Ecology Action has put together a new program for the month of May, and anyone who rides to work five times next month will have a shot at a $7,500 prize.
Bike riders will have to download the third-party app Strava to track their rides. Cyclists who ride on Bike-to-Work Day, Thursday, May 9, will get an additional entry—plus a shot at winning a new e-bike. Bike-to-Work Day will have breakfast sites all the way from Watsonville to Scotts Valley. Visit ecoact.org/biketowork for more information.
Watsonville is also gearing up for an Open Streets event Sunday, June 2, when organizers will close off downtown blocks in celebration of cyclists and pedestrians. Last year, after a scary rash of pedestrian deaths, the city of Watsonville became the first city in the county to sign onto Vision Zero, a campaign to eliminate traffic fatalities, while increasing healthy and safe transportation options for everyone.
SUER SYSTEM
Activism and the court system have a lot in common.
They both incentivize players to throw as much as they can against the wall to see what sticks.
The basis of local homeless activists’ suit against the city of Santa Cruz—over chatter about closing down the Gateway homeless encampment behind the Ross department store—is simple enough. The city doesn’t have enough shelter beds, so there aren’t enough places for the homeless to go, the complaint alleges. (As of press time, the city was conducting a camp clean-up, while the council weighed the possibility of closing the camp permanently, amid a potentially delicate legal situation.)
But the suit pulls in a surprisingly long list of defendants, including city administrators Tina Shull and Susie O’Hara, who’ve both been taking direction from the City Council under the guidance of City Manager Martín Bernal, and appear to be working crazy-long hours as the electeds switch course on homelessness every two weeks.
The suit additionally names the public safety group Take Back Santa Cruz, arguing that the group is tied to SCPD Chief Andy Mills, and because the collective is allegedly spreading “anti-homeless hate.”
We’re not here to defend xenophobic remarks in online forums, but let’s be honest: Some of this legal junk is a lot like Robert Norse’s eloquent bi-weekly rambling during public comment at City Hall—it sounds interesting, it wastes time, and it means absolutely nothing.
So, the Trust Fund-SSI Axis of showboating, bad behavior enabling homeless “activists” has an enemies list! Reminds me of the old Aleister Crowley line, “These slay, naming your enemies; & they shall fall before you.” It’s magic! If you nay-say, you’re a Fascist! Very convenient.