said that unlike last fall’s 90-day push, the new effort will last for at least the duration of the fiscal budget.

The new budget contains $2.8 million for the park, including seven outreach workers, who will work full-time trying to get homeless people living in the park and surrounding neighborhoods into housing. The Department of Recreation and Parks also has more gardeners and custodians, many of whom will concentrate on the park.

“I don’t know that there’s every going to be a time when we say, ‘We’re done with our work,’ ” Rhorer said. “The park has long been a destination for homeless individuals, as has the Haight, so it requires an ongoing presence in perpetuity.”

Rhorer said the city – which schedules Project Homeless Connect in the Civic Center every other month – might start bringing the tent and its services to the park on a quarterly basis.

There’s a rule on the books that nobody but joggers and drivers can use Golden Gate Park between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., but it hasn’t been enforced. Newsom is considering closing all city parks from midnight to 6 a.m.

“A mother told me that nothing good ever happens after midnight, and I think she was on to something. And it’s suggestive. Why do you keep the park open after midnight?” Newsom said Wednesday.

Newsom said he has turned to staffers for feedback on the issue of closing the park but has not yet made up his mind on whether he wants to go through with it.

“We’re going to do it the right way,” he said. “I’m not going to go in with a bulldozer. I’m not going to go in and knock people out.”

Newsom also is considering raising all park violations to misdemeanors; now, some of them are infractions and are usually thrown out in traffic court. On Wednesday, some homeless people were issued citations for camping before being taken to the tent.

Twenty-three people were placed in shelters Wednesday, and 17 were placed in transitional housing, which is rent-free and is intended to last for a few months until permanent housing can be arranged.

Four people were driven to the Transbay Terminal and given free bus tickets home through the city’s Homeward Bound program – to mothers in San Luis Obispo and Athens, Ga., a daughter in Santa Fe and an uncle in Phoenix.

Brian Austin, 29, said he’d been living in the park for 11 years and was finally ready to move on.

“I’m just physically drained – it’s time to get my life back together,” he said.

Malcom Pearman, a 55-year-old military veteran with a yellow jacket reading “Honk to Stop the War,” also got a spot at a shelter.

“I think it’s wonderful,” he said of the effort to clear the park. “It’s the best thing I’ve heard yet.”

A 25-year-old named Josh, who wouldn’t disclose his last name, also found success at the tent. He and his dog, Rosco, were moved into transitional housing. The Homeless Outreach Team last year started working with building managers to get dogs accepted into some SRO hotels.

Krigbaum sat for hours outside the tent, chatting with friends and eating breakfast. The Sacramento native has been camping on the park off and on since first arriving in the city a year ago.

“I really enjoy myself – hanging out, being free, saying in the morning, ‘I can do whatever I want,’ ” he said.

He panhandles in the Haight and plays the guitar and harmonica at Pier 39. His dyed orange mohawk and multiple piercings make him a popular photograph subject for tourists, who often give him a few dollars in return.

He refused to stay in a shelter because he thinks they’re too dangerous. He said he’d consider moving into transitional housing at some point. But as for his accommodations in the short term?

“I’ll probably sleep in the park,” he said.