Plus Letters To the Editor
A wise man once said: “There’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.” Oh wait, that was Terminator 2. Whatever. The point is, we often get so caught up in trying to deal with our most immediate issues in this community that we fail to look at the bigger picture. What issues will we be facing in 20 years? How can we prepare for them now?
Those are the questions that Aric Sleeper takes a look at in this week’s cover story. The county has just released a draft of its Economic Vitality Strategy, which tries to lay the groundwork for innovative solutions to the housing, traffic and other infrastructure problems that have plagued Santa Cruz County for years. Cynics may scoff that this is all pie-in-the-sky stuff—and that, as Sleeper documents, many of these same issues were raised 20 years ago, in a previous plan that never came to fruition—but county supervisors say this time they are ready to fight for real change. Let’s hope so.
Also this week, we welcome back the two anchors of the summer theater season in these parts: Santa Cruz Shakespeare (formerly Shakespeare Santa Cruz) and Cabrillo Stage. Play on!
Steve Palopoli | Editor-in-Chief
BONUS LAUGH
I read with great interest DNA’s piece “The Comedy Renaissance.” Unfortunately, there was a gaping hole—one of the most dynamic and influential comics was omitted. Good Times would well serve the readers to do an entire article on Karin Babbit. Her talent and experience greatly informed the local comedy scene, and continues to infuse it with sparkles and crackles of joy.
RENÉE GABRIEL | SCOTTS VALLEY
A LIFE THAT NEVER ENDS
It is always a great conversation when I run into Sven Davis. This morning was no exception—once neighbors on 12th Avenue, the greatest neighborhood in town, we launched into stories about what we are doing currently, and I asked if he was working on another article for the paper, as I had read the editor’s introduction on page four [June 11].
Sven asked if I had read the article, and I said yes, although I actually had not, and that feeling that you lied hit me in a delayed reaction. Only ten minutes before he arrived, I was shaken to tears when I heard that my friend and longtime server at the Silver Spur and Linda’s Seabreeze was deathly ill, and would not be recovering.
Had I actually read the article, which I did as soon as I got home, I would have liked to discuss more of what was published—the mystery of life, and (if you believe in it) death, and so many other things associated with taking care of business before you pass to the “spiritual side.”
The last two times I spoke at a remembrance/funeral, I took a passage from my favorite book, “Home With God in a Life that Never Ends.” The title sort of says it all.
Hope you understand Sven, and add this book by Neale Donald Walsh to your library.
SS RUDZINSKI | PRESIDENT, SANTA CRUZ FLY FISHERMEN
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I’LL TAKE A DOG’S LIFE Paris and Sadie cruise on Center Avenue in Seacliff on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Photograph by Sydney Mackey.
BUILDING BIGGER SMILES
Dientes, a nonprofit offering dental care to low-income families, has broken ground on its new pediatric wing, and recently started putting up framing
for the new room. Staffers say the seven-chair expansion will enable the group to accommodate an extra 8,800 visits a year at its dental care hub on Commercial Way near Toys-R-Us.
FARM TO VASE
The Monterey Bay Greenhouse Growers Open House last weekend sent a message we can use year-round: buy local flowers. The farm-to-vase movement is gaining ground because just-picked flowers last much longer, short transport distances are easier on the environment and jobs are created here at home. Where to buy? Sniff out the local flower section that Staff of Life added this spring.
When life gives you lessons, make lessonade.”
—— THE REV. PADRES BULLPEN
