Life on the Central Coast, October 2007 edition
So the Cold Water Classic came and went. I don't understand the hierarchy of surfing contests, but I think it's an important one. The nice fellow likes to walk by and watch the contests, but I do not find this more interesting than watching waves. Maybe a bit less. Most of the time what you're seeing is what you see everyday -- a bunch of guys in wetsuits sitting on their surfboards on a glassy sea, waiting for a wave.
So far the city of Santa Cruz is doing well-ish in its battles against the University of California Regents and the State of California. The University has been told in court that it does in fact have to produce a realistic Environmental Impact Report for new construction, and that the city has a say in the University's water use and traffic planning. The Regents are not happy: they say this is a dangerous precedent and that the University must have autonomy in all these matters. The fight is, of course,not over.
Meanwhile, the counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz have succeeded in stalling the aerial spraying program for the light brown apple moth. The light brown apple moth is a relatively new invader and lives on a number of economically important trees besides apples. There's a serious question as to whether it constitutes a threat at all, and beyond that there are questions as to whether aerial spraying is effective or safe. The latest court maneuver had to do with the ccontents of the spray. The state's contention is that the spray consists of a moth-specific pheremone that simply interferes with the moth's sex life. The questions that have been raised are: 1)does this pheremone interfere with the reproductive cycle of other, benign, insects as well? 2)what effects does it have on other organisms that are not insects? 3) --and this is the biggie -- what else is in the spray (called "Checkmate")?
The manufacturer of the spray has refused to make its ingredients public because of "trade secrets." A couple of local newspapers got hold of the ingredients and published them. A judge has just ruled that Suterra doesn't have the right to stop them from listing the ingredients because Suterra didn't go through the proper steps to prove that it would be injurious to them for this publishing to go on.
The counter proposal from locals is to put pheremone-soaked twisty ties in all the vineyards and orchards. A G Kawamura, the Secretary of Agriculture, says that's too time consuming and expensive. Also: the big threat is that the feds may step in to do something or other. Since the state is already battling the federal government on other grounds (marijuana, SCHIP . . .)I guess this is supposed to be scary. But the federal Agriculture department is up to its eyeballs anyway, I don't know what it could do.
The Sentinel, the local newspaper, has finally dismantled its printing press and sold it for scrap. The paper has been being printed in San Jose for quite a while. Its editorial offices have mostly been moved to Scotts Valley, leaving the big Sentinel building downtown mostly empty. I understand getting rid of the legacy printing technology, but I don't understand moving the editorial offices away from the center of county politics (Santa Cruz City Hall is on the same corner as the Sentinel Building, the Police Station four blocks away, and the County Building half a mile away). But the largest amount of non-advertising material in the paper appears to be filler material from elsewhere in the parent chain's network, anyway, which becomes really embarrassing on Thursdays when the garden and home-maintenance articles come out, cheerfully proclaiming that it's time to get ready for snow! and giving completely useless -- to the point of destructive -- advice.
We've had some real rain, but as usual, the water experts are preparing us for a dry winter. I think if we have a dry winter this year, we'll probably be up for real rationing next year (not, probably, tight rationing, compared to current usage).
So now, to the quirky: some folks are wrangling over the bills due on a pirate ship. Actually, it looks like an ordinary -- though huge at 75 feet -- yacht, painted black and adorned with piratey things like jolly rogers and stuff. There's a tangle of stories about whose yacht and whose purpose and whether it was supposed to be in Costa Rica or Santa Cruz and you know what? these guys are annoying, all of them. The original guy apparently sold four one-third pieces of the venture . . .
Oh, and tomorrow and Saturday night the Del Mar Theater is having zombie movies in their Midnight showings. The extra is the "Zombie Walk" down the avenue, which is to start at 10 pm because it might take two hours for the zombies to get to the theater. The midnight shows have their own myspace, currently featuring the song "What the Fuck Was That?" from Evil Dead the Musical.
Okay, that's it. Surfing, water, agriculture, economics, piracy, and zombies. I'd say that's pretty emblematic.
So far the city of Santa Cruz is doing well-ish in its battles against the University of California Regents and the State of California. The University has been told in court that it does in fact have to produce a realistic Environmental Impact Report for new construction, and that the city has a say in the University's water use and traffic planning. The Regents are not happy: they say this is a dangerous precedent and that the University must have autonomy in all these matters. The fight is, of course,not over.
Meanwhile, the counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz have succeeded in stalling the aerial spraying program for the light brown apple moth. The light brown apple moth is a relatively new invader and lives on a number of economically important trees besides apples. There's a serious question as to whether it constitutes a threat at all, and beyond that there are questions as to whether aerial spraying is effective or safe. The latest court maneuver had to do with the ccontents of the spray. The state's contention is that the spray consists of a moth-specific pheremone that simply interferes with the moth's sex life. The questions that have been raised are: 1)does this pheremone interfere with the reproductive cycle of other, benign, insects as well? 2)what effects does it have on other organisms that are not insects? 3) --and this is the biggie -- what else is in the spray (called "Checkmate")?
The manufacturer of the spray has refused to make its ingredients public because of "trade secrets." A couple of local newspapers got hold of the ingredients and published them. A judge has just ruled that Suterra doesn't have the right to stop them from listing the ingredients because Suterra didn't go through the proper steps to prove that it would be injurious to them for this publishing to go on.
The counter proposal from locals is to put pheremone-soaked twisty ties in all the vineyards and orchards. A G Kawamura, the Secretary of Agriculture, says that's too time consuming and expensive. Also: the big threat is that the feds may step in to do something or other. Since the state is already battling the federal government on other grounds (marijuana, SCHIP . . .)I guess this is supposed to be scary. But the federal Agriculture department is up to its eyeballs anyway, I don't know what it could do.
The Sentinel, the local newspaper, has finally dismantled its printing press and sold it for scrap. The paper has been being printed in San Jose for quite a while. Its editorial offices have mostly been moved to Scotts Valley, leaving the big Sentinel building downtown mostly empty. I understand getting rid of the legacy printing technology, but I don't understand moving the editorial offices away from the center of county politics (Santa Cruz City Hall is on the same corner as the Sentinel Building, the Police Station four blocks away, and the County Building half a mile away). But the largest amount of non-advertising material in the paper appears to be filler material from elsewhere in the parent chain's network, anyway, which becomes really embarrassing on Thursdays when the garden and home-maintenance articles come out, cheerfully proclaiming that it's time to get ready for snow! and giving completely useless -- to the point of destructive -- advice.
We've had some real rain, but as usual, the water experts are preparing us for a dry winter. I think if we have a dry winter this year, we'll probably be up for real rationing next year (not, probably, tight rationing, compared to current usage).
So now, to the quirky: some folks are wrangling over the bills due on a pirate ship. Actually, it looks like an ordinary -- though huge at 75 feet -- yacht, painted black and adorned with piratey things like jolly rogers and stuff. There's a tangle of stories about whose yacht and whose purpose and whether it was supposed to be in Costa Rica or Santa Cruz and you know what? these guys are annoying, all of them. The original guy apparently sold four one-third pieces of the venture . . .
Oh, and tomorrow and Saturday night the Del Mar Theater is having zombie movies in their Midnight showings. The extra is the "Zombie Walk" down the avenue, which is to start at 10 pm because it might take two hours for the zombies to get to the theater. The midnight shows have their own myspace, currently featuring the song "What the Fuck Was That?" from Evil Dead the Musical.
Okay, that's it. Surfing, water, agriculture, economics, piracy, and zombies. I'd say that's pretty emblematic.