Plus Letters To the Editor
I’ve been editing Santa Cruz Restaurant Week issues long enough to know I can’t do it on an empty stomach. First, there are the thousands upon thousands of words to pore over describing the dishes that local restaurants are going to serve. That’s not all we cover in our complete guide to Santa Cruz’s biggest dining event, which runs from Oct. 14 to 21—I always get to know the creative minds behind the food better through our chef profiles, and come away with other interesting tidbits like, in this issue, all of the local farms that Gabriella Café sources from. But the point is I spent this week reading about how the blackened bistro steak at Hindquarter is marinated in tequila, lime and cilantro, and the schweinshaxe at Tyrolean Inn is braised for six hours, and the jackfruit for the curry at Pearl of the Ocean is imported from Sri Lanka—and I’m hungry. Then the photos come in. Don’t get me started on the photos. Just let Restaurant Week start already. That’s all I ask!
Once you’ve read what participating restaurants have to offer in this issue, doing some Restaurant Week dining yourself is easy. There are no tickets or passes, just a fixed-price, three-course menu for $25 or $35 at each dining spot (remember, that doesn’t include tax or tip). Each menu includes three options for appetizer, entrée and dessert. See you there.
One last note: I had the wrong dates for the GLOW Festival in my editor’s note last week, for which I apologize. So if anyone wandered into the MAH looking for fire too early, that’s completely on me. I just want to remind everyone that the festival’s Digital Night is from 7-10 p.m on Friday, Oct. 16. at the MAH, and the Fire Night is from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17. Go to santacruzmah.org for tickets.
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Missing Link
That was a very well-written article by Roseann Hernandez on the Pope’s visit and his pronouncements about the environment (GT, 9/30). She captured the important issues and wove in historical facts from previous popes, to make it a very informative and readable article. She is a very good writer!
I think that myself and others might notice that the important issues facing our planet highlighted in the article were climate change, deforestation, overfishing, loss of biodiversity, lack of clean and sustainable water sources, exploitation of delicate ecosystems, pollution of the marine environment, and destruction of the coral reefs. Did he overlook overpopulation? Would the Catholic Church want to do more than list important issues and maybe take a courageous, historic and game-changing stand on birth control, which is an underlying factor in all of the pressing environmental issues we face today?
Sam Earnshaw, Watsonville
Tax the Pope
When the Catholic Church actively and aggressively attempts to influence state legislators, as it did with the Right to Die legislation, then it has clearly crossed the line of separation of church and state. The Catholic Church has certainly forfeited its right to nonprofit tax status, and the California legislature should begin the process of taxing the church.
Jay Dravich, Santa Cruz
Bern-ing Up
Occupy Wall Street stormed ashore, establishing a beachhead for folks like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama, who, with us running interference, are gaining yardage for the 99 percent. Elections come and go as part of movements, but movements come and stay! Movements slip in between the cracks, permeating the culture and changing things in often surprising ways. Are you feeling the Bern yet?
Trump bloviates “Make America great again!” But his Republican tax cuts for the very rich and their trickle-down economics are what brought America down when it was great, when the income gap narrowed as the rich paid much higher taxes and still got richer, college was affordable, mortgages reasonable, social security and Medicare arrived, and our now-crumbling infrastructure was built. That’s the socialism that Bernie Sanders talks about, not today’s socialism for the rich. Sounds downright American to me.
Tom Louagie, Felton
Letters Policy
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CRIMSON TIDE Red sails just beyond the Santa Cruz Harbor. Photograph by Kasia Palermo.
PATIENCE PAYS
Just nine months ago, California State Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) helped introduce the End of Life Option Act, which supporters ultimately tabled in June out of fear that it wouldn’t pass an important House committee. Gov. Jerry Brown has now signed into law a nearly identical version of that bill, which Monning co-authored. California Assemblymembers Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley) and Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville) helped introduce the new version.
CREEK TO ME
The new Farm Neighborhood Park on Soquel Drive and Cunnison Lane has stream and riparian habitats, community gardens, a rain-harvesting system, and pedestrian trails, thanks to grant funding. As funds become available, the park—which got placed on hold when local governments lost redevelopment money in 2011—might soon include a farm-style house, horseshoe pit, interpretive signs, bocce ball, a basketball court, and a pedestrian
bridge over Soquel Creek.
