EDITOR’S NOTE
Sometimes I feel like we’re reaching into little pocket dimensions of Santa Cruz for our cover stories. There are so many fascinating people and stories that exist on the fringe of our shared experience, just outside of what we encounter moving through our routines. DNA’s cover story this week is full of them. Probably quite a few people remember the “Neighbor From Hell” story that came out of Aptos in 2009. But how many people knew that a woman at the center of that story, Lara Love Hardin, had turned her life around to the point that she just signed a deal for a TV comedy series based on her memoir? How many locals even know about the Santa Cruz publishing house Idea Architects, which publishes work by esteemed figures such as the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, that helped her pull herself up, eventually hiring her to ghostwrite bestsellers? It’s a pretty amazing story, and I’m happy that we could bring Hardin’s parallel universe into alignment with the rest of Santa Cruz this week to bring it to you.
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Read the latest letters to the editor here.
ONLINE COMMENTS
RE: DROUGHT
[“Great Wet Hope”] mentions residential gallons per person per day water usage, and how low it is, but fails to broach what I’d have to guess is the real culprit with regards to the dire straights of our water reserves: commercial drains, especially the tourist industry’s constantly expanding number hotel beds, and watering holes. What are the facts of that situation please? Do the city’s residents have any recourse?
— John Koster
Read the latest letters to the editor here.
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GOOD IDEA
FUTURE SHINE
Finally, an incentive to go to the dentist: Dientes Community Dental Care and Santa Cruz Ventures will be giving up to $200 to childrens’ college saving accounts just for visiting the dentist. Children born after Dec. 31, 2020 are eligible for the funds.
The money will be added to the child’s Semillitas college saving account. The Semillitas saving account accumulates money throughout the years through partner donations, with the goal of reaching at least $500 before your child goes off to college.
Learn more at www.semillitas.org.
GOOD WORK
WOULD YOU RATHER
Directors Paulina Moreno and Paz Padilla from Community Action Board are being recognized for their contributions to Pajaro Valley residents throughout the pandemic.
Moreno oversaw disaster relief assistance for immigrants, while Padilla helped tenants apply for rent relief. In total, they helped distribute economic relief to almost 5,000 people. Both were awarded the Rather Award, which recognizes individuals doing incredible work in the Pajaro Valley community.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.”
-Maya Angelou
