Get educated about these new plans to replace the historic La Bahia. Attend city council meeting and MAKE COMMENTS, or tune in to Community TV channel 25, 11.15.05, 7pm, and email council with comments.

This project went under the community's "radar" the first time, prior to when the Coast Hotel project became known, when plans were approved for a boutique hotel preserving much of the historic La Bahia. Now, following the collapse of the fast-tracked Coast Conference Hotel project, Barry Swenson Builders and Mr. Canfield want to build a bigger hotel (an investiminium) with conference center at the site, and recently compared it to being "the" conference hotel intended for the beachfront area so it can be no less than 120 rooms (and therefore 5 to 7 stories)! These proposed new plans are going before the city council tomorrow. Its very important that the greater community get to weigh in on the fact that these builders now want to exceed zoning height regulations by 2 to 4 stories on our environmentally sensitive beachfront, along with other environmental impacts, and the public deserves better notice and coverage about the project in order to do so.

a commenter writes: "Santa Cruz needs to stop the knee-jerk RE-activism against all new construction and start embracing responsible Smart Building designs like this one. These projects which RESPONSIBLE architects are offering to us, are designed using the very best of cutting-edge green building design and could help lead the way to a sustainable future and Santa Cruz would be the perfect flagship community for this with its established tradition of environmental stewardship."

Victoria's got a dirty secret! No, it's not crabs or the fact that she has a body rarely found in Nature. The company, Victoria's Secret, mails out over 395 million catalogs a year -- more than 1million a day -- on paper that comes from virgin timber, much of it from Canada's Great Boreal Forest.

Come on over to Capitola Mall on November 5th, from 3 - 5pm and show your forest love in an international day of action!

See Also: Victoria's Dirty Secret Website

Public Hearing on the Lompico Headwaters Timber Harvest Plan

The Lompico Watershed Conservancy needs your help to stop a potentially devastating Timber Harvest Plan. The plan would involve cutting old growth trees on the lands in and around the watershed. This would not only cause disruption of the environment and habitat destruction, it would also signficantly destabilize the land, creating erosion and potential landslide risks.

The Public Hearing for this logging plan is tentatively scheduled for November 2nd, 7:00 PM at the Zayante Fire House on 7700 E. Zayante Rd. across from the Trout Farm Inn in the Zayante area of Felton.

Please attend this hearing. The hearing in 2001 was attended by over 200 area residents and was a remarkable event. Having a strong presence at this meeting can have a considerable effect on the outcome. We stopped the last Headwaters THP. Now we will have to do it again.

Resources: Earth First! Santa Cruz || Lompico Watershed Conservancy

Related Stories: Feb. 2005, Big Basin Logging || July 2004, History of EF! (includes info. on Redwood Empire Company) || Sept. 2002, Tree Sitters Threatened By Redwood Empire Co.

On October 4, Malik Rahim, a longtime community activist in New Orleans and San Francisco, spoke at the Women's Building in San Francisco about the situation in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the disastrous response by the Bush administration and other government agencies. Malik, who lives in the Algiers community of New Orleans, discussed the grassroots community relief and rebuilding efforts underway through the Common Ground collective. (39:39 minutes)

Audio: Malik - download the mp3 or download the torrent

This event raised awareness and funds for Common Ground, a community-run organization based in the Algiers community of New Orleans offering temporary assistance and mutual aid to the citizens of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Common Ground's team includes doctors, lawyers, aid workers, community organizers, and volunteers of all stripes and creeds.

There were about a dozen people at the demonstration on Mission St. in Santa Cruz on October 2, World Farm Animals Day, to protest KFC. Mission St. is also Highway 1 and there were a lot of people that honked in support of the demonstration. Informational flyers were passed out to passing motorists, as well as customers who were both entering and leaving KFC. This particular demonstration lasted about an hour, and by the time we left, there were only two customers in the restaurant.

At one point, I was standing on the sidewalk and looking inside the KFC when an employee flipped me the bird - you know, gave me the middle finger. I was quite amused by this so I walked up to her and asked her if she wanted to do that again for the camera. She declined and told me she was going to sue me.

But I have to say, the KFC employee of the day award goes to the manager for running after me and kicking me in the upper thigh. It is too bad that Amy, a film student at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, had stopped filming just seconds prior to him kicking me. However, for what it's worth, she recorded a statement saying that she witnessed the manager kick me.

Audio (mp3): Corporations in Santa Cruz || Ryan - health, veganism, the campaign to reform KFC... || Amy

[ The Progressive Animal Rights Alliance of Santa Cruz || KentuckyFriedCruelty.com || World Farm Animals Day ]

see also: World Farm Animals Day in Israel

We buy their tomatoes, but who are they? What stories do small-scale sustainable farmers have to tell, and why does it matter? Santa Cruz author, Jenny Kurzweil began writing "Fields That Dream: Journey to the Roots of Our Food" six years ago because she felt the disconnect between herself and her food. She didn't have an agent, publisher or MFA, but she plowed ahead anyway. The book is a thoroughly researched introduction to small-scale sustainable farming, and a fantastic read (Fulcrum Publishing, available at local bookstores).

2006. That has such a profound meaning to me. To start it means the beginning of my 6th year. It means come April, if I don't go to the hole, I'll have exactly 15 years left.

2006. Seven years since the pinnacle of this movement in Seattle. Seven years for things to get worse.

2006. Another year to try again. To hope and watch each sunrise with a sense of anticipation. Could this be the year? Could tomorrow be the day?

For a more detailed conference schedule, click below:

www.eco-farm.org/efc_06/efc_06schedule.html

Who's afraid of elves?

Learn about the watershed of the Pajaro River and how it is threatened. On Wednesday, January 25 at Cabrillo College Watsonville Center, the Santa Cruz Group of the Sierra Club will show the excellent video "Stuck in the Mud: The Pajaro River in Peril." After the screening, the Pajaro River Watershed Committee and other guests will provide updates of activities on the River and include the audience in a discussion of concerns and visions.