EDITOR’S NOTE
When the news broke last fall (via GT) that Nina Simon was going to be leaving the Museum of Art and History, it was one of the biggest stories of the year. That fact in itself says something about Simon’s tenure at MAH—there are not a lot of cities where the changing of the guard at the local museum would even be a newsworthy item, let alone the talk of the town.
But since she took over that position eight years ago, Simon has attracted lots of attention, and not just here. She brought big ideas about the future and purpose of museums that were debated on a national level. The idea that Santa Cruz would ever be a focus of that discussion would have been dismissed as crazy before Simon got here.
Since Geoffrey Dunn did a story at the beginning of Simon’s MAH tenure about her goals for the museum, it seems a fitting bookend that he would write her GT “exit interview,” if you will. As his story explains, she’s moving on to try to bring the same ideas she implemented at MAH to the museum world at large, so I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of her in these pages.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Read the latest letters to the editor here.
Focus of Study
The Good Times’ Nuz (GT, 5/29) suggests that because parking consultant Patrick Siegman was laid off from his job at NelsonNygaard, we might discount his credibility: “Let’s maybe lay off trying to oversell his policy-wonk cred.” Siegman has worked on parking studies for cities including Berkeley, Chico, Glendale, Hayward, Hercules, Napa, Oakland, Oceanside, Oxnard, Palo Alto, Pasadena, Petaluma, San Francisco, Union City, Ventura and Watsonville.
Siegman studied Downtown Santa Cruz parking while at NelsonNygaard. His study concludes that future parking demand will remain flat, in spite of new development Downtown. Hence no new garage is necessary. Discounting Siegman’s conclusions could lead to a costly mistake. A presentation to the City Council by UCSC Professor and parking expert Adam Millard Ball also explains how pricing parking to create desired levels of availability for visitors Downtown can resolve spot-shortages.
Rick Longinotti
Santa Cruz
Slow Their Roll
As many us have seen over the last few years the accidents and delayed traffic have only gotten worse on curvy Highway 17. Over the hill, speeders still don’t care in the rain or a sunny day as they go over 70 mph on this very dangerous winding road that needed to be replaced many years ago. One crazy driver can cause a big pile up with all the cars behind him. This winter has seen the worse of delayed and stopped traffic on the devil’s highway. The tow trucks and ambulance drivers are called daily to pick up the mess. It’s time for the CHP and the state of California to lower the speed limit to 35 mph rain or shine on 17, with speed radar cameras put in. You never see many police out these days—only when they are called when a tragic event happens. The summer beach crowd won’t like it, but I think this slow down and ticket fines will keep the disasters that happen every day, especially in wet weather, to a low level.
Terry Monohan
Felton
Re: Scotts Valley Development
The issue is that SV wants a town center, a downtown if you will. Current plan was basically an apartment complex with very very little retail … about half the size of a typical Safeway. I think many in SV are fine with building … the issue is the design
— Mark
Re: Scotts Valley Development
The NIMBY imbeciles strike again. At least Santa Cruz and the University are finally addressing the issue and approving more housing to be built. Nimby clowns here are finally giving up and are getting drowned by the Yimby crowd because their arguments against housing are asinine and only serve to stifle housing from being built. Expect a lot more younger individuals to be coming out in droves in support of these housing initiatives.
— Jago Gonzalez
Re: KSCO Hosts
Glad Georgia is finally gone. She not only regularly engaged in race-baiting and hate speech, she spread misinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccines (which is dangerous to public health) and lied about documented crimes of gun violence (claiming they were “false flags”). The last time I heard her and her buddy Sam mention a shooting that had just happened that day, while details were still coming out about the crime, Sam was opining it was a false flag because of the timing—he was saying obviously the Democrats were talking about this story to distract the public from whatever serious business Trump was working on, that’s why he was suspicious. Shame on them both, and good riddance.
— Alexia Worsham
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
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GOOD IDEA
The Calvary Episcopal Church is continuing its community forum series with an upcoming discussion about immigration. On Saturday, June 8, from 2-4 p.m., the downtown church’s Calvary Parish Hall forum will aim to increase understanding about complex international issues. At “Immigration Policies and Community Action for Safety and Healing: Santa Cruz and Beyond,” presenters will include Oakes College Provost Regina Langhout and UCSC instructor Leslie Lopez. The event is free and open to the public.
GOOD WORK
Over the past year, Community Bridges became the first local public transport agency to use electric vehicles. It also successfully advocated for increased Medi-Cal reimbursement for Elderday services and developed a Childcare Safety Plan for families of mixed immigration status. June 5 is California Nonprofits Day, and Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) will celebrate by welcoming Community Bridges CEO Ray Cancino to Sacramento to honor the work of the Watsonville-based group.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums.”
-Steven Wright
