.Letters & Online Comments

Letters to the Editor

TIRE NOT

Thanks for the story on 6PPD-Quinone in the 7-13 June issue.

If you take a ride on AMTRAK you’ll see hundreds of tires standing sentinel-like out of the mud in Suisun Bay. Removing those might be a good first step.

When I worked for the County of Santa Cruz I rolled many a-tire out of the mighty San Lorenzo River. I suggested several times that we marshall the volunteer clean-up crews to attach lines to the many tires you can find in the river channel and haul them up via winch from the bridges along the river.

They always ignored me. They also ignored my suggestion to put solar panels on the roofs and parking lots of County properties.  That’s finally happened so maybe they’ll start hauling the tires out, too. 

Abrasion from sand/silt in the runoff exposing fresh tire surfaces could account for higher 6PPD numbers after rains when dilution is otherwise expected.

Coho salmon sensitivity to part per *trillion* levels of 6-PPD is astonishing.

— Pureheart Steinbruner

FATHER JACOB

I thought it might be important to let you know that a very humble man will be retiring, and he has certainly done a lot for Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas. He is a member of the AFC Santa Cruz and his name is Father Joseph Jacob. He has done so much good in this community with so many successes and I just thought it should be noted in your paper, if possible. It would be a wonderful thing because he’s touched a lot of people’s lives for the better and made a big difference with the homeless. He runs the safe spaces program and has put it on the highest caliber of integrity. He is a very interesting man and he’s climbed a lot of hills and fought a good fight in his humble and meek ways. Thank you for your time.

— Sandra Miller

LONG LIST

I saw your Editor’s Note yesterday where you ask the community to tell you, Good Times’ new editor, what we think is important for GT to cover. That’s probably an enormous list since this county, while small, has so many different regions and neighborhoods, each with their own sets of stories. Thanks for asking this and for not assuming that “the community” or “Santa Cruz” just means the city itself.

Some of us here in North County notice that GT has started to pay more well-deserved attention to South County. I think the coverage you guys gave to the horrible Pajaro floods was thorough, accurate and nuanced. I hope you will also start paying more attention, at least occasionally, to North County, especially its northern end in the San Lorenzo Valley (SLV). That’s what most of Santa Cruz seems to think is the Far Outer Reaches of the known world, the part including Ben Lomond, Brookdale, and Boulder Creek, where I live.

Many people in the city think things are “getting back to normal,” at least after Covid. But we here are not back to normal after anything else—not even close. Not after the August 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire, not after the horrific storms earlier this year, not after ongoing problems with a local tiny water company. Lots of people have given up in despair and moved away over one or more of these disasters.

But we’re not just about problems. The people who remain are survivors and more—we’re problem solvers. I noticed this when I moved here 23 years ago: when problems happen that affect the community, groups spring up like mushrooms, sui generis, to tackle whatever it is. When individuals need help, other individuals offer it. A lot of that has happened here since the fire, which many, many people, especially in Boulder Creek, are still suffering the effects of. Much of it has to do with rebuilding efforts, and some of it has to do with water.

If you search  “Boulder Creek” on the GT site, you won’t come up with much. Most recently, your writer Josué Monroy did a story on the crazy-complex situation involving a local water company. Because of a history of problems it keeps not solving, Big Basin Water Company, which has “only” about 500 customers, is now under the scrutiny of the State Water Resources Control Board and the California Public Utilities Commission. Several of us BBWC customers talked with Josué, trying to explain and help clarify this ridiculously complicated mess. We were pleasantly surprised at how carefully he listened, the relevant questions he asked, and the fact that he got everything right in the article.

Anyway, that was a great start. I hope you guys do more. Talk to us. We’re ready for you.

Thanks for listening,

— Ann Thryft

Online Comments

So, Wow! Looks like things blew up at Good Times. What happened to all the Marijuana ads? I was beginning to think it was the MJ Weekly. I can actually breathe fresh air as I read real articles which harken back to the Old Times. However, I sympathize that your bottom line may be a little smoky at this point. J-Students at Cabrillo could do some investigative reporting (or not). The backstory would be extremely interesting! Please tell all.

— Mary Comfort