Copwatch, a group to observe and monitor police activities, is being formed by Santa Cruz citizens concerned about police misconduct and abuse of power in the Santa Cruz community. Following examples set by other Copwatch groups across the nation, members of Santa Cruz Copwatch concerned with the lack of police accountability will launch observation patrols and “Know-Your-Rights� trainings in order to increase the community’s oversight of police activities.

Copwatch chapters exist in at least 6 other cities, including the 10 year old Berkeley Copwatch, and the newly formed Copwatch in East Palo Alto. Copwatch patrollers take down badge numbers, provide written testimony, and in some cases videotape the interactions between police and citizens. The objective of Copwatch is to train the public in non-confrontational techniques with which they can increase their ability to observe police actions, and thus reduce police brutality and other civil rights violations. Santa Cruz Copwatch will be networking with other community groups and work towards amassing incident reports which will be presented to City Council encouraging increased regulation of the Police Department.

Citizen's Police Review Board Gets Dismantled from January, 2003

Santa Cruz Copwatch currently meets on Tuesdays, 7:00 PM, at the Infoshop (509A Broadway).

[ Santa Cruz Copwatch I Know Your Rights card in Spanish and English ]

An open letter to SEIU Local 415 regarding their spokesperson's recent statements of support for the location of a Home Depot store in Santa Cruz's industrial Westside.

I am utterly baffled and incensed by the statements made by Leslie Scanagatta (identified by the Sentinel as SEIU Local 415's "chief spokesperson") regarding the City Council's stance toward Home Depot. In that paper, she was quoted chiding the Council for its perceived inaction in allowing Home Depot to build on the old Lipton site in Santa Cruz's industrial Westside. Generally, I am inclined to give people quoted by the Sentinel the benefit of the doubt considering the bias of its publishers and some of its reporters. However, in this case, Ms. Scanagatta's specific mention of Home Depot and numerous other quotes printed in the Sentinel's May 5th article lead me to believe that her comments were not simply twisted out of context.

It completely escapes my comprehension that someone who "works hard to maintain the rights of union workers and fight [sic] for justice for all workers" (quoted from the SEIU Local 415 website, which Ms. Scanagatta herself apparently coordinates) should consider it positive to locate Home Depot, one of the most vehemently anti-union and anti-worker retailers on the face of the planet, in her own community. This is particularly incomprehensible coming from someone who works on the staff of one of the country's more progressive union locals and acts as its Communications Coordinator. It gives the impression that this is the official stance of the SEIU.

If the latter is the case, it leads me to ask, "What are you thinking?!?" Has it completely escaped the attention of Local 415 that Home Depot is one of the worst employers of its size ever to disgrace the retail industry?

[ Hometowns, Not Home Depot I Retail Worker: Labor News - by, for, and about Retail Employees ]

The 60 residents of Clear View Court mobile home park lost their rent control protections last September when the City Council caved in to Manufactured Home Communities (MHC), an out of state corporation, and abandoned rent control for mobile home parks in Santa Cruz. In an attempt to do damage control, the council offered to negotiate long-term leases for tenants at fair market value. But what is fair?

In an unusual Thursday City Council meeting -- held in the afternoon maximizing the inability of residents to attend the meeting, the City unveiled its deal of 34 year leases for the current residents of Clear View Court. These leases will replace the "irrevocable" leases "in perpetuity" that the City signed with residents guaranteeing rent control and then abandoned when the rapacious MHC sued the City for unfair practices.

In December, residents of Clear View Court were shocked to get notices of rent increases that doubled or tripled their existing rents with no increase in services. They were simply renting the same patch of bare ground the owners had operated at a profit for years. The City stepped in hoping to help negotiate a fair deal for both park owners and coach owners, and owners offered to forego the rent increases until May 1st if the residents agreed not to sue the City or the Park owners before April 26th, 2004.

The Council discussion continued on into the evening with a lengthy recess. In the course of that discussion, Mayor Kennedy advised the public that nothing he had heard from the tenants dissuaded him from supporting the staff-proposed plan opposed by Clear View Court residents. Emily Reilly gushed that she was on the edge of tears over the tenant's situation, but raised no objections to the proposed "settlement".

The final Council decision was postponed until Tuesday April 27th at 5:00 PM. There will be no public comment allowed, but a large showing may empower residents to sue City Council, begin gathering signatures for a referendum to overturn the Council's aggressively pro-landlord decision, or take some kind of larger direct action.

[ emergency city council meeting was odd and sad I Clear View Court Sell-Out is Tuesday (4/27) at 5:00 PM ]

Sahar Saba, a soft spoken young woman, stood firmly as darkness fell. She spoke of the hell that is her home; where 'everyone has a story to tell’ about a sister, a brother, a parent, or a child who was tortured, raped, killed; sometimes before their eyes.

She repeated several times that the problem of fundamentalism persists in Afghanistan. That RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, sees the persistence of fundamentalism as the major problem for women, children, and the Afghani culture in general. That the US attack and presence has done little to improve the situation, that indeed the situation has gotten worse under the US supported warlords.

Audio: Rockin' the Boat: Interview with Sahar Saba

[ Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan I Afghan Women's Mission ]

What I saw at the March 23rd, 2004 Santa Cruz City Council meeting made me feel ashamed to live here. Council rejected 46 affordable apartments slated for an empty lot at High and Cardiff. Developer Maynard Manson intended to build studios for workers, students and people with disabilities. Instead, Council gave in to privileged homeowners who live nearby. This article focuses on homeowner prejudice and city council equivocation.

The 12th Annual Peace and Unity March in Watsonville took place on Sunday, October 16th. You can listen to chants from the march, paying tribute to Augustin Jacobo and music performed by Dangerous Minds.

We've heard how Hurricane Stan has ripped through Central America and Mexico. Here is one way you can help prevent death for the most vulnerable victims.

"A little less than two months after images of the poor
in New Orleans dominated the media, it's become clear
that Congress and White House not only won't initiate
any new anti-poverty programs but will continue
proposing cuts to existing programs that target the
poor, including Medicaid and food stamps."

Homeless people throughout the nation are still frustrated about how Katrina evacuees
were able to get services

this is a really excellent talk given by the founders of common ground in new orleans...

The project here is truly showing the potential of a grassroots collective to effect major change and there is real hope that this and other progressive projects can be a powerful force in NO against gentrification and for positive changes on so many fronts.