Category Archives: Mainstream Media

Surfer, carpenter father makes first Santa Cruz City Council bid: Jake Fusari wants to create more jobs

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by J.M. BROWN
Santa Cruz Sentinel 07/17/2012

SANTA CRUZ — At 28, surfer and carpenter Jake Fusari is hoping what he lacks in political experience he can make up with a fresh perspective that looks out for young families like his.

Fusari, a third-generation Santa Cruzan, hopes his focus on job creation, tourism promotion, public safety and cleaning up the beaches will resonate with residents in their late 20s, 30s and early 40s. The first-time City Council candidate wants to raise tax revenue to better equip police for fighting gang violence, prostitution and aggressive panhandling downtown and in the beach area.

“What we are lacking is common ground between people who want to grow and environmentalists and developers to find solutions where we can grow a little bit,” Fusari said. “We need to generate more revenue for the city to afford the things we need for cleaning up our streets.”

The Westside resident’s message mirrors that of a trio of candidates — Hilary Bryant, Lynn Robinson and David Terrazas — who won seats in 2010. Those council members are in their 40s or 50s, and each had some civic service under their belt before running for council.

But Fusari only sees his youth as an advantage.

“I want to encourage other people of my demographic to become more involved in politics and in the community,” he said. “It’s our time, and it is our responsibility as natives to say, ‘We are going to put a better foot forward. We have to get out there and make a difference.’”

Fusari was disappointed by the state Coastal Commission’s denial in November of the plans for a full-scale hotel at the site of the crumbling historic seaside La Bahia. He hopes another plan is developed by the property owners, saying too many regulations on development keep new business at bay and strangle job creation that keeps youth and others out of trouble.

“I view the system failing all of us as the problem,” he said.

Fusari, a Santa Cruz High graduate who has surfed for 20 years, wants to help clean up Cowell Beach, a legendary surfing spot plagued by pollution. As for another critical environmental issue, he is cautious about a proposed desalination plant likely to be voted on by the council in the next two years, saying its potential marine impacts and high-energy and financial costs should make it a last resort for water supply.

Fusari works as a carpenter for his father’s Fusari’s Construction and George Bros. Construction, whose owner supports Fusari’s designs on bettering the economy and making Santa Cruz more affordable.

“What does Santa Cruz have to offer a young family?” Matt George said. “How is he supposed to thrive if there is not a focus on helping to create opportunities and a livable wage?”

Fusari and his wife, the former Keshia Caviglia, whose family owns the new Louie’s Cajun Kitchen and Bourbon Bar that replaced Clouds downtown, have a 19-month-old son.

Four seats are up for grabs in the Nov. 6 contest. The nomination period opened Monday and closes Aug. 10.

Other candidates are Take Back Santa Cruz board member Pamela Comstock, Mayor Don Lane, former mayor Cynthia Mathews, county Democratic Party chair Richelle Noroyan, nonprofit director Cece Pinheiro, volunteer Steve Pleich and bicycling advocate Micah Posner.

PETA pans S.F. plan on panhandlers, pups

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Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross
SF Chronicle, July 15, 2012

Animal rights activists are offering San Francisco $10,000 to halt its plan to pay panhandlers to take care of unwanted pups, saying the city’s idea is tantamount to playing “Russian roulette” with the pets.

In a sharply worded letter to Mayor Ed Lee, PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – called the paid-pet partner idea “a disastrous plan that will come back to haunt the city.”

Former San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, now the mayor’s homelessness chief, recently announced the pilot program – dubbed Wonderful Opportunities for Occupants and Fidos, or WOOF – to have panhandlers living in city-funded supportive housing give up begging. In exchange, they would get $50- to $75-a-week stipends to become foster parents for puppies that might otherwise be euthanized at the city’s animal shelter.

“Ultimately we want to see people live purposeful and full lives, and this is a step in the right direction,” Dufty said.

Teresa Chagrin, a rep for PETA’s cruelty investigations department in Norfolk, Va., called the plan “slapdash” and “ill-conceived.”

“Most former panhandlers are financially destitute because of struggles with substance abuse and mental-health issues,” Chagrin wrote to the mayor. “Placing any animal with them is risky at best, (and) it should be out of the question to play Russian roulette with these animals, allowing them to be used as lures or pawns.”

Rather than have San Francisco risk the dogs’ injury or even death by handing them to “troubled people,” Chagrin said, “PETA is willing to put up $10,000” – equal to the private grant being used to launch the effort – if the city will instead institute a program for the down-and-outers that is “100 percent animal-free.”

From the looks of things, however, PETA is barking up the wrong tree.

Dufty says the city is committed to the two-month pilot, which is scheduled to start early next month, using five dogs and 10 caregivers who have gone through screening.

If it works as he expects, says Dufty, he’ll have proved “it’s great to give both dogs and people a second chance.”

Judged: That convicted car burglar who blew his probation by walking out of Judge Lillian Sing‘s neighborhood court last month in San Francisco and breaking into her car has been slapped with the maximum three-year jail sentence.

Under state sentencing guidelines, Phillip Bernard, 32, will actually serve only eight months, according to prosecutor Omid Talai.

After Bernard pleaded guilty Friday in Superior Court, visiting Santa Clara County Judge Leslie Nichols revoked his probation from a previous car burglary and handed down the new sentence.

Besides the jail term, Bernard – who is homeless – was ordered to pay $250 in restitution for smashing Sing’s car window.

After he was arrested, Bernard allegedly told officers, “I will keep breaking into cars and houses. I will keep doing it and doing it and doing it.”

Not for a while at least.

Hybrid vote: Ranked-choice voting takes another turn at the table Tuesday when San Francisco supervisors decide what changes, if any, they want to put before voters this fall.

The only race under consideration is the mayoral sweepstakes.

Supervisor Mark Farrell is proposing a straight-up September primary, followed by a November runoff.

Board President David Chiu is countering with a hybrid of a ranked-choice primary that would whittle the field down to two – followed by a runoff.

Port play: With the threat of a recall behind her, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan is making her move on the city’s Port Commission – bouncing one of the members whose threatened removal had prompted African American activists to start one of the recall efforts.

On Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to replace commission member Margaret Gordon with health care executive Bryan Parker. Gordon’s backers were among those who failed to get a Quan recall on the ballot.

At the same meeting, Quan will also ask that businessman Ces Butner replace Port Commission President Pamela Calloway.

As for the politics: “What you have is two African American men replacing two African American women,” said council President Larry Reid.

And finally: After a contentious meeting with San Francisco officials, Graffeo Coffee owner Luciano Repetto pretty well summed up the reaction of fellow merchants to that plan to tear up a North Beach intersection for a temporary drilling shaft as part of the construction of the Central Subway to Chinatown:

“North Beach gets the shaft – and Chinatown gets the benefits.”

Former schools trustee, CTV executive to make City Council bid: Cece Pinheiro joins fray in Santa Cruz’s November contest

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by J.M. BROWN
Santa Cruz Sentinel 07/14/2012

SANTA CRUZ – After seven years directing a nonprofit for special education families, former school board member Cece Pinheiro is taking a second shot at elected office.

Pinheiro, 54, who remains politically well-connected after leaving the board and a leadership post at Community TV, will be a candidate in November’s City Council election. Having moved back to Santa Cruz in May after a number of years living in Live Oak, Pinheiro announced her candidacy at the Dike March on June’s Gay Pride weekend.

“I have been waiting all these years for a lesbian to run, and nobody has stepped up,” she said. “We live in this little bubble of Santa Cruz. We have gay rights, but people are still being discriminated against.”

Born and raised in Santa Cruz, she became enthralled with politics during an American government class at Santa Cruz High. She hoped to run for office someday, getting her chance in 2002 when she campaigned successfully for a seat on the board of Santa Cruz City Schools, where she worked for 15 years and served as union president for classified workers.

She was part of a majority of trustees who voted to close two elementary schools to cut costs – a decision that roiled the community.

“It certainly felt it was the right thing to do at the time,” she said of the 2005 decision. “In hindsight, could we have done it differently? Maybe. Would we have been able to maintain staffing?”

She said she was worried at the time about aides and other lower-paid workers losing hours.

“Any special ed teacher will tell you, ‘You can’t run a classroom without an aide,'” she said.

Pinheiro resigned her seat a year before her term was up to take the helm of the Special Parents Information Network, a nonprofit that provides support for parents of children with special needs. Previously, she worked as assistant director for Community TV and served on that organization’s board.

“She’s very approachable and accessible. I think those are important qualities for anyone serving on the council,” said the station’s former executive director, Geoffrey Dunn. “Cece can relate to a very broad spectrum of Santa Cruzans, regardless of their political perspective. She puts people over politics.”

On the council, Pinheiro said she would focus on the local economy, drawing on the university’s high-tech influence to bring more visitors and business. She’d like professors to do continuing education units at the Tannery Arts Center or Museum of Art and History.

The nomination period for council candidates opens Monday. There are four seats up for grabs in the Nov. 6 contest.

Other candidates who have filed a statement of intent are Take Back Santa Cruz board member Pamela Comstock, resident Jake Fusari, Mayor Don Lane, former mayor Cynthia Mathews, county Democratic Party chair Richelle Noroyan, volunteer Steve Pleich and bicycling advocate Micah Posner.

Volunteer makes second bid for Santa Cruz City Council: Steve Pleich opposed to desal, wants more affordable housing

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by J.M. BROWN
Santa Cruz Sentinel 07/13/2012

SANTA CRUZ – Steve Pleich will be hard to miss as he and other City Council candidates line up for November’s race.

At 6 feet 5 inches tall with a shock of platinum blond hair, Pleich wears Hawaiian shirts and is a fixture at community events. And he’d like to move from his usual seat in the third row of the Council Chamber to the dais.

The 53-year-old part-time grant writer and avid volunteer is making a second effort to join the council. In 2010, he placed second to last in a field of eight, didn’t raise much money and had no real campaign structure.

This time around, Pleich said he’s more prepared, actively fundraising so he can buy yard signs and seeking endorsements of his main message – to make government and all the services it provides more accessible. A member of Occupy Santa Cruz and a longtime advocate for the homeless, Pleich believes the city needs to be more responsive to the community.

“Our City Council has not moved quickly enough nor strongly enough toward supporting the creation of affordable housing and the creation of more jobs here,” Pleich said.

Rather than invest $3.5 million in a new stadium for the Golden State Warriors Development League team, Pleich said he would rather see the city refurbish the Pogonip clubhouse or tackle other long-standing projects.

The next council likely will vote on a proposed desalination plant. As a supporter of Santa Cruz Desal Alternatives, Pleich is opposed to the facility, saying he believes conservation and other measures could make the costly supply-boosting project unnecessary.

Pleich volunteers with Save Our Shores and helps with the annual Community Thanksgiving dinner. He worked with other community members last year to raise money and interest in reopening the big pool at Harvey West Park, which the city did in June on a temporary basis.

Pleich, who grew up in the East Bay and came to Santa Cruz in 1999, lives in an RV that he sometimes parks at the Circle Church on the Westside, an arrangement he made with the church a couple months ago. Pleich said he moved there from Live Oak expressly to qualify for the council contest, but he also works with the church and several others on a homeless shelter program.

Pastor Steve DeFields-Gambrel said the church often allows people to stay in the church lot for varying lengths of time. Any more than three parties would violate the city’s camping ban, and he said Pleich is rarely there during the day anyway because he is often on the go.

“We work out an understanding with each individual person,” he said.

City Clerk Bren Lehr said, according to the county elections division, Pleich qualifies to be a candidate because he registered to vote using the church address. Records show he changed his registration from Live Oak in May.

Pleich is one of eight candidates who have filed statements of intent to run in the Nov. 6 contest for four seats on the seven-member council. The nomination period opens Monday.

Other candidates are Take Back Santa Cruz board member Pamela Comstock, resident Jake Fusari, Mayor Don Lane, former mayor Cynthia Mathews, Democratic Party chair Richelle Noroyan, nonprofit leader Cece Pinheiro and bicycling advocate Micah Posner.

Local Democratic Party leader launches bid for council: Richelle Noroyan to seek office for first time

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by J.M. BROWN
Santa Cruz Sentinel 07/09/2012

SANTA CRUZ – A longtime fixture in the background of local politics, Richelle Noroyan is ready to test her own electability.

The Santa Cruz native, who this month will leave her post as chair of the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party, has said she will be a candidate for City Council in November.

“I love the town I grew up in and brag about it all the time,” Noroyan said. “Being part of making decisions and making the community better are very exciting to me.”

The nomination period for the Nov. 6 council race opens July 16.

Noroyan, 43, the granddaughter of Armenian immigrants whose parents ran a convenience store and the former Hugo’s Armenian Restaurant on Mission Street, is a member of the city’s Transportation and Public Works Commission. She served five years as district director for former Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, D-Los Altos, before becoming a marketing consultant for a small web-based firm.

Noroyan’s top priority as a council member would be spurring job growth that keeps workers in Santa Cruz rather than Silicon Valley. The Santa Cruz High graduate said she supported the La Bahia Hotel project for its construction and tourism jobs, and would support new high-tech industry here built around the gaming department at UC Santa Cruz and other ventures.

“I saw a lot of friends I went to school with, kids from blue-collar homes, not be able to stay in Santa Cruz,” she said. “We need to make an effort to bring jobs that allow people of all income levels to stay in town.”

Outgoing Councilman Ryan Coonerty, a former two-time mayor, said he believes Noroyan has the experience and pragmatism to serve on the council, including helping to deal with take-aways from Sacramento.

“She and her husband have tried to find jobs in this community, and that really informs her experience when trying to vote on projects,” Coonerty said. “Certainly her work with the Legislature and her other relationships will be helpful as the city continues to be victimized by the state of California. She also has experience in and appreciation for the private sector.”

Noroyan, who wanted to be a music teacher growing up, said she developed an interest in government early on. She realized as a music student that schools took a funding hit when Prop. 13 passed in 1978.

“We always had to do fundraisers,” she said. “That made me angry because we are doing something good for the community.”

She also understood the abuses of government, having listened to stories of relatives who survived the Armenian Genocide during World War I.

“It made them conscious about human rights,” she said of how her parents raised her. “It made me socially conscious and aware.”

After graduating from Fresno State University, now known as CSU Fresno, Noroyan worked for the state Democratic Party as a campus outreach coordinator and field representative and was the project manager for the Tobacco Education Clearinghouse of California.

Noroyan also has held posts at UCSC, Apple and Caldera Systems.

Two new candidates joined the frey Monday for the four seats up for grabs in the Nov. 6 contest. Take Back Santa Cruz board member Pamela Comstock and resident Jake Fusari filed statements of intent with the city clerk Monday.

Those who have already filed are Mayor Don Lane, former mayor Cynthia Mathews, nonprofit leader Cece Pinheiro, homeless services advocate Steve Pleich and bicycling advocate Micah Posner.

Santa Cruz mayor wants another four years on council; Don Lane seeks first back-to-back term

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by J.M. BROWN
Santa Cruz Sentinel 07/07/2012

SANTA CRUZ – The first time Don Lane was elected to the City Council, he opted out of running for a second term.

Exhausted by the rebuilding work, recession and political climate after the 1989 earthquake, he needed a break.

It proved to be a long break.

After a four-year return to the council in 2008, the city’s current mayor, 56, has decided now is the right time to seek back-to-back terms.

“I think the fact that I’m running again is, in part, a refection that this has gone better this time for me and I feel like I do have and will continue to have good energy” to serve the community, Lane said.

Lane, the administrator for the Santa Cruz-based Appleton Foundation that awards grants to nonprofits, wants to focus on rebuilding the local economy and continuing to confront homelessness. He and four other candidates have filed statements of intent to run in the Nov. 6 contest, and the official nomination period begins July 16.

Karl Heiman, co-founder of Think Local First and owner of downtown’s Caffe Pergolesi, said he has appreciated Lane’s support of small businesses, including March’s passage of a local preference for contractors bidding on city projects exceeding $10,000.

“I really like to see council members running that are pro-business and pro-improving the economy,” said Heiman, who serves on the city’s Downtown Commission. “(Lane) has got the experience and background.”

Lane, who worked on recent plans to bring the Golden State Warriors’ Development League team to Santa Cruz, wants to further develop that facility to create greater community use. He also wants to work with developers to build Marriott, Fairfield and Hyatt Place hotel projects approved by the council but stymied by economic conditions.

Lane has also been a vocal proponent of the city’s efforts to study desalination as a preferred source of new water supply. Lane said he isn’t sure he will be a champion for the project if re-elected – a council decision could come in 2013 or 2014 after an environmental analysis is vetted – but wants residents to have as much information as possible before voting on the facility.

When Lane took the mayor’s seat in December, he said ending homelessness would be his top aim, which some critics saw as drawing attention away from public safety and economic initiatives. Then, in May, authorities say a parolee released from a state mental health facility who came to stay at the Homeless Services Center fatally stabbed a downtown shop owner.

Lane said that incident shouldn’t derail efforts to find permanent housing for the homeless, saying the killing was the result of holes in the state parole system, not homelessness. Lane said one motivation for wanting to see the local economy improve is to continue providing a safety net of social services.

“But that is not what is going to transform homelessness,” he said. “It’s not so much about city contributions, but hundreds of people in the community saying, ‘We are going to work on this problem in a more constructive way.'”

Lane, who grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Santa Cruz in 1973, graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in politics. His wife Mary works as an electronics technician in UCSC’s chemistry department.

He owned the Saturn Cafe for 15 years, selling it in 1994. He also worked at the Homeless Services Center for 2 1/2 years, departing in 2008, but has served on the center’s board for 20 years.

Lane was elected first in 1988, a year before the Loma Prieta quake devastated much of downtown. He left the council in 1992, the first year he served as mayor, but later served on the city’s general plan and housing advisory committees.

Lane once again won a seat on the council in November 2008, and will serve the remainder of this year as mayor.

Other residents who intend to run in the Nov. 6 contest are former mayor Cynthia Mathews, Transportation and Public Works Commissioner Richelle Noroyan, Special Parents Information Network executive director Cece Pinheiro, bicycling advocate Micah Posner and 2010 candidate Steve Pleich.

Trial date set in case of Santa Cruz Peace Camp protester Linda Ellen Lemaster

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ROMAIN FONSEGRIVES

Santa Cruz Sentinel:   07/06/2012

SANTA CRUZ – A trial date of Oct. 15 was set Friday for Linda Ellen Lemaster, a community activist involved in a controversial homeless protest in 2010 on the steps of Santa Cruz County Superior Court and City Hall.

Lemaster, a homeless activist and projects facilitator for the Santa Cruz group Housing Now!, is charged with illegal lodging for her participation in the demonstration. The protest, called “Operation Peace Camp 2010,” gathered activists opposing parts Santa Cruz’s camping ban.

The occupation comprised a group of more than 50 people who slept and held signs on the courthouse steps. It lasted three months, before deputies began warning, ticketing and arresting protesters under a criminal misdemeanor law for unlawful lodging.

Lemaster appeared in court with friends Friday. Her attorney Jonathan Gettleman said he filed a writ of habeas corpus with the 6th District Court of Appeals in San Jose. The 53-page writ requests the court to hear and dismiss Lemaster’s case, linking it to the protection of freedom of speech under the First Amendment.

“This matter is very serious as far as we’re concerned,” Gettleman said. “This case could really injure people’s ability to engage in protests.”

Gettleman said the illegal lodging law was misused to put an end to the protest and violated the constitutional right of people to assemble peacefully and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Gettleman said he not only hopes to clear Lemaster, but also to make the illegal lodging law unconstitutional. The federal court should decide whether to hear the case in the next few months, before the beginning of the Santa Cruz trial in October.

In a previous case related to the protest, two other activists, Ed Frey and Gary Johnson, were sentenced to six months in County Jail last October.

 

comments

In response to a critic who wrote:

“People could protest from dawn to dusk every day till they die and never run afoul of this law.”
  • Linda Ellen Lemaster·

    “this law”? If you mean the california pc 647(e), illegal lodging, for which I was cited, youa re mistaken – it does not distinguish between daytime and nighttime. This is one of the many reasons which I believe calls for better accountability by the County (Sheriff’s dept and beyond). because “Lodging” (illegal or otherwiise), as spelled out in California’s laws, does NOT mean “sleeping”. What does it mean? Depends on what “legal authority” one asks. Personally, I may agree that a daytime venue could have worked out better for everyone than a 24/7 demo? Or not: after all we were trying to demonstrate how DIFFERENTLY the displaced homeless population must live, in part due to our dated laws.That demonstration had a time it was daytime only, and a time it was 24/7, reflecting different leadership. But there were problems with each. Problems that warrant selecting out political scapegoats? Or was that an accident? Or just acceptable collatoral damage in our Country’s Reign of Terror against displaced homeless people? Maybe, if we are lucky, the courts can do some actual good, here?

  • Becky Johnson·

    Look at you. You’ve already given up your RIGHT to protest between dusk and dawn. Way to surrender your 1st amendment rights which exist 24/7 despite your surrender. Also: you are WRONG. Lodging is enforced 24 hours a day, so they can still arrest you if they continue to use this overbroad and undefined “crime”.

In response to another critic who wrote:

“Santa Cruz Peace Camp – that’s rich. Site of muggings, arrests, assaults, drunkedness, littering, vandalism, and thefts. BumFest by any other name.”
  • Linda Ellen Lemaster

    Doug, I did not mug you, arrest you, assault you, get you drunk, leave litter in your path (quite the opposite), vandalize anything you or anyone else brought there — nor did I vandalize the cement or grass, not even a chalk or soot mark by me — and I did not steal during PeaceCamp2010. And I am not a bum. There were a LOT of differing people there throughout PeaceCamp2010. It wasn’t over-run with such as you describe until after the City and County razed the riverbank greenery and displaced fifty MORE homeless people. I agree if you’re saying the demonstration was unpopular, I understand if you’re saying it was an aesthetic disappointment. But I’m not sure that’s your point. I thought “bumfest” was specifically about exploiting homeless folks by getting them to fight and betting on them like roosters, except it’s illegal with roosters? Maybe we just have different meanings for “rich”? I can deal with facing my consequences for this alleged crime, but are you saying I should be responsible for the behavior of other people, of people you, yourself, are NOT responsible for?


  • Becky Johnson·

    Yet not a single littering ticket was issued in over 3 months of the protest. I doubt you can say the same about the beach in front of the Boardwalk!

Cynthia Mathews to run for fifth term: Three-time former mayor wants to keep working on economy, water supply

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by J.M. Brown
Santa Cruz Sentinel 07/06/2012

SANTA CRUZ – Just two years after leaving the City Council due to term limits, three-time former mayor Cynthia Mathews eyes a return.

Mathews, 69, intends to run for a fifth term in the Nov. 6 contest, when she will compete against the current mayor and a cast of first-time candidates.

The nomination period officially opens July 16, but Mathews, Mayor Don Lane are several other candidates have already filed statements of intent with the city clerk.

Even after serving 16 years on the council, Mathews said she wants to run again because “there is an array of issues I feel strongly about and feel I have some experience that can be helpful.”

Indeed, there are few initiatives in Santa Cruz during the last three decades that don’t bear Mathews’ mark.

A member of the Vision Santa Cruz group that laid the groundwork for downtown recovery after the 1989 earthquake, Mathews also helped plan the city’s bicentennial, new Police Department and Tannery Arts Center. She was a key figure in developing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center set to open at the end of July and has been involved in preserving the historic Cowell Lime Works at UC Santa Cruz.

After serving a combined 15 years on the Planning Commission and zoning board, Mathews joined the council in 1992 and won re-election in 1996. She served as mayor in 1997 before term limits forced her off in 2000.

After sitting out two years, she was elected again in 2002 and served as mayor in 2006, when she was re-elected at the top of the ballot. She served as mayor in 2009 before leaving the council again in 2010.

During the next four years, Mathews said she wants to continue focusing on the local economy, public safety and the city’s water supply.

In her last term, Mathews presided over the economic twists and turns that shaved millions off the city budget, leading to layoffs and reduced funding for Parks and Recreation. She said the council has been “moving in a good direction” in recent years with its renewed determination to improve the business climate.

“There has been a good working dynamic and it has reflected a change in the community and city’s historic values,” she said.

Bill Tysseling, executive director of the Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce, said the business community is happy about Mathews’ candidacy.

“She has been a supporter of downtown development and business,” Tysseling said. “She also has a strong background in infrastructure, and probably knows as much about transportation and water as anybody else in town.”

This past year, Mathews and former Mayor Mike Rotkin have been at the forefront of the debate over a proposed desalination plant. They formed the Sustainable Water Coalition to advocate the city’s continued pursuit of the project, which opponents decry as environmentally damaging and financially wasteful.

Mathews said she isn’t concerned about how her outspokenness on desalination may affect her campaign.

“My record is deep and diverse enough that people will just have to judge me on my whole record,” she said.

Mathews has been anything but disengaged in her two years off the council.

She serves as chair of the oversight board for the city’s former redevelopment agency, and sits on the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Advisory Council and Museum of Art and History’s board.

Before getting into politics, Mathews helped to found Planned Parenthood in Santa Cruz in the mid-1960s and worked there for several decades. She and husband Bill Mathews, an astrophysicist who retired from UC Santa Cruz, have two children and two grandchildren.

Other residents who intend to run are Transportation and Public Works Commissioner Richelle Noroyan, Special Parents Information Network executive director Cece Pinheiro, bicycling advocate Micah Posner and 2010 candidate Steve Pleich.

Motion to disqualify judge denied in Santa Cruz bank takeover case

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By Jessica M. Pasko
Santa Cruz Sentinel, 07/05/2012

SANTA CRUZ – A judge has denied a prosecutor’s motion for a new judge in the case of the takeover of a former Wells Fargo bank last year.

Assistant District Attorney Rebekah Young had sought to disqualify Judge Paul Burdick from presiding over the cases of the five defendants whose preliminary hearings have not yet taken place. Burdick previously dismissed the charges against six of the 11 people initially charged in connection with the nearly-three-day occupation of 75 River St., a vacant former bank in downtown Santa Cruz.

Defense attorneys for Gabriella Ripleyphipps, Becky Johnson, Robert Norse, Brent Adams and Desiree Foster had objected to the motion to disqualify Burdick, calling it “untimely.”

Burdick sided with the defense and will remain the presiding judge for the preliminary hearing, which is set for Aug. 20. All five face felony counts of conspiracy and vandalism, as well as misdemeanor trespassing.

Those charges were dismissed earlier this year against Bradley Allen, Alex Darocy, Edward Rector, Grant Wilson, Franklin Alcantara and Cameron Laurendeau. Young later re-filed the charges against Laurendeau and Alcantara, and their new preliminary hearing will be heard by Judge Ariadne Symons later this month.

A group declaring themselves to be “acting anonymously and autonomously but in solidarity with Occupy Santa Cruz” took over the building late last year with the announced intentions of turning it into a community center in protest of the banks’ role in the national economic downfall. Amid numerous police negotiations, the group left the building peacefully after close to 72 hours.

Homeowner protection bills go to governor

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Pete Carey

San Jose Mercury News, July 3, 2012

Two bills to protect all California homeowners from arbitrary foreclosures and loan fraud are headed to Gov. Jerry Brown following their passage Monday in the Assembly and Senate.

The bills — part of Attorney General Kamala Harris’ Homeowner Bill of Rights — would make California the first state to extend to all homeowners the provisions of a national mortgage settlement with five big lenders.

“We really got it right this time,” said Assemblyman Mike Eng, D-Alhambra, who helped pilot the bills through the Assembly. “It means more Californians will stay in their homes, and the California economy will be better for that.”

The vote passing the bills was 53-25 in the Assembly and 25-13 in the Senate.

The measures address one of the most vexing problems faced by struggling homeowners seeking to remain in their homes — sudden foreclosure while they are working with a lender on a loan modification. The legislation also tackles a common complaint from homeowners, who say they are shuttled from one bank officer to the next in a confusing process that requires the repeated submissions of documents.

The foreclosure crisis continues to roil the state. More than 600,000 homeowners are either not making their mortgage payments or are facing foreclosure, according to ForeclosureRadar. Banks currently own 75,000 foreclosed homes.

If signed by Brown, the Foreclosure Reduction Act and the Due Process Rights Act will require lenders and

servicers to:

–Decide on a loan modification application before beginning to foreclose on a home. This would end “dual tracking,” in which one department in a bank works on a loan modification while another initiates a foreclosure.

–Establish a “single point of contact” at a bank for borrowers who might be eligible for a loan modification. The point of contact would have to be knowledgeable about the borrower’s loan and personal circumstances.

The bills also give borrowers the right to sue before being foreclosed, and to recover damages following a sale, a provision the banking industry felt was too broad.

In addition, the legislation also imposes a $7,500 civil penalty per loan when the lender has filed unverified documents — a practice known as “robo-signing.”

“Passing these key elements of the Homeowner Bill of Rights represents a significant step forward for struggling homeowners,” Harris said in a statement. “These common-sense reforms will require banks to treat California homeowners more fairly and bring more transparency and accountability to their practices in our state. Responsible homeowners will have a better shot to keep their homes.”

The measures would have helped Jose and Maria Carrillo of San Jose. Their three-bedroom home was sold at auction Jan. 10 after a two-year struggle to modify their mortgage with Bank of America. Maria’s sister, Ana Nunez, helped with the modification and said that it involved a long, frustrating process of submitting and resubmitting documents.

During that time a default notice was filed and the house was scheduled for sale. “We were told not to worry,” Nunez said. “But my sister and husband were at home Jan. 10 in the evening when two gentlemen showed up to tell them they had three days to move out of the house.” The men had purchased the home at auction that day.

Nunez said she called the bank officer who was dealing with their modification. “The lady who answered the phone was very apologetic.”

The Carrillos’ story has a happy ending, but many such stories don’t. The Fair Housing Law Project of San Jose took their case and persuaded the bank it had made a mistake. The foreclosure was canceled and the couple’s loan modified.

“It never should have gotten to this point,” said James Zahradka, one of the lawyers who handled the Carrillos’ case. “This wouldn’t have happened” if the Foreclosure Reduction Act bill had been law last year, said Zahradka, who is also a board member of the California Reinvestment Coalition.

Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, who co-chaired a joint conference committee on the bills with Eng, said she expects the governor to sign the legislation. “We did work very closely with the governor’s advisers in crafting the final compromise,” she said.

The measures were passed despite opposition from the banking and mortgage industry, which fears that the Due Process Rights Act — giving borrowers the right to sue their lenders — will spur lawsuits and raise the cost of making loans.

More than half a dozen banking and financial industry groups in California fought the bills. The groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, said the measures are “overly complicated” and are likely to “encourage frivolous litigation.”

“Numerous studies have shown that when you lengthen litigation and lengthen the foreclosure process there’s no tangible benefit to borrowers,” said Dustin Hobbs, spokesman for the California Mortgage Bankers Association. “It significantly delays the recovery of the real estate market.”

But proponents said the bills merely level the playing field for all California homeowners.

“It’s one rare measure of accountability brought to banks,” said Kevin Stein of the California Reinvestment Coalition. The bills lay out what they are supposed to do. We hope they are going to follow the law, but if they don’t, consumers will be able to enforce their rights.”

The intent is to reduce wrongful foreclosures, but not all foreclosures, said Paul Leonard of the Center for Responsible Lending.

“There are 700,000 Californians who are today in some stage of delinquency or in foreclosure,” Leonard said. “There’s a large number of folks who could benefit from the protections that are included in the bill.”

Unlike the national settlement, which expires in three years, these laws are permanent, except for some provisions that sunset in 2018. The laws would go into effect Jan. 1.