NEWS & COMMENTARY Politics of Transience 50¢ Page 1 VOL. 2, NO 9 SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA JULY 12TH, 2002 A Local Weekly Newspaper for an Engaged Populace Un Semanrio Local para un Pueblo Activo y Comprometido The last school bell rings, Suena la campana de salida and you decide to join some de la escuela y decides acom- friends who are walking to Casa Bienestar pañar a algunos amigos que a nearby youth center. You By/Por HALIE JOHNSON se encaminan a un centro imagine a large room with fl u- Translated By/Traducido Por ARMANDO ALCARAZ jouvenil cercano. Te imaginas orescent lights and too many The Alarm! Newspaper Collective / Collectivo del Periódico ¡La Alarma! un cuarto grande con luces rules. You and your friends fl uorecentes y con demasíadas walk up to a building with The Center solidifi es the El Centro solidifi ca la reglas. Tú y tus amigos llegan teens playing basketball in the relación existente entre a un edifi cio donde hay adol- parking lot. When you see a relationship between three ecentes jugando baloncesto en sign in front that reads “Casa organizations that provide tres organizaciones que el estacionamiento. Cuando Bienestar”(House of Wellbe- provéen servicios similares ves el letrero de enfrente que ing), you realize one would similar services in Watsonville dice “Casa Bienestar,” te das be in for something different en Watsonville. cuenta que esto puede ser than what you expected muy distinto a cualquier cosa Inside the building, more que te hubieras imaginado. people your age are playing Dentro del edifi cio hay otros pool, and you recognize your de tu edad jugando billar, y favorite radio station in the reconoces a tu estación de ra- background. You overhear dio favorita tocando música en someone explaining safe con- el fondo. Alcanzas a escuchar dom use to a group of teens. a alguien que explica a un gru- A woman with a warm smile po de adolecentes sobre el uso takes a break from help- seguro del condón. Una mujer ing someone else with her con una sonrisa cálida deja de homework to welcome you ayudar a alguien mas con su and offer you some chips and tarea para darte la bienvenida salsa. ofreciendote chips y salsa. When Casa Bienestar, “An Cuando la Casa Bienestar, HIV Prevention, Harm Reduc- “Un Centro de Recursos para tion and Community Health Prevención del VIH, Re- Resource Center,” opened its ducción de Daño, y Salud doors in December 2000, it Comunitaria,” abrió sus Go see BIENESTAR on Page 4 Vea BIENESTAR en la Página 5 HALIE JOHNSON/The Alarm! Newspaper Inside Local / Regional Transience in Santa Cruz Transience in Santa Cruz: Part 2—Local Politics............1 Last week, I examined the role of transience in the local economy of Santa Cruz. In this installment of “Transience in Santa Cruz,” I’ll be drawing attention to the political apparatus that both encourages, and is determined by, that tran- Casa Bienestar.................................................................1 sience. Readers may remember from the last installment that I conceive of transience not primarily as the homeless and HIV Surveillance...............................................................4 the transient poor, but as tourists and students. Part 2—The Politics of Transience of the Monterey Bay. Apparently, the State Lands Editorial Commission found the evidence compelling enough By FHAR MIESS Letter from an Editor.........................................................2 to offer to back up the City if it were to take the case The Alarm! Newspaper Collective to court. Deadly Illusions ................................................................2 In the late 1920’s, as Ku Klux Klan chapters The City Council ceded eighty percent of the land Your Letters ......................................................................3 grew around Santa Cruz, Fred Swanton, Santa Cruz to the Seaside Company in October of 1998 rather Mayor, industrialist and town booster, lead cara- than suing for the entire property. But a few months vans promoting the area’s tourist attractions, most later, a new council—populated by councilmembers Commentary of which he had built himself (or, more accurately, such as Kristopher Krohn and Ed Porter who had paid others to build for him). been elected partly on their pledge to advocate for Pacific Agoraphobia..........................................................6 In 1933, during the last year of Swanton’s fi ve- the return of the land to the City—reversed the Thirty Years after ‘Deliverance’.........................................9 year mayoral term, he transferred title on a few acres decision. Unfortunately, according to Beach Flats Youth: I am Automation Man .......................................... 11 of public land at the current location of the Board- resident Phil Baer, the weight of the tourism in- walk parking lot and some dustry giant leaned hard of its rides from the City upon the professional to the Santa Cruz Seaside LOCAL ANALYSIS city staff (City Manager Company. The Seaside Richard Wilson and City International Company has owned and operated the Boardwalk Attorney John Barisone) who advise the council. Jungle Geopolitics ............................................................9 since Swanton himself bankrupted the operation in The city staff in turn leaned on the City Council. 1915. “My observation is that the City Council rarely, if Santa Cruz politics has changed a lot since then. ever, does anything other than what the staff sug- Certainly, one would hope that a KKK rally would gests and advises that they do,” he says. not last long here these days. Metro Santa Cruz reported on July 4, 2001 that Columns But, in other ways, the old guard is still very the council held private negotiations that summer much in power. According to maps from the 1850s, with the Seaside Company. Despite vigilant protests the land that Swanton sold to the Seaside Company from activists and claims of violations of the Brown Eye on the INS .................................................................8 was below the “mean high tide” level, in what are Act, which mandates open access to public meetings, called “tidelands”, properties owned by the State the council eventually dropped the case. of California and held in trust by the City of Santa Tourist transience is big money in Santa Cruz. Other Cruz. According to the State Constitution, those Former Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin estimates Community Calendar......................................................10 tidelands should never have been transferred to any that between one-third and two-thirds of Santa Cruz private party. tax revenues come from the tourism industry. The Comics by Keith Knight ..................................................12 In 1998, activists challenged the City Council City Admission Tax, which comes primarily from the Wholly Cross-Words.......................................................14 to fi le suit against the Seaside Company to reclaim tourism industry and the Boardwalk in particular, Classifieds ......................................................................15 the land and restore the tidelands to natural habitat accounts for about $1.5 million of city tax revenues for Coho and Steelhead. The San Lorenzo Estuary, annually. The City also levies a Transient Occupancy Rack Locations...............................................................16 which was largely fi lled in after the construction of Tax (TOT) on hotel patrons, which accounts for over the river levee, is deemed essential for the ability of Go see TRANSIENCE on Page 7 the fi sh to survive upon entering the briny waters 2 The Alarm! Newspaper July 12th, 2002 Letter from an Editor Do we live in a world of exceptions? Last week when Donovan Jackson he was immediately compared to Rod- the police and their activities, some and his father were pulled over for ney King. When Worldcom was found cops will act cavalier. When people Volume II, No. 9 expired tags on their vehicle neither to be cooking their books, they were invest their money and hope for the expected to fi nd themselves in the in the same company as Enron. When best, never checking up on their in- Through the use of strategic investigation and innovative analysis, we aspire to provide quality national headlines. Had it not been for this woman in San Jose was convicted vestments, corporations will give the reporting on the news of Santa Cruz County as a the impulse of an amateur cameraman there were not immediate compari- bosses raises and infl ate their actual means to inspire and engage individuals and the they wouldn’t have. sons, and the response was simply a earnings reports. When the general community at large. We strive to cover news that What was captured on camera stern sigh. These are presented to us, public allows for people to say and act matters directly in peoples’ lives. We are not inter- ested strictly in local news, but wish to connect the shocked viewers: a 16-year-old being the public, as isolated situations, as ex- as they wish towards anyone who is local to regional, national and global issues. fl ung onto a police car and then bru- ceptions to our average expectations. “not a true American,” we become a The Alarm! Newspaper is distributed locally tally assaulted by an offi cer. According But are they? xenophobic society. through coin-operated newspaper racks and can to reports, the footage comes after the The fact of the matter is police We have to awaken our senses and also be found at select vendors. Our print run for this issue is 5,000 copies. Home delivery and bulk of the Inglewood incident had aggression is a constant reality; corpo- sensibilities. We need to recognize our postal subscriptions are also available (see back occured. Of course, there has been an rations constantly fudge their books or role as members of a community, and page for rates and instructions for subscribing). outcry, as citizens of Inglewood and act in ways that are less than ethical; become accountable to one another. others demand the immediate termi- and hate crimes are occurring every- Let corporate America pretend to be The Alarm! Newspaper nation of the offi cer in question.